Probably the best team on NIU's schedule including both conf and non-conf. Hopefully the momentum from today's game will carry over and allow NIU to keep it competitive. A win sunday would be absolutely huge.

I thought that was Chicago State

Arkansas LR is a good team. Could very well win their conference and make the NCAA Tourney this year.

NIUtrav09 Wrote:I thought that was Chicago State

Arkansas LR is a good team. Could very well win their conference and make the NCAA Tourney this year.

I really did not think NIU could play effectively in that type of up and down game, just goes to show I guess how great DiNunno has been. I see AR-Little Rock is now at number 5 in the mid major top 25. Another exciting thing is to see Kowal getting stronger each and every game.

NIU is going to make some noise in the MAC this season.

MaddDawgz02 Wrote:Probably the best team on NIU's schedule including both conf and non-conf. Hopefully the momentum from today's game will carry over and allow NIU to keep it competitive. A win sunday would be absolutely huge.

I believe that they are ranked in the Top 5 of the mid-major programs

Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:NIU is going to make some noise in the MAC this season.

You could very well be right, I did not think they would this year, but if Kowal continues play like this, that is something I did not expect to be honest.

After a back loss at Mo. St. we should fall right out of the mid-major top twenty five. I will post up a look at the when it is ualr's next game. Tomorrow is oru and then wright state.

I was dropping by to see what was being said about my la tech football team playing you guys in the indy bowl.

our board:

http://www.littlerocktrojans.com

Tech's board:

latechbbb.com

MaddDawgz02 Wrote:

Nigel Incubator-Jones Wrote:NIU is going to make some noise in the MAC this season.

You could very well be right, I did not think they would this year, but if Kowal continues play like this, that is something I did not expect to be honest.

For that to happen we need to win a road game before Conference starts.
If we can win one on the road it will help this team sooo much.

The guns are there to beat most of the teams on our schedule on any given night. The problem is this team is VERY inconsistent due to the youth and point guard play, but they have a seemingly legit big man in Kowal and a legit star in Jake and you can beat a lot of people with that. I expect an absolute roller coaster of a year, with the overall record perhaps staying in the .500 neighborhood, including some upset wins and shocking losses. Hopefully this game is one of the former.

Here is a quick look at UALR:

Point Guard

UALR starts a 6’7” PG Patterson (Ole Miss transfer) that does not score a lot but plays well at the point. He is also defends the perimeter well.

Shooting Guard

A walk-on sophomore starts at SG. 6’0” nothing 180lbs kid that looks to young to play high school ball. Matt Mouzy = Rudy. The kid compliments the other 4 starts really well. So good, that our only SBC all conference team player moved to the bench, Moore. Mouzy has unlimited range and a quick release. He leads the team in scoring at 15 a game. Mouzy single handily brought us back against Creighton.

Small Forward

6’4 Fowler is really fast in a straight line. Combined with the PG Patterson, the two can blow up the opponents offensive sets and lock down the arc.

Power Forward

6’7” Edwards has long arms and is quick to the basket off the dribble and can shoot from outside enough to make you guard him.

Center

6’8” 295lbs Smith has quick feet and will force double teams on the box. If he gets into foul trouble UALR is in trouble. He passes the ball back out and gets the shooters open looks. Mouzy can’t play without him.

Bench

The bench has three players that get minutes: 6’ SG Moore (instant offense or turnovers off the bench, you never know which), PG Foster is a true freshmen but backs up the PG, and PF 6’6” true Freshmen C. Jackson is a copy of Edwards.
Offense is simple post up and get Smith the ball. Everything else comes off of the defenses reaction to that. Defense is man to man with good control of the arc. Little to no pressing or zone.
It would be nice if one of the posters here would drop by our board (http://www.littlerocktrojans.com) and give us a look at your team.

I thought DiNunno didn't handle the pressure well at all MD, were you at the game? Anderson and Kowal kept them in that game. DiNunno's shot was off, couldn't hit a wide open three for his life, and even missed two free thows off a technical foul, probably his worst game as a Huskie. I mean.. he got a few easy passes to Kowal for dunks, but.. I think had a lot more to do with Kowal being the biggest man on the court, not DiNunno.

I still think he's a very good ball player and he should be our starting PG, but it was obvious he was over matched in this game, and had not seen that kind of press that CSU brought to him. I think it was a good learning experience for him though, and glad it came in the form of a victory. Sean Kowal dominated that game, and Jake Anderson really kept us in it, the first half. They are the reason we beat CSU, along with the stifling defense that Landers and Ervin helped bring to the game, Mike Dinunno struggled on offense and defense. There was a reason we switched to a zone.

HuskieFan84 Wrote:I thought DiNunno didn't handle the pressure well at all MD, were you at the game? Anderson and Kowal kept them in that game. DiNunno's shot was off, couldn't hit a wide open three for his life, and even missed two free thows off a technical foul, probably his worst game as a Huskie. I mean.. he got a few easy passes to Kowal for dunks, but.. I think had a lot more to do with Kowal being the biggest man on the court, not DiNunno.

I still think he's a very good ball player and he should be our starting PG, but it was obvious he was over matched in this game, and had not seen that kind of press that CSU brought to him. I think it was a good learning experience for him though, and glad it came in the form of a victory. Sean Kowal dominated that game, and Jake Anderson really kept us in it, the first half. They are the reason we beat CSU, along with the stifling defense that Landers and Ervin helped bring to the game, Mike Dinunno struggled on offense and defense. There was a reason we switched to a zone.

Was not able to make it out to dekalb this weekend due to work, but watched the game online.
I thought DiNunno did an excellent job of finding the open guy, no way NIU is able to play at that pace without him. DiNunno led NIU with assists with 9. I'm still in awe over this kid, what a presence he brings not just with his play but he is smart beyond his years. DiNunno makes everyone on the court a better player, and as skilled as Jake Anderson is, he does not elevate the play of others around him like DiNunno does. The exciting thing is how these guys are going to be playing together for a few years, something this program has been sorely missing as of late, continuity.

HuskieFan84 Wrote:I thought DiNunno didn't handle the pressure well at all MD, were you at the game? Anderson and Kowal kept them in that game. DiNunno's shot was off, couldn't hit a wide open three for his life, and even missed two free thows off a technical foul, probably his worst game as a Huskie. I mean.. he got a few easy passes to Kowal for dunks, but.. I think had a lot more to do with Kowal being the biggest man on the court, not DiNunno.

I still think he's a very good ball player and he should be our starting PG, but it was obvious he was over matched in this game, and had not seen that kind of press that CSU brought to him. I think it was a good learning experience for him though, and glad it came in the form of a victory. Sean Kowal dominated that game, and Jake Anderson really kept us in it, the first half. They are the reason we beat CSU, along with the stifling defense that Landers and Ervin helped bring to the game, Mike Dinunno struggled on offense and defense. There was a reason we switched to a zone.

Very true. It got to the point where we were saying to ourselves, "Don't take the shot!", every time he threw a shot up. He even had a couple airballs on missed treys.

Kowal and Anderson were really in a zone. They were fun to watch.

On a side note, I sure hope we can get some NIU fans out to the SIU game. The crowd at last Saturday's game was simply embarrassing. 1,247 fans is ridiculous. I felt so bad for our team and coaches who work so hard. I was (and am) thoroughly embarrassed and disgusted.

MD.. you must have missed the first 10 minutes of the game, I don't want to keep harping on the kid because I think he's one of the better players we've brought in here in a while. But since you keep saying otherwise, Mike DiNunno did not have a good game, and had an awful start and was really shaky handling the ball, shooting and on defense to start the game. Had some bad turnovers and made some what I will call at best, interesting decisions early on. I don't know what game you watched, but I'm sure he'd be the first to admit he can play much better than he did Saturday.

You need to raise your expectations MD, this is a new era of NIU basketball, this isn't 2005. Mike Dinnuno is a good ball player, a lot better than what we are used to here, and you can't accept bad turnovers and such bad shooting and call it a good day.

Agreed DF about the crowd, but if Najul Ervin keeps teabagging people, and the rest of the team plays up to it's potential, the crowd's will come. We've been real bad, and even more boring to watch for a long time, you can't expect people to come back over night.

HuskieFan84 Wrote:MD.. you must have missed the first 10 minutes of the game, I don't want to keep harping on the kid because I think he's one of the better players we've brought in here in a while. But since you keep saying otherwise, Mike DiNunno did not have a good game, and had an awful start and was really shaky handling the ball, shooting and on defense to start the game. Had some bad turnovers and made some what I will call at best, interesting decisions early on. I don't know what game you watched, but I'm sure he'd be the first to admit he can play much better than he did Saturday.

You need to raise your expectations MD, this is a new era of NIU basketball, this isn't 2005. Mike Dinnuno is a good ball player, a lot better than what we are used to here, and you can't accept bad turnovers and such bad shooting and call it a good day.

Agreed DF about the crowd, but if Najul Ervin keeps teabagging people, and the rest of the team plays up to it's potential, the crowd's will come. We've been real bad, and even more boring to watch for a long time, you can't expect people to come back over night.

Not sure what you have against the kid, but I'll take 9 assists anytime anyday. Right now IMO he is the MVP of this team.

Dog Fan Wrote:On a side note, I sure hope we can get some NIU fans out to the SIU game. The crowd at last Saturday's game was simply embarrassing. 1,247 fans is ridiculous. I felt so bad for our team and coaches who work so hard. I was (and am) thoroughly embarrassed and disgusted.

So what can be done? It has been discussed on here several times, but people saying that something needs to be done and that it is embarrassing and yada yada yada is not going to get people in the stands. Not that many people read this board that you are wanting to reach to attend games. So, what can be done? I want to see more people there, but how? The games need to be advertised and promoted more - but how? Dekalb/Sycamore people need to get more excited about this team and its future - but how? Students need to want to go to the Convo Center more than they do now - but how?

huskie fan..you must have NEVER played this game...and certainly not at this high a level...to suggest Dinunno played badly is to not understand how well this freshman helped us get out and run--the passes to Sean were only easy AFTER he busted through the defense or pushed the ball up the floor--no easy tasks against that athletic pressure....any coach knows a 2 to 1 ratio of assists to turnovers is very good and he damn near had that while playing 30 minutes against an intensely in your face defensive team. his shooting percentage was more than acceptable for a guard...the kid made extremely good decisions on the move against lightning quick guys all afternoon--i thought it was one of his better games as he is finally starting to "get it" and isn't trying to do the things that worked in h.s. but that won't work at this level.

What first half of this game did you guys watch? Are you sure it was NIU's game? He struggled greatly at the start of the game getting the ball up the court. I even said he played much better in the second half. I said the first 10 minutes of the game he was clearly overmatched and was not used to the speed Chicago State brought to the game in the other thread.

I have nothing against the kid, I think he's a very good ballplayer, doesn't mean I can't see when he struggles. He was frustrated with himself, anyone at the game could see that. I really doubt he doesn't think he could have played better.

In the first half, he had 4 of his 5 turnovers and shot 1 of 5 from the field, zero steals, rebounds or blocks. I find it hard to refute that he struggled in the first half and was not used to the speed and quickness of Chicago State. We were down 11 early for a reason.

I'd like to make a point of saying even though I think he really did struggle in the first half, and the stats suggest I am correct; I still couldn't be happier with his overall play as a Huskie.

bottom line to date after laying an egg the first 15 minutes vrs CSU:

bball season is beginning to look a bit more promising than I originally suspected...... just like how football played out following first two games.

I hold no victory delusions vs UALR . Winning on the road requires more than supreme effort. Talent & chemsitry/experience for NIU is not there yet.

Hanging with SIU would be HUGE compared to past embarrassments.

High On NIU Hoops Wrote:

Dog Fan Wrote:On a side note, I sure hope we can get some NIU fans out to the SIU game. The crowd at last Saturday's game was simply embarrassing. 1,247 fans is ridiculous. I felt so bad for our team and coaches who work so hard. I was (and am) thoroughly embarrassed and disgusted.

So what can be done? It has been discussed on here several times, but people saying that something needs to be done and that it is embarrassing and yada yada yada is not going to get people in the stands. Not that many people read this board that you are wanting to reach to attend games. So, what can be done? I want to see more people there, but how? The games need to be advertised and promoted more - but how? Dekalb/Sycamore people need to get more excited about this team and its future - but how? Students need to want to go to the Convo Center more than they do now - but how?

Just like you sell anything else: marketing. Of course, this takes work and money. I assume that Athletics is short on both, but there are ways this can be done.

1) Have people write letters to the Chronicle with effusive praise on what the BB team is doing and urging people to come. Stress the fact that people will be paying only $5 for 2 hours of quality entertainment. Stress NIU's history as a BB school

2) Advertise, advertise, and then advertise some more. Spread the excitement in print and radio ads on WLBK (and radio outlets in nearby suburbs). Do a feature on the BB program on local cable access TV. Get the local TV stations (Rockford) to air highlights of the BB games in their sportscasts.

3) E-mails and letters to the NIU fan base and community at large. When was the last time you got an e-mail spreading some excitement about the basketball program and/or a specific game? Send letters to the community with coupons such as a 2 for 1 or offer a price discount, coupon for a ticket to a future game, etc.

4) Marketing give-aways: magnetic schedules, keychains, mini-basketballs, pens, etc. Of course, this costs money, but some or all of the cost can perhaps be underwritten by a sponsor (Fatty's). Do promotional tie-ins with sponsors, offering tickets to games, discounts at sponsors, etc.

5) Radio contests and contests at the game. NIU is actually pretty good with the contests at the game. We now have a roving MC who goes into the stands like what they do at the Rush games. Keep it up!

6) Market to the students. This will be the biggest challenge, but more needs to be done to make the students actually want to come to the games. I'm not sure what they are doing now, so I can't make specific suggestions. Students now are able to win some nice cash at they games, and this is a great thing. Market this!

Extra credit: 7) Tell potential attendees that they will get to rub shoulders (and perhaps other things) with the Dog Fan himself! :yikes: