Still boggles my mind that Northwestern got so good in football before this happened, just so much tougher to do it in that sport.
I disagree. I think it's tougher in basketball. In football you can steal a few top players who don't really develop until they are 17-19 years old, and the big boys have passed them up. You can find a few of those in basketball, but for the most part the best players at age 12-14 are still the best players at 18-22, and the top schools have already scooped them up. Basketball may take only 2-3 players to turn a program around, but those 2-3 players are about 100 times harder to get for a school with no tradition.
Agree, if nothing else because there are far fewer players in a BkB team. Hence one big recruit is already 20% of a BkB team (not including the bench). One huge recruit with a handful of decent players may make a team competitive right away. Once it becomes competitive, recruiting better players becomes easier, and a virtuous circle my start.I don't agree with this. A basketball program is so much easier to build all other things being equal.
Don't count your chicken before...The addition of a young, energetic and charismatic coach like Collins was all that was needed.
Any evidence of that? Best anyone knows GB didn't get any significant help from the admission people, and PF has in fact under-performed compared to both previous admins each of which won 1 or more B1G crowns (among other things), while getting the program in much worse shape (at least i the case of GB).I also think Collins, like Fitz, has gotten a little more leeway on the admissions front.
Agree, if nothing else because there are far fewer players in a BkB team. Hence one big recruit is already 20% of a BkB team (not including the bench). One huge recruit with a handful of decent players may make a team competitive right away. Once it becomes competitive, recruiting better players becomes easier, and a virtuous circle my start.
That at NU it happened in reverse order makes GB's success even more remarkable.
Don't count your chicken before...
Up to now, we have had several 6-8 B1G reg seasons (much like in the previous admin, but without ANY NIT). Things are looking up this season, but nothing is assured YET. Let's see what happens on selection Sunday. A lot of unknowns before that.
Any evidence of that? Best anyone knows GB didn't get any significant help from the admission people, and PF has in fact under-performed compared to both previous admins each of which won 1 or more B1G crowns (among other things), while getting the program in much worse shape (at least i the case of GB).