Luke Hunger
- Thread starter Catdude
- Start date
They said on the radio that he will be out for the rest of the season. Broke a bone in his foot.
Once again, we can't have nice things.
Jeez. I was really looking forward to him getting quality minutes.
This is a bummer for a variety of reasons. One, it will slow his development. And two, we don’t have many big men on the roster. When we play big and physical teams in conference, just having another big guy who can go in for 5-7 minutes when we have foul trouble will be important. Getting pretty thin in the big men department (we already were pretty thin).
I feel sorry for the kid. And it hurts, but probably more in having a more competitive practice environment than anything else.
Outside garbage time he played like a dozen minutes. And this in a pre season where we actually massacred some teams. And where Verhoeven showed he’s way over his head. Living off the “veteran” mantra while not playing like one.
Hunger, barring injuries, was never going to play.
If last season is a reference, the 3rd option was used in a grand total of one game, at MSU.
Outside garbage time he played like a dozen minutes. And this in a pre season where we actually massacred some teams. And where Verhoeven showed he’s way over his head. Living off the “veteran” mantra while not playing like one.
Hunger, barring injuries, was never going to play.
If last season is a reference, the 3rd option was used in a grand total of one game, at MSU.
Well I thought Hunger was important to us improving as the season went on...
Beran needs a backup. And he was a no-show today.
I am making no judgements on his quality.
I thought he was going to be the natural backup for Beran. Mostly based on the fact he has a good outside shot. He was used instead as a 5. While Barnhizer looks lost and outmatched as a 4.
I thought the moment we saw Verhoeven really struggling to contribute Hunger would see more minutes. We didn’t.
I am not in practice and have not seen enough to have a good idea of Hunger’s capabilities right now. But I can see Verhoeven is playing because he supposedly brings a “veteran” presence, while not bringing that “veteran” presence at all.
You’d think that would naturally make us see Hunger on the court. If that was to happen it would have happened in the last two games when we annihilated teams. It didn’t and it does not seem logical it would be in B1G games that would start. I have zero evidence of CC doing that. Quite the opposite, plenty of evidence of sticking to his rotation regardless of performance or results.
That’s why I think, barring injuries to TV or MN, he would be stapled to the bench. Not that I think he deserved it, more that I think CC would not play him.
We still lose something in practice in any case. The more competitive the opposition in practice the better a team is prepared.
Overall it always seems a bit weird to me that in blowouts we (almost) don’t see minutes given to our young guns outside garbage time. It seems good for their development yo get out there. Who cares if we win by 15 instead of 40.
Hunger has definitely shown some skills and some potential, but, like MN last year, it seems the game has not slowed down for him yet. He would think too much on offense and be a step or two late on defense. The injury is so damaging because even practicing against the starters would help his development.
Yes, these things are true, but you are bringing me down... Losing Hunger hurts more than people seem to realize. You could be right that he was never going to play, but we actually needed him off the bench this year.
Very disappointing that we won't have him.
What is our plan if Beran gets sick or hurt or in foul trouble?
Not to re-hash the MN talk, but you know what would have helped the game slow down for him earlier? As well as for Hunger? Playing more. Even 3-5 minutes a game makes a huge difference.
I think Martinelli was always going to be the one getting minutes if Beran got hurt. Not Hunger.
Not agreeing or disagreeing with that option, just what I think CC would do.
I didn’t hear the report on this, do we know for sure that this is an acute injury that Hunger picked up the last few days? I’m wondering if it perhaps was a lingering issue that limited his ability to contribute and they decided to shut him down.
On radio broadcast today said it happened at the end of the UIC game. He will be out for the rest of the season.
You could be right, but if that was the plan, parking Martinelli on the bench was dumb.
Its difficult to reconcile that idea with the "Martinelli has been redshirted" poster(s).
To me, Collins thinks Barnhizer is Beran's backup.
The Big Ten will (likely) punish that idea. Of course I'd like to see Barnie punching way above his size, but I just don't think it is logical to assume he can.
First, hopefully he recovers and I ready for the summer sessions to continue his development for next year.
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What wrong with playing the 8 that have been playing? All the breaks are done and hopefully they can get into a rhythm.
They do need to get 8 to 10 points from the centers, so that is basically MN.
But if the other positions can defend at an elite level and generate points off of turnovers, that might offset the center position.
Other than Edy, some of the centers have an issue NU might be able to exploit, NU does not have to double, let the other get some 2s, li m it the 3s.
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What wrong with playing the 8 that have been playing? All the breaks are done and hopefully they can get into a rhythm.
They do need to get 8 to 10 points from the centers, so that is basically MN.
But if the other positions can defend at an elite level and generate points off of turnovers, that might offset the center position.
Other than Edy, some of the centers have an issue NU might be able to exploit, NU does not have to double, let the other get some 2s, li m it the 3s.
Is he eligible for a medical redshirt? In football you can if it’s less than 4 games. Not sure the Bball limit. Would be nice for him to still have 4 years of eligibility left.
The biggest problem here, beyond depth for further injury, could be foul trouble. We have 10 fouls for bigs that have to deal with Edey, Dickinson, Jackson-Davis, Key, Omoruyi, etc. Hunger was the insurance policy. Not sure we can afford the luxury of redshirting Martinelli if that was the plan.
Nicholson and Verhoeven will have to be on their games. Was hoping Hunger could emerge as the season wore on to grab some of those minutes.
Nicholson and Verhoeven will have to be on their games. Was hoping Hunger could emerge as the season wore on to grab some of those minutes.
Luke played in just 6 games according to the NU sports site, so he easily qualifies.
So it turned out to be a smart move for CCC not to play Hunger in some of those meaningless early OOC games?
“According to the NCAA rules, in order to be granted a medical redshirt, the athlete must: Suffer an injury that is deemed “season-ending” Their injury must occur before the halfway point of the season. Not participate in more than 30% of the season's games.”
So Hunger should be clear.
Still, I wanted him to get those minutes so we would not have a repeat of the MN situation.
So Hunger should be clear.
Still, I wanted him to get those minutes so we would not have a repeat of the MN situation.
No. Can’t predict an injury. The question is whether he is physically ready to play as a frosh. I think he was (until the injury), and giving him minutes now would pay dividends next season.
So far we have heard...
It is smart not to play our promising freshmen because that way when they get injured in practice they can be redshirted.
It was smart to bench some of our younger players because that way they could start the next season with no real experience....
It seems that going forward, redshirting at NU just allows a guy to get his degree on schedule and go play elsewhere as a graduate transfer. (Hunger and Martinelli have 4 years of eligibility - I think) So a medical redshirt makes sense because the player can't actually play, but a "he's not ready to contribute" redshirt is less likely to pay off down the road.
I believe mean girl was trolling. Basically the only thing mean girl deems the peasants on this board worthy of.
The player isn't playing in games.
Therefore he is not good enough to play.
We see that "logic" all too often.
It only works if the coach is infallible.
In other words, it is not a valid argument.
Therefore he is not good enough to play.
We see that "logic" all too often.
It only works if the coach is infallible.
In other words, it is not a valid argument.
Actually Verhoeven is our backup.
But yeah, I wanted to see Hunger get a bunch of minutes this season.
Once I saw him play and that he’s not quite ready for prime time, I wanted to see him get 5-10 minutes when our two bigs are in foul trouble (or when Verhoeven is playing badly) and get more minutes when either Matt or Verhoeven invariably gets mono or injured for much/all of the season.
What some folks call a "back up big man obsession" is really just a desire to see NU win games.
I said before the season that the more minutes Verhoeven gets at the expense of Hunger and Nicholson, the worse we will do. Its too bad Hunger got hurt before he could establish himself.
Its my fault for being correct and I accept full responsibility.
I said before the season that the more minutes Verhoeven gets at the expense of Hunger and Nicholson, the worse we will do. Its too bad Hunger got hurt before he could establish himself.
Its my fault for being correct and I accept full responsibility.