NU lets another one get away
this was last season ALL. OVER. AGAIN. NU three-points and backdoors their way to a lead but cannot close the deal.
NU jumped out to a nice start and then held the lead for a 12 minute stretch from late first half into the second half. Illinois regained the lead with about 11 minutes left on the second of back-to-back threes from Brandon Paul.
in a crucial possession down the stretch, NU had nothing. coming out of a 30 second timeout with about four minutes left, Juice threw up a jumper at the shot clock buzzer.
i'm on board with Shurna taking a 3 for the win at the end of regulation, especially since NU shot 32% from 2PT vs 34% from 3PT. thank god Rowley wasn't in the game at that point, so we could actually make a put-back layup after getting a rebound.
i thought Marcotullio (and Crawford, to a lesser extent) acquitted himself well in his first trip to a hostile environment. Nash stepped up on the offensive end and finished with 16 points, although almost all were in the first half. i have no idea why Mirkovic is taking 13 shots, 4 of them from behind the arc.
as some have already pointed out, if NU let's Mike Tisdale run all over them, what will happen when they face a legitimately good big man? that was a disappointing loss, especially with Sparty coming to the town on Saturday.
NU jumped out to a nice start and then held the lead for a 12 minute stretch from late first half into the second half. Illinois regained the lead with about 11 minutes left on the second of back-to-back threes from Brandon Paul.
in a crucial possession down the stretch, NU had nothing. coming out of a 30 second timeout with about four minutes left, Juice threw up a jumper at the shot clock buzzer.
i'm on board with Shurna taking a 3 for the win at the end of regulation, especially since NU shot 32% from 2PT vs 34% from 3PT. thank god Rowley wasn't in the game at that point, so we could actually make a put-back layup after getting a rebound.
i thought Marcotullio (and Crawford, to a lesser extent) acquitted himself well in his first trip to a hostile environment. Nash stepped up on the offensive end and finished with 16 points, although almost all were in the first half. i have no idea why Mirkovic is taking 13 shots, 4 of them from behind the arc.
as some have already pointed out, if NU let's Mike Tisdale run all over them, what will happen when they face a legitimately good big man? that was a disappointing loss, especially with Sparty coming to the town on Saturday.
posted by Fire Bill Carmody at
10:38 PM
3 Comments:
i'm not really seeing the parallels to last season, you're that upset about one bad possession with 4 minutes left? the offense was fine down the stretch, in fact it was pretty damn good after the last TV timeout, the defense, namely carmody's refusal to stop playing 1-3-1 when it was getting killed, was the bigger problem here. yes they lost a lead but it wasn't like they choked it away late.
it's hard to say whether Tisdale's huge game was the result of him just having a monster night or because NU can't stop big men. they did a fine job against Harangody and Brackins so I doubt they'll get killed every single night inside. definitely a frustrating loss though, they are done for if Thompson is out for a while.
It would be easy for me to come on here after last night's game and deride our coach's ability to:
1. Have his top 25 team (a rating which was achieved thanks to scheduling such devastating foes as Central Connecticut State, UNF which I believe is either the University of North Florida or the University of Nobody Fucking Cares (actually that would be UNFC, so I'll go with North Florida), Tennessee State, and the University of My Left Nut. Yes a schedule so devastating that it is ranked 264 out of 347 division I schools) beat a mediocre big ten team who had just lost two consecutive games to unranked opponents.
2. Figure out that maybe the 1-3-1 half court defense with little Juice Thompson on the baseline against a big Illinois front line was not the best strategy. But I guess our great logician wasn't worried as he watched Illinois' 2 big men shoot 20 for 28 against us. For fucksake we let that Tisdale guy, who looked like he was the love child of Chuck Nevitt and Chris Burke, drop 31 on us. 31 fucking points. And just for shits and giggles I Iooked it up and Tisdale's high for the year was only 18, which isn't surprising because he lacks a certain quality most good basketball players have, a little something called COORDINATION.
3. Make an in game strategy change for once. Really, see point fucking 2. Hey Car-no-win-dy, there are other fucking gimmicks out there, you're allowed to switch things up. It's called keeping teams off balance.
Like I said, it would be easy for me to do that, but I'm not going to do so. Nope. Today I am going to praise our gallant students athletes who despite being saddled with an offense so moronic that it has been banned by every team but 3 in NCAA divsion I and despite being stuck with a coach who adjusts to game situations worse than Lindsay Lohan adjusts to fame, they play their fucking asses off. I could not be more impressed with the effort and the guts our players showed last night in Illinois.
And let me tell you something, that little Juice Thompson can fucking play this game. Despite having to guard 7 footers in the post (and again, how did that strategy work in Bill Carshitty's sole post season appearance in his 9 year Reign of Error last year vs. Tulsa?), he controls the game on offense, makes good decision, rarely makes a bad turnover, and he can fucking shoot. AC has been following NU since the glory days when Cedric Neloms wasn't even the first pick for pick up basketball games at SPAC and I can tell you that Juice Thompson is the best player this program has seen since that time, Evan Eschmeyer and Vedran Vukusic be damned. It is amazing what happens when a player actually gets better from year to year which is rarer in the Carmody years than a steak tartare still on the bone or a straight porn scene with no moneyshot.
So AC just wants to applaud this basketball team for working their asses off despite playing against 2 opponents on a nightly basis (the other team, and Carshitty). And AC also wants to give Juice Thompson the praise he deserves. That guy can play this game.
Fuck Carmody
and a special Fuck Auburn for tomorrow when NU wins their first bowl game since 1949.
AC
I just want to go on record as saying that I 100% blame Bill Car-no-win-dy for NU's loss to Auburn in the Outback Bowl. I don't know how he did it, but I am sure he is to blame.
Kidding of course.
What a heartbreaking game.
And whatever happened to my friend anonymous? Free Anonymous!!!!
Fuck Carmody
AC
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