(01-25-2023 12:07 AM)CollegeMan33 Wrote: The reason I felt NIU would win is currently Coit and for the past few games Hunter are making 10 three pointers amongst themselves. When you can make 10 plus 3’s a game you will be hard to beat no matter any other stat.
Coit definitely has a level and track record at JUCO of being able to shoot like this. But Hunter is out of his mind right now. He's shooting with so much confidence.
As for the team, the fellas are IN SHAPE! We've got a pretty thin rotation right now. Basically 6 guys with a couple others mixing in.
The vast majority of minutes are from Coit, Nutter, Thorton, Crump, Ibarguen and Hunter. Konan is working back relatively slowly and guys like Plintauskas and Durosinmi play but not much.
To me it seems like Burno is going with the guys he trusts fully to win games and has the confidence the conditioning is at a point where these guys aren't going to run out of gas. This team pushes for 40 minutes. They push on defense and they push on offense. They never let up on their opponent and we see when that wears the other side out. They might be down but they keep coming at you forcing you to expend energy.
We're still missing two guys who would really help out (Russell and Williams). I've not heard anything official on either guy other than what gets posted here. I'm guessing Williams is out for the season and I have no reason to think otherwise. As for Russell, he was still wearing something on his hand last night. In the few instances were I had a decent look at it, it looks like a thumb injury which can be problematic regarding a quick return (which clearly he's been out for a while and doesn't appear to be close).
Either way, this team looks good right now. Whatever Burno emphasizes in practice is not only sticking with the guys, but their recent successes legitimize his message and can only enhance buy-in.
Thornton has looked much better the past couple of weeks. I wonder if he had a stint where he was falling behind Russell and he was either trying to do things he has no business doing or he just got down on himself and his role. But now that Russell has been out so long, this pushes the emphasis back on Kaleb and he's playing with both confidence and purpose and within his strengths. I've said it and I've said it and I've said it about him. If you're on the floor and you are even marginally open, you HAVE to be ready because he will find you. He had 11 assists last night to go along with 13 points. Arguably, Coit with 6 assists and 32 points was our player of the game but everything went through Thornton first and he delivered all night and was the catalyst for 35 points (obviously Coit contributed to 48 points). Btw, Coit is a much slicker passer than I anticipated. I figured he was an off guard who was a shoot first guy but he's made some ridiculously slick passes to the bigs off his drives.
It's weird, you never want to lose your best player but sometimes its the best for development because guys can no longer just stand back and let Keshawn (or Geno or whoever it is) save them over and over. Right now, Keshawn isn't stepping on the floor and all of the guys (not just Coit) have the confidence to be the guy in the moment.
Credit to Coach Burno and his staff.