https://getsomemaction.com/documents/202...cket23.pdf

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My hope for the program this year was to qualify for the MAC tournament, anything that happens here is gravy in my eyes as the program continues to trend upwards!

Amen to that, McG!

I have no problem jumping on here and eating crow. I was pretty sure, after watching those first three games against D2 teams, that this was a train wreck of a team and 6 or 7 wins would have been a miracle. I was sure we were going to be down something like 62-18 at halftime at Gonzaga and struggled to find games that we would be competitive in.

This was a great job by Burno to bring this guys together from all over globe actually to finish .500 in conference and be going to Cleveland.

This team plays extremely hard on both ends of the court and continues to battle.

The job Burno did is even better when easily the best player on the team was lost for 75% of the season.

I have expectations (won't commit to how very high they are) as we go into the tournament, but upfront I had NO expectations of this team getting there.

Congrats, team...let's go!!!

(03-04-2023 09:36 AM)McG Wrote:  My hope for the program this year was to qualify for the MAC tournament, anything that happens here is gravy in my eyes as the program continues to trend upwards!

Same. No matter how bad they were, coming in 8th was always an achievable goal, but they exceeded that, which is awesome.

They still have a young team but the core is probably mostly leaving (ie, Crump and Thornton although...Hunter was a much stronger presence on the team and probably in the locker room than we thought at the onset of the season).

Russell might make the loss of Thornton palatable. He's not the same kind of PG but he's pretty good and plays confidently. Thornton had his flaws for sure, mostly when he tried to be more of a scorer as opposed to a distributor. But when he was distributing and the game was going through him...he was really good.

Thornton and Ibarguen have developed a fantastic relationship this year as Ibarguen is a constant mover and he's always ready for a pass. If I said it once...I probably said it a dozen times. If you are even remotely open, Thornton will get you the ball 9 times out of 10. Ibarguen took full advantage of that this year.

But now that they've qualified and I'm more than happy with that and agree that anything else is gravy...it doesn't stop me from wanting to get greedy.

Step 1...Qualify for the MACT.....Check
Step 2...Be a disruption in the MACT....
Step 3...Retain and continue to build for year 3 of the Burno Era

Btw...regarding Burno...

I think we're safe for now with him but we all know what happens to successful mid-major coaches...

We're not there yet, but as year after year of DePaul sucking azz goes by, the more I expect them to snatch him up.

Hopefully, it's not for a few more years.

Slow down! Burno has the Huskies at 9-9 MAC 7th seed. I do also believe things are looking up but just four years ago we were the 4th seed with a legitimate chance to win a MACC. The year before that I think NIU was in the semifinals and fought back and lost a close game. Every year is going to be a completely different team for the majority of colleges so fingers crossed we continue next year to progress.

Go get ‘em Huskies! I’ll have my NIU shirt on this week.

I also thought this was going to be a trainwreck of a season by the way the we played in the OOC games. But 2 points that have really given me optimism for the future of the program under Burno:

1) He kept the team focused and stuck to his game plan which clearly showed that the players bought into it. To get them to play hard after losing to Illinois-Springfield and Albany and losing Williams is an achievement. If he was able to do that, i have no doubt be can sell this program on a couple decent recruits.

2) Players are developing into better players. Crump, Hunter and Thornton are leaving as superior better players than they were when they first showed up.

(03-04-2023 02:55 PM)CollegeMan33 Wrote:  Slow down! Burno has the Huskies at 9-9 MAC 7th seed. I do also believe things are looking up but just four years ago we were the 4th seed with a legitimate chance to win a MACC. The year before that I think NIU was in the semifinals and fought back and lost a close game. Every year is going to be a completely different team for the majority of colleges so fingers crossed we continue next year to progress.

That highlighted portion was in your dreams.
When you say "every year is going to be a completely different team for the majority of colleges" that may be true for the majority of ALL college teams, but there are perennial conference contenders and we were never in that category under mediocre Monty or pitiful Patton.

57, we all know how much you hate Monty’s tenure at NIU but didn’t NIU under Monty play Bowling green in a semifinal? Wasn’t NIU under Monty the 4th seed when Covid canceled the tournament?

P.S. you’re right it was in my dreams that NIU would win the MACC when they were the 4th seed and got a first round by and had German! It’s also in my dreams that this year’s Huskies go on a run and win a MACC!

(03-04-2023 08:20 PM)CollegeMan33 Wrote:  57, we all know how much you hate Monty’s tenure at NIU but didn’t NIU under Monty play Bowling green in a semifinal? Wasn’t NIU under Monty the 4th seed when Covid canceled the tournament?

CollegeMan33, we all know how much you love and cherish Monty, and yes NIU faced BGSU in a semi, and was the 4th seed when Covid canceled the tourney, but assuming the type of success to go further would necessarily have happened is as slim as assuming your infatuation with him will ever diminish.

No offense to anybody, but "Monty" is becoming like a certain "Former-Football-Coach-Who-Hopefully-Will-Not-Be-Named-(Much). ... (nod to JKR for the reference).

Our MBB HC is Rashon Burno, *this* is "our" team, so to speak, and it is facing the opening game of the 2023 MACT. IMO Burno has done a pretty good job, despite the record, just by watching how they play together. And it will be interesting (and much discussed) to see how he fills those available spots for the 2023-24 squad. I expect that speculation to launch right after Cleveland.

But for now, one game at a time. Can we agree on that?

(03-04-2023 11:51 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(03-04-2023 08:20 PM)CollegeMan33 Wrote:  57, we all know how much you hate Monty’s tenure at NIU but didn’t NIU under Monty play Bowling green in a semifinal? Wasn’t NIU under Monty the 4th seed when Covid canceled the tournament?

CollegeMan33, we all know how much you love and cherish Monty, and yes NIU faced BGSU in a semi, and was the 4th seed when Covid canceled the tourney, but assuming the type of success to go further would necessarily have happened is as slim as assuming your infatuation with him will ever diminish.

So, as 7th seed, provide in-depth analysis of how that plays out!
Oh, and for fun, tell us how much money you are putting down on NIU beating Kent or winning the MAC.
We only have to win 3 games! Simple.

(03-05-2023 12:45 AM)pvk75 Wrote:  No offense to anybody, but "Monty" is becoming like a certain "Former-Football-Coach-Who-Hopefully-Will-Not-Be-Named-(Much). ... (nod to JKR for the reference).

Our MBB HC is Rashon Burno, *this* is "our" team, so to speak, and it is facing the opening game of the 2023 MACT. IMO Burno has done a pretty good job, despite the record, just by watching how they play together. And it will be interesting (and much discussed) to see how he fills those available spots for the 2023-24 squad. I expect that speculation to launch right after Cleveland.

But for now, one game at a time. Can we agree on that?

"Can we agree on that?"

No, Kevin.

I don’t think NIU will win a MACC! I’ve never said they’d be champions this year. I believe NIU will make10-12 threes and upset Kent St!

Is this actually an argument?

I predicted 0 wins for the Huskies after the loss to Springfield. Glad I was way off. Any win is gravy now. I want to be greedy and expect a tournament win but if not that is ok. Team has been fun to watch this year especially live for a home victory. My expectation is coach Burno can build on this. No let down next year. Let’s go Huskies in the tournament and going forward. Let’s hope a nice basketball culture can start at this school. No place to go except up at this point.

Tournament champions or bust!!!!

I think what your team has accomplished this year is quite impressive. After that loss to Illinois-Springfield, I thought your team was the absolute bottom of the barrel! But, what your team has done since then is a great story, and you all should be proud!

As pointed out by fallsdog on the Flashes board, two things stood out.

1. We scored 21 points off their turnovers.
2. Coit scored 31 pts, twice his season average.

Not mentioned but as collegeman would say, we shot 13-28 from behind the 3pt line to the Flashes 8-20.

Don't know if we can repeat that performance, but as they say that's why we play the game.

GO HUSKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!