I would not be surprised if a super small lineup gets some run prior to the NCAA tournament, assuming Borg can play.
Boo
Borg
Blake
Brooks
Buckets
Resetting expectations - if Matt is out for the season
- Thread starter Baz=Heisman
- Start date
Boo
Borg
Blake
Brooks
Buckets
We are in full blown crisis mode now with Big Matt out. You know that MSU will be fully locked in on stopping Boo. The other guys have to really step up big time, maybe we can get a career night out of Brooks or another Martinelli explosion or even a career Hunger game. It's not even certain we'll have Borg back for MSU.
Crisis mode is a lacrosse player at point guard or freshman Ben Johnson leading the team in scoring at 10ppg or a third straight season with a ten-game losing streak.
This team nearly survived a desperate, could-not-miss club despite losing their post presence midway through the game.
This team is led by a 24-year-old All American, with support from a multi-level scoring coaches son, and a dude averaging 13.7 and 7.5 (tho 2 of 18 from deep) since being forced into the starting lineup.
*This* team, without Berry and Borg and Nicholson, is probably the third-best team I’ve seen since I started following the program in Esch’s legendary senior season (“The NIT year”). (And Borg will be back, maybe this week or maybe later.)
So let’s enjoy that there’s something to watch in March. Maybe you’ll even get a chance to gloat to your son (right?) when NU pulls *another* shocker at MSU.
Last year’s win at Breslin was the indicator that…hmm…maybe there’s a ballclub here. This year’s could be hmmm…we still got a ballclub, don’t we.
GO CATS GO CATS GO
It has been an excellent year. All kinds of fun! Nothing that happens from this point forward diminishes that. This has proved to be tough team all year long and they win games that I thought they had no business winning. Tough team, excellent Coaching gives you a shot to win.
I admire your enthusiasm, but I can't imagine how you think thats true.
3rd best? without Berry, Langborg and Nicholson?
We don’t realize how remarkable Boo is. He’s a killer.
I’ve only seen three winning conference records at NU, and I think a Boo/Brooks/Mart team could get there. Maybe I’m wrong.
Good thing there’s a guy nearly healthy who averaged 19 ppg and took his team to the Sweet Sixteen.
Obviously we've all seen Buie play a lot and (arguably) reach his full potential...
but he makes a lot of open 3's off of Nicholson ball screens...
he benefitted from having Berry (and Langborg) out there as a 3 point threat.
Part of the improvement in the offense this year was Berry playing (and shooting) at a high level, Langborg being a fairly big upgrade over Audige on the offensive end, Martinelli and Barnhizer being much more effective in the paint than we were with Beran at the 4 - plenty of things that have to do with the players around Buie, not just Buie himself. Boo has been very good - no doubt about that - but he can't be going 1 on 2.
Not saying it is impossible, but Buie will have a hard time driving and scoring when MSU and Minnesota think they can ignore a perimeter shooter or two. And both of those teams have point guards who are smaller, but probably quicker, than Boo...
Someone is going to have to make MSU and Minnesota pay when they sell out to stop Boo. Nick can do it but not from the 3 pt line. It’s a drive and a kick out to the wing or corner.
Unfortunately, Nick’s three point accuracy doesn’t seem strong enough to demand respect. He may get there in time, but not yet.
Borg and Barnhizer will need to hit some three pointers.
Agree. Nick needs to drive - he is a threat there. If someone converges, Borg, Buie or Barnhizer should be open.
Blake Smith hit his three point shot against Iowa so he may be a threat too, just not enough data points to know yet.
This seems the offensive problem to me. A decent part of Boo's success this year has been the effectiveness of Berry, Barney, and Langborg from the three. You have to let Boo drive a lot more 1 on 1 when any of three other guys on the floor can kill you if you sag too much.
We saw that vs. Iowa when they were basically getting three guys on him in the paint, and Brooks was the only dangerous outlet.
If Langborg is back 100% our odds look ever so much more betterer on offense.
On defense, I'm assuming our opponents are just going to target Clayton/Smith and Hunger/Preston, and have their way with the score. Smith's defense has been good, but I don't know that he can handle being the focus of their attack all game - he's going to have break downs from inexperience and fatigue like he did vs. Iowa. And the other three just haven't been very effective in conference - from my memory.
Langborg has to be back. Take a cortisone injection. His future is in the boardroom, not the hardwood. We can’t afford to be down 3 starters.
I’m certain he would be playing if he could. He only has a few basketball games left in his college career.
Injuries suck.
Thats fair, but it depends who is guarding whom.
Smith would be defenseless in the paint against most Big Ten bodies.
Any team with a bench should get into the paint and try to draw fouls on Barnhizer and Martinelli.
Personally, I'd attack Hunger/Preston and watch them foul out in the first half and see how well Nick does playing Center.
It depends a lot of switches. If we switch 1-4 I don’t see a good strategy Izzo saying “Sissoko, we are giving you the ball to go against Preston”.
Yeah we shot 54% from the field, 10-20 from 3 and 14-16 from the line and just got beat by a very good offensive team that made every shot when it mattered. Dix is on a huge heater (26-38 his last 3 games) and kept it going. I’m not overly worried about that result, Iowa is always a high-ceiling, low-floor team and they had a good night.
Exactly. The refs don’t know how to call fouls on Boo, which is ridiculous. But I love how he doesn’t complain. Meanwhile they’ve made a decision how to call fouls on Edey. Okay it’s late enough in the season, no more rants fr me
Dix is going to turn into the new Paul Mulcahy around here. Maybe not as we did not offer him. But man, Mulcahy torched us and scored 30 on us and this board saw him as the second coming of Magic Johnson.
Dix played well, will be a decent college player. But that's it.