[NU Sports] my two cents

[Michael Jackson]

The killer all year was our pass defense.  We would hold them on first
and second downs only to give up a large gain on third down.  Receivers
were open all year.  The only reason our defense was so good in the
early part of the Hawaii game was that Chang kept missing wide-open
receivers.  We either need to recruit faster cover people or mix up the
zone coverage enough to fool the better QB's.  Losing Howard really hurt
our pass rush.  
 
RW should and will be back next year.  He does a great job developing
running backs.  His teams play with heart and never give up as
demonstrated many times this year.  As fans, we get our moneys worth.
We have a problem with too many penalties, our kicking game always seems
to need improvement and our pass defense leaves much to be desired.
These problems have been with us for a number of years so I think it is
safe to conclude that RW should be held responsible for these
deficiencies.  
 
On the other hand, I too remember the dark years.  What we have now is
such an improvement.  As many of you have pointed out, a season is
determined by a few big plays.  We are competitive in most games and
have a chance to do great things.  Unless you want a football factory,
we have a chance to develop consistency for a long time.  Give it a
chance.
 
On to basketball.  We have the perfect coach for our university.  Our
problem so far this year is that we haven't seen who will step up and be
the leader. Vedran has struggled.  He is the target for most of the
defenses.  In the Colorado game he started to drive instead of just
shooting from the outside and his game improved.  Parker has shown
flashes where he can take over a game but he still lacks consistency.
Mohammed has lacked the spark he showed last year.  He is not shooting
and his defense is not up to par for him.  I don't know if Ramadan is to
blame or not.  We miss the big guy in the middle.  I hope he is close to
as good as advertised.  We need his rebounding.  Doyle is a great passer
and works hard to get his shot in the flow of the offense, but his
outside shot needs work.  Seacat has yet to hit from the outside and is
a liability on defense.  Duvancic and Scott have been inconsistent.
Brandon Lee has potential but needs to learn the offense.  As a team,
our shooting can only be described as horrible.  We have a bunch of
complementary players but no star.  We need to rebound better.  We play
best when we fast break off rebounds and then work the Princeton offense
if we can't get an easy shot off the break.  Our defense will improve as
the season progresses.  We will be exciting this year.  The team needs
to find itself  if we are to have post-season opportunities this year.