Chuck Taylor

He's obviously good, has tons of offers, but that level of competition is underwhelming. Those kids at the other schools must wish he'd just leave the state.

OK, I'm going to say it: There's entirely too much time spent complaining about bad calls. We are currently TENTH in nation in fewest fouls. (Michigan is No. 1). https://www.ncaa.com/stats/basketball-men/d1/current/team/286 So, in fact, you could argue that one of the reasons we're having a good season is we don't get called for that many fouls. Our lack of depth means we simply can't afford even 1 of the big 4 to get in foul trouble, but they play a lot of minutes, so they're often mentally fatigued and make costly mistakes. So while that magnifies the importance of fouls, we're simply not getting called for more fouls than everybody else. Roby is called for a lot of fouls because he fouls a lot. You can quibble on some of them, but he fouls a lot. He reaches and he bumps guys moving through traffic. JPJ barrels into the lane regularly and draws contact. Yeah, he gets charges but he also draws A LOT of fouls. It's a risky thing to do, but more often than not it works and that's why he was All BIG.

I'm surprised by the number picking (them) on the prediction thread. Really think we're going to lose? Or just hoping not to jinx us?

Lack of depth remains our biggest weakness. Tired guys get beat off the dribble, reach and pick up fouls and lose their legs on jump shots. It's not all physical either, sometimes a guy just needs to be taken out to refocus. We all like our backups individually and hope they improve, but collectively it's a weak bench.

NU 91 CU 76 8 TM improves to 1-14 vs. GM. (that stat is mind boggling)

NU 92 Minn 79

He's gotten called a couple of times on the new moving contact calls too. The refs will quit calling them as the season goes on, just like they've ignored every other new rule once the calendar flips to January. That should help keep him in the game.

NU 87 Ill 67 11

I've seen enough to know this is a tournament team, making me unfathomably satisfied.

It's what I do.

I picked us over Clemson tonight. Still time to jump on board the Chuck Train, boys.

Right. He's already shot over 40% for an entire season. He can shoot, regardless of his 7 shot stats.

NU 81 CU 69

Don't talk about your wife that way!

I agreed with everything except this. TM only trusted his bench to play 24 TOTAL minutes last night. That's a pretty brutal assessment of the bench. I do agree that Tanner has been effective, and I think Nana will become more trustworthy as the season goes on. Those guys would be good 8th and 9th members of the rotation, but not 6th and 7th. Amir and Brady will have to get minutes, but they're really going to have to improve a lot to become trusted members of the rotation. The things they need to develop (shooting and physicality) can't be added during the season, I fear.

1. Palmer 2. Copeland 3. Watson That's why. Is he deciding he's no. 4 option or is the coaching staff? Regardless, Palmer's an all BIG player, Glynn's the point guard, Cope's the most efficient scorer. That guarantees the ball's going to be in their hands a lot. What's Roby? The best NBA prospect.

NU 81 WIU 49 Clear the bench.

Worries before the season: Depth Rebounding Shot selection

NU 68 TTU 62 2

Big East's non-con is going kill them at tournament time, even though they'll try to make the case that they all improved during the year. Like the BIG last year, except it's funny with when it happens to them.

NU 83 Mo St. 71

Bump. I've waited a long time to be the blind squirrel who found the acorn.

NU 81 SH 61 Not close.

I'd rather have the rough edges polished by the time we play Seton Hall than surprise them with it and have guys making mistakes. Miles' comments about midrange shots and the use of the 1-3-1 indicate to me that the staff spent a lot of time on analytics in the offseason. The 1-3-1 is likely the most efficient defense with our roster: long guys, little post presence, couple of guards who can get posted up, inexperienced bench.

Jeriah Horne had 7 pts in 23 minutes in his debut for Tulsa. Why post here? He was part of the Jacobson/Morrow/Horne/McVeigh logjam at 4 in 2016-17 with Roby and Copeland (who was redshirting). Somebody had Horne as a top 150 recruit, and he got some good offers (Minnesota, ISU), but I never thought he was a good fit for a bigtime program. Too small to play 4, too slow to play wing. Tulsa seems like a good fit, hope he does well.