13th in the Big Ten this year
- Thread starter freewillie07
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Rothstein has generally stood by NU. Its hard to imagine any team with no pure point guard to play well, especially since NU relied on BMAC two years ago to make the NCAA. The issue in my opinion is will there be addition by subtraction regarding team chemistry that will allow for improvement.
I think this is good for us. We didn't handle expectations well last year, so know we'll have something to prove. No excuse not to play hard this season.
FWIW, I heard there was chemistry problem created by success and it divided the team into the guys who felt really good about themselves and the guys who wanted to keep working. The guys who were apparently an issue graduated (Skelly not in this group). Pretty consistent with what we saw on the floor.
Yep...the chemistry issue was a major problem. It’s really too bad, because that was a talented team. Hopefully that’s all in the rear view and we come out hungry this year.
"The guys who were apparently an issue graduated."
Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Gavin Skelly graduated.
"Skelly not in this group."
So...
Hmmm. Hopefully the dynamics have changed and the team can mesh better this year.
Well, it sounds like whoever is there now, and leading the team has them on a better path, asking that they get the SEAL program back in.
Let's hope if there were bad eggs last year who are still on the team and didn't graduate with the rest them, they learned the painful lesson that was last year's debacle and we're back on the right path now.
You could add that BMAC was injured most of the year. Doesn't explain everything
Wasn't there issues w/ Skelly on the defensive end in (certain) games?
BMac, in an interview, stated that the team (granted, not all players) wasn't exactly in the best of shape.
It was basically the same team minus 2 (key) players.
It felt off from the 2nd half of Opening Night last year. NU jumped out to a 15-20 point lead early 2H only for Loyola-Maryland to take the lead with a few minutes to go. L-MD started something like 0-11.
It felt like that one game at Texas-Pan American 10-ish years ago. Except NU wasn’t ranked #17.
It felt like that one game at Texas-Pan American 10-ish years ago. Except NU wasn’t ranked #17.
I don't think there were bad eggs. I think one thing that Lumpkin and Taphorn did was keep everyone focused on winning. When they left, that focus left as well. Then you had a split in the seniors and whoever was right or wrong does not really matter, they were not together focused on the single goal of making the tournament. Kelly is seeing this from the BMAC side, the side I was told about was from the other point of view. I have no idea if either side was right or wrong. I just know that I was told there were too many I's in team.
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I heard many of the same stories very early in the season from our friend, the source VERY close to the team. "There's a whole lot of me-ball being played."
From a chemistry standpoint, I'm hopeful that things will be different. You can tell Pardon snd Law were already trying to establish that late last year.
From a chemistry standpoint, I'm hopeful that things will be different. You can tell Pardon snd Law were already trying to establish that late last year.
From a psychological standpoint I absolutely believe it did. Kellogg even predicted us into the F4, for crying out loud! The players started believe their own hype and we didn’t have that hunger we had the previous season. Collins’ teams have always played better when they’ve got a chip on their shoulder.
All other things being equal, I’d much rather fly under the radar to start a season, rather than directly in the center of it.
i have heard 2 things
the current roster has great team chemistry lead by law and pardon
the team is well aware of the 13th spot prediction and excited to prove people wrong
the current roster has great team chemistry lead by law and pardon
the team is well aware of the 13th spot prediction and excited to prove people wrong