Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: Wisconsin Primer
2/11/2017 10:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
ON(to) WISCONSIN, WHERE THE SUNDAY MENU FEATURES THE 'CATS MEETING WITH THE BADGERS IN AN EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL.
THE COMPETITOR burns bright in the belly of 'Cat point Bryant McIntosh, and this is a good thing. It pushes him always to seek greatness and to endure the rigors demanded to reach that exalted realm. But, on occasion, that passion can be a detriment as well, and this is the fine line he now walks as the team he leads plays on without the still-ill Scottie Lindsey.
For here, on the one hand, he must do more to compensate for that loss, which will lead to positive results. But there, on the other, he must not try to do too much, which will only be deleterious to both him and those around him. "He knows, when you lose that kind of scoring (Lindsey is averaging 15.4 ppg), bottom line is we probably do need him to score a little bit more, and make plays like he normally has, and then we need other guys to step up," Chris Collins said Friday when asked about this matter. "You lose a perimeter guy, it actually puts more on his plate. I'd like to put less on his plate. But the bottom line right now is he knows he has to do a lot for us to win against really good teams. Now it's about not forcing too much action, trying to do it the right way."
And that's a fine line.
"Yeah. Yeah. When you lose a guy who's all-league caliber, inherently, if you're one of those guys that knows you have to do it, you're going to try to do a lot, you're going to try and do a little bit more. It comes from a good place."
"It's a committee that has to make up for the things he did and, late game, I just have to do a better job of taking care of it," McIntosh himself soon said. "Some things happen. You slip and fall, maybe get tripped. (This happened on one late possession last Tuesday in the Illinois game and led to a turnover.) But that's part of it. But, yeah. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself."
But he inherently does put pressure on himself.
"Yeah. Yeah," he agreed. "I want to do well. I want to help us win, and I'll do whatever I can to help us win. That's a problem with being a competitor. When you feel like you're good and you are good, you have a tendency to want to do more when you see one of your guys go down just to help the team win."
SUNDAY WILL MARK the third straight game missed by Lindsey, the junior wing who not only leads the 'Cats in scoring. He also is their second-best defender and leads them in steals as well. "We're feeling good about his progress," Collins said of him. "So, hopefully, sooner rather than later. It's in the doctor's hands."
THE ABSENCE of his points and his defensive alacrity is apparent as Lindsey sits. Not so apparent is this observation of Collins, which came when he was asked what the 'Cats miss most with the wing sidelined. "The main thing is the interruption of the rhythm we had as a team," he said here. "We were playing very well. Everyone knew his role. We had our five starters. We had our bench guys. Everyone was comfortable. When you lose a guy, it not only effects that guy. It effects your whole team because now guys got to carry on roles that they haven't been playing. They have to do new things. Someone who hasn't been starting is now gonna start. Someone who had a different role is now going to have to do a little bit more. It just upsets the chemistry of your team a little bit and it takes a little bit of time. I still feel good about what we have in the locker room. We're not making excuses. Are we a better team with Scottie Lindsey? Yes. But that being said, there's still a confidence in our locker room and we have to figure out a way to win without him. That's the bottom line. There's no other way to go about it."
LINDSEY'S SPOT in the lineup has been taken by freshman guard Isiah Brown, a combustible performer who has totaled 16 points and gone six-of-19 from the field in his two starts. "Just relax and allow the game to come to you," McIntosh said when asked his advice to Brown, whom he has affectionately called his younger brother. "He has a great feel for the game and also has the incredible skill of putting the ball in the basket. But when he gets sped up, that's when he has trouble. So my message is slow down, let the game come to you and good things will happen. That's part of being young."
But, of course, the old adage is he's not supposed to be a freshman this late in the season.
"No, he's not," agreed McIntosh, and then he flashed the wise look of a veteran. "But the Big Ten and the nonconference schedule are a lot different."
FRIDAY'S SUBJECT DU JOUR, of course, was the mental state of the 'Cats, who head north saddled by a two-game losing streak. "There's still a belief in that locker room," Collins said in a representative response. "We've lost a couple games and we're mad about it. I've sensed that since the game Tuesday night. But there's a great resolve on this team. We've got veteran guys and they're going to keep fighting, they're going to keep playing. If we do lose a game, it's not going to be because of a lack of confidence, or a lack of effort, or not-the-right-attitude. It's going to be because another team outplays us."
"I don't think there's any reason for us to panic," said McIntosh, and then he echoed what his coach had said earlier. "I think the problem right now is guys are in roles they're not accustomed to. As they get more comfortable, they'll get more confident in their roles. But I still think there's a belief in our locker room that we're a really good team."
The 'Cats lost eight of 10 last season after opening it 15-3. Is it hard for them not to think back on that meltdown?
"Nah," said McIntosh, fairly scoffing at such a silly idea. "This is a different team. It's a different situation. Last year it was weird, honesty, how everything kind of folded a little bit. We just can't allow that to happen. We went through a spell earlier in the year when we lost two (and then rebounded to win at Nebraska). Now we're in the same position. We'll find out what kind of character we have again."
AND FINALLY, COLLINS, on why it's so tough to win at the Kohl Center, where the Badgers are a perfect 13-0 this season: "Really good players and really good coaches."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
ON(to) WISCONSIN, WHERE THE SUNDAY MENU FEATURES THE 'CATS MEETING WITH THE BADGERS IN AN EARLY-BIRD SPECIAL.
THE COMPETITOR burns bright in the belly of 'Cat point Bryant McIntosh, and this is a good thing. It pushes him always to seek greatness and to endure the rigors demanded to reach that exalted realm. But, on occasion, that passion can be a detriment as well, and this is the fine line he now walks as the team he leads plays on without the still-ill Scottie Lindsey.
For here, on the one hand, he must do more to compensate for that loss, which will lead to positive results. But there, on the other, he must not try to do too much, which will only be deleterious to both him and those around him. "He knows, when you lose that kind of scoring (Lindsey is averaging 15.4 ppg), bottom line is we probably do need him to score a little bit more, and make plays like he normally has, and then we need other guys to step up," Chris Collins said Friday when asked about this matter. "You lose a perimeter guy, it actually puts more on his plate. I'd like to put less on his plate. But the bottom line right now is he knows he has to do a lot for us to win against really good teams. Now it's about not forcing too much action, trying to do it the right way."
And that's a fine line.
"Yeah. Yeah. When you lose a guy who's all-league caliber, inherently, if you're one of those guys that knows you have to do it, you're going to try to do a lot, you're going to try and do a little bit more. It comes from a good place."
"It's a committee that has to make up for the things he did and, late game, I just have to do a better job of taking care of it," McIntosh himself soon said. "Some things happen. You slip and fall, maybe get tripped. (This happened on one late possession last Tuesday in the Illinois game and led to a turnover.) But that's part of it. But, yeah. I'm trying not to put too much pressure on myself."
But he inherently does put pressure on himself.
"Yeah. Yeah," he agreed. "I want to do well. I want to help us win, and I'll do whatever I can to help us win. That's a problem with being a competitor. When you feel like you're good and you are good, you have a tendency to want to do more when you see one of your guys go down just to help the team win."
SUNDAY WILL MARK the third straight game missed by Lindsey, the junior wing who not only leads the 'Cats in scoring. He also is their second-best defender and leads them in steals as well. "We're feeling good about his progress," Collins said of him. "So, hopefully, sooner rather than later. It's in the doctor's hands."
THE ABSENCE of his points and his defensive alacrity is apparent as Lindsey sits. Not so apparent is this observation of Collins, which came when he was asked what the 'Cats miss most with the wing sidelined. "The main thing is the interruption of the rhythm we had as a team," he said here. "We were playing very well. Everyone knew his role. We had our five starters. We had our bench guys. Everyone was comfortable. When you lose a guy, it not only effects that guy. It effects your whole team because now guys got to carry on roles that they haven't been playing. They have to do new things. Someone who hasn't been starting is now gonna start. Someone who had a different role is now going to have to do a little bit more. It just upsets the chemistry of your team a little bit and it takes a little bit of time. I still feel good about what we have in the locker room. We're not making excuses. Are we a better team with Scottie Lindsey? Yes. But that being said, there's still a confidence in our locker room and we have to figure out a way to win without him. That's the bottom line. There's no other way to go about it."
LINDSEY'S SPOT in the lineup has been taken by freshman guard Isiah Brown, a combustible performer who has totaled 16 points and gone six-of-19 from the field in his two starts. "Just relax and allow the game to come to you," McIntosh said when asked his advice to Brown, whom he has affectionately called his younger brother. "He has a great feel for the game and also has the incredible skill of putting the ball in the basket. But when he gets sped up, that's when he has trouble. So my message is slow down, let the game come to you and good things will happen. That's part of being young."
But, of course, the old adage is he's not supposed to be a freshman this late in the season.
"No, he's not," agreed McIntosh, and then he flashed the wise look of a veteran. "But the Big Ten and the nonconference schedule are a lot different."
FRIDAY'S SUBJECT DU JOUR, of course, was the mental state of the 'Cats, who head north saddled by a two-game losing streak. "There's still a belief in that locker room," Collins said in a representative response. "We've lost a couple games and we're mad about it. I've sensed that since the game Tuesday night. But there's a great resolve on this team. We've got veteran guys and they're going to keep fighting, they're going to keep playing. If we do lose a game, it's not going to be because of a lack of confidence, or a lack of effort, or not-the-right-attitude. It's going to be because another team outplays us."
"I don't think there's any reason for us to panic," said McIntosh, and then he echoed what his coach had said earlier. "I think the problem right now is guys are in roles they're not accustomed to. As they get more comfortable, they'll get more confident in their roles. But I still think there's a belief in our locker room that we're a really good team."
The 'Cats lost eight of 10 last season after opening it 15-3. Is it hard for them not to think back on that meltdown?
"Nah," said McIntosh, fairly scoffing at such a silly idea. "This is a different team. It's a different situation. Last year it was weird, honesty, how everything kind of folded a little bit. We just can't allow that to happen. We went through a spell earlier in the year when we lost two (and then rebounded to win at Nebraska). Now we're in the same position. We'll find out what kind of character we have again."
AND FINALLY, COLLINS, on why it's so tough to win at the Kohl Center, where the Badgers are a perfect 13-0 this season: "Really good players and really good coaches."
••••••
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