This team makes him sick because they have terrible chemistry and effort is poor
He does look a bit… paler, than usual? But it’s the middle of a brutal winter.
All 3 are very related. None of us know. Maybe they just don’t have enough good players. The KJ love has always been bizarre to me. CCC obviously wants him nowhere near the court. That ship sailed long ago. Reid and AP were getting accolades in non-conference games, now they are lazy to some. That’s not my view at all. Are they lost out there at times, absolutely. They don’t fit the wizards defense. Yet, we continue to allow multiple mismatches down low with Reid and West. Every game. Michigans size ( let alone talent) will result in an Illinois type game. Some might call it lazy, but we can’t bring in players like most of our B1G peers. We are overmatched.
I don't criticize at all. Measuring fit, chemistry, is nearly impossible. You can place all the calls you want to ask about some kid's character, and it's still incredibly hard to predict fit. On paper all 3 transfers looked good to me. Like we actually punched above our weight.
I was a little less optimistic than you coming into the season, but this all makes sense to me. I just believe you are a year too early. I don’t expect the Freshman to leave, but no one else would be a great surprise. Barring home runs in the portal, I think 7 conference wins next season is pretty good. The year after should be tourney team if roster stays in tact.
Year too early is being optimistic. It's not an expectation. Things have to fall in a certain way, some luck has to be involved. But it can happen. And we should be trying to make that happen, for sure!
I agree with this. If there was an easy solution the staff would have figured it out. As my HS Coach used to say, I can’t make velvet out of Pigskin. Sometimes you are just so overmatched in talent that there is little you can do to impact an outcome.
It's pretty simple: we don't have good players, especially at guard. We have zero reliably very good guards. West is developing and played like a really good guard vs Iowa and we're rightfully excited about his future, but he's not at that level consistently yet. Nobody else in the backcourt is frankly very good, and none of them shoot very well. What else needs to be said?
I don't understand why we haven't at least experimented with zone this year. I'm curious if Page would be better in zone. Plus our size dictates that our switching strategy is just not tenable when a lot of our players are on the court. Reid is just begging to be abused every time down the court at his size.
If we are to assume that Collins is heavily influenced by Coach K, then it's understandable why the deep adherence to the man to man scheme. From a 2018 Yahoo article:
We used zone all season during the Pat Spencer year. It was, for the most part, poorly executed. It highlighted the idea that zone requires more coordination than man to man. It was a lot of chasing the ball, guarding space with no player in it, two players covering one opponent, etc, etc.
I definitely get the philosophical side - and it’s tough to argue with Collins defensively too much given the vast majority of he great success he’s had comes down to defensive culture and success - but as a non-ball kind I don’t understand why you wouldn’t still want it available as a changeup. Even guys who throw 103 with the heater have off speed stuff.
Not sure about Reid - he seems to have developed some chemistry with being on the floor at the same time with West.
I find it hard to believe that Collins had a BMI high enough to qualify him for GLP-1.
I would agree - I was watching the game last night from the 7th row right behind the bench. Collins looked his usual self.
Because it requires a lot of coordination and hard to get that down if it is just used intermittently. Best zone was Behiem Syracuse sort of ameba zone, It was something to see in action. I lived avout 80 miles north of their in 1990 or 91 and followed Syracuse for those couple years and would tune in when they were in the tourney
I think he may have lost some weight but otherwise seems OK Maybe he got his hands on some GLP1
Some things puzzle me in this board, the KJ love, the Reid hate, and minutes discussion on Nick lead the pack.
I am not sure about anything I said. Reid is fast and offensively very capable. But my comments have little to do with capability or talent (or even attitude), they have to do with fit.
This certainly might be true. Reid plays like Boo used to play in his first year or two - a lot of "hero ball". Maddening at times, with the potential to be electric, but not really good for the team as a whole.
When I watch Reid, I see a quarterback who is always locked on his receiver. I think he lacks the skill of court vision so he's going to shoot it or dribble himself into cul-de-sacs.
I don't it's too complicated. Nick has definitely worn down. KJ was decent last year, and the team is not good this year. Reid is too short to succeed at this level of basketball, which is why he was available for NU.
The Boo point is a very good one and reason to be hopeful that maybe I am way off and Reid (as well as Page) can be great next year. But there is also the fact they are juniors, no sophomores. They don't have Boo's first year or two time (and he ended up playing 5 years). For them it's next year or bust.
The KJ love is more KJ confusion. He looked like the breakout star toward the end of last year and a lot of us had him penciled in as our second best player after Nick. It is just confusing that he dropped so far during the offseason as to not even be in the rotation. At this point, I've given up complaining about it and assume there HAS to be a story there we don't know.
The reason the stars play is there is a GIANT drop off with our bench players,
I think Collins looks to be in great health. He got a bit puffy and pasty a few years ago. The trimmer version of today looks healthier to me. (I am kind of envious.)
Sometimes that is what you need. IF I have a reason to be disappointed it is probably on D, While his height is an issue, I thought he could make up for that with his quickness and hands forcing a large number of turnovers, But that really has not happened
