Hey, there was a game yesterday. Huskies led most of the first half against a top East opponent (Ohio U). Unfortunately, Ohio came out hot in second half and took a 20 point lead! Yikes. Huskies came back strong, but the clock ran out on their come-back attempt and they fell short by nine.

Storm seemed to have a good game, along with Bolin and Christian.

(02-02-2012 10:36 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  Hey, there was a game yesterday. Huskies led most of the first half against a top Easy opponent (Ohio U). Unfortunately, Ohio came out hot in second half and took a 20 point lead! Yikes. Huskies came back strong, but the clock ran out on their come-back attempt and they fell short by nine.

Storm seemed to have a good game, along with Bolin and Christian.

Only in football.

Was a sad game.

Nader needs to get a lot smarter. And, fast.

(02-02-2012 10:43 AM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  Was a sad game.

Nader needs to get a lot smarter. And, fast.

Bork Fan, I wasn't at the game. I am just going off the highlights on the website. Can you elaborate a bit?

Actually, from what I saw and also read in the post-game comments, the first half was very good. MM said it was their best basketball of the season. Ohio is a pretty good team (not just by MAC standards, either). The Huskies did some good things. When they are older, more experienced, better and bigger these same players will be doing some very good things on the court. We started 4 freshmen and a sophomore again. We can't expect to hang for an entire 40 minutes with our youth and slim bench (Miller out still, maybe for season and Toler gone). We had some major foul trouble guarding their longer and athletic posts and their quick guards, but a 9 point loss is somewhat admirable.

Storm had a good game and finally looks like a healthy player. He has looked better the last few games and it's been good to see that. Wonder what he would look like if he had been healthy all along and had actually been developed the last couple of years. Glad he stuck around but almost wish for him that he had left for somewhere else. Nixon played a lot and didn't score but did some good things. Grady actually did some good things too in his limited minutes (took it to the basket strong). Christian had a good scoring day with 15 and Bolin started strong and had his moments. Those are our only non-first-year players.

As far as Nader, I think what everyone sees is a freshmen who still doesn't know high % possessions from poor possessions (or maybe doesn't yet care if he causes a poor % one?). He probably got away with it in high school, but with bigger, stronger, better, and faster defenders than he had against him in high school he often struggles. That is to be expected. He has shown progress at times, and will continue to do so. I think he has a chance to be a very good MAC player. But, I would like to see him learn it faster. In his defense, some of his forced shots late came when we were down 10 or so with 3:00/2:00 etc. remaining and he was trying to get us scores. We couldn't waste a lot of time working for shots.

(02-02-2012 10:47 AM)chihuskie Wrote:  

(02-02-2012 10:43 AM)GeorgeBorkFan Wrote:  Was a sad game.

Nader needs to get a lot smarter. And, fast.

Bork Fan, I wasn't at the game. I am just going off the highlights on the website. Can you elaborate a bit?

I think he was 2 for 8 last night or something like that. Frequently, when he gets the ball, you can tell he's going to force a shot, no matter what. He threw up a couple of complete bricks last night. And, he takes some really dumb fouls. He gets beat to the basket and takes a whack at someone, not hard enough to prevent the basket. Ends up in a three point play.

I've read a lot of people complain about all the charging calls he gets. I agree, sometimes he gets hosed. But, many times, I tend to agree he's out of control, going to shoot/drive no matter what.

I think he has a lot of talent. He just needs to be smarter.

I'm sad that I missed Christian and Storm having a good game....I've wanted to see more from both of them and when they finally have a good game....sigh.

Hopefully that's a a sign of things to come. Nader can't be the only scoring source.

Once again, we outrebounded a team. Once again, we turned it over too much and shot too poorly. Once again, we put together one half of good basketball. It's frustrating in a lot of ways, but when you're playing a good team on the road, I'm not sure there's much more we could've expected from the young guys.

If we can find a way to get 10 points better (free throws, turnovers, better shot selection could do this), we can beat MAC teams. I think it'll come with experience and recruiting. Both take time, though.

I'm just glad we're still competing despite how much losing we've done. Monty hasn't lost the team and although they've been losing, they haven't acted out or just tanked games.

(02-02-2012 11:11 AM)High On NIU Hoops Wrote:  Actually, from what I saw and also read in the post-game comments, the first half was very good. MM said it was their best basketball of the season. Ohio is a pretty good team (not just by MAC standards, either). The Huskies did some good things. When they are older, more experienced, better and bigger these same players will be doing some very good things on the court. We started 4 freshmen and a sophomore again. We can't expect to hang for an entire 40 minutes with our youth and slim bench (Miller out still, maybe for season and Toler gone). We had some major foul trouble guarding their longer and athletic posts and their quick guards, but a 9 point loss is somewhat admirable.

Storm had a good game and finally looks like a healthy player. He has looked better the last few games and it's been good to see that. Wonder what he would look like if he had been healthy all along and had actually been developed the last couple of years. Glad he stuck around but almost wish for him that he had left for somewhere else. Nixon played a lot and didn't score but did some good things. Grady actually did some good things too in his limited minutes (took it to the basket strong). Christian had a good scoring day with 15 and Bolin started strong and had his moments. Those are our only non-first-year players.

As far as Nader, I think what everyone sees is a freshmen who still doesn't know high % possessions from poor possessions (or maybe doesn't yet care if he causes a poor % one?). He probably got away with it in high school, but with bigger, stronger, better, and faster defenders than he had against him in high school he often struggles. That is to be expected. He has shown progress at times, and will continue to do so. I think he has a chance to be a very good MAC player. But, I would like to see him learn it faster. In his defense, some of his forced shots late came when we were down 10 or so with 3:00/2:00 etc. remaining and he was trying to get us scores. We couldn't waste a lot of time working for shots.

I think it is a longer learning curve when you don't have senior leadership to rely on.

Quote:I think he has a lot of talent. He just needs to be smarter.

This could be applied to pretty much any 18 year old walking around campus in Dekalb right now.

Agreed on your original point, though.

You guys are killing me with the Nader stuff. He's a true freshman playing on an awful team. He's the opposing team's number one focus every night. He will be fine. He's the least of this teams problems.

Ohio put on a defensive clinic last night. They are an excellent team. We did well to score 58 points. I give the team (and MM) a lot of credit for hanging tough. They could have easily folded when we got down 20.

I love how this team keeps fighting and doesn't quit. We need to show them our support. Better times are coming!

(02-02-2012 01:07 PM)7 Wrote:  You guys are killing me with the Nader stuff. He's a true freshman playing on an awful team. He's the opposing team's number one focus every night. He will be fine. He's the least of this teams problems.

I agree; he'll figure it out. I just hope he gets some teammates so we don't have a Silas-esque situation on our hands again.

(02-02-2012 01:07 PM)7 Wrote:  You guys are killing me with the Nader stuff. He's a true freshman playing on an awful team. He's the opposing team's number one focus every night. He will be fine. He's the least of this teams problems.

That's what I was trying to say. People seem to complain because he is playing like a freshmen. What do they expect? It is more "exposed" because of the current make up of our team.

I think he is playing like a freshman with a huge upside. When the huskies bring in a true, explosive point guard (my goodness did you see Cooper???), Abdel, Axel, AC, Ford and the Grays will all be much better. Berg will get and knock down open shots off penetration dishes.

This team is fun to watch and will become more competitve when 6'8" Sam Bowie brings his big knive and Mad Sam Mader comes with his insider-outside skills and Mike Davis shows up with his winning scorer's attitude they will begin winning more than they lose.

The future on NIU basketball is as bright as the glow in 7's eyes when his mancrush on PJ was fulfilled when Doren finally hired the dude.

We still don't have anybody that can shoot. I mean, 2-pointers, 3-pointers, free throws, 8-foot shots. How can Grady make 4 FTs in a row and all the basketball guys can't? We need somebody that can drive the lane AND dish it off to somebody. We still don't have that. Nor do we have someone that can drive the lane and finish. They almost always look completely out of control in the paint. I was still pleasantly surprised that the game was close at half-time and that we fought back and made kind of a game of it at the end, against a very good team which, however, looked lackadaisical at the beginning and required halftime apparently to make an adjustment and shut us down.

(02-02-2012 04:45 PM)cagy cager Wrote:  I think he is playing like a freshman with a huge upside. When the huskies bring in a true, explosive point guard (my goodness did you see Cooper???), Abdel, Axel, AC, Ford and the Grays will all be much better. Berg will get and knock down open shots off penetration dishes.

This team is fun to watch and will become more competitve when 6'8" Sam Bowie brings his big knive and Mad Sam Mader comes with his insider-outside skills and Mike Davis shows up with his winning scorer's attitude they will begin winning more than they lose.

The future on NIU basketball is as bright as the glow in 7's eyes when his mancrush on PJ was fulfilled when Doren finally hired the dude.

Man, it seriously took me less than 2 minutes (I looked up and there was 18:20 left in the first) to realize the dude was a different kind of beast. He can just get wherever he wants on the floor whenever he wants to.

The Gray's need to learn to finish around the rim. They also need to get stronger so they can consistently catch the ball deeper in the post.

(02-02-2012 05:01 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  We still don't have anybody that can shoot. I mean, 2-pointers, 3-pointers, free throws, 8-foot shots. How can Grady make 4 FTs in a row and all the basketball guys can't? We need somebody that can drive the lane AND dish it off to somebody. We still don't have that. Nor do we have someone that can drive the lane and finish. They almost always look completely out of control in the paint. I was still pleasantly surprised that the game was close at half-time and that we fought back and made kind of a game of it at the end, against a very good team which, however, looked lackadaisical at the beginning and required halftime apparently to make an adjustment and shut us down.

These are many of the points I have made many times before. Saying that Nader at times looks bad because of the other players is just ridiculous. This team is not showing any significant improvement.

Easily the most watchable game of the year against a strong opponent(18-4). Even though we did a great job on Cooper that kid is the real deal. How he got out of this state is beyond me. He would be a big contributor to EVERY program in Illinois.

(02-02-2012 06:00 PM)chazb2 Wrote:  

(02-02-2012 05:01 PM)NIU007 Wrote:  We still don't have anybody that can shoot. I mean, 2-pointers, 3-pointers, free throws, 8-foot shots. How can Grady make 4 FTs in a row and all the basketball guys can't? We need somebody that can drive the lane AND dish it off to somebody. We still don't have that. Nor do we have someone that can drive the lane and finish. They almost always look completely out of control in the paint. I was still pleasantly surprised that the game was close at half-time and that we fought back and made kind of a game of it at the end, against a very good team which, however, looked lackadaisical at the beginning and required halftime apparently to make an adjustment and shut us down.

These are many of the points I have made many times before. Saying that Nader at times looks bad because of the other players is just ridiculous. This team is not showing any significant improvement.

So you don't think playing with better players would help him?

(02-02-2012 06:00 PM)chazb2 Wrote:  These are many of the points I have made many times before. Saying that Nader at times looks bad because of the other players is just ridiculous. This team is not showing any significant improvement.

I am now convinced you understand very little about college basketball. Maybe sports in general. You expect improvement from freshmen in areas that just don't occur at much of a level during the season. Shooting skills, other individual offensive skills, strength, etc. take off-seasons of development. During the season you see teams develop more than individuals - AND THAT IS VERY OBVIOUS TO SEE HAPPENING!. I would argue that the individuals are also getting a little better which makes what I see even that much better. The fact that Chaz and maybe some others can't see the team improvement I can live with assuming they just don't understand basketball very well. But you can't just look at records and scores for it.

Trying to say you are claiming players aren't getting a lot better during the season is not something to hang your argument hat on! Players just don't develop much during a season except on learning some new techniques or ways of doing things in the coach's system. That is happening. If you want to see the improvement I think you keep harping on over and over and over - you need to judge it from year to year. And these guys have a lot of years left.

Further proof of lack of understanding - EVERY player in EVERY team sport is better with better players around them. Doesn't it seem impossible not to be? My goodness.......