Takeaways: Wildcats overwhelm Lehigh in dominant season opener

[lou v]

What an opener! Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from NU's wire-to-wire demolition of Lehigh.

Wildcats overwhelm Lehigh in dominant season opener

Northwestern made a statement with a 90-46 win in their season opener vs. Lehigh.

northwestern.rivals.com

 

[mountaindrew]

What an opener! Here are @mshelton33's takeaways from NU's wire-to-wire demolition of Lehigh.

Wildcats overwhelm Lehigh in dominant season opener

Northwestern made a statement with a 90-46 win in their season opener vs. Lehigh.

northwestern.rivals.com

Great piece, Louie. Loved the Leach summary and video.

"Palindromic"?? I don't even know what the hell that means.

 

[SmellyCat]

"Palindromic"?? I don't even know what the hell that means.

It make more sense if you read it from right to left.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

We were so dominant, it even silenced the C on the game thread!

 

[NUCat320]

For me, Windham is the biggest story. Lightly recruited, limited offers, and relatively unimpressive stat lines for the two weeks I followed the Indiana tournament.

But he gets the game one call, has already earned the nominal sixth-man role, and is set to play meaningful backcourt minutes as a freshman. That bodes well for the short and long term.

Martinelli is obviously *the* story, but I’ve got very high expectations for him this season. My Windham expectations were…I hope he can play. One game is one game, and Lehigh is in the Patriot League or whatever, but that one game went about as well as it could.

 

[SmellyCat]

For me, Windham is the biggest story. Lightly recruited, limited offers, and relatively unimpressive stat lines for the two weeks I followed the Indiana tournament.

But he gets the game one call, has already earned the nominal sixth-man role, and is set to play meaningful backcourt minutes as a freshman. That bodes well for the short and long term.

Martinelli is obviously *the* story, but I’ve got very high expectations for him this season. My Windham expectations were…I hope he can play. One game is one game, and Lehigh is in the Patriot League or whatever, but that one game went about as well as it could.

Absolutely. For many of us, this is the first real look at Windham in purple, and let me just say: I was very impressed. Did he make some mistakes? Of course he did. However, he showed no fear/hesitation and always seemed to be in the middle of the action, sometimes by facilitating, sometimes just getting his hand in there on defense, sometimes taking shots that a lot of other people in his place would hesitate to take. In short, he still has work to do, but he looks like he belongs and will be a significant contributor this year.

To a lesser extent, I liked Jello too. I know he won't play as much against Big Ten opponents and/or when the team is fully healthy, but he was no shrinking violet either. I'm not saying I want our freshmen to take stupid shots or be sloppy, but I just love that a) Collins gave them lots of run and B) they didn't appear to be on any kind of leash or pitch clock - they were just free to do what they do, mistakes and all.

Doesn't mean Collins won't yell at them when they make mistakes, but that's how he teaches.

Saturday will of course be a bigger test, especially if Barnhizer is out and/or rusty, but for a first game, I liked what I saw out of these guys.

 

[Hungry Jack]

KJ's line last night: 28 min, 4-9 FG (2-6 from 3), 3 RB, 6A, 2 ST, 1 TO.

The assist to turnover stat is really impressive.

 

[GatoLouco]

Count me as one more really impressed with KJ. He does not have the attitude of a typical freshman. Opponents will get bigger and faster. But, so far, really impressive

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Count me as one more really impressed with KJ. He does not have the attitude of a typical freshman. Opponents will get bigger and faster. But, so far, really impressive

Your comments from months ago are the primary reason I thought Windham could be pretty good as a freshman.
Then I saw some video of him in those European games and started dreaming big.
He sees the floor, he handles the ball, he is smooth and unafraid. Quick release - he can score.
And he moves and acts like a good basketball player.

All backed up by his first real game.

Ciaravino has some similar traits. I think he will be in front of Blake Smith pretty quickly, but he needs to play defense.
Mullins was mentioned as the glue guy last night. Tough for a freshman to dislodge the glue guy.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Doesn't mean Collins won't yell at them when they make mistakes, but that's how he teaches.

Sitting across from the NU bench last night, I watched Collins really tear into the freshman Ciaravino at one point.
I think it was something like 65-20.
McIntosh was sitting between the stone-faced Lowery and (I assume) our new assistant coach.
Late in the game, when Collins had gone off on somebody for some lapse, he turned to his assistants and got the facial confirmation he wanted, but as soon as Collins turned back to the court, McIntosh just gets a huge grin on his face, says something to the other assistant and they both burst out laughing. Collins turned around and those two immediately reverted to their game faces. It was like they were teenagers.

Lowery's expression remained stone cold throughout.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Your comments from months ago are the primary reason I thought Windham could be pretty good as a freshman.
Then I saw some video of him in those European games and started dreaming big.
He sees the floor, he handles the ball, he is smooth and unafraid. Quick release - he can score.
And he moves and acts like a good basketball player.

Perhaps the biggest impression KJ left with me last night was a non-impression. I can't recall him doing anything egregiously dumb. I am sure if I watch the tape I will find some defensive lapses, and I think he had an ill-advised drive, but if he made bad mistakes, I did not see them. He just seems like a player who understands how to play, and has a game to back it up.

 

[TheC]

Ciaravino has some similar traits. I think he will be in front of Blake Smith pretty quickly, but he needs to play defense.
Mullins was mentioned as the glue guy last night. Tough for a freshman to dislodge the glue guy.

I think defense is what is going to limit Ciaravino at least this year. His foot speed was a notch below a lot of the other guys we had out there. You could see in the second half that he was getting beat off the dribble a fair amount which opened things up for Lehigh. I think he'll get better, but it might limit his minutes in the beginning of the BIG season.