Give CC a break.
- Thread starter stpaulcat
- Start date
Nance is ready to test the pro waters. No need for him to stay another year.
He’s a really, really good shooter with very good vision.
A) there is no other choice anyway, nobody is writing him a $9M check to go away. B) despite the hilarity from @Styre above, they were 6-6 in their last 12 B1G games. This is an unpolished, inconsistent team that reflects its coach. But - he's done the bare minimum to keep his job. It's the equivalent of going 6-6 in football reg season, including losing to Illinois and then losing the Quicklane bowl. Not bad enough to fire a guy.
I'm still putting it out there that I think CC is unfortunately or fortunately gone. This is obviously cheap, foolish, message board over-analysis but he and Gragg couldn't have been more cold with each other during the Senior Day ceremony. I'm not sure they said two sentences to each other. Every chance they got they were at least ten feet apart from each other ... not a glance ... nothing. They would come together to embrace the parents, then they would split apart - four or five times. Who does that in a stable public relationship?
The other item nobody considers is the buyout in the contract. I don't know anything about it, but Phillips would really have been more negligent than we thought to not include a buyout.
Its just a little tough to agree that Collins deserves another season when the primary reasons we won last night were
a) he benched Beran for Williams because we were getting killed in the paint.
b) he finally paired Nance with Young and stuck with them in crunch time, something many people on here have been pleading with him to do all season, including a string of BTN analysts.
c) he switched to a zone defense for a few minutes and Nebraska got confused.
a) he benched Beran for Williams because we were getting killed in the paint.
b) he finally paired Nance with Young and stuck with them in crunch time, something many people on here have been pleading with him to do all season, including a string of BTN analysts.
c) he switched to a zone defense for a few minutes and Nebraska got confused.
In his defense, he also abandoned the zone without hurting us much.
Someone in another post said it was because he wanted Young in and that would not work in the zone. That is nonsense. I have heard here Young does not work in men, does not work in zone, all nonsense. Two years ago we played Young/Nance/Beran at the same time, in a 2-3 zone.
We abandoned a zone because it was not a good zone. It disrupted and surprised them and it was helpful. But there were 3 possessions in a row you could see our guys doubling coverage on a single player. Ball moves and the assignments are lost leaving players wide open. In those 3 possessions UNL got a drive in the middle for a basket by Verge and a foul on McGowens. I wrote the zone should be abandoned during the game. After that we had one more play in zone that gave up a 3 by Mayen??. That's when CC abandoned it. It was the right move, it was heading for disaster.
These things are so much harder to spot on TV, regardless how much attention we pay. When you are there, close to the court, you see it so easily when the players are adjusting in the zone and are paired with opponents or just guarding space. when you are just guarding space, you will give up easy shots.
Last edited:
Nice analysis.
There was disruption, a few turnovers, and then lots of scrambling and confusion. But it was also an absolute game-changer, well-deployed.
I said Young does not work in a 3-2 zone, which is what we played during the initial comeback surge.
You could definitely play Young as the middle guy of a 2-3 he would do well there (combined with Nance and Beran that's an interesting concept that I wouldn't mind exploring). Or Young as the middle guy in a 1-3-1 perhaps. I also think Young is fine in man against most matchups, he is weaker at help defense than Nance as he doesn't have the hops but he mans up on ball against most bigs decently enough.
As one of the low guys in a 3-2 I personally do not think it's a good idea as I think he lacks the speed to cover to the corners and retrace - that's a zone you play with mobile bigs down low. But that's just my opinion, I'm not a basketball coach.
A zone, 90% of the time, is not a good idea anyway. And I hear your points. If you have two guys in the back you need them to be somewhat fast to close on the wings. In a 2-3, less fast as less space to cover.
Young played in the back of a 1-3-1 against Providence and we won. But it was a fluke and a dumb thing to do. He should have been in the middle. Guy in the back has to run to both corners (and be a fast dude to do that). If he doesn't, which is what happened in that game, there are guys open in the corner all night long. Which happened, and they just missed shot after shot. Next game it was a disaster and we stopped doing 1-3-1.
I don't agree that it's the equivalent of going 6-6 in football, but even if I did, it's also the equivalent of going 3-9 in four straight seasons, promising the fifth season is going to be a great one because of all the returning talent and experience, and then going 6-6 and losing in Detroit. This is what we've been building toward?
And to build on a theme, 2/3 of our wins this season came against Nebraska or teams significantly worse than Nebraska.
I dont recall that game specifically (we lost to Providence this year?) but I fully agree with you conceptually that Young should definitely not be in the back of a 1-3-1, much better off in the middle.
This is fair, although, with teams other than Northwestern FB, most teams fatten up on cupcakes. Common for a fringe bowl team to go 3-0, or 4-0 in some conferences, and then win 2-3 conf games to get to bowl eligibility. But - you are right, this is hardly good after 3 terrible seasons; however, if Gragg chooses to, he could spin it as getting back on track.
I'm still firmly on the "Collins needs to go" bandwagon, but I think he did enough this year that others like Gragg will let him stay at least another year, buyout notwithstanding. I am pretty sure the team will do worse next year.
Dr Gragg is not a warm person, would not read too much into the Senior Day ceremony. That is not a knock on Dr Gragg, just the way he is.
Nebraska has been hot as fire, so yesterday's huge win was another moment suggesting this team can accomplish more. If you've ever played for teams that lose consistently, you know how hard it is to get everybody ready to win the next game. CC has done that at least a couple times. Zero credit from the jackals nipping at his heels. I wish he'd had more success, but I don't want him fired.
Gragg can not be happy with CC's performance and it's easy to understand why he would not want to reassure CC that everything is fine. But how'd you like to recruit a head basketball coach at NU? Gragg can not be looking forward to that, so CC gets at least another year.
Gonna take devotion to watch the Iowa game. Those who watch it ALL are eligible for a Croix de Northwestern.
We just don’t have enough wins. That is what will really make it difficult for CCC to get better recruits. Hard to sell with the losing and doesn’t even address the institutional issues I harp on. Therefore, I think he is either gone after today or at latest after next season. As I have consistently stated, I don’t believe this mess is all on CCC. They are deep rooted problems that Mark Few would have trouble with. It’s treating the flesh wound, while the patient is bleeding out from the bullet to the gut.
Here's hoping Gragg has what it takes. He had a chance to recruit a baseball coach but declined. Don't look at the record.
I think we can win. Pound it inside. Defend the perimeter. Play Nance and Young. Control the boards. Use Nicholson too (sadly - never gonna happen)
Thanks for the laugh. I needed it.
I said a break was deserved through 4 eastern. I was optimistic
We played Providence in 2019 and won. It caught everybody by surprise because we had just lost to Merrimack.
Have you lost your mind??? Who on earth would want this team back? Nance, Buie and Beran gotta go.
How does anyone that loves Northwestern justify keeping Chris Collins after this year. His career record is worse than Carmody’s with better talent if you go off recruiting rankings. He doesn’t make adjustments and his players don’t really improve. For every one player you think of, I’m sure I can name 5 that haven’t amounted to anything. And I’m sure schools like Iowa aren’t paying millions of dollars to kids so NIL isn’t why NU loses. And academics are a challenge but this team shouldn’t be in the bottom 4 in the conference every year. I know we’re not going to the NCAAs every year but every few years we should be able to compete. We can’t be complacent and understanding with Collins after 9 years and one good season. NU is down 40+ to Iowa and the reporters are talking about how the freshman are walking away from Collins on the sideline. NU basketball needs a major reboot!!!
That's an excellent question. After the game today, I'm not sure. This seems to take us full circle back to admissions.