Women...

[mikewebb68]

Played UT-Martin on BTN 2go today at the same time as the men, so didn't have a chance to watch until now. This game might have been a challenge as we are now down two starters to injury (second leading scorer Abi Scheid was injured in practice and was in a walking boot, though reserve Sydney Wood did return from injury), and UT-Martin's best player is their center who was a decent matchup for Pallas

However, it wasn't. UT-Martin pressed the entire game, which has been a terrible strategy against the women thus far. They absolutely shredded it, coasting to a 90-64 win. Pallas only played 22 minutes in the rout, but still managed a double-double, with 12 pts. and 18 rebounds. She also attempted her first in-game dunk, but it was unsuccessful.

But the story of the game was former Australian National team handball player and multi-sport athlete Jess Sancataldo. She has played mostly in garbage time, but has posted phenomenal stats in doing so. Today, she was our leading scorer with 20 points in just 13 minutes of action On the season, she now has 32 points in 23 minutes, and is shooting an incredible 85% and 66% from 3! I don't if this will warrant more time (she is 6 ft. tall but really, really thin, which might make her a liability on defense) but it is fun to watch her hardly missing any shots....

We better get healthy soon as we face Pitt in the ACC-BIG challenge on Thursday.

 

[go cats go_rivals310290]

Played UT-Martin on BTN 2go today at the same time as the men, so didn't have a chance to watch until now. This game might have been a challenge as we are now down two starters to injury (second leading scorer Abi Scheid was injured in practice and was in a walking boot, though reserve Sydney Wood did return from injury), and UT-Martin's best player is their center who was a decent matchup for Pallas

However, it wasn't. UT-Martin pressed the entire game, which has been a terrible strategy against the women thus far. They absolutely shredded it, coasting to a 90-64 win. Pallas only played 22 minutes in the rout, but still managed a double-double, with 12 pts. and 18 rebounds. She also attempted her first in-game dunk, but it was unsuccessful.

But the story of the game was former Australian National team handball player and multi-sport athlete Jess Sancataldo. She has played mostly in garbage time, but has posted phenomenal stats in doing so. Today, she was our leading scorer with 20 points in just 13 minutes of action On the season, she now has 32 points in 23 minutes, and is shooting an incredible 85% and 66% from 3! I don't if this will warrant more time (she is 6 ft. tall but really, really thin, which might make her a liability on defense) but it is fun to watch her hardly missing any shots....

We better get healthy soon as we face Pitt in the ACC-BIG challenge on Thursday.

Thanks for the update. I could only get the WGN Radio audio for the men's game, so I watched the women's game while listening to the men's game. I wondered where Abi Sheid was. She has been really good this season. I hope that she recovers quickly!

 

[drosejr]

Inside NU was dismissive of Pitt, so if that is the case, McKeown may choose to keep resting injured players (if he has the choice) until the DePaul/Marquette doubleheader next week. Those two games should give everyone a better feel for the team’s quality early in the season.

 

[Pukecat]

Inside NU was dismissive of Pitt, so if that is the case, McKeown may choose to keep resting injured players (if he has the choice) until the DePaul/Marquette doubleheader next week. Those two games should give everyone a better feel for the team’s quality early in the season.

Injuries have been a huge factor again for the Cats but they’re a factor for every program. We still lack the depth and it’s year... whatever it is. This is approaching Carmody territory in my view. Not a ton of momentum indicative of winning this conference anytime soon. Some nice pieces every year but never a threat to the big dogs.

 

[mikewebb68]

Injuries have been a huge factor again for the Cats but they’re a factor for every program. We still lack the depth and it’s year... whatever it is. This is approaching Carmody territory in my view. Not a ton of momentum indicative of winning this conference anytime soon. Some nice pieces every year but never a threat to the big dogs.

They actually have a lot of depth, but when you've had 4 of 5 starters and a key reserve go down to injury, it is going to affect your performance no matter who you play. And they have had a brutal, brutal noncon schedule-- expected worse than 6-3 at this point prior to the season (no way did I see us beating Duke at home or Green Bay on the road, but we did. Pitt was the only dissappointment, but we were down two starters and lost a third during the game...), Joe is far from Carmody territory, imo,he has already made the Dance here and had a WNBA forst rounder. I believe he will retire before he ever gets fired...

 

[Pukecat]

They actually have a lot of depth, but when you've had 4 of 5 starters and a key reserve go down to injury, it is going to affect your performance no matter who you play. And they have had a brutal, brutal noncon schedule-- expected worse than 6-3 at this point prior to the season (no way did I see us beating Duke at home or Green Bay on the road, but we did. Pitt was the only dissappointment, but we were down two starters and lost a third during the game...), Joe is far from Carmody territory, imo,he has already made the Dance here and had a WNBA forst rounder. I believe he will retire before he ever gets fired...

There’s a different standard with WBB at NU. We were a tournament program every other year or so before. I expected to make it every other year by now. You really didn’t expect a little more by now when this hiring was made? I did. Great man, great coach but the program just hasn’t had momentum under him for whatever reason.

 

[mikewebb68]

There’s a different standard with WBB at NU. We were a tournament program every other year or so before. I expected to make it every other year by now. You really didn’t expect a little more by now when this hiring was made? I did. Great man, great coach but the program just hasn’t had momentum under him for whatever reason.

Huh? We were an absolute dumpster fire when Joe took over.

 

[Pukecat]

Huh? We were an absolute dumpster fire when Joe took over.

We had two poor coaches in a row, yes, but we had a long tradition of good teams under Don. It’s not like what every MBB Coach here dealt with. You weren’t there for any of that? If so, no wonder you’re thrilled with the status quo.

Also we can crap on Combs and it’s probably deserved because some of her players said she was allegedly abusive, but she set the table for Joe with Amy. Joe’s first good team here was built by setting up shooters around that post presence.

But back to the status quo, it’s a competitive team and I’m proud of them as school representatives. However I think the program can take another step up and I’m surprised Coach hasn’t gotten us there.

 

[Username Not Available]

This is good news considering all of the injuries so far. And I’ll admit that from the limited WBB I’ve watched over the years, a press offense seems like the key to easy victories against 80-90% of teams in general, and a lot of past NU teams. I’m happy to hear this isn’t an issue this year.

 

[hdhntr1]

They actually have a lot of depth, but when you've had 4 of 5 starters and a key reserve go down to injury, it is going to affect your performance no matter who you play. And they have had a brutal, brutal noncon schedule-- expected worse than 6-3 at this point prior to the season (no way did I see us beating Duke at home or Green Bay on the road, but we did. Pitt was the only dissappointment, but we were down two starters and lost a third during the game...), Joe is far from Carmody territory, imo,he has already made the Dance here and had a WNBA forst rounder. I believe he will retire before he ever gets fired...

It seems that as much as injuries affect other programs, none have had to deal with the number of injuries NU WBB has had to deal with over the years.

 

[mikewebb68]

It seems that as much as injuries affect other programs, none have had to deal with the number of injuries NU WBB has had to deal with over the years.

Yup. I've never seen anything like it. The one relatively healthy team Joe has had made the Dance.

 

[mikewebb68]

We had two poor coaches in a row, yes, but we had a long tradition of good teams under Don. It’s not like what every MBB Coach here dealt with. You weren’t there for any of that? If so, no wonder you’re thrilled with the status quo.

Also we can crap on Combs and it’s probably deserved because some of her players said she was allegedly abusive, but she set the table for Joe with Amy. Joe’s first good team here was built by setting up shooters around that post presence.

But back to the status quo, it’s a competitive team and I’m proud of them as school representatives. However I think the program can take another step up and I’m surprised Coach hasn’t gotten us there.

Yeah, I vaguely remember those days, lol. I was a student when Don coached and attended nearly all of the women's home games in person; two of the players lived in my dorm freshman year, I got hooked, and have been following them ever since. I even covered a couple of their games for WNUR back them (I was a fairly terrible color man, as I recall) That was a LONG time ago, and Don retired nearly 20 years ago. His two successors turned our women's b-ball program into an out of control dumpster fire. Do you remember that? Let me refresh your memory...

June Olkowski--31-108, 7-73 BIG
Beth Coombs-- 24-95, 7-59 BIG
Total 55-203, 14-132 BIG (?!?!)

And they we're arguably WORSE then their records indicated. June seemed like a good hire; she was one of the youngest head coaches ever at Butler, and ran a successful program. But she could hardly recruit enough people to fill a roster, and hasn't been hired by anyone since Mark Murphy fired her. Then Mark made a rare tactical error, imo, but not taking a more experienced coach an hiring a coach who he had hired during his stint at Colgate, Beth Combs. She was the opposite of June, imo; she could recruit (McDonald's All-American Amy Jaeschke,among other players) but her in-game coaching had to be seen to be believed. I spent the last few seasons of her tenure literally counting the days until she would be fired; the fans (and allegedly, the players) absolutely detested her (I kinda felt sorry for her, since I know she was in WAY over her head). She ended up resigning, but would have been canned anyway as Murphy was gone by that time.

Fortunately Jim Phillips arrived that year, and one of his first orders of business was to not make the same mistake Mark Murphy made. However, it would be tough to attract any high caliber coach to our program after what June and Beth had done to it; 11 years of mostly unwatchable basketball. I truly believe that no one near the talent and experience level as coach Joe would have come here; we were quite fortunate that the stars aligned for us for a non- basketball reason (his son has autism, and Chicago could simply accommodate his son far better than the DC area could).

This was a MASSIVE rebuilding job; Carmody on the men's side at least followed two coaches who had some success. Coach Joe followed two coaches who had absolutely dynamited a winning program!. I remember his first year, it was rough. He was hired over the summer, so he couldn't recruit for that year. But has bad as he was, I think he still won a couple more games than Beth did the prior season! To give you some perspective as to the depths our program had reached, Coach Joe had NEVER had a losing season prior to his arrival here, and he had been coaching since 1986. His first year here? 7-23. We we bad. Very bad.

But right after that, things turned around. A 19 win season in 2009-10 was not only our first winning season in 12 years (!!!) but was the first of back to back appearances in the NIT. Another one followed in 2014 and, in 2015 we made it back to the Dance for the first time in nearly 20 years. So, knowing where we came from (a decade of miserable basketball) I will take the status quo, thank you very much...

And I have to laugh at your Amy story. Who the heck do you think kept Amy here? Joe success here is all his own, Beth Combs deserves zero credit for Joe's success, none, imo. I loved loved Amy as a player, but Joe has recruited countless players that could run circles around her. And I have no idea if Beth was abusive or not; all I know is that she was a terrible on-court coach that left our program in an absolute shambles. Has Joe been perfect? No. But he and Dr. Jim rescued our women's program from the scrap heap.

 

[NJCat]

Yeah, I vaguely remember those days, lol. I was a student when Don coached and attended nearly all of the women's home games in person; two of the players lived in my dorm freshman year, I got hooked, and have been following them ever since. I even covered a couple of their games for WNUR back them (I was a fairly terrible color man, as I recall) That was a LONG time ago, and Don retired nearly 20 years ago. His two successors turned our women's b-ball program into an out of control dumpster fire. Do you remember that? Let me refresh your memory...

June Olkowski--31-108, 7-73 BIG
Beth Coombs-- 24-95, 7-59 BIG
Total 55-203, 14-132 BIG (?!?!)

And they we're arguably WORSE then their records indicated. June seemed like a good hire; she was one of the youngest head coaches ever at Butler, and ran a successful program. But she could hardly recruit enough people to fill a roster, and hasn't been hired by anyone since Mark Murphy fired her. Then Mark made a rare tactical error, imo, but not taking a more experienced coach an hiring a coach who he had hired during his stint at Colgate, Beth Combs. She was the opposite of June, imo; she could recruit (McDonald's All-American Amy Jaeschke,among other players) but her in-game coaching had to be seen to be believed. I spent the last few seasons of her tenure literally counting the days until she would be fired; the fans (and allegedly, the players) absolutely detested her (I kinda felt sorry for her, since I know she was in WAY over her head). She ended up resigning, but would have been canned anyway as Murphy was gone by that time.

Fortunately Jim Phillips arrived that year, and one of his first orders of business was to not make the same mistake Mark Murphy made. However, it would be tough to attract any high caliber coach to our program after what June and Beth had done to it; 11 years of mostly unwatchable basketball. I truly believe that no one near the talent and experience level as coach Joe would have come here; we were quite fortunate that the stars aligned for us for a non- basketball reason (his son has autism, and Chicago could simply accommodate his son far better than the DC area could).

This was a MASSIVE rebuilding job; Carmody on the men's side at least followed two coaches who had some success. Coach Joe followed two coaches who had absolutely dynamited a winning program!. I remember his first year, it was rough. He was hired over the summer, so he couldn't recruit for that year. But has bad as he was, I think he still won a couple more games than Beth did the prior season! To give you some perspective as to the depths our program had reached, Coach Joe had NEVER had a losing season prior to his arrival here, and he had been coaching since 1986. His first year here? 7-23. We we bad. Very bad.

But right after that, things turned around. A 19 win season in 2009-10 was not only our first winning season in 12 years (!!!) but was the first of back to back appearances in the NIT. Another one followed in 2014 and, in 2015 we made it back to the Dance for the first time in nearly 20 years. So, knowing where we came from (a decade of miserable basketball) I will take the status quo, thank you very much...

And I have to laugh at your Amy story. Who the heck do you think kept Amy here? Joe success here is all his own, Beth Combs deserves zero credit for Joe's success, none, imo. I loved loved Amy as a player, but Joe has recruited countless players that could run circles around her. And I have no idea if Beth was abusive or not; all I know is that she was a terrible on-court coach that left our program in an absolute shambles. Has Joe been perfect? No. But he and Dr. Jim rescued our women's program from the scrap heap.

Good history lesson. Thanks.

 

[Pukecat]

[Don Perilli's] two successors turned our women's b-ball program into an out of control dumpster fire. Do you remember that? Let me refresh your memory...

June Olkowski--31-108, 7-73 BIG
Beth Coombs-- 24-95, 7-59 BIG
Total 55-203, 14-132 BIG (?!?!)

Carmody on the men's side at least followed two coaches who had some success.

You're arguing two things. First, you're saying Carmody inherited a better job than pre-McKeown WBB.

Bill Foster, 54-141, 13-113 B1G
Ricky Byrdsong 36-76, 12-60 B1G
Kevin O'Neill 30-56, 9-39 B1G
Total: 120-273, 34-212 .138 B1G winning pct
Not including Foster: 66-132, 21-99 .175 B1G winning pct

Olkowski/Combs .100 B1G winning pct

If the men's job was "better" in 2000 than the women's job in 2008, it was a narrow difference. Both programs were in poor shape.

Nonetheless, you did not account for the relative ease of recruiting a women's sport at a premier university like Northwestern versus recruiting a men's revenue sport. MBB was a tougher job by that standard.

Your second argument is that McKeown has done a good recovery job. Which is fine to argue, except I never said he has done a poor job. That's the typical straw man right there.

I'm arguing McKeown has not been as successful as I would have expected
given:

1- His record before NU
2- The institutional support at NU

Joe McKeown pre-NU 509-174 - won 75% of the time
Joe McKeown NU 166-161 - won 51% of the time

Joe McKeown pre-NU 278-56 conference games 83% wins !!
Joe McKeown NU 46-99 B1G 32% wins :-(

Reminder, Bill Carmody NU 70-150 B1G .... 31.8% wins

My thesis is that McKeown has been all right, but he's essentially the Bill Carmody of WBB and we need the Chris Collins of WBB now.

 

[hdhntr1]

You're arguing two things. First, you're saying Carmody inherited a better job than pre-McKeown WBB.

Bill Foster, 54-141, 13-113 B1G
Ricky Byrdsong 36-76, 12-60 B1G
Kevin O'Neill 30-56, 9-39 B1G
Total: 120-273, 34-212 .138 B1G winning pct
Not including Foster: 66-132, 21-99 .175 B1G winning pct

Olkowski/Combs .100 B1G winning pct

If the men's job was "better" in 2000 than the women's job in 2008, it was a narrow difference. Both programs were in poor shape.

Nonetheless, you did not account for the relative ease of recruiting a women's sport at a premier university like Northwestern versus recruiting a men's revenue sport. MBB was a tougher job by that standard.

Your second argument is that McKeown has done a good recovery job. Which is fine to argue, except I never said he has done a poor job. That's the typical straw man right there.

I'm arguing McKeown has not been as successful as I would have expected
given:

1- His record before NU
2- The institutional support at NU

Joe McKeown pre-NU 509-174 - won 75% of the time
Joe McKeown NU 166-161 - won 51% of the time

Joe McKeown pre-NU 278-56 conference games 83% wins !!
Joe McKeown NU 46-99 B1G 32% wins :-(

Reminder, Bill Carmody NU 70-150 B1G .... 31.8% wins

My thesis is that McKeown has been all right, but he's essentially the Bill Carmody of WBB and we need the Chris Collins of WBB now.

McKeown has generally recruited pretty well. The issue he has faced repeatedly was the injury bug to key players year after year. Maybe we should look at a new training staff. But it was not just injuries. The Hankin's suicide sure did not help things.

 

[mikewebb68]

You're arguing two things. First, you're saying Carmody inherited a better job than pre-McKeown WBB.

Bill Foster, 54-141, 13-113 B1G
Ricky Byrdsong 36-76, 12-60 B1G
Kevin O'Neill 30-56, 9-39 B1G
Total: 120-273, 34-212 .138 B1G winning pct
Not including Foster: 66-132, 21-99 .175 B1G winning pct

Olkowski/Combs .100 B1G winning pct

If the men's job was "better" in 2000 than the women's job in 2008, it was a narrow difference. Both programs were in poor shape.

Nonetheless, you did not account for the relative ease of recruiting a women's sport at a premier university like Northwestern versus recruiting a men's revenue sport. MBB was a tougher job by that standard.

Your second argument is that McKeown has done a good recovery job. Which is fine to argue, except I never said he has done a poor job. That's the typical straw man right there.

I'm arguing McKeown has not been as successful as I would have expected
given:

1- His record before NU
2- The institutional support at NU

Joe McKeown pre-NU 509-174 - won 75% of the time
Joe McKeown NU 166-161 - won 51% of the time

Joe McKeown pre-NU 278-56 conference games 83% wins !!
Joe McKeown NU 46-99 B1G 32% wins :-(

Reminder, Bill Carmody NU 70-150 B1G .... 31.8% wins

My thesis is that McKeown has been all right, but he's essentially the Bill Carmody of WBB and we need the Chris Collins of WBB now.

I wasn't arguing with you; you made a comment about my familiarity with the history of the program, and my being thrilled with the ststud quo, and I responded with facts.

 

[Pukecat]

I wasn't arguing with you; you made a comment about my familiarity with the history of the program, and my being thrilled with the ststud quo, and I responded with facts.

As did I. It’s irrefutable that Joe has improved on his predecessors. Equally true: he’s done worse here than Perrilli and worse than his own previous standards. It’s really personal preference on which set of facts carries more weight. To me it’s reaching Carmody territory at which we’ve gone as far as this coach can take us.