I was just reading the recap of last night's game on the athletics website.....

"Northern Illinois, now 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the Mid-Am West, started the game with a 2-0 deficit on two Tarver foul shots after the Huskies dunked in warm-ups, which is still a no-no in the college game."

DiehardHuskie Wrote:I was just reading the recap of last night's game on the athletics website.....

"Northern Illinois, now 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the Mid-Am West, started the game with a 2-0 deficit on two Tarver foul shots after the Huskies dunked in warm-ups, which is still a no-no in the college game."

I still haven't heard who it was, but that is incredibly stupid.

BTW, anyone have any idea WTF is up w Judson?! The dunk by one his players to start the game, the extensive minutes given to Thompson and Byrd, and the Akron people in attendance told me he gave up with about two minutes to go!! Despite the fact Akron is the 12th best free throw shooting team in the MAC (shot 46% against WMU), NIU didn't fould donw the stretch!!

What the hell?! :mad: Maybe he's already given up on this season or he's daydreaming about that Illinois job, but it sure doesn't sound like he's focused on NIU right now.....

I wonder if Hughes was the guilty party based on his playing time?

Flying Corn Wrote:Maybe he's already given up on this season or  he's daydreaming about that Illinois job, but it sure doesn't sound like he's focused on NIU right now.....

Bingo! I think you've got it! Illini guy is dreaming about what could have been his in Champaign. He is mentally preparing for his next job, wherever that may be. I wish him luck and hope that it comes soon. Give Carl Armato his well-deserved chance! :withstupid:

Funny how fast things can change. Last spring NIU nation was all in a dither about the potential loss of Rob Judson to the Illinois program or some other better quality (and higher paying) program. This season started with high expectations for the Huskies, now effectively squashed. No longer do we need to fret about Judson going anywhere. He is a known quantity in the State of Illinois and nowhere else. Good programs in other parts of the country don't have him on their short list when vacancies develop. The lousy performance of this team in Judson's third year at the helm effectively seals his fate for the time being.

Negative developments are cropping up with this program and, for the first time, Judson is starting to be questioned. I maintain long-term faith in the coach. Though this year has been downright lousy, I am buoyed by the fine quality of the recent recruiting class. Still I am having increasing difficulty with Judson's coaching strategy of late. The Ohio Bobcat game was one of the single worst and boring basketball games I have ever sat through. Judson's maddening substitutions only made the situation worse.

I have to disagree with people like Flying Corn. Judson must not lose the priority of trying to win each and every game. However, he must start playing for the future. Zero purpose is served by putting a stiff like Jonathan Byrd on the court. Ditto Al Sewasciuk and Walter Thompson. There are intriguing enough freshmen and sophmores on the roster who should be given priority playing team in the name of the future.

Here's another depressing thought...don't expect this year's attendance to anywhere approach last year's campaign at the Convo Center. With all due respect to the success of our football program, students and alumni are generally apathetic to sports at NIU. I doubt seriously many students or alums will be attending the remaining home games on the schedule. Right or wrong that's just how I feel.

niu85alum Wrote:I have to disagree with people like Flying Corn.  Judson must not lose the priority of trying to win each and every game.  However, he must start playing for the future.  Zero purpose is served by putting a stiff like Jonathan Byrd on the court.  Ditto Al Sewasciuk and Walter Thompson. 

For the sake of clarity, let me point out I never suggested we should be playing Thompson, Byrd, or Sewasciuk. :rolleyes: Quite to the contrary, I expressed dismay at the beginning of this thread about those guys getting extended playing time.

That said, I think it's a bit extreme to give up on this season during the first week of January. If we're 1-5 in MAC play or 3-6 or therabouts in a few weeks, then yes, we'd probably want to focus on player development at that point. But right now, it's still too early to give up on this team, despite their woeful performance thus far. No coach in good conscience would do that.

Lets see how we do at BG, another MAC west underacheiver.

[quote="Dog Fan"] [quote="Flying Corn"]Maybe he's already given up on this season or

I think someone needs to :chair: Judson about his subing practices. I understand that he wants to get everybody time on the court to try and keep them sharp while keeping others rested for the end of the game push(wear out the other team w/your depth and pull it out in the end) but how can the starters gel when you have different players every 2 minutes? This is a HUGE flaw in his coaching style if you ask me.

RobertN Wrote:I think someone needs to  :chair:  Judson about his subing practices. I understand that he wants to get everybody time on the court to try and keep them sharp while keeping others rested for the end of the game push(wear out the other team w/your depth and pull it out in the end) but how can the starters gel when you have different players every 2 minutes? This is a HUGE flaw in his coaching style if you ask me.

I agree completely. After playing together enough, that "gelling" allows you to anticipate your teammates' moves. Constantly playing with different people does not allow that. I just cannot figure out what is going on in Illini guy's mind. I have been following Huskie basketball for quite a while and I have never seen such a fiasco as we have this year. Football cannot get here soon enough!

I too am mystified by all the substitution being done by Judson. Why James Hughes was not allowed to stay on the court longer versus Ohio is beyond me. Who cares if he fouls out. And why oh why are Walter Thompson, Jonathan Byrd and Al Sewasciuk logging significant minute. Judson needs to get his act together, and fast.

After our excuse for basketball at Akron and Bowling Green, what do you see as our win total this year? My guess is 9 wins, perhaps 10 with a little luck. However, if Illini guy were to leave before the end of the season, I may increase my total. What a disgusting year!

Just to get people going thsi morning. Game against BGSU Bryd 22 minutes & Argo Al 19 minutes.

HuskieJ Wrote:Just to get people going thsi morning.  Game against BGSU Bryd 22 minutes & Argo Al 19 minutes.

Maybe if they had played less, we would have lost by only 5 points!

In little over a month, Rob Judson and crew have lost 100% of the momentum generated by Huskie football and expectations for a superior season in hoops. I am absolutely dumbfounded by this team. For the first time, I have to seriously question Judson's performance. Question? What is it exactly that the 12 players outside of Marcus Smallwood did this offseason?

Al Sewasciuk and Jonathan Byrd logging big minutes is completely beyond belief. After Saturday, the mission must be to prepare for the future. That means relegating Sewasciuk, Byrd and Walter Thompson completely to the bench. It also means significantly reducing the playing time of Todd Peterson. Ryan Paradise, Michael McKinney, Paige Paulsen and James Hughes all need to be thrown into the frying pan big time. Lets see what we have with these youngsters and let them get on the job training.

Interesting how everyone got suckered into the hype around PJ Smith too. Without last year's crop of seniors he is being exposed big time. This team has exactly one quality player on its roster, and thats Marcus Smallwood.

Incredible as it may seem, Argo Al and Byrd were both instrumental in keeping us in the game on Saturday. Sewasciuk had some good minutes in the first half, and Byrd almost single-handedly brought us back from 16 down to only 5 at the half.

Quite frankly, I don't think the problem with this team is just about who is on the floor. I agree with NIUBro that it seems like Judson has lost this team. They just don't have the focus and the desire last year's team had. They don't seem to have much fight. It's probably telling that subs like Argo Al and Byrd, fighting for playing time, keyed our comeback rather than our starters.

Furthermore, I think it's worth mentioning that last year's team probably played over their heads for a month or so, which raised so unreasonable expectations for this season.

At this point, I'm just hoping we can get home court for the play-in game, but I'm not optimistic.

On a brighter note, it looks like Schaumburg won again the other day; help is on the way (next year!).

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

24 SEWASCIUK, Al....... 1-7 0-4 4-4 1 1 2 2 6 2 2 0 3 19
33 BYRD, Johnathan..... 2-4 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 0 4 0 0 1 1 22

Was it the 1-7 shooting with 6 pts keep us in the game or the 3 REbounds in 22 minutes?

HuskieJ Wrote:TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

24 SEWASCIUK, Al....... 1-7 0-4 4-4 1 1 2 2 6 2 2 0 3 19
33 BYRD, Johnathan..... 2-4 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 0 4 0 0 1 1 22

Was it the 1-7 shooting with 6 pts keep us in the game or the 3 REbounds in 22 minutes?

Sewasciuk had two steals and drew a charge during the comeback, and he defied team convention by making four free throws :eek: and Byrd grabbed his rebounds and put up his points during the comeback.

According to Baker and Simmons, Byrd was playing very tenacious defense during the rally in the late first half, including a blocked shot

The point is we didn't lose that game BECAUSE of Sewasciuk and Byrd. Put in anyone you like and we still lose. I agree neither is likely to give us our best chance to win over time by logging big minutes, but I don't entirely blame Judson for trying to get players on the floor who are at least willing to put forth significant effort.

Obviously, I had to trust Baker and Simmons account (not always entirely reliable), but they certainly made it seem like Byrd was keying the comeback, providing an otherwise totally flat and beaten team with much needed spark.