What would be a successful season?

[7th Cir. Cat]

We are just about half way through our BIG season and sit at 3-5. There were a lot of questions about this team coming into the season and I'm not sure we know what we have in this squad yet. Barring an absolute disaster we will eclipse last year's BIG win total of 3. So, how would you define a successful season for year 8 under Collins? Has your definition changed because of the 3 game win streak or the 5 game losing streak?

For me, the bar is 6 wins in the BIG. Anything above that would be tangible progress and this season that would show us trending towards the tourney in Nance/Kopp's final year. There does seem to be an upgrade to the historical talent level at NU, but I'm not ready to say that we shouldn't be counting wins and losses so long as the young guys get playing time; that was last year. If we can find 4 more wins on our schedule I'm calling it a very good year.

 

[CappyNU]

We are 1-5 against current top-30 Kenpom teams and 2-0 against everyone else in conference. The remainder of the season is 6 games against top-30 and 6 games against the rest. I don't think I'm ready to call 7-13 a "very good year" but I'd be willing to call it acceptable progress.

 

[hdhntr1]

Seems like a reasonable bar. The BIG is so tought this year. We have faced 7 ranked teams in a row

 

[GatoLouco]

Looking at the schedule, reasonable or not to think we have a good chance to win?

@ 9 Wisconsin - No
@ Penn State - Yes
vs Rutgers - Yes
vs 7 Michigan - No
@ Purdue - No
vs Indiana - Yes
@ Rutgers -No
@ 14 Illinois - No
vs 9 Wisconsin - Yes
@ 23 Minnesota - No
vs Maryland - Yes
s Nebraska - Yes

I believe that is an exaggerated number of "No". @Purdue, @MN, are reasonably games we should stand a chance.

So that's 6 Yes, 6 No. We win 50% of the Yes, 3 wins, we win 1/3 of the No, that's 2 wins. Along with the 3 we have that's 8 wins.

Anything below 7 wins is freaking mediocre. 7 is not more than staying the course for me. Above 7 is having a good season.

 

[CappyNU]

Looking at the schedule, reasonable or not to think we have a good chance to win?

@ 9 Wisconsin - No
@ Penn State - Yes
vs Rutgers - Yes
vs 7 Michigan - No
@ Purdue - No
vs Indiana - Yes
@ Rutgers -No
@ 14 Illinois - No
vs 9 Wisconsin - Yes
@ 23 Minnesota - No
vs Maryland - Yes
s Nebraska - Yes

I believe that is an exaggerated number of "No". @Purdue, @MN, are reasonably games we should stand a chance.

So that's 6 Yes, 6 No. We win 50% of the Yes, 3 wins, we win 1/3 of the No, that's 2 wins. Along with the 3 we have that's 8 wins.

Anything below 7 wins is freaking mediocre. 7 is not more than staying the course for me. Above 7 is having a good season.

Minnesota is going to end up being a top-4 team by the end of the season, I think. They've played almost essentially the same schedule as us, swapping Wisconsin for IU and a 2nd Michigan for our 2nd OSU, but their remaining schedule has only 3 games against top-30 and 8 against the rest. Depends if they can figure out how to win road games.

 

[JournCat]

We are 1-5 against current top-30 Kenpom teams and 2-0 against everyone else in conference. The remainder of the season is 6 games against top-30 and 6 games against the rest. I don't think I'm ready to call 7-13 a "very good year" but I'd be willing to call it acceptable progress.

Seven wins would be significant growth and you could feel excited about the upcoming year. My hope is we avoid a 10- or 12-game losing streak like in previous years.

 

[TheC]

I would be satisfied with two more wins. I don't expect it, but that would be nice.

I have no expectations for this program. There is something here bigger than Collins that prevents NU basketball from ever breaking through. For every recruit we get excited about, almost every other team in the league recruits someone better. We just can't keep up.

The only thing that bothers me is when we go and have a year like 2017-2018 that gives you a taste of what it would be like to have a real team, only to break your heart every year after, finding us right back where we were. The 3-0 start was painful for the same reason.

 

[SDakaGordie]

I would be satisfied with two more wins. I don't expect it, but that would be nice.

I have no expectations for this program. There is something here bigger than Collins that prevents NU basketball from ever breaking through. For every recruit we get excited about, almost every other team in the league recruits someone better. We just can't keep up.

The only thing that bothers me is when we go and have a year like 2017-2018 that gives you a taste of what it would be like to have a real team, only to break your heart every year after, finding us right back where we were. The 3-0 start was painful for the same reason.

It’s downright insulting to all prior and current players to say they are not a real team unless they make the tourney. And having no expectations - really?

 

[willycat]

I would be satisfied with two more wins. I don't expect it, but that would be nice.

I have no expectations for this program. There is something here bigger than Collins that prevents NU basketball from ever breaking through. For every recruit we get excited about, almost every other team in the league recruits someone better. We just can't keep up.

The only thing that bothers me is when we go and have a year like 2017-2018 that gives you a taste of what it would be like to have a real team, only to break your heart every year after, finding us right back where we were. The 3-0 start was painful for the same reason.

call Admissions!

 

[mickbula]

I hope we get to at least .500 in conference. That is a viable goal. We have some very winnable games coming. Should be interesting to see what kind of a coach CCC is

 

[julescat]

2 more wins this season would be par the way I look at it. Glad for that 3 game run to start the season but these blowouts are a reminder of how we stack up to the Big Ten competition. Keep the losing streak below 10, I hope. And who knows how good the B10 really is? No doubt it's a great league top to bottom but we will see about the top end. Fairly or unfairly it comes down to NCAA tournament achievement and it's been a long time for the B10.

 

[CatJones]

I wish we could play Nebraska twice

 

[GeauxCatsGeaux]

We are just about half way through our BIG season and sit at 3-5. There were a lot of questions about this team coming into the season and I'm not sure we know what we have in this squad yet. Barring an absolute disaster we will eclipse last year's BIG win total of 3. So, how would you define a successful season for year 8 under Collins? Has your definition changed because of the 3 game win streak or the 5 game losing streak?

For me, the bar is 6 wins in the BIG. Anything above that would be tangible progress and this season that would show us trending towards the tourney in Nance/Kopp's final year. There does seem to be an upgrade to the historical talent level at NU, but I'm not ready to say that we shouldn't be counting wins and losses so long as the young guys get playing time; that was last year. If we can find 4 more wins on our schedule I'm calling it a very good year.

I agree with this 100%. Make me believe we can make the tournament next year. In my mind, every recruiting class (assuming four years) should make the tournament at least once.

 

[NJCat]

I agree with this 100%. Make me believe we can make the tournament next year. In my mind, every recruiting class (assuming four years) should make the tournament at least once.

This is what Gary Barnett called "Belief Without Evidence".......

 

[bringbacktherantboard]

I would be satisfied with two more wins. I don't expect it, but that would be nice.

I have no expectations for this program. There is something here bigger than Collins that prevents NU basketball from ever breaking through. For every recruit we get excited about, almost every other team in the league recruits someone better. We just can't keep up.

The only thing that bothers me is when we go and have a year like 2017-2018 that gives you a taste of what it would be like to have a real team, only to break your heart every year after, finding us right back where we were. The 3-0 start was painful for the same reason.

They should go indy in football and join the Big East.

 

[TheC]

It’s downright insulting to all prior and current players to say they are not a real team unless they make the tourney. And having no expectations - really?

Saying a "real team" was a poor choice of words. What I meant was that we got a small taste of what most other major programs experience which is playing in meaningful games all season long with super intense crowds at your home court. If you have any other rooting interests besides NU, you know what I mean. But my true love is Northwestern, so it meant more to experience that with them. Now, it just seems so cruel as we appear to be firmly back where we have been, with the exception of that one glorious year, my entire life

 

[SDakaGordie]

Saying a "real team" was a poor choice of words. What I meant was that we got a small taste of what most other major programs experience which is playing in meaningful games all season long with super intense crowds at your home court. If you have any other rooting interests besides NU, you know what I mean. But my true love is Northwestern, so it meant more to experience that with them. Now, it just seems so cruel as we appear to be firmly back where we have been, with the exception of that one glorious year, my entire life

That’s well said. I live in CT and have followed UCONN - we know what success looks like (rules violations notwithstanding). I am still of the opinion we are in a (somewhat) better place with the program than the tourney year. I totally agree they are still frustrating to watch, but I now do realistically expect them to win on a reasonably frequent basis (when we are shooting hot and sustain some confidence, which we can do).

 

[TheC]

That’s well said. I live in CT and have followed UCONN - we know what success looks like (rules violations notwithstanding). I am still of the opinion we are in a (somewhat) better place with the program than the tourney year. I totally agree they are still frustrating to watch, but I now do realistically expect them to win on a reasonably frequent basis (when we are shooting hot and sustain some confidence, which we can do).

So can we take a moment to ***** about how the Huskies blew their return to the rankings by laying that egg against St. John's yesterday?? Sheesh!! Hope Bouknight comes back soon.

 

[Sec_112]

... So, how would you define a successful season for year 8 under Collins? ...

This is such a good question. I'm sorry I'm late to the party.

Admittedly, I'm all over the place about the definition of a successful season. Like everybody else, i started with low expectations. Then the three-game streak warped my perception a bit - ESPECIALLY with regards to this difficult schedule.

A few factors make the definition of a successful season tough for me.

1) Have I missed it? Has anybody discussed this team in the scope of this ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL conference? Has the conference ever been this difficult?

If I'm the AD, that needs to be considered. NU has played the most top 20 teams in the nation - not simply the conference.

If this were a normal season, I think this group is an easy .500 team in the conference. Upcoming games against PSU, Rutgers , Purdue and Indiana will be a good stick for that measure.

2) I hate to say it, but you just can't judge NU like other programs. By the definition of other programs, I wouldn't call this a successful program so far, and it probably won't turn out that way.

However, to be fair, you need to evaluate the season through the muddy NU lens. I think this team is one of the taller midgets.

3) These guys are playing ok, not great. Still, several of them have still improved quite a bit - Kopp, Nance, Greer and yes even Buie.

And Young is forever and testament to some ability from this staff.

Are they as good as they could be? I agree with you if you say they're not. But there's been sizable improvement by each of these guys so far.

4) This is still a very young team. Mostly sophomores and juniors. And they are especially young by age. UW has four in its rotation that are 22 and older. Illinois has three 21 and older. Bohannan is 23. Garza is 22. It makes a difference.

Those are the factors/excuses running through my mind as I look at this season.

What is a definition for success? When I'm feeling VERY generous, if they played close games for the remainder of the season, lost every game, but were unquestionably a tournament team next year, I'd consider this season a success.

To be more realistic, I'm not sure five wins is a success when you start 3-0 - even if you're NU. It's close. Six wins is a nice season. Seven or eight in this juggernaut of a season is good start for the next two years.