Husker4theSpurs

I sure hope so ... more draft picks to come :)

On some level each year is a rebuild for everyone. Gotta hope to have a core that stays, but even if they're happy where they're at that's not any guarantee anymore. :(

Let's also keep in mind people enter the portal just to check their market value sometimes. Gard has done just decent enough to keep his job quite often at Wisconsin ... it's almost to a point they'd almost like to see him have a bad year just to have it over with it seems. I don't know that his job is safe right now as it is ... It's getting more and more difficult for me to care as much with all the changes ... not to sound like the almost 50 year old guy and gripe, but it's just what I'm feeling.

It's hard to sustain that level of a-holery for a long period.

I have to give Fred credit with the re-boot he made. I wasn't sure he had it in him to make the changes he did and get a bit more re-engaged with talent acquisition. We have chose REALLY wisely in the portal for the most part (Uhlis may end up being a good choice, but it wasn't this year for certain). Maybe some of this is a bit of luck. Some will fight me on this but we were still a bit underfunded as far as NIL and I'm hoping this season will push that to another level yet. I think culture is the main thing and it seems like we've committed to being tough minded and defensive ... I think the character of our guys is really showing through and permeates the culture - Mast, Gary, Williams, Hoiberg even as a walk on, and Allick. I feel like it's been a bit of fake it till we made it and we still seem a bit vulnerable mentally but it's improved. Being experienced and older than the rest of the league has paid off. And the schedule was designed well for what they thought they had ... I'd imagine it's gone better than Hoiberg and the basketball admin even thought it could. I think Alberts and Hoiberg's values align fairly well. Again, I will give kudos to Fred because I wasn't sure he had a reboot in him or the overall hunger to do so but he has proven me wrong. Let's see how we can sustain this. I suppose the administrative support and engagement has to be mentioned as well. The entire athletic department is in a way different place. While I have my concerns about Trev in some ways, he has seemed to have done a good job leading and building an overall culture in the athletics department.

Culture Age/Experience The hire of Loenser Depth (we are not deep but we aren't reliant on one or two players)

You can resell them. They come in sessions. Usually two games to a session. I haven't gone since they became digital however.

I agree it feels random, but one thing that will hurt us is that we don't have a lot of chances for quality wins after these next 3 games. That wasn't true of the 2014 team, but I agree with your points.

That team also had a ton of steam coming into the tournament, which we are unlikely to have given just the level of competition down the stretch of our schedule. This isn't going to be the year to back your way into the tourney given the lack of strength of the Big Ten.

This might not be the year to expect to make it at 11-9 in conference ... not that conference record matters necessarily. I think we have to win one of the next three and get at least one road win and avoid bad losses at home to make it. But as stated above, a lot dependent on other teams.

That there is a bit of disconnect between Keisei and a few other members on the team.

One theme is we have an especially tough time with athletic teams. Position by position we are lacking athleticism for the most part.

These next three games are huge. If we don't win any of them, barring some quality wins in the Big Ten tournament, we could be on the outside looking in. We just don't have a lot of opportunities left for Q1 and Q2 wins. Buckle up!

I still don't love CJ in general, but he's earned some respect from me. His defense still has improved but like many on our team lacks athleticism for his position. If he makes shots, he's good. If he doesn't he tends to let that affect the rest of his play ... but this has improved this year FOR CERTAIN. So kudos to him for that.

I never said he wasn't a key and that he shouldn't play or the like. I said I think it's a situation to watch and monitor. Basically we could not play him due to his early defense. And you will see I said good job to Keisei for staying engaged on the bench.

I have been an outspoken critic of Wilcher. He has been much more consistent and seems to keep his head better and not get down as easily. Kudos to CJ!

Fred made comment about players not having great nights doing a good job of supporting the team on the floor ... felt like that was a comment about Keisei. This continues to be a situation to watch and monitor. I think there's a bit of dissension around these issues from time to time. Good job tonight cheering on your team Keisei.

So many memories brought back ... the ol' Marathon Oil exhibition! :) I wonder if they'll let Danny talk a bit on the microphone. Could be interesting ... I have to say he did really good things here for the most part, but sometimes I wonder just how he did it because internally ... yikes!

Our lack of athleticism position by position is showing. No PG, no backup PG. Brice Williams ends up having to facilitate things and that's not where he thrives. Our rebounding has STRUGGLED of late even with Gary, but without him we almost have to play even smaller because Allick brings no offense in general and that compounds the rebounding issue. Too early to bail on the season but this feels like a real emotional breaking point giving up another 10+ point lead in the second half AND losing Gary.

I felt like he rushed back but didn't show a lot of signs that he did at first ... a bit of fatigue has set in it seems too.

Even if he's back he likely will take a while to get back in game shape and full speed.

Watching our body language coming out of halftime, I was not optimistic ... solid win. This was worse than a typical trap game in terms of opponent etc imho. Glad we pulled it out.

They sure will ... and they'll still be bringing in a similar amount of media rights money whether they win or not.

Unfortunately there is little incentive to make basketball priority ... yet again. NIL money isn't always some giveaway, it's often an investment business-wise. I don't think the business brokers want to divert much money away from football.

A Big Ten conference school has a lot more money to offer than a Big 12 school at this point.