How long can the youth excuse be used?

[Fitz51]

Easy answer, recruit "old players". Or change admission policies.

Absolutely. I’d be on the lookout for kids who were held back 5 or 6 times. Get us some 23 year old frosh.

 

[haywood jahblowme]

Absolutely. I’d be on the lookout for kids who were held back 5 or 6 times. Get us some 23 year old frosh.

i think this is part of the reason NU has tried and will continue to try and play the transfer market

 

[Username Not Available]

I’m pretty sure BMac was almost thirty as a frosh.

 

[PurpleFaze]

That is why I hate this closer talk. It's one more, in a long series, of excuses we come up with. You do not need a go to guy to hold on to double digit leads in the last 1/3 of the 2H. You might need one to get back from a double digit deficit, Geo Baker comes handily to mind.

Since we don't seem to be able to just play or run the offense, in the last 5 minutes, as we do in the first 35... Here's a novel idea for a young team struggling to close out a game, clearly feeling the pressure, shaky knees and all: go inside, post someone up. Young is competent doing it. Spencer is very good at posting up other guards. Might be better than dribbling around endlessly and jacking up bad shots.

It’s easier for younger teams to lose leads, but last I checked there are quite a few teams blowing leads. Illinois was up on Maryland twice by like 14-15 and lost. I saw some graphic on the SEC channel where there have been more 20+ pt comebacks this year in that conference than there have been in multiple years.

Life gets way easier if you have a guy who can create his own shot, and if it doesn’t fall draws contact to get to the line. Boo can be that guy at some point but he isn’t there yet and from what I’ve seen we get about zero respect from the refs on drives.

IMO we’d be better off passing more and trying to get open looks from 3 with the current squad. Of course then when the open shots don’t fall the fans scream why are we settling for 3’s??

 

[PurpleFaze]

Youth isn’t the only excuse, but it is one. Last I checked Minny is 12-11 this season?

Yes. They’re also 6-7 in league play.

And to your point about a closer... it helps a lot. Indeed. But do you necessarily need one in games you lead by 8 with 4 min to go? Or 10 with 6 min to go? Or to win more than 1 in 12 games? Wisconsin seems to hold on to leads...[/QUOTE]

Of their top 7 scorers - other than king who is a soph and I think has left the program the badgers others are all juniors or seniors

 

[NJCat]

Yes. They’re also 6-7 in league play.

And to your point about a closer... it helps a lot. Indeed. But do you necessarily need one in games you lead by 8 with 4 min to go? Or 10 with 6 min to go? Or to win more than 1 in 12 games? Wisconsin seems to hold on to leads...

Other than king who is a soph and I think has left the program the badgers other top 5 scorers are all juniors or seniors[/QUOTE]
They're all Juniors except Pritzl (Senior). Badgers setting up to be a tough experienced team next year.

 

[PurpleFaze]

Penn state will still win but they were up on Purdue by 24 at the 14 min mark and are now up 8- 16 pts trimmed off their lead.

Mich State blows a 20 pt second half lead vs Illinois and then pulls it out at the end after going down 69-68.

It’s not just NU blowing leads...

 

[GatoLouco]

Man, we are doomed. It’s a miracle we won one game. Thank you Jesus for that. Young, no closer, how did we do it? How did we win one game? What an achievement.