Two teams coached by former Duke players and assistants that are on the upswing! Northwestern is ranked in some preseason polls (and I think the other polls are wrong — Collins has a deep and experienced team). I’m not very up to date on Marquette, but Wojo has been making progress.
Interestingly, the two teams played a closed-door scrimmage today. Since it’s closed-door, I don’t think there will be much news leaking out, but it’s still neat that Collins and Wojo did this.
Good thread. I'd vote to add UCF and Johnny D.
Some analysis of the scrimmage (Marquette-focused):
https://marquettewire.org/3979421/sp...open-practice/
Northwestern starts at #19 in the AP poll. Not ranked in the coaches’ poll, which I think is a mistake.
Huh? They're #20 in the Coaches' Poll.
I'm sure he meant they were not ranked in the top 19
The degree that Chris has put Northwestern on the college basketball map cannot be overstated. This was the worst program in the entire sport up until Collins arrived on campus. I'm not exaggerating. They were the only power 5 team to have never made a NCAA tourney and CC ended all of that last year.
Northwestern should be shaking in their boots at the prospect of Collins bolting for a big, big, big time job. He has to be on the short list of the top few coaches under 50 in the game today.
-Jason "Chris is 43. Who else under 50 is in the conversation? Shaka Smart (40), Tony Bennett (48), Sean Miller (48), Matt Painter (47)... anyone else?" Evans
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
NU extended Collins in April. Under contract through 2024. I don’t think he’s going anywhere.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...424-story.html
I tend to agree that Collins is going to stay at Northwestern, and maybe for the long haul. He has a chance to build a K-like program. There's no good reason why he can't.
Duke had some tradition before K, but really the draw was great academics, great young coach, chance to make a permanent name on a turnaround program, style of play, etc. My personal preference is for him to stick around in the Big Ten for a long time and make Northwestern something out of nothing.
Ok, maybe not K-like but at least Cutcliff-ian.
Elite private institution, can and probably will pay him a fortune over time, Chicago access, Chicago roots personally, amazing campus.
Purple isn't the greatest color for march, and I honestly think that affects things. Still. I think there's a good chance he's a lifer there. Five or 10 years more in, if he hasn't cracked the code but has shown consistent success, I think he could bolt but it will be a while.
Unless...he gets offered the Post-K job, then who knows.
Duke pre-K and Northwestern pre-Collins are not comparable. Duke had been to 4 Final Fours, won 5 Southern Conference Championships and 6 ACC Championships, coming off an Elite 8 and two years removed from the title game. It was also the 7th winningest program in NCAA history and had produced two National Players of the Year and numerous All-Americans. Northwestern was the only Power 5 school to never even make the NCAAs.
___________________
Mike Stein
Trinity '97, Tent #1 '97
Tampa
In the KenPom preseason poll. https://kenpom.com
Haven't posted here before, but in addition to being a Duke grad I'm currently on faculty at NU and have become a big fan of what Chris Collins has done with the program here. Thought some would be interested in this article from Chicago Magazine, which is a great read:
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Ma...rn-Basketball/