If you take out the Grays, you have NOBODY that can remotely defend the post. Not saying they are brilliant at it, but if you saw Nader and others trying to defend in the post yesterday, it was, like, awful.

Then you have nobody, I start Sam Mader. Maders bad at defense but better on offense than the twins. I want 20 mins for Mader and the Grays split the other twenty. I always said we needed more size but was always shot down. I guess size does matter. P.S. just because you get more rebounds doesn't mean you have enough size.

You need good size, not just size. That's ALWAYS been my contention. Any basketball fan can just say "we need size." Good players are better than tall bad ones.

The biggest problem with team is they have nobody that can consistently hit a jumper from the outside. They go thru major scoring droughts because of it. I think they hit one shot from the outside yesterday. Akron on the other hand, had a guy that could nail a 3. Kid had 4 of them yesterday, and that was the difference.

first off, no way big pete starts next year or ever over Sam....Sam is too skilled....as far as the grays, I agree, when we are really good they will be back ups..but, at this point, they know more about post defense in college than Sam and Bolin and Nader cannot defend a big post.....we are forgetting about the most improved player over the last 5 games: Bowie....he has earned his starting spot and when we win 15+ games next year, he will be a BIG part of it...the kid can score, run the floor, play good pressure defense and has a tireless work ethic....he is a big part of the NIU future.

(01-13-2013 05:14 PM)niu2222 Wrote:  Marshall doesn't look to score. The Grays are a fouling machine and Bolin and Nader and Bowie are as good if not better at rebounding as the twins. I would rather see Mader in there. I have said many times, I believe the Grays are back-ups at this level. 6'11 pete will start next year, with Mader backing him up. If and when NIU becomes good, there will not be a Gray starting. 7, Springs is not the size of Bolin or Nader. I believe Springs is becoming discouraged because he was taken out of the starting line-up. I also don't blame him, he is by far the second scoring option.

You're right, Springs is a few inches shorter than Bolin and Nader but I was saying all 3 are similar big bodied wing players.

(01-13-2013 06:05 PM)golf4501 Wrote:  The biggest problem with team is they have nobody that can consistently hit a jumper from the outside. They go thru major scoring droughts because of it. I think they hit one shot from the outside yesterday. Akron on the other hand, had a guy that could nail a 3. Kid had 4 of them yesterday, and that was the difference.

Yeah the biggest problem is this team still has nobody that can shoot. They still shoot a god awful percentage from the field.

true, 7, but they are improving....Kevin Gray can consistently hit the 10-12 footer in the short corner and he was broke all last year....springs can shoot when he takes the right shot....bolin can shoot, but won't and Nader, with better shot selection ain't bad.....the only real hope is that they keep getting better with all the shooting practice they do and that the incoming frosh point guard can really stroke it like has been rumored...also, Mader has a nice touch including from three...so as he plays more he will get more secondary looks from three...

I don't care if Mader or Rackovic start, I just know the Grays are not the answer. The twins are 6'6 not 6'8 as listed. Them guarding the post reminds me of Nate Rucker doing it, outcome not so good. I am fine with Bowie or Bolin. So far, Bowie has showed that he can make lay-ups. Dontell Highsmith, I believe is really a 2 guard, but I am pretty sure he will be a better option at point. Mader was playing more but his time has been cut in half.

Well, I spent a lovely weekend in DeKalb! Saw the men's game on Saturday, stayed over night, and went to the women's game on Sunday. Two losses. At least I had a nice dinner at Johnny's on Saturday night!

I love the way Petey Balls plays. Fast and aggressive - he's gonna be a good one. Other than that, the wife and I are getting very tired of seeing losses after losses. It gets depressing, and I can certainly see why our attendance is now below 1,000. It's getting really old. One would expect any college team to throw balls up and get baskets a lot more than we do. This has gone on year after year, and the excuses and optimism from some here are wearing quite thin. Yes, we are improving - but it's like going from zero to 0.1. I do not see much hope here until we can get a whole new team, and even then I doubt it. We've been saying the same thing for many years. Maybe the answer is finding a couple "diamonds in the rough". But that seems much easier in football than basketball.

The women lost 57-51 yesterday. They should have won, but Ball State (5-10) was apparently too good. We could not break their aggressive zone D. But, it was a better and more exciting game than the men's. The women's game is much faster because the possessions are only 30 seconds. Really need to get the ball down the court and shoot. Yesterday, we had some problems with that.

I will continue to attend these games, but I don't enjoy them. How can anyone enjoy loss after losss afer loss? As a fan, I do not go to the games to see a good play or two - I go to see wins. While I know we can't win every game, we should win SOME games. Most of the fans at the games seem pretty disgusted because there is so little to cheer about. Oh well, at least on saturday we got to rag on the refs a bit. That was the most fun we had!

When they finally called Akron for a foul, that was one of the most sarcastic cheers I've ever heard from a crowd. It was a small crowd again (didn't look like more than 600 to me) but when we can't even hit an open shot, or finish a breakaway, it gets frustrating to watch. Like you said, so little to cheer about.

It's just an impression, but when they do get an open shot, they don't look fluid, they look, well, tense.