OurDecay

Speaking of Roby, he played a team-leading 35 minutes tonight. His improvement in staying on the court and affecting the game in all the ways he does is probably under-reported.

If we are sitting at 23-8 before the BTT, we might be ranked in the top-25. Historically those teams don’t land that low in seeding because they are passing the eye test. i mean, technically speaking...a #24 ranked team would be a 6-seed, if the two lined up. i know that the committee doesn’t use that info, but I just struggle seeing a top-25 team relegated to a play-in game. I think with 24 wins we are an 8 seed

Copeland had a rebound late in the game that was - dare I say it - mansized. His head looked higher than the rim. He’s a pretty decent athlete.

So, 5 games left with 4 at home. NU sits at 18-8 (9-4). With one more win, they will clinch a winning conference record. That is RARE for NU BB. Previous winning conference records in the last 35 seasons: 2013-14 (Big Ten): 11-7 [Made NCAA tourney] 1998-99 (Big 12): 10-6 [Made NIT] 1997-98 (Big 12): 10-6 [Made NCAA tourney] 1992-93 (Big 8): 8-6 [Made NCAA tourney] 1990-91 (Big 8): 9-5 [Made NCAA tourney] 1985-96 (Big 8): 8-6 [Made NCAA tourney] The point is, this doesn't happen very often around here. And when it has...it has usually led to NCAA berths. Lets hope that continues. #GBR

Great comment. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the students did. They sounded like a real announcing crew.

Whomever we fill in the roster with, I hope they can play good perimeter defense. We need more guys with length that can do that.

That is so cool.

This isn't entirely fair because roles are different, but discuss: 2014-2015 vs 2015-2016: SG Terran Petteway: (35.0 MPG) 18.2 PPG (39.8% FG), 4.9 RPG, 2.8 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 3.4 TOV Vs SG Andrew White: (28.0 MPG), 16.9 PPG (51.6% FG), 6.1 RPG, 0.8 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.8 TOV PG Tarin Smith: (17.6 MPG), 4.5 PPG (45.5% FG), 1.6 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.3 BPG, 0.8 TOV Vs PG Glynn Watson: (22.2 MPG), 8.1 PPG (38.9%), 1.9 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 1.1 TOV SF David Rivers: (23.6 MPG), 4.3 PPG (47.7% FG), 4.2 RPG, 0.7 APG, 0.4 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 0.5 TOV Vs SF Jack McVeigh: (17.0 MPG), 5.4 PPG (38.7% FG), 3.1 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG, 0.8 TOV PF Walter Pitchford: (27.1 MPG), 7.2 PPG (37.8% FG), 4.6 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.3 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 1.1 TOV Vs PF Michael Jacobson: (15.3 MPG), 4.2 PPG (46.2% FG), 3.6 RPG, 0.6 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.6 BPG, 0.6 TOV PF Leslee Smith: (12.6 MPG), 3.1 PPG (46.0% FG), 3.1 RPG, 0.5 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 0.9 TOV Vs PF Ed Morrow: (14.1 MPG), 3.7 PPG (62.7% FG), 3.6 RPG, 0.1 APG, 0.0 SPG, 0.7 BPG, 1.2 TOV

Wondering where you all think last night's win at #11 MSU ranks amongst the best wins in MIles' tenure. Taking into account quality of opponent, pressure of opportunity, stakes, style of play, luck, etc. I think I would have this win as the second-best win of his tenure. I would say that the infamous No-Sit-Sunday hosting No. 9 Wisconsin in 2013-14 was the best win he's had...purely due to the level of play, quality of opponent, and stakes. But this road win I would argue was just as good, if not better, than our road win at No. 9 Michigan St two years ago. We won with offense, largely without our top scorer, and the opponent went 11-18 for 3-pt range. Their best player Valentine played great. And we still won. Thoughts?

All of this discussion and we haven't really even discussed how athletic and strong a rebounder he is. For a guy that isn't "explosive" on the offensive end, the dude is swiping defensive rebounds well above the rim. He crashes the boards hard.

Bump! Kenya Hunter went and saw him last night

I was wondering who would be the first to ask that! Jeremy Barr, recruited by USC out of HS, was the #118 player in the class of 2005. He spent that one season on our roster.

That's not quite accurate. You're comparing a ranking number of 2 guys for next year's class vs numbers from 2013-14. Going by verbalcommits.com we've gone from the basement to middle of the pack though. Exactly. That's still a great place to be, too.

This is a bump to this thread I had started last year. Many of you provided very good feedback and criticisms on the folly of using recruiting services, offers, etc. to judge recruiting progress. With Elijah Thomas on campus and both Horne and Roby in the fold...I just thought I'd provide an update to show the trends "as is"...without claiming any value from them. I did incorporate some feedback from you guys on how to evaluate unrated/unevaluated players. Also...Isaiah Roby is a prime example of how you can't always use "offers" to judge a recruit. He's clearly elite, highly rated...a top-150 player. Yet his offer list is scant. And that's for the obvious reason that we were on him very, very early, and he committed to us very, very early. Anyway, thought you guys would enjoy: For context, the 2013-2014 Big Ten Conference using the same criteria: I guess an immediate takeaway is...we are trending in the direction that would appear to be competitive (from a talent standpoint) with the bulk of the league. That's one of those things that lead you to want to give Miles & co. a long, long leash and let it play out for a bit. Gotta be patient. RDK

http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/deshawn-freeman-1.html Update: Averaging 13.1 PPG and 5.3 RPG for Rutgers this season, with a high game of 23 points and 8 rebounds. Has 8 blocks in 7 games also.

Tai Webster, last 6 games:SELA: 20 mins; 13 pts, 6 reb, 1 ast, 2 to, 2 stl, (5-7 FG, 1-1 3pt, 2-2 FT)ARPB: 23 mins; 4 pts, 5 reb, 2 ast, 2 to, 0 stl, 1 blk (1-3 FG, 0-1 3pt, 2-3 FT)CINCY: 29 mins; 21 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 to, 0 stl, (7-12 FG, 2-3 3pt, 5-5 FT)TENN: 36 mins; 18 pts, 2 reb, 0 ast, 3 to, 1 stl, (7-13 FG, 1-3 3pt, 3-4 FT)MIAMI: 30 mins; 9 pts, 5 reb, 4 ast, 2 to, 1 stl, (4-11 FG, 1-2 3pt, 0-0 FT)ABCU: 37 mins; 10 pts, 5 reb, 0 ast, 0 to, 1 st, 2 blk (5-12 FG, 0-1 3pt, 0-2 FT) TOTALS: 175 mins (29.2 mpg), 75 pts (12.5 ppg), 31 reb (5.2 rpg), 10 ast (1.7 apg), 10 to (1.7 tpg), 5 stl (0.8 spg)29-58 (50.0% FG), 5-11 (45.4% 3PT), 12-16 (75.0% FT) 2015 TOTALS: 550 mins (18.3 mpg), 118 pts (3.9 ppg), 57 reb (1.9 rpg), 35 ast (1.2 apg), 39 to (1.3 tpg), 21 stl (0.7 spg) 2014 TOTALS: 729 mins (22.8 mpg), 126 pts (3.9 ppg), 66 reb (2.1 rpg), 63 ast (2.0 apg), 58 to (1.8 tpg), 24 stl (0.8 spg)

Fantastic article on TP and the game from a scouting site: http://upsidemotor.com/2015/12/05/terran-petteway-call-up-d-league-mad-ants-charge-hardaway-tavares/

Our offense this year compared to the last two years is just night-and-day.

What I saw last night was a chilling reminder just how under-talented we have been until now. You look at a guy like Andrew White...he barely got any minutes at Kansas but is a top-50 level recruit. Put him on that court last night, and he didn't look fazed by the competition or moment. He is scoring 18 a night for our team and making it look easy without even being a volume shooter. It is simply a matter of having talent. I watched Watson and Morrow and while I see mistakes of youth, I see kids that are clearly of similar talent levels to what Nova had. Morrow played in the same AAU program as Jalen Brunson and Jahlil Okafor. Steel sharpens steel, and all that. Morrow is down low amongst high-talent kids bigger than him and wasn't rattled at all...out-fighting them for rebounds and blocking shots. Watson had an absolutely filthy move to free himself up for a shot last night (that was negated by an offense foul on Morrow). I think McVeigh's game translates pretty well to that high level of competition. He needs to be our scoring threat off the bench. Tai Webster is not, and never has been, a Big Ten caliber player. And certainly not worthy of being a starter. He's a "shooting guard" that cannot shoot, but frankly that's not even my biggest concern about him...he's just not a "game time" player. He gets fazed by the moment, and lacks confidence. I couldn't see our truly talented players losing confidence and falling apart. Parker was a novelty two years ago where we had this tiny guy who stole minutes with his defense. He's a fun story but he is obviously not a Big Ten caliber player either, and like Tai never will be. He is what he is. He's probably playing beyond his ceiling already. It is unfair, in my opinion, to ask Webster and Parker to start against the teeth of the Big Ten, and games like last night, for 3 years running. Webster and Parker cannot help who they are. Its on the staff to upgrade these positions. I don't dislike either guy, and I actually kinda love Benny, but we need to be better at those spots. Good defense is a lot about effort and mindset. There's no reason you couldn't make an Evelyn or somebody else your defensive perimeter guy instead. At least then you have upside. Like the team, like where we are headed. Last night was an important progress check.

This.

Its easy to forget, but before last season NU had gone 15 seasons w/o a winning conference record. Once in that span, they went 8-8. That was the only time in 15 seasons NU won 8 or more games in conference play (yes, we were playing less games in the B12). NU is sitting at 5-5 with 8 games left. That includes games at Penn St, at Purdue, home vs. Iowa, and at Illinois. Theoretically, all of those games are winnable. Heck, maybe at the end of the year you can trip up Maryland at home. If NU even went 8-10 (.444) - 3-5 down the stretch - in conference, it would be our third-best conference winning % in 17 years. If this had happened a year ago, we would be pretty ecstatic about the direction we are headed. The fact that we jumped WAY ahead of schedule last year makes it tough to keep that perspective. But make no mistake, the overall trend is very much up. Still.

Its a little unsettling on a night when we shot 62% from the field and over 47% from behind the arc, and dominated the glass, that we only scored 76 points against the last-place team in the league. I mean, tonight was technically our offense at peak efficiency, and it didn't break 80 points. My point is, that tells you just how small the margin of error we have, and what a tremendous strain it puts on our defense every game. We have to essentially play perfect to break 75, unless we draw a ton of fouls. Just a little alarming, that's all. But a great performance tonight.

That's fair

I kinda feel burned by most international players. Outside of Aleks, it doesn't seem like we've had very good luck (spanning multiple coaches). Maybe its the fact that Webster has come nowhere close to matching the hype.