Fromthebench

If you go back in this thread you will see I took some heat for my praise of Patton. Although I didn't always like the way he played this year I still wish Nebraska would have gotten in on him. I agree with scout that his potential is high and will stand by my statements that he could have more success than Akoy in college.

For the sake of comparison, Justin Patton's stats as a Jr. 11.8 ppg 7.9 rpg 58 blocks- 2.5 per game.

He put up huge #s in big games. 20 and 9 against Oak Hill, triple double in the state title. He was dominate. Stats tend to get skewed when you play 1 quarter of a 80-20 boat race, which that central squad did to teams on a weekly basis. I was just going to say something similar in that stats only tell one side of the story. When it mattered, on a stacked team by Nebraska standards, he stepped up and carried the team. If stats were the end all be all I'd just point to his AAU stats, which is why he blew up that summer and got the major offers he did because of his performances. This^ is my point. Once again, I am not knocking Akoy. You can't just look at the numbers and say someone is not worthy of a D1 scholarship because they didn't dominate in high school. I am using Akoy as an example because everyone is familiar with him. I wish he was a Husker. In the same way, I wish Patton was going to be a Husker. I have seen both of them play during the season and in the summer up close and personal. Patton had a tremendous summer, and Creighton is not the only team that wanted him. I know it is hard to make your point sometime through message boards, but people have completely taken my comments into a different direction. Bottom line- Akoy was awesome, and will eventually contribute at one of the top programs in the nation. In my opinion, Patton will be a very good D1 player. Anyone that thinks I am a Creighton troll are completely wrong.

First of all, I am not trying to knock Akoy, but he averaged 12.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and blocked 81 shots as a senior. To me, that is not dominating the competition. He may be better then Patton. I am just saying that D1 players don't dominate the games in Nebraska like some people are saying. Maybe 12.8 points and 6.1 rebounds is considered dominating to some, but dominating to me would be much more. I have seen Patton enough against good competition to know the kid can play.

Patton was not healthy last year. The comments saying that a division 1 player should put up huge numbers and dominate in Nebraska are unjust. Nebraska has not produced many division 1 players recently, but that has more to do with physical makeup then level of play. The game of basketball is played at a high level in our state. We just aren't producing the athletes needed to reach that level. High school coaches in Nebraska are teaching the skills and the game the right way. They can game plan to limit a player from putting up huge numbers. Look at Akoy Agau's high school stats and you wouldn't think he would go to the defending national champs as a 4 star recruit. Look at the success Nebraska AAU teams are having, look at the success Nebraska HS teams have when they play out of state teams (Oak Hill). The level of play is really good. The skill level is there, it's a matter of size and athleticism that isn't.

Patton is a very nice player. Creighton landed a good one there. I wish Nebraska could have gotten in on him. He is a hard worker, great teammate, and possesses skills that lead me to believe he can be a solid D1 player. In many ways, I like him more than Akoy Agau. Time will tell.

There are other tall players in the state, here are some that I can think of. Kimball has Miike Daum who is 6'8" and signed to play at D-1 South Dakota St. Omaha North has a player that is 6'10". The Moon kid is 6'8". Elliason's brother is 6'7" and I beleive going to play football at Chadron St. There is a 6'8" freshman on Scottsbluff's roster who plays for them and they qualified for state.

Before you see a shot clock nationally, you will see high school move to 2 halves. This will eliminate the stalling at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters. I'm not saying that this is the answer, just that it will probably happen.

I don't understand Coach McDermott's motive to put that on twitter. Nothing positive will come from it. I am disappointed because I respect him as a coach and person, less now. You won the game because your team executed extremely well, especially early, be proud. The play he is tweeting about had nothing to do with the outcome of the game and it makes no sense as the winning coach to bring attention to it because it actually takes the focus away from how well his team played.

Pitchford could be our best player next year. Peltz might redshirt.

Great win! One thing that I did notice that concerned me a bit was how open the roll man was on the pick and roll. They did a great job taking away the 3 point shot out of pick and roll but the roll man came wide open way too many times. Valpo went to this almost every possesion down the stretch and we were lucky they didn't hit the guy more as he was open a lot. Also, had a conversatio with a current CSU player recently and he said there is a huge difference between Eustachy's practices and Miles'. He said that Miles' practices were a lot less intense and was more of a up beat atmosphere. I bet the current Huskers are thinking the exact opposite. I agree with others that the team seems more confident on the court. I am looking forward to many good things in the future. GBR!