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Miller Kopp is in the portal

You really think Kopp wouldn't have been one of the most important players on this team next year? To the extent that Collins would "be frank" with him to the extent that he'd want to leave?

I don't know that there's really too much to read into all of this. The portal is a popular option these days. We haven't won very many games during Kopp's 3 years, and he's probably good enough to get minutes as a complementary player on a tourney-level high major team or be a star at a mid-major.
Then it's a done deal... Baldwin is coming!
 
Kopp was the most important player on the team last year even while he was struggling. It's hard to see this as anything other than a devastating blow to the program especially if he's not the only one.
Thimking that Kopp had his worst season last year.
 
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This is B1G Basketball. Tough to compete, no question. Plus, NU has no BBall history of significance. Fitz seems to have found the formula to succeed, but it is not without precedent, despite the Dark Ages. I don't believe we should be too quick to judge. CC is in a tough spot. If Carmody (an excellent coach based on his history--I watched and listened to many Princeton games and he was no slouch) couldn't bring NU to the fore, why should Collins be expected to? Well, we want him to, but is there something inherent about NU basketball (and its history) that is holding him back? Other Chicago schools are rooted in Chicago basketball (not as good as Philadelphia basketball, but still pretty good), NU is not. NU is an elite upper-middle class suburban school which also differentiates it from other B1G schools, as well as the other Chicago BBall schools. This is not true of even many of the Ivies. It's not the coach, it's something else. Seriously, why would the Loyala coach come to NU? It would be crazy for him to do that. Which is why we have the problem we have.
Try blaming Admissions, simply that's because it is the major problem.
 
Tough year with COVID and no school in person. He struggled in the second half of the season. I don’t think this is a transfer trend any more than other schools have had people reassess in this Covid environment. Lots of new players coming up looking for minutes, and will get more of a shot next season.
Kopp looked bored many times during the season.
 
It sucks to lose, and sometimes deep down I wonder why *anyone* picks NU over winning programs. Yes, I know all about what Northwestern the school offers and how appealing that is, but any student who is good enough to play for a Big Ten team - even a bad one - is someone who puts basketball at or near the top of his list of interests, and it sucks to lose over and over doing the one thing that is the most important to you.

I wish Kopp the best of luck, and I hope he finds what he's looking for. I can't begrudge that decision.

As for turning NU into a school that wins more than they lose...I just don't have a suggestion. Changing coaches, getting decent transfers, lowering recruiting standards. They all sound like short-term answers, but I just don't know what else to do. It makes me sad that we just can't get over the hump. 2017 was magical, and I really thought we'd turn the corner. I saw NU as being like Gonzaga 25 years ago and Duke 40 years ago. Unfortunately it seems like we're just like NU was 25 years ago and NU was 40 years ago.
For sure you identified one... recruiting standards. Having the same admission standards as the rest of the Big Ten and the records for those 90 years would look very different. At least change standards to those used by Duke, Vanderbilt and ND.
 
Almost hate to ask this question, but did anyone see any joy/enthusiasm in Kopp's game? I am sure there were moments and I don't follow NU basketball like most in this forum, but he always looked stressed to me when compared to leading players on other teams that appeared to embrace the moment. Tell me I am wrong I guess.
Your not!
 
That’s also what Coble did. He left the program but not the school. Transfers of players who have not graduated from NU are rare:

Going back the last 20 years:
-Rapolas Ivanauskas
-Isaiah Brown
-Nick Segura
-Kale Abrahamson
-Chier Ajou
-Aaron Liberman
-Kyle Rowley
-Nikola Baran
-Brandon Lee
-Gary Lee
-Jimmy Maley
-Ben Johnson.

Thomas Soltau and TJ Parker left to go pro but did not transfer.

Going back 20 you miss the two most significant transfers: Geno Carlisle in ‘96 and Rex Walters in ‘90.
 
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When did they change? Just asking.
Admissions rate was 33% as recently as 2003, then they started to use the Common Application in 2007 and the acceptance rate correspondingly plummeted and hit below 20% in 2011, then 10% in 2017. Pretty sure I wouldn't get in today.
 
When did they change? Just asking.
Right after I graduated. Actually admissions probably started tightening sometime during the dark ages. 1980's? Others during that time probably know more. NU has always been pretty selective, although in the 50's and before was known as a "country club" school.
 
Without knowing the reason he is in the portal, you really cannot assume that is the case.......
Maybe, but be hard to imagine him being there 3 years for all the tough times and then leaving now if he thought next year was going to be a return to March madness.
 
Admissions rate was 33% as recently as 2003, then they started to use the Common Application in 2007 and the acceptance rate correspondingly plummeted and hit below 20% in 2011, then 10% in 2017. Pretty sure I wouldn't get in today.
How much larger is the total application pool due to the switch to the Common Application? (Does it make it easier for people without impressive credentials to just apply to all the top schools because, why not? And if so, how much of a difference does it really make?)

It's not like there are fewer spots for the top high school students anymore.
 
30 yrs ago: 30% admission rate of applicants
now: 7% admission rate of applicants.
This is a fact. Many of us might not get into nu these days??
A lot more kids apply now. So if class sizes remain similar the admit rates are automatically taking a big hit.
 
Doesn't look like a great season for the B1G next year. Penn State and Minnesota are hot messes with the coaching changes, doubtful Nebraska will be a power anytime soon, Illini likely lose at least one of the Kofi-Ayo duo, perhaps both, Wisconsin loses most of their veterans, Garza and others depart Iowa. Best could be Michigan, where Howard is building something and has a good class coming in, and Purdue, which had a very young team with a freshman 7-4 center who seemed to have some skills. Ohio State might be OK as well. Overall, it's probably not going to be a good follow-up to the disaster of this year's NCAA tourney.

Indiana is looking for a coach and already has 4-5 in the portal as well.
 
How much larger is the total application pool due to the switch to the Common Application? (Does it make it easier for people without impressive credentials to just apply to all the top schools because, why not? And if so, how much of a difference does it really make?)

It's not like there are fewer spots for the top high school students anymore.
I applied in 2001, and there were roughly 14,000 applications, 4,800 acceptances and 2,000 enrollees. By 2011, the number of applications had more than doubled and now there's roughly 40,000 applications per year for the same 2,000 spots. So it's not that it's easier for people without impressive credentials to apply to the top schools, but the opposite, in that the top-performing students can apply to all the top schools easily including NU and therefore NU can have a higher-performing student body while keep acceptance rates low.
 
30 yrs ago: 30% admission rate of applicants
now: 7% admission rate of applicants.
This is a fact. Many of us might not get into nu these days??
Mick:

No question you are correct about general campus admissions. But, I am not prepared to suggest that admissions for basketball players today are any different from my time at NU (1988-1992). I
 
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I applied in 2001, and there were roughly 14,000 applications, 4,800 acceptances and 2,000 enrollees. By 2011, the number of applications had more than doubled and now there's roughly 40,000 applications per year for the same 2,000 spots. So it's not that it's easier for people without impressive credentials to apply to the top schools, but the opposite, in that the top-performing students can apply to all the top schools easily including NU and therefore NU can have a higher-performing student body while keep acceptance rates low.
But there's still the same number of spots available at these top schools for the top students. The top students must still be filling these spots in some way. I guess if you just apply to ALL the top schools, there's a greater chance that ONE of them will accept you, so it evens out?

Maybe I wouldn't get into NU specifically if I applied today, but if I applied to ALL of them, maybe I'd get into Rice.
 
Relevant, possibly:
His youngest brother, Maddox, is enrolling at Houston to play QB next year. And younger brother Anderson just finished his sophomore season as an 11ppg scorer at Lamar and is also in the portal.

There's been much speculation above and what follows is just as unfounded but from a different perspective. (Disclosure: though living in Houston, I've no acquaintance with the Kopps beyond 2nd or 3rd-hand.)

I suspect Miller's decision could have less to with basketball than with other, more personal, considerations. By all report his is a very close-knit family. I believe all sons (4) attended expensive private, Christian-based high schools. (Earlier than that, I don't know.). None is known as a hoops or grid "factory" so one might infer that academics and related values rank very high.

There may be reasons why it seems right for the sons to draw together now. As pointed out by NUCat320, Maddox was highly-recruited elsewhere but signed with U of H's football program. Anderson's plans may be affected by the recent firing of the Lamar coach (Tic Price) who recruited him, but in any case, Lamar Univ is no more than 100 miles from home.

My guess is that due to family health factors or something similar, it's a good time for the Kopps to be closer together. It's likely that neither Miller nor Anderson seeks a pro career, and we in Cats fandom may just not recognize that some things can be more important than big time hoops, projected playing time, etc. Personal prediction: instead of a power basketball program, Miller may happily wind up at a close-to-home school like Rice, Houston Baptist, or even St Thomas (in Houston, not even a D-1 program).

On another level -- are we aware that, apart from athletes, now is a time of MASSIVE student movement from one institution to another? This past year of college life has been unenjoyable for all, miserable for many. A non-residential university (from which I recently retired) has experienced significantly greater enrollment since last spring, and most of it has been from incoming transfers. Many students and their families are re-thinking original choices (even of so-called "dream schools"). We have three grandchildren currently in college as undergraduates, and all think it's the pits. What a pity.
 
Almost hate to ask this question, but did anyone see any joy/enthusiasm in Kopp's game? I am sure there were moments and I don't follow NU basketball like most in this forum, but he always looked stressed to me when compared to leading players on other teams that appeared to embrace the moment. Tell me I am wrong I guess.

Kopp was one of the most outwardly happy guys when the team was winning, and one of the most glum when they weren't (and/or when his shot wasn't falling).
 
Because this program is a mess, there’s no AD, the coach is on thin ice, and one of the top two upperclassmen on the team is leaving.

I want to see the program succeed as much as anyone, and the fastest route to that right now is for Collins to have success. But even the optimists have to look at things that aren’t there and pretend that all of the little pieces are just going to come together and break our way exactly as planned, and the realist in me says there’s no real way to believe that will actually happen.

Like, are we going to fill that spot with a better transfer? Maybe, but we’ve never had a true star come out of the modern transfer portal. (Audige contributed and won us a game this year, but on the whole he had a fine year.)

Are we going to fill that spot with Baldwin? Maybe, but there’s no information to believe that we’re on the precipice of landing him. And why would he walk into this situation now?

Are the freshmen going to be real difference makers? Maybe, hopefully in time. But Berry was gonna be the freshman difference maker, and Beran before him, and Nance before him, and Falzon before him, and on and on. Some have contributed as freshmen, but the last real impact freshman we had was...McIntosh? Pardon, pushed into duty for half a year ahead of schedule? We’re just not usually landing the guy who comes in at 18 and strikes gold in the Big Ten. Our guys take time to develop, which is no discredit to them. It’s just not a recipe for a quick fix.

So if you’re Gaines right now, you’ve just graduated, and you can play your last year (or two) somewhere where you can actually win, or you can do what Drew Crawford did and try to be part of the build. If you’re Nance, Beran, whoever else, same question, but giving up the degree. And the real difference is that any player who has more than one year of eligibility left can’t be confident that the current staff will be here when they exhaust their eligibility.

And the administration as it is right now might just decide this is the time to make the move, with the hottest coach in the nation 10 miles south. (I think it’s a lot to ask him to take the job with no AD and an as-yet-unknown new president, leaving us with both a rebuild and uncertainty among the superiors).

tl;dr we’ve got issues.
The “hottest coach in the country” is even closer than 10 miles away. He lives in Wilmette. He could walk to NU.
 
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Mick:

No question you are correct about general campus admissions. But, I am not prepared to suggest that admissions for basketball players today are any different from my time at NU (1988-1992). I

I was there same time period. Greek?
 
I can say I have no idea what he’s talking about. And would love to keep it that way
Seems like a nice time to remind everyone that board scores and GPA vary wildly according to socio-economic status and that our admission standards are dumb.
 
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You just laid out a convincing case that players of Kopp's ability are rare in the portal. So "working the portal" isn't the answer.

As an aside, Collins has had at least one transfer from every recruiting class except the Gaines class, and Anthony was the only recruit signed that year. So it isn't rare or unusual to have a transfer at the end of the season........

Yeah, but I think this is the first time we had a multi-year starter, not to mention captain and leading scorer leave the team.

OTOH, we did have a precedent on the football side with Skorownek, and I don't think anybody would suggest that there's a problem with the broader program.
 
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