Game thread for No. 8 Wisconsin at Northwestern
- Thread starter mikefitz7
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Another tough loss.First off the guys played their butts off.A couple of 3 pointers by Wiscy one at the end of the 1st half then the bailout by Davis loomed large.We had a few too many empty possessions and too many missed free throws.But the guys hung in there and fought to the end.And I am going to say it,don’t tell me we aren’t getting screwed by the refs.MN had a clean block a couple of other very questionable calls.Yes Nance got away with one against Davis but the other calls more than made up for that and of course the one on Chase where the ref made the call before the play even happened.BIG REFS SUCK.
I don’t know that he’s ‘the problem’. When he’s taking the high percentage shots and free throws and missing them, it seems fair to wonder why. He isn’t that bad a shooter and he seems to have played a lot of minutes tonight, so tired makes sense.
how many fast breaks did we get zero points from because of terrible shots? That killed me. 4? 5? Great D stops and empty possessions, followed by giving up a three just hurts.
There was a sequence of two of those where Audige and Roper make terrible decisions. It’s the little things. Just like we easily gave up 6 pts on not doing the basics of defending cuts. We don’t lack individual talent. That much is clear to me.
I agree, we need to stop being OK with the "Trail 3" on fastbreaks. It's not a high percentage look.
I *might* be OK with Berry or Beran taking them, but that's about it.
Losing sucks. But I am proud of our team. They battled their asses off tonight. They never quit, and put a scare into the Badgers and that cyborg Davis.
Ryan Young is not "the problem," but if you want him to be "the guy," given his physical post play, he's going to need to make more FTs. 1-for-5, at least twice I believe on the front end of a one-and-one, means he left enough points on the board to swing the L to a W.
I’m listening to Collins’ post-game now. He was asked the obvious question about the refs, and he was definitely frustrated. As he talked, it struck me how difficult it must be for Collins to walk that line between defending his team against the perceived unbalanced refereeing, yet keeping his team focused on fighting through it and not using it as an excuse. So far, this team has fought incredibly hard.
He needs to just go ballistic one game to prove a point. What he’s doing clearly isn’t working. He needs to go off on another level.
And the one he made I believe it was after missing one that was called off due to on a lane violation. Had there not been a violation he would’ve been 0-for-6!
I agree.
I was trying to remember how I felt about fouls during the NCAA season. I don’t remember feeling this way back then. So what’s the difference?
As good as he has been doing on help under the basket, he does seem to get lost too often.
Noticeable surge of energy in the crowd when Nicholson entered the game.
The first foul on Nicholson was a very rare "no contact whatsoever 20 feet from the basket" foul.
The 2nd one prevented a dunk and was awesome. Thought Crowl might wilt after getting stuffed like that but he did not. And that was the last play of Nicholson's night.
He came back to the bench visibly angry.
I was sitting about 12 rows up from the NU bench.
Watching it live from behind NU bench, the whistle blew before Audige stole the ball (cleanly).
Definitely before.
I was close enough to see that Wisconsin was really pounding on Young in the post. Could have called twenty fouls off the ball. And ten more after he got the ball.
If they didn't show it on TV, he was all over two of the refs in the final two minutes. That was after an ongoing discussion throughout the game about non-calls against Wisconsin's post play vs calls against NU in the post.
In the end however, you just can't allow 52% from 3. Nobody seems to want to mention that.
Ryan Young is not "the problem," but if you want him to be "the guy," given his physical post play, he's going to need to make more FTs. 1-for-5, at least twice I believe on the front end of a one-and-one, means he left enough points on the board to swing the L to a W.
He has generally been the most consistent option for us on offense but we went to him six times in the latter part of the game and he produced one point. He missed all of his shots and hit one free throw. Hard to beat a top 10 team that way. Especially one that banks in two 3’s. And Nance is a really nice player but he’s not a go-to scorer. So that’s an issue at the end of games. Audige was fantastic. Guarded their best player and was great on offense. Buie played pretty well. Roper provided a huge lift in a big game. He and Simmons are really nice pieces. Berry struggled. It was a really good game. This team is good and plays hard. They could use a closer who can draw fouls (and make them).
Your criticisms are fair, but I don't think people want Young to be "the guy." I don't even think Young wants to be "the guy." He just needs to play more, specifically with Nance. Tonight he played significant minutes, fought hard, but his free throw shooting really hurt. It was uncharacteristic for him. With Nicholson looking capable behind Young, Collins can afford to play Young and Nance.
I'd focus on designing and running an offense around those two.
One of these days Collins may even try Beran at small forward!
And somebody needs to tell our student section to stand motionless when our guys are shooting free throws. They all wave their hands at our shooter. Bizarre.
I think people aren’t mentioning it because “allowed 52% from 3” doesn’t paint an accurate picture, Sec.
Several of those of attempts from Wisconsin those were of the HORSE/bail out variety. Not much you can really do when sub 30% shooters are jacking them up and getting them to go. Outside of the first few minutes of the 2nd half, NU’s defense was pretty darn solid, especially considering how smart and efficient this Wisconsin team is on the offensive end.
If anything, NU hurt themselves with plethora of botched bunnies in the paint and missed foul shots (on the rare occasion they actually get there). A trend that reared its ugly head again. There were a couple of times where the shot selection was poor as well, but we are starting to see some improvement in that area, thankfully.
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Gato - do you not include decision making as part of talent? Better players make better decisions, in my opinion.
Yes. A lot of decision making has to do with coaching and experience. And a lot has to do with talent, that’s why you see players of similar athleticism that are of such different quality. It’s probably semantics more than anything, but the way I see it ability to read the game is talent, while ability to make good decisions is coaching and experience. One does not need talent to avoid getting stiffed on a screen on the help side. One needs coaching and experience.
In the particular sequence I mentioned, Audige has a clear path to attack the basket on the fast break and pulls up for a 3. If he did not have said path I’d be all for it. If he had scored several baskets in a row, I’d support it. In this case it was a poor decision trading a 2 or foul line for a potential 3.
Roper attacks the basket on a 1 on 1 fast break by jumping way too far from the basket.
I know just which play you are talking about. I started with a "What the...", but then I just chuckled and thought with all the lay-ups we've missed today, how can you blame him?
I agree talent does not always equate to success. What is the difference between “reading the game” and “making decisions”? Reading is a precursor to acting, so I am struggling as to how you differentiate these. I can’t yet decouple talent and decision-making. Better players make better choices. A coach’s job is to put them into, and point out, those learning situations, but how often the player makes the correct decision determines a player’s success. If you think Collins doesn’t point these situations out, then we can agree to disagree.
I made no comments about Collins.
Reading the game is, for example, seeing a cut, making a good pass close to the feet of a defender, seeing a lane to penetrate, feeling your defender in off balance and attacking, etc, etc... it's having instincts if you will.
Making decisions is deciding to feed a big man or not when you have the ball on the wing, it's rotating on time on defense, it's calling a specific play, it's adapting to your defender like Wahl did yesterday after seeing his shot blocked by Beran a couple of times, it's boxing out, exploit switches on defense.... I guess it's making decisions that don't depend on special skills, most players can make them regardless of smarts or athleticism. Those can be taught and be learned a lot more than instincts.