bball23

So much good discussion in this thread!!! I'm anxious/excited to get back on the court tomorrow night. Then we are making the trip down the South Dakota to watch the Men/Women's games. Very excited to see how we do and excited for the venue. Another thing to remind some that are hitting the "panic" button. Bad games are going to happen. They just are. Basketball is just such an "odd" sport in the sense that sometimes for whatever reason the ball doesn't go in the hoop. Its why upsets in basketball happen ALL the time! I was watching scores last night. Alabama, ranked #2 in the entire county gets by McNese State by EIGHT points! This is the #2 team in the country, how can that happen? Maybe they played down to the level of the opponent, maybe they were missing shots and McNese got hot? Who knows. Purdue....gets by Yale by EIGHT points. Again...who knows? Marquette gets past Central Michigan by EIGHT points.... Rutgers beat 0-3 Saint Peters by 10 points. Oklahoma was trailing Northwestern State by 6 at the 1/2. They ended up winning big, but again. Point being. Do we have some issues to fix...absolutely! Are the fixable? I'd like to think so. I remember Fred in the pre game talk with Kent/Jake was talking about how already 3 Big East schools have lost to "buy in" teams and you always hope to win those games. To this point, we haven't lost yet and last year we did a great job of avoiding the "buy in" loss. Its a LONG season. I'm excited to see how this team gels as the year goes on. I do think we have a shot to be a very good defensive team which that alone will at least keep us in games. Hopefully tomorrow we look much more "clean" and have some flow to the game offensively and get some good mojo going into the weekend vs Saint Mary's.

Was at the game last night....SLOPPY!! I think some of this has to do with the fact that we are rotating so many guys in as Fred's still trying to figure out rotations. So I completely get it. I was even sitting the crowd last night thinking "Who would I have in that can maybe give us some offensive flow?" Last night I'm hoping was just one of those games where for whatever reason it just didn't "work" Here is the optimist in me that feels we can still continue to improve as the year goes on. Brice and Rollie combined for ELEVEN of our 18 turnovers. I don't believe that will the norm by any means at all. I felt on numerous occasions we were able to get to the paint, but our decision making was very poor. I do believe with some film those are things that can be corrected. Numerous times we had guys get into the pain with shooters open on the wings/corners and for whatever reason didn't get the ball to them and forced up a tough two. Other thing. We missed SO many buckets at the rim. I saw Robin tweet that at the 1/2 we were 6/12 on layups/dunks. Second half I bet we missed 5-6 more. I really don't think that will be the norm with this group. Heck, Gary missed about 4 at the rim and that is not him at all. Defensively I do like our length. I do think as the year goes on we can be a pretty solid defensive team. Especially with certain lineups. Look, last night wasn't pretty by any means. I've walked out of the Bob/PBA on NUMEROUS occasions where we lose that game last night. We did find a way to win. Was it pretty? NOT AT ALL. Were their some things we can improve on....ABSOLUTELY! I do worry about how we may struggle to score at times this season, but every team goes through that. Its why in basketball you see upsets all the time! I believe I saw that in the Big East alone they have already lose 3 "buy" games and we are just in the 2nd week of the season. It happens. I also like that our schedule isn't "brutal" to start as we try and find those right rotations. I will be curious to see how this team does. I do feel we can still be a solid team this year. We may have to "ugly" up games this year almost the same way Doc did. I'm sure we will lose some we shouldn't, but I also think we can win some we maybe shouldn't either. Lets not hit the panic button though. I remember after a game one time Kent Pavelka after beating Indiana said to Doc "What do you feel you guys did to look so much better tonight." Doc simply replied "We made shots." Let's avoid the 4-22 on 3's and all the turnovers and see where this season takes us. GBR!!

Grabbed 6 tickets once they came up for sale! Still a decent amount of seats left, but definitely going quick.

Section 216 Session 2 GBR!!

Indiana beat Louisville as well. Every bit helps!

100% Norm on Sam. I was telling my friend at the game exactly what you said. Sam "gets it" He knows when to push, when not to push, etc. There were times last night where we would get up 14-16 points, get a defensive rebound and he would simply take his time to bring the ball up, get us into our offense and hopefully get a good look. Also late in the 1st half when UNO was making a mini run, on like 3 straight possessions Sam just simply went at the defender and drew the foul. He I believe made 5-6 FT's during this stretch as well. UNO was playing a lot of defense with their hands and he knew this. So he "forced" the refs almost to make the call. I just love how he has a good feel for the game. Its only 2 games, but I feel much more comfortable with him running the show than I did the previous PG's under Fred.

NU 92 WIU 63 10 21

This is just my $0.02. The reason for optimism for me is numerous things. Teddy Allen is a player. Out of boredom the other day I went to YouTube and watched some of his WV highlights. He dropped 20+ on KSU and OU who were solid teams. He has a knack for putting the ball in the hoop. The announcers of the game were calling him "Teddy Buckets" As long as he can keep his head on straight, I think he will truly flourish in Hoiberg's "freedom" offense. Kobe King. If he's eligible you are talking about a guy with D1 experience that averaged 10.5 PPG in the B10. That alone gives me hope. Also the fact he will know what the grind of the B10 is like. His body is strong enough to handle the B10. Nothing against Burke, Mack or Green, but none of them exactly had a B10 body. Mack was able to make up for it with his quickness, but couldn't shoot the outside shot. With that being said, I do wish Mack would have come back. Webster. Quick guard that knows how to score. And he was doing that on a team where they knew he was the "go to guy" Now, much lesser competition, but he showed he could do it against some good teams and he will have a better roster around him at NU to take that weight off his shoulders. I think he may be that guy that on certain nights gets extremely hot and we roll with him. Stevenson. He is my dark horse. I love Stevenson. STRONG body which will hold up in the B10. Confident player, has a lot of swagger and did this in a tough ACC league. So again, another P5 player that had success. Moves well without the ball which is huge in Hoiberg's offense. Banton. Smooth operator. Long, athletic. Not sure how great of a shooter he is, but with his slashing ability and passing ability could be a very good player for us. I'm very excited to see him play. Watching their European tour, I honestly thought he was our best player. Walker is the most "unknown" to me. Here is what I do know, he also played in a P5 league and has a B10 body. I know I'm not mentioning every player, but the biggest thing for me is that every player above (outside of maybe Banton to a degree) have B10 bodies. Fred has referenced this as well. He like that we will be able to "open up his offense" as he has so many versatile players. I'm excited to see what year 2 brings.

Very true. Makes my prediction feel safer :)

I am going to say with GREAT certainty that he will not stay at one school and may transfer more than once.

This was after the Illinois game.... Christopher Heady @heady_chris Fred Hoiberg says he's not sure if Cam Mack will play on Thursday or Sunday. "He's feeling a little bit better but he's still pretty run down."

They tweeted after the Illinois game that Mack could miss tomorrow's game as well as Sunday? I know he is sick, but man, that's a long sickness. Mono? We need Mack back!!

I apologize if this has been brought up. Robin in his weekly chat deal mentioned there may be news soon of an immediate impact recruit. Which could then give us a different look on all of the lineup projections for next year. Will be interested to see the news!

Are you implying that with time players can develop and improve? So in your doom and gloom look into next year, we may want to slow down a bit and see which guys make the same type of jump that a player like Thor has made this year. Especially the 3 we have practicing all season long that will join the game roster next year. Or the way Palmer greatly improved in his year off? :)

This. Last night was a great example of what the team is capable of. The defensive game plan by Doc was nails! As I stated in my original post in this thread, if we can just make the "simple" shots we will be in games. Fred's offense will get them to where they need to be, and Cam will find them. Cam Mack is a STUD. He does things other guards we have had simply couldn't do. That back door pass to Thor late in the game was flat out beautiful! Fun game! Always great to beat Iowa! GBR!