Quin Snyder praises Northwestern coach Chris Collins

Jazz coach Quin Snyder was in a hurry to get through his pregame media session before Saturday’s game at the United Center. It wasn’t because he had any issue with the questions he was getting, but because he wanted to watch the end of the Northwestern-Gonzaga game and root for a fellow Duke grad.

Snyder was an assistant coach at Duke when Northwestern coach Chris Collins was a player, and Snyder said he’s also close with Doug Collins. As you would expect, Snyder was cheering hard for the Wildcats and had plenty of praise for Collins’ performance at Northwestern, getting the school to its first NCAA tournament.

“Terrific. Terrific, and not surprising,” said Snyder, who added it was “ironic” that the Wildcats were in Salt Lake City, home of the Jazz. “It’s exciting to see what they’re doing.”

Snyder was an assistant at Duke from 1993 to 1999 before leaving to become the coach at Missouri. Collins played at Duke from 1992 to 1996.

For his part, Snyder doesn’t sound wistful about the college game. His tenure at Missouri ended badly in 2006, and Snyder said the NCAA tournament is the “one time” of the year he misses working in college.

Taken for Granted?

Jerian Grant had started eight consecutive games and 25 overall. Now, he’s glued to the bench.

Where does he fit into the rotation?

“He just has to keep himself ready with [Dwyane Wade] going down,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We’ll see how that affects everybody with the rotation, but everybody has to be ready to step in and fill the void that Dwyane gave us. Scoring the ball, leadership, and you look at a lot of different guys.”

On Saturday, Rajon Rondo was the Bulls’ starting point guard. Hoiberg said Michael Carter-Williams would be the backup, sticking Grant to the bench again as the Bulls try to find players to take some of Wade’s minutes.

“You look at Isaiah Canaan, you look at Anthony Morrow. Obviously Jerian,” Hoiberg said. “You’ve got to do it by committee. You’re not going to be able to replace Dwyane with one guy.”

Entering Saturday, Grant hadn’t played in three games

Zipser the starter

Hoiberg kept Paul Zipser in the starting lineup against the Jazz. Zipser, a second-round pick, took Wade’s place in the lineup against the Bullets and seems to have a fan in Hoiberg.

“I’ve been really impressed with Paul. He’s not afraid of the moment at all,” Hoiberg said. “He battles. It doesn’t matter who it is. In my opinion, he is a two-way player who can defend bigger, stronger wings but he also can help you offensively with his ability to put it on the floor and shoot.”

Cam’s plan

Hoiberg said the plan for guard Cameron Payne (right foot) was to get him on the treadmill Sunday and doing lateral movements before hopefully getting him back for practice Monday.

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