I will believe Nicholson is back when I see him suited up, and not before then.
As to the Big Ten Tournament, even if they get to the finals, they’d have a minimum of 3 days of rest (MTW and possibly Th) before they play again, and they’ve basically been living with that kind of rest schedule for the last 3 months.
The downside of playing beyond Friday isn’t insufficient rest, IMHO, it’s the potential for more injuries. They weren’t a deep squad before the injuries started piling up. If anything, it could be argued that the injuries have given some players who weren’t getting much playing time a chance to show what they can do, which could pay dividends both this season and next.
After seeing some of the teams that got left out of the tournament, NU should consider themselves fortunate to have been selected for the Dance. As happens every year “chaos” ensues, knocking out some deserving teams due to the selection committees hands being tied. The chairman said that 5 bids were lost this way A few Big East teams seem to have been victims, but all the BT teams that were borderline ,did get in
Regarding NU with a potential match up early against #1 UConn, just remember during our first invite in 2017, we could have beaten #1 Gonzaga, with an NCAA admitted bad call sealing our fate
Right there with you Harry. One article on NU’s invite described the B1G basketball season as a “smoldering rubble”. Wonder if the author was a Medill grad.
Veteran teams that play good defense and know how to win close games are always dangerous come tournament time.
High scoring teams aren’t always used to playing a slower grind it out game. They assume that they can impose their will on a lesser known team and become frustrated when that doesn’t happen. If that frustration leads to a lot of hero ball and a loss of poise, NU can win.
All that said, the 8-9 match-ups are usually the most interesting and competitive games in the tournament. FAU has a lot of talent, but according to some accounts has also played to the level of their opponents.