#Just been a bad week overall methinks

[raisans-art]

hi, i just found this blog and was reading back on your current submas au. you say you dont like others giving ideas for the au, but unless i missed a post you didnt seem to make it clear any point before getting upset that you didnt like those types of messages or that you already had the story planned out. maybe you should make a post about this being an already written story your releasing bits at a time and not a wip au?

As I see it, that post is a version of that post that you mention. It wasn't an immediate issue, only cumulative because (at current and at time of that ask being sent) there was a larger volume of those kind of asks than there normally are when I start sharing an au that operates the way I'm operating this one: letting people ask questions about things that they are interested in learning about in the au rather than trying to tell a linear story.

So. As it stands, that answer stands as that post. I love questions about my aus. I just ask a bit of consideration on whether or not your ask comes off as simply throwing what-if scenarios at me without considering what I am at all doing with the au. It doesn't feel great.

I guess this post stands as a declaration of what Brothers' Starter is.

[crown-of-roses-thsc]

This is a really random question, but I ask those alot so..

Like. Out of the characters already used I suppose. (main characters, I don't really know how to put it)

What's their favourite drinks / foods?

(apologies if this has already been asked)

That’s a good question! I haven’t thought about it 🤔 well, off the top of my head, here’s what I’d say

Ellie - Ellie gives me the vibes of someone who would like cinnamon rolls. Desserts in general, I think, but *especially* cinnamon rolls. She definitely likes fizzy drinks, but is also the kind of person who will go out to eat and still order chocolate milk like a child (I’m a hypocrite for shaming her smh). Also you take her out to eat she will order the most amount of fries possible

Reginald - I’ll be honest, he probably drinks tea because he’s British and that’s all that British people drink they don’t have water it’s just tea tea runs out of their faucets. He also probably drinks coffee, but likes it less and drinks it more out of a necessity because he is an introvert and is surrounded by those who are NOT. I feel like he likes crackers (he likes animal crackers as well but he has to hide them because Lefty will make fun of him and Ellie will eat all of them). For fun I also declare it canon that he likes Dino nuggies

Lefty - yunno Ron Swanson? From Parks and Recreation? His diet is the same thing as Ron’s I feel like. Except he isn’t a grumpy old man, he’s just an old man and probably will eat anything. His favorite drink is wine idk I’m not old enough to drink I don’t know anything about alcohol :((. I feel like he would like bananas though.

Burt - Burt is probably super picky (like meeee). He’s a fruit person, methinks. He likes oranges and most melons (but he HATES the seeds they stress him out. and he hates peeling oranges). He hates fizzy drinks and is also a chocolate milk person. He’ll drink lemonade but only sometimes and only one cup that he slowly drinks over like the span of a week (I’m not projecting you are)

Sven - Sven likes pancakes methinks. Can’t relate but I feel like he does. He also likes chocolate cake I think, but overall doesn’t have sweets a lot. He’d like milk I think but I honestly think he’s like me and severely dehydrated

Randy - I’m convinced that Randy has only ever eaten smarties his entire life. There is no other explanation. And maybe skittles. If it’s not colorful he will not eat it. He likes milkshakes- any kind

Suave - Susve probably likes lasagna because I HATE lasagna and I will thus let him enjoy the food that I HATE. He probably likes hot chocolate but only the CHEAP GROSS BAD KIND because he’s a psychopath and I hate him. He eats every food I don’t like

[alolanroy]

2023 Media Thread Pt2

it got too big to edit :(

The Cat in the Hat (2003): I’ll admit I don’t really have any special attachment to this movie. I missed it as a kid, just right past me. I’ll give it props for dedication to bonkers production design and commitment to cartoon logic, but this really didn’t work for me. The uncanny makeup and constant screaming children was consistently grating. The peeks of the world outside of the main story was great whenever we go to see it though. -3/10

Barbecue Showdown S2: They sure did cook that meat. Most of the cast was polarizing, but not necessarily in a fun way. 4/10

Andromeda S2: Once again a Sci-fi show ups its quality in the second season. I think what I appreciate is that when it does a standard episode that you’ve seen before in another show, instead of trying to one up the moral dilemma, it instead ignores it altogether and pursue character interaction. A steady progression of both the characters and the state of their world kept me well engaged. 7/10

Gravity Circuit: [At time of writing I am struggling against the last boss] At some point I yelled ‘NOW THIS IS KAMEN RIDER!’ Some of the tightest shmoovment in a 2D game of thsi type and visually stunning. Taking the GBA megaman X approach to monochrome sprites really lets the artwork flourish without diminishing readability. 9/10

DOOM 64: A fascinating iteration on the main DOOM entries. It plays clean and has fascinating level design. I won’t finish it, but I see myself coming back to it from time to time. 7/10

Avataro Sentai Donbrothers vs. Zenkaiger: In this episode of Zenkaiger, the gang gets up to some villain of the week shenanigans. In this episode of DonBrothers, the gang grapples with the emptiness of unearned success and the negative power dynamics from leadership. In other words its a pretty normal episode of both that end up in the same quarry at the end. 8/10 I miss these goofs

Geats Extra: Kamen Rider Tycoon meets Kamen Rider Shinobi: I think we all know who should’ve been the real series this season (its shinobi) 7/10

HALF LIFE MOD ROUNDUP PT 2

Amalgam: A pretty underwhelming mod with some pretty good combat encounters in a few occasions, but too long methinks. 4/10

Half-Life 2: Downfall: Pretty solid content focused on Gravity Gun playstyles, but seeing as it was made in 2017, I don’t think the other episodes are happening. 5/10

Resistance Element: This one is pretty out there. Didn’t really establish its setting and ending on ‘the Vortigaunt fleet’ is certainly a choice. 5/10

Transmissions: Element 120: Pretty good overall and the gravity gun variant was intriguing. Too bad it’s too short to capitalize off of the unique ideas. Though a surprising few mods have the confidence to end on a strider encounter. 7/10

Thunder’s Leaves: They get points for effort. An interesting twist on the setting that made it feel fresh, though it comes at the cost of the new weapons being decidedly less fun to use. The gunplay just feels...off. A lot of the ideas feel rough like this. The combine shield drones take a weird amount of damage and rocket turrets ended up doing more splash damage to me than the enemies. Still, seeing a world in the process of picking up the pieces was oddly satisfying, and more desperate combine gave their less curated technology a certain charm. 7/10

Gundam Evolution (7/22): At a some point I joked ‘This will be Gundam gaming in 2023′ and paused, ‘2023 and 2023 only.�� Yes, Gundam Evolution was announced to be shutting down in a few months, not having lasted a whole year. It’s almost like live service games with off-putting monetization strategies might not be an optimal business practices. The balance seems to have improved and The one additional unit I was able to unlock (Heavyarms) was pretty neat. Perhaps if the timing was different it could’ve worked out with Overwatch hemorrhaging as badly as it is. Honestly the lack of any worthwhile brand synergy kinda dampens it. With G-witch over for now, it only is represented in a few player icon, which is especially disappointing considering a lot of the nothing picks for new characters they did. Naturally they saved the Kampher for the day after they announced they were shuttering. maybe by the end they’ll unlock everything for everyone, but I doubt it. I still had fun, but there's no soul here. 6.5/10

Rocky Blaboa (2006): Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, this is a good movie and Stallone can Direct. It understands the mechanics of how the filmmaking made Rocky so sympathetic in the first one and wont hesitate to hold on his awkward mannerisms. I appreciate how the match was shot like a real sporting event, and for once the quick cut style that became overused in this era works as an escalation of the previous lingering. The emotional core of the movie works like a charm, and it really makes it feel like he is brightening up the world in his small way. It directly parallels the first, but especially by the end you can’t help but smile. 9/10

Bloodfist: A pretty average canon movie, but I won’t lie, the twist got me and a couple of the fights were neat. Couldn’t tell if the Filipino woman who doesn’t have any lines was neat choice or lazy production. 6/10

Airplane Mode (2019): Abyssal media. It’s racist, homophobic and shallow in that way only late 2008′s comedies did. Theres a reason it killed the comedy genre. I didn’t recognize any of these celebrities for 12 year olds besides Logan Paul which made the relentless sex pest energy of the movie worse. The worst part is that very rarely, enough crassness and lame humor piles up that just one joke can take it far enough to make me laugh like an idiot. I hated myself for it. -4/10

Deadly Spygames: Bafflingly bad but funny with a good group, though it loses momentum when it ends up just being a framing device for a worst christmas themed horror failure. -4/10

Force of Execution: Man what happened to Stephen Seagal. -2/10

Suicide Squad 2016: This movie deserves the microscope of analysis it garnered. It has all the ingredients, just put together...wrong somehow. It was better than expected, especially once someone pointed out that the Joker isn’t consequential to the plot at all. He could be removed and nothing would change. I see why there was an immediate turnaround on a remake. -6/10

Andromeda S3: I felt there was an odd drop in quality. I chalk it up mostly to not really having a clear idea of what the state of the commonwealth is and if its still only the senior staff running the ship or not. It just felt kinda disconnected and disconcerting, like I was watching out of order. 5/10

Gundam I rewatch: A friend wanted to watch this with the rest of the players in a OYW tabletop I’ve been running for a year and a half. Theres a lot of ink spilled on the subtlety of the character writing, but this rewatch I brought a new eye to spotting Yas’s style in the character design. I really appreciate how much of the legwork into nonverbal expression it pulls off with the limited resources. 8/10

Iron Man (2008): Tight as hell, stylish, confident and gorgeous. It is everything the MCU had lost by the time they removed the character. 8/10

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island: It’s cute and whimsical and all, but I wouldn’t call it particularly fleshed out. A lot of cross pollination between this and G-witch. 7/10

Swelter: Playing this during a heat wave was just about perfect. This setting felt fresh for the Half-Life modding scene and fit in seamlessly. While the new puzzle mechanics were simple, they were clean and were a lot of fun to do under fire. The rebalancing was unusual, but I had a great time with the original weapons. Disappointingly, I would’ve liked more opportunity to use them in new contexts. It was over pretty fast and left me wanting more both conceptually and mechanically, which in this case is a good thing. 7/10

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part I: Tom Cruise’s Quest to have a new dark brunette love interest in all of his movies has now lead to a double event. Cynicism aside, this movie was a blast and the more sci-fi villain led to lots of tense mind games. This less serious tone reminds me of my favorite era of Bond villainy. High points include a Lupin the 3rd car chase, a samurai sword fight and a batman villain tier riddle bomb. I had a great time. 8/10

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: It may not have been great, but this was MY Avengers. Plus 5 points for having a visibly Indian Captain Nemo but minus 5 for having him even slightly receptive to saving the British Empire. 7.5/10

Matrix Resurrections: Upon second watch I did notice a few clever touches I didn’t pick up on initially, but the only thing it really has going is being the most maliciously compliant film I’ve ver seen. -4/10

Kamen Rider Saber: The  phantom of missed opportunity looms large in this show. It has moments where the writing works and the characters are endearing, but most of the time it just comes out...weird. The fights feel stagnant, the CG is laughably bad at times and the theming is all over the place. It comes across as childish and poorly executed. But I’m just beating about the bush here, the real issue is that the main character and the lost childhood friend come off as...really really creepy. The visuals of him trying to rescue a child are...lets just say the optics are awful. Doing my best to put that aside, this might be the weakest Rider I’ve finished. 4/10

The Fugitive (1993): While I cannot speak to how it stacks up to its predecessor, I enjoyed it as a tight thriller. I loved seeing Andreas Katsulas, I loved seeing the infamous Harrison Ford dummy. 8/10

An American Werewolf in London: Interesting, but I wouldn’t call it particularly funny to me. 5/10

Yukikaze: Damn, this really was the Evangelion of Ace Comb----*gets shot in the head*

Jokes aside, while I wouldn’t call it particularly narratively deep and the final episode was a bit bad at communicating, it was a stimulating watch. From a technical standpoitn the dub I watched had interesting sound design that heightened the stress of the airborne encounters, though the voice mixing felt odd at times. I’m also pretty sure this was supposed to be BL at some stage. Anyway, wow, cool post-eva digipaint plane thing! 8/10

Thankskilling: The apex of cheap garbage. Exploitation nonsense at its finest and most self aware without overplaying its hand. The line between good and bad cringe was walked like a tightrope. I’m a big enough man to say that I laughed my ass off, though I can’t recommend it. I later came to a greater respect upon seeing that their long defunct website encouraged people to use the footage as public domain and even had a fan-edit contest. -7/10

Conan the Destroyer: Bummer the whole party couldn’t make it to the session this weekend. I wouldn’t mind the weaker effects and production if it maintained the distinct style of the original. It lacks the Kino factor...without it...just kinda dull. 4/10

Ninja Assassin: Rewatching this with a Rain fan made this a lot more fun the second time around. I kinda wish we could’ve seen more...ninja assassinations? but as it is it has style and action I can’t say I didn’t thoroughly enjoy. Boy, I could tell this was MJS now that I knew what to look for. 7/10

Lupin III: Prison of the Past: Absolutely sauceless. It has the wonder bread plot of a Pokemon DVD movie, but animation so budget it wouldn’t cut it for TV anime at its worst. It's just bafflingly cheap looking. Its colors are so muted and its compositions so static it feels at once 10 and 20 years out of date. This was made worse by an uninterested dub. How do you make a char clone with a sword dull? If this is the bar for modern Lupin, I think I might pass. 2/10

Kamen Rider Saber side material: only a blanket note and no individual ratings on these. These really showcase how much the cast was underutilized in the main show. With room to breath I was able to be more endeared to that cast than its nearly 50 episode main run. It just goes to show how much of a weird compromise Saber was...

Kamen Rider Geats: Somehow this season felt way longer than the 49 episodes it ran for. It jumped around and became so many different shows. As a result I can hardly wrap my mind around it. Every positive has either a negative cost or a feeling of missed opportunity, which is thematically appropriate...

-Conceptually it never capitalized on the ‘battle royale game’ concept. It sped through so many formats and games that I never felt the tension and intrigue of the reality shows it emulates. I understand the production reasons they can’t juggle tons of riders, but Ryuki proved this is possible, and it didn’t have the advantage of only needing to make half of a new helmet for a new character. This kinda comes to a head with Neon’s bodygaurds only having forms slightly off camera and punkjack being sidelined to play Pikmin since his helmet was un-re-colored. Occasionally we got to see now formats that iterated the concept in interesting directions, but some reboots just felt pointless, or the final one that speedruns a typical season in like 10 episodes.

-The character writing was a bit all over the place, but I felt attached to the cast for the most part, and we got enough charm to make it work. However Ace’s gimmick of pulling clever plays never really gelled for me.

-The broader mystery and mechanics of this sci-fi world really grabbed us. We were properly speculating about the mechanics of their world and the nature of the future viewers. It taps into the kind of classic sci-fi concepts I eat up, like the addled sadism of the future people. It’s never fully explained, but left with plenty of room and ambiguity that you can read a lot into their behaviour.

I think it pulled it off in the last quarter, but that might be recency bias. 7.5/10

Stargate Origins: This would’ve benefeited from being a two parter. The result is drawn out, not terribly exciting and marred by stilted dialogue. At the end of the day, I still like stargate and some of the talent they got for this. 5/10

Andromeada S4: Wow, it just got so much worse. I had to force myself to pick it up a few times and have been actively procrastinating adding it to my watch list. Most episodes felt less like they were regurgitating stock episodes of sci-fi shows and more like I accidentally put on one of the worse episodes I had already seen in a previous season. I got the distinct feeling that something must have been wrong with the episode order on Tubi. It would account for why the serialization makes no sense, but alas, its just bad. After a few underwhelming show-running decisions, my heart sank when I realized there was a fifth season.

I tried the 5th season. 3/10.

Maids II Deception: Don’t judge me for speaking this highly of a skyrim mod without hearing me out first. I saw this recommended as a story mod and assumed it would be a paper thin, cringy excuse for some mild titillation and weeb armor. Turns out the only thing I was right about was the silly looking samurai armor (Todd Howards greatest mistake was giving the Blades samurai swords). Instead I got an epic campaign between a dozen factions and hundereds of years of lore that lured me in before plunging me into intrigue, groupthink and a harrowing ending that left me crushed and empty inside. Spoiler alert, there isn’t any tittilation. This thing dwarfs Skyrim in terms scope and ambition. It has varied mission types, all types of crazy mechanics that it isn’t afraid to drop and just when you thought you had a good bead on things it drops a new DLC scale open world island I can’t even begin to explain in the FINAL CHAPTER. Even the title is an outright lie, you only really get to interact with the maid mechanic in the endgame, potentially dozens of hours later.

Since this was released in chapters over the course of years, the quality of the game, writing and voice acting improve as it goes. By the end I think it could go toe to toe with a lot of the upper eshelon of RPG writing. While some of the voice acting (and mic quality) felt relatively amateurish I couldn’t help but grow attached to the cast and feel crushed when even minor spear-bearers met their fate. However in the final chapter I could feel the scope might have grown too large and some of the gameplay and area design suffered. For example the ambitious mechanics in the wizard tower just didn’t work for me and the final hours were a painful slog of fighting my way to the end. Some of that could’ve been easily cut. It is a shame I have no idea if we will get a third entry, it sets up so much... 9/10, despite its flaws

Sand Shark: Half the run time is just a retelling of Jaws, the other half is repeating the sequel hook trope where another jaws appears at the end like 3-4 times in succession -4/10

Wild Hogs: It made me laugh out loud a few times. Does that make up for the homophobia and awkward old man wish fulfillment. *shrugs*. 5/10

Dragonball Evolution: High school angle: check. Women being paired off to have cat fights during action scenes: check. yep, this is a 2000s anime adaptation. It really is clear they had no interest in the source material, but the odd part is that if they made it a bit campier in a few places it might’ve worked, but perhaps that is One Piece 2023 talking. -4/10

Cats 2019: It somehow looks worse in motion than I expected. Once the novelty wore off about halfway through I just felt bad for the effects artists. Can you tell they had no kind of motion tracking when they filmed it and it all had to be done by hand? I can!. -5/10

The Expendables: I was expecting a cheap looking ego trip for over-the-hill action stars, but this is probably the best version of that that could exist. The only part that looked outright bad are the blood squibs (or whatever effects plugin they were using). The dialogue was well acted and natural feeling enough that it threw me a bit off balance, specifically mickey rourke. In an odd way, the part I feel the most nostalgic for is the gasoline explosions. I really miss that stuff. 7/10

[octavianacidicbreastmilk]

So. Vicious. Eli, Victor and Serena? 👀

ELI

do I like them: YES. he’s just so entertaining. like can you imagine getting basically immortality and eternal youth but also a god complex (between you and god no less) the size of Saturn? thats free entertainment for days.

5 good qualities: his ego; my boy is resourceful, look at him going essentially full serial killer; smart; lapsed catholic (yes its a quality); and him being a control freak. like just mwuah

3 bad qualities: he has none. legit too good for this world. like if we are talking abt objectively, sure i can find some, but if we are going by my interpretation i like even the “bad“ traits so *shrug*

favourite episode/etc: hmm holding off my judgement until vengeful lol

otp: i mean i know that schwab has said smth abt the sexual orientation of either eli or victor, so im not sure if its up to canon. but victor/eli. like no contest

brotp: i mean also victor/eli. like honestly the entire thing when eli was playing rescue bc victor was so envious of eli’s powers so he kept trying to off himself? that shit was entertaining

ot3: dont really have one tbh :/

notp: ditto

best quote: “He hadn't meant to do it. That is to say, he hadn't set out in his car with the /intent/ to kill the janitor. But he /had/ unearthed Sykes's rotation schedule, and he /had/ gotten in his car at the same time that Sykes clocked out of his once-a-week night shift, and he /had/ seen him crossing the road, and he /had/ sped up” its by no means his best, but in the moment i was like. aight. fave 

head canon: i dont know if its part of his backstory or whatever, but i do think he has daddy issues, specifically the religious kind

VICTOR

do I like them: also a strong and resounding YES lmao.

5 good qualities: hes an asshole, like the actual worst (love him); ik eli is supposed to be the charming one, but as soon he gets out of prison im like dude the dad jokes? 100 charisma right there; he knows dad jokes!!!;

3 bad qualities: does he have any? methinks not

favourite episode/etc: same as for eli, tho an addendum, for both it might be hard to top vicious lol

otp: same as above, eli/victor

brotp: eli/victor; and i can see myself liking, with more content, victor/mitch

ot3: nah :/

notp: ditto

best quote: when, after he basically rbing back from the dead eli, and my boy is all like god’s hands this and god’s hands that, and victor snaps “you put yourself in mine [hands]“

head canon: im going with touch-averse. like im not sure if in the book he proves me wrong, but thems the vibes

SERENA

do I like them: im okay with her ig? like i understand her motivations somewhat (you come back from the dead, and you come back wrong etc) but i do think they were less compelling than eli’s overall?

5 good qualities: i like that she was trying to take as much control as possible from eli (like, not bc eli would want that, but its assertive in a woman and i like it); she wants smth she knows how to get it, i can respect that;her being like, sure this dude tried to kill me, still down to fuck, horny icon (insert here the thing abt the powers tho. not really a fan of that); smart; knows how to kinda play in a team. kinda. she knows the basics ig

3 bad qualities: perhaps trying to kill your sister with your boyfriend is a bit much; terrible taste in men (i say this with love to eli ofc, but thems the facts) counts for two bc the infraction is grave

favourite episode/etc: lmao vicious since yk, victor happened.

otp: none. like her and eli are the only one on the table, and im not necessarily a fan of how it could all be bc of her powers. i like fraght power dynamics, but the siren thing wasnt making it smth enjoyable personally

brotp: her and sydney. look ik what i said abt it being a bit much, but look the codependence, the idea that your sister might not be truly your sister and the uncertainty that comes from that. its interesting at the very least, on either side

ot3: same as the otp. nada

notp: maybe eli and her tbh

best quote: cheating a bit bc this isnt her quote but abt her. still “She had always been convincing (that was the word her sister liked to use for lying) “

head canon: hmm dont have any tbh

[wonwooridul]

thank u for the seoksoon !!! coincidentally my bias is dk! best song is aju nice but overall best era is definitely going seventeen - the short black hair for boomboom was so flattering on his eyes and fast pace was obviously iconic! it’s a shame its one of my least favourite albums (still good tho obviously)

lnr wonwoo was truly something omg esp the iconic black and purple crop top!! i agree, his shorter haircuts are always his best looks! here’s another q: one of wonwoos most memorable outfits? (or top 3 if u can’t choose!) also!! top two bias wreckers?

and enjoy ur weekend!! congrats on making it through the week !!

omg i’m surprised to see someone who doesn’t like going seventeen album that much (i don’t mean that in a bad way oki 🥺)

personally, going seventeen is one of my fave albums !! i don’t know, smile flower, fast pace , don’t listen in secret !! oof ♡ AND YES SEOK GS ERA WAS SO GOOD ISTG! THE EYEBROWN SLIT AND CROPPED HAIR OOF . He hits different istg ♡

its not anything specific but i really like it when wonu wears turtlenecks. it just really suits him methinks. wonu in all black > . and as for stage outfits, it’s all OTY outfits ♡

i’m a very solid ot13 so i can’t pick two bias wreckers lmaooo. but these days i’d say dino and hoshi have really been making me feel things.

excellent choice of seok as bias (will 10/10 die for him). who are your bias wreckers ? also what’s your fave things about your bias and wreckers ! is there anything common between u and them?

i hope your had a great week too! have a great weekend !! ♡

[beverlymunoz]

Profile of a possible savior: Chris Collins

I mean (other than that one thing) what’s not to like?

In a previous POAPS, y’all let me know in no uncertain terms your thoughts about hiring a UNC “alum” to coach basketball at NC State. I hear you. But what about a Dookie? Specifically, I’m talking about Chris Collins, who, as you’ve no doubt heard, will pilot Northwestern in the NCAA tournament this afternoon for the first time in the program’s history. Will Collins parlay the rare success for the normally moribund Wildcats to a position at a program with greater likelihood for sustained success?

Important Questions, In Rough Order Of Importance:

1. Has he coached teams that have won a national title, made multiple deep NCAA tournament runs, and/or consistently been highly ranked?

As noted in the intro, Northwestern is making its first trip to The Dance in program history. In his four years with the Wildcats, they’ve been ranked for a total of one week, which came in January of this season. They were 25th.

2. Has he built a program from the ground up?

Collins followed Bill Carmody at Northwestern. Carmody’s club won 20 games in 2010 for the first time in program history and also achieved a short-lived ranking of 25th. He won 20 again in 2011 and 19 in 2012 before getting canned after a 13-19 mark in ’13. Northwestern was actually in one of its best stretches of basketball, 2013 notwithstanding, when Collins took the gig. Remember, this is a program that has won less than 42% of its games all time.

3. Has he substantially improved the program from when he took over?

Given the Wildcats’ at-large bid to the tournament, you would have to say yes. Getting there for the first time is the very definition of a substantial improvement. Their 23 wins so far this season are the most ever for the school, and last year’s 20-win season was then just the third in school history. It took some time, as Collins’ club made just a one-win improvement over Carmody in his first season, 2014, and then just a one-win improvement the following year.

From a more advanced perspective, Northwestern was 132nd in Kenneth Pomeroy’s rankings in Carmody’s last season. The progression under Collins: 134th, 122nd, 68th, 37th. That’s a nice trend.

4. Has he succeeded at more than one head coaching job?

Northwestern is his first head coaching job.

5. Does he have significant high-major experience as either a head coach or an assistant?

Most certainly. Collins was Coach K’s assistant for 13 seasons, including associate head coach for much of that span. The Blue Devils won eight ACC championships and two national titles during Collins’ time as an assistant.

6. Is his team one of the best in its conference right now?

Northwestern finished tied for fifth in the B1G; it’s also the fifth best team in terms of KenPom’s rankings. So, no, not really, but given Northwestern’s historical ineptitude, fifth ain’t bad.

7. Do his teams actually play, what is this thing called, "defense"?

To some extent, the jury is still out in this regard, but it would appear that defense will be a strength for Collins-coached clubs. Remarkably, the Wildcats jumped over 100 points in the AdjD rankings in his first season and checked in at 23rd overall. However, they backslid the next two years before taking strides to get back to an elite defensive team this year, coming in at 34th. The Wildcats are not exactly loaded with athleticism, so methinks Collins deserves some credit for scouting and game planning Northwestern to optimize its defensive prowess.

8. So how about offense?

While his defenses have been a bit all over the place, Collins’ offenses have enjoyed a steady, linear rise from deplorable to solidly above average. The KenPom ranks: 288th, 101st, 72nd, 59th. Phew. Carmody’s Princeton offense was apparently a tough thing to uninstall that first year.

Alas, don’t think that the Wildcats have completely shed their plodding identity. The team is 303rd in pace of play this season, though that’s likely due more to Collins trying to shorten games due to a talent gap than an actual preference to grind things out. Collins also understands the value of the heave from the bonusphere; his team is 31st in three-point rate (and fifth among major conference schools. Vanderbilt is first among major conference schools, so expect plenty of long looks this afternoon).

9. Any indication that he can recruit McDonald’s All-American-type players?

Collins was a Burger Boy himself and of course had a hand in drawing countless Mickey D’s All-American-type players to Duke. He’s only got a couple of top 100 recruits on the roster at Northwestern, but he has certainly improved the school’s recruiting over his predecessor.

10. Does he have any connection to NC State, North Carolina, or the ACC?

Played at Duke. Coached at Duke.

11. Any other random red flags or positives?

Collins has been a college assistant or head coach since 1998, but he’s still just 42 years old. He has the potential to be around for a long, long time. That’s a positive.

Collins is an absolute basketball junkie whose idea of unwinding after a long day of recruiting, watching film in his office, running practice, etc. is to come home and…watch basketball. WNBA, high school, whatever. He’s hoops 24/7, and, while he definitely wants to pattern his teams after Duke, he picks up plays and approaches from all of the hoops he constantly consumes and should continually evolve as a coach. That’s a positive.

The only red flag, if you insist on it being one, is the whole Duke thing.

Summary:

Would he be better than Gottfried?

I get in trouble on this question for ignoring Gott’s feats back in the salad days. I have no doubt that Collins would immediately elevate the program from where it is now, but that’s a low bar. Would he make the tournament four times in his first six seasons? My guess would be yes, and that things would be trending upward in year six rather than coming completely off the rails. But I’ve got no crystal ball. The fact that, even in his worst seasons, Northwestern’s defenses have been better than Gott’s defenses, and, in Collins’ best seasons, Nothwestern’s defenses have been elite would lead me to believe that it’s a pretty safe bet.

OK, so what is his ceiling?

The results of K’s disciples have been mixed. Jeff Capel looked like he was going to be successful until he wasn’t. Johnny Dawkins could never quite get off the bubble at Stanford (though he’s had a nice debut at UCF). Tommy Amaker failed at Michigan but has had a helluva run at Harvard. Wojo is off to a solid start. It’s probably too soon to tell on Bobby Hurley.

Mike Brey’s Irish have been ranked at some point in 15 of his 17 seasons and finished ranked eight times. My gut tells me that Collins is going to be Brey 2.0 but with a little bit better defense most seasons.

Would he take the job if offered?

When you look at that paragraph above you see a lot of potential heirs to the Duke throne. It’s interesting to me, in fact, how comparatively well off Duke is when compared to UNC on the replace your aging coach stocks. Collins is from Illinois, and his wife is a NYC native who quite possibly likes being near the bright lights of a big city (in this case, Chicago). If he thinks he can turn Northwestern into the next Duke, he’s not going anywhere.

If he thinks he’s the frontrunner to replace K at Duke, he’s waiting for that. But, he’ll have a lot of competition.

His total package at Northwestern, from what I can glean from the tubes, is less than two million a year and middle of the pack by B1G standards. The cost of living is a lot lower in Raleigh, and NC State could afford to pay him more. So, from a financial standpoint, advantage Wolfpack.

From a competitive standpoint, NC State is certainly historically a better gig than Northwestern, and the ACC is a better basketball league (some recent ACC-B1G challenge results notwithstanding). I think Collins’ career has a higher ceiling at NC State, but that job also carries more risk. He can get away with 19-14 and the NIT at Northwestern, but not here.

Bottom line: I think he’d listen.

How would I feel if he were hired?

Gregg Marshall is the only candidate profiled so far that I would prefer. That’s strong praise (especially considering how much I like Archie, which is tons). Played at Duke, coached for over a decade at Duke, and breaking Northwestern’s streak of futility—it was the only major conference school never to make the NCAAs—is a helluva résumé.

How would the fan base as a whole feel if he were hired?

There will be some that will freak due to the Duke connection. Personally, I don’t have the Duke hatred. V and K were tight. That’s good enough for me. I think most fans would support the hire initially. The problem in the long run would be expectations. If it’s a K disciple, fans will want K results. Collins could be great and still not come close to measuring up to his predecessor, and that could create a tough climate over time. Can you imagine the media outcry if the “lunatic fringe” wasn’t satisfied with basketball royalty on their sideline?

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