Huskers picked 13th? Again?

[tcp]

Oh my. Have they got our number or is this just now a force of media habit? 

 

[Huskerpapa]

Time to provide a bit of shock and awe.

[uneblinstu]

What have we done to give them reason not to pick us 13th?

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, uneblinstu said:

What have we done to give them reason not to pick us 13th?

 

I don't expect the media to pick us any better than 13th.  I expect our players to prove them very, very wrong.

 

And there's a lot that we fans believe we know that the media wouldn't know or give us credit for.

[hskr4life]

If you think about it... the one time the media was high on Nebraska in recent memory, we tanked that year.  We need to start the process over of "prove them wrong" and then once we do that, we need to maintain a level of competitiveness.  

 

With that being said... I 100 percent believe we can do that starting this year.

Edited October 17, 2017 by hskr4life

[uneblinstu]

4 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

I don't expect the media to pick us any better than 13th.  I expect our players to prove them very, very wrong.

 

And there's a lot that we fans believe we know that the media wouldn't know or give us credit for.

100% agree.

[NUtball]

Maybe they're confusing the basketball team with the football team?

[dustystehl]

32 minutes ago, NUtball said:

Maybe they're confusing the basketball team with the football team?

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see Illinois finish 14th in both sports.

[uneblinstu]

8 minutes ago, dustystehl said:

 

Wouldn't be surprised to see Illinois finish 14th in both sports.

IDK about that. Their hoops team doesn't lack talent. And if Underwood can get them going as quickly as he did at OSU, they're probably my darkhorse team this year.

[Norm Peterson]

I think Ohio State is the one with problems.  They're going to have to scratch and claw to stay out of the bottom two.

 

If you look at their roster, they really only have 9 legit players.  Andrew Dakich doesn't count.  Their margins are paper thin.

 

They bring back some good players and they had a late recruiting haul with two 4-stars after Thad Matta was fired, in addition to a 4-star who committed two years ago and stuck to it in spite of the coaching change (his older brother is on the team.)  So, they have some legit talent.  But we've seen how long it takes young talent to really develop. 

 

And the flip side of what they return is they lost 3 of their top 4 scorers, all double figure guys. It's tough to fill that kind of void, although I'm sure Jae'Sean Tate is going to try. 

 

What they really lack is guard depth.  They only have a couple of legit veteran backcourt players to go along with a 4-star freshman who might be more of a Nana Akenten-type wing. Has a very smooth perimeter shot but I question his quicks.  (And he has the only highlight video I've ever seen where the highlight is him reversing the ball at the top of the key and not looking to take a shot.  Oh, he passed the ball to a guy who made a shot!  Wow!)  Their first couple of guards are good, but there's a sharp talent drop-off after that.

 

And, along the front line, you have Jae'Sean "BowlingBall" Tate and Keita Bates-Diop who is coming back from a stress fracture, but after that, they're relying on 4-star freshmen.  Which might be good for them for next year, but maybe not so much for this year.  But then again, who knows? Sometimes these kids come in and rise to the occasion.  I just wouldn't bet on it.

 

[AuroranHusker]

16 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

I think Ohio State is the one with problems.  They're going to have to scratch and claw to stay out of the bottom two.

 

If you look at their roster, they really only have 9 legit players.  Andrew Dakich doesn't count.  Their margins are paper thin.

 

They bring back some good players and they had a late recruiting haul with two 4-stars after Thad Matta was fired, in addition to a 4-star who committed two years ago and stuck to it in spite of the coaching change (his older brother is on the team.)  So, they have some legit talent.  But we've seen how long it takes young talent to really develop. 

 

And the flip side of what they return is they lost 3 of their top 4 scorers, all double figure guys. It's tough to fill that kind of void, although I'm sure Jae'Sean Tate is going to try. 

 

What they really lack is guard depth.  They only have a couple of legit veteran backcourt players to go along with a 4-star freshman who might be more of a Nana Akenten-type wing. Has a very smooth perimeter shot but I question his quicks.  (And he has the only highlight video I've ever seen where the highlight is him reversing the ball at the top of the key and not looking to take a shot.  Oh, he passed the ball to a guy who made a shot!  Wow!)  Their first couple of guards are good, but there's a sharp talent drop-off after that.

 

And, along the front line, you have Jae'Sean "BowlingBall" Tate and Keita Bates-Diop who is coming back from a stress fracture, but after that, they're relying on 4-star freshmen.  Which might be good for them for next year, but maybe not so much for this year.  But then again, who knows? Sometimes these kids come in and rise to the occasion.  I just wouldn't bet on it.

 

 

In other words, the Suckeyes...

 

[Handy Johnson]

Ho hum...

[Cowboy Kermit]

If you think we're being a little too overenthusiastic cherish our reasons for optimism, we could be writers for what just might be the saddest SB Nation site of them all, On the Banks (Rutgers). Pegs us at dead last in the conference, and says that we have the steepest hill to climb, and only mentions one transfer hurting us. I swear to god I tried my hardest not to laugh.  https://www.onthebanks.com/2017/10/18/16454248/big-ten-basketball-media-day-preview-rutgers-steve-pikiell-michigan-state-tom-izzo-jim-delany-btn

[AuroranHusker]

5 minutes ago, NebrasketballJake said:

If you think we're being a little too overenthusiastic cherish our reasons for optimism, we could be writers for what just might be the saddest SB Nation site of them all, On the Banks (Rutgers). Pegs us at dead last in the conference, and says that we have the steepest hill to climb, and only mentions one transfer hurting us. I swear to god I tried my hardest not to laugh.  https://www.onthebanks.com/2017/10/18/16454248/big-ten-basketball-media-day-preview-rutgers-steve-pikiell-michigan-state-tom-izzo-jim-delany-btn

 

The writer really went out on a limb with "call me a homer" then picked Rutgers 12th. That's rich... A "homer" would at least pick 'em to not have to play the 1st day in NYC. ha

[49r]

I get why folks are picking us so low, and why a Rutgers blogger would feel comfortable with picking their team to finish above us.  But what I don't get is why folks are just SO down on Ohio State this year?

[Norm Peterson]

16 hours ago, 49r said:

I get why folks are picking us so low, and why a Rutgers blogger would feel comfortable with picking their team to finish above us.  But what I don't get is why folks are just SO down on Ohio State this year?

 

Well, they lost 3 double figure scorers from last year’s team.  They have a talented freshman class and talented starters in the back court, but they have less guard depth than we had last year.  And they have a short bench and not a lot of size.

[Dead Dog Alley]

36 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Well, they lost 3 double figure scorers from last year’s team.  They have a talented freshman class and talented starters in the back court, but they have less guard depth than we had last year.  And they have a short bench and not a lot of size.

 

Plus their best player is from the island of misfit toys, a 6'4" guy playing the 4.  He's a guy that's too good for anybody else to beat him out for minutes, but maybe not a guy who you can win big with.

[uneblinstu]

51 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Well, they lost 3 double figure scorers from last year’s team.  They have a talented freshman class and talented starters in the back court, but they have less guard depth than we had last year.  And they have a short bench and not a lot of size.

Sounds like Doc's Mighty Mites team.

[hhcmatt]

Picked 12th by Sports Illustrated

 

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2017/10/20/big-ten-preview-team-player-rankings-projections

 

 

Quote

Glynn Watson Jr. may be the most underrated point guard in the Big Ten; we project him to average nearly 15 points per game while posting a team-high offensive rating of 114.3. He’ll have help in the frontcourt from former top-25 recruit Isaac Copeland, a stretch four who has two years of eligibility remaining after transferring from Georgetown and enrolling at Nebraska in January.

 

The thing that stands out to me in their projections is that Roby isn't on them.....and to be fair to that he had a terrible year statistically last year to the point you might not expect him to contribute much. 

We know a big part of that....his injury coming into the season that killed his legs and confidence...his ankle sprain mid-season. Is it going to take another season for him to hit start finding that ceiling we think he has? Is he going to be a higher offensive contributor than what they have for ET?  I keep looking at what he and Jordy may or may not be on this team as whether or not we end up below or above .500.

[Norm Peterson]

So, SI is predicting Evan Taylor will absolutely not improve his productivity at all.  They have him scoring 3 tenths of a point more per game, but rebound and assist numbers are identical to last year's line.  That seems unlikely to me, unless James Palmer and Thomas Allen are kicking in a whole lot more than what they're projecting.

[hhcmatt]

25 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

So, SI is predicting Evan Taylor will absolutely not improve his productivity at all.  They have him scoring 3 tenths of a point more per game, but rebound and assist numbers are identical to last year's line.  That seems unlikely to me, unless James Palmer and Thomas Allen are kicking in a whole lot more than what they're projecting.

 

Last year his min% (percentage of minutes played) was 60.1. SI is projecting that to go down. They are projecting him to shoot more, but not significantly. If you assume he plays the same # of minutes as last year, then they'd have him scoring about 6.4

[jayschool]

Edited October 20, 2017 by jayschool

[hhcmatt]

Leebo picked us 9th in the media poll

[brfrad]

My Big 10 predictions

 

1. Michigan State

2. Purdue

3. Michigan

4. Northwestern

5. Maryland

6. Wisconsin

7. Minnesota

8. Iowa

9. Nebraska

10. Penn State

11. Ohio State

12. Indiana

13. Illinois

14. Rutgers

 

 

[Huskerpapa]

Okay, here are my predictions and yes, I am kind of a homer, but hey, I could make a case we should even be higher:

 

1.  Michigan St.

2. Purdue

3. Minnesota

4. Michigan

5. Northwestern

6. HUSKERS

7. Iowa

8. Maryland

9. Wisconsin

10. Penn State

11. Indiana

12. Ohio State

13. Illinois

14. Rutgers

Edited October 21, 2017 by huskercwg