WARNING: While most of my negative posting is usually reserved for in-game lunatic rants, this is going to be a negative post. And this one is scarier, because its a next-morning, in a calm state negative post. If you hate my negative posts, then hit your back button now. Better still, tell me why I'm wrong, because I hope I am wrong.
Doubt is creeping in for me, and not just about this year's team. I never had very high expectations for them due to so much that was unknown coming into the year. Sadly, doubt is also creeping in regarding Chris Collins.
It really began after last year. Last year was a disaster. This was a team that almost knocked off eventual Final Four participant Gonzaga in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and was returning just about every important player. It should have been an incredible year for NU hoops. Instead, this team fell apart. Not making the tournament was one disappointment, but to not even finish above .500 was a colossal collapse. Now, we may never know the complete story behind last year's failure, but its hard not to pin some of that on the head coach.
The doubt crept back again last night during that painful stretch after the 8-minute timeout. MSU went on a run and they were awesome. Credit to MSU. But what concerned me was just how bad, out-of-control, rattled and undisciplined we looked - even a 5th-year senior like Vic Law looked lost. Coach called a timeout and we came out of it looking even worse. I didn't expect him to have some magic elixir to slow down MSU, but I did expect him to regain control of his team so that they stopped beating themselves. Instead, we took horrible, forced shots, left guys wide-open and just looked like a playground team instead of a well-coached BIG team. It appeared as if Collins either didn't know what to tell his guys or else they weren't listening. Either is a bad sign.
I've never known what to think about Collins' in-game coaching. However, the one thing we do celebrate about Coach Collins is his recruiting. And he has brought some of the highest rated recruits to Evanston. But if you stop and look at his track record, there is cause for concern. To date, he has brought in 6 4-star recruits. I would argue that one of them has been a hit (Law), three have been, I'm sorry to say, busts and two are TBD (though they aren't exactly lighting things up their freshman year). Therefore, while I want to get pumped up about his recruiting, it hasn't exactly been as exciting as it might have appeared. Combine that with the fact that we have very little talent in our sophomore and junior classes right now and its very worrying.
Now, I'm not off the band wagon yet. In addition to the 4-star recruits, its great having a coach who gets his team to play defense the way the Cats do. That is encouraging. We'll always have 2016-2017. But late at night, in the back of my mind..... doubt is creeping in.
Doubt is creeping in for me, and not just about this year's team. I never had very high expectations for them due to so much that was unknown coming into the year. Sadly, doubt is also creeping in regarding Chris Collins.
It really began after last year. Last year was a disaster. This was a team that almost knocked off eventual Final Four participant Gonzaga in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament in 2017 and was returning just about every important player. It should have been an incredible year for NU hoops. Instead, this team fell apart. Not making the tournament was one disappointment, but to not even finish above .500 was a colossal collapse. Now, we may never know the complete story behind last year's failure, but its hard not to pin some of that on the head coach.
The doubt crept back again last night during that painful stretch after the 8-minute timeout. MSU went on a run and they were awesome. Credit to MSU. But what concerned me was just how bad, out-of-control, rattled and undisciplined we looked - even a 5th-year senior like Vic Law looked lost. Coach called a timeout and we came out of it looking even worse. I didn't expect him to have some magic elixir to slow down MSU, but I did expect him to regain control of his team so that they stopped beating themselves. Instead, we took horrible, forced shots, left guys wide-open and just looked like a playground team instead of a well-coached BIG team. It appeared as if Collins either didn't know what to tell his guys or else they weren't listening. Either is a bad sign.
I've never known what to think about Collins' in-game coaching. However, the one thing we do celebrate about Coach Collins is his recruiting. And he has brought some of the highest rated recruits to Evanston. But if you stop and look at his track record, there is cause for concern. To date, he has brought in 6 4-star recruits. I would argue that one of them has been a hit (Law), three have been, I'm sorry to say, busts and two are TBD (though they aren't exactly lighting things up their freshman year). Therefore, while I want to get pumped up about his recruiting, it hasn't exactly been as exciting as it might have appeared. Combine that with the fact that we have very little talent in our sophomore and junior classes right now and its very worrying.
Now, I'm not off the band wagon yet. In addition to the 4-star recruits, its great having a coach who gets his team to play defense the way the Cats do. That is encouraging. We'll always have 2016-2017. But late at night, in the back of my mind..... doubt is creeping in.
