Observations from Section 219 Mildly Optimistic

[catfans5]

Fun to be be back in person. Joint observation from my buddy and me. We have had season tickets for 10 years. The competition was EIU and have no idea how good they are.

Our starting line up would be Boo, Audige, Berry, Nance and Williams. Beran should not play with Nance--two perimeter players. Williams provides inside toughness and rebounds. Bring in Beran and Young at the same time. Inside and outside players.

We were impressed by Young. Seemed much better and actually ran the floor. He deflected a lot of ball and had 7 to 9 rebounds.

The freshman, Simmons and Roper, did not seem lost. We think they will be able to contribute.

Athleticism. Berry, Simmons and Roper add some real athleticism. We saw some really athletic plays that we either never saw before of forgot since it was so long since we had some athletes.

The Cats should be able to handle quick guards much better. The frosh and Berry add some real quickness.

I will not start the year with negative comments.

This game was never in doubt. Been a long time to have that experience.

 

[The Purple Knight]

Boo played decent tonight and did handle the ball better. Still feels a bit shaky with him running the show. The team is more solid with Greer at point and Berry at off guard. Greer is an underrated shooter and better defensively than Boo.

The transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson and ETHS is a beast and a HUGE addition. We needed the inside presence and he can also shoot and handle the ball. Great addition for cats.

Roper is a future star and seems much more ready for minutes than Simmons.

If Nance, Beran and Young have Good seasons this could be a fun year for cats fans.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Its great to see the positive and insightful comments.
I am a bit dismayed that Young and Nance (arguably our two best players) are vying for minutes at the 5 instead of dominating the frontcourt as a twosome. We saw that movie a lot last year. It was a bad movie.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Other than that, all good!

 

[clarificationcat]

Boo played decent tonight and did handle the ball better. Still feels a bit shaky with him running the show. The team is more solid with Greer at point and Berry at off guard. Greer is an underrated shooter and better defensively than Boo.

The transfer from Fairleigh Dickinson and ETHS is a beast and a HUGE addition. We needed the inside presence and he can also shoot and handle the ball. Great addition for cats.

Roper is a future star and seems much more ready for minutes than Simmons.

If Nance, Beran and Young have Good seasons this could be a fun year for cats fans.

Boo played 28 minutes and was the primary ball handler even when Greer was on the court. He had 6 assists, 0 turnovers and 5 steals. Greer is not a B1G starter. He passed up a few open 3's and struggles to create his own shot. He shot an airball on a floater when he tried to drive to the basket. Not a good game for him. He has a role but it should not be starter. Agree on Roper and Williams. It's going to be hard to keep them off the court. Roper has a B1G ready body, is a good athlete and plays under control (so far). And his 3-point shot looks good (which was probably the weakest part of his game coming out of high school). Williams seems to be able to do everything pretty well for a guy his size and looks like a really smart player. He created some nice opportunities for his teammates. And it's nice to have another veteran player. He was very vocal with his teammates. Simmons is the skinniest player I have seen in person in a long time. He looks like a very good athlete and his shooting stroke seems fine but I think he will have a hard time against equally good athletes until he gets a lot stronger. Beran played pretty well but I don't think he will ever be a true stretch 4. I don't think his shooting stroke is consistent enough and he only wants to take wide open 3's so he doesn't really put any pressure on the defense. He does a nice job on switches and help defense, though. Young had some deflections today and rebounded well. He can be a liability defensively, though, when he has to switch and move his feet. He had a couple of defensive lapses today and Collins yanked him when he didn't contest a drive down the lane.

 

[TheC]

Its great to see the positive and insightful comments.
I am a bit dismayed that Young and Nance (arguably our two best players) are vying for minutes at the 5 instead of dominating the frontcourt as a twosome. We saw that movie a lot last year. It was a bad movie.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Other than that, all good!

I’ve asked this before but who plays the 5 when those guys need to rest in a lineup where you have them on the court at the same time?

 

[lunker35]

I’ve asked this before but who plays the 5 when those guys need to rest in a lineup where you have them on the court at the same time?

Go real small but have Williams at the 5.

 

[GatoLouco]

I’ve asked this before but who plays the 5 when those guys need to rest in a lineup where you have them on the court at the same time?

If Young plays 30 there's Nance, Williams and *cough* Nicholson to fill in for the massive 10 minutes. More if Young has foul trouble.

 

[Hungry Jack]

Fun to be be back in person. Joint observation from my buddy and me. We have had season tickets for 10 years. The competition was EIU and have no idea how good they are.

Our starting line up would be Boo, Audige, Berry, Nance and Williams. Beran should not play with Nance--two perimeter players. Williams provides inside toughness and rebounds. Bring in Beran and Young at the same time. Inside and outside players.

We were impressed by Young. Seemed much better and actually ran the floor. He deflected a lot of ball and had 7 to 9 rebounds.

The freshman, Simmons and Roper, did not seem lost. We think they will be able to contribute.

Athleticism. Berry, Simmons and Roper add some real athleticism. We saw some really athletic plays that we either never saw before of forgot since it was so long since we had some athletes.

The Cats should be able to handle quick guards much better. The frosh and Berry add some real quickness.

I will not start the year with negative comments.

This game was never in doubt. Been a long time to have that experience.

The depth sounds promising. I thought we were pretty gassed last year.

It is too bad Beran really has not developed a great deal. I had high hopes for him.

 

[GatoLouco]

The good.
NANCE - It was the first time I saw Pete not hesitating. Even when he missed a few shots to start the game. He was decisive, he knew what he was going to do when he touched the ball. It twas GLORIOUS

Berry - His confidence level is much improved. He's the FR to SO Kopp of this year. Hate on Kopp all you want, he did have a big jump

Williams - He is deceptively NOT slow. He has a 3 pt shot. He is a fighter. He can pretty much be used 3 through 5.

The indifferent.
Buie - Played well, pretty well, but it was against some very poor competition. If we find ourselves, like yesterday, at the 5 minute mark, with Buie playing with 4 bench players, he will be forced to take bad shots. Again, played well, but did not tell me much, other than make me hopeful

The frosh Simmons and Roper - Good vibes, more athletic than we are used to. Promising. But it's one game, against guys that. even in some instances, younger, are physically weaker than their undeveloped bodies.

Young - Looked a bit slimmer. Encouraging. But also in the process of getting some rhythm under his legs. In RY's style, somehow had 7 rebounds in 19 minutes.

The bad.
Greer - Guy is a hard worker, won't ever complain about his effort. At a point, as a SO, I had hopes he could develop into a decent B1G player. His handles are good. But, unfortunately, more and more I feel we will be seeing the comments of hoping he can be a solid backup continue until he plays his last game for us. If we are honest, against awful EIU, he was dreadful

Beran - It's like he is not even on the court. Ends up scoring a bit in the 2nd half, did not even miss shots. But all in pretty much garbage time, game is done. I'm not sure in what world he produces enough to justify the minutes that are given to him. Played 25 minutes to William's 16, or Young's 19.

The Ugly.
The fact that it is crystal clear that Nance is the 5 and Beran the 4. And that Young is Nance's backup, while Williams is Beran's backup. Garbage. Beran should probably come off the bench after both Williams and Young.

The substitutions patterns, that seem to be pretty much a mirror of the disaster they were last year. Too many starters benched at the same time. Leaving lineups on the court that will have a really hard time scoring. Of course that did not stand out against might EIU. But it will. And it will feel like repeating the mistakes of last season.

Conclusion.
That's what I read into one game. It's one game, it's against bad competition. It's a game where, obviously, several players get more minutes than they will against "real" opponents. It's probably a good team to start off with, get confidence, blah, blah, blah. But the patters of the problems I saw last year continue to be there.

I fear that we will not play enough challenging games for CC to make any changes. We might have a Pittsburgh again, losing, but oh so close to winning, so no changes needed. We might even win a game or two. We might even start conference play with 3 wins. But I am not very confident we will not crash into a wall when the going gets tough. Who knows, maybe after losing 10 in a row Young will play in a different role. That was hyperbole, I do not think we will lose 10 in a row. But I am mildly concerned. Never been the most optimistic guy around here anyway.

 

[TheC]

The good.
NANCE - It was the first time I saw Pete not hesitating. Even when he missed a few shots to start the game. He was decisive, he knew what he was going to do when he touched the ball. It twas GLORIOUS

Berry - His confidence level is much improved. He's the FR to SO Kopp of this year. Hate on Kopp all you want, he did have a big jump

Williams - He is deceptively NOT slow. He has a 3 pt shot. He is a fighter. He can pretty much be used 3 through 5.

The indifferent.
Buie - Played well, pretty well, but it was against some very poor competition. If we find ourselves, like yesterday, at the 5 minute mark, with Buie playing with 4 bench players, he will be forced to take bad shots. Again, played well, but did not tell me much, other than make me hopeful

The frosh Simmons and Roper - Good vibes, more athletic than we are used to. Promising. But it's one game, against guys that. even in some instances, younger, are physically weaker than their undeveloped bodies.

Young - Looked a bit slimmer. Encouraging. But also in the process of getting some rhythm under his legs. In RY's style, somehow had 7 rebounds in 19 minutes.

The bad.
Greer - Guy is a hard worker, won't ever complain about his effort. At a point, as a SO, I had hopes he could develop into a decent B1G player. His handles are good. But, unfortunately, more and more I feel we will be seeing the comments of hoping he can be a solid backup continue until he plays his last game for us. If we are honest, against awful EIU, he was dreadful

Beran - It's like he is not even on the court. Ends up scoring a bit in the 2nd half, did not even miss shots. But all in pretty much garbage time, game is done. I'm not sure in what world he produces enough to justify the minutes that are given to him. Played 25 minutes to William's 16, or Young's 19.

The Ugly.
The fact that it is crystal clear that Nance is the 5 and Beran the 4. And that Young is Nance's backup, while Williams is Beran's backup. Garbage. Beran should probably come off the bench after both Williams and Young.

The substitutions patterns, that seem to be pretty much a mirror of the disaster they were last year. Too many starters benched at the same time. Leaving lineups on the court that will have a really hard time scoring. Of course that did not stand out against might EIU. But it will. And it will feel like repeating the mistakes of last season.

Conclusion.
That's what I read into one game. It's one game, it's against bad competition. It's a game where, obviously, several players get more minutes than they will against "real" opponents. It's probably a good team to start off with, get confidence, blah, blah, blah. But the patters of the problems I saw last year continue to be there.

I fear that we will not play enough challenging games for CC to make any changes. We might have a Pittsburgh again, losing, but oh so close to winning, so no changes needed. We might even win a game or two. We might even start conference play with 3 wins. But I am not very confident we will not crash into a wall when the going gets tough. Who knows, maybe after losing 10 in a row Young will play in a different role. That was hyperbole, I do not think we will lose 10 in a row. But I am mildly concerned. Never been the most optimistic guy around here anyway.

CCC's substitution pattern has been pretty awful. He seems to run this NBA-like model where he has an A team and a B team and they run different shifts in the game. This works in the NBA because most teams seem to take this approach and so they match-up ok, plus, every NBA player is very good. But in college, that's a recipe for some really poor stretches. And, the games aren't as long, so it's not necessary. Instead, he really should be blending his subs more. Keep 2-3 starters out there the whole time. Plus, don't be afraid to catch your stars a quick breather late in the 2nd half, so they are ready to go for that final 4 minutes. He often gets caught playing his top 5 the last 12-15 minutes of the game and they are too worn down to finish.

And, yes, I realize this post makes it sound like I think I know more about coaching basketball than Chris Collins. Only on this message board is that true.

 

[clarificationcat]

CCC's substitution pattern has been pretty awful. He seems to run this NBA-like model where he has an A team and a B team and they run different shifts in the game. This works in the NBA because most teams seem to take this approach and so they match-up ok, plus, every NBA player is very good. But in college, that's a recipe for some really poor stretches. And, the games aren't as long, so it's not necessary. Instead, he really should be blending his subs more. Keep 2-3 starters out there the whole time. Plus, don't be afraid to catch your stars a quick breather late in the 2nd half, so they are ready to go for that final 4 minutes. He often gets caught playing his top 5 the last 12-15 minutes of the game and they are too worn down to finish.

And, yes, I realize this post makes it sound like I think I know more about coaching basketball than Chris Collins. Only on this message board is that true.

I think these are good points (coming from another message board coach). In the first half, he left Buie out there with the second team but I think he otherwise substituted 4 players. In the second half, there were less mass substitutions. Roper, in particular, came in and out a few times in the second half. I hope that substitutions become more fluid as the season progresses based on the opponent and which combinations gel. In my mind, when Audige returns we have Young (if Beran starts), Roper, Williams, Greer and maybe Simmons available to sub in. That's a pretty deep bench but I agree that they shouldn't be a second unit. Hopefully, he will be little more strategic in his use of these guys. It was just one game and I am not certain that his game will translate against bigger and more athletic teams, but Williams looked like the most productive player on the court when he was out there. He can play the 3 or the 4 depending on the lineup so there is some flexibility there. If you want to use the jumbo package you could have him play the 3 with either Nance, Beran and Audige or Nance, Young and Audige. If you want to go small you could play him at the 4 with Nance or Young at the 5. Roper can spell either Berry or Audige. Greer seems to be the only other guy that handles the ball so I don't see him playing much with Buie.

 

[CappyNU]

This has always been how Collins operates. In the first half he plays the starters through the first media time out, then starts subbing until he ends up with 4 bench and 1 starter for a period of time before rotating. In the second half, he plays the starters through the first media timeout depending on foul trouble and then starts subbing again, but eventually he locks into 5 guys and will play them for a very long stretch through multiple time outs depending on how things are going before getting situational at the end. This has been the case for many years now and I don't expect it to change this year either, with the exception that we have 10 guys who can reasonably expect to see the court instead of 9.

 

[phatcat_rivals223240]

CCC's substitution pattern has been pretty awful. He seems to run this NBA-like model where he has an A team and a B team and they run different shifts in the game. This works in the NBA because most teams seem to take this approach and so they match-up ok, plus, every NBA player is very good. But in college, that's a recipe for some really poor stretches. And, the games aren't as long, so it's not necessary. Instead, he really should be blending his subs more. Keep 2-3 starters out there the whole time. Plus, don't be afraid to catch your stars a quick breather late in the 2nd half, so they are ready to go for that final 4 minutes. He often gets caught playing his top 5 the last 12-15 minutes of the game and they are too worn down to finish.

And, yes, I realize this post makes it sound like I think I know more about coaching basketball than Chris Collins. Only on this message board is that true.

You and I have never met, and I know nothing about your basketball coaching skills; however, you are a sentient being that has seen a basketball game, so there is a chance that you know more about coaching than CCC.

 

[winnetkat1]

This has always been how Collins operates. In the first half he plays the starters through the first media time out, then starts subbing until he ends up with 4 bench and 1 starter for a period of time before rotating. In the second half, he plays the starters through the first media timeout depending on foul trouble and then starts subbing again, but eventually he locks into 5 guys and will play them for a very long stretch through multiple time outs depending on how things are going before getting situational at the end. This has been the case for many years now and I don't expect it to change this year either, with the exception that we have 10 guys who can reasonably expect to see the court instead of 9.

Most teams start their best players and start subbing in players around the first media timeout, so Collins wouldn't be unusual if he did that.

But the whole "Why isn't Young the Starter?" discussion — if he's a top 5 player for us — is an example of how Collins is spreading out his talent to minimize the amount of time where a complete "second team" is online. If the offense doesn't flow smoothly while he's on the floor, there's always an escape valve to pound the ball into the paint.

Also, Simmons was in the lineup at the beginning of both halves, but hardly played thereafter, so it's not like Collins believes Simmons is one of his best 5 players! It seems more likely Collins was trying to have only one freshman on the court at the same time, and he felt like he got the most effective minutes out of Simmons (who is the most raw of the new players) with his most experienced crew. Once each half got going, Roper and Williams got almost every other minute.

 

[TheC]

You and I have never met, and I know nothing about your basketball coaching skills; however, you are a sentient being that has seen a basketball game, so there is a chance that you know more about coaching than CCC.

I coached my son's 7th grade rec basketball team to the town championship game one year (we lost though). Does that count?

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I’ve asked this before but who plays the 5 when those guys need to rest in a lineup where you have them on the court at the same time?

Hi. Nance and Young should be the "base" frontcourt. I figure each guy can handle 28-30 minutes a night.
So play them together for 17 minutes, play Young with Beran for 12 (Nance rests), play Nance with an up-tempo lineup for the other 11 minutes. The uptempo lineup does not include Beran. Its more like Nance, three guards and a small forward. So Collins will need to figure that one out, but he has Williams, Roper, Simmons, Buie, Audige and Berry to choose from. That sort of lineup was modestly effective last year, not a net negative.

If Nicholson can work his way into the lineup, it could be Nicholson and either Nance or Beran for 5-6 minutes. Collins just has to give him a shot against these creampuffs we are playing.

I don't see a guy from Fairleigh Dickinson being a serious possibility at the 5 in the Big Ten, so we are pretty limited in our lineups. You win by outrebounding your opponent in the Big Ten.

 

[Purple Pile Driver]

Hi. Nance and Young should be the "base" frontcourt. I figure each guy can handle 28-30 minutes a night.
So play them together for 17 minutes, play Young with Beran for 12 (Nance rests), play Nance with an up-tempo lineup for the other 11 minutes. The uptempo lineup does not include Beran. Its more like Nance, three guards and a small forward. So Collins will need to figure that one out, but he has Williams, Roper, Simmons, Buie, Audige and Berry to choose from. That sort of lineup was modestly effective last year, not a net negative.

If Nicholson can work his way into the lineup, it could be Nicholson and either Nance or Beran for 5-6 minutes. Collins just has to give him a shot against these creampuffs we are playing.

I don't see a guy from Fairleigh Dickinson being a serious possibility at the 5 in the Big Ten, so we are pretty limited in our lineups. You win by outrebounding your opponent in the Big Ten.

Good Lord! Where you at the game yesterday? If you were, you would quickly see Matt has basically no chance of seeing minutes over Williams. None. Young is a nice player, but he is not as critical to this puzzle as either Nance or Boo. Beran did not play poorly yesterday. He just isn’t the 12-10 guy some expect. I have been openly skeptical about this team winning enough to be in the tourney. I have much lower expectations than you throw out here. I am not getting excited until we play a few decent teams. Still think it is an uphill battle. However, the first game went great. Boo, Berry, and Beran had very optimistic starts. These were question marks. Passed the first test. CCC did a real good job getting players in with the right combos for this game. Is there a minutes combo breakdown for this game?

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

Good Lord! Where you at the game yesterday? If you were, you would quickly see Matt has basically no chance of seeing minutes over Williams. None. Young is a nice player, but he is not as critical to this puzzle as either Nance or Boo. Beran did not play poorly yesterday. He just isn’t the 12-10 guy some expect. I have been openly skeptical about this team winning enough to be in the tourney. I have much lower expectations than you throw out here. I am not getting excited until we play a few decent teams. Still think it is an uphill battle. However, the first game went great. Boo, Berry, and Beran had very optimistic starts. These were question marks. Passed the first test. CCC did a real good job getting players in with the right combos for this game. Is there a minutes combo breakdown for this game?

No I wasn't at the game yesterday. I was at Welsh-Ryan recently though - for the NU vs Wisconsin women's volleyball game. It was parent's weekend so my wife and I figured what the hell. They set a record for attendance... 3300. Guessing that was more than were there yesterday...

I have read the posts by people who attended the game against Eastern Illinois. I don't think you can judge our prospects in the Big Ten based on these games against outmanned opponents, but still it is good to get other people's perspectives on the players.

Williams might be our 3 - our new Miller Kopp. Simmons and Barnhizer are really the only logical alternatives. I was hoping it would be Simmons, given the lofty prep ratings.

But Ryan Young is either our most valuable player or 2nd most valuable player behind Nance. To keep him on the bench in order to play Robbie Beran at the 4 and Nance out of position at the 5 is just idiotic. There's really no other way to describe it.

I have already gone on the record saying Buie, Young, Nance and Berry are above average Big Ten players. People screamed bloody murder because some saw it as an attack on their beloved Coach Collins. I can't help them. They take offense no matter what you say.

I want Nicholson to get minutes because Young needs to play center, Nance needs to play the 4 and we need a bigger guy than the unproven Williams to come in and provide some rebounding and post defense. The non-conference games are the one chance to do that. (I do not think Coach Collins really has a clue about big guys - if Juwan Howard was running our team, I'd trust him).

I will admit that it is POSSIBLE that a lineup of Nance, Beran, Williams, Buie and Berry (maybe Audige) could be better than the disaster we saw last year with Nance, Beran, Kopp, Buie, Audige. It is POSSIBLE that Williams will help so much on the glass (compared to Kopp) that the 2021 lineup could succeed. But to me that is asking a lot of Williams, who was not a top prospect and has only played for Fairleigh Dickinson, which is approximately as good as Eastern Illinois.

 

[CSCatFan1]

Hi. Nance and Young should be the "base" frontcourt. I figure each guy can handle 28-30 minutes a night.
So play them together for 17 minutes, play Young with Beran for 12 (Nance rests), play Nance with an up-tempo lineup for the other 11 minutes. The uptempo lineup does not include Beran. Its more like Nance, three guards and a small forward. So Collins will need to figure that one out, but he has Williams, Roper, Simmons, Buie, Audige and Berry to choose from. That sort of lineup was modestly effective last year, not a net negative.

If Nicholson can work his way into the lineup, it could be Nicholson and either Nance or Beran for 5-6 minutes. Collins just has to give him a shot against these creampuffs we are playing.

I don't see a guy from Fairleigh Dickinson being a serious possibility at the 5 in the Big Ten, so we are pretty limited in our lineups. You win by outrebounding your opponent in the Big Ten.

Nicholson.

 

[cats2017]

To paraphrase Mean Girls, stop trying to make Nicholson happen. It’s not going to happen.

 

[NJCat]

To paraphrase Mean Girls, stop trying to make Nicholson happen. It’s not going to happen.

Maybe he'll end up like Ryan Greer, someone Collins never played in his first 3 years but ends up as a Captain his Senior year.

The bigger question is why Collins gives scholarships to players who aren't B1G talents. Vassar, Brown, Rap, maybe Nicholson, he's had a lot of misses for a guy who sat behind Coach K for 13 years........

 

[CatJones]

I like Nicholson because he's the only player or coach I saw singing the national anthem.

 

[mountaindrew]

Its great to see the positive and insightful comments.
I am a bit dismayed that Young and Nance (arguably our two best players) are vying for minutes at the 5 instead of dominating the frontcourt as a twosome. We saw that movie a lot last year. It was a bad movie.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Rebounding wins in the Big Ten.
Other than that, all good!

Yeah, that drives me crazy. Collins has too much of Carmody in him - BC actually thought that rebounding is illegal. I'm with you. Play Nance and Young together more ... at the very least just find ways to get Nance to the 4 more.

 

[mountaindrew]

I want Nicholson to get minutes because Young needs to play center, Nance needs to play the 4 and we need a bigger guy than the unproven Williams to come in and provide some rebounding and post defense. The non-conference games are the one chance to do that. (I do not think Coach Collins really has a clue about big guys...)

That is the understatement of the year.

 

[lunker35]

Hi. Nance and Young should be the "base" frontcourt. I figure each guy can handle 28-30 minutes a night.
So play them together for 17 minutes, play Young with Beran for 12 (Nance rests), play Nance with an up-tempo lineup for the other 11 minutes. The uptempo lineup does not include Beran. Its more like Nance, three guards and a small forward. So Collins will need to figure that one out, but he has Williams, Roper, Simmons, Buie, Audige and Berry to choose from. That sort of lineup was modestly effective last year, not a net negative.

If Nicholson can work his way into the lineup, it could be Nicholson and either Nance or Beran for 5-6 minutes. Collins just has to give him a shot against these creampuffs we are playing.

I don't see a guy from Fairleigh Dickinson being a serious possibility at the 5 in the Big Ten, so we are pretty limited in our lineups. You win by outrebounding your opponent in the Big Ten.

Jitim could out rebound everyone and he was what 6’1” the guy from “Farleigh Dickinson” will be just fine. He’s an E-Town kid and tough as nails. I watched a 6’2” Bo Smart totally shut down Kevin Garnett years ago. There’s more than just height to defense and rebounding.

 

[NUCat320]

Jitim could out rebound everyone and he was what 6’1” the guy from “Farleigh Dickinson” will be just fine. He’s an E-Town kid and tough as nails. I watched a 6’2” Bo Smart totally shut down Kevin Garnett years ago. There’s more than just height to defense and rebounding.

Boden Smart was my favorite Trevian to heckle until Stanton Peck came along. For obvious reasons.

I think your memory is off, though. Smart would’ve been later. It was probably Aba. I was at the Proviso game the next year — post Garnett — when Fields held the ball for, like, three straight minutes before a game-wining drive. It was surprisingly boring.

Efff New Trier.

Throwback:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1996-01-26-9601260012-story.html

Garnett was at Farragut 94-95. This is the next year’s roster. (Fields’ car accident was ~two week prior to the published box score.)

https://www.ihsa.org/archive/bkb/mm/1996baa3.htm

At last check, Bob Sakamoto was on the Sports Information staff at DePaul. What a legend.


I didn’t see the Cats game. I’m really excited to see Julian Roper, and to see Ty Berry when he feels like he belongs.

More than anything, I want to see Nance demand the ball and try to impose his will on the game, but I think that’s just not who he is.

NU absolutely needs true competitors on the roster, because NU will always be underskilled/underathletic relative to the competition, and the Collins system such as it is has no gimmick to counteract that (Carmody did, of course, but it never worked.).

I love what I’m reading about Williams.

Boo is sometimes out of control, but he’s playing max effort — and max intensity — all the time. Give me 13 Boos.

 

[PurpleFaze]

EW will end up being a fan favorite. In the last game when it was late and well decided he was still getting mad when he missed a shot or an assignment- the game matters to him. He has decent range and is a very good passer based on the two games so far.

Good to see Young back. Anybody heard more on status of Chase?

Berry does look like he’s made a nice leap from last year- the true test of that is against Big 10 competition though.

Hoping Battle has a positive influence on Boo. Team seeemd to share the ball well against EIU, except 3-4 times I thought Boo forced his own shot instead of passing to a teammate.

The frosh obviously make dumb mistakes at times and want to force some shots but they certainly look like they have the talent to be part of a Big 10 rotation

Beran looks stronger and better than last year (not saying much lol), but I don’t see him ever matching the recruiting hype.

 

[Smokejumper]

EW will end up being a fan favorite. In the last game when it was late and well decided he was still getting mad when he missed a shot or an assignment- the game matters to him. He has decent range and is a very good passer based on the two games so far.

Good to see Young back. Anybody heard more on status of Chase?

Berry does look like he’s made a nice leap from last year- the true test of that is against Big 10 competition though.

Hoping Battle has a positive influence on Boo. Team seeemd to share the ball well against EIU, except 3-4 times I thought Boo forced his own shot instead of passing to a teammate.

The frosh obviously make dumb mistakes at times and want to force some shots but they certainly look like they have the talent to be part of a Big 10 rotation

Beran looks stronger and better than last year (not saying much lol), but I don’t see him ever matching the recruiting hype.

I wouldn’t give up on Beran yet. I think he was positioned for a breakout year last year, but it looked like he really messed up his ankle in an early season game which probably effected him more than anyone would care to acknowledge. He’s got game, and so long as he doesn’t lose confidence in his outside shot, i think he can be a tough matchup for many teams if he decides to get aggressive during conference play. no need for him to push himself in these early non-conf games so maybe he is just letting the game come to him as part of the chemistry building across the whole team. Lots more team ball than i’ve seen in a long time by everyone involved.

 

[PurpleWhiteBoy]

I wouldn’t give up on Beran yet. I think he was positioned for a breakout year last year, but it looked like he really messed up his ankle in an early season game which probably effected him more than anyone would care to acknowledge. He’s got game, and so long as he doesn’t lose confidence in his outside shot, i think he can be a tough matchup for many teams if he decides to get aggressive during conference play. no need for him to push himself in these early non-conf games so maybe he is just letting the game come to him as part of the chemistry building across the whole team. Lots more team ball than i’ve seen in a long time by everyone involved.

Beran can succeed and be a decent Big Ten player if he plays the 4 with Young at the 5.
If Williams is nearly as good as his early forum evaluations, he can replace Kopp and maybe even upgrade him.

Beran should not be playing more minutes than Nance or Young though - that should be really obvious.

I did look at some of the box scores from 2 years ago and sure enough, Collins was going with Young, Nance and Beran at the same time (Beran at the 3). It might be an alternative if Buie and Berry establish themselves as our top backcourt. I think they have, but others seem to like Audige more than I do.