Luke Hunger commits to Northwestern
- Thread starter NUCat320
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Interesting offer list. A few Power conference offers, coast to coast and some very good schools. His size is a factor in this but still nice to get a front line player signed.
Great news for the Cats! Here is quote from Hunger’s high school coach per Zagoria:
“Luke Hunger works! He has transformed his game over the past year and he’ll bring a heightened level of intensity to the Northwestern program. He and his NMH teammate Rowan Brumbaugh are a terrific tandem that the Wildcats faithful will enjoy watching together for years to come.”
“Luke Hunger works! He has transformed his game over the past year and he’ll bring a heightened level of intensity to the Northwestern program. He and his NMH teammate Rowan Brumbaugh are a terrific tandem that the Wildcats faithful will enjoy watching together for years to come.”
I also like the fact that he and Brumbaugh play together and know each other's games. Both should contribute immediately in 2022. I hope the 2021 kids develop quickly over the course of this season, setting us up for a nice core of players in '22 and beyond.
Uggh... the mythical stretch 4 that Collins has been searching for his entire coaching career.
So, looking at the tape, this kid has a nice, quick release all the way out to three-point range. He could be quite devastating in a pick and pop kind of offense. He can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim, but he is extremely slow and I worry that college-level athletes will take the ball from him on those drives as he stays very straight up and down. He can dunk, which is nice (not all of our big guys seem to be able to do that), but I wouldn't describe him as a fluid athlete. We don't see his defense in these tapes, but I worry he will be too stiff and slow to guard a slashing style four.
I'll admit to being cynical about this pick up mostly because I've seen too many of these style of players come to NU and not pan out.
I'm with ya, C. I've grown to believe the stretch four is someone you find in the top 50 recruits. When you're doing business near the 100-150 range, you're not going to find the guy who plays with size AND shoots well from outside.
NU should take note how Purdue has differentiated itself with a steady flow of traditional big guys.
Hard to evaluate, but he does not seem that slow to me as a 6'10 guy. Gotta put that into the perspective of who will he have guarding him.
Both Luka Garza and Ethan Happ were 6' 10" and about 240 (Ryan Young is too). Neither could shoot from 3, though Garza picked it up his senior year. Both had great footwork. Not sure how hard it is to teach footwork. Young seems to be pretty good with that now.
A big man who can shoot from 3 obviously opens up the lane. Hunger looks comfortable from there.
It look like a good commit who should add to the team.
I agree with DaCat:
"I also like the fact that he and Brumbaugh play together and know each other's games. Both should contribute immediately in 2022. I hope the 2021 kids develop quickly over the course of this season, setting us up for a nice core of players in '22 and beyond."
Interestingly, Young was born in Montreal as well.
A big man who can shoot from 3 obviously opens up the lane. Hunger looks comfortable from there.
It look like a good commit who should add to the team.
I agree with DaCat:
"I also like the fact that he and Brumbaugh play together and know each other's games. Both should contribute immediately in 2022. I hope the 2021 kids develop quickly over the course of this season, setting us up for a nice core of players in '22 and beyond."
Interestingly, Young was born in Montreal as well.
I'm just going off the highlight clips here. I really don't see any highlights of him playing in the paint and dominating on the block or on the boards. Thus, I am leaping to the conclusion that this is another big man that gets away playing like a guard at the high school level, but will struggle with that at the college level. I hope I am wrong, but we've seen this movie over and over at NU lately.
If he can hit 3-point shots that would be a pretty good start. Beran has not panned out in part because he has not been a consistent threat from 3-point range. He has not made enough of them and at times has been hesitant to shoot them. It sounds like Hunger has improved a lot over the past year or so. Hopefully, he hasn't hit his ceiling and they can work with him on his footwork. He reminds me of a slightly more athletic Young (not a ringing endorsement for athleticism). Similar size. If he can shoot the 3 and pass out of double teams more quickly than Young, he could be an effective player.
Don't get me wrong... just because our past stretch 4's haven't really worked out doesn't mean that this kid can't become a great player. I'm just not automatically excited because I see a big kid make his three-pointers in a highlight clip. I bet Beran hit every 3 in his HS highlight tape too.
I just have been more impressed with Ryan Young, despite his obvious limitations, then any of our shooting bigs. I guess I'd like to see us get a big man who mixes it up inside.
The lack of defense clips is disappointing. I like that he seems comfortable driving the lane, but I don't think he gets away with that so well in college. The way he moves the ball seems to leave him open to off defenders taking it away. His 3 release looks to be about chin level, so he'd better be wide open.
But I do like 6'10" 255 in a freshman.
But I do like 6'10" 255 in a freshman.
The funny thing is that while Collins searches for his mythical stretch 4, he actually has two of them.
The problem is that he plays them at the same time!!!!
He doesn't really like to play the stretch 4's with his only 5, regardless of how obvious that is.
And he actually tried to force one of the stretch 4's to turn into a 5.
To be precise, Young and Nance played 20% of the season's minutes together last year.
Young and Beran played 13.5% of the season's minutes together
36% of the minutes went to the "Two stretch 4's at the same time" approach.
So for one third of each game we used our only 5 with one of our stretch 4's, a.k.a. "trying to win."
The rest of the time we were experimenting, ignoring conventional wisdom and failing.
The problem is that he plays them at the same time!!!!
He doesn't really like to play the stretch 4's with his only 5, regardless of how obvious that is.
And he actually tried to force one of the stretch 4's to turn into a 5.
To be precise, Young and Nance played 20% of the season's minutes together last year.
Young and Beran played 13.5% of the season's minutes together
36% of the minutes went to the "Two stretch 4's at the same time" approach.
So for one third of each game we used our only 5 with one of our stretch 4's, a.k.a. "trying to win."
The rest of the time we were experimenting, ignoring conventional wisdom and failing.
I like the numerical analysis that PWB has offered. And I do wish Collins would adjust lineups more effectively. But, let’s examine this and see if it’s as big an issue so as to be brought up ad nauseum.
Say we split the difference and the Beran / Nance combo plays an average of 22% of the minutes. That would be a 14 percentage point drop - time they “should not have played together”. Since Beran played 20 minutes per game, that’s 2.8 minutes per game (20 * .14). Young outscores Beran by approximately 3 points per game on average; that translates to 0.15 points per minute per game based on their both playing approximately 20 minutes per game. Do you really think that 2.8 minutes more of an extra 0.15 points per minute (or 0.42 (2.8 x 0.15) points per game) is evidence enough to berate Collins relentlessly and doom your outlook on the season? Even if you had Nance / Beran never play together, that would, all else equal, be .63 points per game.
Say we split the difference and the Beran / Nance combo plays an average of 22% of the minutes. That would be a 14 percentage point drop - time they “should not have played together”. Since Beran played 20 minutes per game, that’s 2.8 minutes per game (20 * .14). Young outscores Beran by approximately 3 points per game on average; that translates to 0.15 points per minute per game based on their both playing approximately 20 minutes per game. Do you really think that 2.8 minutes more of an extra 0.15 points per minute (or 0.42 (2.8 x 0.15) points per game) is evidence enough to berate Collins relentlessly and doom your outlook on the season? Even if you had Nance / Beran never play together, that would, all else equal, be .63 points per game.
Hi Gordie.
First of all, I am fairly optimistic about the season. My baseline is 9 wins in the conference.
But for these specific lineups, you cant just look at the points a guy scores - the difference is "how the team performs" when certain lineups are out there.
Nance and Beran played 36.3% of the minutes at a 76.3 - 63.3 losing pace.
Young and Beran played 13.5% of the minutes at a 67.3 - 65.8 winning pace.
Young and Nance played 19.6% of the minutes at a 62.8 - 58.7 winning pace.
Young played w/out Beran or Nance 16.5% of the minutes at a 77.6 - 54.2 losing pace.
Nance played w/out Young or Beran 14.1% of the minutes at a 74.6 - 74.3 winning pace.
That equates approximately to an average loss of 71.3 - 63.8
If you change the playing time percentages to
Nance and Beran play 16.3% of the minutes at a 76.3 - 63.3 losing pace.
Young and Beran play 23.5% of the minutes at a 67.3 - 65.8 winning pace.
Young and Nance play 29.6% of the minutes at a 62.8 - 58.7 winning pace.
Young plays w/out Beran or Nance 16.5% of the minutes at a 77.6 - 54.2 losing pace.
Nance plays w/out Young or Beran 14.1% of the minutes at a 74.6 - 74.3 winning pace.
That gets you a typical loss of 68.5 - 64.2
If you focus on playing Young with either Beran or Nance as much as possible...
Nance and Beran play 5.0% of the minutes at a 76.3 - 63.3 losing pace.
Young and Beran play 30% of the minutes at a 67.3 - 65.8 winning pace.
Young and Nance play 40% of the minutes at a 62.8 - 58.7 winning pace.
Young plays w/out Beran or Nance 5.0% of the minutes at a 77.6 - 54.2 losing pace.
Nance plays w/out Young or Beran 20.0% of the minutes at a 74.6 - 74.3 winning pace.
That gets you to an average win of 66.1 - 65.8
It makes a lot of assumptions, but they aren't crazy assumptions.
Young plays 30 minutes a night. Nance plays 28 minutes a night. Beran plays 14 minutes a night.
Thanks, PWB. I understand the approach. Have you heard of Win Shares? It was a stat I came upon recently. Young had the best on our team. I cannot deny we played best when he was in there. But having him play 70+% of the minutes doesn’t seem realistic, especially with his generally poor defense. And he’s be going up against starters, which would make it worse. I like Ryan and hope he plays more than last year nonetheless.