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Man, I just watched the replay of the BC game beginning to end

EvanstonCat

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Gold Member
May 29, 2001
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Observations:

1. How did we lose to the likes of Radford and Merrimack? We looked really good
2. Boo Buie - smooth. Man, if he can play like that night in and night out
3. Pat Spencer, you freak. That tomahawk at the end was ridiculous even if he missed. Crappy game overall, but he did have some nice dishes
4. We have good length, wait until Young, Nance, and Jared Jones are upperclassmen
5. Miller Kopp - if he can shoot like that every night, we are gonna have a superstar
6. We are young, and very talented. This group of underclassmen will dance
7. BC probably is a high and we will have more lows, but, man if we play like this all year, we have a shot at the post-season.
8. Announcers kept on talking up Chris Collins and how great the offense is... it did seem to click yesterday

This team is an enigma. How do we lose to Radford and Merrimack, and look so good against BC (and beat Bradley and Providence)? If they gel and develop, maybe we can make some noise this year afterall.
 
The Merrimack and Radford games were a combination of being very young along with inexperience. They were still learning to gel and get used to the speed of D1 basketball, plus, young teams are almost always inconsistent. We’ll have more frustrating losses, but we’ll probably have some really exciting wins too.
 
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Observations:

1. How did we lose to the likes of Radford and Merrimack? We looked really good
2. Boo Buie - smooth. Man, if he can play like that night in and night out
3. Pat Spencer, you freak. That tomahawk at the end was ridiculous even if he missed. Crappy game overall, but he did have some nice dishes
4. We have good length, wait until Young, Nance, and Jared Jones are upperclassmen
5. Miller Kopp - if he can shoot like that every night, we are gonna have a superstar
6. We are young, and very talented. This group of underclassmen will dance
7. BC probably is a high and we will have more lows, but, man if we play like this all year, we have a shot at the post-season.
8. Announcers kept on talking up Chris Collins and how great the offense is... it did seem to click yesterday

This team is an enigma. How do we lose to Radford and Merrimack, and look so good against BC (and beat Bradley and Providence)? If they gel and develop, maybe we can make some noise this year afterall.
Re 8.) Keep is mind that the color guy was on the staff with CCC at Duke. He's pretty much a homer for Collins and anything he said about how great the offensive scheme is should be taken with a huge pinch of salt........

How'd they lose to Merrimack and Radford? Shot 13% from 3 and 35% overall in those combined games. Make shots = win games. Pretty straight forward.
 
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Re 8.) Keep is mind that the color guy was on the staff with CCC at Duke. He's pretty much a homer for Collins and anything he said about how great the offensive scheme is should be taken with a huge pinch of salt........

How'd they lose to Merrimack and Radford? Shot 13% from 3 and 35% overall in those combined games. Make shots = win games. Pretty straight forward.

That is the bottom line. When we make shots we look great and by the way, play with more confidence in all phases. When we don't make shots we suck. That is true across all levels of basketball, even the NBA but in particular for a young team like us that has more variability, less experience to cope with ups and downs and where confidence can be fragile.
 
Merrimack/Radford - things don't go well for a young team and they fall apart. Not confident enough to regroup and keep composure.

Only example of fighting back was against a weak Norfolk State team. And that was still fairly early in the game and hugely sparked by abandoning a dreadful 1-3-1.
 
> Re 8.) Keep is mind that the color guy was on the staff with CCC at Duke. He's pretty much a homer for Collins and anything he said about how great the offensive scheme is should be taken with a huge pinch of salt........<

The development of CCC's team has been troubled by many things, including having to build a team with a schollie penalty for his FIRST FOUR YEARS (Vassar), key injuries/lack of development of promising players and transfers. I love to hear SOMEONE/ANYONE compliment his coaching skills. I'm hoping the recruits and sports junkies watching this game don't know the color guy is only a homer. Regardless, sweet music to NU fans' ears.
 
Re 8.) Keep is mind that the color guy was on the staff with CCC at Duke. He's pretty much a homer for Collins and anything he said about how great the offensive scheme is should be taken with a huge pinch of salt........

How'd they lose to Merrimack and Radford? Shot 13% from 3 and 35% overall in those combined games. Make shots = win games. Pretty straight forward.
I'm pretty sure that has been the only time that I've heard "great offensive scheme" and "Chris Collins" from a color commentator in the past few years. This is progress indeed.

However, in the past few games it does appear like the Cats have had considerably improved offensive flow. And for the first time in recent memory they repeatedly burned the opposition for applying pressure defense. In prior years, under both Collins and Carmody, just breaking the press and getting to the front court in less than 10 seconds felt like a victory. Scoring a quick bucket after breaking the press was an extreme outlier.
 
It’s pretty nice to look at the scholarship players are feel confident that everyone of those guys can play, or at least will develop into a contributor. After the experiences with Vassar, Ash, Kale, etc, I think Collins deserves credit for improving his recruiting and learning from mistakes.
 
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I'd argue that because some key guys struggled or didn't contribute, the win is that much more significant. Spencer did not score and turned the ball over. AJ is not yet at full capability. Beran was ok, but he's done better.

On length....yes, we're a long. But at times the young guys rely on that versus position. That results in fouls, or worse baskets. They'll get more knowledgable, anticipate plays, get in the best position...that's just time.

The breaking the press thing is going to get bumpy in conference play. Assuming NU is defending a lead. However, I think Nance receiving the ball and being able to throw over defenders....or put it on the floor....is a different asset for NU. A guess is that Bouie and Spencer are going to dribble into some trouble come conference....they will have do that to learn how to use the press-busting scheme. AJ on the floor helps.

Much more solid at the PG spot this year than last....significant improvement.
 
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Re 8.) Keep is mind that the color guy was on the staff with CCC at Duke. He's pretty much a homer for Collins and anything he said about how great the offensive scheme is should be taken with a huge pinch of salt........

How'd they lose to Merrimack and Radford? Shot 13% from 3 and 35% overall in those combined games. Make shots = win games. Pretty straight forward.

Someone should put "Make Shots" on a t-shirt. ;)
 
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