[NU Sports] Fwd: overtime

[wildelk2 at aol.com]

   First of all, I didn't see the game on account of work.  That said, I consider this a 60/40 issue.  60% of me sides with Dennis; I've been an ardent Cat fan since 1978. I am 47 and still haven't seen my team in the tournament.  It gets, to say the least, old.   The probable NIT berth we'll (probably) get is bittersweet.   We'll be able to see Juice lace 'em up at least one more time.


   My thing is 2 wins.  For the 2nd season in a row, we finished 7-11 in conference.  Last year it was 1-3 vs. Iowa/PSU. We go 3-1 vs. 2 very bad teams and we dance.  I think we were closer last year than we were this year.  This year, a split vs. Sparty and OSU (count yesterday's result) and we dance.  To see Michigan, Illinois and Penn St. Make the NCAA tournament makes my stomach hurt.


   The 40% of me says we are closer than we've ever been of having a team qualify for the NCAA tournament.  With the injection of Thompson, Coble, Shurna, and hopefully Cobb and Crawford, athletic, talented players are saying "yes" to Evanston.  We'd all like to think that with Coble and/or Shurna's ankle being sound, we would 've made the tournament .  As I said, we got close.


   But now Thompson is gone.  We'll need a healthy Shurna, and the returning players (all of them) to step up their game.  I've heard Tre Demps is a good one who can help right away; don't know much about our other recruits.  I hope we aren't in for a rebuilding season without Juice.  That's my #1 fear.   These NIT seasons are much better than 10-20, 4-14..  


   That said, let me let you in on a little secret.  He coaches 15 miles west of downtown Pittsburgh at Robert Morris University, out near the airport.  His name is Andy Toole; a graduate of Penn.  He's a young guy, only 30.  He was All Ivy League, worked his way on to an Ass't Coach at Lafayette.  >From there, he landed Ass't Coach at Robert Morris.  The Head Coach, Mike Rice, led RMU to 2 straight Northeast  Conference titles, and last year was a referee's screwing from knocking off #2 Villanova.  Rice left for Rutgers, who improved in the rugged Big East in his 1st year, and signed a Big East-like recruiting class; RU will go to the NCAA tournament next season; I'd bet a lot of money on that.
   RMU reached the conference final after losing 2 senior starters and having they're biggest offensive threat (Karon Abraham)  miss nearly half the season due to a DUI, and then tearing his Achilles like Dan Persa.  They got hot late in the season, ripping off 8 straight to get to the final.  Toole recruited everyone on the team, and, by the way, RMU has one of the worst stadiums in the league. Sound familiar?  
   Toole won't stay at RMU forever.   I have no doubt that he can recruit NU-type of players that will win big.  
   I'm on record of stating BC deserves one more year to get us over the hump. Toole isn't going anywhere for 2011-12.  IF BC can't get it done, I know Andy Toole can.


    GO CATS!!          Eric


   




-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
To: nwu-sports <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Sat, Mar 12, 2011 4:36 am
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Fwd: overtime


Had we pulled off an upset over OSU yesterday, I would have been deliriously 
happy.  I also would have been stunned because I had little doubt they would 
blow that game in regulation and was dead certain we could not win it in 
overtime.  I've come to that from forty-seven years of witnessing many a game 
just like yesterday's, precious few of which have ended with an NU victory.  If 
nearly a half-century of following a program that has annually ranged from 
inept, at worst, to not-good-enough, at best, makes me "bitter," so be it.  I, 
too, used to cling to moral victories as a positive, but you can take solace in 
that only for so long before you realize that many moral victories equates to 
many losses.  The program's on-going tournament virginity is inexcusable.  It's 
time to get laid.  Now, THAT would put a smile on my face.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <marks83588 at aol.com>
To: <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2011 8:34 AM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Fwd: overtime




Dennis, sometimes I think you're just a bitter old alum. No one is happy that 
the Cats lost yesterday, but to not take pride in how hard they played against 
the best team in the nation is to have lost all perspective IMHO. The better 
team won but the NU kids played perhaps the game of their lives. Shura looked 
like the Shurna of old, Juice got hot as the game went on, Crawford was a beast 
on theh boards, and NU looked like a real, physical Big 10 team for the first 
time I can recall. Yes, there were some typical melt-downs (Luka!!?!?!) but 
these aren't a bunch of 4* and 5* kids who expect to win, the margin for error 
for NU was miniscule. Particularly with Cobb and Capocci out. 

I for one am happy with what I saw, and have moved from the "BC must go" camp to 
the "keep BC but upgrade the facilities if you're serious about winning in the 
Big 10" camp (assuming there IS such a camp!).

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis W. Brandt <tbng at comcast.net>
To: nwu-sports <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Fri, Mar 11, 2011 2:35 pm
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Fwd: overtime


Yes, the Cats played their guts out, but let there be no pride for losing 
nother winnable game.  Drew Crawford missed shot after makeable shot that 
ould have given us a decisive win.  Again at crunch time we lacked the 
tuff to win.  When oh when will it be our turn? 

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