How did they fall so far so quickly? Based on the Wisconsin first half, NU will not win another B1G game this year. See Ya'll in 2026.
Collins, apparently, has a lot of work to do.
- Thread starter stpaulcat
- Start date
I mean, the season is obviously not over - literally and figuratively - but anyone who is not concerned is lying. This team doesn’t rebound well, doesn’t play with a ton of energy and isn’t a defensive stalwart. Could that change? Yes. But early indications are not good.
Not disagreeing. Singleton did a better job today in the boards, which was encouraging. Need much better guard play offensively and defensively.
Based on my experience, tonight was not serious basketball, do you think?. If NU can recover, great, but I do not see it, this year.
The Wilcats out rebounded Wisconsin, whereas this season almost all opponent teams out rebounded them.
Playing closer to the boards got more rebounds and enabled 3 point shooters more space..
Playing closer to the boards got more rebounds and enabled 3 point shooters more space..
It is a very young team and they are trying to learn to fit together and that takes time. Growing pains are to be expected. They have only one returning starter. Team depends on a lot of young guys. And this is a month before they would have played a conference game in the past.
Page is showing to be better than expected. Singleton looks like he has the potential to be one of the very best we have ever had play here. Clarvino has made some good strides . I could go on but sufice it to say, this is gonna be a fun team to watch develop but it is gonna be frustrating too
This is the time of year when we realise how much past players (like Barnhizer) did for us. Or even Lumpkin in an earlier era. Not insurmountable - if the coaching, chemistry and work ethic are right, we can still achieve a lot this year.
Young team and new pieces. The team you see on the floor in February will be much better than what they are right now. But yes, they’re currently a bit of a mess.
Exactly how I feel. It’s a whole new group, and many of them have not played college ball. They will get better.
Minnesota kept 7-0 Indiana in the 60’s.
Our biggest problem is not just rebounding. It’s defense overall. It’s mistake after mistake. I don’t even think WI is better than average in the B1G. Though the Kohl center is notoriously hard to play in.
I want to leave it at that and not go into speculation about hustle/effort.
Game threads and post game comments tend to be over reactions. We are not as bad as we looked in the 1st half tonight. But we are going to be very frustrating to watch. So, so naive.
Our biggest problem is not just rebounding. It’s defense overall. It’s mistake after mistake. I don’t even think WI is better than average in the B1G. Though the Kohl center is notoriously hard to play in.
I want to leave it at that and not go into speculation about hustle/effort.
Game threads and post game comments tend to be over reactions. We are not as bad as we looked in the 1st half tonight. But we are going to be very frustrating to watch. So, so naive.
We need the KJ Windham I saw at the end of last year to emerge. Reid has been pretty bad the last three games and he is a defensive liability out there. And the 3-point shooting has been downright terrible the last two games.. How about trying KJ at the point?
That transfer guard for Minnesota, Reynolds, really caught my eye last night. He plays like a power forward, can handle the ball and shoot from the outside. I’d love to have a guy like him on this team.
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Another not-so-fun fact: we're now the worst P5 defensive rebounding team, just behind St. John's. We're also forcing fewer turnovers than any year since the 2019-20 season, which also happens to be the last time we had 3+ freshmen in the rotation.
This combined with atrocious 3 pt shooting is a recipe for a lot of losses. Let's hope we catch fire on Saturday. I want to see Max Green given more run.
And Wisconsin is a program that lives on the 3s. I think they still got something like 13 OR so ...
True but cleaning up rebounding minimizes those second chance points and tends to improve the D. Still have stuff to clean up but not as much
A lot of weaknesses are appearing now that we are playing better teams. Rebounding, 3 point shooting and guard defense are the most glaring deficits. The newcomers have not adjusted to Lowery's man to man switching defense. I think CC has to have a zone backup plan when NU is getting torched in man. Remember BC, with inferior man to man. talent, employed a 1-3-1 with some success. NU has to have a change of pace "D". Our rebounding is also problematic, but it could not be any worse in an occasional zone.. 3 point shooting is not easy to remedy. Reed is a point guard , not a shooting guard. I also could see more playing time for Wyndham. Hall evidently can shoot but he has a lot to learn about defense. GC seems to be reluctant to shoot
. NU's offense has not been able to create open 3 point shots. Blackwell was great but many of his 3's were wide open, NU' 3's are usually forced. Page seems to be an extremely adept passer, so maybe kick outs to perimeter shooters could work when he gets doubled or tripled
I still like the talent on the team but some new ideas/ combos should be tried
. NU's offense has not been able to create open 3 point shots. Blackwell was great but many of his 3's were wide open, NU' 3's are usually forced. Page seems to be an extremely adept passer, so maybe kick outs to perimeter shooters could work when he gets doubled or tripled
I still like the talent on the team but some new ideas/ combos should be tried
Saying this team will gel by February is pointless… if we don’t beat OSU, Butler and the cupcakes - not even mentioning January - we are barbecued chicken. So they better get it figured out before Saturday.
Let's see if the squad can play better at home and hopefully go from there. We've suffered bad road losses in tourney seasons too. I'm not trying to be pollyanish, I'm just crossing my fingers it goes well.
My basic premise is correct. My knee-jerk reaction, not so much, but I still do
believe they will challenge again at the earliest 26-27.
I mentioned that but it could not be much worse than the current situation. If anyone coaches youth teams, the 1-3-1 is difficult for kids to play against
If NU employed a 1-3-1 , I would think Reid or Wyndham would be up front, followed by Martinelli, Page and Singleton with GC or Hall on the baseline. I would prefer a taller player on the baseline relative to what BC employed. I included Wyndham and Hall to possibly help with 3 point shooting
I think our expectations at this point should be every year is a team like this or better. This year’s team still looks like ita preseason projections, which is a fringe tourney contender that could make it if the majority of things break right. Teams like that every year mean we make it every 3-5 years when things go well. I’m starting to feel like that as a baseline with hopefully some higher years punctuated in is a realistic baseline. Last year is what happens when everybody gets hurt and it’s a tough season, and yet we reloaded with viable pieces. Collins is navigating the modern basketball world quite well, more resources for him would be well spent.