while it sucks they lost, i'm not all that down. honestly, i saw better collective talent and spacing in this game then in a good majority of games during the previous era. believe me, i love to nitpick. i just didn't see much tonight that left me saying "oh they are terrible at this or that."
what i saw was a bunch of dudes who just started playing together, and nobody really knows quite where they fall in the pecking order. When you need a basket, knowing who to get the ball too is huge, and NU doesn't know that yet.
UC Riverside was unconscious tonight. One of those dudes was shooting 3s with a motion similar to a 7th grade girl, and he hit 3 i believe. Sometimes, in bball, you just lose. not because you should have, or you are terrible, or whatever.....but the other team is just on fire. its frustrating for sure, but it is what it is.
could the team benefit from less 1 on 1? yes. Absolutely. Are there 2 JUCO all-stars on our team who will get a taste of bigboy bball, with all the growing pains associated with it? most definitely. Mack and Green didn't play poorly, but they will learn fast (I hope) that an exciting, double dip missed layup isn't nearly as good as a drive, draw the defense, and kick to a wide open shooter. UC RIverside already got that memo and it showed tonight.
Could Doc have reminded his guys that we don't need 3 people closing out on a 3pt shooter, all at the same time? yes. Could they have stopped crashing hard to double the post (every time), only to watch the ball get reversed to a wide open shooter thats already hit 2 3s in a row? Yes please. but thats easy stuff to clean up. or it should be.
I'm not discouraged. Its a bummer they lost, but the energy and effort was there. We've got some unpolished playmakers at the guard spots. There is a good amount of upside to Drago and Cross.
If NU makes half of the missed layups and freethrows they bricked, this game ends differently.