(08-24-2016 12:01 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]Looks like it was announced Aug 28th last year. There really seems to be an overall lack of online previews/hype about college basketball in general this off-season. Not nearly as much as in year's past, not just for NIU, just all of college basketball. From what we have heard though, this home schedule seems like a dud again. It just baffles me that we cannot get one big game at home, a lot are having this problem though not just NIU. I am surprised with Frazier's ties, that a 1-1 could not be arranged with Wisconsin.
Not really thinking we will ever get a big time school to NIU, but what about Bradley, ISU, Loyola, or SIU? These are the schools we ought to be able to schedule 1-1's with, and they are actually opponents that would draw local interest.
Wisconsin is a school that has proven to go to smaller venues in the past, that would be one I would not give up on. They even came to Chick Evans in 1999-2000
And that happened to be the best damn NIU bball game I've ever been to. After we beat them, Wisconsin went on to the Final Four that year.
I still shake my head when I think about what each of those teams looked like when they came on the floor. My buddy is a UW alum and we went to the game and he looked at NIU and laughed. It looked like a varsity vs. fresh/soph game. Not sure if Bennett was still trying to settle on a rotation or his kids weren't happy about something. It was about the last meaningful game played in DeKalb and especially at the old field house. Which was about one third full that night.
There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
(08-24-2016 08:26 AM)niu79 Wrote: [ -> ]Not really thinking we will ever get a big time school to NIU, but what about Bradley, ISU, Loyola, or SIU? These are the schools we ought to be able to schedule 1-1's with, and they are actually opponents that would draw local interest.
Wisconsin is a school that has proven to go to smaller venues in the past, that would be one I would not give up on. They even came to Chick Evans in 1999-2000
And that happened to be the best damn NIU bball game I've ever been to. After we beat them, Wisconsin went on to the Final Four that year.
I still shake my head when I think about what each of those teams looked like when they came on the floor. My buddy is a UW alum and we went to the game and he looked at NIU and laughed. It looked like a varsity vs. fresh/soph game. Not sure if Bennett was still trying to settle on a rotation or his kids weren't happy about something. It was about the last meaningful game played in DeKalb and especially at the old field house. Which was about one third full that night.
There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
(08-24-2016 09:12 AM)Who You Crappin? Wrote: [ -> ]
(08-24-2016 08:41 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]Wisconsin is a school that has proven to go to smaller venues in the past, that would be one I would not give up on. They even came to Chick Evans in 1999-2000
And that happened to be the best damn NIU bball game I've ever been to. After we beat them, Wisconsin went on to the Final Four that year.
I still shake my head when I think about what each of those teams looked like when they came on the floor. My buddy is a UW alum and we went to the game and he looked at NIU and laughed. It looked like a varsity vs. fresh/soph game. Not sure if Bennett was still trying to settle on a rotation or his kids weren't happy about something. It was about the last meaningful game played in DeKalb and especially at the old field house. Which was about one third full that night.
There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
Yes, thanks, MD. This was great to see and relive. So exciting! Seems like we haven't played that well since (after TJ graduated). Will we ever get to that level again? I hope so, and I think so!
(08-24-2016 09:12 AM)Who You Crappin? Wrote: [ -> ]And that happened to be the best damn NIU bball game I've ever been to. After we beat them, Wisconsin went on to the Final Four that year.
I still shake my head when I think about what each of those teams looked like when they came on the floor. My buddy is a UW alum and we went to the game and he looked at NIU and laughed. It looked like a varsity vs. fresh/soph game. Not sure if Bennett was still trying to settle on a rotation or his kids weren't happy about something. It was about the last meaningful game played in DeKalb and especially at the old field house. Which was about one third full that night.
There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
Yes, thanks, MD. This was great to see and relive. So exciting! Seems like we haven't played that well since (after TJ graduated). Will we ever get to that level again? I hope so, and I think so!
You realize we were 13-15 that year, right?
The good old days, are usually not as good as people remember them.
Basketball scheduling is much more complicated than, it appears, many of you realize. MAC rules require a minimum # of home games not counting conference games. The budget demands at least 2 "money" games away. In order to get some beatable teams to the Convo, they want to be paid by NIU. Home vs home series are not easy to set up within all these (and other) constraints. A big factor in coming to Dekalb that opposing coaches consider first and foremost (unless you are paying them to come in) is how likely a WIN is. You will notice, all the big boys (P5) play mostly cupcakes at home and any competitive games at neutral sites. Good mid majors with travel to P5 teams when asked but want teams below them at home for the most part. NIU can't get or perhaps afford to get invited to exotic pre-conference early season tournaments in Bahamas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cancun, etc.
It ain't like these coaches aren't trying to get better and/or local schools to come in but each school has so few flexible games what with all the conference and budgetary scheduling demands. This is not 1999 and the scheduling landscape has changed considerably............And to top it all off, coaches get fired if they don't win so gotta schedule as many cupcakes as needed to offset the money games and allow for the brutally competitive MAC schedule.
(08-26-2016 09:23 AM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]Basketball scheduling is much more complicated than, it appears, many of you realize. MAC rules require a minimum # of home games not counting conference games. The budget demands at least 2 "money" games away. In order to get some beatable teams to the Convo, they want to be paid by NIU. Home vs home series are not easy to set up within all these (and other) constraints. A big factor in coming to Dekalb that opposing coaches consider first and foremost (unless you are paying them to come in) is how likely a WIN is. You will notice, all the big boys (P5) play mostly cupcakes at home and any competitive games at neutral sites. Good mid majors with travel to P5 teams when asked but want teams below them at home for the most part. NIU can't get or perhaps afford to get invited to exotic pre-conference early season tournaments in Bahamas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cancun, etc.
It ain't like these coaches aren't trying to get better and/or local schools to come in but each school has so few flexible games what with all the conference and budgetary scheduling demands. This is not 1999 and the scheduling landscape has changed considerably............And to top it all off, coaches get fired if they don't win so gotta schedule as many cupcakes as needed to offset the money games and allow for the brutally competitive MAC schedule.
We had, what, 2 money games last year? Not that much to offset. And if that's the motivation (winning games) it flies in the face of the other argument that we CAN'T get good teams to DeKalb. The question is whether we're really trying or not. In football, for a decade, we weren't really trying, and our home schedule suffered.
(08-26-2016 08:31 AM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]And Hamil got fired the next year. Which got us Judson.
I'm pretty sure Hammel resigned/quit because he was burnt out. His recruiting definitely went downhill after 1995-96. The class with Lux in it was pretty damn good. It's too bad James Patterson didn't stay around after his freshman year, he was a beast in the lane.
(08-25-2016 03:59 PM)niuco90 Wrote: [ -> ]I still shake my head when I think about what each of those teams looked like when they came on the floor. My buddy is a UW alum and we went to the game and he looked at NIU and laughed. It looked like a varsity vs. fresh/soph game. Not sure if Bennett was still trying to settle on a rotation or his kids weren't happy about something. It was about the last meaningful game played in DeKalb and especially at the old field house. Which was about one third full that night.
There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
Yes, thanks, MD. This was great to see and relive. So exciting! Seems like we haven't played that well since (after TJ graduated). Will we ever get to that level again? I hope so, and I think so!
You realize we were 13-15 that year, right?
The good old days, are usually not as good as people remember them.
And many years after that we would have begged for that record. For those years, relatively speaking, 1999 was the good old days.
(08-25-2016 08:25 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote: [ -> ]There was more than 1/3rd capacity there probably 66%-80% full. The attendance was pretty close to 5K I thought, I forgot what the capacity of Chick Evans was. That Wisconsin team was simply one of the oddest and intriguing teams I have ever watched. They could look really really bad at times, but then at times play lights out. They had some guys with size like Kowske and Vershaw, but I would not say either of them were so physically imposing, and they were not overly athletic at the guard position. That guard they had though, Mike Kelley, simply the best defender I have ever seen in college basketball, ever. I have never seen a team feed off its home crowd like that Wisconsin team would do at the Kohl center. I was going to school at Wisconsin that season, and that was so enjoyable to see those no-namers rise to the top.
MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
Yes, thanks, MD. This was great to see and relive. So exciting! Seems like we haven't played that well since (after TJ graduated). Will we ever get to that level again? I hope so, and I think so!
You realize we were 13-15 that year, right?
The good old days, are usually not as good as people remember them.
And many years after that we would have begged for that record. For those years, relatively speaking, 1999 was the good old days.
(08-25-2016 09:39 PM)NIU75 Wrote: [ -> ]MD you just made my day!! I have heard so much about this game and you saved it for us die hard fans.
So many great plays. How about 5 or 6 offensive rebounds at the 9 minute mark, headbands and 15' bank shots. I forgot how good Lux was. Unbelievable and thank you.
Yes, thanks, MD. This was great to see and relive. So exciting! Seems like we haven't played that well since (after TJ graduated). Will we ever get to that level again? I hope so, and I think so!
You realize we were 13-15 that year, right?
The good old days, are usually not as good as people remember them.
And many years after that we would have begged for that record. For those years, relatively speaking, 1999 was the good old days.
(08-26-2016 08:31 AM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]And Hamil got fired the next year. Which got us Judson.
Get your facts straight.
Hammel (correct spelling) WAS NEVER FIRED.
Molinari used Rosborough's seniors to get to the NCAA tourney and jumped ship because he said NIU cared too much about football.
An assistant to George Raveling on NCAA tournament teams at Iowa and Southern Cal, Hammel got NIU back to the NCAA tourney as the Huskies leveled up from the Mid-Continent to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference to the MAC. Unfortunately he got mentally and physically exhausted and RESIGNED even though Groth offered to let him take a one-year sabbatical. Hammel, the president of the Northridge Hospital Foundation since 2002, turned the program over to Andy Greer (now Thibodeau's top assistant with the Timberwolves having been an assistant previously with the Knicks and Rockets before being hired by Thibs for the Bulls, and then working with the Raptors).
(08-26-2016 08:18 AM)beachboy Wrote: [ -> ]Wait, which was the game where Lux hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to win? I thought it was to beat the Badgers, but obviously it wasn't.
From a 1997-98 NIU men's basketball media guide:
1996-97 (sophomore year) --- "First season-high 24-point outing was a true highlight showcase. Canned 10-of-18 from the floor, 3-of-4 at foul line, snared 10 rebounds, rejected four shots and made two steals as part of an evening which ended with a 36-foot buzzer-beater enabling Huskies to down future MAC foe Western Michigan (12-21-96).
Three-time Academic All-America honoree including senior year when he was named the Academic All-America of the Year.
(08-26-2016 08:31 AM)cagy cager Wrote: [ -> ]And Hamil got fired the next year. Which got us Judson.
Get your facts straight.
Hammel (correct spelling) WAS NEVER FIRED.
Molinari used Rosborough's seniors to get to the NCAA tourney and jumped ship because he said NIU cared too much about football.
An assistant to George Raveling on NCAA tournament teams at Iowa and Southern Cal, Hammel got NIU back to the NCAA tourney as the Huskies leveled up from the Mid-Continent to the Midwestern Collegiate Conference to the MAC. Unfortunately he got mentally and physically exhausted and RESIGNED even though Groth offered to let him take a one-year sabbatical. Hammel, the president of the Northridge Hospital Foundation since 2002, turned the program over to Andy Greer (now Thibodeau's top assistant with the Bucks having been an assistant previously with the Knicks and Rockets before being hired by Thibs for the Bulls, and then working with the Raptors).
I suppose if we are hell bent on calling out factual errors we should note Thibodeau, and Greer, are with the Timberwolves.
This seemed like a happy thread recalling times past. Not sure, why there was a desire to try turn fun into fued.
(08-26-2016 01:33 PM)Cowboy95 Wrote: [ -> ]I suppose if we are hell bent on calling out factual errors we should note Thibodeau, and Greer, are with the Timberwolves.
One of the admins told the group at the table I was sitting at that the conference schedule should be released next week and the non conference will be released shortly after.
(08-28-2016 09:08 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote: [ -> ]One of the admins told the group at the table I was sitting at that the conference schedule should be released next week and the non conference will be released shortly after.
That seems really odd, they are still trying to schedule non-conference this late in the game?
(08-28-2016 09:08 PM)HuskieJohn Wrote: [ -> ]One of the admins told the group at the table I was sitting at that the conference schedule should be released next week and the non conference will be released shortly after.
Any other little tidbits gotten from the brunch? New info?
