Screw it - I’ll say it: this team has enough talent to win 9 or 10 conference games which get us in. What says the board? Does CC figure out the right combos and lineups to make it work? IMO - we are sooo close, that loss against Wake hurts, we just need a couple of breaks to go our way. But the talent is there, can we pull it off????
Are we going to the tourney?
- Thread starter 7th Cir. Cat
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I expect virtually all of the games to be like this one in terms of competitiveness (Purdue will still handle us). In and of itself, this is a great thing! Given this team’s maturity, I expect it to go our way more than it did last year. I don’t think we can do better than 11-9, but I think we do 10–10 and it’s good enough to dance!
At the end, if we are close, I think the committee looks back at Wake and Providence with knowledge that they were early season games where we played without our leading scorer.
We can hope. It nevertheless stings to think that we are damn close to being undefeated right now, and potentially ranked for the second time in two seasons.
I’ll go so far as to say it is actually within our own control. If we make good decisions with shot selection the talent is there to get it done. If we don’t, we’ll miss some opportunities that come our way.
So can we put to rest this argument that NU lacks the talent to compete in the Big Ten this year?
Glad you folks are getting more positive about the team!
The only preseason optimists that I can specifically recall are Gato (9 Big Ten wins minimum) and me (9 Big Ten wins expected, but optimistic about more).
I know the experts said we were terrible, along with several regulars who were worried that the coach was going to be fired. Anybody who was optimistic before the season started, feel free to brag about it!
Glad you folks are getting more positive about the team!
The only preseason optimists that I can specifically recall are Gato (9 Big Ten wins minimum) and me (9 Big Ten wins expected, but optimistic about more).
I know the experts said we were terrible, along with several regulars who were worried that the coach was going to be fired. Anybody who was optimistic before the season started, feel free to brag about it!
I don’t recall being one of your antagonists, but I wonder if you’re unable to ever make a post without calling out a critic?
I'm sticking with my prediction of 8-ish conference wins and a potential NIT berth.
Need to see more than this before I think NCAAs. Last year we were 3-0 with a blowout win over MSU, a confident road win over Indiana, and a close win over Ohio State, we were ranked, and everyone had us in the tournament. I was finally convinced we'd turned the corner. We know what happened next, and I'm not getting burned again.
Need to see more than this before I think NCAAs. Last year we were 3-0 with a blowout win over MSU, a confident road win over Indiana, and a close win over Ohio State, we were ranked, and everyone had us in the tournament. I was finally convinced we'd turned the corner. We know what happened next, and I'm not getting burned again.
What do you mean? Why would you take that personally? I'm just laughing at those skeptics who said we sucked, ESPECIALLY some on this board. Am I not allowed to laugh at those who were saying we sucked?
This team is a borderline tournament team as of right now. They could play better could play worse. Lots of depth. Need Nance and Buie to not have off games at the same time. Need them both to play well against good teams for a shot to win. NU goes as they go.
That’s been in the back of my mind too. It’s a good start. Hopefully the team learned from that 3-0 start last year, and they keep the pedal down.
I had to convince Gato to get some optimism - he only had “hope”!
According to you both, we have above average talent and an underachieving coach. Many seem to believe we have average to slight below average BigTen talent and a decent coach. It might get us all to the same place, so you are not the only optimists.
I’m with you. I have been optimistic on this bunch for a while — and for the past two years have been singling out this season as the make-or-break year for CCC for things to all come together — but let’s not pretend they are world-beaters just yet. They need to learn to win in all types of games. Win when Boo is off. Win when trailing early. Win when a big lead suddenly dwindles, etc.
Also, avoid trap games. I’m looking specifically at the DePaul game.
Last year 9 wins was enough. Right now I’m leaning towards that number being 10. B1G still 2nd conference for KP at this point.
11 is probably the safe number as we don’t have good OOC wins. Nebraska got burned badly a few years back. I guess there’s always a chance DePaul or GA will have great seasons.
We have the talent for 11 wins. No doubt in my mind. Maryland did not look like a great team. But we did not play well either. And we still won, on the road.
11 is probably the safe number as we don’t have good OOC wins. Nebraska got burned badly a few years back. I guess there’s always a chance DePaul or GA will have great seasons.
We have the talent for 11 wins. No doubt in my mind. Maryland did not look like a great team. But we did not play well either. And we still won, on the road.
Well three of the next four games should be definite wins, then add the DePaul game and things will be looking up heading into the conference schedule.
There's good and bad... Regarding our team, Audige at the 3 looked like an upgrade over the newcomers, Simmons and Roper. Something we talked about and were hoping to see. Was pleased to see Audige out there with Berry and Buie - that makes perfect sense to me.
The only "disappointment" is that Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are better than I thought coming into the season, so the wins will be harder to come by. Minnesota still hasn't lost and just went down to Mississippi State and beat them on their court as 12 point underdogs. Maryland obviously not nearly as good as expected - their frontcourt was not good at all.
Rutgers, Nebraska, Penn State aren't as good as us either.
KenPom #37 says it's absolutely on the table.
I'm keeping my heart protected until at least late January, though. Getting emotionally involved in NU basketball is just a bridge too far in my portfolio of almost universally sad and disappointing sports fandoms.
I'm keeping my heart protected until at least late January, though. Getting emotionally involved in NU basketball is just a bridge too far in my portfolio of almost universally sad and disappointing sports fandoms.
Hopefully we can take care of business against Jersey Mike’s Institute of Technology.
This was a glaring problem without Audige, yes. But with him back, I don’t think this is quite as detrimental.
Roper and Simmons are both solid defenders who can probably knock down open 3s at a reasonable clip and are willing rebounders. That might be enough for the second unit running through Ryan Young as the primary option on offense.
I like this team a lot. I think we will be competitve against all the other teams. I think Purdue and Iowa are very strong. Iowa almost beat Purdue at Purdue, with their best player, Keegan Murray out. 1 point game with 3 mins left.
I watched Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois this year. At times they look good and at times they look mediocre. We may be competitive with all of them. Not that we will beat them all but we won't be blown out either. We are a more athletic team this year and might surprise some teams.
If everyone stays healthy I could see 9-12 wins. Anything can happen in close games.
This will be a fun team to watch, which is what we wanted.
I'm sure other teams fans are saying the same things about their teams as we are.
I watched Indiana, Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois this year. At times they look good and at times they look mediocre. We may be competitive with all of them. Not that we will beat them all but we won't be blown out either. We are a more athletic team this year and might surprise some teams.
If everyone stays healthy I could see 9-12 wins. Anything can happen in close games.
This will be a fun team to watch, which is what we wanted.
I'm sure other teams fans are saying the same things about their teams as we are.
Maybe. Audige was huge today and will only get better with game time. Buie and Nance are the cornerstones. If Beran can keep hitting 3s and alternate with Williams, either Roper or Simmons would slot in nicely as a fifth guy. They both can defend right now but they seem lost on offense too often. My sense is both will be great for us eventually but may not get there this year.
This is correct. I am one of those that said out talent is lower than most teams in the B1G. I never said sucked, but that is the alternative reality a certain poster lives in.
I still believe we are at best middle of the pack in terms of talent in the B1G. However, there has been significant improvement in Berry, Greer, Boo and Nance. I frankly wasn’t sure the staff could get it out of them. Great job. Nance is a leader and actually wants the ball at crunch time. we didn’t have that last year. Both Freshman that are playing are contributing. Talent is deeper and there isn’t anyone out there that you are hoping “you can get a few minutes out of”. Deep teams can wear you down. It’s not 3 on 3 league, so I expect most games to be close. We will win some and we’ll lose some.
I think we will be a bubble team insomuch that our bigten tournament will dictate.
Nance needed a breather and Young had two fouls. Collins is only comfortable playing MN for short bursts in an emergency. I was listening on the radio at the time (driving back from the B1GFCG in Indy) so I don't know how he looked, but Mr. Cat did not indicate anything spectacular or egregious.
To be completely honest, I did not realize MN had entered the game, even though I was sitting there watching.
Thankfully, one of the internet highlight packages showed Maryland hitting a 3 during that brief sequence and there was Matt, banging with that 7 footer from Maryland, who was unable to displace him when trying to get to the offensive boards. And that was that!
Right. Matt came in at 8:27 for Nance, just to give Nance a breather through the under-8 timeout.
When it comes to NU sports, especially MBB, I am like an abused child that is always cringing from the next beating. Figuratively speaking, CCC might take me for ice cream and promise not to beat me, but, in the end, I always fear that the Belt will fall before the promised trip to Disney.
When we were up 7 and Boo got fouled with 34 seconds left, I told my kids "that's it, we got this." He then misses the 1-1, fouled the 3pt shot, who then made all 3. I don't know what I would have done if Maryland had come back.
Your kids, much like mine do, would probably have had a private conversation later that evening with their mom to tell her they were worried about dad.
I was at the game in 2015, I think, at College Park. My son was with me. We were WAY ahead in the 2nd half and he was all excited, then MD came back, inevitably, ALL the way back, and beat us at the buzzer. He was shocked, but I had warned him that it would probably happen. Once bitten, twice shy. A hundred times bitten...
Just curious, when a team scars you like that, do you place most of the blame on the coach or the players?