uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 7, vol 24 - Wisconsin

[Jadler]

49er: I didn't mean to imply I dislike Dakitch's commentary. But as a Bobby Knight disciple, I'm sure that the relationship he perceives between our players and their head coach has got to rub him the wrong way. And if you require a hint on the new avatar, I'll just say that in my youth I spent some time in a place named for this Walter.

 

Oh the Walter gave it away

[HB]

Walter Reed, Jimmy.

 

He treated Old Jules, among others.

 

Does have some ties to Nebraska.

[basketballjones]

Watched the game late and made it through the game thread this morning so I'll now add some thoughts from the armchair. Positives: 1. We now have another referee to hate on. If the year continues along these lines, we should end up with at least a baker's dozen. Actually I thought it was a miracle that we didn't pick up some technicals along the way. Valentine has either mellowed or had some nyquil before the game. 2. I doubt we'll do the white out thing again. Although the way our team is playing, a combo of black unis and white clad fans might be a way to fool people into thinking we don't represent Nebraska. Negatives: (So much to choose from) 1.Dakitch seems to have developed a genuine dislike for our team. It was almost as if he enjoyed pointing out our shortcomings. But I might have done the same without a fast forward button. 2. Tai continues to excel on the defensive end. He'll be able to play a role here if we can just get some outside help to allow him to concentrate on that role. 3. I think we still can make the NIT even if we get abused by the mammoth centers at Purdue in the next game as I forsee. And once Friday the thirteenth is over, maybe we'll be allowed to score more that thirteen points in the first half too.

 

See, jimmy, I get the complete opposite feeling about Dakitch.  I honestly believe he loves him some Huskers...he couldn't stop gushing about the facilities and the fans.  At one point he was trying to get Tirico to comment on PBA and the Haymarket (but Tirico is too much of a pro to get involved in that conversation).  Heck, Dan almost seemed to openly root for the team during the comeback.

 

Sure, he was critical of the effort of the team in the first half, and of Terran specifically (and rightly so IMO), but not nearly as much as most of the fans on this very message board were.

 

It's almost as if he graduated from NU, not IU.

49r, I agree, I almost got the sense that Dan really likes our team but was severely disappointed in how we play. I think he was expecting a lot more because he likes our squad.

[hal9000]

- Did anyone else notice Tai "drive to the basket" Webster in the second half? I haven't seen much of him since his freshman year. I'd like to see more.

- Leslee had a nice run during this game. His buckets to start the second half kept us in the game.

- We out-offensively rebounded Wisconsin and it led to 15 second chance points. I bet Bo is making them run extra for that today.

- We did hold Wisconsin to one of their worst offensive games of the year. Those numbers were improved by all those FTs they shot at the end of the game. We managed to make more baskets than they did if you can believe that.

Tai played with a lot of confidence in the 2nd half.  He had a beautiful drive where he completely fooled his defender and made an uncontested layup.  Later he almost had another one, but fumbled the ball a little on the way. 

[HuskerBB]

 

- Did anyone else notice Tai "drive to the basket" Webster in the second half? I haven't seen much of him since his freshman year. I'd like to see more.

- Leslee had a nice run during this game. His buckets to start the second half kept us in the game.

- We out-offensively rebounded Wisconsin and it led to 15 second chance points. I bet Bo is making them run extra for that today.

- We did hold Wisconsin to one of their worst offensive games of the year. Those numbers were improved by all those FTs they shot at the end of the game. We managed to make more baskets than they did if you can believe that.

Tai played with a lot of confidence in the 2nd half.  He had a beautiful drive where he completely fooled his defender and made an uncontested layup.  Later he almost had another one, but fumbled the ball a little on the way. 

 

 

I agree - the Tai we saw in the 2nd half last night is the player we need 25 minutes a game.   I disagree with Miles on one thing - I think we need to go back to Tai starting to keep up his confidence and have him force things offensively early in the gaem.  I think Benny is FAR more effective coming off the bench as a defensive sparkplug.   I was a big defender of Benny back when everyone was down on him before our run last year - but he has too many limitations to be getting 25 minutes a game as a main part of the rotation.  It takes away from the energy he can provide defensively.

 

Last night we played with a sense of urgency in the 2nd half that we need to have at the start of games and try to maintain throughout.  That is very difficult to do night in and night out.  When we made our run last year we were playing close to that because the confidence gave us the energy - but it is really tough to replicate over the long run.  Still given our other overall deficiencies and limitations as a team - we need that kind of energy to compete in the Big 10.

[FredsSlacks]

Benny is a safer option than tai at point guard, but at this point safe is not what we need. I would start tai because he attempts to make plays on the offensive end.

[jimmykc]

Good work HB and Jadler. I thought it would be an appropriate change since our offense is definitely on life support.

[tjp21]

Dakitch seems to like us.  Always says good things when he has our games. He's not like that with everyone.  It was only a couple weeks ago where he had us in his top 4 of the conference after the Mich St win. Let's face it, that first half was tough to watch.  I can't imagine having to call the game while trying not to harp on the terrible offensive performance we were putting out there.

[cozrulz]

Pitchford could use about 10 minutes cut off his playing time.  I think the bench might do him some good.  Struggling plus putting in major minutes seems to be affecting him.

[Fastbreaker]

>Does have some ties to Nebraska

Walter Reed was stationed at Fort Robinson, thus the reason he treated Old Jules.

[hhcmatt]

Pitchford could use about 10 minutes cut off his playing time.  I think the bench might do him some good.  Struggling plus putting in major minutes seems to be affecting him.

 

He got lost a couple of times but I thought it was one of his stronger nights defending in the paint. He was part of Kaminsky only making 4 buckets and Nigel Hayes making none. Obviously the offense wasn't there.

[49r]

I agree, I think Walt's defensive performance last night was one of his best actually.  Could have used a few more rebounds from him but overall not horrible.

[Huskerpapa]

Benny is a safer option than tai at point guard, but at this point safe is not what we need. I would start tai because he attempts to make plays on the offensive end.

Even when Benny is in the game, it seems to me that more often than not, TP initiates our offense. 

[Lifetimesker]

 

Pitchford could use about 10 minutes cut off his playing time.  I think the bench might do him some good.  Struggling plus putting in major minutes seems to be affecting him.

 

He got lost a couple of times but I thought it was one of his stronger nights defending in the paint. He was part of Kaminsky only making 4 buckets and Nigel Hayes making none. Obviously the offense wasn't there.

 

Absolutely, "the tank" was held under his average and Walt was a big part of that. I was happy with the defense last night.

[GATA]

Defensively, we competed our arses off. That and Tai were the highlights for me last night.

BTW, has Tarin Smith hit the freshman wall?

[Red Don]

Dakitch seems to like us.  Always says good things when he has our games. He's not like that with everyone.  It was only a couple weeks ago where he had us in his top 4 of the conference after the Mich St win. Let's face it, that first half was tough to watch.  I can't imagine having to call the game while trying not to harp on the terrible offensive performance we were putting out there.

 

This!  Dakich does seem to make a lot of favorable comments during the game too!

[Cazzie22]

 

A couple of thoughts about tonight.  The officiating did not cost us the game.  Miles may becoming too much of a "whiner" about calls.  Players other than Shields and T.P. must try to score more often.  T.P. was a liability on defense in the first half because he was sulking about his offense, Decker owned him.  Effort and execution might result in some wins.

You weren't watching the same game I was, apparently.

 

I guess not, maybe I was a little harsh in my post game funk!

[unl]

I looked but didn't see anything posted yet - So NU had 6 buckets in the first half.  How many did Wisconsin have in the second half?   6.  

 

In fact, NU made more buckets than Wisconsin.....

 

Wish we could have got to the line more.  This was a winnable game. Glad the players didn't fold, however, we could have, and should have, won this game. The defense was outstanding.  I'm leaning toward Tai starting to give a little more offense.

[AuroranHusker]

I looked but didn't see anything posted yet - So NU had 6 buckets in the first half.  How many did Wisconsin have in the second half?   6.  

 

In fact, NU made more buckets than Wisconsin.....

 

Wish we could have got to the line more.  This was a winnable game. Glad the players didn't fold, however, we could have, and should have, won this game. The defense was outstanding.  I'm leaning toward Tai starting to give a little more offense.

 

 

Except that Wisky has 22-27 FTs in the 2nd half so it's not nearly as fair of a comparison to NU's 1st half. NU had 13 total points while Wisky had 38 in each of their respective 6 FG halves - B1G Diff, IMHO.

 

Now, the idea of Tai starting has been bandied about off & on here. I'd be more in favor of Tarin starting with Energizer Benny off the bench w/ Tai & RIvers on that 2nd wave of former starters on the 6th, 7th & 8th guys in the game assuming Leslee continues to start. Moses is more of a spot minutes type of guy & so is Fuller, if he makes an appearance (which I would be in favor of more Nick vs the zone as a corner 3-ball shooter).

[HolyBobpilgrimage]

- Did anyone else notice Tai "drive to the basket" Webster in the second half? I haven't seen much of him since his freshman year. I'd like to see more.

- Leslee had a nice run during this game. His buckets to start the second half kept us in the game.

- We out-offensively rebounded Wisconsin and it led to 15 second chance points. I bet Bo is making them run extra for that today.

- We did hold Wisconsin to one of their worst offensive games of the year. Those numbers were improved by all those FTs they shot at the end of the game. We managed to make more baskets than they did if you can believe that.

imagine the outcome, even as bad as we played, if they had had even half as many freethrows! They got SOOO many and made almost all of them. Ridiculous. (Though I'm not entirely blaming the refs, we can't play like shit and win either)