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Legit Players in Every Spot?  

74 members have voted

  1. 1. As you scan the 2017-2018 Nebrasketball roster, do you think we have a legit player in every spot, plus a 6th man?

    • Yep, we've got legit talent across the board
      42
    • We have some players, but we still have one or two holes.
      32
  2. 2. When was the last time, going into the season, you felt we had a complete roster with a legit player at every spot on the floor plus a 6th man?

    • 2014-15 (Year after we danced)
      25
    • 2013-14 (Year we danced with Miles)
      5
    • 2010-11 (Last year in the Big 12, went 19-13 and made the NIT)
      1
    • 2007-08 (Aleks Maric's senior year, NIT round 2)
      8
    • 2005-06 (NIT, Wes Wilkinson's senior year, Alek's Maric's soph campaign)
      4
    • 2003-04 (NIT 2nd round, Nate Johnson, Andrew Drevo, John Turek)
      0
    • Until maybe this year, haven't had one this century.
      31


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Legit Players:

 

PG Glynn Watson

PF  Isaac Copeland

 

Probable Legit Players:

 

PF/SF  Isaiah Roby (Tons of upside with great length and athleticism; does he make the sophomore jump?)

C  Jordy Tshimanga (Has the things you can't coach but also very coachable)

SG/SF  James Palmer (Going strictly off of rumors here, sounds like a player)

PG/SG  Thomas Allen (Again, rumors mostly, but 48% on a season from beyond the arc isn't a fluke.)

 

Possible Legit Players:

 

SF/PF  Jack McVeigh (Could be legit 6th man, needs to recover confidence in his shot)

PG-SF  Evan Taylor (Plays good D, handles the ball well, needs to improve his 3-pt shot by about 10% to be a legit guard/small forward)

SG/SF  Nana Akenten (Has the athleticism and shooting ability; can he transition to this level and play good enough D to see the floor?)

 

Doubtful:

 

SG Anton Gill (Lost too much development time due to injury; outside shot at recovering and being an impact player)

C Duby Okeke (This is no knock on Duby. He'll fill a role.  But, at 6'8", he's not legit size for a Big 10 starting center)

SG Thorir Thorbjarnarson  (This is, again, no knock on the kid.  Tape looked great.  But, honestly, has a big hill to climb to jump over guys ahead of him on the roster, which he would have to do to fit the category of "legit starter or 6th man."  I predict, though, his time will come.)

Edited by Norm Peterson
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You just can't put freshman as Probable, in my humble opinion. But if we are, Nana would flip/flop with Allen for me, personally. 

I'd come up with a different heading than, "Doubtful." "Legit" is only as useful as the role the coach has defined for them. If Duby can come in and guard opposing bigs and block shots (maybe clean up a few offensive boards and finish) - I'd say he's awfully legit. 

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13 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

You just can't put freshman as Probable, in my humble opinion. But if we are, Nana would flip/flop with Allen for me, personally. 

I'd come up with a different heading than, "Doubtful." "Legit" is only as useful as the role the coach has defined for them. If Duby can come in and guard opposing bigs and block shots (maybe clean up a few offensive boards and finish) - I'd say he's awfully legit. 

 

Fair points. 

 

I was talking legit starting material (or 6th man.)  Duby might be legit for the role he was recruited to play, but I don't think he'd be considered legit starting material on a P5 roster.  That's why I said it was no knock on him.  I expect him to fulfill his role very well.  I think he gives us important front line depth.  But if we were expecting to roll him out as the starting center from game 1, I'd have to prospectively say he's not a legit starting center at this level.

 

Nana and Thomas Allen: it wouldn't offend me in the slightest if you flipped them.  I'm not hearing much about Nana, though.  I'm hearing about Allen, and what I'm hearing about him has been good.

 

And doubtful just means that I'm doubtful looking ahead to the season that those players will come in and not only start but be legit starters for a P5 team.  Those 3 are either too small (Duby), too new to the American game (Thor) or have too much injury history (Gill) to look at them and expect that they'll be legit starters (or 6th men) for the team this year.  I would love it if they prove me wrong.

Edited by Norm Peterson
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The answer to your 1st question is yep

 

PG: Watson

SG: Palmer

SF: Roby

PF: Copeland

C: Jordy

 

I'm sure one out of this list could be a 6th man

 

Nana

Allen

Duby

McVeigh

Taylor

Gill

 

The answer to your second question is the year after we went dancing.  Hell we were pre-season top 25

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1 hour ago, Norm Peterson said:

Legit Players:

 

PG Glynn Watson

PF  Isaac Copeland

 

Probable Legit Players:

 

PF/SF  Isaiah Roby (Tons of upside with great length and athleticism; does he make the sophomore jump?)

C  Jordy Tshimanga (Has the things you can't coach but also very coachable)

SG/SF  James Palmer (Going strictly off of rumors here, sounds like a player)

PF/SG  Thomas Allen (Again, rumors mostly, but 48% on a season from beyond the arc isn't a fluke.)

 

Possible Legit Players:

 

SF/PF  Jack McVeigh (Could be legit 6th man, needs to recover confidence in his shot)

PG-SF  Evan Taylor (Plays good D, handles the ball well, needs to improve his 3-pt shot by about 10% to be a legit guard/small forward)

SG/SF  Nana Akenten (Has the athleticism and shooting ability; can he transition to this level and play good enough D to see the floor?)

 

Doubtful:

 

SG Anton Gill (Lost too much development time due to injury; outside shot at recovering and being an impact player)

C Duby Okeke (This is no knock on Duby. He'll fill a role.  But, at 6'8", he's not legit size for a Big 10 starting center)

SG Thorir Thorbjarnarson  (This is, again, no knock on the kid.  Tape looked great.  But, honestly, has a big hill to climb to jump over guys ahead of him on the roster, which he would have to do to fit the category of "legit starter or 6th man."  I predict, though, his time will come.)

Wow didn't know Allen had the range to be a PF... Not many 6'0 PF's in D1 ball that I know of ;)

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53 minutes ago, big red22 said:

The answer to your second question is the year after we went dancing.  Hell we were pre-season top 25

 

Not with David Rivers getting 23 min/game and Benny Parker getting 28.

 

And, see, this is my point.  We've had years where we've had some really good players and were 3 deep, maybe 4 deep, in legit players.  But there was always that hole in the roster.  Any starting lineup that had David Rivers in it did not have 5 legit P5 starters.  Same could probably  be said for Benny.

 

Now, I thought highly of both of those guys.  I think they had great attitudes and brought their lunch box to work every day.  But they just weren't legit starters for a team at this level.

 

Let me ask you this:  Who on the 14-15 team would start for this year's squad?

Edited by Norm Peterson
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3 minutes ago, uneblinstu said:

No, no, no, that wasn't the question. You asked when we felt we were legit, not whether we actually were or not. There was a lot of rose colored glasses being worn headed into that season.

 

Yes it was.  My question was when did we last have legit players at every spot plus a 6th man?  The '14-15 team might have been considered a legit team going into the season, but we still had holes in the lineup.  Glaring holes as it turned out.

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2 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Yes it was.  My question was when did we last have legit players at every spot plus a 6th man?  The '14-15 team might have been considered a legit team going into the season, but we still had holes in the lineup.  Glaring holes as it turned out.

Sorry, Normy...This is what the poll says:

Quote

When was the last time, going into the season, you felt we had a complete roster with a legit player at every spot on the floor plus a 6th man?

 

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1.  Evan Taylor is only starting if Watson is hurt.  I wonder if Thomas Allen will be able to play the point for long stretches.  If that happens, Taylor will see fewer minutes.

 

2.  I got the impression Miles is counting on Thor as a contributor this season.  I do not see him starting, but I could see him coming in at the 3.

 

3.  I could see Miles starting (1) Watson, (2) Palmer, (3) Gill.  If Gill is not ready, Allen would start in his place at the 2 with Palmer at the 3.  

 

4.  I agree with others that a lineup featuring Jordy, Roby, and Copeland would be optimal; however, I am not sure we have the depth to run that lineup with regularity unless something unexpected happens (e.g. Borchardt stepping up big time for ~10 minutes a game).     

 

5.  It will be interesting to see what Jack did (if anything) this summer.  If he could play both the 3 and 4 this year, that would be very beneficial.

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6 hours ago, uneblinstu said:

Sorry, Normy...This is what the poll says:

 

 

I'm with Norm on this one.  Going into '14-'15, I thought we had three guys who could lineup against anyone in the country: Shavon, Petteway, and Pitch.  I'd even say Leslee Smith was a legit 6th man going into the year.  But that still leaves two holes, thus '14-'15 would not have been considered a "complete" roster, even though expectations were sky high based on three guys who were potentially All-Conference caliber.

 

I voted '05-'06.  I was in college and partaking in the Red Zone at the time, so I know I was way more optimistic back then.  Plus playing in the Big 12 just always felt like you only needed a break or two to make the dance, whereas playing in the B1G is a meat grinder.  At the time, a projected lineup of Joe McCray, Jason Dourisseau, Aleks Maric, Wes Wilkinson, and Marcus Walker seemed really solid.  Plus with Chris "Human Highlight Reel" Balham as an exciting unknown freshman, I had some pretty high hopes that we could legitimately go 6-deep.  Unfortunately McCray ate every donut in Lincoln over the offseason, Balham's knees never joined him on the roster, and the team didn't take the step forward that I had hoped (stop me if you've heard THAT story before...).  But still, going into the year I thought we were solid at every position.

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we have so many question marks that i don't think you can for sure say this is a complete team.

-is copeland healthy and when will he be eligible right away?

-will jordy and roby make the leap?

-will the freshman make an impact right away?

-will palmer and duby be better than they were at their previous schools?

-will gill be healthy enough to provide anything off the bench?

-can mcveigh be more consistent?

-is taylor a legit starter or just a role player?

-how good will watson be as the main option?

Edited by TimSmiles
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Our depth appears legit.  We appear to have depth, we appear to have flexibility, we have players who supposedly can score, shoot and rebound.  We have defenders, we have players who can provide muscle.  We have players who can protect the basket and who can run. 

 

Now, that all said, very little of the above is proven.  We can hope.  We can believe this will be the start of something great.  We are all assured the talent is there...but will the confidence, character, leadership, desire, effort and results occur.  We shall see.  I personally believe.

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1 hour ago, aphilso1 said:

 

I'm with Norm on this one.  Going into '14-'15, I thought we had three guys who could lineup against anyone in the country: Shavon, Petteway, and Pitch.  I'd even say Leslee Smith was a legit 6th man going into the year.  But that still leaves two holes, thus '14-'15 would not have been considered a "complete" roster, even though expectations were sky high based on three guys who were potentially All-Conference caliber.

 

I voted '05-'06.  I was in college and partaking in the Red Zone at the time, so I know I was way more optimistic back then.  Plus playing in the Big 12 just always felt like you only needed a break or two to make the dance, whereas playing in the B1G is a meat grinder.  At the time, a projected lineup of Joe McCray, Jason Dourisseau, Aleks Maric, Wes Wilkinson, and Marcus Walker seemed really solid.  Plus with Chris "Human Highlight Reel" Balham as an exciting unknown freshman, I had some pretty high hopes that we could legitimately go 6-deep.  Unfortunately McCray ate every donut in Lincoln over the offseason, Balham's knees never joined him on the roster, and the team didn't take the step forward that I had hoped (stop me if you've heard THAT story before...).  But still, going into the year I thought we were solid at every position.

That's fine, but the question left it up to individual interpretation with how it was worded.

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3 hours ago, Donkey said:

5.  It will be interesting to see what Jack did (if anything) this summer.  If he could play both the 3 and 4 this year, that would be very beneficial.

 

ATM he's currently coming off the bench for the Australian college team.

In fact, he'll be playing vs Russia at 11:10 pm CST tonight https://livestream.com/FISU/events/7635164

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