Fullbacksympathy

Offense has looked good. I'm encouraged on that end. We can't get any worse defensively and they can't get any hotter shooting so I imagine we'll make this thing interesting if we can slow it down the last few minutes, make some free throws, and keep it in single digits.

Wilcher needs to sit the rest of the game. Horrible matchup for this team and he's refusing to rebound.

Law of averages says A&M will cool off. I expect a cold second half from them.

Sam is giving Taylor a way better look than anyone else has. I think we stay with that matchup defensively. We stop him, we stop them, but that's a lot easier said than done against an NBA guard.

Met and spoke with both Ramel and his dad. Seemed like a good, genuine kid who planned to contribute this season. I don't think Fred has given up on him.

I thought Duquesne looked like a mid-tier B1G team. I was very impressed by their athleticism and thought we played very well to get that win. Not surprised to see them making noise.

My first year watching as a little kid was '91 - our best year, record-wise. I've been chasing the dragon ever since.

I'm pretty ambivalent in confidence on this one. Common opponents were @OSU and PSU at home. A&M eeked out a win on the road against OSU on the road and handled PSU at home. Nebraska got handled on the road against OSU and dominated PSU at home. I do think their PG is the best PG we've seen this season. He's special. The rest of the team is scrappy and plays extremely hard. I like their team. Wildly different philosophies and body types. It will really come down to our defense because I think we can score on them with decent execution. I have no qualms with calling the game a tossup though.

Yep. But they have 3-4 guys who can really get buckets in isolation and that’s their identity so they’re no joke. They want to spread teams out and go to work. They’ll be licking their chops based on the tape from the second half against Illinois. I’m not sure we could have had a team prepare us better for this game. If we want to beat them, we just need to watch the second half of the game we just played and not do that. They fly around and overplay on defense so I’m guessing we’ll get some easy buckets at the rim and wide open threes. It’s all going to come down to finishing defensive possessions and rebounding.

They are all yolo shots all the time with very good 1v1 players. Extremely emotional roller coaster team. Our extreme help will be an interesting problem for them if we rotate fast enough. It should also help with keeping them off the glass. They are elite athletically but little and have no one to handle Mast. Our most important player in this one may very well be Sam. JL might get a lot of minutes too. We’re gonna need great perimeter defense at the guard position.

Xavier Johnson made a smart decision going to a lower tiered program where he would be guaranteed minutes.

I’m guessing we’ll be ranked now. Hell of a team and staff. Just unreal maturity and unselfishness on both ends.

I’d take a tourney win over another football national championship if that answers your question. Once we get one, it would probably be a wash for me with the B1G tourney.

Not a bad loss. We played hard. OSU played well. Their record is a joke compared to their talent. These two teams mirror each other a bit. Had to turn in an A to win, and we played a B game. I continue to be amazed as JL’s development. We were in a position to win the game and the refs decided only OSU was allowed to contest at the rim. That was the difference. Otherwise it was pretty much a toss up. Onto another murder in PBA.

Lawrence is being seriously developed by this staff. Awesome game.

I’m pretty sure with the developments of two extraordinarily skilled 5s who get massive NIL deals and an offense that runs through them that finding skilled 5s in the portal becomes Fred’s new Transfer U signature. I might be wrong but I think this is just going to be something we do now. Mast is incredible in our system.

Phenomenal effort today. Allick’s rebound in the corner among three PSU guys, where he had seemingly no shot to get to the ball and got there anyway, was a top 5 play for me this year. Great team rebounding overall. Hoiberg is such a great defender. Best perimeter defense since Strickland imo. This isn’t the most talented NU team I’ve seen, but they do have talent. What they definitely are is the smartest NU team I have EVER seen. When a team has this kind of IQ and fundamentals, they win games like this one, in this fashion. They really, really know who they are.

Good effort. Next game is a great chance to move up in conference standings against NW.

Gotta learn the letdown lesson from Purdue. Winning at Illinois could give us a huge runway and a T25 ranking. Man what a win tonight though.

If we win out at home I think we probably get in due to the KState win. That's two top 10 wins against #1 and #6 to go along with a solid overall record. I said this before but I think Wiscy is the best team in the B1G. Beating them would be more impressive than Purdue. Lose to Wiscy and we've gotta get a road win for sure.

I’ve seen the best and worst basketball in 30 years of watching under Hoiberg. It’s wild. But he figured out how to win, and he deserves to be around to see it through. It’s an incredible adjustment and took a ton of humility to change his entire philosophy on both ends. We have a hell of a lot of talent coming down the pike.

I agree with almost all of this, but the word I’d describe for Hoiberg is strong. The kid has elite conditioning and strength for his frame, and he’s on the level of perimeter defense with Strickland and Lue—one of the best we’ve ever had. He’s also a two handed dunker at 6’ so we’re not talking about a typical… um… walkon Just my .02 because I think some see him as a cool underdog story and I think he’s just proven over time he’s a solid D1 basketball player.

Absolutely. I think the kid has lost about 30lbs over the last two seasons. That's serious dedication with a body type like CJ. Hard work paying off on both ends. He's finishing way better at the hoop as well with just a little more elevation. A little more bounce from outside. But defense is where he's really become a complete D1 player.

Good point on Eli. He’s a very gifted offensive player and is getting closer and closer to D1 on the defensive end. I like his development. He had a clutch, calm 4 points to go with a blocked shot and lucky steal. Those minutes were huge.

Great win. NW is a solid team. I think they’ll make the tourney. Good urgency to finish the damn thing. That’s big for the team’s confidence.