An early battle for MAC West supremacy, haha ok I know that might not be saying much but it is a battle for first place and I get a feeling it is a HUGE game for NIU. This should be a close game but I like NIU to keep the momentum going. I thought I'd predict the score since I won the Toledo game predictions and would like to make it 2 in a row. :)
NIU 68
Ball State 64
(01-11-2009 09:05 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]An early battle for MAC West supremacy, haha ok I know that might not be saying much but it is a battle for first place and I get a feeling it is a HUGE game for NIU. This should be a close game but I like NIU to keep the momentum going. I thought I'd predict the score since I won the Toledo game predictions and would like to make it 2 in a row. :)
NIU 68
Ball State 64
I say 75-60 but it will be closer than the final score appears-I can see us in a 8-10 point game with a bunch of fouls by BSU in the end giving us a larger score. I am never right but what the heck. I will put it out there. :) I think it would have been a really close game if the Cardinals didn't lose their top player(and they probably would have won).
(01-11-2009 09:22 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (01-11-2009 09:05 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]An early battle for MAC West supremacy, haha ok I know that might not be saying much but it is a battle for first place and I get a feeling it is a HUGE game for NIU. This should be a close game but I like NIU to keep the momentum going. I thought I'd predict the score since I won the Toledo game predictions and would like to make it 2 in a row. :)
NIU 68
Ball State 64
I say 75-60 but it will be closer than the final score appears-I can see us in a 8-10 point game with a bunch of fouls by BSU in the end giving us a larger score. I am never right but what the heck. I will put it out there. :) I think it would have been a really close game if the Cardinals didn't lose their top player(and they probably would have won).
Wow very bold. I think NIU can win but a 15 point road win is always a tough thing to do in the MAC. I hope you are right.
(01-11-2009 09:30 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ] (01-11-2009 09:22 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (01-11-2009 09:05 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]An early battle for MAC West supremacy, haha ok I know that might not be saying much but it is a battle for first place and I get a feeling it is a HUGE game for NIU. This should be a close game but I like NIU to keep the momentum going. I thought I'd predict the score since I won the Toledo game predictions and would like to make it 2 in a row. :)
NIU 68
Ball State 64
I say 75-60 but it will be closer than the final score appears-I can see us in a 8-10 point game with a bunch of fouls by BSU in the end giving us a larger score. I am never right but what the heck. I will put it out there. :) I think it would have been a really close game if the Cardinals didn't lose their top player(and they probably would have won).
Wow very bold. I think NIU can win but a 15 point road win is always a tough thing to do in the MAC. I hope you are right.
As I mentioned, I think it will be in the 8-10 range most of the night but a bunch of free throws for us at the end will make it look more lopsided than it is (I guess I probably should account for missing about 60% of them though so I should have gone with about 11 point win
).
With BSU losing their best player, this is a winnable game. A win would go a long way for this team but..
NIU 60
Ball State 65
winning on the road is so tough.....when best player goes down, typically, especially first game after the injury, other guys seem to pick up the slack....with BSU being probably the best team on our west side, beating them at home will be a huge hill to climb..nonetheless, building on the newfound momentum and with the new sense of urgency on D, Huskies 69-BSU68 in OT.......Evin with winning basket
I'm hoping for a Huskie win in my heart, but my head is telling me that a win at Ball State is going to be pretty tough to accomplish even with their injury situation. So, obviously I'll predict with my heart anyway and say NIU over the Cardinals on the road by a score of 67-63. GO HUSKIE HOOPS!
NIU - 72
Ball State - 68
Maddawgz, you sure blew the forecast for last Saturday! I'm just thankful I did not drive 90 miles to DeKalb in that snowstorm. Can you post the forecast for the rest of our weekend home games? I want to see whether for all the money we popped for season tickets, I at least have a chance to make it to a couple home games this season.
Travel wasn't that bad to Dekalb last Saturday and going home was even better at least if you weren't coming from the north. I left about an hour earlier than I normally would early thinking travel might be tough. What normally takes almost 2 hours didn't take much longer than two hours so I got to go eat before the game. Grabbed a Potbelley's sub. Mmmmmm. I don't think MD blew the forecast that bad for everyone anyway. Travel wasn't bad at all from our direction but I can't speak for those coming from the Chicago area where I think you got it worse. In any case, hope you can make it to other games coming up. Attendance is still dismal and this team is fun to watch. Pathetic.
(01-12-2009 10:42 AM)Dog Fan Wrote: [ -> ]NIU - 72
Ball State - 68
Maddawgz, you sure blew the forecast for last Saturday! I'm just thankful I did not drive 90 miles to DeKalb in that snowstorm. Can you post the forecast for the rest of our weekend home games? I want to see whether for all the money we popped for season tickets, I at least have a chance to make it to a couple home games this season.
I thought you lived in a trailer in Berwyn? That is not a 90 mile drive(unless you are talking round trip). Also, why were you counting on MD02's weather forecast? I have learned over the years that you NEVER trust MD02's weather forecasts.
(01-12-2009 12:30 PM)RobertN Wrote: [ -> ] (01-12-2009 10:42 AM)Dog Fan Wrote: [ -> ]NIU - 72
Ball State - 68
Maddawgz, you sure blew the forecast for last Saturday! I'm just thankful I did not drive 90 miles to DeKalb in that snowstorm. Can you post the forecast for the rest of our weekend home games? I want to see whether for all the money we popped for season tickets, I at least have a chance to make it to a couple home games this season.
I thought you lived in a trailer in Berwyn? That is not a 90 mile drive(unless you are talking round trip). Also, why were you counting on MD02's weather forecast? I have learned over the years that you NEVER trust MD02's weather forecasts.
I live in a trailer park in Stickney. It's a long way out of the trailer park to get to civilization and the main road. I need to drive through a massive garbage dump and sewage pit. I have to climb up and down mountains of stinking, rotting garbage and then cross over turbid, rat and stench infested sewage and drainage water and sludge. All this adds a lot of miles to my trip. Then I need to drive through a car wash so that my car looks and smells somewhat presentable. When I say that I have trouble getting to the games, I
really mean it!!
The outcome of this game like so many other Huskie games is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO very frustrating.
The W on the road was there for the taking. BSU playing its first game without leading ball player lost for the season.
We hear and read alot about the toughness instilled by General Patton. His camps, scrimmages and training some say are brutal compared to coaches from years past. Nonetheless, when we needed it most the last eight minutes of the ballgame last nite , we shrunk like violets in summer's heat.
I was wrong in my original assessment that NIU was a team to perhaps be reckoned with this season and that would get to 15 wins in the lowly MAC. The BIGGEST thing hindering the performance of this team is lack of a legitimate point guard type who can distribute and run the offense. Unfortunately, this year's squad seems reduced to simply chucking up a bunch of shots. The one-dimensional Mike DiNunno is poster child for this phenomenon.
(01-14-2009 04:31 PM)Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote: [ -> ]I was wrong in my original assessment that NIU was a team to perhaps be reckoned with this season and that would get to 15 wins in the lowly MAC. The BIGGEST thing hindering the performance of this team is lack of a legitimate point guard type who can distribute and run the offense. Unfortunately, this year's squad seems reduced to simply chucking up a bunch of shots. The one-dimensional Mike DiNunno is poster child for this phenomenon.
You have been WRONG on your analysis of NIU BB for the past year and a half….
We lost to a 6-7 Ball State team that lost their Best player, which averaged over 15 points per game. He was also the leading rebounder in the MAC, with over 19 rebounds per game. Even Bill Baker mentioned several times that BSU tallest players were 6’4”. With our height advantage and talent, we should have beat BSU by 20 points….
NIU was up 34-27 at halftime and LOST 60-54, because we made only 7 baskets in the final 20 minutes…..We LOST, not because of DiNunno but because of COACHING…..
DiNunno had 13 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds in 33 minutes of playing time. That's pretty good numbers for a freshman.....
Oh yes…Mike DiNunno is the leading freshman scorer and #11 in the MAC. The next freshman is #21. Right now DiNunno is the leading candidate for MAC Freshman of the YEAR….
Why don’t you find someone else to bash……
....................................................GO HUSKIES........................................................
It sounded to me like we lost because we couldn't make free throws or baskets when we needed them. We held a team down in points but we couldn't score. We held them to 60 points which should be good enough to win. The coach can't make free throws for them and only has so much control on getting shots for players, with no control on if they make them or not. Possibly if the team was not executing or having players on the floor who can't score you can blame the coach somewhat, but that is hard to tell on the radio in last night's game. We need guys who can put the ball in the basket. If we made the free throws we got last night it would have interrupted the runs BSU had and possibly caused a different outcome. As a team we are only 60% from the line. That's not good. Only two players are over 70%. Dinunno is 70.4 and Storm is 83.3 (but has only shot a handful). But, again, with a young team there will be nights when they aren't making shots. It will get better.
I would have to agree with the free throws....usually any basketball season you lose one or two games when you don't hit your free throws.. as we have seen this in a few past games i think more so last year than this but...it happens with a young team so hopefully throughout the rest of the season we can improve on that and pull out a few more wins
(01-14-2009 11:11 PM)High On NIU Hoops Wrote: [ -> ]It sounded to me like we lost because we couldn't make free throws or baskets when we needed them. We held a team down in points but we couldn't score. We held them to 60 points which should be good enough to win. The coach can't make free throws for them and only has so much control on getting shots for players, with no control on if they make them or not. Possibly if the team was not executing or having players on the floor who can't score you can blame the coach somewhat, but that is hard to tell on the radio in last night's game. We need guys who can put the ball in the basket. If we made the free throws we got last night it would have interrupted the runs BSU had and possibly caused a different outcome. As a team we are only 60% from the line. That's not good. Only two players are over 70%. Dinunno is 70.4 and Storm is 83.3 (but has only shot a handful). But, again, with a young team there will be nights when they aren't making shots. It will get better.
You are correct on your point that “we couldn't score”…..
When you look at the game plan that should have been designed for this game, it should be obvious….
Ball States tallest player is 6’4”. NIU’s center (Kowal) is 6’11” 245. Back up center is Dzepina 6’8” 235 and you also have, S. Smith and Storm both 6’7”. All four players are very capable scorers….Kowal and Dzepina scored a total of 10 points (8 shots taken) and all four players scored a total of 18 points…..
It certainly was not the game plan to get the ball inside to our much taller and bigger players, where we could have scored a lot more points….
I would have thought that the highest paid coach in the MAC could have figured this game plan out…
I do hope that you are correct and that “IT will get better”….
.............................................GO HUSKIES.............................................................
Hmm. Well, as usual I was way off on my prediction.
I guess I should never pick us to win anymore.
Elgin.........you obviously have NO clue what a game plan is..........undoubtedly it WAS in the scouting report to get the ball inside....pounding the ball inside is constantly stressed in Patton's scheme's during every practice and shoot around.......however, executing it is difficult when you have such short, shoot first guards...that is why he recruited BIG guards (Nixon, Silas and eventually Storm). When the guards are pressured as BSU did, with bigger people (giles, hubbard, sneed--all 6'4" and bigger) making the entry pass is difficult....that is part of being young, being shorter, and not having much of a true point guard (keith smith would have helped--his quickness and point guard mentality would have offset the pressure somewhat)....Hall is coming but still only a frosh with limited time..
Storm is NOT a POST player and neither is Sean Smith......Kowall is coming off another ankle injury and Ante, while pulling down 8 boards in 16 minutes, played well, doesn't have the footspeed to beat the quicker, even if smaller, BSU bigs to spots offensively...also, those of us at the game saw that Jones is 6'9" (way bigger than your stated "nobody over 6'4") and Hubbard is 6'6" and LONG and active and plays bigger--It ain't that easy to just "get the ball inside".......
You sure gripe alot for a so called fan and your lack of basketball acumen is apparent and disqualifies you from criticizing a game plan when you obviously have never prepared one....
Just make the ##$$%^ free throws an we probably have a win...