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People said we need to be more athletic like A&M. Well we just got a little closer.

Hopefully, but these kinds of decisions are made every day at portal time. How far to go on NIL with each player/agent, figuring out what's real, drawing a line knowing that's effectively letting a guy go. I'm probably stating the obvious, but this is so much about money now, rather than a better fit at a new program, etc. And on the program end, there comes a point where the price is higher than the player is good, and you have to keep some dry powder. The good news is in the play for pay era, our new AD is totally committed to that, and will overtly support 1890 until the system changes and allows direct institutional participation or changes to an employee model. Fred is very pleased with Dannen so far. Fred has almost double what he had to work with on the pay players budget from a year ago. We're all in on the current system. We're really trying to get a visit from Payne, but the NIL demands are very, very high. We're getting a visit from Essigian, assuming he doesn't commit to Indiana on his visit there. Kyle supposed to come next weekend but concerned about Wake giving him a huge number, like they did Sallis.

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team. -If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: -Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. -Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. -Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. -Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year.

Nebraska lands former Rutgers transfer Gavin Griffiths from the transfer portal. The 4 star 6'8" sharpshooter was a big commit for the Scarlet Knights but struggled during his freshman year until the end of the season. Despite the size look for Griffiths to slot at either the 2 or 3. Griffiths will have 3 years of eligibility left and is the 3rd known commitment for 2024-25. Nebraska currently has 4 scholarships remaining. View full article

This is easy. You recruit HS kids so that you have a better chance to land them on their 2nd-5th stop.

Offensively Keisei could do so much more than shoot threes. Standing in the corner waiting for kick outs is the opposite of what Keisei did. I understand your point, but he’s an Admiral now. He deserves the corresponding respect.

Per Washut: William Kyle canceled his visit to Iowa State. Still visiting Wake Forest Sunday-Monday, then back in Lincoln for spring game weekend. Nebraska staff visited him again earlier this week. Milicic decision coming as soon as this weekend.

After Friedrichson, Sallis, and now Kyle, I'm starting to think Steve Forbes' recruiting strategy is just "see who Fred offers, then offer them a big bag."

Didn't turn him down directly, but indirectly, we declined to dig deep and come close to what Xavier was willing to pay.

Think about this. We now have two legit point guards that are penetraters, pass first, and strong defenders. And oh yeah, Brice has shown he can play point guard; and then there is that kid named Sam.

Nebraska lands their fourth commit out of the transfer portal with the verbal commit of Wisconsin transfer Connor Essegian. The Indiana native, known for his 3pt shooting, has two years of eligibility remaining. Nebraska currently has open three scholarships remaining for 2024-25 View full article

Pleasantly surprised by the rebounding rates from Essigian over the last couple of years. Will easily be a plus over Keisei or CJ in that department. Not entirely sure what Griffiths brings in that department because of how dominant Cliff was there.

We now have 6 players who have averaged double figure ppg in their careers. I'm guessing we'll add at least one more. Kyle and Igor would both be in that category. Plus Sam, Ulis and Griffiths have all been contributors. Don't think Nebraska has ever had that much previous year(s) production on the roster going into a season.

We've really signed two guys who, with the right change of scenery, could absolutely EXCEL under Fred. If they come in with the right mindset-- look out!

A better one. We're adding a big PG with elite passing and solid defense in addition to Ulis who is a good PG. We're adding a 6'8" guard who has an NBA future and will undoubtedly find his shot with Fred. We're adding a skilled, athletic 6'10" center who was all conference and can stretch the court. We're likely adding another solid 6'4" guard from Wisconsin who is a 3pt specialist. We're likely going to get Kyle to help with our front court athleticism. We have a chance to land Milicic as another versatile weapon at 6'10" who can play the 4-5. In all seriousness, I think the most important thing Fred is looking for is skill. All of these guys outside of maybe Kyle (who is tremendously skilled defensively) can handle the ball and shoot. Typically skilled players have learned a lot and worked on their game on their own a lot, which probably means they have a high IQ and work ethic to match their skills. Coach's dream. Defensively, our system requires smart players but it's so help heavy it's basically a zone which typically makes up for some lack of athleticism. I think Fred is looking for long players who can fill it up on offense with the hope that their length creates problems in our hybrid defense. Brice is like this. Mast is like this. Gary is probably the only player left that doesn't quite fit this mold exactly but he has really worked on his offense, and he was already an elite defender, so he still fits in very well. I'm intrigued.

We don't need to sell our soul or completely change course, but we do need to get more athletic to successfully compete on an ongoing basis. It's not an all or nothing thing.

This. And I'm glad we're not selling our soul to just go get the most athletic guys out there just to try and beat 2024 Texas A&M that shot unbelievable from 3 and would have beaten almost anyone on that night. We have to continue doing the model that has won us Big Ten games over the last 14 months, which is smart, hard-working, unselfish, experienced dudes who can shoot and will give max effort on defense. You can't win a tournament game if you can't get to the tournament. After the A&M game, some fans seem to think we should be getting athletic freaks and that those same players will also be great shooters and super effective in Fred's 5-out offense and will also have the discipline, work ethic and attitude of a Sam Griesel/Sam Hoiberg. Newsflash: if you are all of those things you are in the NBA or getting offered by UConn/North Carolina/Kansas/Duke.

I really like this kid’s potential and think he’ll be a perfect fit for Hoiberg’s offense. I remember watching him play against Nebraska thinking I’d love to have this kid on our team. Big get IMO.

Between the shooting ability and possibly the defensive issues, guy most likely to get the side eye from Brice this season

We simultaneously have too many and not enough scholarships available

I wouldn’t necessarily call a multiple year starting PG at Utah, a former top 25 SG, and a big man who we beat another B1G team (who was closer to home than us) underwhelming. Especially when we’ve basically upgraded/equaled out each position we’ve lost. Lawrence - Woosley Diop/Keita - Morgan Rice/Tominaga - Griffiths and we still have 3 ships to fill.

The connection to note for Eli Rice to Penn St is that Rice was heavily recruited by VCU who at the time was coached by now Penn St coach Mike Rhodes.

And can we all agree to not get too overexcited about the token 6’11” high ceiling 17 year old we bring in this summer to be on the scout team next season

Malique Ewin. We're still in the mix

We have 6 more spots to fill. But if you're making this type of comparison, Keisei wasn't a PG so it's more like allick/Boogie/lawrence with worster/morgan/uhlis

Nice that we have enough PG depth that someone will have to be the backup

his only double digit scoring game in February or March was against us. Fits the profile of what we look for in transfers.

So much this. It’s probably not every day you can grab a former P5, 3 point specialist, who is willing to accept a role of the bench, and who won’t cause problems, before stepping foot on campus. But CJ is one of those guys.

I'm guessing Trev put in a good word as far as his character, work ethic, and being a good locker room guy. He seems like a genuinely good kid and I hope he does well in his final year unless we meet up in the tournament again!

Been dealing with a back injury since 2018. When you're in the throes of an acute flair up it's hard to just exist. It's tough to do anything well, average, or even poorly

Put both feet out the door, then stepped back in to audition against us and go 4/7 from deep in 12 minutes.

Also doesn’t these last couple of guys balance the classes some. I know nobody will stay the whole time. But you also don’t want to have knowingly have to bring in 7 new players each year because of one and dones.

Tominaga shouldn't be listed as he is out of eligibility, whereas Rice made a choice and I wish him the best of luck at PSU. As for Rice over Griffiths, I have to disagree there as GG's ceiling is a lot higher than ER's IMO. He has a better overall skill set, can defend multiple positions and has better length. He was pretty impressive at times in our game at home against Rutgers, especially when he was matched up with Gary. Blocked Gary's shot twice when he tried to take him to the bucket, rebounded over Williams down low and drew a foul and scored over a taller defender taking the ball to the basket making a difficult finish look easy. I think we really got a good one.

What about a team with two point guards?

Dude is an absolute legend and his fame continues to grow!

I sort of look at it this way; Keisei's replacement is already on the roster. His name is BRICE WILLIAMS.

We have moved on from Joseph. Griffith got the nod over him. Joseph rebounding stats poor.

Goggles 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Good luck to Jamarques. I’ll be rooting for him.

I really like his potential

The more I read about and watch this guy the more I think he may actually be our starter this season. But we need to get some shooters. I didn't realize CJ ended the year 50-127 (39.4%) and Brice ended at 50-129 (38.8%). Nearly identical. Would not have guessed Brice was as accurate from 3 as CJ was, but CJ did struggle quite a bit down the stretch. Keisei was only 37.6% (76-202). Milicic was 56-149 (37.6%). We need at least 1, ideally 2 shooters. I want that to be Milicic and Griffiths.

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

KenPom highlights the highest rating given to your program since 1997

Good skillset for a team that finished as the 342nd best 3pt shooting in D1

In the next 5-10 years it won’t even matter. This all is clearly moving to a new conglomerate of power 5+ schools eliminating the ncaa and conferences as we know it.

We also have to trust that Fred knows what he’s looking for now. He’s got the formula to the secret sauce that works for him. I don’t think he’d go away from that just to get more athletic. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fred was completely transparent and honest with what he expected and envisioned for each player we’ve recruited. I would hope, much like Boogie, that each player took that to heart before committing and they know that we expect ‘we over me’.

FWIW: Gavin Griffiths was a top 50 national recruit with offers from UCONN, Alabama, Creighton and others. Nick Janowski was a top 130 national recruit with offers from Marquette, Wisconsin, Iowa State and others. Eli Rice was a top 300 recruit with offers from Georgetown and St. Bonaventure. Jamarques Lawrence was a top 200 recruit with offers from Wake Forest, Cal and DePaul. At least on paper, this is a serious upgrade in talent at guard over Rice and Lawrence. Now, Keisei's clutch shots and momentum changing shots will certainly be missed, don't get me wrong. At the end of the day he provided 15.1 ppg and was a 37.6% three point shooter. I think Griffiths/Janowski and the increased volume for Williams can make up all that difference, and we'll be better defensively just by not having Keisei out there.

We're still very active. Believe a couple of guys are visiting today. Shooting guard and big post player. Somehow the post player has been under the radar.

Griffiths reminds me of former Terp Kevin Huerter. And that's meant as a compliment.

Helpful to reference who we have G Ahron Ulis - 6'3" - SR G Rollie Worster - 6'4" - SR G Brice Williams - 6'7" - SR G Sam Hoiberg - 6'0" - JR G Gavin Griffiths - 6'8" Soph G Nick Janowski - 6'3" FR F Juwan Gary - 6'6" - SR F Rienk Mast - 6'10" - SR F Andrew Morgan 6'10" - SR F Braden Frager 6'6" - FR ------------------------------ Gary, Juwan Ahron Ulis Williams, Brice Mast, Rienk Worster, Rollie Morgan, Andrew Griffiths, Gavin Janowski, Nick Frager, Braden Seems like prioritizing guys who might be here past next season should be highly considered.