Hey guys: It’s easy to armchair coach but here are some points:

Collins getting Technical fouls. Not the first time that a Collins T contributed to an important loss. Does yelling at the Refs ever change a call or positively affect the future calls?  There is a way to protest and not get a T. There should be a rule change to allow going to the monitors to double check but if not suck it up.  If the head coach has no self control, he deserves the T.  However, the team doesn’t.  Fill in your own adjective for Collins. Choices. Collins seems to always be a play or two behind to call a time out when there is a momentum shift. Live or die by two players?   Push the other players and expand the rotation.  Collins plays a small rotations even when players are not performing as he believes that the law of averages will come around (based on HIS own playing, not the playing of the players at hand, I’m awfully tired of hearing Collins talk about his playing days…) but how many losses before he learns that with the talent level on this team, this team will lose before that works itself out. If a guy’s not on, give him a break to reset.  Push on Beran to create and take more shots.  Berry has to step up as well – he’s got the talent.  This packed schedule called for more rotation. Collins has been over-using Audige and Buie.  If players leave the program because they don’t get playing time then that’s understandable. I can’t help feeling that Collins gives players he likes more time than they might otherwise deserve. It keeps coming back year after year.  Nance was given every chance in the world at NU even when he was not . For example, Collins likes Roper, but he’s not an offensive force. Roper came back from injury but was then overused and got reinjured when the game was already gone. He should have been coming in gradually. Risk of re-injury was too high. Barnhizer getting good minutes and he’s getting better. Martinelli has shown that he deserves more time.  He gets rebounds and makes some shots. Nicholson is still growing and improving.   Verhoeven, he’s not got Big10 build but how to use this guy more effectively. He’s still getting up to speed on Big10 play figuring out how to play hard without fouling.  He needs to be coached up fast. Lastly, free throws?  Why the hell are some players’ free throw percentages so low??? What the heck? Keep it up guys, Dan

Daniel Shambaugh