Jim French Stepstool

They really rely on their defense, and their full court press that they trap out of is one of the best. Offensively they had one play where #25 came around on a simple curl & wound up with open 12-15 footers numerous times. Once we figured that out they looked lost. I think they really miss Mulcahy, the PG that transferred out. Their guards were no match for Blackwell, Hepburn & McGee once we locked in defensively.

During the non-conference portion of the season there was a game or two when Hepburn & McGee played on the floor together, and I was very impressed with the perimeter defense they turned in. I recall thinking Gard may have dropped the ball not going to that tandem when they had so much trouble defending Penn States' guards. Today those two, along with Blackwell, played some of the most disruptive defense I've seen all season & it took over a game that looked, for the first 24-25 minutes, all too familiar to what we've seen during the 2-7 stretch. Then McGee chips in with 11 pts as well. POTG in my book. After McGee left with his 4th foul, Storr coming in & providing the lift that ballooned the lead to 19 was also a huge key. Crowl really came alive in the 2nd half as well.

Nice find! Just to clarify, Batchelor is at the UW-Oshkosh satellite campus in Fond Du Lac, which is a 2 year school & plays a junior college schedule. The school is actually closing in June, so if he wants to continue playing college ball he HAS to transfer. He didn't receive much interest out of HS (Dodgeville) but putting up numbers like that indicates that his game has developed somewhat. I wouldn't be surprised if he plays at UW-O or some other state school next season. If he garners any D-1 interest I would expect it to be from UWGB or St Thomas or someplace like that.

Sounds like Kamari McGee has been practicing the past few days & is getting pretty close to returning to the floor. It may or may not be tonight, but whenever he's able to provide the energy & defensive intensity he showed earlier it'll be a welcome addition.

I think that's a very good idea, bordering on necessary.

"Concatenated". Very nice. That'll look good on the coffee table, right next to "cromulent". Nice piece. Never had a chance to hear enough of him before, but Murphy sounds like an interesting cat. Mixing him in with all the young talent that's ready to contribute or on the verge of doing so makes for an intriguing mix.

Yep, they're quite impressive offensively. One of those teams that can have any one of 3 or 4 guys easily go off for 25 pts in a given game. But I wouldn't be surprised if they don't go deep into March. In their last 8 games, the only time they gave up less than 80 pts was at home to McDaniel-less Michigan. Now, their pace of play has much to do with that, but after watching them in person on Saturday there are some holes on that end. Not all that physical in the paint. They're susceptible to Orebs. IMO they're one of those teams that can get hot, but to advance well into the tourney they'll have to STAY that way. Might not survive a grinder, especially if there's a post presence on the other team.

They seem to be in a more aggressive mode regarding the advancement of prospects through the system, and for the most part I'm fine with it. But it's a different animal with catchers, especially catchers that are young for their level. Lots on their plate. Hoping 2024 is a year where if we see Quero, it's no more than a cup of coffee. Perhaps juggling the 3 vets allows for that.

That's a very valid point. But would they keep all 3? I'm assuming Haase has no options.

I loved reading the comments from Frelick, and I also totally get what Murphy feels about him, where he basically ignores (or purports to ignore) the analytical side of things, focusing instead on 'trust'. I think the kid's a winner. There's a lot of young talent here & some of it you can't help but include in deals. But I really hope he stays.

Regarding Haase, perhaps someone will find themselves in a similar situation to the one where we picked up Caratini, needing a catcher in the 11th hour just before the season opens. Tough deal for the guy. He seems to be having a real nice spring.

Today also further cemented something I've felt for awhile---boy do they miss McGee.

The first 20 games, that was Storr. He's definitely being coached to get to the rim more, which I'm fine with. But in retrospect maybe he's looser & more confident when they simply give him more leeway & live with the occasional bad shots as a lot of those went in in December & January. Maybe give him the freedom they gave Johnny Davis, even though they aren't similar players.🤷‍♂️

I'm perfectly fine with a team mixing in a zone from time to time. Dick Bennett had what he called his 2-3 "hustle zone", and I remember him going to it for stretches & really disrupting an opponent. The problem is, I'm sure we practice it either very, very little, or not at all. I suspect the theory from Gard is to do fewer things & do them well, and of course he learned under a coach to whom a zone is something that you pay extra for when leaving it when you make a long-distance call in the 1960s. Plus I doubt he or anyone else anticipated the man-to-man struggling so mightily. It isn't without merit-----Storr has some length as does Blackwell, and it gives you pretty much your only chance of playing Winter with Crowl if you ever choose to do so. I just think, at this stage, it's akin to overhauling the batting mechanics of a Joey Wiemer in late August. I'd have zero problem with it being an occasional bullet in the chamber next season. Every time Connor comes in I'm pulling for him to knock down a shot or two & maybe get more of a run. But not only did he miss his first look today, but made a couple dumb plays besides. Granted it was in a blowout, but his season high came against Rutgers who's coming in Thursday. So stay tuned I guess.

Do the numbers say NW is worse defensively? If true that's surprising to me. Eye test-wise, when I've seen them I feel they guard much better than we do. The level Collins gets them to play at, despite recent injuries, is very impressive.

He was. But I had a good view of it, and neither Blackwell nor Hepburn did a very good job of stepping in & establishing position. You don't necessarily have to be stationary to get a charge call, but neither did much to sell it. And they had to call SOMETHING, so...........

I would say that final chapter (Crowl vs Reuvers) hasn't been written. Tough call for me & a pretty good debate. Yeah, the matchups/draws in the NCAAs are everything. I think their shortcomings on defense are a bigger factor, but I'll admit they don't exactly have a horseshoe jammed up their ***, either.

Great post. Tough spot for Essegian. When you count both ends of the floor Klesmit is clearly better. Same with Blackwell. That leaves Storr, and if you're going to go with a scorer that has trouble guarding & getting others involved, Storr is much more versatile afa finding different ways to put the ball in the basket. That leaves Essegian in a position where he enters the game, and if he doesn't knock one down in his first 1-2 attempts it's hard to justify keeping him out there. In that sense he's sort of like the Marcus Ilver of the guards. Regarding not seeing B10 teams in the tourney, yeah, I've thought about that too. But you still have to guard w/o fouling. Runnin' out of time to get that right.

Just returned from the game. If you're going to struggle to get stops in crucial situations vs Michigan, Penn State, and Indiana, I guess it's certainly going to happen vs Illinois. Domask was close to unbelievable. When he wasn't guarded well, he scored. When Wahl had him bodied up pretty well, he scored. He did a lot of the stuff Happ used to do in the post, except he's 6-5 or whatever. and of course they shoot over 50% from three. On the season, 35%. Many of the looks were way too open though. Frustrating game. On about three occasions, the script seemed to be get on a roll, put together some good possessions, get the crowd good & loud to where it feels like you're right on the doorstep of a big run..........then stick your head up your arse for 3 minutes with turnovers, poor recovery on defense, lack of boxout, dumb fouls, etc. Then climb back in the game, lather, rinse, repeat. The small lineup was interesting insomuch as you seldom see it. I thought Crowl really dropped the ball today with the foul trouble. Maybe you want to go small anyway, but if he's able to actually stay on the floor & maybe get established in the post, now you might force Illinois to have to go big, and Hawkins isn't a banger & Underwood really doesn't want to play Dainja 25 minutes. But Winter couldn't guard anyone today so you're left with Illinois dictating to us; we HAD to play the small lineup. As it were that Lineup didn't look bad offensively, It's just that Illinois is much more comfy with it than we are. Crowl never gave us a chance to be able to dictate to THEM. Klesmit spent most of the game on Hawkins, who has 5-6 inches on him, and I thought he did pretty well. Just not enough guys who could cover up what's a terrific scoring team. A group like that really makes the deficiencies on defense stand out from guys like Winter, Essegian, Storr. Even Blackwell cracked a time or two, although I think he's holding up pretty well when you look at the big picture & all that's being asked of him. I wish everyone could've seen the pregame stuff w/Howard Moore & some of his former teammates. I'm not one to be noticeably moved by stuff; I seldom if ever cry at funerals. I cried.

Virginia is #46 in NET. UW has wins over three teams in that neighborhood---SMU(44), Northwestern(48) & Nebraska(41). I would assume Northwestern would be above all in that group if not for their loss to Chicago State, They also have two wins over Michigan State, which is #24.

I'd like to see Halls' pitch movement from a "CF camera" angle. You're telling me you aren't allowed to walk onto the field to give us this view? Whattsamatta, ain't ya got no pull?

Except that with Storr & Blackwell (and McGee, who was playing well before getting hurt) they're more athletic than they had been. I still think it's more about finding consistency. I mean, Crowl isn't overly athletic, we all know that. But he's 7 feet tall. You can be that size & skilled, and get a lot done (I admit this is a bad time to raise that point because he faced someone the same size & much more athletic yesterday). I don't think Iowa or Purdue are all that athletic, but Purdue has shown consistency on both ends, even w/o the advantage Edey gives them. Iowa, to my surprise, is just playing better than I expected. Sandfort, Krikke, Freeman, McCaffrey----there's nothing overly athletic about any of those guys. Northwestern is 19-8, and Buie is their only guy with supreme athleticism. But they guard people. I'll keep beating the same drum---they need to solve this equation of how to get off to better starts on the road, and guard people more than just intermittently. Also make plays late in games, on both ends--they've now failed to do that five times in close league games on the road. Change just a couple of those, and I doubt anyone is complaining all that much. How you're playing, rather than who. That's never been more true in the B10 than it is now. Unless you're playing Michigan at home w/o McDaniel there are truly no nights off. It's why consistency is so critical.

I wholeheartedly agree with this. And there's enough control remaining for Contreras that there's more than enough time for Quero to prove to the organization that you can make that move.

Agreed. I hate making an issue of the officiating because the team needs to play much more consistently on the defensive end. Maybe if you get some early stops it sorta sets the tone. But it wasn't a fun day for Crowl. Of course the way things are going lately, IU actually looks to go to Ware early & often, which they haven't always done. Then he performs like Wilt Chamberlain and oh yeah, hits a 23-footer too. Give me a break. I didn't realize until reading your post that they only turned it over twice. That's superb.

I was curious about something so I looked it up. Indiana shot just over 69% on 2pt FGs. They haven't done that all season, and they've played Kennesaw State, North Alabama, and West Point. I guess my point is yeah, our defense in the 1st 15 minutes was poor, but you can play against Jamal Gravelbutt & Harvey Fiddlethumbs for 40 min & not shoot that well. UW needs to come out much better, especially on the road, but I'm becoming convinced the hoops gods owe this team big time. Wahl's defense was so much better in the 2nd half, and Reneau has 3-4 baseline shots crawl in, without any benefit from the backboard. Frustrating. Indiana also came one make from hitting half of their 3pt shots, which they also did the first time they played UW. On the year they shoot 31% from three. Hepburn deserved a much better fate today. Kudos to Storr for stepping up after a non-existent 1st half. Blackwell was guilty of defensive miscues (who wasn't?) early, but the kid really showed his mettle. Oh, and they appeared to play better when Gilmore was on the floor, as opposed to Ilver & Winter, at the four. I'm fine with Ilver being given a shot, just sayin'.