Well, here we go again. Another game. The Huskies are having their issues. But, they pale in comparison to the struggles that many individuals or families or countries are going through. We get a sunny day and a chance to watch a basketball game. In perspective, not a bad day and not a major issue!

Ty may or may not play. The Huskies may or may not win. But I'm bringing 14 or 15 people with me and we'll hopefully have a good day. How bad can it be..........in comparison? Good company. A college basketball game. A nice day. Anything else is icing on the cake. Hopefully the Huskies can put it all together for once where everyone fires on all cylindars at the same time. But, we'll be there like always (in a much larger number today) and we will support Ty and the Huskies and hope for the best on all accounts!

Have a great day - and GO HUSKIES!!

I applaud your big picture perspective and positive outlook.

Such remarks are invaluable when times get tuff.

Rather than for me to go off on tangents in other directions, let me simply post: GO HUSKIES !!!

I just hope we win a d$%& game. I don't care if it's because all of the other team's starters come down with the flu...just win a game.

(02-13-2010 11:14 AM)Coach Storm Wrote:  Well, here we go again. Another game. The Huskies are having their issues. But, they pale in comparison to the struggles that many individuals or families or countries are going through. We get a sunny day and a chance to watch a basketball game. In perspective, not a bad day and not a major issue!

Ty may or may not play. The Huskies may or may not win. But I'm bringing 14 or 15 people with me and we'll hopefully have a good day. How bad can it be..........in comparison? Good company. A college basketball game. A nice day. Anything else is icing on the cake. Hopefully the Huskies can put it all together for once where everyone fires on all cylindars at the same time. But, we'll be there like always (in a much larger number today) and we will support Ty and the Huskies and hope for the best on all accounts!

Have a great day - and GO HUSKIES!!

WOW...how can anyone post anything negative after your post Coach Storm???? After all is said and done we truly have so much to be grateful for and sometimes circumstances are "TOTALLY" beyond our control. Your post was very meaningful and definitely the truth....in the midst of it all I can still say with great hope....GO HUSKIES!!!!!

(02-14-2010 12:28 AM)Huskie Love Wrote:  

(02-13-2010 11:14 AM)Coach Storm Wrote:  Well, here we go again. Another game. The Huskies are having their issues. But, they pale in comparison to the struggles that many individuals or families or countries are going through. We get a sunny day and a chance to watch a basketball game. In perspective, not a bad day and not a major issue!

Ty may or may not play. The Huskies may or may not win. But I'm bringing 14 or 15 people with me and we'll hopefully have a good day. How bad can it be..........in comparison? Good company. A college basketball game. A nice day. Anything else is icing on the cake. Hopefully the Huskies can put it all together for once where everyone fires on all cylindars at the same time. But, we'll be there like always (in a much larger number today) and we will support Ty and the Huskies and hope for the best on all accounts!

ave a great day - and GO HUSKIES!!

WOW...how can anyone post anything negative after your post Coach Storm???? After all is said and done we truly have so much to be grateful for and sometimes circumstances are "TOTALLY" beyond our control. Your post was very meaningful and definitely the truth....in the midst of it all I can still say with great hope....GO HUSKIES!!!!!

As a Huskie fan we have nothing to be grateful for. It's completely pitiful how are basketball has performed over the last few years. Patton has done NOTHING to fix it. The only way to put it... Its ******* sad

It is sad and embarrassing. Changes need to be made. We have finished 11th in the MAC both years under Patton and are in 11th again this year. The team is 24-57 (12-31) since Patton took over. Winning percentages of .296 (.279). Unbelievable. Sorry, but don't let the door hit you on the way out Patton.

i hate to say it.. but this thing is goin nowhere fast - i believe patton should go

NIU cannot likely afford to eat a year of his contract.

I would be highly shocked and not disappointed should Patton be fired.

Whether this season or next, it's back to square one again in 2011-2012.

When a team performs worse rather than better as the season nears completion, what else is left to be said?

(02-14-2010 09:30 AM)cyberdawg Wrote:  NIU cannot likely afford to eat a year of his contract.

I would be highly shocked and not disappointed should Patton be fired.

Whether this season or next, it's back to square one again in 2011-2012.

When a team performs worse rather than better as the season nears completion, what else is left to be said?

I do not think it is back to square one as there will be tons of returning talent on next year's squad, and adding Rucker and his size should really bolster things, but I expected much better things this year. We may not have the best team in the MAC, but there is no way this team should lose 7 conference games in a row, absolutely no way. Couple of things, add me to the list of those losing faith in Patton, you probably cannot eat the contract but unless there is a dramatic turnaround next year that will be it. Also, this year has really been a punch to the gut in that I am starting to wonder if NIU and its affiliation with the MAC means NIU can ever be successful in this conference given the landscape in today's college basketball. Maybe basketball just cannot work in Dekalb anymore, maybe any coach is set up to fail that comes here, I dunno, blehhhhh

I think that we should honor the remainder of Patton's contract and then tell him good bye and good luck. He lost my respect in his first season when he publicly blamed the student athletes for the program's losses.

We can not afford to be buying people out.

no doubt, Recker would help, especially if it was Luke Recker....Rucker, too, should help on the boards and in scoring put backs...picking up 7 fouls in our three-headed five man in the first half surely hurt...guys getting in bad post defensive position and getting buried has hurt us all year. consistent scoring from 2-3 other guys would also help...we need kowall, jake and dinunno to all score near or in double digits--if silas has his points, that would be enough to win most games...at least the defense looked better last night for the most part and the turnovers were ok but we got outrebounded which is not acceptable......the next two games are winnable, albeit on the road, so hopefully we get righted for a tourney run....we have been close in a number of recent losses so maybe we can get a few bounces, make a few bunnies and hold a lead........

(02-14-2010 10:42 AM)cagy cager Wrote:  no doubt, Recker would help, especially if it was Luke Recker....Rucker, too, should help on the boards and in scoring put backs...picking up 7 fouls in our three-headed five man in the first half surely hurt...guys getting in bad post defensive position and getting buried has hurt us all year. consistent scoring from 2-3 other guys would also help...we need kowall, jake and dinunno to all score near or in double digits--if silas has his points, that would be enough to win most games...at least the defense looked better last night for the most part and the turnovers were ok but we got outrebounded which is not acceptable......the next two games are winnable, albeit on the road, so hopefully we get righted for a tourney run....we have been close in a number of recent losses so maybe we can get a few bounces, make a few bunnies and hold a lead........

Yeah as poorly as we played, this team could still get hot at the right time and is capable of pulling off a few upsets in the MAC tournament.

Rucker is only 6'6". He's not going to come in and dominate as a true freshman, so how will we be any better next year? As pointed out by cybes, the team has seemingly gotten worse as the season has gone on. Unless Silas goes off for 20+ points we have no chance of winning, and even when he does it's still 50/50. The team doesn't play defense and cannot make easy shots. I know they're trying but it's not working and someone (Patton) has to be held accountable. Great hire by Phillips.

(02-14-2010 11:08 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(02-14-2010 10:42 AM)cagy cager Wrote:  no doubt, Recker would help, especially if it was Luke Recker....Rucker, too, should help on the boards and in scoring put backs...picking up 7 fouls in our three-headed five man in the first half surely hurt...guys getting in bad post defensive position and getting buried has hurt us all year. consistent scoring from 2-3 other guys would also help...we need kowall, jake and dinunno to all score near or in double digits--if silas has his points, that would be enough to win most games...at least the defense looked better last night for the most part and the turnovers were ok but we got outrebounded which is not acceptable......the next two games are winnable, albeit on the road, so hopefully we get righted for a tourney run....we have been close in a number of recent losses so maybe we can get a few bounces, make a few bunnies and hold a lead........

Yeah as poorly as we played, this team could still get hot at the right time and is capable of pulling off a few upsets in the MAC tournament.

Love for me to be dead wrong, but to me those words are like the kid whistling when passing the cemetery.

Boy you know things are bad when posts like this start showing up.

Remember when we were 4-0?

(02-14-2010 11:08 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  

(02-14-2010 10:42 AM)cagy cager Wrote:  no doubt, Recker would help, especially if it was Luke Recker....Rucker, too, should help on the boards and in scoring put backs...picking up 7 fouls in our three-headed five man in the first half surely hurt...guys getting in bad post defensive position and getting buried has hurt us all year. consistent scoring from 2-3 other guys would also help...we need kowall, jake and dinunno to all score near or in double digits--if silas has his points, that would be enough to win most games...at least the defense looked better last night for the most part and the turnovers were ok but we got outrebounded which is not acceptable......the next two games are winnable, albeit on the road, so hopefully we get righted for a tourney run....we have been close in a number of recent losses so maybe we can get a few bounces, make a few bunnies and hold a lead........

Yeah as poorly as we played, this team could still get hot at the right time and is capable of pulling off a few upsets in the MAC tournament.

It's also capable of setting a new record for airballs in a MAC tourney game.

Joking...and I get where you're coming from, this team did show something at one point in time, but it's been gone for a few weeks now.

Yes.

Ball State moved forward & NIU went backwards. It's that simple.

In Patton's first two seasons I felt that as each season went on the team got better and showed more promise at the end than during the season. I am not seeing it yet this year. I think we've cut down on turnovers but we need to improve in all areas as a season progresses. If you were a coach what changes would you be trying in terms of personnel or offensive and defensive styles, etc.? I know we only see the team on a limited occasion (game days) and can't see what players do in practices but based on that, it would be an interesting discussion to hear people's thoughts.
I think some changes need to be made in terms of trying different combinations of players to accomplish different things. I think we need to play more zone or at least mix it in some more. I think we need to look to run more because we've looked good at times doing that, but that is hard if opponents are scoring. I would like to see us press more than we do to speed up the game and maybe not let opponents get comfortable in their offense. We may give up more points, but might score more also. In the half court offense I think maybe some more set plays would be good. After timeouts Saturday we seemed to run a couple and got baskets or good looks. Our ball screens seem too easy to defend to do so many times over and over.

(02-15-2010 11:35 AM)High On NIU Hoops Wrote:  In Patton's first two seasons I felt that as each season went on the team got better and showed more promise at the end than during the season. I am not seeing it yet this year. I think we've cut down on turnovers but we need to improve in all areas as a season progresses. If you were a coach what changes would you be trying in terms of personnel or offensive and defensive styles, etc.? I know we only see the team on a limited occasion (game days) and can't see what players do in practices but based on that, it would be an interesting discussion to hear people's thoughts.
I think some changes need to be made in terms of trying different combinations of players to accomplish different things. I think we need to play more zone or at least mix it in some more. I think we need to look to run more because we've looked good at times doing that, but that is hard if opponents are scoring. I would like to see us press more than we do to speed up the game and maybe not let opponents get comfortable in their offense. We may give up more points, but might score more also. In the half court offense I think maybe some more set plays would be good. After timeouts Saturday we seemed to run a couple and got baskets or good looks. Our ball screens seem too easy to defend to do so many times over and over.

Excellent observations and you are definitely on point!!!!

In the half court offense I think maybe some more set plays would be good. After timeouts Saturday we seemed to run a couple and got baskets or good looks. Our ball screens seem too easy to defend to do so many times over and over.

BINGO!! I kept yelling about running more half court. For one thing we do not have the consistent shooters away from the basket. It seemed against Ball State that we were not really looking for Kowal inside. That is his game. We did not put any pressure on #45 to play defense.
I attribute part of that to our point guard play . I know that Patton loves the ball screens but let's play to our strengths which right now needs to include Kowal under the basket. I know that he actually made a couple of jump shots but he is really not a good shooter away from the basket.