ECisGod

A lot of the "hate" is because he's playing out of position as a point guard. His assist to turnover ratio is under 1.5. A true point should be north of 2 & elite would be 3+.

Can't afford Verge to try to take over.

Thanks. I'm kind of hoping others will join in. Not necessarily on all the players but at least some of them. Others on this board may disagree with my analysis because everyone sees something different.

Eduardo Andre - Second year freshman. Only been playing basketball for 5-6 years. Shows flashes, but needs to be more consistent. Hustles most of the time. Goes for rebounds, but doesn't always get into the right position to actually get them. Seems to show a decent shooting touch in warmups, but rarely actually shoots in games. Wilhelm Breidenbach - True freshman. Kind of looked like a bull in a China shop at times before his season ending knee injury. Always hustled, but needed to pull it back a bit at times. Has an unusual looking shot, but showed some touch. Needs to be a bit quicker & work on his shooting accuracy. Game seemed to move to quickly for him at times, but that comes with most freshmen. Would probably look better at this point in the season if he hadn't gotten injured. Jackson Cronin - Freshman walk-on. Not much to say because he's played a total of 6 minutes this season. Denim Dawson - True freshman who joined the team at beginning of second semester. Redshirting. OK shooter based on warmups. Keon Edwards - Second year freshman. Transferred from DePaul. Not sure what to make of him. Looks kind of lost at times. Seems to have a decent shooting touch, but also seems scared to shoot. Really athletic - he can jump out of the gym based on dunks in warmups. Would like to see him get more minutes to help his confidence & understanding of the game at this level. Sam Hoiberg - Freshman walk-on. Redshirting. Seems to have a decent shooting touch based on warmups & is built like a brick s-house. Oleg Kojenets - True Freshman. Redshirting. Needs to put on some weight to play in the B1G (thus the redshirt). Seems to have pretty good handles for a 7-footer (again, based on warmups). Trevor Lakes - Super Senior. Could ask for a medical redshirt based on only playing eight games this year. Decent shooter, but the game is too fast for him at the high major level. Probably needs to move on to the next phase of his life. Could probably make some money playing hoops in Europe if he's willing to go to a lower-level league. Lat Mayen - Fifth year Junior (two at Texas Tech, one at JUCO & second season at NU). Streaky shooter. Kind of slow footed, so he gets burned on defense a lot. Pretty poor ball handler. Doesn't get enough rebounds for his size. I feel like I should have more to say about him based on the minutes he plays, but I'm not sure what else to say. Will be able to go back to Australia and make money as a pro. Bryce McGowens - True Freshman. Very talented, but the ball sticks in his hands at times. Outside shooting is improving as he recognizes what is a good shot. Decent defensively, but could be much better based on his length & quickness. Above average ball handler, but could be better. Doesn't always look like he's giving 100%, but I think that's because the game seems to come so easily to him. Could be a better rebounder. Could be a one & done, but probably should come back for a second year because he needs to get stronger to play at the next level (NBA). Game seems to have slowed down for him in the last couple of weeks. Trey McGowens - Fourth year junior (Two at Pitt, two at NU). Really good defensively, but sometimes takes too many chances going for steals. Not a great shooter, but shows signs of improvement at times. Good straight-line driver. Very athletic. Decent ball handler, but needs to work on his point guard skills to play at the next level (high level Europe/G-league). Decent rebounder for a guard. Chris McGraw - Fourth year sophomore walk-on (one at Ohio, one at DIII Otterbein, two at NU). Not much to say because he's played a total of 8 minutes each of his two seasons at NU. Quaran McPherson - True freshman. Redshirting. OK shooter based on warmups. Not much else to say. Jace Piatkowski - Third year freshman. Not sure he's really on the team. Haven't seen him in warmups or on the bench during games. Played 18 minutes last year after redshirting his first year in the program. Keisei Tominaga - Third year sophomore. Should be a better shooter than he's shown in games. Unlimited range. Ball of energy - sometimes plays with too much emotion. Quicker than he looks. OK ball handler, but will have to improve to play at the next level (high level Europe/G-league). OK defensively because he understands positioning & has quick hands. Decent rebounder for his size. Alonzo Verge - Super Senior. Really quick with the ball, but not a point guard. Really slow shot, but decent accuracy if he has all day to shoot. Black hole with the ball in his hands most of the time. Would rather make the spectacular pass than the safe one. Pretty good rebounder for his size. Good finisher at the rim, but takes a lot of really bad shots. Tries for steals too often on defense and gets burned when he doesn't get them, otherwise doesn't really seem to give effort on defense. Derrick Walker - Fifth year junior (two at Tennesse, three at NU including sitting out a year as a transfer before the NCAA rule change). Undersized post. Decent ball handler for his size. Good finisher around the rim. Has a decent mid-range jumper based on warmups. Good rebounder. Hustles most of the time. Pretty good defender in the post. Kobe Webster - Super Senior. Decent ball handler, but not a point guard. Decent shooter - better off the dribble or a screen than catch & shoot. OK defender. OK rebounder for his size. Hustles most of the time. C J Wilcher - Second year Freshmen. Transferred from Xavier. Pretty good shooter, but takes some bad shots at times. Kind of slow footed which hurts him on defense. Strong so he does OK as a post defender if he isn't way shorter than the player he's guarding (kind of reminds me of Ryan Anderson 06/07 - 09/10). OK rebounder. Good cutter & is able to finish at the rim through contact.

I honestly think this team has talent. There are several players that I like & with more time can be really good players in the B1G. I think most of the problems start with Verge. He doesn't fit Hoiberg's preferred offensive system, nor does he fit the system played in the B1G. He basically doesn't play defense unless he's going for steals. He takes horrible shots and is a black hole with the ball. If Hoiberg comes back next season, he needs to find a player that can run the offense & isn't worried about "getting mine". Typically, that would be a point guard, but a "point forward" would work too.

My dad &I have been going to games for 40+ years. We have never left a game early before yesterday. We left at half time. The team's effort was pitiful. If they don't give a $h!+, I sure as hell don't either.

CBS Sports current mock draft doesn't have Bryce in the first round. https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-mock-draft-2022-gonzaga-freshman-chet-holmgren-goes-no-1-to-magic-ahead-of-auburns-jabari-smith/

Neither of them has a mid-week game the first week of March. NU Plays PSU 2/28 & Wisconsin 3/6 & Northwestern plays Iowa 2/28 & Minnesota 3/5.

Aparently Michigan complained at halftime that the foul calls were to even in ghe first half.

Back to back with OSU/Northwestern on the 21st & 22nd?

At game. Don't see Verge warming up. Anyone know anything?

The number one solution is STOP PLAYING VERGE. If Hoiberg insists on playing him, the first time he plays outside the offense, he comes out until halftime. Repeat in the second half. I see Verge as a flashy version of Teddy Allen. The ball stops moving as soon has he touches it and everyone stands around and watches him. They looked much better as a team once Allen left. The outcomes were not drastically different, but at least they looked like a team. There are a couple of players that deserve a little longer leash, but not much. There are way too many players who are unwilling to accept their role. If it means walk-ons playing in the first half and being down by 25 at the half, so be it. At least they will play hard and within the scope of the offense.

Replace Verge with no one (as in don't use the scholarship) and how many more games do they win?

He's using his free covid year because he knows his career will basically be over once he can't play in college anymore.

I think Trey is more likely to come back for what would be his "super senior" year if Bryce comes back. I would be shocked if it wasn't a package deal.

Which means he should stick around for another year. Being the first pick in round 2 means you are going to a horrible team & maybe not getting a guaranteed contract.

I agree on the hero ball. I think Trey can help with leadership now that he's back from injury I add Mayen and Bryce to the "quit worrying about no calls" list. Agree 100% on the last two. They don't necessarily need a point guard as long as they have someone who can run the offense (ball movement) and make the right decisions. I think Banton was getting good at being a "point forward" toward the end of last year. Not great, but certainly growing into the position.

I did second guess my college coach occasionally, but never in public. I always went to his office and discussed things. Of course I was a DIII distance runner, so there's a big difference. No one was looking to get me on their radio show - not that there was an a lot of sports talk radio in the early 90's. I also see some hope for the future. Hoiberg needs to recruit to his style of play with some tweaks to fit the B1G and get fewer players like Verge & Teddy Allen who are black holes of ball movement.

I guess I'm thinking that there is more than one leader on the team. I'm sure there's more than one player who thinks that Verge is a problem on the court. You are right that only one player has said anything publicly, but like I said, it's hard to tell what the team dynamic is if you aren't in the locker room every day.

I don't necessarily disagree, but if enough players agree with him and go to Hoiberg and say they have tried to correct a player's $h!+ and there is no progress then going public about it might help. It also could cause any rift(s) to get bigger. It's hard to tell if you aren't in the locker room every day to see what the issues are.

Honestly, I can see it going either way. It will depend on how many players agree with Kobe and who needs to be held accountable. In the interview, he said he'd had the conversation with Hoiberg previously. That tells me that he had talked to the coaches and nothing had changed. I thought it was interesting that he mentioned one small thing that would show that players care would be to keep their lockers organized.

And the last home game was at 5 PM on Monday. Not covid related. Just a holiday that many people don't get off. Apparently getting on TV is more important than fans in person.

So NU & The B1G don't want people with jobs at any of the men's games. Got it.

As a "super senior", shouldn't he be one of the one's holding teammates accountable?

And both men's & women's needs to have no warnings. Just straight up T's.