[NU Sports] Basketball

[Joe Thiegs]

Also, Wisconsin regularly got some of the best Minnesota players while 
Dan Monson was the Gophers coach (same thing for football with Barry 
Alvarez and Brett Bielema on Jim Wacker's and Glen Mason's watches).  
That trend has slowed a bit as of this year with Tubby Smith and Tim 
Brewster at the helm for basketball and football, respectively.  I have 
little doubt that Bo Ryan will continue to recruit well despite tougher 
competition to the west but I wonder where he will find a replacement 
for the formerly regular inflow of top Minnesota talent.  In football, I 
will be interested to see how Bielema does without easy pickings to the 
west.  -Joe

SjT (Stephen J. Truog) wrote:
>>  Just to provoke discussion:
>> have to ask, again: if Wisconsin can remake itself
>> into a perennial basketball contender from that
>> talent pool, why is it Northwestern is not able to
>> win?
>>     
>
> Now ... as a native Wisconsinite I take offense to
> that!:) Having seen high school hoops in Arizona for
> the past few years, I can say that although Wisconsin
> high schools are not exactly Indiana and Illinois for
> talent, there are a lot worse states.
>
> Wisconsin's produced its share of talent ... and more
> importantly, has seen its share of quality coaches at
> the high school and college level in the past few
> decades. Plus ... Wisconsin, Marquette, UW-Milwaukee
> and UW-Green Bay have all made notable NCAA runs in
> the past two decades and the non division I schools
> are strong. Not many states outside of Indiana and
> Carolina have multi-school successes on the hardcourt
> in recent years. Much like the Packers/Badgers success
> of the 1990s trickled down to boost the state's HS
> football programs, so did Marquette and Wisconsin's
> Final Four runs.
>
> But in any case, it's apples and oranges with UW and
> NU. Being the primary state university will help you
> "seal the borders" - especially when you get good.
> Wisconsin's football and basketball successes both
> started with getting good coaches who kept the best
> talent in state. NU has no home borders to seal.
>
>   
>>  2. Indiana reportedly keen to make a run at
>> Tennessee's Bruce Pearl. To which I have to ask: why
>> doesn't Northwestern make a run at Pitt's Jamie
>> Dixon?
>>     
>
> Two parts there ... first off IU would be wise to get
> Pearl. Dunno if he'll leave, but they need a big name
> in Bloomington after the Sampson debacle. As for
> Dixon, I'm not sure why he'd leave Pitt for NU. Nice
> to dream a bit though!:)
>
> GO CATS!!!
> -SjT
>
> * * * * * * * * *
> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
> sjtruog at yahoo.com
> GO CATS!!!
>
>
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