Practice & Scrimmage

[and_go_cats]

Any nuggets out of practice?

Will we hear anything about the 10/31 "secret" scrimmage against Valpo (per espn)?

Info on the unused scholarship and/or 2017 recruiting?

 

[Pete Purple]

I got there at 6:05 PM and only saw the last 7 minutes of the scrimmage. What I saw was very physical. They didn't look like a team that will finish in the bottom half of the conference. Looking forward to finding out.

I'm really excited about our big guys. JvZ is a great addition to the team, and you can already see Alex playing WAY more aggressively, and he's got some new moves.

Depth and athleticism is as advertised.

Collins said they practice a lot of end of game simulations, because he expects many close games.

Tap was in a boot. Did anyone ask him about it?

Team chemistry seemed great.

Can't wait!

 

[NJCat83588]

I got there at 6:05 PM and only saw the last 7 minutes of the scrimmage. What I saw was very physical. They didn't look like a team that will finish in the bottom half of the conference. Looking forward to finding out.

Can't wait!

12 more days until the Quincy scrimmage.....

 

[Jeffrey Cat]

Nat Taphorn turned his ankle in practice last week. Nothing serious.

The team should be alright. Olah is getting a lot of competition from Jvz in practice, which is good.

By 2017 recruiting, I think you mean the Ivanauskas, Benson, and kid from Anchorage/Seattle group. That class is filled with exception of a possible fifth year senior.

Most pleasant surprise his year will be Scottie Lindsey and let's not forget Vic. Also, Nat Taphorn is really big.

All the freshmen looked good especially Aaron Falzone, and Jordan Ash. They will both play a lot and Pardon will be in a lot as the season moves on.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I got there at 6:05 PM and only saw the last 7 minutes of the scrimmage. What I saw was very physical. They didn't look like a team that will finish in the bottom half of the conference. Looking forward to finding out.

I'm really excited about our big guys. JvZ is a great addition to the team, and you can already see Alex playing WAY more aggressively, and he's got some new moves.

Depth and athleticism is as advertised.

Collins said they practice a lot of end of game simulations, because he expects many close games.

Tap was in a boot. Did anyone ask him about it?

Team chemistry seemed great.

Can't wait!

Calling it now. We are tourney bound. This is the year. Great senior leadership. Size. Athleticism. Depth. Chemistry. Advantage of the Spain trip.

There is nothing lacking in this team right now. We may contend.

 

[NJCat83588]

We may contend.

Just a question for clarification.....contend for what? Big 10 Champion? NIT Champion? NCAA Champion? Best team in the LOL?

 

[Medill90]

There's a nice video up on the facebook page with three bball analysts including shon morris talking about the cats

(Our 26 year-old social media guru says, "the only person who still uses facebook is my mother.")

 

[TheC]

There's a nice video up on the facebook page with three bball analysts including shon morris talking about the cats

(Our 26 year-old social media guru says, "the only person who still uses facebook is my mother.")

We were playing zone in that clip. Guess there is one answer for this season.

 

[NJCat83588]

There's a nice video up on the facebook page with three bball analysts including shon morris talking about the cats

(Our 26 year-old social media guru says, "the only person who still uses facebook is my mother.")

Fun to watch.

 

[Ubermorgen]

Excited for the season!

 

[NJCat83588]

Excited for the season!

Finally some chatter on the basketball board!

 

[Ubermorgen]

We were playing zone in that clip. Guess there is one answer for this season.

Even teams that play primarily man2man, will practice zone defenses. However my guess is that they are not fully really to play just man2man. Would be nice to think they can switch up defenses some.

 

[Styre]

I was not there, but a good friend and fellow season ticket holder was, and he sent along some observations.

-The team looks more athletic than ever, comparable to any B1G team
-The sophomores in particular look bigger/stronger
-Preseason rankings have been very fair; thinks NU is closer to 50 than 80, though
-Skelly was the biggest surprise; thinks he could be a significant rotation player
-JvZ will be "very helpful"
-Falzon can shoot but not sure what position he'll play; he'll get pushed around if he plays the 4
-Pardon is more of a project
-Ash is well-developed for a freshman and should see spot duty along with Lindsey relieving McIntosh or Demps
-Almost everyone on the team is attempting threes; Demps is by far the most consistent shooter from distance

In sum, the team looks like it should be improved defensively. If they find reliable three point shooters and make shots more consistently, they could make a strong push for the tournament bubble. Hopefully that happens and we have a fun, memorable season.

 

[Walker Fan]

Guys to try to answer some of your questions:
1. Collins appears to want have balanced classes. That means 4 sophs, then 3 frosh, then 3 in the 2017 class and then 3 in the 2018 class and then we will have 13 scholarship players and great depth;
2. The team has very good depth this year and much improved athleticism so Collins will have man-to-man defense, zone defenses at his disposal and since he has good athletes don't be surprise to see full court trap situations;
3. When posters use the word contend, I would guess they mean contend for a NCAA tourney spot.

The Big 10 and ACC appear to be the two best conferences which means that the Big 10 will have 7-8 teams in the tourney. The Big 10 has more depth 1-10 in my opinion than the ACC. NU will be fighting for slots 5-8 in the Big 10 with 1. UM - has excellent backcourt, but once again has questions at the PF and C positions; 2. OSU - they lose starting PG and SG who was the no. 2 pick in the NCAA draft, but they recruited another highly rated SG who was not swayed by Louisville's well publicized recruiting tricks; 3. Iowa - I think they will be hurt be the graduation of White and Olesheni more than the prognosticators think. All the pressure is on Uthoff to fill in the voids; 4. Illinois - have had huge injury issues and 5. NU. Can NU compete with any of these teams? My answer is yes but they need to bring it every game or else, they could lose to a school like Western Michigan as they did last season. But I think the days of 10 minute stretches of not scoring and full games of 2-3 zones are over!

 

[TheC]

Even teams that play primarily man2man, will practice zone defenses. However my guess is that they are not fully really to play just man2man. Would be nice to think they can switch up defenses some.

Sorry...forgot to turn on the sarcasm font.

 

[TheC]

2. OSU - they lose starting PG and SG who was the no. 2 pick in the NCAA draft, but they recruited another highly rated SG who was not swayed by Louisville's well publicized recruiting tricks;

At OSU, they just give you the cash directly and you get to decide if you want to spend it on hookers or something else. Its much classier there.

 

[JoeWildcat]

Even teams that play primarily man2man, will practice zone defenses. However my guess is that they are not fully really to play just man2man. Would be nice to think they can switch up defenses some.

I would expect to see at least a modest amount of zone defense this season. It is much easier to hold the seams of a zone together for 30 seconds than the old 35 seconds.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Just a question for clarification.....contend for what? Big 10 Champion? NIT Champion? NCAA Champion? Best team in the LOL?

B1G

 

[NJCat83588]

B1G

Not impossible, but very unlikely.......I really hope you are right though!

 

[willycat]

I got there at 6:05 PM and only saw the last 7 minutes of the scrimmage. What I saw was very physical. They didn't look like a team that will finish in the bottom half of the conference. Looking forward to finding out.

I'm really excited about our big guys. JvZ is a great addition to the team, and you can already see Alex playing WAY more aggressively, and he's got some new moves.

Depth and athleticism is as advertised.

Collins said they practice a lot of end of game simulations, because he expects many close games.

Tap was in a boot. Did anyone ask him about it?

Team chemistry seemed great.

Can't wait!

Do you or anyone else know if they will hold an open scrimmage, either before or after one of the final FB games, as was done previously?

 

[Pete Purple]

Sorry, l do not.

 

[mikewebb68]

Do you or anyone else know if they will hold an open scrimmage, either before or after one of the final FB games, as was done previously?

I believe that the timing for that just didn't work out this year, since we were on the road last week and have the bye this week....

 

[Turk]

Guys to try to answer some of your questions:
1. Collins appears to want have balanced classes. That means 4 sophs, then 3 frosh, then 3 in the 2017 class and then 3 in the 2018 class and then we will have 13 scholarship players and great depth;
2. The team has very good depth this year and much improved athleticism so Collins will have man-to-man defense, zone defenses at his disposal and since he has good athletes don't be surprise to see full court trap situations;
3. When posters use the word contend, I would guess they mean contend for a NCAA tourney spot.

The Big 10 and ACC appear to be the two best conferences which means that the Big 10 will have 7-8 teams in the tourney. The Big 10 has more depth 1-10 in my opinion than the ACC. NU will be fighting for slots 5-8 in the Big 10 with 1. UM - has excellent backcourt, but once again has questions at the PF and C positions; 2. OSU - they lose starting PG and SG who was the no. 2 pick in the NCAA draft, but they recruited another highly rated SG who was not swayed by Louisville's well publicized recruiting tricks; 3. Iowa - I think they will be hurt be the graduation of White and Olesheni more than the prognosticators think. All the pressure is on Uthoff to fill in the voids; 4. Illinois - have had huge injury issues and 5. NU. Can NU compete with any of these teams? My answer is yes but they need to bring it every game or else, they could lose to a school like Western Michigan as they did last season. But I think the days of 10 minute stretches of not scoring and full games of 2-3 zones are over!

^^^^This^^^

We may finally have depth but a lot of inexperience. Possibly more personal fouls as well. The thing that separates teams 7-10 of the BIG will be free throws. We have to nail those this year to have any chance to flirt with the NCAA's.

My assumptions going into this year are:
1. Law will pick up where he left off at last year, i.e., a helluva lot better at scoring.
2. It seems to me that Olah hit his peak. Not sure we can expect much more out of him even though some posters are suggesting he is the next EE. If he plays as confident and as well as last year, I'll take it!
3. BMac. I'm assuming he brings a renewed confidence. He seemed to lose his shot drastically last year with long stretches of missing buckets. Got sorta beat up playing extended minutes and had no legs at the end of the season. With some help this year, we may see an excellent BMC.
4. Skelly is legit. Bottom line.

Bottom line is that we don't have any pure shooters on this team and we don't have the athleticism that will recognize any of our players at the next level. What we did do is close the gap at the BIG level and have 'good players', but certainly nobody that is going to crack the All Big Ten second team lineup.

But this is a team sport, so collectively, I think 'par' will be them squeaking into the NIT at 18-13 or something like that. 18 wins is a great season for us and a very competitive team. I doubt we win or lose BIG games by more than 10 points.

 

[Turk]

Not impossible, but very unlikely.......I really hope you are right though!

For us to contend for the BIG or even flirt with a NCAA bid, we will need breakout seasons by at least two players. At times, albeit very few, Law looked as if he was unguardable, especially later in the year when he had confidence. But I think that was the exception, so I am not getting my hopes up that all of the sudden these guys will turn on the switch and hit nothing but net. I watched this team last year struggle with getting one single bucket during 10 minute stretches....ALOT. And free throws were also a problem. That may have been due to a lack of depth but we will see. And Lindsey had moments but nothing consistent to give me the confidence to think that he will find his shooting range with lights out bb. But I think Law and Lindsay hold the key to this season. Even Demps went very long dry spell stretches where he couldn't buy a bucket. The good thing is that BMC is a helluva PG and we got tons and tons of open looks last year, but we simply couldn't make the baskets. And that's the difference between NCAA teams and teams that dont' go anywhere.

I'm hopeful with the added depth [although BC holdovers Lumpkin and Taphorn will have to play above their capabilities]. The needed upgrade behind Olah, itself, is worth two additional wins. I say we turn the corner and a NIT bid is probable or at least par.

 

[NJCat83588]

We may finally have depth but a lot of inexperience. Huh? All the starters return this season. There are 3 Freshmen, but the other 9 guys all have serious minutes including 3 seniors.


1. Law will pick up where he left off at last year, i.e., a helluva lot better at scoring. I agree. Although he really turned into a jump shooter. I'd like to see some runs at the rim this year.
2. It seems to me that Olah hit his peak. Not sure we can expect much more out of him even though some posters are suggesting he is the next EE. If he plays as confident and as well as last year, I'll take it! Agree. He will never be the second coming of EE. Just a different sort of player.
3. BMac. I'm assuming he brings a renewed confidence. He seemed to lose his shot drastically last year with long stretches of missing buckets. Got sorta beat up playing extended minutes and had no legs at the end of the season. With some help this year, we may see an excellent BMC. Agree that he wore out towards the end of the season, both due to the heavy minutes and due to his illness. Not sure he is athletic enough to compete with the best big 10 point guards.
4. Skelly is legit. Bottom line. We'll see. Last year I saw a high energy guy with very limited offensive skills. Will be interested in whether he can bring some scoring this year.

Bottom line is that we don't have any pure shooters on this team Huh? According to Collins Falzon is as good a 3 point shooter as you will find int he Big 10!and we don't have the athleticism that will recognize any of our players at the next level. What we did do is close the gap at the BIG level and have 'good players', but certainly nobody that is going to crack the All Big Ten second team lineup. You might be right, although i think Tre has a shot at second or third team.

But this is a team sport, so collectively, I think 'par' will be them squeaking into the NIT at 18-13 or something like that. 18 wins is a great season for us and a very competitive team. I doubt we win or lose BIG games by more than 10 points. I agree. I think they go 10-3 OOC and win 8 regular season Big 10 games. Watch out for Columbia, those guys are good and probably have circled the game in Evanston as the highlight of their season. Hopefully this will be good enough for the NIT. 18-13 is not a lock.

 

[Pete Purple]

Are you guys saying that Olah hit his peak last yr? Were you at the open practice? I saw (granted, about 4 minutes) the best Olah l've ever seen. Pretty much a new Olah. Also, as I've said (granted, I'm not a prolific poster) l see JvZ as a monster. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ending up with equal minutes. Don't misunderstand me, l'm not implying that Olah will be where most of our offense comes from, but I am expecting him to have perhaps 25% more impact than last yr. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that him and JvZ combined will have a huge impact.

P.S. Turk, pls email me at sigmundo@sbcglobal.net so I may correspond personally.

 

[NJCat83588]

Are you guys saying that Olah hit his peak last yr? Were you at the open practice? I saw (granted, about 4 minutes) the best Olah l've ever seen. Pretty much a new Olah. Also, as I've said (granted, I'm not a prolific poster) l see JvZ as a monster. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ending up with equal minutes. Don't misunderstand me, l'm not implying that Olah will be where most of our offense comes from, but I am expecting him to have perhaps 25% more impact than last yr. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that him and JvZ combined will have a huge impact.

P.S. Turk, pls email me at sigmundo@sbcglobal.net so I may correspond personally.

I have not seen him in practice this season. I hope you are right. But I have seen too many games where Alex disappeared or was intimidated (Purdue, for example). Maybe the JvZ support will help Alex stay fresher game by game throughout the season and he'll step up his game. We'll see.

 

[Pete Purple]

No argument with your evaluation-totally fair. Basically l've been pleased with Olah's development since yr 1. Let's just say l'm more optimistic about him heading into this season than than last. We'll know more soon.

P.S. Who's going to the Kansas City tourney?

 

[Turk]

Are you guys saying that Olah hit his peak last yr? Were you at the open practice? I saw (granted, about 4 minutes) the best Olah l've ever seen. Pretty much a new Olah. Also, as I've said (granted, I'm not a prolific poster) l see JvZ as a monster. I wouldn't be surprised to see them ending up with equal minutes. Don't misunderstand me, l'm not implying that Olah will be where most of our offense comes from, but I am expecting him to have perhaps 25% more impact than last yr. Or maybe it's more accurate to say that him and JvZ combined will have a huge impact.

P.S. Turk, pls email me at sigmundo@sbcglobal.net so I may correspond personally.

no, I didn't make any practices. My perspective is based on last year's observation only.

 

[Turk]

We may finally have depth but a lot of inexperience. Huh? All the starters return this season. There are 3 Freshmen, but the other 9 guys all have serious minutes including 3 seniors.


1. Law will pick up where he left off at last year, i.e., a helluva lot better at scoring. I agree. Although he really turned into a jump shooter. I'd like to see some runs at the rim this year.
2. It seems to me that Olah hit his peak. Not sure we can expect much more out of him even though some posters are suggesting he is the next EE. If he plays as confident and as well as last year, I'll take it! Agree. He will never be the second coming of EE. Just a different sort of player.
3. BMac. I'm assuming he brings a renewed confidence. He seemed to lose his shot drastically last year with long stretches of missing buckets. Got sorta beat up playing extended minutes and had no legs at the end of the season. With some help this year, we may see an excellent BMC. Agree that he wore out towards the end of the season, both due to the heavy minutes and due to his illness. Not sure he is athletic enough to compete with the best big 10 point guards.
4. Skelly is legit. Bottom line. We'll see. Last year I saw a high energy guy with very limited offensive skills. Will be interested in whether he can bring some scoring this year.

Bottom line is that we don't have any pure shooters on this team Huh? According to Collins Falzon is as good a 3 point shooter as you will find int he Big 10!and we don't have the athleticism that will recognize any of our players at the next level. What we did do is close the gap at the BIG level and have 'good players', but certainly nobody that is going to crack the All Big Ten second team lineup. You might be right, although i think Tre has a shot at second or third team.

But this is a team sport, so collectively, I think 'par' will be them squeaking into the NIT at 18-13 or something like that. 18 wins is a great season for us and a very competitive team. I doubt we win or lose BIG games by more than 10 points. I agree. I think they go 10-3 OOC and win 8 regular season Big 10 games. Watch out for Columbia, those guys are good and probably have circled the game in Evanston as the highlight of their season. Hopefully this will be good enough for the NIT. 18-13 is not a lock.

True, the starters return. But the statement was considering depth or a two deep. I don't believe that we can say that we have 'experienced depth'. We will have to rely on Taphorn and Skelly, both of which have little experience, and 3 freshman who never played the college BB game. The saving grace is that Ash and Falzon appear to be able to contribute meaningful minutes even though they lack experience.

As far as shots, I hear good things about Falzon but there was no better purer shooter than BMC who once made 50 shots in a row. But, in this college game, and man to man defense, BMC had some games where he was like 2 for 10 and couldn't buy a basket.

 

[EvanstonCat]

You guys are nuts.

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams.
Olah will win All-Conference honors.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots.
Law and MacIntosh will be improved.
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights.
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out.
Sanjay Lumpkin, a guy who was a starter for us two years ago, is going to be a role player for us now.

We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality.

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me.

 

[TheC]

You guys are nuts.

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams.
Olah will win All-Conference honors.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots.
Law and MacIntosh will be improved.
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights.
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out.
Sanjay Lumpkin, a guy who was a starter for us two years ago, is going to be a role player for us now.

We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality.

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me.

While I agree with much of what you posted and am certainly excited about this season, the one thing we miss is that star power. We lack the one or two star players that carry a team and give everyone else confidence. We have a solid roster of good BIG level players, but we lack that go to star. I think that matters for making it to March.

 

[NJCat83588]

While I agree with much of what you posted and am certainly excited about this season, the one thing we miss is that star power. We lack the one or two star players that carry a team and give everyone else confidence. We have a solid roster of good BIG level players, but we lack that go to star. I think that matters for making it to March.

I respectfully disagree. I think Demps will be that star this season.

 

[NJCat83588]

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year. Agree.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams. Agree
Olah will win All-Conference honors. I like Alex a lot. But he would be the 4th best Center on Purdue alone.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots. Agree
Law and MacIntosh will be improved. Agree
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights. Agree
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out. How do you know this? Yes, Collins has said he is a great shooter, but let's wait until we see some competition against Big 10 caliber forwards.


We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team. The problem is, 8 or 9 other Big 10 teams can say the same.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality. I have been saying this for some time. Tap might be the weakest link and he would start on most NU teams in prior years (he did in fact start his first game under Collins as a true Freshman, you can look it up).

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me. The Big 10 has NEVER sent more than 7 team to the NCAA. I believe NU will need to win at least 9 regular season games to get there. With 6 Big 10 teams ranked in the preseason Top 25, that will be a tall order. Someone will get hurt. Guys will have off nights. There will be mid-term exams which hurt focus (oh, I forgot, that only happens in football, Collins has never used that excuse to my knowledge). So while the future looks bright, you have to add back the unforeseen downsides. If NU gets to 0.500 in th eleague that would be great progress IMHO.

 

[CoralSpringsCat]

You guys are nuts.

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams.
Olah will win All-Conference honors.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots.
Law and MacIntosh will be improved.
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights.
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out.
Sanjay Lumpkin, a guy who was a starter for us two years ago, is going to be a role player for us now.

We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality.

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me.

 

[EvanstonCat]

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year. Agree.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams. Agree
Olah will win All-Conference honors. I like Alex a lot. But he would be the 4th best Center on Purdue alone.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots. Agree
Law and MacIntosh will be improved. Agree
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights. Agree
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out. How do you know this? Yes, Collins has said he is a great shooter, but let's wait until we see some competition against Big 10 caliber forwards.


We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team. The problem is, 8 or 9 other Big 10 teams can say the same.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality. I have been saying this for some time. Tap might be the weakest link and he would start on most NU teams in prior years (he did in fact start his first game under Collins as a true Freshman, you can look it up).

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me. The Big 10 has NEVER sent more than 7 team to the NCAA. I believe NU will need to win at least 9 regular season games to get there. With 6 Big 10 teams ranked in the preseason Top 25, that will be a tall order. Someone will get hurt. Guys will have off nights. There will be mid-term exams which hurt focus (oh, I forgot, that only happens in football, Collins has never used that excuse to my knowledge). So while the future looks bright, you have to add back the unforeseen downsides. If NU gets to 0.500 in th eleague that would be great progress IMHO.

We are going to make it easily. Top 5 in the conference. Top 5 go right?

 

[backdoorpass]

You guys are nuts.

The freshmen are sophomores. Biggest improvements are made in this year.
JvZ brings so much - Olah won't have to play on fumes, and the two of them out there at the same time make us bigger than most B1G teams.
Olah will win All-Conference honors.
Demps is Demps. He will go off and score 30 more than once this year and he will hit clutch shots.
Law and MacIntosh will be improved.
Lindsay will be the breakout player. He will lead us in scoring a bunch of nights.
Our shooting is good, and we are adding Falzon who is lights out.
Sanjay Lumpkin, a guy who was a starter for us two years ago, is going to be a role player for us now.

We are deep, we are big, we are athletic, we are experienced, we can shoot. We look like a NCAA tourney team.
For the first time ever, we have full roster depth. Every single player is B1G quality.

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me.

I'm with EvanstonCat on pretty much everything he said. And I'm with NJCat in that I think Demps will be a big time star. And nobody has mentioned Coach Collins... But I really believe in CCC's ability to coach and build chemistry off the court as much as I believe in his staff's individual coaching, game planning and game-day adjustments. It was remarkable--if not unbelievable--last season when we won 5 of 6 B1G games after dropping 10-in-a-row. I expect this year's squad to be firing on all cylinders after the Spain experience (and additional practice time), a huge off-season for a bunch of matriculating sophomores, the final go-around for Olah and Demps...and an OOC schedule* that almost guarantees us to be in a spot on December 30th in which producing a winning B1G season will put us in contention for the NCAA Tournament. Every B1G game matters, and we will be ready to compete on offense and DEFENSE!

* I know that some people have tried to frame our OOC schedule as "not that bad." However, aside from North Carolina, the next best team we might play is Kansas State (Pomroy rank 110). Otherwise, we will play Missouri (Pomroy rank 167) in KC instead. Other than that, there's Depaul (Pomroy rank 113), Columbia (Pomroy rank 126) and Virginia Tech (Pomroy rank 131). Maybe one of these teams will be much better than expected... Still, if we're truly one of the top 45 or so teams in the country (qualifying us for the NCAA Tournament), we should easily be able to escape our OOC schedule with 10 to 12 wins (out of 13 games). [Every other team we face is out of the kenpom top 200!] I hope for at least 11 wins. 10 wins makes it more challenging, but not impossible with the BTT at the end of the season. Unless we completely suck OOC, it comes down to the B1G record.

 

[Sec.112]

I guess I don't see what the rest of you are seeing. I think anything short of the NCAA's is a disappointing year for me.

I think NJCat is more in the right ballpark when he says, "So while the future looks bright, you have to add back the unforeseen downsides."

There's also the very-possible downsides. For instance, whose game remains stagnant? Do two of your starting five still play crappy defense?

I know this is one of your grand statements, ECat. However, six of your first eight points depend on strong improvement. And I don't care what sport it is: outside of a Theo Epstein farm system , I think you're being unrealistic to depend on such improvement across the board.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Look, if some of ECat's crazy bs is going to true at any point in time, I'd love for it to be this one.

 

[Medill90]

In one of his recent press events Collins talked about the mentality of some of the Duke teams he was on and their ability to beat superior teams because of their mindset.

When you think about how young last year's team was the close losses to OSU, MSU and Michigan were pretty remarkable. And a couple of those were helped with poor officiating.

If this team has the right mindset they can go on a little run in conference and beat teams they're not supposed to beat. Nebraska did it a couple years ago and I'd argue that this NU team has more talent than that Nebraska team.

The right mindset can push this team past 9 conference wins. With this roster it wouldn't be that much of a surprise. Expected? No. But not that much of a surprise.