[NU Sports] Best comment from the Iowa "Black Heart Gold Pants"board

[Weinbaum, Willie]

Excellent analysis!  

The small lineup could be a disaster against Minn or OSU, but the first meetings were disasters anyway and if, as Jeff said, the trey-shooting is on, the Cats can keep pace.  Can't count on getting second shots.  Getting Curletti in the game as a sub cuts down the chances he'll get into early foul trouble.  So little margin for error with this six-man rotation (plus spot duty for Fruendt, who made a nice no-look pass on Shurna's nifty scoop shot) that foul trouble must be avoided.  A shame Cobb isn't available, as his talents would really help.  But this team is sharp and the earlier adversities probably helped Carmody decide on the smaller lineup and helped crystalize for the players what they need to do to sustain good play and close out games.

By the way, I thought it was a GREAT move by Carmody to get the streaky Marcotullio out after his three straight treys late in the game - - before he missed - - so he carries a hot hand into the practices and the next game.  Every ounce of belief with him helps.

Exciting and intriguing times!

----- Original Message -----
From: Beamsley, Jeff [mailto:Jeff.Beamsley at covisint.com]
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 10:41 AM
To: Alan Abrahamson <alan.abrahamson at gmail.com>; Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] Best comment from the Iowa "Black Heart Gold	Pants"board

I agree.

I think we were all waiting to see if the Illinois game was the high
point of an oscillation that has disappointed us all season, or a
breakout game that is the first data point on a new trajectory for a
team that is learning how to win.

The Iowa game suggests it is the later.

The Iowa coach McCaffery mentioned how difficult it is to guard NU's
small lineup.

"It's a tough lineup to match up to. They got some drivers. They got
plenty of shooters. We play more of a traditional lineup. Somebody
that's not used to guarding a guy like [John] Shurna is going end up on
Shurna right off the bat. Somebody that's not used to guarding a guy
like [Alex] Marcotullio, that's who he's gonna end up on."

We saw this small lineup in action last night.

NU spreads the floor with Shurna playing the center spot.  If the other
team plays man, Shurna forces their big guy to come all the way out to
the three point line and chase Shurna around off the ball. That opens up
the middle for everybody else to drive to the basket.  It also opens
Shurna up for easy back cuts or those picks at the top of the key.  If
he doesn't come out to guard him, Shurna hits the three, or takes a
smaller guy to the post.

Not having a center does make us vulnerable for offensive and defensive
rebounds, and Iowa did out rebound us 29-21.  But against Illinois we
did prove that when the whole team crashes the boards, we can get
rebounds. Stats show that the Iowa game was also a team rebounding
effort.

The whole key to this team is making the three. As long as somebody is
hitting that shot, this small offense will work.

The couple of other interesting things last night were how well we
played in an up tempo game in the first half.  We did seem to run out of
gas toward the end of the first half, but we did also score some points
off the break.

Sobo had the hot hand so we didn't need Shurna to take the game over
late.

Finally, I think that the zone that we throw at folks once we have a
lead is really our secret weapon.  It is so tempting to try to pound the
ball inside when you see Sobo fronting a guy a foot taller than him.  We
do end up giving up some easy baskets when they are able to get the ball
in, but they end up giving up just as many turnovers in their effort to
get the ball inside.  So this D ultimately works to our advantage.  Even
if the better teams are able to work the ball inside more effectively
than Iowa, as long as they are using a lot of shot clock and we are
hitting threes and taking care of the ball, we'll keep our lead and just
grind out the game (as we did last night).

Jeff





-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com]
On Behalf Of Alan Abrahamson
Sent: Friday, February 10, 2012 9:59 AM
To: Northwestern Wildcats
Subject: [NU Sports] Best comment from the Iowa "Black Heart Gold
Pants"board


 Why is Iowa jNW's super
bowl<http://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2012/2/9/2787780/were-talkin-bas
ketball-iowa-vs-northwestern-basketball#>

IN EVERY F*ING SPORT

I edited the F-bomb to make that post suitable for work purposes.

Last night's game showed evidence of a tourney-worthy Wildcat team. Was
the
Illinois win the turning point?

Now -- can this team win on the road at Purdue? And, for real evidence,
at
Indiana?

Go Cats!

Alan
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