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I am puzzled, and not in a disrespectful manner. I simply have never heard Morgan or anyone from our coaching staff state that he is coming to Nebraska in order to be a bench or role player. I believe he is coming here with every intention of being a starter. In fact, I hope and pray that every player we are bringing in has the character and skills to earn a starting job. The million dollar attribute though, is that they fight for a starting position; but mentally are capable of accepting and will thrive in whatever role is earned.

With that being the case then we for sure need at least 2 bigs.

Put both feet out the door, then stepped back in to audition against us and go 4/7 from deep in 12 minutes.

...and we haven't even brought up Braden Frager yet. I wonder how his surgery went?

I have a feeling when late October rolls around we're going to be hearing that Nick Janowski has been surprising people in practice.

Worster is crafty and physical, particularly in P&R. Gets in the paint and sprays it around at will. Just not a great outside shooter. He is a true primary ballhandler and creator. A lot of his 10ppg are at the rim/line. I think the incoming shooters really help Brice/Worster with space. Morgan is very good off the dribble for a 5. I expect another big jump from Gary with his ballhandling in 1v1. GG is a good leaper and willing finisher if he puts on some weight. The kid that might fit your description best could very well be Janowski. He is a problem 1v1 - great shooter, physical, and extremely crafty in drawing contact. Might not be textbook quickness drives from the wing, but his midrange post iso game is very impressive. Three level scorer.

I think we may be overlooking an element too that just because we're going after certain transfers doesn't mean we're top contenders. Fred's going to have to balance between sure things, 50/50s, and long shot guys. And he's got to do all that while trying to determine how to best fill a roster.

lol! I don't think it takes much to become an Admiral in the Nebraska Navy. http://www.nebraskaadmirals.org/ "It is believed that several hundred thousand Admirals have been appointed. Many Nebraskans and visitors to our state have not heard of our navy; they have not heard of the waves of prairie schooners that at one time plied our plains under which lies our real wealth---Nebraska's under-ground sea." There's a joke in there somewhere about Admiral Navy Seamen and potentially being siblings, but I'll digress.

Eli Rice is very athletic.

P.S. in that game mentioned above for Essegian, Wisconsin was up 46-37 with 13:50 remaining when Gard put him in, and that basket he allowed made it 46-39, and Gard benched him 22 seconds later at the next dead ball. Some might call that tough love coaching, others might call it being a d!ck, and others might call it showing up and embarrassing your player. You're going to pull a guy after giving him 20 seconds and one mistake while you're up 7 on Jacksonville State? Why even put him in then if you have that little confidence in him? Just strange. I would imagine at that moment Essegian put both feet out the door.

I've always been a fan of Admiral Porpoise myself

I read an article on Essegian. Fans were very high on him and excited about him coming into the season after being on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. He hurt his back in the first game of the season, then received little playing time because Gard didn't like his defensive effort. Yet as Essegian jogged from the scorers table out onto the court, the ovation was loud. He grinned wryly as he settled into his defensive spot. And as quick as Essegian's joy revealed itself, it vanished. Jacksonville State guard Caleb Johnson cut backdoor, with Essegian allowing a layup to Johnson on his first play of the game. Gard called guard Isaac Lindsey off the bench, who replaced Essegian on the court just 25 seconds after he entered. The cheers for his arrival turned to boos as he departed. He draped a towel over his head and paced for a moment before finding his spot on the bench, again, to wait. "We can't afford to let him play through it," Gard said. "The stakes are too high in terms of what this team wants to accomplish." After Essegian's eighth game of less than 10 minutes, the waiting still continues. The sophomore did check in again, hitting a 3-pointer to finish with three points on 1-of-2 from deep in four minutes, but it's his play on the other end of the floor that put Gard in a position where he feels he cannot allow Essegian to find a rhythm with court time." **I don't know enough about his defensive effort, but I do know Wisconsin fans more or less despise Gard and how he "developed" Essegian.

Re: Essegian losing playing time and transferring 2022-23 season 2023-24 season Regardless of the intent, Essegian got recruited over. If someone has some time they could probably dig through Wisconsin message boards about why he was basically phased out of the rotation. Could have just been a simple confidence thing. Pretty easy to see why he'd want a change of scenery though. Seems like he easily could be a drop in place Wilcher replacement with the potential to go Tominaga.

We also have to trust that Fred knows what he’s looking for now. He’s got the formula to the secret sauce that works for him. I don’t think he’d go away from that just to get more athletic. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fred was completely transparent and honest with what he expected and envisioned for each player we’ve recruited. I would hope, much like Boogie, that each player took that to heart before committing and they know that we expect ‘we over me’.

I mean— he played 7 MPG last year. I’d venture to say we can offer more than that off the bench, so next exactly parallel move— even though he might still be projected to come off the bench.

Great breakdown, I think a lot of people are underselling the overall upgrade of length and athleticism. Just think, no matter what high major we were playing, when cj and keisei were on the floor they were the 2 worst athletes 8/10 times

Also doesn’t these last couple of guys balance the classes some. I know nobody will stay the whole time. But you also don’t want to have knowingly have to bring in 7 new players each year because of one and dones.

lol! I don't think it takes much to become an Admiral in the Nebraska Navy. http://www.nebraskaadmirals.org/ "It is believed that several hundred thousand Admirals have been appointed. Many Nebraskans and visitors to our state have not heard of our navy; they have not heard of the waves of prairie schooners that at one time plied our plains under which lies our real wealth---Nebraska's under-ground sea."

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team. -If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: -Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. -Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. -Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. -Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year.

My Wisconsin friends say Storr was the weak link of their defense this year. They had a top 20ish defense last year and a top 60ish defense this year, and really the only difference in personnel was Storr taking Essegian's spot. Storr did obviously bring an element of three level scoring that Wisconsin hasn't had since probably Sam Dekker.

My dad too! You might be siblings.

Great post, well said.

If that's what his role would be here, like CJ, then he would be an upgrade. Just watch some film before you get too upset. I love CJ, but there's not one aspect of the game that he's better than Essegian at. Don't trust Greg Gard and his offense that doesn't generate open looks. You'll see Essegian, Chucky and Storr's efficiency metrics all magically go up next year.

It's because of AJ Storr. Storr was much more versatile offensively and defensively. Wiscy was a a NIT team with Essigian playing a lot of minutes in 22-23 and this year the Badgers were a 5 seed in the tourney with Storr. I guess I would take Essigan, but it wouldn't get me that excited.

We saw what Tominaga did for this offense with his shooting. In addition to Williams having this kind of outside shooting really opens up the middle even more. A guy like Kyle would thrive at a 4 position.