Mizzou-Nu round 2

[Daniel]

Colliers doing a hell of a lot better then Doc has done so far.  Doc's recruits that were spose to be so great haven't shown much.  THe only impressive one is Miller right now imo.  Harley once in a while can look good but not that good for being a jr.  Our only good players are Maric and Anderson and both of them were brought to NU by Collier.

[howie long]

Since the topic of bad officiating is close, did anybody see Beasley of K-St. get screwed by my least favorite ref, Ed Hightower. He called a technical on Beasley after another official called him for traveling. Beasley turned to see what the call was and after a step or two a T-Tech player stepped in front of him and the Tech player hit the floor and Hightower immediately assessed the "T". Hightower ruins more games than any official I know.
I also couldn't believe they called the travel on Beasley but then I realized the game was in Lubbock.

[HuskerFan2002]

If we can just hang in there, an NIT bid is nothing to be ashamed about. Who cares if it doesn't get any attention nationally? It's better to go to some form of a tournament than not going to one at all. We are 2-3 at home during conference play and that may be a difference maker when it comes to choosing which team plays at home in the NIT.

[Shockrfan]

is doc running the style of offense and defense he wants to with maric? or did he tailor them around maric?

[no1huskafan]

Colliers doing a hell of a lot better then Doc has done so far.  Doc's recruits that were spose to be so great haven't shown much.  THe only impressive one is Miller right now imo.  Harley once in a while can look good but not that good for being a jr.  Our only good players are Maric and Anderson and both of them were brought to NU by Collier.

Where and how has Collier done better than Doc so far?

[BigRedArmy]

What's up with the freethrows?

They've not only plagued Doc's teams, but Collier and Nee.  What's the deal?  Does it have to do with quality of athlete?

I'm completely dumbfounded by the number of games NU could've won over the years had they simply hit their freethrows in crunch time.

[Mr Bennett]

Colliers doing a hell of a lot better then Doc has done so far.  Doc's recruits that were spose to be so great haven't shown much.  THe only impressive one is Miller right now imo.  Harley once in a while can look good but not that good for being a jr.  Our only good players are Maric and Anderson and both of them were brought to NU by Collier.

First off, it is far too soon to pass judgement on Doc.  Of the players Barry left, only Richardson and Maric would have had a chance at breaking the rotation in 8 of the 12 other Big XII schools.  There was litterally no one here worth their weight in warm spit.  To have this team jocking for mid-level status in conference play is an accomplishment.  Plus he only has one recruiting class under him.  The freshmen haven't taken the world by storm yet, but that doesn't mean they wont be valuable contributers in two years.  Defend or deride Doc all you want, he may end up being good, he may end up being bad, I haven't formed an opinion yet cause its just too soon.

But regardless of your opinion on Doc, Collier was a piss poor coach and the worst thing that happened to NU basketball in the last 20 years.  He was here for six years and never once sniffed the tourney.  Have you forgot the Barry Collier offense?  It consisted of four guys at the three point line, passing the ball back and forth with little motion, while one guy tried to work the middle.  After shot clock ran down to 10 seconds or so, one guy would take it, try to penetrate and be left throwing up an off-balance, contested shot with about a 20% chance of success.

The 2003-04 squad was a very talented bunch that Collier misused and under coached all the way to a 16-12 regular season.  I'll never forgive him for butchering that year.  They had size with Drevo and Turek (who was more skilled defensively than Maric, and a solid offensive guy), outside shooting from a host of players (they shot 39% on 3's for the year!), and good tough defenders in Cory Simms, Turek, and Muhleisen.  That's not even mentioning Nate Johnson, who was the most talented player we've had since Tyronne Lue (and no I'm not forgetting Vincent Hamilton).  I'll never understand how he only averaged 13 points that season.

[UNK_LOPERS]

Colliers doing a hell of a lot better then Doc has done so far.  Doc's recruits that were spose to be so great haven't shown much.  THe only impressive one is Miller right now imo.  Harley once in a while can look good but not that good for being a jr.  Our only good players are Maric and Anderson and both of them were brought to NU by Collier.

Ha!  That's almost laughable.  Collier's grab and slap defense?  Collier's innability to motivate?  Collier's innability to challenge calls from the horrible Big 12 officials?  If a Collier team got down early, you could have kissed any opportunity to win away.  Collier's teams had 0 heart or character.  So far, I see Doc Sadler doing all of these things.  

While it is true that Collier did hire Spelini who was able to bring in Maric/McCray/White very late in his tenure, 3 talented players won't win you games in the Big 12 when you have 0 talent outside of that.  Besides, McCray loved McDonald's too much and White didn't have his head on straight.  As far Maric, you could make the statement that he's improved and developed much more in his year and a half with Doc than he ever did with his 2 years of Collier.  

I loved Collier....like Dana Altman, he is a great mid-major coach.  That is all he is though.  Mid-major coaches don't always understand the talent level you need to win with in big-time basketball.  Collier ran a program off the court that you can be proud of.  All class, all the time.  His teams underacheived to say the least.  

Doc has his boys playing with 100% effort.  Outside of Kansas, we have had a chance to win every single game we have played thus far.  That just wouldn't have happened under Collier.  Period.  If Doc gets that kind of effort out of some players with more talent than he has right now, there is something special that is going to happen.  Will he get those players?  Maybe, maybe not.  What I can tell you is this, if we gave Barry Collier 6 years, we sure as hell better be giving Doc Sadler 5.

[UNK_LOPERS]

What's up with the freethrows?

They've not only plagued Doc's teams, but Collier and Nee.  What's the deal?  Does it have to do with quality of athlete?

I'm completely dumbfounded by the number of games NU could've won over the years had they simply hit their freethrows in crunch time.

I was just thinking about that.  Not sure it has anything to do with athletes really.  Free throws are usually shot better by teams who are unathletic.  I think a lot of teams can say they would have lost a lot of games by not hitting free throws over the years....but not to the extend we can.  I have no idea but it's very frustrating, isn't it?

[Shockrfan]

we all know free throws are more mental. not many players just shoot them anymore. when you see kids coming from large inner cities they arent shooting free throws when a foul is called. not just singling the inner city kids out. the game has become more about flash. you just dont have the gym rat shooting 1000 free throws a night.

[redalert]

UNK I respect your opinion but you can't be serious when you say the Big 12 is the best conference in the country.

Kansas, KSU, Texas, and Texas A&M are all good. However you see a pretty big drop when you look at the bottom dwellers in the conference. The big 12 has two teams with losing records and the ACC and PAC 10 only have 1. Plus look at stregnth of schedule and I think the ACC would win.

I will give you this. The big 12 is arguably the best it has been as a conference in years but is still several notches behind the ACC and a notch behind the Big 10.

[UNK_LOPERS]

The Big 12 is head and shoulders above both the Pac-10 and the Big 10 this year.  The ACC, I think, is better by a substantial amount at this point.    

Just my opinion...of course the hype is always going to be with the conference media darlings.  Just wait till tourney time.  The Big 12 is going to throw down this year.  We will get 5 teams in for sure...Oklahoma should make it 6 if they win the games they are supposed to.

I think Oklahoma State is about to get hot and potentially could mess things up for some teams.  I'm not joking when I say this....if Kansas gets upset before the semi-finals in the Big 12 Tourney, Oklahoma State could very well take out the Texas schools and take the tourney.