GAME 17 NORTHWESTERN: Big time players....plus the Pikiell blueprint

[High Quality H2O]

Great Recap.

Schedule looks a little more favorable for tired legs (if that's affecting defense last couple games)
That was our 4th straight game on 2 days rest.
Next 2 are on 3 days rest, and two after that with 4 days rest.

Have three in a row to start Feb on short rest. But won't see that many in a row on short rest again unless we make a run in B1G tourney.

 

[G- RUnit]

Great Recap.

Schedule looks a little more favorable for tired legs (if that's affecting defense last couple games)
That was our 4th straight game on 2 days rest.
Next 2 are on 3 days rest, and two after that with 4 days rest.

Have three in a row to start Feb on short rest. But won't see that many in a row on short rest again unless we make a run in B1G tourney.

Hmmmm maybe Willard is right?

 

[cicero grimes]

Right now it’s Q1. NW is NET 51.

Ty

 

[scarletnewyorker2006]

That was not a Pikiell blueprint!!!!!

I doubt he wanted to see our offensively challenged opponent score 62 points in 59 possessions, be forced to play his starters the last 11 minutes and shoot 11-18 from 3 to win.

He is very happy we won and happy we executed offensively but I bet he is very worried about the state of his team right now. 3rd straight game where the defensive ran out of gas towards the end. Fortunately 2 of the last 3 our offense bailed us out.

The blueprint has Simpson and a back up 5 playing more minutes.

This game was Fools Gold. Not going to shoot 11-18 from 3 more than once per year. Last 2 adjusted defensive efficiencies are way worse than any games this year.

Damn, I really wish I didn’t agree with you. But it was a road game against a team that’s feeling great about themselves, and they play strong defense. That’s not a combination we’ll face every game.

 

[bac2therac]

Hmmmm maybe Willard is right?

I think Willards team has a whole week off or at least only one game this week

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

Three games back was Maryland, presumably this is not what you are talking about?

Guessing your talking about Purdue? That was still a great defensive performance overall. I’ll give you the last two (although Iowa didn’t run out of gas… they started out of gas and maybe a little bit at halftime)

Yes. Talking about Maryland. We were ridiculous defensively in 1st half. 2nd half we weren’t but we’re very good offensively

 

[Degaz-RU]

I think that’s the issue. They are doubling Cliff because he has trouble passing out of it.

Cliff actually had 3 very nice assists last night passing out of the double teams, though I agree he GENERALLY struggles when he gets swarmed.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

I have 2 main concerns

1. Can we win close games? Can we score when we need to? RESOUnDING yes, 2 in a row

2. Will we be fresh and people able to maintain level of D, especially in March? This requires using the bench. NO!

Did we move 1 step forward to making NCAAs? HUGE STEP

I want to see us play 2 or 3 weekends in the NCAA tournament. Getting production from the bench in the regular season which reduces starters minutes is almost essential.

Unfortunately we don’t win last night playing our bench right now.

Simpson is unbelievably important to us. If he cant give us 20 MPG I don’t like our chances. I can see us flaming out in March like last year.

 

[Big boy stan]

Cliff actually had 3 very nice assists last night passing out of the double teams, though I agree he GENERALLY struggles when he gets swarmed.

This was one of the more promising things I saw last night and it could be a big part of the rest of the season IMO. If cliff is going to get doubled every time he gets the ball in the low post, and he can make passes, it will change the game. He will either be left 1 on 1 like earlier in the year or there will be more open looks for others

2 of his 3 assists last night were from the low post where he saw the double team and passed. One to a cutting Mag in the lane and one was a cross court to PM for a 3. He actually had another cross court to PM earlier in the 2nd half to a wide open PM but Paul missed what would have been his 4th assist and 3rd out of the double team. Have to think this is on the agenda for practice this week.

 

[LeapinLou]

After going through this thread, I don't think everyone truly appreciates how massive this win was. It more than makes up for the dud against Iowa and gives us another Q1 road win. We were 4-6 on the road in conference last year and are now 2-2 (should be 3-1) this year. There is a ton of season left, but right now our resume is sparkling. Big opportunity to pick up another Q1 win this weekend. Let's hope they come out as angry about OSU as we are.

 

[bac2therac]

After going through this thread, I don't think everyone truly appreciates how massive this win was. It more than makes up for the dud against Iowa and gives us another Q1 road win. We were 4-6 on the road in conference last year and are now 2-2 (should be 3-1) this year. There is a ton of season left, but right now our resume is sparkling. Big opportunity to pick up another Q1 win this weekend. Let's hope they come out as angry about OSU as we are.

Agree...huge win because it just checked alot of boxes

The only blemish on the resume is the loss to Temple which likely is forgiven due to injuries

Oh the non conference sos is 328

 

[goru7]

I have 2 main concerns

1. Can we win close games? Can we score when we need to? RESOUnDING yes, 2 in a row

2. Will we be fresh and people able to maintain level of D, especially in March? This requires using the bench. NO!

Did we move 1 step forward to making NCAAs? HUGE STEP

I want to see us play 2 or 3 weekends in the NCAA tournament. Getting production from the bench in the regular season which reduces starters minutes is almost essential.

Unfortunately we don’t win last night playing our bench right now.

Simpson is unbelievably important to us. If he cant give us 20 MPG I don’t like our chances. I can see us flaming out in March like last year.

I get your concern but experience in the Big 10 matters. All of the great Wisconsin , Michigan State , Purdue and Michigan teams had their starters logging 35 minutes a night because of the nightly wars and how tough the conference was especially on the road. Unfortunately , except for a freshman or 2 in the Big 10 ( Sensabaugh and maybe the Purdue freshman ) , when freshman go on the road their production is way less than when they are home. Derek had a rough one last night but that is the life of a freshman. I fully expect him to bounce back and play real well against Ohio State at home and play 20 minutes giving Paul, Cam or Caleb a breather. Plus Dean and Wolf have to give Cliff 5-10 minutes off a game and more likely to do so at home than on the road. However , our Core of Paul , Cam , Caleb and Cliff will likely play 33-36 minutes a night especially on the road in the BiG 10 where every game seems to be tight with 3-4 minutes to go. So will all of the Core of all the other teams as well.

The toll it takes looks worse with 2 days rest between games compared to 3-4 days between games . We just played at Purdue , Maryland , Iowa and at Northwestern between January 2 and January 11, which will take a toll and likely led to your post and concern but I think the time between games lightens to every 3rd or 4th day between games going forward.

 

[rubigtimenow]

NW had 39 points in the first 31-32 minutes and 23 in the final 8.
Our D was awesome through the first 80% and the last 2.5%. That 17.5% when they scored 23 points… no idea what to say about that.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

After going through this thread, I don't think everyone truly appreciates how massive this win was. It more than makes up for the dud against Iowa and gives us another Q1 road win. We were 4-6 on the road in conference last year and are now 2-2 (should be 3-1) this year.

Nitpicking here - we are 2-1 on the road in conference. Seven road games to go, not six:

Michigan State
Iowa
Indiana
Illinois
Wisconsin
Penn State
Minnesota

I think we'll get some more road wins.

 

[High Quality H2O]

After going through this thread, I don't think everyone truly appreciates how massive this win was. It more than makes up for the dud against Iowa and gives us another Q1 road win. We were 4-6 on the road in conference last year and are now 2-2 (should be 3-1) this year. There is a ton of season left, but right now our resume is sparkling. Big opportunity to pick up another Q1 win this weekend. Let's hope they come out as angry about OSU as we are.

Didn't get that vibe, there were all kinds of random threads started out of excitement last night.

Personally I'm PUMPED what a relief that we don't have to sweat out the "are we going to win another road game thing".
2 in the bank with one of them a monster and this one very respectable, monkey off the back should make it easier to pick up some more.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

After going through this thread, I don't think everyone truly appreciates how massive this win was. It more than makes up for the dud against Iowa and gives us another Q1 road win. We were 4-6 on the road in conference last year and are now 2-2 (should be 3-1) this year. There is a ton of season left, but right now our resume is sparkling. Big opportunity to pick up another Q1 win this weekend. Let's hope they come out as angry about OSU as we are.

It was a big win. As a realist we lose this game by 15-20 points with a normal shooting night. We lose it by 10 with a good shooting night. It took a 1 in 100 shooting day to win.

I see things that really concern me from a defensive standpoint. We definitely ran out of gas. I am very worried about our next 4 games. Wouldn’t shock me to go 0-4. Our last 2 games had an adjusted defensive efficiency over 1.00. The core 4 of Cliff Paul Cam and Caleb I am very concerned about the minutes they are logging and how we have defended the last 2.5 games. Not elite. We have had to rely on offense and 2 of last 3 games it bailed us out.

If the goal is to make the NCAAs yesterday was a huge game. If you are looking at a 2nd and 3rd week the game didn’t make you feel better about our chances.

 

[Joey Bacala]

Great thread. All I can add is this: The blueprint requires some contributions from Simpson and Wolf.

 

[bac2therac]

It was a big win. As a realist we lose this game by 15-20 points with a normal shooting night. We lose it by 10 with a good shooting night. It took a 1 in 100 shooting day to win.

I see things that really concern me from a defensive standpoint. We definitely ran out of gas. I am very worried about our next 4 games. Wouldn’t shock me to go 0-4. Our last 2 games had an adjusted defensive efficiency over 1.00. The core 4 of Cliff Paul Cam and Caleb I am very concerned about the minutes they are logging and how we have defended the last 2.5 games. Not elite. We have had to rely on offense and 2 of last 3 games it bailed us out.

If the goal is to make the NCAAs yesterday was a huge game. If you are looking at a 2nd and 3rd week the game didn’t make you feel better about our chances.

are we usually that bad on two points, while we shot hot from 3, our overall percentage wasnt that great

is our defense that porous for such a long stretch..how often are we going to give up points on 11 straight possessions.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

are we usually that bad on two points, while we shot hot from 3, our overall percentage wasnt that great

is our defense that porous for such a long stretch..how often are we going to give up points on 11 straight possessions.

Scoring on 11 straight possessions was part bad luck, part fatigue, and mistakes.

I’d need to go and breakdown the 11 possessions. I know the last 2 were Hyatt mistakes. 1 was Caleb not getting out on shooter. 1 was Cam going under a screen.

 

[Groz]

Great recap once again Bac.

Best of Luck,
Groz