After losing at Providence 89-65, NU hosts local rival Harvard tonight in the home opener.

The game can be seen on NESN at 7pm.

NU won three of the last four meetings and has also won five of the last six games against Harvard at Matthews Arena.

I still don’t know the status of Joe Pridgen, but this team could use his scoring ability and be part of the rotation.

Good effort. They really got our defense out of sorts in the second half and our switches weren’t tight so that will hopefully improve. We absolutely botched the clock at the end of the game. For starters, 4 seconds is too small of a difference to let it play out without fouling. And then, it is really going to be tough to rebound and go coast to coast and score in that amount of time. Tough to swallow when we go home with two timeouts in our pocket. We have improved each game, though. On to Syracuse.

(11-16-2022 09:01 PM)NUFan35 Wrote:  Good effort. They really got our defense out of sorts in the second half and our switches weren’t tight so that will hopefully improve. We absolutely botched the clock at the end of the game. For starters, 4 seconds is too small of a difference to let it play out without fouling. And then, it is really going to be tough to rebound and go coast to coast and score in that amount of time. Tough to swallow when we go home with two timeouts in our pocket. We have improved each game, though. On to Syracuse.

It WAS good effort.....all things considered.. We lose Doherty three minutes into the game and are there at the end of the game. It seems like Woods is the freshman the coaches have the most confidence in. Let the other freshmen make their mistakes and learn.

(11-16-2022 10:43 PM)NUGUY Wrote:  

(11-16-2022 09:01 PM)NUFan35 Wrote:  Good effort. They really got our defense out of sorts in the second half and our switches weren’t tight so that will hopefully improve. We absolutely botched the clock at the end of the game. For starters, 4 seconds is too small of a difference to let it play out without fouling. And then, it is really going to be tough to rebound and go coast to coast and score in that amount of time. Tough to swallow when we go home with two timeouts in our pocket. We have improved each game, though. On to Syracuse.

It WAS good effort.....all things considered.. We lose Doherty three minutes into the game and are there at the end of the game. It seems like Woods is the freshman the coaches have the most confidence in. Let the other freshmen make their mistakes and learn.

That's because Woods is the best defender. They love his effort.

Tonight was a great effort, just made some bad mistakes and got out of sorts defensively. But that's to be expected. As we all know there's going to be some growing pains and this game is an example.

Chase didn't have a good game either, but still want him out there than McClintock.

Highlights of NU's 70-69 loss...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV9sV5XK-qY

Coen postgame…

https://twitter.com/gonumbasketball/stat...GfmICcd02Q

NU is back on the road Saturday afternoon at Syracuse, who lost again to Colgate Tuesday.

The game time has changed from 2pm to 4pm and it's now on the ACC Network.

Before long Cormier will be the starter and a high twenties mpg guy. His ball handling turnovers probably cost him minutes last night. He could have gotten some more assists yesterday because he was getting the ball to guys for open shots...which they missed.

Metcalf made the most of his three minutes with two blocks and a rebound. I thought he earned a few more minutes later in the game.

It's way too early to decide who will turn out to be our best freshman but, for me, Woods is leading the pack right now. He defends, rebounds, scores ands runs like a deer. With Turner getting such a late start it's even harder to guess how well he will do but he seems to have a huge upside.

(11-17-2022 09:50 AM)NUGUY Wrote:  Before long Cormier will be the starter and a high twenties mpg guy. His ball handling turnovers probably cost him minutes last night. He could have gotten some more assists yesterday because he was getting the ball to guys for open shots...which they missed.

Metcalf made the most of his three minutes with two blocks and a rebound. I thought he earned a few more minutes later in the game.

It's way too early to decide who will turn out to be our best freshman but, for me, Woods is leading the pack right now. He defends, rebounds, scores ands runs like a deer. With Turner getting such a late start it's even harder to guess how well he will do but he seems to have a huge upside.

I agree that it’s only a matter of time before Chase starts (hopefully) and you’re right, the few bad turnovers led to his minutes getting cut.

I gave you guys a heads up after the Canadian trip that the staff were pleasantly surprised and loved Woods defense and overall game. I also agree with you that Metcalf should’ve played a little more. I don’t necessarily agree with Coen’s comment that Harvard was too physical for him and that’s why he went to Nwagha instead.

Right now I love the way Stucke is playing and let’s hope he’s consistent with this effort. We need him, Telfort and Pridgen to be consistent scorers for us. Pridgen warmed up and was in uniform, so I thought he was good to go. I don’t know what the deal is. Is he healthy or not?

Let’s also see what Doherty’s status will be for Saturday. He pointed to his head when he was on the floor with the trainer, but I watched the replay a few times. I still don’t know how he got hurt.

It would be nice to be completely healthy for once. It feels like it’s been years since we have. Even in 2019 when we danced, we had injuries.

NU stays on the road as they visit crosstown rival Harvard on Tuesday night.

Harvard (2-0) is coming off a road win at Rice and is a 4.5 favorite. Last year NU lost at Matthews to Harvard 70-69.

It's a homecoming for Luka Sakota who I know would love to beat his former team. However, this might be another game where we come up short.

Time to start winning these types of games and turning the ship around

That first half was a tough watch. I do agree with some of the comments from the other day. The offense running through Chris feels like a force.

I shouldn't have opened my mouth about the 1st half. This is an utter disgrace. We should be past this by now.

(11-14-2023 08:18 PM)NUFan35 Wrote:  I shouldn't have opened my mouth about the 1st half. This is an utter disgrace. We should be past this by now.

We clearly didn't have the frontcourt to handle Harvard.

I'm not sure what you mean by "get past this."

We should be past the point where we have five or so games per year where we get absolutely annihilated by teams of comparable talent. We have too many returning/experienced players for that. Harvard may be a little bit better than us but not 30 points better.

We should be past the point where we go 15 minutes and score 5 points. We should be past the point where we are giving up runs like 33-5. It's absolutely unacceptable and speaks to a total breakdown at every level. This is not a heavyweight. This is a pedestrian Harvard team at best.

(11-14-2023 11:15 PM)NUFan35 Wrote:  We should be past the point where we have five or so games per year where we get absolutely annihilated by teams of comparable talent.

Stop right there... Harvard clearly had an advantage in the frontcourt. It wasn't even close and that was known going into this one.

We don't have TOO many experienced players. Doherty, Pridgen and Sakura are the experienced players. That's it. Harvard also gets top 100 recruits every year... we do not.

Now, did I expect to get blasted tonight? No, but we still have a ways to go.

Of course they had an advantage in the frontcourt. No one would claim otherwise. That would be the analysis if we lost a functional game. That result was totally unacceptable and is about the 10th such result in the last 60 games. We do not have TOO much experience, but we do have way TOO much to be embarrassing ourselves against this Harvard team.

I had to watch this one from my phone, thankfully I didn't schedule my whole night around this mess. The fact that Doherty kept at it when it was clear that he was over matched is squarely on the coaching. We get into our set and the ball keeps finding its way down to Doherty which produced terrible looks, turnovers and players hanging their heads. We have the athletes to run, why aren't we pushing tempo all game long? We have a deep roster of kids just waiting to show what they can do in transition. Bill knows how to structure a zone D that can frustrate an opponent, and he also knows when to switch it up so the O is confused. That was his calling card many years ago when we were playing in a stronger CAA. Why isn't this happening? We don't have the chops right now to play the possession game from the opening whistle. The sky isn't falling for me on this season, my expectations are pretty low to begin with, I just want to see progress. Bill can recruit, I am hoping someone from this sophomore class emerges so we can all be excited when he transfers to the ACC or BE etc.

(11-14-2023 11:34 PM)geewizNU Wrote:  

(11-14-2023 11:15 PM)NUFan35 Wrote:  We should be past the point where we have five or so games per year where we get absolutely annihilated by teams of comparable talent.

Stop right there... Harvard clearly had an advantage in the frontcourt. It wasn't even close and that was known going into this one.

We don't have TOO many experienced players. Doherty, Pridgen and Sakura are the experienced players. That's it. Harvard also gets top 100 recruits every year... we do not.

Now, did I expect to get blasted tonight? No, but we still have a ways to go.

I would kill to have Harvard's frontcourt. Likewise for a freshman like Malik. I guarantee you that Harvard fans are already worrying about losing him next year. "Pedestrian" is not a word I would use to describe Harvard. Their interior defense was pretty amazing last night.

As an unabashed optimist it pains me to say that there were no positives to be taken from the game with the possible exception of the fact that Kermony and Frankel looked promising. If we have a strength this year it may be depth at the guard position. As the season goes on could we be more of a pressing team ala Pitino's BU teams or FDU last year?

(11-15-2023 07:58 AM)Huskydog Wrote:  I had to watch this one from my phone, thankfully I didn't schedule my whole night around this mess. The fact that Doherty kept at it when it was clear that he was over matched is squarely on the coaching. We get into our set and the ball keeps finding its way down to Doherty which produced terrible looks, turnovers and players hanging their heads. We have the athletes to run, why aren't we pushing tempo all game long? We have a deep roster of kids just waiting to show what they can do in transition. Bill knows how to structure a zone D that can frustrate an opponent, and he also knows when to switch it up so the O is confused. That was his calling card many years ago when we were playing in a stronger CAA. Why isn't this happening? We don't have the chops right now to play the possession game from the opening whistle. The sky isn't falling for me on this season, my expectations are pretty low to begin with, I just want to see progress. Bill can recruit, I am hoping someone from this sophomore class emerges so we can all be excited when he transfers to the ACC or BE etc.

I agree with you 1,000 percent on Doherty. The fact that Coen keeps making him the focal point on the offensive end is ridiculous and hurting this team. He should be a secondary player with the guards and wings on this roster. This is why I have said he should’ve left after last year. I never expected him to be here 4 seasons.

He’s not solely the reason we lost this game. Harvard’s front court and the outside shooting by their guards killed us.

I really hope Coen realizes in these games that getting a few bigs somewhere needs to be the focus next year.

(11-15-2023 12:23 PM)geewizNU Wrote:  

(11-15-2023 07:58 AM)Huskydog Wrote:  I had to watch this one from my phone, thankfully I didn't schedule my whole night around this mess. The fact that Doherty kept at it when it was clear that he was over matched is squarely on the coaching. We get into our set and the ball keeps finding its way down to Doherty which produced terrible looks, turnovers and players hanging their heads. We have the athletes to run, why aren't we pushing tempo all game long? We have a deep roster of kids just waiting to show what they can do in transition. Bill knows how to structure a zone D that can frustrate an opponent, and he also knows when to switch it up so the O is confused. That was his calling card many years ago when we were playing in a stronger CAA. Why isn't this happening? We don't have the chops right now to play the possession game from the opening whistle. The sky isn't falling for me on this season, my expectations are pretty low to begin with, I just want to see progress. Bill can recruit, I am hoping someone from this sophomore class emerges so we can all be excited when he transfers to the ACC or BE etc.

I agree with you 1,000 percent on Doherty. The fact that Coen keeps making him the focal point on the offensive end is ridiculous and hurting this team. He should be a secondary player with the guards and wings on this roster. This is why I have said he should’ve left after last year. I never expected him to be here 4 seasons.

He’s not solely the reason we lost this game. Harvard’s front court and the outside shooting by their guards killed us.

I really hope Coen realizes in these games that getting a few bugs somewhere needs to be the focus next year.

Wiz, I actually agree with you on how Doherty is being used, especially against teams with much taller and talented bigs. I think the only thing we disagree on is whether or not he should be on the team.

(11-15-2023 12:23 PM)geewizNU Wrote:  

(11-15-2023 07:58 AM)Huskydog Wrote:  I had to watch this one from my phone, thankfully I didn't schedule my whole night around this mess. The fact that Doherty kept at it when it was clear that he was over matched is squarely on the coaching. We get into our set and the ball keeps finding its way down to Doherty which produced terrible looks, turnovers and players hanging their heads. We have the athletes to run, why aren't we pushing tempo all game long? We have a deep roster of kids just waiting to show what they can do in transition. Bill knows how to structure a zone D that can frustrate an opponent, and he also knows when to switch it up so the O is confused. That was his calling card many years ago when we were playing in a stronger CAA. Why isn't this happening? We don't have the chops right now to play the possession game from the opening whistle. The sky isn't falling for me on this season, my expectations are pretty low to begin with, I just want to see progress. Bill can recruit, I am hoping someone from this sophomore class emerges so we can all be excited when he transfers to the ACC or BE etc.

I agree with you 1,000 percent on Doherty. The fact that Coen keeps making him the focal point on the offensive end is ridiculous and hurting this team. He should be a secondary player with the guards and wings on this roster. This is why I have said he should’ve left after last year. I never expected him to be here 4 seasons.

He’s not solely the reason we lost this game. Harvard’s front court and the outside shooting by their guards killed us.

I really hope Coen realizes in these games that getting a few bugs somewhere needs to be the focus next year.

I cant see this team going .500 for the year, can you? The fact that we just assume Bill will be back just makes me more numb (is that even a thing?) This guy pretty much recruits at a high level but his teams are just mostly mediocre. Which makes Bill....you guessed it mediocre. Jim isn't making a move until the contract is over and it's framed like a retirement, that's pretty certain. Someone please wake me up when its over?

(11-15-2023 07:58 AM)Huskydog Wrote:  I had to watch this one from my phone, thankfully I didn't schedule my whole night around this mess. The fact that Doherty kept at it when it was clear that he was over matched is squarely on the coaching. We get into our set and the ball keeps finding its way down to Doherty which produced terrible looks, turnovers and players hanging their heads. We have the athletes to run, why aren't we pushing tempo all game long? We have a deep roster of kids just waiting to show what they can do in transition. Bill knows how to structure a zone D that can frustrate an opponent, and he also knows when to switch it up so the O is confused. That was his calling card many years ago when we were playing in a stronger CAA. Why isn't this happening? We don't have the chops right now to play the possession game from the opening whistle. The sky isn't falling for me on this season, my expectations are pretty low to begin with, I just want to see progress. Bill can recruit, I am hoping someone from this sophomore class emerges so we can all be excited when he transfers to the ACC or BE etc.

First off, back in the day NU would never lose to Harvard. That said, while I rarely get the opportunity to see the Huskies play, it sounds like this is the typical NU team under Coen, with talent and athleticism but not playing to their talent level, playing that slow, methodical style and not playing to their potential. It's a theme with Coen, the team consistently underachieving. Coen needed to go 10 years ago.