With an NCAA bid looking more and more imminent, Northwestern could have a legitimate shot at the Big Ten title.
Story: Is it time for Northwestern to aim a little higher?
Story: Is it time for Northwestern to aim a little higher?
NCAAs? How about a Big Ten title, too?
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Yep, without sounding like a self-promoting wrassler, that's what I've been quietly saying for a while now on this board and to those around me, because I really started believing it. This team is different, and is a legitimate Big 10 title contender.
Nice article! Good find on the FG% and 3 Pt % defense, I didn't realize we were leading the conference in those.
While much can occur in the final nine games, I'd figure NU would need to finish the back half of conference play no worse than 7-2 (14-4 overall) with wins over Wisconsin and Maryland in order to have a realistic shot at the title.
If one of those seven wins came against Purdue, all the better
Is the conference title defined by winning the regular season or the conference tournament (or both)?
We deserve to be in the discussion of big ten champs. If we upset purdue, then i like how the home schedule favors us at home. As of now, we control our own destiny and dont have to hope for others to lose.
They both get a title. The conference champ is officially the regular season champ, but the BTT champ is also recognized. You can hang a banner for either. The BTT champ gets the automatic bid to the tourney.
And let's be real here... it doesn't matter which metric you choose, we haven't won it. Have we ever even made the semis of the BTT since it started?
I told my wife I'd probably go to the BTT if the Cats made it to Saturday, but I don't think they've ever made it to Saturday.
The key would be getting one of the top four seeds, to avoid having to play on Wednesday and Thursday. Would really help out with our lack of depth.
I hear about our lack of depth all the time. I guess you could say we lack depth on the roster with Falzon and Rap out but as far as playing depth, most teams don't have a rotation of more than 8-9 guys and many teams go with a rotation of 7. If Taphorn is healthy we still have a rotation of 8-9 guys which is very normal. I don't see where we have a lack of depth.
I love this season and how its playing out, but I can't quiet that nagging voice that tells me this is a pretty good team that has benefited greatly by the order of the schedule. If we had our schedule reversed and played the last 9 games first, this might be a very different season. But..... it is also true that regardless of the schedule, by accumulating wins, this team is building confidence which will help them compete better in the hard games coming up. Let's hope so!
Hear hear, been wondering about why I see this notion posted so often myself. Even the blue blood programs, whose 10th-12th guys are probably 4* recruits, don't run two full 5 man units in games. An 8 man rotation is pretty standard in the NBA as well, particularly come playoff time. We play 8-9 pretty regularly as it is, and Ash gets occasional minutes from time to time as well. I don't see it, either.
You answered your own question. Falzon would have been a starter and Rap was the #1 freshman coming in. Both would have played lots of minutes at the expense of Tap and Skelly. I would have said Lumpkin but he won me over last night. Also don't forget that they are playing with one less schlorship player and who knows who that guy could have been.
NU has won two Big Ten titles in its illustrious hoop history. And they won them in a three-year span: in 1930-31 and 1932-33. That means that the Cats were Big Ten football and basketball champs in 1931. The football team won the title in both 1930 and 1931, so the Cats were riding high. Willy, you were at NU then, weren't you? What was it like?
Hold on a second. Didn't we play 5 of our first 7 conference games on the road?? Go ahead and play our last 7 first -- Purdue, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Rutgers, Maryland and Wisky... 4 of those home, and Illinois is one of the three road games.
I'm sorry, but I see us doing very close to as well on that schedule as we did on the actual start of the season. I know it's crazy, but we're actually very, very good. Not just for Northwestern. Not just for the Big Ten. We play team defense and do it extremely well. We have ATHLETES who can match up with the wings who have destroyed us since I started watching the Cats as a freshman in 1975 (highlights of my tenure at NU were McKinney lighting Buckner up for about 30 at McGaw, Tex going backwards off elevated floor, and dealing Magic his last loss as a collegian... pretty slim pickings). Law, Lindsay and Pardon could play for any team in the conference. BMac may not be in their class athletically, but he's a player. I love this team, love watching them compete...
Sure, I get what you're saying, but having Falzon, Rap, and that 13th scholarship available would make a difference in helping with minutes. Getting through 4-5 consecutive days in a conference tournament is rough, and having a few extra contributors off the bench helps. But let's get a top four seed so that becomes another team's problem.
Well hell, why not a national championship while we're at it?
We played four OOC opponents (Butler, ND, Wake, Dayton) with RPIs better than or equal to those of the remaining teams on our schedule. We should have won all four of those games.
I think the one thing missing. And btn commentators have said as much...we lack a consistent slasher who can get to the rim on his own. Law and Lindsey are outside shooters first and still need to get better at taking the defender off the dribble and getting to the basket.
I think it's incredible that the team is proving to be strong enough to withstand both losses. Skelly and Taphorn (when healthy) have shown to be serviceable, well rounded 4s capable of handling their workload.
I would have liked to see Rap redshirted (regardless) and there's no way Falzon would have been stashed without his injury. These redshirts have the added benefit of balancing the recruiting classes too. You hate to see the injuries (and hope for no long term impairments), but both absences could turn out to be blessings in disguise (see Vic Law).
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Just make the damn Tourney. Get that 500 lb gorilla off our backs.
This isn't like 1995 football where we knew after 7 wins we'd go to a bowl. more like -get to 23 wins and don't sh1t the bed in the first game of the BTT.
Everyone everywhere outside of Rantoul wants to get in. JFDI
This isn't like 1995 football where we knew after 7 wins we'd go to a bowl. more like -get to 23 wins and don't sh1t the bed in the first game of the BTT.
Everyone everywhere outside of Rantoul wants to get in. JFDI
All that might be true but I was responding to a post claiming it would be great to avoid a Wed and Thu game in the BTT because of our lack of depth. Of course any team would love to avoid early games to be more fresh for the weekend but we lack no more depth than any other team with a 8-9 man rotation.
How do you know Falzon would have been a starter?
CC has built this team around defense and based on that, wouldn't be surprised at all if Lumpkin had remained a starter even if Falzon were healthy.
As for Rap, he probably had the most buzz coming in, but of the 3 frosh, Brown is probably the most ready to play.
Hopefully we will be so firmly in the tournament that it won't matter, but . . . for teams on the bubble, sometimes I wonder if ending up with a worse seed is good, since it means an extra game that you're more likely to win? It does probably make a win the next day less likely, but then that's a game the odds would say you were more likely to lose anyhow!
Kentucky did a couple of years ago . . . although to your point, it was a fairly noteworthy thing. (moreso for the "5 all at once" substitutions," but still.)
