(07-17-2017 03:16 PM)cagy cager Wrote:  No, I didn't call for Patton's head...I leave that for all the experts. And, being realistic, NIU could never really afford to buy big contracts out so I would have rather had the $375,000 and waited a year.

I stopped at 5 years cuz that was as far as the online basketball record book went with MM.....and was too lazy to do the math. You can check the math but I think JN was 20-46 for a winning percentage of 30% after 6 years compared to MM who is 75-189 about 40%. All time NIU is about 49% so I am not sure where the expectation for much above that comes from. A year ago, when the Huskies had a winning percentage of .618, folks still whined and complained..

And no, it is not necessarily easier to turn around a basketball program than a football program (See the boat rowers up north). There are over 1,000,000 high school football players and 115 BCS college teams who give 85 scholarships each....In basketball, there are 535,000 high school players that the 351 D1 schools can give 13 scholarships each. Doesn't seem like the odds favor basketball and, certainly, as we have seen, one stud qb can turn around a football program quite quickly.

The arrow is the important thing, with Novak the arrow was straight up, due north, right now if the direction is not due south with NIU basketball its at best south-southeast. Cagey loading up on sub division 1 wins might feel good, but there is a danger of playing that kind of talent and coming out with an unrepresentative record. MAC play is the much better barometer. The fact nearly every veteran has left this program tells you the kind of state basketball is in. It is a sinking ship right now and people are jumping off. I don't blame Montgomery whatsoever for Wilson and Porter leaving, they were cancers, but when you see guys like Highsmith and Maric leave, those are eye openers and the reddest of flags. I still am surprised about Highsmith, that was disappointing.

(07-17-2017 11:25 AM)cagy cager Wrote:  a train wreck? wow you would think they only won 5 games....now THOSE were trainwreck years.

Winning five games is a lack of talent and a bad team----having Porter, Wilson, Maric, Highsmith all gone---for whatever reason---is a train wreck. I remember two years ago thinking that we were going to have a tournament team---not necessary NCAA, but a real tournament team.

In NCAA football the school and coach has the leverage over the players. In basketball the players have the leverage over the school and coach. Majority of college freshman football players are redshirted or many would transfer. College freshman basketball players mostly are not redshirted thus transferring is not a huge deal. Monty hasn't gotten them over the MAC conference hump but you can certainly say they blew 3-4 home MAC games with decent leads late in the game that would've completely changed last season. Also, Maric and Highsmith did not leave because of Monty!

Question? Why did Porter end up at a naia school and where is Wilson?

(07-17-2017 08:43 PM)dekalb222 Wrote:  In NCAA football the school and coach has the leverage over the players. In basketball the players have the leverage over the school and coach. Majority of college freshman football players are redshirted or many would transfer. College freshman basketball players mostly are not redshirted thus transferring is not a huge deal. Monty hasn't gotten them over the MAC conference hump but you can certainly say they blew 3-4 home MAC games with decent leads late in the game that would've completely changed last season. Also, Maric and Highsmith did not leave because of Monty!

When you have people like Highsmith and Maric both leave, that raises huge huge red flags about what is going on in the program. I don't want to be tough on a guy who was injured for 3 years, but Highsmith knew he was leaving at the beginning of the year and you could just tell he was saving himself physically for his next school.

(07-17-2017 08:43 PM)dekalb222 Wrote:  In NCAA football the school and coach has the leverage over the players. In basketball the players have the leverage over the school and coach. Majority of college freshman football players are redshirted or many would transfer. College freshman basketball players mostly are not redshirted thus transferring is not a huge deal. Monty hasn't gotten them over the MAC conference hump but you can certainly say they blew 3-4 home MAC games with decent leads late in the game that would've completely changed last season. Also, Maric and Highsmith did not leave because of Monty!

The may not have left because of Monty, but point is, they didn't stay because of Monty either.

And the kids that left Kansas and Duke didn't stay for their coach either. 6-8 transfers from those two schools.

(07-18-2017 07:13 PM)dekalb222 Wrote:  And the kids that left Kansas and Duke didn't stay for their coach either. 6-8 transfers from those two schools.

Most players transfer because they want more playing time. Grad transfers are whole different story.

(07-18-2017 07:13 PM)dekalb222 Wrote:  And the kids that left Kansas and Duke didn't stay for their coach either. 6-8 transfers from those two schools.

Seriously, you're comparing NIU and Kansas men's basketball? That's not apples and oranges, that's apples and kale.
In an earlier post you asked: Why did Porter end up at a naia school and where is Wilson?
You can't have it both ways --- if you're saying they weren't good enough to play Division I at NIU then the more important question is why did Monty recruit them? Either he still doesn't know what type of player will fit his program or there's a disconnect in his ability to coach them.

Porter and Wilson were good enough to play D1. I'm pointing out that maybe Monty had a legit reason for letting them go outside of on the court issues. I personally feel they both have the ability to play at MAC level and above. The transfer situation is a issue for every school so comparisons are ok.

(07-14-2017 02:26 PM)NIU75 Wrote:  Who would ever thought this when we saw him play in front of 750 fans at the Convo?

Mind blowing.