Very well done. Great to see Bill McKinney get his due. Evan Eschmeyer seemed like a trauma victim after playing for NU. Glad he’s better. Locker room footage after Gonzaga made my eyes water. No mention of Wrassler.
BTN Documentary “First Dance”
- Thread starter Hungry Jack
- Start date
One neatly wrapped documentary about the basketball program we all know and love. An infomercial for why Nothwestern basketball is on the rise. There wasn't a lot new learned (the Vic Law recruitment, the McIntosh recruitment, Collins imploring Crawford to stay and build a bridge) for those who follow the team closely, but it was still special to relive it.
Thought the part when BMac said he was pissed at Collins for getting the technical, and the decision to keep the camera on Collins being pensive while BMac was speaking, was interesting.
Thought the part when BMac said he was pissed at Collins for getting the technical, and the decision to keep the camera on Collins being pensive while BMac was speaking, was interesting.
Agreed. Very well done; I'd have enjoyed seeing a little more of the journey through the season but it was a good hour. Even prominently featured the handsome visage of a much younger Midvale at one point.
I was interested in Esch’s comment about his regrets inre not ‘protecting’ the younger guys from the jackass. You know that must have been a wretched experience for the students.
Really nicely done. Of course, as a fan I would have liked it to be a 4-hour miniseries, but I know that only a small Wildcat lunatic fringe would be willing to sit through THAT much viewing.
Mega painful to watch the end of our loss to Gonzaga and (still) other-worldly to see the Taphorn hail Mary pass and, just as unlikely, the inexplicable foul committed by the Vandy defender.
Tonight’s game announcers, Crispin and Provus, said a few times that this year’s NU team
lacked a spirit that was evident last season. Do you think the season-ending goaltending non-call and ensuring technical on Coach Collins is still weighing on them?
Mega painful to watch the end of our loss to Gonzaga and (still) other-worldly to see the Taphorn hail Mary pass and, just as unlikely, the inexplicable foul committed by the Vandy defender.
Tonight’s game announcers, Crispin and Provus, said a few times that this year’s NU team
lacked a spirit that was evident last season. Do you think the season-ending goaltending non-call and ensuring technical on Coach Collins is still weighing on them?
Loved the First Dance. Great to hear about the emotion and fire of AD Phillips and Collins about Crawford staying at NU when the sharks were circling him trying to get him to transfer and when getting NU’s highest rated recruit ever, Vic Law to commit. Also, loved the comments on the former player including NBA executive and NU all-time great, Billy McKinney. The state of the program is stronger than ever with Shapiro, Phillips and Collins at the top positions.
My only complaint was that they used the win against Mich as the seal the deal moment. While for tv purposes it was a great moment, we were close but not in at that point. We really needed the two wins in BTT to seal the deal and there was nothing on BTT
I was most impressed by the 3 1/2 hour whiteboard session with Phillips and the team after Phillips let Carmody go. Getting the input from the players on the profile of an ideal coach was great, even if he had an idea of who he was going after.
Yes, yes we would. As far as the goaltending call, why is that not reviewable? So much is these days.
This is obviously not true since we won the 2 games in the BTT and got an 8 seed. I suspect we were an automatic with 1 win, and likely in with no wins in the BTT.
I'm glad we won those two BTT games and got into the main bracket. It would have been really bad if we were selected but had to play one of those play-in games.
This is pretty much the basis of my argument that the Dark Ages have officially ended in football. This leadership commitment, and of course the HUGE investment in new facilities (we are close $400M!) are exhibits A and B of this argument. The results on the field / court are part of it, but the institutional commitment is what we really signifies the state of the programs.
I'm sure that, if nothing else, it played well for the players dealing with the surprise of losing their coach.
Agreed. We needed to not lose to Rutgers to feel like a lock. Only the morning after that game did Dr. Jim announce the watch party.
A little poetic license by the documentary makers, I'm guessing, and we don't really know for sure anyway.
That's good management and leadership to make the team feel part of the decision... Like you hinted, I'm not sure that it really influenced the final decision but I expect that it helped the team's "buy in" to the new coach.
It was a bit of BS when Phillips acted as though he made the decision to move on Carmody at the conclusion of the BTT. Many of us recall that Carmody's house was already on the market with more than a month to go in that season. (One could argue that it was because his kids had gone off to college and he was looking to downgrade...but yeah right.)
Speaking of Carmody, I thought that they did a fair job of representing his tenure and shortcomings, namely recruiting.
I happened to run into Carmody and his wife in the United security line at Newark Airport. He could not have been nicer and he alluded to having a new recruit being announced soon. He was excited about the recruit. As it turned out, there was a BIG new recruit announced a few days later. Chier Ajou!
Well, guess that is all that needs to be said about Carmody's recruiting record. Also guess the mentioning of wondering why the coach wasn't there when recruits visited was a reference to not only Law but Kaminsky as well.
I remember those days.
I was so excited at the time that NU would have the duo of Sanjay and Cher, I made this commemorative jpeg:
1) LOVED the old school highlights and the Billy McKinney stuff. The school should have more historical video out there.
2) I didn't see the entire show last night, so excuse me if I'm incorrect in this comment.
Please tell me there was more representation of an NU fan than the usual Wilbon, Greenberg, Nichols, JLD, etc. That's what I saw. It's cute that NU has some well-known fans, but to trot these guys out for EVERY occasion is getting old.
Especially for this documentary, are you really going to tell me there isn't a well-spoken professor on campus or Joe Blow student/recent grad who couldn't represent the position of a solid fan?
Of course, it's nice to see these people, but this was the perfect opportunity to take the story beyond the usual PR fluff.
Anyhow, it will play well in the living rooms of recruits over the next couple years.
2) I didn't see the entire show last night, so excuse me if I'm incorrect in this comment.
Please tell me there was more representation of an NU fan than the usual Wilbon, Greenberg, Nichols, JLD, etc. That's what I saw. It's cute that NU has some well-known fans, but to trot these guys out for EVERY occasion is getting old.
Especially for this documentary, are you really going to tell me there isn't a well-spoken professor on campus or Joe Blow student/recent grad who couldn't represent the position of a solid fan?
Of course, it's nice to see these people, but this was the perfect opportunity to take the story beyond the usual PR fluff.
Anyhow, it will play well in the living rooms of recruits over the next couple years.
It also reemphasized BCs disdain for recruiting and a big part of why he is no longer here
Nope, that was it. Just the (mostly minor) celebrities - as well as some key former players.
I loved that it was straightforward about Kevin O'Neill (without literally calling him an "*******"). I feel bad that the ONLY mention of the late Ricky Byrdsong was about his walk on the wild side, but I suppose that if you only mention one thing, that'll be it.
We were close, but I don't think we were in without at least one win in BTT. Two iced it.
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Charlie Thompson would have been great but he is 92 and not in good health. He was at almost every game till after a fall a couple years ago and he had been at NU since the mid 60s. Still teaching until the fall.
Most of us know my feelings for Billy C's time, and even I thought that emphasis was a little unneeded. They could have kept the Carmody years more positive, and not divulged the family secrets in mixed company - so to speak.
Agree - they should have included a couple faculty. The one guy who seemed to be at every game was economics professor Ron Braeutigam. He could have spoken about the plight of NU hoops since the 80s.
Greenberg did get it right about the time from 85-89. That Indiana game where Midvale was in the footage was the pretty much the ONLY bright spot in those 4 years. I would go to the exhibition and non-conference games just to see them win, even if it was against Marathon Oil and Maryland (Baltimore County).
Obviously if you have a subscription to BTN, you can watch it on the BTN2GO app.
Got to see it last night online. Wow... that was fun. However, it really makes me wish this hadn't come out in the middle of a rather disappointing season. Especially hearing BMac at the end talking about Final 4 aspirations left me feeling a little hollow. But.... just like the loss to Indiana last year seemed like a devastating set-back, in the grand scheme of things, this season just may be a normal, temporary set-back on the persistent climb to the top for NU hoops. Go Cats!!!!
Completely agree 112. We have never heard Carmody’s take on any of this (he is wisely leaving it in th past). They should have kept the carmody part about how he stabilized the program but couldn’t get the team to the next level.
Whether it was because of carmody or in spite of him, we had some very good players during his tenure (shurna, Juice, Crawford, coble)
Overall, this was a wonderful documentary. I think there were some key factors in the season that were omitted, but given the one hour limit and the story that had to be told, it does a good job.
I think two important factors that deserved mentioning were:
- Pardon's injury, and how well Benson filled in until he recovered.
- Skelly played a very important role throughout the season.
I think two important factors that deserved mentioning were:
- Pardon's injury, and how well Benson filled in until he recovered.
- Skelly played a very important role throughout the season.
Minor observation from watching the film: Benson seems to be the player with the most enthusiasm/personality. Seems to always be in the middle of emotional moments, usually from a humorous standpoint, but also appeared to be the player most consoling Taphorn after the Notre Dame game (imagine that...a freshman consoling a senior in that moment). He just seems like a good guy that everyone would want to be around.