The UnKnown Going Into The Season

[CatsScratch67]

1. Let me start off with one thing we know for sure. Dererk Pardon will compete night in and night out. He has improved his scoring every season. Can he lift his scoring output to 13pts game and grab 8rbs?

2. We have seen Vic Law for three years labor up and down the court struggling for air. Is Vic Law healthy and will we see the type of stamina we know he can exhibit. His scoring plateaued last year at 12pts a game. Can we depend on Law to be our second scoring threat?

3. Can Ryan Taylor play on a Big Ten level? I like to believe he can. But, more importantly, can Taylor give us Scottie Lindsey junior year type of numbers where he shot from the field at 42% and gave us 14 pts per game? Can Ryan Taylor play defense? Sometimes Scottie was just not mentally in the game and I really disliked his on court demeanor at times. Will there be better chemistry with the starting five?

4. Can AJ Turner be an effective point guard for us? If you do a bit of research you will see that Turner played point guard in HS before his very significant growth spurt. Turner has excellent vision, he passes the ball very well, and he has a beautiful stroke? Before he transferred from BC he had 96 total ast and only 33 tos. Can he give us McIntosh junior year type of numbers (188 total ast.)? I say junior year type of numbers because that was our ncaa tournament year and senior year was a let down for our back court players. Does he have to give us those types of numbers for NU to be successful. McIntosh gave us 14.8pts, 5.2ast, at 40%. Will the team be better defensively with Turner's length?

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

6. What can the bench give us? Benson barely gave us 2pts a game but his last two games against Iowa and Penn State were very hopeful. He is going into his 3rd year. Can we expect an improved contribution from him? Brown won at least 2 games for us his freshman year. I remember that Rutgers game vividly. However, Brown's shoot first mentality wasn't a good fit for the team that desperately needed a second ball handler. Can Kopp contribute off the bench as a reliable scorer? I think so! And, will Gaines continue to improve? His shooting last year was not very good. Lastly, can we depend on Ash to provide the team with solid minutes?

Can Tuner and Taylor replace the production of McIntosh and Lindsey? Huge question! Will we get better production out of our bench? Will we be much improved defensively? Are we capable of playing up tempo at times? Will the coach go 8 or 10 man deep? There are a lot of questions to be answered but it should be interesting to see how it all pans out over the course of the season!

 

[NJCat]

1. Let me start off with one thing we know for sure. Dererk Pardon will compete night in and night out. He has improved his scoring every season. Can he lift his scoring output to 13pts game and grab 8rbs?

2. We have seen Vic Law for three years labor up and down the court struggling for air. Is Vic Law healthy and will we see the type of stamina we know he can exhibit. His scoring plateaued last year at 12pts a game. Can we depend on Law to be our second scoring threat?

3. Can Ryan Taylor play on a Big Ten level? I like to believe he can. But, more importantly, can Taylor give us Scottie Lindsey junior year type of numbers where he shot from the field at 42% and gave us 14 pts per game? Can Ryan Taylor play defense? Sometimes Scottie was just not mentally in the game and I really disliked his on court demeanor at times. Will there be better chemistry with the starting five?

4. Can AJ Turner be an effective point guard for us? If you do a bit of research you will see that Turner played point guard in HS before his very significant growth spurt. Turner has excellent vision, he passes the ball very well, and he has a beautiful stroke? Before he transferred from BC he had 96 total ast and only 33 tos. Can he give us McIntosh junior year type of numbers (188 total ast.)? I say junior year type of numbers because that was our ncaa tournament year and senior year was a let down for our back court players. Does he have to give us those types of numbers for NU to be successful. McIntosh gave us 14.8pts, 5.2ast, and 40%. Will the team be better defensively with Turner's lenght?

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall better numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

6. What can the bench give us? Benson barely gave us 2pts a game but his last two games against Iowa and Penn State were very hopeful. He is going into his 3rd year. Can we expect an improved contribution from him? Brown won at least 2 games for us his freshman year. I remember that Rutgers game vividly. However, Brown's shoot first mentality wasn't a good fit for the team that desperately needed a second ball handler. Can Kopp contribute off the bench as a reliable scorer? I think so! And, will Gaines continue to improve? His shooting last year was not very good. Lastly, can we depend on Ash to provide the team with solid minutes?

Can Tuner and Taylor replace the production of McIntosh and Lindsey? Huge question! Will we get better production out of our bench? Will we be much improved defensively? Are we capable of playing up tempo at times? Will the coach go 8 or 10 man deep? There are a lot of questions to be answered but it should be interesting to see how it all pans out over the course of the season!

Great post.

Re AJ, thanks for the background on him. Didn't know he played some point in HS. Was surprised when BJ named him first option, but could be very interesting. He and Taylor could be an upgrade defensively from last season.

And BTW, Taylor shot 42 % FROM 3 last year, so matching Scotties Junior numbers shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

1. Let me start off with one thing we know for sure. Dererk Pardon will compete night in and night out. He has improved his scoring every season. Can he lift his scoring output to 13pts game and grab 8rbs?

2. We have seen Vic Law for three years labor up and down the court struggling for air. Is Vic Law healthy and will we see the type of stamina we know he can exhibit. His scoring plateaued last year at 12pts a game. Can we depend on Law to be our second scoring threat?

3. Can Ryan Taylor play on a Big Ten level? I like to believe he can. But, more importantly, can Taylor give us Scottie Lindsey junior year type of numbers where he shot from the field at 42% and gave us 14 pts per game? Can Ryan Taylor play defense? Sometimes Scottie was just not mentally in the game and I really disliked his on court demeanor at times. Will there be better chemistry with the starting five?

4. Can AJ Turner be an effective point guard for us? If you do a bit of research you will see that Turner played point guard in HS before his very significant growth spurt. Turner has excellent vision, he passes the ball very well, and he has a beautiful stroke? Before he transferred from BC he had 96 total ast and only 33 tos. Can he give us McIntosh junior year type of numbers (188 total ast.)? I say junior year type of numbers because that was our ncaa tournament year and senior year was a let down for our back court players. Does he have to give us those types of numbers for NU to be successful. McIntosh gave us 14.8pts, 5.2ast, and 40%. Will the team be better defensively with Turner's lenght?

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall better numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

6. What can the bench give us? Benson barely gave us 2pts a game but his last two games against Iowa and Penn State were very hopeful. He is going into his 3rd year. Can we expect an improved contribution from him? Brown won at least 2 games for us his freshman year. I remember that Rutgers game vividly. However, Brown's shoot first mentality wasn't a good fit for the team that desperately needed a second ball handler. Can Kopp contribute off the bench as a reliable scorer? I think so! And, will Gaines continue to improve? His shooting last year was not very good. Lastly, can we depend on Ash to provide the team with solid minutes?

Can Tuner and Taylor replace the production of McIntosh and Lindsey? Huge question! Will we get better production out of our bench? Will we be much improved defensively? Are we capable of playing up tempo at times? Will the coach go 8 or 10 man deep? There are a lot of questions to be answered but it should be interesting to see how it all pans out over the course of the season!

Turner and Taylor are much better than Mac and Lindsey. Those two were a train wreck most of last year.

 

[DaCat]

Ryan Taylor will be our leading scorer this season.

 

[TheC]

Ryan Taylor will be our leading scorer this season.

That's my completely gut-feel prediction for this year too. Taylor will be our star.

 

[Deeringfish]

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall better numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

Everything I know come from reading this board. SO that is not much. That said, It seems to me that when we first started talking about Nance, just before he committed, the tone was he would be the most wonderful project player ever at NU. There was speculation about redshirting him while he developed further. Since then there are reports that he has continued to grow to 7 feet tall. Is that real or mythical? If it is real then he has to gain strength and stamina to support such a large frame, I would think.
I've noticed over the years that when given little evidence we tend to dream big. Which is fun and harmless on the BB board. With luck Nance has developed and we will be pleased, ut tempering might be good.

 

[NJCat]

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall better numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

Everything I know come from reading this board. SO that is not much. That said, It seems to me that when we first started talking about Nance, just before he committed, the tone was he would be the most wonderful project player ever at NU. There was speculation about redshirting him while he developed further. Since then there are reports that he has continued to grow to 7 feet tall. Is that real or mythical? If it is real then he has to gain strength and stamina to support such a large frame, I would think.
I've noticed over the years that when given little evidence we tend to dream big. Which is fun and harmless on the BB board. With luck Nance has developed and we will be pleased, ut tempering might be good.

Well, Brian James did say NU fans would be "ecstatic" about Pete.......

 

[Catreporter]

Noticed Pete running across the field with the Frosh prior to the Michigan game with notable enthusiasm. I'm already a fan!

 

[JournCat]

Good post. Better than the professional previews!

 

[Hungry Jack]

Love the OP. I feel much smarter about our team!

I think Mac and Law suffered from a very short bench last year, and got gassed as the season progressed. Who knew Law was playing with a physical issue that depleted his energy??? He worked his tail off on D and still was +10 pts net offensive rating. That's amazing.

With a legitimate bench full of experience and/or talent, I am hopeful that Law can really blossom on offense his final season.

 

[DaCat]

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall better numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

I would not be surprised to see the following starting lineup at the beginning of the season:

Pardon 6-8 235 sr
Law 6-7 200 sr
Falzon 6-8 225 jr
Taylor 6-6 195 gr
Turner 6-7 188 jr

First off the bench:
Gaines 6-4 205 so

Rotation:
Kopp 6-7 210 fr
Nance 6-10 210 fr
Benson 6-10 240 jr

Fill in minutes:
Greer 6-2 185 fr
Ash 6-3 200 sr

 

[Sec_112]

... Can Tuner and Taylor replace the production of McIntosh and Lindsey? Huge question! ...

Good stuff!! I don't think most of these are ridiculous questions at all.

And then I'm reminded what I think of teams that have THIS many questions . So thanks for that.

But you bring up a good point about replacing the production of McIntosh and Lindsey. Add Skelly to that mix and you need to improve on - not just replace - 31.5p/g in the conference.

But you have more than Turner and Taylor for this equation. My question is whether you can get 35p/g out of Taylor, Turner, Nance and Kopp. I can't really say since I've never seen any of them. But from the reports, I'm hoping 14 and 5 aren't crazy numbers for Taylor and Turner respectively.

Is 16 points from Nance and Kopp asking too much? I hope not.

 

[Sec_112]

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance?

Falzon ... Falzon ... Falzon ...

Yes, he's my problem.

Unless his footwork DRASTICALLY - and I mean megamonumentally - improves, I hope the Cats have enough talent to make him a strong contributor off the bench.

If he plays like he did last year, he's such an incredible liability on defense.

They also need to see some consistency from that shot. (36% from 3, and - here's the best part - 14% from 2 in the conference last year).

I really hope he improves enough to take over and dominate that position. But if he doesn't, I hope the talent is there to improve things at that position. The Cats died last year with Skelly and Falzon.

 

[clarificationcat]

Falzon ... Falzon ... Falzon ...

Yes, he's my problem.

Unless his footwork DRASTICALLY - and I mean megamonumentally - improves, I hope the Cats have enough talent to make him a strong contributor off the bench.

If he plays like he did last year, he's such an incredible liability on defense.

They also need to see some consistency from that shot. (36% from 3, and - here's the best part - 14% from 2 in the conference last year).

I really hope he improves enough to take over and dominate that position. But if he doesn't, I hope the talent is there to improve things at that position. The Cats died last year with Skelly and Falzon.

Yes. I am not sure if Falzon's one inch on Kopp makes him a better option (maybe he has a much longer wingspan?). James was really high on Kopp and described him as being very tough. Kopp's highlights show a lot more offensive versatility than Falzon and better footwork. I think that Aaron can fill a Taphorn type role on the team (maybe with more minutes). I hope he proves me wrong and shows he should be a starter. Ultimately, it's Nance's position if he can develop as anticipated.

 

[freewillie07]

Yes. I am not sure if Falzon's one inch on Kopp makes him a better option (maybe he has a much longer wingspan?). James was really high on Kopp and described him as being very tough. Kopp's highlights show a lot more offensive versatility than Falzon and better footwork. I think that Aaron can fill a Taphorn type role on the team (maybe with more minutes). I hope he proves me wrong and shows he should be a starter. Ultimately, it's Nance's position if he can develop as anticipated.

Gaines could also start instead of Falzon. The 2-4 spots are interchangeable, really, and even more so with Turner as the “lead guard.”

Turner
Taylor
Gaines
Law
Pardon

Bench:
Falzon to spread the floor and hit 3s
Kopp for creating his own shot on offense
Nance for height and versatility
Benson to spell Pardon or to “go big”
Greer/Ash for more ballhandling

Nance or Kopp could eventually win the starting role by the time conference play comes around.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

Falzon needs to improve on defense and hustle or I can see him on the bench while Gaines takes his minutes. Gaines shot .22 last year,so that may present a problem.

 

[NJCat]

Gaines shot .22 last year,so that may present a problem.

Guess he needs a bigger gun. A .357 from 3 point land or a .44 from 2 will work for me.

 

[clarificationcat]

Gaines could also start instead of Falzon. The 2-4 spots are interchangeable, really, and even more so with Turner as the “lead guard.”

Turner
Taylor
Gaines
Law
Pardon

Bench:
Falzon to spread the floor and hit 3s
Kopp for creating his own shot on offense
Nance for height and versatility
Benson to spell Pardon or to “go big”
Greer/Ash for more ballhandling

Nance or Kopp could eventually win the starting role by the time conference play comes around.

The 2-4 spots are interchangeable on offense. On defense, from time to time someone will need to guard a big 4. If Law is going to be chasing the other team's best perimeter player around, I am not sure Taylor or Gaines is capable of doing that.

 

[JournCat]

The 2-4 spots are interchangeable on offense. On defense, from time to time someone will need to guard a big 4. If Law is going to be chasing the other team's best perimeter player around, I am not sure Taylor or Gaines is capable of doing that.

Gaines may be physical enough to guard most college 4s. Having Pardon or Benson behind him will help.

 

[TheC]

Well.. the expectations are certainly low for this group. ESPN has them coming in at #12 in the BIG. That might actually bode well for this program. I think they will surprise some folks.

On edit: Whoops... didn't see that Smithee already started a thread on this. Sorry!

 

[CappyNU]

We need a better solution than Law guarding 4s, because last year the team was -51, giving up 1.31 PPP in 100 possessions when Law was at the 4 during B1G play.

 

[CatsScratch67]

I believe Nance brings the intangibles that Falzon just do not possess. Nance can put the ball on the floor, he can play inside and out, he can create for himself, he can pass the ball, rebound, and block shots. And, he is longer and more athletic than Falzon. Nance will be a serious match-up problem for many teams and as the season progresses I believe we will be able to run our offense through him at times. Granted, this evaluation is based on HS competition. I just believe he will be able to contribute in so many other ways that affects the entire game. what excites me about Falzon is that we have seen what he is capable of when he is healthy. Falzon's freshman year was fun to watch. If we have a Falzon that can fill it up and do it at a quick and efficient rate I believe we could have a dynamic offense when he is on the floor. He could really open up and spread our offense. I would like to see if the opportunity ever present itself to have Nance at the 5 with Falzon at the 4, a little "small ball" if you will when Pardon is out.

Lastly, do we have players capable of creating for themselves and for others? Who will be our go to player or players? For many of us, McIntosh was not the answer in late game situations. Will we have someone to takeover that role and embrace the pressure of having the ball in their hands at the end of the game?

 

[ThatadultfromHolland]

I believe Nance brings the intangibles that Falzon just do not possess. Nance can put the ball on the floor, he can play inside and out, he can create for himself, he can pass the ball, rebound, and block shots. And, he is longer and more athletic than Falzon. Nance will be a serious match-up problem for many teams and as the season progresses I believe we will be able to run our offense through him at times. Granted, this evaluation is based on HS competition. I just believe he will be able to contribute in so many other ways that affects the entire game. what excites me about Falzon is that we have seen what he is capable of when he is healthy. Falzon's freshman year was fun to watch. If we have a Falzon that can fill it up and do it at a quick a efficient rate I believe we could have a dynamic offense when he is on the floor. He could really open up and spread our offense. I would like to see if the opportunity ever present itself to see Nance at the 5 with Falzon at the 4, a little "small ball" if you will when Pardon is out.

Lastly, do we have players capable of creating for themselves and for others? Who will be our go to player or players? For many of us, McIntosh was not the answer in late game situations. Will we have someone to takeover that role and embrace the pressure of having the ball in their hands at the end of the game?

Law has shown the ability to take over games but only when he's hot. See Gonzaga game for an excellent example off the top of my head.

 

[NJCat]

Lastly, do we have players capable of creating for themselves and for others? Who will be our go to player or players?

I think that is the big issue with this team. Seem like a bunch of spot up shooters, unless Turner can drive the ball. Gaines showed flashes of getting to the hoop last year. Taylor is advertised as a jump shooter, as is Law and Falzon. Don't have a clue about Kopp or Nance.

 

[EvanstonCat]

1. Let me start off with one thing we know for sure. Dererk Pardon will compete night in and night out. He has improved his scoring every season. Can he lift his scoring output to 13pts game and grab 8rbs?

2. We have seen Vic Law for three years labor up and down the court struggling for air. Is Vic Law healthy and will we see the type of stamina we know he can exhibit. His scoring plateaued last year at 12pts a game. Can we depend on Law to be our second scoring threat?

3. Can Ryan Taylor play on a Big Ten level? I like to believe he can. But, more importantly, can Taylor give us Scottie Lindsey junior year type of numbers where he shot from the field at 42% and gave us 14 pts per game? Can Ryan Taylor play defense? Sometimes Scottie was just not mentally in the game and I really disliked his on court demeanor at times. Will there be better chemistry with the starting five?

4. Can AJ Turner be an effective point guard for us? If you do a bit of research you will see that Turner played point guard in HS before his very significant growth spurt. Turner has excellent vision, he passes the ball very well, and he has a beautiful stroke? Before he transferred from BC he had 96 total ast and only 33 tos. Can he give us McIntosh junior year type of numbers (188 total ast.)? I say junior year type of numbers because that was our ncaa tournament year and senior year was a let down for our back court players. Does he have to give us those types of numbers for NU to be successful. McIntosh gave us 14.8pts, 5.2ast, and 40%. Will the team be better defensively with Turner's length?

5. Who starts at the other forward position? Is Falzon healthy enough to battle for that spot? Or, can Nance win the position? Do we need to temper our expectations for Nance? Can Nance at least give us better overall numbers than Skelly? Can Nance score 6pts or more a game? Can Nance be NU's Moe Wagner?

6. What can the bench give us? Benson barely gave us 2pts a game but his last two games against Iowa and Penn State were very hopeful. He is going into his 3rd year. Can we expect an improved contribution from him? Brown won at least 2 games for us his freshman year. I remember that Rutgers game vividly. However, Brown's shoot first mentality wasn't a good fit for the team that desperately needed a second ball handler. Can Kopp contribute off the bench as a reliable scorer? I think so! And, will Gaines continue to improve? His shooting last year was not very good. Lastly, can we depend on Ash to provide the team with solid minutes?

Can Tuner and Taylor replace the production of McIntosh and Lindsey? Huge question! Will we get better production out of our bench? Will we be much improved defensively? Are we capable of playing up tempo at times? Will the coach go 8 or 10 man deep? There are a lot of questions to be answered but it should be interesting to see how it all pans out over the course of the season!

Ryan Taylor is going to be our leading scorer this year, have no doubt. He's a ball dominant guard that can get buckets.

We also don't need a traditional PG like Mac was. We just need a ball handler(s) who can make sure we can break the press and bring the ball up. Our offense isn't predicated on 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's and 5;s. It's 2 guards, 2 wings, and a post and running a motion offense where the wings and guards are interchangeable. Sounds like Turner is more than qualified. We will be fine.

The starting 5 of Turner, Gaines, Taylor, Law, and Pardon sounds exactly right, at least to begin. A little short, but they play long, are very athletic, the 1-4's are highly interchangeable on D, the defense should be lights out. Plenty of firepower there too. Taylor is going to be the star, but people fail to recognize that Turner was a Top 150 recruit who was the #3 option at BC when he left as a sophomore. #3 options as underclassmen often develop into #1's by senior year. He's got skills and I think he will surprise. As people mentioned, I think Law blossoms with his medical issue fixed, and everyone is raving about Pardon's development of a mid range jumper to go with his post and clean up play. We may have to go bigger with big teams, in which case you have Benson and Nance off the bench, but this lineup reminds me of the Flying Illini (Bardo, Gill, Anderson, Battle, Hamilton, with Bowman, Liberty and Smith off the bench) back in the day. Amongst the starters, Lowell Hamilton was the tallest at 6'7 and Liberty was the tallest out of the lot at 6'8). But, man could those guys play D and could they fly.

Our bench will be fine. Nance and Kopp may actually be our best players coming off of it, I think they pass Falzon.

We are going to the NCAA's again. This I have no doubt.

 

[freewillie07]

We need a better solution than Law guarding 4s, because last year the team was -51, giving up 1.31 PPP in 100 possessions when Law was at the 4 during B1G play.

I don’t think Law would guard 4s. He’d hound the best perimeter player. Gaines or Turner would. And that shouldn’t be a problem for most of the non-P5 noncon schedule. And I might take those two over Falzon, too, in conference play.

 

[Katatonic]

If Nance and Kopp are what we think they are, this will be a better roster than last season's.

Feel pretty confident that Turner and Taylor will be able to replicate what BMac and Lindsey did in 2016-17 (and play better D), add to that Gaines w/ a year under his belt (and hopefully an improved shot) and Pardon and Law at the height of their powers, should at least be team on the bubble.

That nugget about Turner having played some point in HS makes me feel better about the situation at the 1; if things had worked out w/ Lathon, the 'Cats would pretty much be 2-deep at every position.

 

[NJCat]

Well, there's this......

 

[CatsScratch67]

I believe the biggest beneficiary of us losing Lathon and not picking up Mooney has to be Turner. With a full roster Turner perhaps gets lost among our wings. Turner can, with his play, command up to 30 plus minutes at the lead guard position. The facet that really excites me about Turner is that he is capable of playing on and off the ball. Even when the ball is not in his hands defenses will need to account for him.

I love that Law prides himself on his defense and that he is our defensive leader along with Pardon. I also hope this is his year to shine and be our second leading scorer which means he cannot afford to take plays off on the offensive end. Oftentimes he would stand in the corner and not move. For NU to be successful we need an aggressive Law on offense. It would be huge if both Law and Pardon could increase their offensive output by a point or two.

I do not believe we need Taylor to score 21 pts. per game for us to be successful. I think we need him at 15 to 16 pts. And, we would like to have Turner around 10 pts. Turner's last year at BC he averaged over 8 pts.

There are several people on this thread that believe that Gaines should start. I assumed that the battle for the fifth starting spot was between Falzon and Nance. But, that fifth open spot lead to more questions of how would CC like to play. Is he interested in going with a three guard line-up or some combination of a three forward line-up. What does coach CC sees as his best and most effective line-up? If anything, he has a lot more talent to work with and he can be versatile with his line-ups.

I am a Benson fan and I believe Benson gets lost in a lot of the board's conversations. I hope to see him play more this year and make a bigger impact. I would like to see Benson and Pardon on the court together from time to time especially against opponents that have a sizable front line. Pardon has been practicing his mid range jump shot which should help spacing underneath the basket.

CC mentioned that Nance is currently at 220 pounds and would like to see him at 240. Nance is a legitimate 6'10 who needs to get stronger. Which will come over time. But, what does that mean for this year? Even though I have an optimistic outlook for this coming year there are still a good number of questions that need to be answered.

 

[loyolacat]

Benson to spell Pardon or to “go big”

I think we will see the Benson and Pardon "go big" a lot.

 

[Katatonic]

I love that Law prides himself on his defense and that he is our defensive leader along with Pardon. I also hope this is his year to shine and be our second leading scorer which means he cannot afford to take plays off on the offensive end. Oftentimes he would stand in the corner and not move. For NU to be successful we need an aggressive Law on offense. It would be huge if both Law and Pardon could increase their offensive output by a point or two.

That likely had to do w/ an endurance issue - which seems to have been fixed from surgery,

CC mentioned that Nance is currently at 220 pounds and would like to see him at 240. Nance is a legitimate 6'10 who needs to get stronger. Which will come over time. But, what does that mean for this year? Even though I have an optimistic outlook for this coming year there are still a good number of questions that need to be answered.

If Nance gets to 225 lbs by the time the meat of the conference schedule rolls around, think he'll be fine.

Swop played the 4 ably at a slight 210 lbs (6-8); was a good defender and rebounder.

Figured Law was simply one of those guys who just had a slight (but wiry, muscular) build as he didn't get much mass since his frosh year.

But as it turned out, his inability to put on weight (was never going to be a Lumpkin when it came to having a powerful, muscular build) was due to his endurance issue.