Game Thread: Northwestern vs. DePaul
- Thread starter mshelton33
- Start date
You can feel free to blame CCC and Jackson and our coaches and administrators, etc. I choose not to. Many people rightfully thought NU would not do well in the NIL world and we are seeing it here at least right now.
Your berating me for supporting our great coach and believing he or I accept mediocre results is your position but not a well-informed one. I didn’t go to every one of the 6 NCAA games we’ve had under CCC because either of us accepts mediocrity.
With adequate funding the program can be where it was a few years ago, and I think for most of us, that would be wonderful.
This is unwatchable. I suspect we will have games that not only do we not hit 40, but that we may struggle to break 30. DePaul isn't really good. We play many teams that are.
This is unwatchable. I suspect we will have games that not only do we not hit 40, but that we may struggle to break 30. DePaul isn't really good. We play many teams that are.
Academics limits the pool and money gets the ones we can offer in and keeps them in.
Collin’s worst team was the 2019 squad which had buie, Pat Spencer, Pete nance, kopp, and Gaines. Their record was bad but they were competitive. This roster will take the cake for Collins worst.
We play in the BigTen and get beat up. And as good as the league is, how many teams pre-NIL did we see from our league make it to the FF? We had a damn good chance with the team when Nicholson and Berry were out hurt. It’s a real outlier to make it (like 1 in 50 or 100 chance). We might do it someday if all the stars align. We also might have a really bad season if all things work against us (injuries, lack of funding, poor team chemistry, etc.). Collins of course takes ownership for the lack of chemistry, as he should, but that is not a permanent recurring problem in his tenure.
If Singleton and Paige were still on the team, it would be much more competitive. Failure to keep them falls on Chris and his staff. I've always liked what he has brought to NU, but this time he failed to meet the moment.
Interesting how both berate and act as a martyr of beration in the same post…
I choose to lay blame at the feet of the architect of this team, just like the praise deserved when it does well. NU can excel in a NIL world and ccc can choose to stay at NU or leave in protest if NU refuses to provide the reasonable resources to do so.
And of course, there will be small budget schools that do well despite the low budgets. One offs but then, I would be happy with a one off season that leads to an Elite 8 appearance.
so yup, blaming ccc and throwing stones as long as you want to throw stones at those that believe ccc is not blameless
We have not play a B1G yet and are getting beat up by teams from mid majors. CCC accepted the conditions of his employment and creates an implied covenant with the fans to field a competitive team.
Early in his career, he did simply a poor job coaching. Now he is doing a terrible job fielding a competitive team - and does not have the coaching capability (perhaps nobody would) to make this group competitive.
Therefore, I lay the blame at his feet with his big paycheck and choices.
Well you’ll be happy when he’s not coaching here next year.
The NIL budget being shifted all to football was the death knell. The people who made that decision pissed away all of the momentum that Boo gave us. It’s over. Collins won’t be fired but I feel like it’s almost certain he will take another job where he can actually compete.
You have no perspective as to what else is involved in coaching other than to offer that he is like a CEO and the buck stops with him. I disagree and think it’s a lot more nuanced - he reports to the AD and is governed by the University. He knew this job was a challenge yet he took it - feel free to fault him for that…lol. We are seeing many of the challenges and he can only control so much. He’s not without fault; everyone has faults. But I believe the organizational factors are a much bigger reason why we are not more successful than CCC’s abilities.
I can only hope that Jackson is smart enough to get the $ we need to keep Collins and allow him to be competitive.
The best that can come of this year is (1) The main core (West/Gill/Gelo/Hodge/Ghai) develop and get better as the year goes along; and (2) Collins gets enough of a budget to retain that core and add at least one B1G-level starter next portal cycle, preferably a 4 or 5. He kept saying last year that this is a developmental program, but by losing 80% of the team he was kind of forced to reset. I'm still a believer that guys who stick around get better even if they aren't top recruits, as West and Gill are showing so far.
I'm all for throwing Ghai to the wolves at this point and letting him learn by doing. It will be painful to watch at times (that play where he just plowed over the DePaul player on the baseline out of bounds last night and somehow didn't get called for a foul was rough) but he'll be better for it. If Soulis is out for any length of time Collins may have no choice anyway.
I think Gelo needs to be more assertive on offense and not be afraid to take those 10-15 footers he took against BU. If opposing teams know he's only trying to get to the rim, they will be waiting for him.
To Collins' point in the press conference, the initial defense was fine last night, DePaul just kept getting extra possessions by rebounding over half of their own misses. I don't know if this roster can even be a below-average rebounding team, but that would solve a lot of issues. Obviously not hitting shots and not converting in transition also killed them yesterday, but if DePaul doesn't have all those extra possessions, the game is closer.
I'm all for throwing Ghai to the wolves at this point and letting him learn by doing. It will be painful to watch at times (that play where he just plowed over the DePaul player on the baseline out of bounds last night and somehow didn't get called for a foul was rough) but he'll be better for it. If Soulis is out for any length of time Collins may have no choice anyway.
I think Gelo needs to be more assertive on offense and not be afraid to take those 10-15 footers he took against BU. If opposing teams know he's only trying to get to the rim, they will be waiting for him.
To Collins' point in the press conference, the initial defense was fine last night, DePaul just kept getting extra possessions by rebounding over half of their own misses. I don't know if this roster can even be a below-average rebounding team, but that would solve a lot of issues. Obviously not hitting shots and not converting in transition also killed them yesterday, but if DePaul doesn't have all those extra possessions, the game is closer.
It’s 2026. NIL isn’t new. If they couldn’t give him a reasonable budget, they can’t say it’s because they didn’t realize it mattered.
Collins signed an extension presumably with assurances that he could compete. Two straight years, we haven’t even been close to having a real Big Ten roster. I’m sure it’s not lost on Collins that promises of “we’ll take care of you going forward” carry little weight.
The problem is, if your core includes guys like Gill, Gelo and Ghai, you’re probably already not competitive.
Gill seems like a nice kid, but he doesn’t belong in a big ten program. Illinois didn’t even bother to recruit him beyond what they had to do as a courtesy to his dad, because they knew he wasn’t worth wasting a roster spot on. We can’t build a team around cast offs that our peers would never take.
Jackson started in 2024 which allows him to impact one recruiting class thus far. He obviously has focused a lot on football NIL. Let’s hope hoops is next.
Nobody wanted Boo, Barnhizer, or Nick either coming out of high school. Yaxel Lendeborg was an unranked prospect and went to JUCO. Low-major guys like Alvaro Folgueiras end up multi-millionaires after a solid season or two. John Blackwell was a 3-star and Duke paid a fortune for him. Point is that recruiting rankings are fallible and don't mean a ton by the time a guy is 21-22 years old.
There is room for growth especially when you have 5 years to work with. Not saying Gill is a star in the making, but I can see him becoming a poor man's Ty Berry with a bit more juice off the dribble. Could be just as likely that he flops and ends up transferring to a mid-major for playing time like Windham. Either way, he's not a lost cause just because Illinois didn't want him that badly.
It is folly to compare last year to this year. We had a BIG roster last year, albeit flawed.
This is… not a BIG roster. Letting the entire team walk to backfill with this makes no sense to me in the big picture.
I can understand culture or effort concerns but coaches have to win hearts and minds, too. If the response to a team that didn’t gel fully or buy into our philosophy is to put a 5-25 roster on the court, heads need to roll.
This is… not a BIG roster. Letting the entire team walk to backfill with this makes no sense to me in the big picture.
I can understand culture or effort concerns but coaches have to win hearts and minds, too. If the response to a team that didn’t gel fully or buy into our philosophy is to put a 5-25 roster on the court, heads need to roll.
If it’s a “you, then you” situation, then we are screwed. There has to be enough to compete in both revenue sports.
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