Off season summary

[Bugeaters1]

by Corn Nation, agree or disagree with their summary.

http://www.cornnation.com/2016/7/19/12232410/husker-womens-basketball-offseason-summary

[Red Don]

Seems like a fairly reasonable assessment.

 

"Husker Women's Basketball: Offseason Summary"

I had high expectations for this Husker team last season, given the amount of young talent meshed with the veteran Theriot. As the season wore on, I grew somewhat frustrated with the apparent underachievement and lack of "want-to" displayed by the team.

 

What This Season Could Look Like
The post rotation seems fairly well set with Shepard, Blackburn, and Havers getting most of the minutes down low. Havers began to show a little offensive firepower toward the end of last season while Blackburn is a stalwart defender. Blackburn also has some attitude and fire in her style of play.

The guard spots are wide open, mostly due to roster losses but also because of the coaching change......Incoming freshman Hannah Whitish is a true point guard......She may not be a scorer, but she seems to have the "it" needed to run Amy Williams' offense.

The Huskers seem to be flush with "wing" players, albeit young talent......In addition to the 6'2" Simon, Nebraska also has collected a couple more tall wing players. Six-foot freshman Eliely's recruiting profile indicates she can drive, score in traffic, and has off-the-charts potential. The 6'2" Mitchell is noted as a deep threat who is an excellent ball-handler in uptempo games.

 

The enthusiastic Williams and influx of young talent on the Husker team does lead one to imagine that 2016-17 will likely be a rebuilding year. I still think an NCAA tourney bid is possible, but most of my expectations will lie with the following two seasons, especially if ace-recruiter-Amy-Williams is able to draw in some post talent to complement the guard/wing-rich recruiting of late.

[Bugeaters1]

 

Seems like a fairly reasonable assessment.

 

"Husker Women's Basketball: Offseason Summary"

I had high expectations for this Husker team last season, given the amount of young talent meshed with the veteran Theriot. As the season wore on, I grew somewhat frustrated with the apparent underachievement and lack of "want-to" displayed by the team.

 

What This Season Could Look Like

The post rotation seems fairly well set with Shepard, Blackburn, and Havers getting most of the minutes down low. Havers began to show a little offensive firepower toward the end of last season while Blackburn is a stalwart defender. Blackburn also has some attitude and fire in her style of play.

The guard spots are wide open, mostly due to roster losses but also because of the coaching change......Incoming freshman Hannah Whitish is a true point guard......She may not be a scorer, but she seems to have the "it" needed to run Amy Williams' offense.

The Huskers seem to be flush with "wing" players, albeit young talent......In addition to the 6'2" Simon, Nebraska also has collected a couple more tall wing players. Six-foot freshman Eliely's recruiting profile indicates she can drive, score in traffic, and has off-the-charts potential. The 6'2" Mitchell is noted as a deep threat who is an excellent ball-handler in uptempo games.

 

The enthusiastic Williams and influx of young talent on the Husker team does lead one to imagine that 2016-17 will likely be a rebuilding year. I still think an NCAA tourney bid is possible, but most of my expectations will lie with the following two seasons, especially if ace-recruiter-Amy-Williams is able to draw in some post talent to complement the guard/wing-rich recruiting of late.

 

That's what I thought as well, but just put it out there.

[redsteve]

At this point....just have to wait and see what happens,...how everything develops.....how the new team gels with not only each other, but the new Williams scheme(s).

Probably new ways of playing some positions, and maybe even playing time will be different.

 

Maybe the most significant point in the article is how young the team is going into the season. On the one hand lack of experience is always an issue, but on the other side....there hopefully won't be huge problems of "unlearning" the old scheme....and learning a new scheme.

 

Would love to watch practice when the fall begins.

[HB]

I love it when someone can post anything seeking internet clicks.  To say expectations were high based on young talent meshing with Theriot, and then concluding we underachieved when Theriot wasn't full speed all season and didn't even play the last month is a bit disingenuous.  While hindsight revealed some chemistry problems, I would like this writer to play back Natlie's press conference after the NIT game, and look Kyndal Clark and Theriot in the eye and mention a lack of "want to".  

 

Perhaps Row 6 can weigh in, but this is the first I have heard the Whitish is a pure point guard.  And while I'm impressed with the early efforts on Stallworth and Kissinger (who always wanted to go to Nebraska), it is too early to call Williams an "ace-recruiter".  Hope it turns out that way but too early to call it.

 

Overall not impressed with the article.  My guess is the author hasn't ever watched any of the new players.  But I'm guilty of giving her a click.  

[HUD]

Some thing that obviously affected team chemistry that never has been addressed much at lest publicly was when Rachel Theriot was disciplined by coach Yori a couple of times for what Yori described  as an attitude situation.  I don't want to resurrect anything other then we have a great opportunity to improve team chemistry and I think we substantially will.

[HB]

But you did resurrect something, by naming a specific player. There is a returning player, rather than a graduating player, who contributed mightily to team chemistry problems. Perhaps with a new coach she will make some changes, but it isn't a given.

Anyway, the article was amateurish.

[HUD]

All I'm saying is is there seemed to be a lot that affected the team chemistry last year.  Some of it carrying over from the previous year.  If we have the right head coach we will see a big improvement in that area.  Time will tell it always does.

[HB]

All I'm saying is is there seemed to be a lot that affected the team chemistry last year.  Some of it carrying over from the previous year.  If we have the right head coach we will see a big improvement in that area.  Time will tell it always does.

 

You are way, way, way too harsh on the prior coach.  You're either very young, are related to a certain player, or have little perspective on college basketball in Lincoln Nebraska.  

[HUD]

Well I've followed Nebraska sports for 60 years including WBB since it started and have no relatives on any N/U team.  I may be senile but don't think so.  As I have  previously posted I was a big Connie Yori fan and hold no ill feelings towards her tenure at NU.  

 

In my estimation and others as well things just got away from her on an escalating scale the past two years.  I've managed a large number of people over the years in a manufacturing environment and team chemistry is just as important there as in sports.

 

The person leading the team is the one ultimately responsible to make sure it's there.  Some times easier said then done.

[HB]

Fair enough.  Although it is interesting that despite some "chemistry problems",  we were dong very well and were heading to the tournament after the road game at Michigan.  It was only after we lost our starting back-court to injury that things went south.  And even then there was plenty of "want to", despite what the author of the article said.  I hope in business you had a longer lens than 2 years.  This was a 14 year enterprise of superlative results. 

[HUD]

In life I look at how things are trending as I'm sure most coaches do as well and then make adjustments as needed.  I believe that coach Yori had made some of those adjustments especially in recruiting but too many things came to a head which caused her to resign / be let go.  Unfortunately in society today it's becoming "what have you done for me lately".

[HB]

In life I look at how things are trending as I'm sure most coaches do as well and then make adjustments as needed.  I believe that coach Yori had made some of those adjustments especially in recruiting but too many things came to a head which caused her to resign / be let go.  Unfortunately in society today it's becoming "what have you done for me lately".

 

I do appreciate the civil discourse, but your last point about "what have you done for me lately" is precisely what I have been at odds with in your posts since Yori got canned by Eichorst.   Your focus in apparently supporting the firing has seemed to be based on the conference record the last 2 years, and things that were going on in the moment, vs. the long term record of success.  Perhaps I have misunderstood a multitude of posts on the subject.  In any event, I didn't mean to hijack the thread, which was supposed to be about the Corn Nation article.  

[HUD]

One last reply and then I'm on to other things.  In the past If my memory serves me right I believe I said that we will never know all the reasons for her departure.  I have faith in our athletic director that many things were taken into account.  Nobody in their right mind would arrive at that decision based on the last 2 years of a near 50/50 conference record especially with a great tenure to that point.  I wish it would all have worked out differently and we would be discussing other WBB news but it didn't.  Unfortunately life has many disappointments.  This is another example.

[Norm Peterson]

One last reply and then I'm on to other things.  In the past If my memory serves me right I believe I said that we will never know all the reasons for her departure.  I have faith in our athletic director that many things were taken into account.  Nobody in their right mind would arrive at that decision based on the last 2 years of a near 50/50 conference record especially with a great tenure to that point.  I wish it would all have worked out differently and we would be discussing other WBB news but it didn't.  Unfortunately life has many disappointments.  This is another example.

 

I don't think Yori's departure had much, if anything, to do with on-court performance.  And it certainly wasn't recruiting or "what have you done for me lately."

 

I had started drafting a very lengthy summary of what I had learned from a multitude of sources about what went down.  I was going to post it here so that everyone would have an idea of why the most successful coach in program history was suddenly gone.

 

I had asked for approval from a number of the insiders who have told me things about this situation.  Most said it was fine.  Some just said don't link it back to them and make sure they're not identified as a source.  One party, in particular, asked me not to post this for reasons personal to them.

 

I decided to honor that last request and not post anything about what I've been told.

 

Except that I will say it wasn't because of the "trajectory of the program."  It wasn't that her successes were too distant and fleeting to save her job after a disappointing season this past year.  It was ... other stuff.  Most people should be able to connect a lot of the dots on their own.

[Norm Peterson]

Also, a point of order:

 

The original post in the thread linked to the Corn Nation article and asked posters to agree or disagree.  In this sense, the original post invited discussion; it did not demand conformity of opinion.

 

This is a discussion board where things are discussed, and the fact that we won't always agree on everything is, I think, a given.  I don't expect everyone to always agree with me; I don't demand that people agree with me; in fact, I think it's best when there's a free exchange of ideas as long as it's mostly civil.  Nothing facilitates discussion more than disagreement.

 

In that vein, I'm going to register my objection to those people who choose to participate not by expressing an opinion with which or against which further discussion can be had, but rather by the use of the green "up" arrow and especially the red "down" arrow.

 

I can generally accept a green "up" arrow as being something akin to saying "I agree" or "me too" or "plus 1."  Those types of posts really don't require or invite a response.

 

But a red "down" arrow is different.  You cannot respond to or engage in discussion with a down arrow.

 

If you don't have the balls to set forth an opinion with which others are free to agree or disagree, that's fine.  But don't hide behind a down arrow that insulates you from having to defend a position and which effectively ends discussion.  To me, down-arrowing others without participating in the discussion yourself is akin to throwing a rock at the other kids and then running to hide behind your mother's skirts.  It's chickenshit is what it is.

[huskerchode]

I just want to say that a few times due to fumble fingers I may have inadvertently hit a down arrow. I apologize for my fat thumbs.

[fred1212]

I just want to say that a few times due to fumble fingers I may have inadvertently hit a down arrow. I apologize for my fat thumbs.

 

so you're gonna use "The Hillary Defense"

[huskerchode]

I just want to say that a few times due to fumble fingers I may have inadvertently hit a down arrow. I apologize for my fat thumbs.

 

so you're gonna use "The Hillary Defense"

MAYBE I AM HILLARY

[swmckewon]

The hows and why have been pretty hashed out, but know this: The Big Ten was not a good women's basketball conference this year. At all. 

[HB]

The hows and why have been pretty hashed out, but know this: The Big Ten was not a good women's basketball conference this year. At all. 

 

So what's your point?  I presume it isn't that the Big 10 was down this year.  

[swmckewon]

Mostly that 9 wins in this version of the league wasn't that big of a deal.

The 2014 team might have lost 2 league games, and that's it.

[HB]

Mostly that 9 wins in this version of the league wasn't that big of a deal.

The 2014 team might have lost 2 league games, and that's it.

 

Haven't heard anyone say it was a big deal.  No one.  Not one poster.  Still seems like you have a larger point, but just don't quite want to say it.  

[Norm Peterson]

Permit me to interpret.  I speak hedge.  I think what he's saying is that, in Connie's last year, we were a mediocre team in a mediocre conference.  Therefore, (the implicit message is) Connie had topped out and was on a down-hill slide; it was probably time for both parties to move on.

 

Now, folks can disagree with that or agree with it.  But I think that's the "come right out and say it" version.

[Red Don]

Thanks for giving me the entree Norm.  I speak 'Diplomat.' 

 

I've been reticent to weigh-in on this because, well, I'm just a Noob; following Men's & Women's BB only recently, so I don't have a long history of supporting the team.

 

I hope I'm not ruffling any feathers, but in looking over this thread, it occurs to me that we are 'beating each other up' unnecessarily; mainly over perceived 'slights' that it doesn't seem to me were ever intended.

In reading the board, I don't think Anyone is happy with the way the Connie Yori resignation went down!  There are obviously a Lot of Hard Feelings that will take a lot of time to assuage.  Some posts in response seem to be simply lashing out in frustration at anyone hapless enough to get in the way.

This does not seem to me to be the best way to move forward.  Keeping on recounting the wounds, instead of being cathartic, seems to do nothing but keep the rancor going and retards the transition to the next era, if you will.

We were very fortunate to get an accomplished coach on the rise to replace Connie Yori.   But as far as I know, she is blameless for what went down.   Just because I am rooting for the new coach and her team to succeed does Not mean that I agree with the way things went down with Coach Yori, or support the decision to let her go.  Most of us will probably never know all the facts leading up to her resignation, but Right or Wrong, that decision was made by officials in authority, paid to make the 'tough decisions.'  

 

I'm not trying to say, 'Can't we just forget it,' because we can't; but what I am saying is let's not let it poison the environment or put the new regime under a cloud. For example, there is one poster with a daughter on the team who I haven't seen around lately.  I hope he hasn't 'moved-on,' because if so, IMHO I believe the forum is the poorer for it.  We don't have many posters who can share with us the unique experience of what it means to be a parent of a player.  Not that they can, or should, divulge everything they know, but I am glad to read anything they feel comfortable in sharing.