So you don't have to waste your time

[Alan Smithee]

giving ESPN a click, here's their NU portion of their Big Ten season preview, in its entirety:

"12. Northwestern Wildcats: A year after leading Northwestern to the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the Wildcats were booted from their home floor and sent to Allstate Arena while Welsh-Ryan Arena underwent a $110 million renovation. It cost the Wildcats key momentum in a difficult season. Now that they're back on campus, a Northwestern squad with Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, a pair of seniors who combined to average 22.3 PPG, and a multitude of new faces will fight to keep Northwestern from the league's basement."

 

[Alan Smithee]

giving ESPN a click, here's their NU portion of their Big Ten season preview, in its entirety:

"12. Northwestern Wildcats: A year after leading Northwestern to the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the Wildcats were booted from their home floor and sent to Allstate Arena while Welsh-Ryan Arena underwent a $110 million renovation. It cost the Wildcats key momentum in a difficult season. Now that they're back on campus, a Northwestern squad with Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, a pair of seniors who combined to average 22.3 PPG, and a multitude of new faces will fight to keep Northwestern from the league's basement."

The above ranking has us managing to stay above the Illini and Rutgers in the basement.

 

[Sec.112]

Let me add the following from The Athletic today ...

BTW, since I'm helping myself to some their their content, let me say this about The Athletic. If you're a bit of a college hoops junkie like me, they're doing a REALLY good job so far this year. It's been a month or so of previews and more. There's been some great full scale previews throughout the B10. I hope NU is soon. As college basketball gets treated more and more like a fringe sport, this is the best coverage I've seen in a while. Add all the other sports to that as well as some of the great writing, and you get more than your $40 a year. It's really way too much to take in.

This paragraph isn't a great example (eh-hem Ryan Taylor?!?!), but I'll throw it out there.


Northwestern is about to meet life without Bryant McIntosh and it’s likely to resemble an all-too-familiar place. After a few years trying to climb up the standings, 2018-19 will mark a slide back to the floor. Chris Collins brings back Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, but the roster is short on proven commodities. The only way to foresee Northwestern finishing in the middle of the pack is if Boston College transfer A.J. Turner is a breakout star and if someone else like Anthony Gaines becomes a significant contributor. Collins brings in a few nice freshmen, but it feels like they’re entering a rebuilding phase. The good news, however, is at least the Wildcats will have use of an actual home gym this season following Welsh-Ryan Arena’s completed renovation.

 

[freewillie07]

The team will play with a chip on their shoulder. Good. Can’t wait to see some real joy and team basketball again. Even in victory, last year’s squad was painfully not fun to watch.

 

[wocka]

In general, people have way too short memories. Having consistent success is difficult. Nebraska, a perennial B1G bottom-dweller, is suddenly a conference contender because of one NIT year. And Northwestern is suddenly back to being a bottom dweller because of one season.

(shrug)

 

[NJCat]

In general, people have way too short memories. Having consistent success is difficult. Nebraska, a perennial B1G bottom-dweller, is suddenly a conference contender because of one NIT year. And Northwestern is suddenly back to being a bottom dweller because of one season.

(shrug)

Recency bias.

One really smart basketball analyst had NU in the Final Four last preseason.
[shrug][facepalm]

 

[ricko654321]

Let me add the following from The Athletic today ...

BTW, since I'm helping myself to some their their content, let me say this about The Athletic. If you're a bit of a college hoops junkie like me, they're doing a REALLY good job so far this year. It's been a month or so of previews and more. There's been some great full scale previews throughout the B10. I hope NU is soon. As college basketball gets treated more and more like a fringe sport, this is the best coverage I've seen in a while. Add all the other sports to that as well as some of the great writing, and you get more than your $40 a year. It's really way too much to take in.

This paragraph isn't a great example (eh-hem Ryan Taylor?!?!), but I'll throw it out there.


Northwestern is about to meet life without Bryant McIntosh and it’s likely to resemble an all-too-familiar place. After a few years trying to climb up the standings, 2018-19 will mark a slide back to the floor. Chris Collins brings back Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, but the roster is short on proven commodities. The only way to foresee Northwestern finishing in the middle of the pack is if Boston College transfer A.J. Turner is a breakout star and if someone else like Anthony Gaines becomes a significant contributor. Collins brings in a few nice freshmen, but it feels like they’re entering a rebuilding phase. The good news, however, is at least the Wildcats will have use of an actual home gym this season following Welsh-Ryan Arena’s completed renovation.

I also signed up for a year of the Athletic and it has been WELLLLL worth it. Way better than ESPN content and also way better than the Ringer. You get both the daily reporting news-type stuff on the pro teams that ESPN provides, and the more one-off think pieces (some shorter, some longer) on interesting topics that the Ringer provides. And frankly I think they do both of them better than those competitors. Their local coverage teams for pro sports are like old school local news coverage, and all the ones I've read are high quality. The combination of high-quality local coverage plus interesting national coverage is awesome for the cheap price. I've been able to drop the mostly trash that the Ringer provides (ex Mark Titus and sometimes Robert Mays), and same with the mostly trash that ESPN writes (ex Bill Barnwell and Zach Lowe), and just read higher quality content (and more content) there.

And this is a bit tangential, but they don't seem to have an agenda when talking about intersection of sports vs pop culture or whatever else, they just report on stuff and generally try to be objective rather than taking a side or ramming something at the reader, which is a refreshing change of pace from many other sites these days. Sports reporting should be about sports.

They don't have Northwestern coverage yet... but that's okay, we have Wildcat Report...

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

I also signed up for a year of the Athletic and it has been WELLLLL worth it. Way better than ESPN content and also way better than the Ringer. You get both the daily reporting news-type stuff on the pro teams that ESPN provides, and the more one-off think pieces (some shorter, some longer) on interesting topics that the Ringer provides. And frankly I think they do both of them better than those competitors. Their local coverage teams for pro sports are like old school local news coverage, and all the ones I've read are high quality. The combination of high-quality local coverage plus interesting national coverage is awesome for the cheap price. I've been able to drop the mostly trash that the Ringer provides (ex Mark Titus and sometimes Robert Mays), and same with the mostly trash that ESPN writes (ex Bill Barnwell and Zach Lowe), and just read higher quality content (and more content) there.

And this is a bit tangential, but they don't seem to have an agenda when talking about intersection of sports vs pop culture or whatever else, they just report on stuff and generally try to be objective rather than taking a side or ramming something at the reader, which is a refreshing change of pace from many other sites these days. Sports reporting should be about sports.

They don't have Northwestern coverage yet... but that's okay, we have Wildcat Report...

Time permitting,I will keep you posted about the Wildcats.

Sincerely.
The voice of NU Sports
The Wrassler

 

[pawildcat]

Let me add the following from The Athletic today ...

BTW, since I'm helping myself to some their their content, let me say this about The Athletic. If you're a bit of a college hoops junkie like me, they're doing a REALLY good job so far this year. It's been a month or so of previews and more. There's been some great full scale previews throughout the B10. I hope NU is soon. As college basketball gets treated more and more like a fringe sport, this is the best coverage I've seen in a while. Add all the other sports to that as well as some of the great writing, and you get more than your $40 a year. It's really way too much to take in.

This paragraph isn't a great example (eh-hem Ryan Taylor?!?!), but I'll throw it out there.


Northwestern is about to meet life without Bryant McIntosh and it’s likely to resemble an all-too-familiar place. After a few years trying to climb up the standings, 2018-19 will mark a slide back to the floor. Chris Collins brings back Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, but the roster is short on proven commodities. The only way to foresee Northwestern finishing in the middle of the pack is if Boston College transfer A.J. Turner is a breakout star and if someone else like Anthony Gaines becomes a significant contributor. Collins brings in a few nice freshmen, but it feels like they’re entering a rebuilding phase. The good news, however, is at least the Wildcats will have use of an actual home gym this season following Welsh-Ryan Arena’s completed renovation.

Yeah, saw your last line there. Hard to believe they could ignore a transfer that averaged more than 20 ppg in a decent Division I league, but. . . .

 

[DaCat]

Let me add the following from The Athletic today ...


This paragraph isn't a great example (eh-hem Ryan Taylor?!?!), but I'll throw it out there.


Northwestern is about to meet life without Bryant McIntosh and it’s likely to resemble an all-too-familiar place. After a few years trying to climb up the standings, 2018-19 will mark a slide back to the floor. Chris Collins brings back Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, but the roster is short on proven commodities. The only way to foresee Northwestern finishing in the middle of the pack is if Boston College transfer A.J. Turner is a breakout star and if someone else like Anthony Gaines becomes a significant contributor. Collins brings in a few nice freshmen, but it feels like they’re entering a rebuilding phase. The good news, however, is at least the Wildcats will have use of an actual home gym this season following Welsh-Ryan Arena’s completed renovation.

Yeah, saw your last line there. Hard to believe they could ignore a transfer that averaged more than 20 ppg in a decent Division I league, but. . . .

Yes that is a huge omission. I believe that Taylor will be our leading scorer and will help spread the floor for Pardon to do damage inside. Of course we need someone to deliver the ball to Pardon, but hoping that Turner and Taylor will be able to distribute the ball sufficiently.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

Wish we had Mooney or Lathon

 

[EvanstonCat]

giving ESPN a click, here's their NU portion of their Big Ten season preview, in its entirety:

"12. Northwestern Wildcats: A year after leading Northwestern to the first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, the Wildcats were booted from their home floor and sent to Allstate Arena while Welsh-Ryan Arena underwent a $110 million renovation. It cost the Wildcats key momentum in a difficult season. Now that they're back on campus, a Northwestern squad with Vic Law and Dererk Pardon, a pair of seniors who combined to average 22.3 PPG, and a multitude of new faces will fight to keep Northwestern from the league's basement."

Very lazy. No mention of Ryan Taylor who was perhaps most coveted graduate transfer guard if not overall player in the nation, pursued by almost anyone with an open roster spot and need for scoring, and immediately will be our leading scorer or Turner who was the #3 option at BC as a sophomore when he transferred.

The Athletic does slightly better in mentioning Turner, but no Taylor? Bad journalism.

 

[Fitz51]

We’ll probably stink. Maybe we won’t. Maybe we’ll be pretty good. That’s kinda NU basketball in a nutshell.

 

[Medill90]

Like many others, it's the deficit at lead guard that concerns me. But it's not like there aren't assets with experience on the roster. No, not B Mac, but three or four guys who understand how an offense is supposed to run and have the skill to do it.

Reading a lot about "new faces" and "we don't what they bring." Ok, the negative side of that is to believe that there's no chemistry and the newbies need seasoning.

My issue with using this argument to put NU in the bottom third is that....1.) two of the newbies have four years of D1 college basketball.....and 2.) close to the entire roster, position by position, should be better.

So, yes, we don't know. But it's not like it's five highly regarded freshman we're relying upon. It's a senior laden team.

Turner...4*, two year D1 starter
Taylor....leading scorer...BJ says the best shooter
Law....4*, the NU resume....and surgery to address significant physical limitations
Pardon....bigger and better
Benson....4*, bigger and better
Falzon.....4*, healthier....2nd best three point shooter as a frosh
Ash....better every year
Gaines...."are you looking at me."

Each of the guys above should show marked improvement.

And then from the frosh...

Greer....any minutes would be great....shirt is fine if he's not needed
Kopp....come in....scrum a bit...contribute both ends
Nance...just get used to be in the Big Ten...if he shows, let him go
Ryan....conditioning and big man moves

So, does Iowa have a better story to tell....Illinois? Minny? Nebraska? They are no doubt more settled at guard and in college it's the most important position. But if the chemistry is there NU can take two from each of those teams.

 

[Katatonic]

Definitely underselling (if not missing) Turner and Taylor.

Expect 7-12 in the B1G to be a big jumble.

 

[EvanstonCat]

Like many others, it's the deficit at lead guard that concerns me. But it's not like there aren't assets with experience on the roster. No, not B Mac, but three or four guys who understand how an offense is supposed to run and have the skill to do it.

Reading a lot about "new faces" and "we don't what they bring." Ok, the negative side of that is to believe that there's no chemistry and the newbies need seasoning.

My issue with using this argument to put NU in the bottom third is that....1.) two of the newbies have four years of D1 college basketball.....and 2.) close to the entire roster, position by position, should be better.

So, yes, we don't know. But it's not like it's five highly regarded freshman we're relying upon. It's a senior laden team.

Turner...4*, two year D1 starter
Taylor....leading scorer...BJ says the best shooter
Law....4*, the NU resume....and surgery to address significant physical limitations
Pardon....bigger and better
Benson....4*, bigger and better
Falzon.....4*, healthier....2nd best three point shooter as a frosh
Ash....better every year
Gaines...."are you looking at me."

Each of the guys above should show marked improvement.

And then from the frosh...

Greer....any minutes would be great....shirt is fine if he's not needed
Kopp....come in....scrum a bit...contribute both ends
Nance...just get used to be in the Big Ten...if he shows, let him go
Ryan....conditioning and big man moves

So, does Iowa have a better story to tell....Illinois? Minny? Nebraska? They are no doubt more settled at guard and in college it's the most important position. But if the chemistry is there NU can take two from each of those teams.

We are going to be one of the better teams in the conference. This will be our best team to date. Kopp and Nance are going to do more than just "contribute."