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The Standard is So So High Now

AdamOnFirst

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
9,744
1,389
113
This isn’t new to anybody, but the standard of competition in the Big Ten is just so sky high right now and into the future in an NIL era. This is a pretty good NU team, not a tourney team probably but good, and it looks to be a rough year on the back end of the Big Ten with how absurdly strong almost the entire conference is. We as a department need to really understand and accept the level of excellence it takes to even stay afloat in the Big Ten and really support the program at a high level or it’s gonna be rough. Get CCC all the help we can every year.

as for this year’s team… it’s just tough, there is just no respite.
 
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eastbaycat99

Sophomore
Mar 7, 2009
2,520
170
48
AdamOnFirst said:
This isn’t new to anybody, but the standard of competition in the Big Ten is just so sky high right now and into the future in an NIL era. This is a pretty good NU team, not a tourney team probably but good, and it looks to be a rough year on the back end of the Big Ten with how absurdly strong almost the entire conference is. We as a department need to really understand and accept the level of excellence it takes to even stay afloat in the Big Ten and really support the program at a high level or it’s gonna be rough. Get CCC all the help we can every year.

as for this year’s team… it’s just tough, there is just no respite.
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I have to disagree with your description of this team as pretty good. It may grow to be pretty good. Right now, it is very indecisive on defense, is poor at rebounding, and falls into periods of lethargy on offense. I hope it improves. I am not betting on it right now.
 
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MCC_Cat

Junior
May 29, 2001
1,514
217
63
We have an all star all time forward, a revelation at center, a frosh of year in Patriot League who has shown he can go bonkers at any time (in a good way), and a 2nd team all conference A10 point guard. And basically a ton of returnees from last year. So I expected a lot better for sure.
 
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E

eastbaycat99

Sophomore
Mar 7, 2009
2,520
170
48
MCC_Cat said:
We have an all star all time forward, a revelation at center, a frosh of year in Patriot League who has shown he can go bonkers at any time (in a good way), and a 2nd team all conference A10 point guard. And basically a ton of returnees from last year. So I expected a lot better for sure.
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The revelation at center does not understand the defensive scheme they are trying to play. That is a problem.
 
J

jensberg

Sophomore
Jul 28, 2006
2,937
128
63
MCC_Cat said:
We have an all star all time forward, a revelation at center, a frosh of year in Patriot League who has shown he can go bonkers at any time (in a good way), and a 2nd team all conference A10 point guard. And basically a ton of returnees from last year. So I expected a lot better for sure.
Click to expand...
Yeah and that freshman of the year in The Patriot League played 2 minutes today what does that tell you
 
B

Baz = Heisman

Junior
Aug 15, 2025
420
302
63
This team is lazy (especially Page and Reid) and does too much dumb stuff to be considered a real contender. Maybe they’ll figure it out by February but we’re likely to be buried by then. The same problems are killing us. Not cohesive on defense, can’t score a late in games.
 
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S

Secho99

Freshman
Dec 12, 2001
1,843
75
48
wildcatpn said:
This could be a pretty good team if they played just average defense.
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Yup. Allowed at least 77 in every game against a power conference team. Can’t win consistently like that even with what appears to be a pretty talented group offensively.
 
H

hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
37,326
1,117
113
Hungry Jack said:
Very inexperienced team right now. They will get better.
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Our guards are our weak point right now. They especially need to get it together on D if we are gonna have a good year, There is a lot of talent but a lot of it is young, inexperienced and not used to working together.
 
M

Medill '03

Junior
Nov 22, 2001
4,251
252
82
AdamOnFirst said:
This isn’t new to anybody, but the standard of competition in the Big Ten is just so sky high right now and into the future in an NIL era. This is a pretty good NU team, not a tourney team probably but good, and it looks to be a rough year on the back end of the Big Ten with how absurdly strong almost the entire conference is. We as a department need to really understand and accept the level of excellence it takes to even stay afloat in the Big Ten and really support the program at a high level or it’s gonna be rough. Get CCC all the help we can every year.

as for this year’s team… it’s just tough, there is just no respite.
Click to expand...
Nick’s comments seems to implicate the transfers as not buying into the Collins coaching. Sure looks like the team defense is nowhere close to past years.
 
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AdamOnFirst

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
9,744
1,389
113
SDakaGordie said:
3 Top 25 BIG teams lost today. The bar is higher but still maybe not as high as in other conferences.
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Yeah, they lost to the #4, 6, and 10 teams in the country. And the bigger issue isn’t that the Big Ten has a bunch of top 25, it’s that the #60 team in the country per KenPom, NU, ranks THIRTEENTH in the conference.
 
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CappyNU

Junior
Mar 2, 2004
5,169
351
83
It's true, things are very imbalanced this year and likely will be moving forward. I looked through the Kenpom database at conference strength. Compared to the past 30 seasons:

#1 conference is the 5th-highest strength, with last season being the highest
#2 conference is the 2nd-highest behind last season
#3 conference is the highest ever, just ahead of last season
#4 conference is the 2nd-highest ever, just behind 2008-09
#5 conference is the 2nd-highest ever, just behind 2008-09
----------------------------------
#6 conference is the lowest ever, just behind last season
#7 conference is the 4th-lowest, last season was the lowest
#8 conference is the 2nd-lowest, just ahead of last season
#9 conference is the 2nd-lowest, just ahead of last season
#10 conference is 5th-lowest

It's the P5 and everyone else now...
 
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hdhntr1

All-Conference
Sep 5, 2006
37,326
1,117
113
eastbaycat99 said:
I have to disagree with your description of this team as pretty good. It may grow to be pretty good. Right now, it is very indecisive on defense, is poor at rebounding, and falls into periods of lethargy on offense. I hope it improves. I am not betting on it right now.
Click to expand...
Although the last couple games we have out rebounded our opponents
 
C

Catdude

Redshirt
Aug 27, 2001
1,001
28
48
Totally agree with the original post. I thought going into the season that we were pretty good but that the rest of the Big 10 had gotten much better. I liked our transfer additions (and still do) but it can’t compare to other teams bringing in 20-years-old Euro pros and top college transfers.
The big guy from UVA who killed us came from the ACB in Spain which is the second best domestic league in the world behind the NBA. And now college programs are going after G League guys. We’ll probably soon see fringe NBA players play in college. So it’s a totally different world and we have to be ready to go all in to have a chance to compete in the Big 10.
I assume the big programs are going to proceed with very limited high school recruiting and instead focus on pros and high-end transfers and basically build a new team from scratch every year.
With all that being said, we are not far from being 8-1. We got crushed by Wisconsin but the other three losses came down to the final 30 seconds. It feels like, per usual, we’re going to have a ton of close games and the season is determined by how we finish those games.
 
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D

diblakley

Redshirt
Feb 11, 2005
192
46
28
Baz = Heisman said:
This team is lazy (especially Page and Reid) and does too much dumb stuff to be considered a real contender. Maybe they’ll figure it out by February but we’re likely to be buried by then. The same problems are killing us. Not cohesive on defense, can’t score a late in games.
Click to expand...
I don't see laziness. I see dynamism on offense but no conception of how to defend. None. Stark contrast from the last few years on teams loaded with experience.
 
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M

macarthur31

Sophomore
Nov 9, 2006
1,594
166
63
diblakley said:
I don't see laziness. I see dynamism on offense but no conception of how to defend. None. Stark contrast from the last few years on teams loaded with experience.
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Thank you for pointing this out. I wouldn't characterize this team as "lazy" either. However, it's very likely that individually they are not high-level defenders, and they still haven't built enough cohesion to execute help defense consistently.
 
AdamOnFirst

AdamOnFirst

All-Conference
Nov 29, 2021
9,744
1,389
113
diblakley said:
I don't see laziness. I see dynamism on offense but no conception of how to defend. None. Stark contrast from the last few years on teams loaded with experience.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I don’t see lazy but I do see very slow processing and falling asleep. And I do see often dumb play.
 
TheC

TheC

All-Conference
May 29, 2001
19,125
1,202
62
Michigan might beat us by 100. They are destroying everybody. Crushing Villanova tonight.
 
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