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A “win”…

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NJcatsfan_rivals139741

Redshirt
Nov 21, 2004
4,342
25
0
Empty, dead arena, after our fans/students got beaten down by constant home losses. I can’t blame anyone for staying home but it’s still sad to see.

A 24-point (!) second half blown lead. An 11-point blown lead in the last ~5 minutes. Same old, same old…but even worse. Until they didn’t quite lose.

Who’s feeling good about this win? I don’t even know how to feel.
 
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freewillie07

Sophomore
Aug 22, 2017
5,240
100
48
I feel a heck of a lot better about winning that game than I would feel if Ron Harper Jr. made that shot.
 
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NJcatsfan_rivals139741

Redshirt
Nov 21, 2004
4,342
25
0
My best spin is we got over the hump on blown leads & the rest of the schedule is easier. Still annoyed by the PSU and MD losses. But blowing a 24 point lead is just SO bad. I don’t know.
 
DaCat

DaCat

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
25,505
1,899
113
NJcatsfan said:
Empty, dead arena, after our fans/students got beaten down by constant home losses. I can’t blame anyone for staying home but it’s still sad to see.

A 24-point (!) second half blown lead. An 11-point blown lead in the last ~5 minutes. Same old, same old…but even worse. Until they didn’t quite lose.

Who’s feeling good about this win? I don’t even know how to feel.
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Plus Collins didn't play Nance in the final minutes of regulation and not a single minute in OT. Nance was clearly off tonight but let's see how he responds the rest of this season.
 
F

freewillie07

Sophomore
Aug 22, 2017
5,240
100
48
NJcatsfan said:
My best spin is we got over the hump on blown leads & the rest of the schedule is easier. Still annoyed by the PSU and MD losses. But blowing a 24 point lead is just SO bad. I don’t know.
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I don't think anyone feels good on an absolute basis about this win.

On a relative basis, I would rather win than lose. So there's that.

I also think every single player and fan expected Ron Harper Jr.'s shot to fall. How many times have we seen that before? To see it rim out was a minor exorcism.
 
H

Hungry Jack

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2008
37,172
2,666
67
NJcatsfan said:
Empty, dead arena, after our fans/students got beaten down by constant home losses. I can’t blame anyone for staying home but it’s still sad to see.

A 24-point (!) second half blown lead. An 11-point blown lead in the last ~5 minutes. Same old, same old…but even worse. Until they didn’t quite lose.

Who’s feeling good about this win? I don’t even know how to feel.
Click to expand...
I feel like a Cormac McCarthy novel
 
DaCat

DaCat

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
25,505
1,899
113
What did Nance learn sitting the last minutes of regulation and all of OT?
 
H

hoosboot

All-American
Nov 7, 2001
26,893
6,534
0
NJcatsfan said:
Empty, dead arena, after our fans/students got beaten down by constant home losses. I can’t blame anyone for staying home but it’s still sad to see.

A 24-point (!) second half blown lead. An 11-point blown lead in the last ~5 minutes. Same old, same old…but even worse. Until they didn’t quite lose.

Who’s feeling good about this win? I don’t even know how to feel.
Click to expand...
Only thing that matters is what comes next. If the team builds on this by beating Nebraska and Indiana, it was the start of something. If the team craps the bed at Nebraska and/or wilts against IU, then it was a game that showed what the team is despite getting the W.
 
C

Catreporter

Senior
Sep 4, 2007
4,957
437
83
I expected them to lose in OT but give them credit for hitting a couple of big 3s. Missed free throws were an issue again at crunch time, but Harper had a wide open look there that hit the front rim (tired legs!). We've had a lot of tough breaks in close games this year. Finally got one to go our way. Like a previous poster said, let's see if we can build on this. Don't understand any Cats fan rooting for failure. Sorry CCC haters, Collins ain't going anywhere this year.
 
M

mekCat

Redshirt
Dec 31, 2005
2,924
2
38
Nance was pretty bad against their pressure, made several bad decisions before he went to the bench. The only offense that wasn't offensive at the end of the game was when Greer had the ball and drove the lane, and that worked best with young in the game
 
1

1830 Sherman

Redshirt
May 29, 2001
464
28
28
DaCat said:
Plus Collins didn't play Nance in the final minutes of regulation and not a single minute in OT. Nance was clearly off tonight but let's see how he responds the rest of this season.
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Nance started OT, and played the first two minutes. He also was on the floor at the end of OT.
 
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NUCat320

Senior
Dec 4, 2005
19,469
495
0
I really enjoyed the last offensive possession of regulation. The only guy on the team that both a) wants the shot, and b) we want taking the shot, is Boo. And yet he’s off the ball on the right wing, as Greer finds Beran who was afraid to see the ball and immediately shuffled to Nance who hot potatoed to Audige who chucked as the shot clock hit zero.

Just no offensive philosophy out there. No approach. No organization. It’s amazing that a zone defense can discombobulate a B1G team — often playing two point guards — for an entire half.

My favorite Collins move of the game came moments into overtime when, after one possession, he immediately went to his bench. That’s a guy who know what he wants to do on the court.
 
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PurpleFaze

Redshirt
Jan 9, 2019
1,331
38
48
Lost most of what little faith I had in Collins tonight. The last 15 mins of the second half was a miserable coaching performance. If he’s not gone after the year then he needs to have 1-2 assistant changes forced on him.

Guess Collins needs to have someone explain to him how to attack a zone.

The lead was lost because our strategy appeared to be dribble and pass the ball around the perimeter until there were 5-6 secs on the shot clock and then try to wildly get a shot off. Several times we broke their pressure and could have made aggressive moves to the basket and were just happy to be placid. At this stage I feel for the players because the coaching they are being given is subpar.

The only game I can recall that has been worse was the 22 pt halftime lead vs Michigan State that we blew at Allstate arena a few years back. That was a Collins special as well
 
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PurpleFaze

Redshirt
Jan 9, 2019
1,331
38
48
NUCat320 said:
I really enjoyed the last offensive possession of regulation. The only guy on the team that both a) wants the shot, and b) we want taking the shot, is Boo. And yet he’s off the ball on the right wing, as Greer finds Beran who was afraid to see the ball and immediately chucked to Nance who hot potatoed to Audige who chucked as the shot clock hit zero.

Just no offensive philosophy out there. No approach. No organization. It’s amazing that a zone defense can discombobulate a B1G team — often playing two point guards — for an entire half.

My favorite Collins move of the game came moments into overtime when, after one possession, he immediately went to his bench. That’s a guy who know what he wants to do on the court.
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Was that after he had Greer back on mulcahy which was an impossible matchup for Greer?

The other great thing about the possession at the end of regulation you mention is we had two timeouts. It was obvious the team was confused. Instead of using a TO Collins was happy just to watch them flush a key moment away
 
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Username Not Available

Sophomore
Dec 24, 2010
3,099
102
63
I was more frustrated by the coaching staff's inability to adjust to RU's second half offense. It isn't like they weren't doing almost the same play every time. See what they're doing and put a damn stop to it. That's a big part of the job, guys.

Watching the lead just bleed away as RU ran the same play over and over again just sucked the life out of me.
 
GatoLouco

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
PurpleWhiteBoy said:
Collins says that a dominant win "would've been better for my blood pressure,"

Yeah, its all about you, Chris.
I'm sure he takes no responsibility for blowing the 24 point lead.
"I told them not to blow the lead."
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During the press conference he showed signs of having a hard time not getting all defensive. “You guys just want to focus on the negative”. “There’s a lot of doomsday people out there”.

Reminded me of the press conferences at the end of last year. When he was getting so defensive. And this was after a win.
 
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PurpleFaze

Redshirt
Jan 9, 2019
1,331
38
48
GatoLouco said:
During the press conference he showed signs of having a hard time not getting all defensive. “You guys just want to focus on the negative”. “There’s a lot of doomsday people out there”.

Reminded me of the press conferences at the end of last year. When he was getting so defensive. And this was after a win.
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He realizes the “good” of the OT wasn’t necessary if they don’t BLOW a 24 PT LEAD, right?
 
CatManTrue

CatManTrue

All-American
Oct 4, 2008
16,034
5,328
97
We have 3 conference wins this season after a bunch of gut wrenching losses.

Heck yes, it feels good to get a W. Especially if they beat UNL to get something going.

But yea, I wanted to move on from CCC a while ago. He never should have gotten the “Fitz deal” for a 10 year extension after barely squeaking into the tournament once.

Sorry to burst your bubbles, but he has years left on his deal with a likely large buyout. We’re stuck with the triple C for a while.
 
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PurpleFaze

Redshirt
Jan 9, 2019
1,331
38
48
This team has enough talent to be a .500 team in the Big 10 and be on the tourney bubble. Right now that means being in the mix with Rutgers and Michigan. We just beat Rutgers and were up 7 on Michigan with 5 mins left. I credit the players for continuing to give effort and play hard. The number one issue I see after last night is they aren‘t getting Big 10 level coaching from CC and the staff during the games especially at key moments. for example you shouldn’t blow a 24 pt lead because your coaches don’t know how to communicate the principles of attacking a zone.
 
GatoLouco

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
PurpleFaze said:
This team has enough talent to be a .500 team in the Big 10 and be on the tourney bubble. Right now that means being in the mix with Rutgers and Michigan. We just beat Rutgers and were up 7 on Michigan with 5 mins left. I credit the players for continuing to give effort and play hard. The number one issue I see after last night is they aren‘t getting Big 10 level coaching from CC and the staff during the games especially at key moments. for example you shouldn’t blow a 24 pt lead because your coaches don’t know how to communicate the principles of attacking a zone.
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I was at least, if not more, concerned at what goes on in practice. How unprepared were we to attack the most common zone there is. We looked lost for several minutes. Then the only adjustment I saw was the screens up top to try to force a penetration. Which helped for a while, until the second guy from the front of the zone, as well as the guy in the back/middle, started placing themselves behind said screen. And why could they do this? Well when there are players on the floor hiding behind the zone, on the baseline, you don’t have to worry about them. It did not help that most of the time we were bringing two guards to the top of 2-3 zone. That’s an option for an odd 1–3-1 or 3-2 zone. It was truly pathetic.
 
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Catreporter

Senior
Sep 4, 2007
4,957
437
83
Rutgers has a pretty good defense. Held Iowa to 46 points. Nebraska only had 60 at their place with McGowens getting 29. And high scoring Purdue was held to 68. Cats did a great job on offense in first half, which everyone seems to forget. Team hasn't seen much zone at all this year and Rutgers has a lot of lot of length and experience on the floor. Great job by them. Yes, CCC deserves some criticism for the collapse (have we never practiced much against a zone?) but some of the ballhandling and decisions by the Cats players was truly awful. Should be an interesting film session for the team.
 
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phatcat_rivals223240

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2001
18,867
1,035
113
Catreporter said:
I expected them to lose in OT but give them credit for hitting a couple of big 3s. Missed free throws were an issue again at crunch time, but Harper had a wide open look there that hit the front rim (tired legs!). We've had a lot of tough breaks in close games this year. Finally got one to go our way. Like a previous poster said, let's see if we can build on this. Don't understand any Cats fan rooting for failure. Sorry CCC haters, Collins ain't going anywhere this year.
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You are right and you are right. Some people seem to want them to lose (I don't) and Collins isn't going anywhere. Both are sad statements about the program. Nothing in this team, coach or program indicate progress. Hoping for "luck stats" to even out and waiting for opposing players to finally start missing game-clinching shots is not a strategy.
 
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The Purple Knight

Redshirt
Dec 24, 2020
1,192
0
0
NJcatsfan said:
Empty, dead arena, after our fans/students got beaten down by constant home losses. I can’t blame anyone for staying home but it’s still sad to see.

A 24-point (!) second half blown lead. An 11-point blown lead in the last ~5 minutes. Same old, same old…but even worse. Until they didn’t quite lose.

Who’s feeling good about this win? I don’t even know how to feel.
Click to expand...
Big picture, that counts as a loss or worse. A collapse like that kills confidence, stunts growth and development of a team, instills bad habits, kills fan enthusiasm, etc…. Aweful.
 
W

willycat

Junior
Jan 11, 2005
21,448
318
0
PurpleFaze said:
Lost most of what little faith I had in Collins tonight. The last 15 mins of the second half was a miserable coaching performance. If he’s not gone after the year then he needs to have 1-2 assistant changes forced on him.

Guess Collins needs to have someone explain to him how to attack a zone.

The lead was lost because our strategy appeared to be dribble and pass the ball around the perimeter until there were 5-6 secs on the shot clock and then try to wildly get a shot off. Several times we broke their pressure and could have made aggressive moves to the basket and were just happy to be placid. At this stage I feel for the players because the coaching they are being given is subpar.

The only game I can recall that has been worse was the 22 pt halftime lead vs Michigan State that we blew at Allstate arena a few years back. That was a Collins special as well
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what kind of faith do you have in the players, who miss more shots than they make and give up the ball when dribbling around?
 
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Styre

Senior
Oct 14, 2004
7,732
403
83
PurpleFaze said:
This team has enough talent to be a .500 team in the Big 10 and be on the tourney bubble. Right now that means being in the mix with Rutgers and Michigan.
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Despite their conference record, Rutgers is nowhere close to being on the bubble, or even the NIT bubble, at NET #113. NU must be significantly better than Rutgers if we want to make the tournament.
 
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phatcat_rivals223240

All-Conference
Nov 5, 2001
18,867
1,035
113
Styre said:
Despite their conference record, Rutgers is nowhere close to being on the bubble, or even the NIT bubble, at NET #113. NU must be significantly better than Rutgers if we want to make the tournament.
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well, we beat them, so we must be better. /s
 
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CappyNU

Junior
Mar 2, 2004
5,164
345
83
Rutgers is the Kenpom underdog in their next 8 games, all being played against the top half of the conference. In contrast their previous 9 games came against the bottom half. They will not be middle of the conference for long.
 
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Catreporter

Senior
Sep 4, 2007
4,957
437
83
It's still a veteran team that was in the NCAA tourney last year. They play good defense and beat Purdue, yet somehow fell to the Lafayette Leopards (Like our Merrimac loss). Will be interesting to see what they do the rest of the year.
 
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PurpleWhiteBoy

Redshirt
Feb 25, 2021
5,303
0
0
Catreporter said:
It's still a veteran team that was in the NCAA tourney last year. They play good defense and beat Purdue, yet somehow fell to the Lafayette Leopards (Like our Merrimac loss). Will be interesting to see what they do the rest of the year.
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Rutgers got decimated by transfers after last season. They are small and have no bench.
Its a credit to their coach that they have 6 wins in the conference. They play hard and don't quit.

But they only have 4 guys who can play.
 
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