12/29/2012 - Nicholls State Report Card

[hhcdave]

OFFENSE: B-

Nebraska did a fairly good job of attacking the rim and getting to the free throw line, though that wasn't always advantageous.

For the day, NU left 13 points at the charity stripe, including seven in the last 90 seconds. That, my friends, is once again how NOT to finish a basketball game. This must improve, especially considering this team really isn't all that young by this point in the season (three seniors, two juniors and a sophomore are amongst the Top 8 guys in rotation). Finishing games has less to do with talent level and more to do with being mentally soft. We saw it against Jacksonville State and we saw it again today - this team starts AIMING shots instead of just shooting. They overthink. They panic. They let things snowball.

I need to see a tougher bunch.

I do want to credit our Player of the Game, Brandon Ubel, for delivering from the line (10-11). The Overland Park senior finished with 18 points in twenty five minutes.

DEFENSE: F

Okay, really? Speaking of finishing games, we allowed Nicholls State, off of a MADE FREE THROW, to make one pass down the floor with 45 seconds left and FOUL?!?!?! I repeat, off of a MADE FREE THROW, we allowed one pass and a foul at the other end, leading to points with the clock off. Unreal.

Again, NOTHING TO DO WITH TALENT - that's focus and being mentally ready. No excuses.

Liked seeing NU mix up its looks but it just wasn't good defensively. Nicholls State scored 42 points in the second half on 59% shooting. That is enough to outlast the "A" level defense NU played in the first half and make it an "F". Again, no excuses. That's not how we're going to build a basketball program here.

REBOUNDING: C

Nebraska was so-so on the boards - 37 to 33, in their favor. I can live with seven offensive boards allowed.

Nice to see David Rivers join Andre Almeida with a team leading six boards. Rivers continues to impress me and I think he has a great chance (as I've mentioned previously) to be a solid 7th or 8th man for us the next two seasons, even as the talent level improves.

BALL HANDLING: A

7 turnovers is a season low, to go along with 11 assists. That's pretty good and as I mentioned earlier, Nebraska's offense wasn't bad in this game, with a lot of that due to crisp passing and good spacing, which in turn led to some decent driving lanes.

COACHING: F

I want to see a fairly experienced team finish a basketball game. I don't care if this is year one or a down year. Even in those years, prescedents need to be set and habits need to be formed. Four kids on the floor today will see meaningful minutes next year and three others sit on the bench watching. We MUST get rid of this "playing not to lose," "playing scared" and "mentally rattled" attitude we have developed. That starts with the coach.

I LOVE Tim Miles. I think he's going to take us to new heights. But to do that, this needs to stop. Now. Not finishing these games has nothing to do with us being short handed for a BCS team. It has to do with attitude and mental fortitude. I put this on the coach since he makes more money than all of us on here combined. You can't aim shots. You can't play timid. You can't allow a freaking guy to get fouled at the other end off of a made free throw on one pass. etc, etc, etc.

OVERALL GRADE: F

Nebraska played on the bottom end of "good" offensively, "very good" ball handling and "average" rebounding.

However, the defensive meltdown in the closing half and some of the mental mistakes are too much to overcome the good.

Poor performance.

PLAYER OF THE GAME: BRANDON UBEL

2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS:

RAY GALLEGOS - 5

DYLAN TALLEY - 3

BRANDON UBEL - 3

DAVID RIVERS - 1

SHAVON SHIELDS - 1

This post has been promoted to an article

[HB]

Wow, Dave. I appreciate all you have done in founding this site, but you need some maturity in your report card. Last week some posters suggested waiting until the next day to post the report card. This is painfully evident in the above effort. You've just given a guy you purport to LOVE 2 Fs, which is vindicitive and immature. Just because he makes a lot of money is no reason to ignore what players he has available to put out on the floor. I've been around awhile, and again, appreciate all you have done, but I have to grade your report cards this year an F.

[cipsucks]

I wonder what grade Miles would give himself for today....

[hhcdave]

I didn't see anything immature about the report card? Do you disagree that we are in immense need of an improvement in regards to finishing games? Do you disagree that we made some boneheaded mental mistakes? I'm not understanding why we should just chalk this year up to a lost year. I don't think our players feel that way. If we as fans do, then why not take a year off and begin watching again next year?

[hhcmatt]

It's a lot harsh.

We graded out for a F in a game we won.

Obviously an F would have been given for a loss...are you telling me that it didn't matter that we won or lost in this game?

While we're not closing out games like we should, we're closing out games.

Of the four games we've lost, we haven't lost them because we couldn't close.

[hhcdave]

Posted this in another thread but I thought I would here, too.

******

This is the exact way I felt and what I was trying to convey in the report card. Apparently I haven't been doing a good job at that this year.

I'll probably finish out this year and let someone else take over the reigns next year. It seems that the last couple of years, there aren't too many Dave fans around anymore. Not that its all about me or my ego but I also don't want to not be the voice of Husker fans, as in being inaccurate to what the majority of the diehard fans feel and want said. That was the point of this site - was to give Husker Hoops fans a voice and to create passion. I feel as if maybe I'm slipping.

Anyway, look forward to finishing out this year and like you, expect more than just excuses, even if it is year one. I said at the beginning of the year I would grade accordingly based on lack of depth and perhaps, even talent. However, the problems I see, as I tried to convey, aren't physical or for lack of talent. Clanking free throws, losing focus, breaking down mentally on defense, not having confidence or killer instinct... sure, collectively, those things all equal better talent and good basketball. However, even "subpar" players or depth should be able to overcome at least a few of those. We shouldn't be clinging to wins against the teams we have and surely need to figure out a way to finish games and pull away. Regardless of what year this is in the maturation process, there's enough guys (as in 2/3 of next years roster) being directly affected this year, in that discpline and expectations can be set. That forms habits. That changes the culture. That stuff HAS to start this year. We've been down trodden too long. It will take time to overcome it. But settling for it and making excuses for it and not holding our current team accountable doesn't help us down the road, nor is it fair to the kids we have in the program now, who are playing and expecting to win and compete for NCAA Tournament appearances this year (Ubel's words, not mine).

Perhaps I have become jaded and a bit of a dick without realizing it. I feel like I'm mostly the same now as I've always been.

Either way, I will turn the reigns over after this year and step back and enjoy things more as a distant fan again.

I hope my sentiments and explanations of why I write what I write make sense, and I hope people always know I have poured my heart and soul into this site and program for many, many years. I want nothing but the best for them. That's the bottom line.

[Huskerpapa]

I recently completed (for the second time) a great book called "The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty" - for a basketball fan, it is one of the better books I have read related to coaching and basketball. Bob Hurley is very, very rough around the edges. But he is also one of the better basketball coaches that have ever lived. He also loved his kids (but his two sons didn't get that until after they graduated) and by this I mean all the kids he coached. He had extremely high expectations for the kids on his team. He drove them and didn't accept poor effort or disinterest in either the classroom or on the floor. He had this great quote:

" I think everybody can be better than they think they can be."

Why am I bringing up this boring story...I think Dave sees this with this team. Everybody (including me) is willing to give this team a pass this year. But for me, that comes with a major disclaimer. We have to still play with heart, with passion and with effort. I agree with Dave on this report card because I thought the team as a whole, did not come to play with that heart, passion or effort today. I believe this team can out-perform expectations this year. But they need to come to play EVERY night for that to occur.

[BjoeHusker]

Another F? Seriously, this makes absolutely no sense. Not sure how you give the defense an F. Yes they gave up 42 in the second half, but they only gave up 17 in the first. I just don't see how you can continue to give the Huskers an overall grade of an F when they win.

Offense: B- = 2.7

Defense: F = 0

Rebounding:C = 3.0

Ballhandling: A = 4.0

Coaching: F (if you say so) = 0

total = 9.7; 9.7/5 = 1.97 = C-

[kldm64]

I personally think his report card is kind. This team beat a team by 9 points that they should have beat by 20 easily. And we had a major collapse at the end of the game. Talley contines to be a major dissappointment in his play this season. He's playing like he has NBA scouts watching him instead of playing team ball. Almeida should have been able to dominate the paint with his size against this team but yet he continues to play passive. It's mind boggling how offensive challenged this team is. Miles certainly has his faults but he can only do so much with the talent he was left with. We'll know more in a few years how effective of a coach and recruiter Miles is.

[royalfan]

Far too many absolutes in this report card IMO

[Chuck Taylor]

Dave,

We who disagree with you do so respectfully and hope you can find some encouragement out of this season. I would only point out that a lot of the criticisms that are attributed (not just by you) to coaching, attitude and toughness are also a result of fatigue, inexperience and lack of confidence due to last year's dumpster fire. Tired players and inexperienced players miss free throws, have mental lapses, etc. Players used to losing don't look for ways to make plays, they watch others make plays. It's a process, as the expression goes. If you grade when you're mad, then you attribute the lapses personally to the players and coach, rather than to the collective lack of talent and experience. And a lot of people feel hurt when "our" guys get ripped. Someone above said Talley played selfish. Or is it a senior trying to make a play for his offensively challenged teammates? Dunno, we're not in the lockerroom.

I don't have lower standards than most people here, but it's hard to get mad when it's the results of a decade of neglect. I like the way the team plays (on occasion) and am encouraged. And I also expect to lose big against OSU because we're just not ready for that level of competition. Yet. And some time this season, something really good is gonna happen and I'm going to enjoy it, rather than think about how we'll get blown out a few days later.

[Chuck Taylor]

PS: Keep doing the cards, and don't let us anonymous posters get you down!

[Buglem]

PS: Keep doing the cards, and don't let us anonymous posters get you down!

Dave, I agree with Chuck. I might not agree with your grades but appreciate the time and effort you put into the analysis. I think you find legitimate concerns that most agree with so whether the "grade" is right or wrong, your points are valid.

Thank you for everything you've done and continue to do for the site!

[longtimefan]

Dave, I appreciate you taking the time to do a report card after each game. I almost always agree with your assessments. That said, I've posted before that I don't think you can give an F for an overall grade when we win. An F is as bad as it gets and yet we still did enought positive things to win the game. I like you breaking down and grading the different segments of the game--offense, defense, rebounding, ball-handling and coaching. Those grades in my opinion, are enough. Skip the Overall grade.

[Norm Peterson]

I like the notion of a report card and I think it's interesting reading after a game. It puts a little different perspective on things compared to uneblinstu's post-game chatter. I think there's a place for both.

Hope Dave continues to do them, but my only critique is the (to use a teacher grading term) "rubric" that gets applied.

Leaving the game with a bad taste in your mouth doesn't necessarily justify a grade of "F". I think this team, especially considering its limitations, has done enough things well or right in each game that it hasn't deserved an "F" yet. I think at worst a "C" or maybe a "C minus."

Maybe we need to change the "rubric" thingy.

Offense probably deserves a grade. So does defense. But ball handling? Isn't that part of offense? And how do you measure our ball handling? Just assists and turnovers?

Rebounding can certainly be measured but it's influenced in part by how well we shoot. Are ball handling and rebounding worthy of separate categories or do they fall under offense and defense depending on where we got the rebound? I don't know the answer to that question.

One recurring question seems to be our performance closing out games. Perhaps that deserves its own category. How did we play in the last 5 minutes? I can't remember which coach/commentator it was who talked about the importance of the first and last 5 minutes of each half. I think it might have been Bobby Knight. I'm sure more than one coach has made that observation. But perhaps how we closed out should have a separate grade.

Maybe each half deserves its own grade? If we play well in the first half and deserve an "A" and then get lazy or complacent or tentative in the 2nd half and get an "F" for that half, that's still something like a "C" for the whole game. At least that's how I would have expected my college professors to have graded me if I had failed a final (which I never, ever did, of course. )

Does the play in the 2nd half of a game deserve more weight than the play in the first half? Take USC here under Doc a couple of years ago when we came back from being down 20 to just barely win that one. As bad as the first half would have been, the second half would have been awesome. If we win that game by, let's say 2 or 3 points, does that effort deserve a higher overall grade than if we'd gone into the lockerroom up 20 at half and had them gradually chip away until we only won by the same final margin? Same outcome -- a W. Same final margin. But in one scenario we come back from a big deficit to barely pull off the win, and in the other scenario, we lose a big lead and barely hold on for the win. Based on that information alone and nothing else, would those games deserve different grades? I don't know. Something to think about, though.

Bottom line for this season, though, Dave, is that I think you've focused too much on what went wrong and not enough on the things that went well. And I think you'd get less push-back if you reserved the failing grades for only those performances where the play was so absymal that you're hard pressed to find anything positive to say about it. Such has not been the case in any game this year.

[Huskerpapa]

How do you measure improvement Norm? It is like no child left behind. Let's dumb down the scoring process so that we all feel better about this season???

I certainly appreciate the effort of this years team (other than the last game). But you have to grade this year as any other year. If you do not, then when improvement occurs, what grade do you provide? I still have high expectations. I still expect us to play well. I still expect effort. I expect improvement each time out. I expect wins, not moral victories. Yes, it is true, we likely will not get many more wins this year, but just because we go out and work hard, a D is still a D.

Next year grades should improve. But if an A is not earned, in my humble opinion, it should not be provided.

[Norm Peterson]

Well, if Coach Miles deserves an F following a non-conference win, I don't see how he gets any better than an F when we get obliterated by the better teams in the conference. And that's going to happen plenty as this season wears on. Does that mean Miles sucks as a coach? And, next year, if we keep some of those games close or, Heaven help us, WIN one or more of them, does that mean Miles has improved as a coach in his second season here or maybe does it mean that he's got a better hand to play next year?

When a High School kid takes a college class for HS credit, the HS usually gives them a pass/no-pass grade rather than giving them the letter grade assigned by the college for college level work. Which is as it should be. You don't expect a HS kid to perform against college standards the way s/he would in HS. And you wouldn't grade an undergrad based on the standards set for graduate students.

Let me ask you this, CWG: What grade should the Nichols State coach and team have gotten? They lost. You don't want moral victories; you expect wins. So, how do you grade the other team? Fs for how they let Nebraska get up by 20?

See, grading is about expectations. And how close to meeting those expectations a student came. And expectations for purposes of grading are relative and depend on what the student is or should be capable of. This particular group of players can do everything to the best of their ability and still get stomped by the better teams in the B1G. That's just the way it is. And when we get lit up by the #1 team in the country, if the team has done as well as we could expect them to do, then they shouldn't get an F. Otherwise, the grading is meaningless.

[Huskerpapa]

They get F's as well. Just because one team won that game, does not justify higher grades in my opinion. Just because Nichols State played as well as they could, and we played poorly, the grades should not differ...why, you may ask? Because both are Division I programs. If we were playing a NAIA school or a Division II school, then yes, the teams should be scored differently as expectations should be different for the two programs.

In my opinion, and apparently Dave's opinion as well, the Huskers performance against Nichols State deserved poor grades. I believe Coach MIles agreed as well. We were inconsistent. Our offense lacked fluidity and we missed too many good looks. Our free throw shooting was horrible. Our defense (although decent in the first half) was terrible in the second half. We simply looked to be going through the motions.

I did not expect that low level of perforrmance. I expected a much more refined game, especially since the team is not burdened by classes at this point, and with the Big Ten season starting in a few days.

I do grade on expectations. Nebraska did not meet expectations in many areas against Nichols State. Nichols may have had the least amount of talent as I have seen in quite some time. The fact that they came back on the Huskers was not a feather in their cap...far from it. It was due to our breakdowns and our failed opportunities.

You have also made my point in your last paragraph. You state that "This particular group of players can do everything to the best of their ability and still get stomped by the better teams in the B1G. That's just the way it is. And when we get lit up by the #1 team in the country, if the team has done as well as we could expect them to do, then they shouldn't get an F." My observation was/is that the Huskers did not do much of anything close to their level of ability, that is why they deserved the lowest score possible. For the first time this year (in my mind) the effort and performance fell very well short of expectations.

[Norm Peterson]

We're not grading pass/no-pass. We're giving out letter grades. The performace in the Nichols State game might not have earned anyone an A but I'm not sure it was bad enough to deserve an F either.

[cipsucks]

We're not grading pass/no-pass. We're giving out letter grades. The performace in the Nichols State game might not have earned anyone an A but I'm not sure it was bad enough to deserve an F either.

Norm, speaking from experience, you sound like the parent of a student who has one of those hard-asses for a teacher.

[Handy Johnson]

I was at this game, and would agree with the assessment. We had them down by 20, which is when you continue to pile on. We quit playing and let a team we should run off the floor back in the game. We better come with a fire in our a** on Wed. or they'll have that 22 point spread covered by half.  

[Norm Peterson]

Handy, I would just say that just like in Dancing with the Stars where the judges shouldn't give too high of a grade at the start because the next couple might come out and do even better, neither should we grade this Husker team too low in the first part of the season because we're going to run into a whole lot of Fs as the season drags on.

 

Here's a question:  What's the spread for tonight, 22 pts?

 

Here's another question:  How do you grade it if we cover the spread and only lose by 20? 

[Handy Johnson]

We could lose by 20 tonight and actually play much better than last Sat. It's all relative and depends a great deal on the opponent. I assumed we wouldn't be too engaged for Nichols St., but the Seniors should realize and convey to everyone the Big 10 starts TO-NIGHT, the level of effort and play need to go to 11.