Fullbacksympathy

Duquesne is very talented. They have 3-4 power 5 starters on that team. They should have beat Princeton. They will win a ton in the A10. This win will look better than Oregon State at the end of the season. Our team IQ on both ends is crazy high. As mentioned after Oregon State… we just have a bunch of adults out there. Mast, Allick, and Gary are an extremely tough, skilled, diverse front court. Both Mast and Allick are showing how valuable it is to have bigs who can pass. Our guards are smart and play within themselves. 12pt, 7rb, 5a from Allick with no TO is an incredible stat line. Really fun to watch us just bully teams into submission.

This is very well put.

There are some packline principles at play in this defense with a few differences like forcing baseline as many have pointed out. Packline (see Virginia) is basically a matchup zone with heavy on-ball closeouts where you force your man into help/bad shots. The anticipation of rotation is a very good thing. Most teams--even elite ones--aren't going to have elite passing. Forcing opponents into the worst shot in basketball (long baseline 2s) is definitely a good ethos. Running people off threes and into already-rotating help is totally doable and a real PITA if you have smart, hard-working players. Hoiberg's first few years' rosters wouldn't have dreamed of being able to execute this defense properly. Now that he has more coachable, hard working kids, the only way to really dismantle them is with coachable, unselfish, hard working kids on the other side, which will be rare. When you think about last year's group of guys like Bando, Griesel, Gary, etc. they were probably a Top 25 team before injuries. Absolute dogs on defense. It certainly looks to me like defense will be non-negotiable moving forward. I don't see any dropoff. Offense will sort itself out.

Very interesting Frager is reclassifying. He’ll handle it fine as he was easily the most physically dominant kid around here this past summer as a sophomore. Buckets of fun for ‘24.

He and Eli are very similar and will be a matchup nightmare at the 3-4 as athletic lefties who can stretch the court from 3 or muscle it inside and dunk on you. Pick your poison. What a great get. He’s an outstanding passer and defender to boot. He’ll fit in extremely well. You’re going to have a hell of a time finding a more athletic 3-5 than Frager, Rice, and Diop in the entire country let alone the B1G. Add a top 100 player like Janowski at the 2 and sprinkle some transfers in with JL at the 1. Scoring, skill, shooting, and athleticism everywhere. It’s about to get scary for NU moving forward, and I’m not really a sunshine pumper. Fred fixed the culture last season and the athletes followed. Kudos to the staff.

They look like a tournament team. Crazy depth, and diverse enough to create matchup problems with just about anyone. Diop would be wise to learn how to play like Gary. If he learns to be a versatile defender and energy guy, yikes. Mikki Moore was the last big who could jump like that, but I’ve literally never seen a big at Nebraska RUN like that. I’m far and out most excited for Eli. Honestly, if I hadn’t been familiar with the roster, I’d think he was the guy we were building around. I didn’t realize how explosive he was athletically. Josiah, Eli, and Diop are all newcomers, and they are also the three most athletic players on the roster. And remember Gary is a freak of nature in his own right. Holy crap.

I got stuck guarding him in a pickup game over the summer. The kid is a monster. Huge pickup.

Hopefully Gary can show him how to match effort to his gifts. I like him!

High school. Took a bathroom pass from math and saw a crowd gathered in the library around the television as the first plane had hit. I stared at the television in shock the rest of the school day as the rest of the events unfolded. I don't think I said a single word. Still haunts me a bit.

No real glaring weaknesses on this team, and lots of depth. I’m sure they’ll have a team goal to be dancing in March. Very impressive roster.

I think we have an absolute guru coaching us up defensively. As long as we have kids that close out and rotate that hard every possession, we’re going to be a problem.

Yes he did, but I think he had another 20lbs to lose.

If he's healthy he might be our best two way player. His energy and defensive ability change games enough to win some of them. He, Mast, and Allick provide a decent amount of versatility at the 4-5. I could see Allick getting the same minutes as both of them because he can play the 4 or 5. Gary can't play the 5, Mast can't play the 4, and I don't think Allick is a better 4 than Gary. So you might see lineups where we are doing the PITA half court offense run through Mast, who should look a hell of a lot like Walker last season. But you could also run Gary and Allick at the 4-5 and have an insanely fast front court who can jump through the roof and help a ton with perimeter defense.

Brice had a great looking stat line. Those threes will drop. Assists/steals/blocks from the wing = yay. Eli is a man. Glad he can shoot fts. Looks like a kid who can manufacture points.

Great pickup. D1 ready muscle and great athleticism. Don’t know if his three point threat is legit but if he’s serviceable on that end he could really help us. Defensively there’s no reason he can’t be elite.

The right kids are here!!!

Really hoping we land him. He's an absolute terror. He looks like a 25 year old playing with high school kids in AAU rn.

Lloyd will play wherever we need him. I'd take him at his word that he's a combo guard and our guards will pretty much be positionless. Also, his pops moved to Lincoln from Cali so I think the fam is pretty sold on where Fred's program is headed. High bball IQ dad and son. Really excited for Jr. to get on the court. So is he.

As a coach’s kid who has a coach’s kid, I can promise there is a heck of a lot less freedom in most instances. Sam is an extremely good team defender. He can get beat off the dribble once in awhile, but he sees the entire court precisely because he’s a coach’s kid. He’s also 6’ and dunks two handed, so it isn’t like he’s some throwback. He has D1 athleticism and strength to boot. He’s just short.

Agree. And he’s a weight room kid. He’s physically stronger than almost anyone he’s guarding.

I just remember my dad loving Strick so much when he came in as a freshman. I truly modeled how I thought about defense watching him on the perimeter. “See 21? THAT’s how you sit down on defense.” He or Pike are the easy picks, but I’m gonna throw an often forgotten one out: Ade. Not sure I’ve seen a harder worker ever put the uni on.

Had em both on my summer league team and they both had a lot of love for Doc. Sek was an elite defender and is still meandering around pro leagues and Ryan led the B12 in 3pt % his senior year and greatly improved his athleticism/ball skills over four years. Both guys were able to scrape together a living hooping for a pretty long time after graduating. Says a lot about the toughness Doc instilled and their willingness to endure it.

His defense and 3pt shooting will get him to the league as a reserve for sure. He has elite athleticism. Will he be an all star? All time great? No. But picture a more athletic Pat Bev who can shoot. That’s gonna be him.

Hoping they land him or someone similar yep.

We could still use a true stretch 4 who can rebound. We still haven’t been able to put out a lineup where all 5 guys can shoot it from three while maintaining traditional defensive positions under Hoiberg. Mast and a true stretch 4 (6’8” 230 or so would be great). Sounds like we’re working on one.