uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 8, vol 4 - SE Louisiana

[Fullbacksympathy]

 

I'm still really impressed with Borchardt.  

 

I thought his one-on-one post defense and screening were better than any of our bigs.  It's only a matter of time before he gets meaningful minutes, imo.  He just needs to lose about 15lbs.  He's not a leaper, but he's definitely a D1 athlete (remember he turned down full rides in football) with a high bball IQ.  

 

I'm also glad we have Trueblood.  The kid needs to learn defense, but offensively, he's pretty savvy.  Good ball handler too.

 

I am very encouraged by the passing and shooting ability of this team.  I don't think other teams are going to be able to pack it in defensively this year at all.  Hopefully our guards can figure out how to handle pressure.  I'm still worried that a press break isn't being taught effectively.  

 

*Benny is shooting it well.  If he's a threat out there, that's an enormous difference for his role.  I thought he and Watson were about even tonight as far as helping the team, possibly Benny with the slight edge (defense).  It's interesting watching Benny at the 2.  I would've never pictured him there, but it's starting to make a little bit of sense, particularly if he can spot up.  

 

**Hammond continues to get better.  He's starting to learn how to fight, which is all you can ask of him.  

 

***Morrow's defense was night and day tonight.  He was much more controlled, kept his man in front, and did a wonderful job with help defense.  We are so much better with him affecting the game defensively and on the offensive glass.  It might not show up in the stats, but he is a real pest on both ends.  He keeps a lot of possessions alive and alters a lot of shots/drives.  

 

****McVeigh is the real deal.   Great passer and very reliable as a scorer.  

 

*****Jacobson is looking more in game shape.  He's a serviceable big, no question, and that's probably all he'll be this year, but I think he ends up being an excellent player.  

 

What a freshman class.  Unreal.  

Borchardt might be  a D-1 athlete but he's not a D-1 basketball player. Props to him for turning down some serious football offers to play basketball for his state school. He is a big thick kid but look at how his uniform hangs. He has an unusually long body and short arms and legs so he plays shorter than he actually is. Actual D-1 post players would eat him up I believe. Will see as the season goes forward.

 

And if Trueblood every get meaningful minutes for Nebraska, I'm afraid that would not bode well for our prospects. They are what they are, solid walkons that hopefully are working their tails off in practice to make those in the rotation better. Good for them.

 

 

I disagree with your assessment of Borchardt.  A major part of athleticism is coordination (hands, feet, IQ), and he has a lot of those things.  He also has an abundance of lineman strength, which makes a huge difference defensively and on the glass when no one can move you.  He can be shot over, though, I'll give you that.  But when I say D1 athlete, I mean someone who is athletic enough to play a D1 sport on scholarship.  He is athletic enough, in my opinion, to play D1 basketball, but his current build is tailored to football.  With a decent diet and cardio, he morphs into a very strong post-body that can utilize the superior strength and physicality of his football background.  Even now, his post defense is better than Hammond or Morrow (at the 5).  He just can't run the court that well yet.  I think conditioning is the only thing keeping him off the court.  

 

I don't think Trueblood gets meaningful minutes this year (nor did I say or imply that), but I think he's a hell of a practice player with a shot at contributing down the road.  All I said was I'm glad we have him.  

[Huskerpapa]

I am glad we have both of them.  But both need lots of work in order to earn "meaningful" minutes.  They have some core qualities that can be built upon, but again, they both need lots of work.  But if they stay in the program, I can see both of them earning some time down the road.

[Norm Peterson]

I'm gonna throw my 2 cents in on the walk-on discussion.

 

On the one hand, I agree that these are walk-ons and while they might look decent against the likes of SE Louisiana or Northern State, they'd get torched against the Villanovas or Michigan States of the world.  And it's unlikely they'll see rotation type minutes during their careers.

 

However, just as the talent of the scholarship players seems to have increased this year, I think the talent among the walk-ons has as well.  My prior comparison of Johnny Trueblood with Jake Muhleisen was a little tongue-in-cheek, but there's no question that Johnny Trueblood is better than your typical walk-on.  Same with Tanner Borchardt.

 

So, for those who didn't like my Jake Muhleisen comparison, how about this one:  who's better between Johnny Trueblood and Nick Fuller?  If you have to stop and think about the answer to that question for even a second, then it proves my point that the overall talent level of both scholarship and walk-on players in this program has taken a very positive step forward.

[Huskerpapa]

How about this comparison:  Johnny Trueblood vs. Paul Velander?

[PimpMario]

Velander until true blood starts hitting some 3s

[Dean Smith]

 

 

I'm still really impressed with Borchardt.  

 

I thought his one-on-one post defense and screening were better than any of our bigs.  It's only a matter of time before he gets meaningful minutes, imo.  He just needs to lose about 15lbs.  He's not a leaper, but he's definitely a D1 athlete (remember he turned down full rides in football) with a high bball IQ.  

 

I'm also glad we have Trueblood.  The kid needs to learn defense, but offensively, he's pretty savvy.  Good ball handler too.

 

I am very encouraged by the passing and shooting ability of this team.  I don't think other teams are going to be able to pack it in defensively this year at all.  Hopefully our guards can figure out how to handle pressure.  I'm still worried that a press break isn't being taught effectively.  

 

*Benny is shooting it well.  If he's a threat out there, that's an enormous difference for his role.  I thought he and Watson were about even tonight as far as helping the team, possibly Benny with the slight edge (defense).  It's interesting watching Benny at the 2.  I would've never pictured him there, but it's starting to make a little bit of sense, particularly if he can spot up.  

 

**Hammond continues to get better.  He's starting to learn how to fight, which is all you can ask of him.  

 

***Morrow's defense was night and day tonight.  He was much more controlled, kept his man in front, and did a wonderful job with help defense.  We are so much better with him affecting the game defensively and on the offensive glass.  It might not show up in the stats, but he is a real pest on both ends.  He keeps a lot of possessions alive and alters a lot of shots/drives.  

 

****McVeigh is the real deal.   Great passer and very reliable as a scorer.  

 

*****Jacobson is looking more in game shape.  He's a serviceable big, no question, and that's probably all he'll be this year, but I think he ends up being an excellent player.  

 

What a freshman class.  Unreal.  

Borchardt might be  a D-1 athlete but he's not a D-1 basketball player. Props to him for turning down some serious football offers to play basketball for his state school. He is a big thick kid but look at how his uniform hangs. He has an unusually long body and short arms and legs so he plays shorter than he actually is. Actual D-1 post players would eat him up I believe. Will see as the season goes forward.

 

And if Trueblood every get meaningful minutes for Nebraska, I'm afraid that would not bode well for our prospects. They are what they are, solid walkons that hopefully are working their tails off in practice to make those in the rotation better. Good for them.

 

 

I disagree with your assessment of Borchardt.  A major part of athleticism is coordination (hands, feet, IQ), and he has a lot of those things.  He also has an abundance of lineman strength, which makes a huge difference defensively and on the glass when no one can move you.  He can be shot over, though, I'll give you that.  But when I say D1 athlete, I mean someone who is athletic enough to play a D1 sport on scholarship.  He is athletic enough, in my opinion, to play D1 basketball, but his current build is tailored to football.  With a decent diet and cardio, he morphs into a very strong post-body that can utilize the superior strength and physicality of his football background.  Even now, his post defense is better than Hammond or Morrow (at the 5).  He just can't run the court that well yet.  I think conditioning is the only thing keeping him off the court.  

 

I don't think Trueblood gets meaningful minutes this year (nor did I say or imply that), but I think he's a hell of a practice player with a shot at contributing down the road.  All I said was I'm glad we have him.  

 

First I am not a fan of bashing college kids and that was not my intent. I'm glad those two are on our team and working to make NU better at basketball. I do think we do them a disservice by holding them to expectation that they can not, nor should walk ons be held to, in all likelihood meet. IQ might have something to do with being a good athlete but I don't think it is part of athleticism. I also think when we are talking college athletes we are going to assume they have some coordination. I'm talking about lower body power measured in such things like lbs squated and vertical jump, upper body power often measured by bench and actively with a seated shot put, quickness often measured in 10 yd dash or a shuttle run. Then you need to take those things and use them successfully in athletic contests, in this case - basketball. Now there have been great athletes that couldn't play a lick and less athletic players who tear up the college ranks. But the "un-athletic" D-1 players are still athletic giants compared to the general population. Borchardt might be able to improve his athleticism but reshaping his body is not going to make his torso shorter and his arms and legs longer. They are what they are, walk ons. I think they are quality walk ons but there are reasons major D-1 programs did not offer them. I would guess they would agree. I was a walk on and I was made very aware of my limitation every day I went to practice.

 

My goal for Nebraska is to compete every year for a Big 10 title and every so often compete for a national championship. We may never get there but I bet those are Miles goals as well. We can't get there with walk ons getting meaningful minutes. I would define meaningful minutes as actually being in the regular rotation. I'm sure many of you can point out exceptions but you know what I mean. Conditioning might be all that is keeping Borchardt off the floor, but if that is the case I think it says less about his potential and more about the current state of basketball at Nebraska. A walk on here and there can be a good part of a successful college program but they help in practice and are not on the floor for the Duke's and North Carolina's of the basketball world. We will have our ups and downs this year (I'm still predicting at least one big upset pulled off by the Huskers) but we need our scholarship players to get the vast majority of the minutes for us to be as successful as we can be.

[Norm Peterson]

Dean, that was a thoughtful post. 

 

I would say I'm not sure what Tanner's wingspan is, but I think his arms might be longer than you think they are.  I tried to get a sense of it last night and he sure appeared to have plenty long arms, as in how far down his body his hands would hang when he was walking.  Not quite Kyle Marks long arms, but they didn't look short, put it that way.

 

Second observation about Tanner is that his conditioning has clearly improved.  The first game warmups, he was barely able to dunk.  Last night, he was dunking quite easily. 

 

I think his weight makes a huge (no pun intended) difference in terms of his ability to play defense.  He has 30-40 pounds on anyone else on our current roster.  Opposing bigs aren't able to move him around in the paint the way they have been able to move the other bigs on our roster, which is why he seems to have an impact on the defensive end of the floor when he comes in.

 

Dean, I don't know if you walked on at Nebraska or elsewhere.  If it was Nebraska, I don't want to step on your toes and appear to be bashing a player that might have happened to have been you.

 

But, can you compare for me the athleticism of, let's say, Tony Wilbrand with Tanner Borchardt?  How about Bronson Schliep? 

 

I think Bronson had legit athleticism, but just lacked the skill level of a D1 basketball player.  On the other hand, I think Tony Wilbrand was just really slow and, honestly, just a tiny bit clumsy, albeit very tall with good body mass.  There used to be people arguing on this board that Tony should get minutes and I would react the way you have about Tanner and Johnny.

 

I think Tanner is a bit different than Tony.  First, I think he's more athletic, and second, I think he has more skill.  You can't coach height and you can't coach size.  Tanner reminds me a lot of Big Country except not nearly as big.  I think if Tanner was a couple of inches taller (with comparably longer arms) he'd be a legit D1 player.  He has these great, soft hands like Bryant Reeves had.  And he has the kind of build that can easily hold some weight.

 

I imagine he's definitely a good one for our scholarship guys to go up against in practice.

[Dean Smith]

Dean, that was a thoughtful post. 

 

I would say I'm not sure what Tanner's wingspan is, but I think his arms might be longer than you think they are.  I tried to get a sense of it last night and he sure appeared to have plenty long arms, as in how far down his body his hands would hang when he was walking.  Not quite Kyle Marks long arms, but they didn't look short, put it that way.

 

Second observation about Tanner is that his conditioning has clearly improved.  The first game warmups, he was barely able to dunk.  Last night, he was dunking quite easily. 

 

I think his weight makes a huge (no pun intended) difference in terms of his ability to play defense.  He has 30-40 pounds on anyone else on our current roster.  Opposing bigs aren't able to move him around in the paint the way they have been able to move the other bigs on our roster, which is why he seems to have an impact on the defensive end of the floor when he comes in.

 

Dean, I don't know if you walked on at Nebraska or elsewhere.  If it was Nebraska, I don't want to step on your toes and appear to be bashing a player that might have happened to have been you.

 

But, can you compare for me the athleticism of, let's say, Tony Wilbrand with Tanner Borchardt?  How about Bronson Schliep? 

 

I think Bronson had legit athleticism, but just lacked the skill level of a D1 basketball player.  On the other hand, I think Tony Wilbrand was just really slow and, honestly, just a tiny bit clumsy, albeit very tall with good body mass.  There used to be people arguing on this board that Tony should get minutes and I would react the way you have about Tanner and Johnny.

 

I think Tanner is a bit different than Tony.  First, I think he's more athletic, and second, I think he has more skill.  You can't coach height and you can't coach size.  Tanner reminds me a lot of Big Country except not nearly as big.  I think if Tanner was a couple of inches taller (with comparably longer arms) he'd be a legit D1 player.  He has these great, soft hands like Bryant Reeves had.  And he has the kind of build that can easily hold some weight.

 

I imagine he's definitely a good one for our scholarship guys to go up against in practice.

Thanks and I agree Wilbrand was slow and a little bit uncoordinated but he was taller and longer. I haven't watched Tanner play that much and he may be able to help the program. It's just that where I would like to see the program, neither of those two can get us there.