Went to the women's exhibition game against the mighty Eagles of Benedictine University. It was a hard fought nip and tuck battle with heavy sweating on both sides, yelling at the refs, and blood on the court.

The Huskies were lucky to squeeze out a win. 96-28.

It's great to see basketball at the Convo again.

GO HUSKIES!


P.S. Paulina Castro saw some playing time and scored a nice trey. The place went nuts. Cheers and tears everywhere. I went through a box of Kleenex.

I have to say, call it my old homer tendencies coming out, but just looking at NIU's roster and seeming to have some balance in terms of positions, I am starting to get slightly more optimistic. In my opinion, a key player to determine NIU's success will be Demogerontas. NIU will need some scoring help in addition to Thorpe and German. If he can produce, I think the Huskies could be somewhat dangerous. Not going to challenge for the West in any stretch, but if things fall right, I don't see why a top 6 finish is not at least possible this year.

Levi Bradley and Lacey James will help provide scoring and yes, Key is expected back in time for MAC play.

Looking forward to BB season,Kind of like playing the lottery maybe we will be a winner. Hopefully it will be a fun year.

Just as I was ramping up my optimism, I watched the whole media day thing and dohhhh on the last minute :

Q: What would you say needs most improvement based on what you have seen?
A: Shooting the ball and guarding people

Those seem like more than minor details to tidy up and probably important in order to be good at basketball

(11-05-2017 04:29 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Just as I was ramping up my optimism, I watched the whole media day thing and dohhhh on the last minute :

Q: What would you say needs most improvement based on what you have seen?
A: Shooting the ball and guarding people

Those seem like more than minor details to tidy up and probably important in order to be good at basketball

I would say that's everything in basketball.

I have little faith in this team with the current coach.

(11-05-2017 04:46 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  

(11-05-2017 04:29 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Just as I was ramping up my optimism, I watched the whole media day thing and dohhhh on the last minute :

Q: What would you say needs most improvement based on what you have seen?
A: Shooting the ball and guarding people

Those seem like more than minor details to tidy up and probably important in order to be good at basketball

I would say that's everything in basketball.

I have little faith in this team with the current coach.

I am there with you dog fan, in that media day, it did make me cringe a little bit also to hear so many Tom Izzo clichés. Its great to pattern yourself after a coach, and there are not many better than Tom Izzo, but at this point, it has almost placed Coach Montgomery in a small cage incapable of breaking out of. Izzo's formula works for him because he has the personnel year in and year out to play that type of physical grinding style. At some point, offense has to become an emphasis. The one thing that is giving me some hope with this new crop of Huskies is that it seems a bit diversified, you have a few shooters, you have some big men, some tweeners who can shoot and drive to the basket. I am really intrigued by Demogerontas. Once this youth grows up, I think they could become a great base to build off of. We have heard that before I know. One good feeling going into this year as a fan, you don't have to wake up everyday wondering if a few players on the team decided to board the bus or plane. I do think the attitude of this team will be 100X better than the crap we have seen.

The bright spot for this year to look forward to is that the bad attitudes are gone. I sure hope that is the case. Was tired of the pouting act some had the previous years

(11-05-2017 09:23 PM)MMBOANIU Wrote:  The bright spot for this year to look forward to is that the bad attitudes are gone. I sure hope that is the case. Was tired of the pouting act some had the previous years

Makes me wonder if that was some of the factor that went behind guys like Maric and Highsmith leaving the program.

Tribune indicated that yesterday was National Signing Day for recruits, did Monty sign anyone?

(11-09-2017 10:46 AM)Springfield Soxfan Wrote:  Tribune indicated that yesterday was National Signing Day for recruits, did Monty sign anyone?

NIU signed one player. He's from Georgia.

http://niuhuskies.com/news/2017/11/9/men...ntent.aspx

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-zfL2uktA5I