Bracketology

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
Personally I thought, and continue to think, we have the players to do it.
 

NJCat

All-Conference
Mar 7, 2016
21,327
1,502
113
Sorry, I lost faith in the "experts" when Clark Kellogg picked NU to make the Final 4...........
 

Purple Pile Driver

All-Conference
May 14, 2014
27,130
2,564
113
Personally I thought, and continue to think, we have the players to do it.
Barring significant Freshman contributions, I don’t see the players here to make a tourney run. A better team than last year of course, still not dancing.
 

JournCat

Junior
Aug 4, 2009
4,512
242
63
An attempt at imagining the pathway to the tournament, strictly as devil’s advocate:
-Audige, Buie, and/or Beran emerge as consistent go-to guys who can create and capitalize on mismatches
-Nance gets stronger in all aspects, enough for some low-grade draft buzz
-Young remains a solid inside scorer good for 12-15 ppg whether or not he starts
-At least one of the new guys is good enough to contend for the all-conference freshman team
 

NU Houston

Junior
Apr 12, 2010
6,370
321
83
Sorry, I lost faith in the "experts" when Clark Kellogg picked NU to make the Final 4...........
That team had all the talent and experience to make a decent run in the tourney....and then the wheels totally came off. It's still a mystery to me what happened within that group of players and coaches that season.
 

IdahoAlum

Freshman
May 29, 2001
3,832
85
0
I’m at the “I’ll believe it when I see it” stage. NU’s recent track record with player development and inability to win close games is more than a trend at this point.
 

Gocatsgo2003

All-Conference
Mar 30, 2006
46,639
3,019
78
An 11 seed would basically mean a .500 B1G team, maybe even a game or two below .500. Not a huge stretch, but seems tough to see based on everything going on right now.
 

TheC

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
19,102
1,171
62
That team had all the talent and experience to make a decent run in the tourney....and then the wheels totally came off. It's still a mystery to me what happened within that group of players and coaches that season.
It wasn't such a preposterous prediction at the time. It was clearly a long-shot call to grab attention, but those kinds of things are fun to do before the season starts. This was a team returning all their key players (while we insiders understood the role of Lumpkin, it wasn't so obvious to those outside the program) and they were coming off an NCAA run where they battled the #1 seed up until the Gonzaga goaltend. It was a fun pick that wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibilities back then.

Which, as you pointed out, makes it so mysterious and frustrating why that team fell apart.
 

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
It wasn't such a preposterous prediction at the time. It was clearly a long-shot call to grab attention, but those kinds of things are fun to do before the season starts. This was a team returning all their key players (while we insiders understood the role of Lumpkin, it wasn't so obvious to those outside the program) and they were coming off an NCAA run where they battled the #1 seed up until the Gonzaga goaltend. It was a fun pick that wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibilities back then.

Which, as you pointed out, makes it so mysterious and frustrating why that team fell apart.
Have you guys heard of a place called the All State Arena?
 

TheC

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
19,102
1,171
62
Have you guys heard of a place called the All State Arena?
Those guys won a lot of road games the year before. Plus, they looked bad from the get go, even before playing many games in All State. I saw them up here in CT in that early November tournament and they already looked out of sorts.

But maybe you're right.... maybe it is that simple. I would argue, that shows some pretty weak character if those circumstances caused them to fall apart like they did. I could see it hurting them in some key games, but this team was off from the beginning.
 

Gocatsgo2003

All-Conference
Mar 30, 2006
46,639
3,019
78
It wasn't such a preposterous prediction at the time. It was clearly a long-shot call to grab attention, but those kinds of things are fun to do before the season starts. This was a team returning all their key players (while we insiders understood the role of Lumpkin, it wasn't so obvious to those outside the program) and they were coming off an NCAA run where they battled the #1 seed up until the Gonzaga goaltend. It was a fun pick that wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibilities back then.

Which, as you pointed out, makes it so mysterious and frustrating why that team fell apart.

Fat and happy.
 

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
Those guys won a lot of road games the year before. Plus, they looked bad from the get go, even before playing many games in All State. I saw them up here in CT in that early November tournament and they already looked out of sorts.

But maybe you're right.... maybe it is that simple. I would argue, that shows some pretty weak character if those circumstances caused them to fall apart like they did. I could see it hurting them in some key games, but this team was off from the beginning.
You're wrong. It was 100% All State. Movies will be made out of the super natural events that take place in the building. Stephen King level of freakiness. Just happy our guys made it out alive.
 

TheC

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
19,102
1,171
62
You're wrong. It was 100% All State. Movies will be made out of the super natural events that take place in the building. Stephen King level of freakiness. Just happy our guys made it out alive.
If that's the case, maybe with how badly things are going these days, we should go back to playing there to see if the spirits can work in reverse!

The other possible conclusion is that demolishing the insides of the old WR arena re-awakened a curse and so it's the new building that is actually the problem.
 

GatoLouco

Sophomore
Nov 13, 2019
5,636
116
63
If that's the case, maybe with how badly things are going these days, we should go back to playing there to see if the spirits can work in reverse!

The other possible conclusion is that demolishing the insides of the old WR arena re-awakened a curse and so it's the new building that is actually the problem.
As plausible as many "explanations" I heard from our coach.
 

Napcat

Redshirt
Nov 23, 2016
200
5
18
Bart Torvik has Northwestern ranked at #37, a little above where an 11th seed would be.
 

JournCat

Junior
Aug 4, 2009
4,512
242
63
Those guys won a lot of road games the year before. Plus, they looked bad from the get go, even before playing many games in All State. I saw them up here in CT in that early November tournament and they already looked out of sorts.

I think I've picked Texas Tech to overachieve in the tournament every year since strictly off the power of that ***-kicking. It paid off a few years ago!