Our games thus far have shown some tantalizing moments and some complete head scratchers. Despite this it seems to be the most talented and beckons the question can NU follow in the footsteps of Illinois basketball and have a breakout season next year. I feel next year all of these nail biters we have lost this year will flip next year. I also feel we will be a bubble team next year. Unbridled optimism?! Perhaps. Any other musings
Next year
- Thread starter catcrazy
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Subtract Spencer and Turner from today’s lineup and add Boo, Berry, Gaines, Nicholson and Chase...future is bright. NIT next year with NCAA the following?
Next year is the key. NIT or bust.
I’d be surprised if CCC is the coach the year after next if they don’t make that type of progress.
unless we move backwards on the court or with recruiting I don’t think CC is gonna get fired next season. He got us to the tourney, has brought in more talent than we’ve probably ever seen, has the personality to get funds for major facilities upgrades etc... He’s the only guy in 80 years to get us to the tourney, we won’t go looking for greener pastures so quickly unless things are devolving.
Agreed. He brought us to the promised land and it was a singular moment for all Wildcats. We’ll always be indebted for his and the team’s work that magical year.
That being said, this young team with all its talent needs to win. All of the talent in the world and 1 conference win typically buys a very hot seat for any P5 coach. CCC brought us from point B to C, but now we’re back at point A when we could be at least a consistent B.
I hope it doesn’t come to that. The March Madness 2017 was BB’s “rose bowl” moment but it feels like ancient history - and Barnett only lasted 3 years after his.
The biggest thing Collins has to overcome is NU's "Holier-than-thou" admission policies. Also Barnett choose to leave.
Uhh Barnett left he didn't get fired. And "A" was a program that had almost no talent, no facilities, no NCAA bids and key players transferred every year. That's what BC inherited. "B" was discipline, stability, competitiveness and several consecutive NIT tourneys but still lacking overall talent, a tourney bid or inspiring confidence from donors. So CC has created a lot and we will find out in the next 2 seasons whether these young kids can create a stronger foundation for tourney bids and consistent competitive talent. I have faith in CC and JP, but seeing that Stanford has only been able to get 1 bid in 12 years makes me worry that high admissions standards and consistent basketball success are not compatible. But I don't know enough of the details.
All fair points. But I’ve cheered for some... lacking NU hardwood teams that were able to win more than a single conference game.
Just win baby. Every team is beatable in the B1G this year.
Every team is beatable every year but this might be the toughest big ten ever with 12 teams among the top 40 in the country per ratings last week. Its the toughest year to steal wins because everyone besides Nebraska is solid.
The big question is whether these younger guys actually develop / improve. I see Beran improving game to game. Young I think I do too, though he also made a huge step over the offseason vs my expectations. Kopp is improving a little. Nance hasn’t really unfortunately, still waiting on that. I support CC still giving him minutes because we need to, but his defensive positioning and use of his body is still bad. Need him to get more confidence on offense.
So it’s a mixed bag.
“Had”? What does that matter to us? Either he is on our team next year or not...
I am just curious how many ncaa tourney bids we would have now if we had joined the Ivy league 50 years ago?? Probably a lot more than one??? I think with our talent that CCC has brought in, we will be more competitive from this season forward. But damn...just about every BIG team this year is seriously stacked with talent! Even with our more talent than ever on our team, just about every other BIG team has just as much or more?? This is what we are up against. I am glad we didn't bail out like UChicago did way back when; however, some of the seasons that we have witnessed over our history have been sickening to watch occur. But gosh, I hope that CC can get our team revving like that well-oiled machine that can take on the goliaths in the BIG and win consistently- not just come close to it! If we can stay healthy and accumulate some serious team chemistry, I see us kicking some tush the next several years with the players on and soon to be on this team!
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And that was after the inevitable end of cycle downturn after climbing the mountain similar to what we are going through right now
He was pointing out how admissions has impacted the putting together of a team. It currently seems like the hardest to recruit a full compliment is at guard, especially PG. Probably only about 5-10% of available high level talent could even get in and everyone else wants those guys as well. In the past, rare were the years that we had more than one PG even on the roster. They tended to stay healthy which is the only thing that gave us a chance. Think of how BCs NIT string would have gone if Juice had gotten hurt and could not play. CCCC tried to expand the pool by going after tweeners but that did not work out so well. When BM got hurt in his last year, that season imploded.
Wings always had more available and we have generally been more successful in that area under both BC and CCC. Going forward, I see for the first time us having multiples at the guard position and while injuries will always be a factor, we will likely be less vulnerable going forward than we have been up to now
i just like pointing out the kids who get denied admissions for those on the board who like to forget those kind of things
Yeah... I’m just sort of tired of this complaint. Anyone knew about the admissions rules coming in, or should have. The point is he’s not going to be on the team next year, so no point in taking him into consideration when discussing whether the team will be good.
The problem is that there are no “rules,” it’s all considered on a case-by-case basis.
And I believe the greater point is that the staff identified a high-performer, admissions aside.
And if there were rules we’d complain that we should be taking things on a case by case basis. Fans are gonna complain unless they get wins and find people to gripe about.
i understand. it was a little more apparent when program was getting trashed for not having scorers. he is a scorer. now kopp is looking like one, buie has shown it, and beran is showing its possible.
its the same as the group of posters who haven't been around talking about how anyone is getting better or the team is competing and close to winning some games (obviously the expectations) but will come out of the woodwork next time the team plays poorly. i like to keep certain things fresh
How about quantifying what we expect next year?
Next year we should be, at a minimum, happy with 8-12.
Following year we should be at 10-10, if the conference is strong as it's been the last couple of years. If not, we should be at 11-9 or 12-8. All those are tournament records.
Next year we should be, at a minimum, happy with 8-12.
Following year we should be at 10-10, if the conference is strong as it's been the last couple of years. If not, we should be at 11-9 or 12-8. All those are tournament records.
This is why there are two or three programs in every major conference who are good every year — and why everybody else goes through cycles, depending on who the coach is, injuries, transfers, etc. And outliers like NU with all their institutional challenges that it is a major upset when they are competitive for a tournament bid.
Just remember that we have had records of 500 or better in conference 2 times in the last about 50 years. An 8-8 record in about BCs third year and what we did in the Dance year. Not even any of the NIT years did we get to even 500 and that was not with as strong top to bottom a BIG as today.. Based on that experience I am a bit more patient than you. I definitely want to see progress next year but even 6 or7 BIG wins would do that. 8-9 BIG wins the following year would likely get us to NIT and I am OK with that. That is not to say I would not like to see more but I am OK if that is as far as we get. We would have gotten a Dance trip, an new facility and back to the post season with a better level of players than we had with BC and the likelyhood of regular NIT and occassional visits to the dance going forward
Things would have to go pretty badly for me to not want to give Collins a few more seasons. He is bringing in talent, running a clean program and getting the guys to compete with the energy of his first NU teams. Just as importantly, the Chris Collins brand is a good fit for Northwestern. And things would have to go really badly on several fronts--including something damaging to Collins as a brand-- for the AD to even consider a change.
I have not been posting for long here. But I've been reading this board for something like 2 years.
When we play badly, a considerable amount of people show up to post about how bad things are. At the same time, a large amount of people get overly pessimistic about things. Me included.
When we play decently (not necessarily even winning), the opposite happens. So many are overly optimistic. And that's what this week feels like.
Let's have two more years of poor results, with the most talent we ever had in the program, and continue to give a, by then, 9 year coach a pass. That's really settling for mediocrity. I'll gladly settle for respectability. But not less than that.
Having said that, I am quite optimistic the next two years will be decent.
When we play badly, a considerable amount of people show up to post about how bad things are. At the same time, a large amount of people get overly pessimistic about things. Me included.
When we play decently (not necessarily even winning), the opposite happens. So many are overly optimistic. And that's what this week feels like.
Let's have two more years of poor results, with the most talent we ever had in the program, and continue to give a, by then, 9 year coach a pass. That's really settling for mediocrity. I'll gladly settle for respectability. But not less than that.
Having said that, I am quite optimistic the next two years will be decent.
i definitely think the pessimists come out of the woodwork at a much higher rate than any one gives credit to a kid who played well or if CCC calls a good game
You're probably right.
In general, it's easier to get people mobilized to protest than to support.
It’s not hard to draw parallels between this season and 2014-15.
That year, NU lost 10 straight Big Ten games, but was SO close in many of them. Loss @ MSU in OT, three straight losses by 2 points or less against Michigan, OSU, Maryland, etc. But we all saw what NU had with BMac, Law and to some extent Lindsey.
Then 2015-16 things started to come together. Began the season a blistering 13-1 before cooling off in conference. Probably a bad call in the BTT against Michigan away from getting an NIT bid. Still, 20 wins.
2016-17, NCAA Tournament. And that was with freshmen and sophomores who mostly didn’t contribute meaningfully (Pardon excluded). By contrast, the two 2020 guys look solid and CCC is shooting for the stars in 2021.
Yes, I think CCC for the most part gets a free pass this season. I think people can envision a future where NU is very respectable.
However, this board will crucify CCC if he don’t show strong improvement next season in the Win column. NU is overmatched right now. There are no two ways about that. They still won’t have all conference players next year, but they will have enough B1G level players to give teams many problems. Beating up CCC this year serves no purpose, especially when there sure seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
i understand. it was a little more apparent when program was getting trashed for not having scorers. he is a scorer. now kopp is looking like one, buie has shown it, and beran is showing its possible.
its the same as the group of posters who haven't been around talking about how anyone is getting better or the team is competing and close to winning some games (obviously the expectations) but will come out of the woodwork next time the team plays poorly. i like to keep certain things fresh
Gee, it's the same twist on the same bullshit. We suck if we are only here after losses. Gee, they stopped posting after losses - so they suck if they don't acknowledge some immeasurable improvement. I'm sorry, is Nance now in contention for All BIG? Is Kopp leading the BIG in anything? Has Buie made it back to the floor? Beran looks like the real deal. So what? We have had plenty of real deals in the history of NU and terrible MBB. This team is terrible. They lose to crappy teams. So, blame those of us that demand better - because it's our fault.
Go back, have some more koolaid and talk about the pending arrival of Christie, Baldwin and Goode. That's some good entertainment there. Oh, and don't forget to blame the realists when they don't show up. We shot Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny too.
I hope that I don't do that. In fact most recently I think I was telling off the doomsayers who thought there was a reasonable chance we would go 0-20, and think that anything more than 1 win would be surprising.
I'll say this - I agree with CC's comments postgame IL game that the team is making progress, and it's gotta be frustrating for them because it hasn't manifested itself with W's yet. They are playing hard and I think he's coaching well. In most games there are bright spots. That said, the overall state of the program this year remains disappointing. Would love nothing more than to turn things around. Get some more of those W's. Starting with Maryland tonight!
Go Cats
The future looks soooo putrid. We keep losing close to good teams. If Collins was worthy of coaching in B1G we’d be winning these close games. If we actually had depth instead of letting it transfer away that’d be the difference! It’s his fault buie isn’t back yet! Kopp only scored double digits in past 7 game’s! Nance isn’t an all big ten player yet as a sophomore after being brought in a developmental player! NU is terrible.
Its not like top 4 players playing tonight are underclassman. Or they show talent unlike NU has seen before. Not like buie and Beran are freshman. Not like young is just RS frosh. Not like Nance is just a soph same with Kopp. Dude relax it’s not purple tinted glasses. It’s excited to be competitive in games and to see the potential of this young team.
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