uneblinstu's postgame chatter: Vol: 10; ed: Introduction - (Exh.) Northwood

[uneblinstu]

- I'm guessing the #Nebrasketball alarmists will be all hot and bothered about the first half. It wasn't pretty to be sure, but Northwood banked in 3 threes (and airballed a free throw) and we left at least 14 points at the rim. Both of those trends reversed in the 2nd half.

- Northwood's big run came with some dudes on the floor we won't see again til next year's exhibition.

- Thomas Allen can shoot it.

- Palmer makes the game look easy.

- Big question I have is who is gonna lead this team when Watson's not on the floor? I don't know why he was out today, but I'm didn't like what I saw sans Watson.

- Copeland still has some rust to shake off. His finger roll game wasn't pretty tonight.

- Jordy didn't look good at all...

- Maybe it was just a product of them taking so many 3's and it resulted in a bunch of long rebounds, but the Husker rebounding effort was pretty atrocious.

- Tanner is scrappy on the boards. He can add value there, but his offensive game has a long way to go.

- We're still super uncreative in our in-bounds plays.

- If the Huskers are gonna make a jump this year, they need to be the scrappy team. Tonight, that was clearly Northwood. They got a few loose balls and rebounds on that alone.

- I like that they had to fight through a little adversity in games like this. Hopefully it will serve as a wake-up call.

- I like that they wore their red unis. They should do that more often at PBA.

- I'm ready to get this thing going for reals on Saturday. I think most of what I'd heard about this team was confirmed. They're gonna be able to do some things offensively and they're gonna get out and run a bit. They've got a ways to go on defense and special teams.

[AuroranHusker]

 

[Handy Johnson]

We were missing some pieces tonight, but Allen's performance was legit. AND the Huskers road red uniforms are my favorite unis in ALL of sports ( home town bias has to be factored in)

[uneblinstu]

2 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

We were missing some pieces tonight, but Allen's performance was legit. AND the Huskers road red uniforms are my favorite unis in ALL of sports ( home town bias has to be factored in)

I'm still holding out hope for a red version of the "Huskers" unis we've seen the past couple years.

[Handy Johnson]

3 minutes ago, uneblinstu said:

I'm still holding out hope for a red version of the "Huskers" unis we've seen the past couple years.

Hell, I'd even buy one of those. Just no Chevrons with the matching Converse kicks circa 95/96. And, I'm SO happy we got rid of that atrocious looking half a basketball that use to grace the top of the key.  

[REDZONEDAN]

It’s probably just me, but when I watch Palmer on the floor he reminds me of Cookie Belcher.

[hskr4life]

It was the good, the bad, and the ugly tonight.

 

Good:  Allen and his nearly 20 PT game.  Overall really good.  Copland scoring in double figures pretty quietly.  Free Throws.  James Fricking Palmer.

 

Bad:  No Glynn, Roby, or Gill (EEK).  3 Point Shooting.  Jordy.... rough game.

 

Ugly:  Rebounding... yes I know they had a lot of long bounces that resulted in rebounding.  Being up by just a few over a DII school at half.

 

Season starts on Saturday.  I still believe that we will do good things this year.  Palmer and Glynn duo should average 25-30 PPG.  McVeigh, Copeland, Jordy, Allen, Gill, Taylor  should pick up the other 40-50 PPG.  Whatever Duby and Borchy pitch in will be an added bonus each game.

[Norm Peterson]

Miles said in the post game radio interview that Copeland is still shaking off rust.  Remember before the season he said Copeland would be our 2nd leading scorer (3rd?) and 3rd or 2nd leading rebounder.  I'm trusting that Copeland will come around.  I was expecting him to be something more like what we see from Palmer.  Perhaps not that much of a volume shooter but at least a guy who could shoot a bit from the outside or put the ball on the floor and drive.  Y'know, maybe like a 6'9" version of Shavon Shields but just a touch better from 3-point range.  That's kind of what I expected.  He's got a long ways to go to be as good as Shavon was, though.  Can you imagine if we had a Shavon Shields on this team? Or better yet, a 6'9" version thereof?

 

Speaking of rust, Jordy needs to shake some off.  Jordy, C'mon.  You had all summer to get some footwork down on some back-to-the-basket post moves.  I expected better.  A lot better.  He had a point blank miss tonight that was disgraceful.  Jordy, you're better than that.  He needs to learn to go up strong instead of trying to finesse things.  All of his shots tonight seemed off balance.  Jordy, you're big; play big.

 

Thomas Allen showed he's the clear heir-apparent to Glynn Watson.  Nice display, young man.  Shoots the ball extremely well.  Can score at all 3 levels.  Played solid D.  Makes some good passes.  Extremely good pickup for us.

 

Game was weird.  First half, the starters didn't play as well as either team from the scrimmage last week.  Even with some starters/key reserves sitting out, I still expected us to look at least as good as last week's red team or last week's white team.  Right?  First half was baaaaad.  Really ugly ball, not just the score.

 

Palmer is the real deal.  We've got some guys around him who are also very good players.  We just need Copeland and Jordy to really step up their games.  And we have to quit making the other team's big look like an All-American.  (Unless he actually is an All-American.)

[Chuck Taylor]

I probably would have predicted 13-15 ppg this year from Copeland before seeing Palmer. Ball's gonna be in his and Glynn's hands a lot, and I'm fine with that. We're going to be able to score. A lot.

[MandRHusker]

A few impressions from last night.

-team needs to turn up the defensive intensity

-Thomas Allen will be a good one!

-Copeland is smooth. You can catch glimpse of how good he can be. Like the team in general, he needs to turn up the intensity.

-An achylis heal for this team is PG backup to Glenn. I noticed this in the MSU benefit game too. Take Glynn Watson out & this team struggles with offensive rhythm. 

[Huskerpapa]

My takes for what they are worth:

- We darn well better improve our rebounding.  We flat-out were out-hustled for a lot of boards tonight. 

- It looks like we are going to be a good free throw shooting team sans Duby.

- We looked tired (or a step slow) last night.  Not sure why, but the appearance of being tired was there.

Now the players:

- Isaiah, Glynn and Anton sat out.  Sounds like at least one of them will not be ready for Saturday's game.

- Thomas Allen is the real deal on offense.  His handles and defense and ability to drop down to rebound needs work.

- Isaac showed glimpses of good, and glimpses of something other than good.  I still believe it is rust, so we should see exponential improvement as the year progresses.

- Jordy was a no-show in my humble opinion.  He should have dominated.  He did show better in the second half.  He better improve his ability to go to his right, otherwise he will struggle against good defenses.

- Duby played nervous.  He looked like a cat on hot tin, he was jumping all over the place.  I anticipate he will settle in.

- Tanner looks like he has the trust of the coaching staff.  Nothing flashy, but seems to be in the right place at the right time.

- Evan showed that he is a senior.  Nothing seemed forced and his only real mistake came when he blew out his shoe and rolled his ankle (how the hell does that happen?)

- I thought Jack played pretty well.  Probably did the best job of rebounding and he defended well.  He did not force any shots and seemed to play within the flow of the game.

- James = stud offensively and defensively.  We need him to board as well. 

- Nana and Thor did some good things, but they are a work in progress. 

 

Overall a C effort as we took care of business.  We were outhustled and should be embarrassed with how we rebounded, but I give some credit to Northwood by not being intimidated and coming to play hard.

 

[basketballjones]

Rule #47 of being a basketball fan: Never look too much into exhibition games against D2 teams. They play weird, unlike anyone you see, it's a different speed, and they have guys with different skill sets at strange heights. 

That being said - if 100 is full optimism, and I was at like an 84 optimism level, I'm probably at like an 82 optimism after that. 

[Handy Johnson]

The 3 guards we start, Evan, Glynn & Jim can hang with anyone in the B1G. Now if we can just REBOUND the damn ball & cut down on the TOs, this team has a chance to do some special things. Can't wait Til' Saturday! 

[dustystehl]

Pretty telling how poorly the coaches thought the bigs played when they started Tanner Borchardt in the second half. Jordy Tshimanga looked as bad as he ever has. He's 6'11". Would sure be great if he played like it. We really need Jordy to pick it up.

 

Thomas Allen may be the best freshman Tim Miles has had at Nebraska. He's a big time player. Given his shooting ability, would love to see him play with Watson more. Hell, I said it months ago: Thomas Allen should start at the 2. The kid can SCORE. (And I want to keep him happy so he sticks around. Evan Taylor is a senior. He can't transfer after this year. Allen can.)

 

Isaac Copeland moves like an old man. He looks like he's in a pain as he waddles off the court. He may never be the same player he was after the back injury/surgery.

 

For as many minutes as Jack McVeigh played, I expected more on the stat sheet. He had 6 rebounds, but probably should have had double that. He scored 3 points in 23 minutes. We will not win many games if McVeigh only scores 3 points. Last year, we were 6-2 when McVeigh scored 10 points or more (losses at Iowa, at Rutgers); we were 6-17 when McVeigh scored less than 10 points. Jack couldn't get a shot off last night. What's he going to do with a Big Ten defender on him?

 

You may not agree with all of this, but I'm we can agree on this: James Palmer, Jr. is a stud.

[basketballjones]

12 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

The 3 guards we start, Evan, Glynn & Jim can hang with anyone in the B1G. Now if we can just REBOUND the damn ball & cut down on the TOs, this team has a chance to do some special things. Can't wait Til' Saturday! 

BIG FAN of calling James's, Jim. One of my favorite things in life. 

[TheKamdyMan]

11 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Speaking of rust, Jordy needs to shake some off.  Jordy, C'mon.  You had all summer to get some footwork down on some back-to-the-basket post moves.  I expected better.  A lot better.  He had a point blank miss tonight that was disgraceful.  Jordy, you're better than that.  He needs to learn to go up strong instead of trying to finesse things.  All of his shots tonight seemed off balance.  Jordy, you're big; play big.

 

 

The offseason surgery seems to have hampered him more than anyone really let on.  I think it will take him some time to regain form and then go above and beyond to trust his body.

[AuroranHusker]

44 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

BIG FAN of calling James's, Jim. One of my favorite things in life. 

 

AND, it becomes Jim Palmer, in this case.

 

[bigFRED]

I loved how good Palmer was in getting out in transition, seemed like every time we got a rebound he was at half court ready for the outlet and a 1-1 at the rim. Seemed like most of his points where transition baskets at the rim

[Swan88]

Palmer, Allen and McVeigh each shot 50% from three (2-4, 2-4 and 1-2 respectively).

[hskr4life]

2 hours ago, dustystehl said:

Pretty telling how poorly the coaches thought the bigs played when they started Tanner Borchardt in the second half. Jordy Tshimanga looked as bad as he ever has. He's 6'11". Would sure be great if he played like it. We really need Jordy to pick it up.

 

Thomas Allen may be the best freshman Tim Miles has had at Nebraska. He's a big time player. Given his shooting ability, would love to see him play with Watson more. Hell, I said it months ago: Thomas Allen should start at the 2. The kid can SCORE. (And I want to keep him happy so he sticks around. Evan Taylor is a senior. He can't transfer after this year. Allen can.)

 

Isaac Copeland moves like an old man. He looks like he's in a pain as he waddles off the court. He may never be the same player he was after the back injury/surgery.

 

For as many minutes as Jack McVeigh played, I expected more on the stat sheet. He had 6 rebounds, but probably should have had double that. He scored 3 points in 23 minutes. We will not win many games if McVeigh only scores 3 points. Last year, we were 6-2 when McVeigh scored 10 points or more (losses at Iowa, at Rutgers); we were 6-17 when McVeigh scored less than 10 points. Jack couldn't get a shot off last night. What's he going to do with a Big Ten defender on him?

 

You may not agree with all of this, but I'm we can agree on this: James Palmer, Jr. is a stud.

 

One thing you might be able to get away with is having Taylor start and Allen one of the first off the bench.  If we start Allen, then you have Glynn, Palmer, Copeland, and Jordy all in there.  I see two guys that I want taking more ball control than Allen.  However, if he is coming off the bench, there are a lot more shots and opportunities out there for him.

 

I can see what you are saying about transferring, however, I also worry that there wouldn't be enough shots to go around if he started in place of Taylor.

[dustystehl]

Just now, hskr4life said:

 

One thing you might be able to get away with is having Taylor start and Allen one of the first off the bench.  If we start Allen, then you have Glynn, Palmer, Copeland, and Jordy all in there.  I see two guys that I want taking more ball control than Allen.  However, if he is coming off the bench, there are a lot more shots and opportunities out there for him.

 

I can see what you are saying about transferring, however, I also worry that there wouldn't be enough shots to go around if he started in place of Taylor.

 

Allen is a better offensive player than Taylor. That's what it comes down to for me.

[hskr4life]

3 minutes ago, dustystehl said:

 

Allen is a better offensive player than Taylor. That's what it comes down to for me.

 

Pure shooting wise, I would agree.  However, I think Taylor has him in the drive and finish game right now at this point in their careers.  I think that they would be pretty even on D.  In the future, yes I agree, Allen will probably turn out to be the better player overall.  Right now I am good with having shooting coming off the bench.

[bball23]

I've probably said this a thousand times.  Who cares who starts?  Give me the 5 best players on the floor in crunch time at the end of the game.  IF a players bitches and moans about not starting, then right there you already have an issue.  That's a "me" thing.  Its a childish thing.  Give me guys that will do anything that the team needs and we will have something.  And this is by no means saying we have any guys on the team like this, I just think the fans put WAY too much into who starts and who doesn't.  See who the coach has in when the game is on the line and that will tell you a lot.  And obviously every game is different based on match ups and who's hot, etc...

[big red22]

3 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

The 3 guards we start, Evan, Glynn & Jim can hang with anyone in the B1G. Now if we can just REBOUND the damn ball & cut down on the TOs, this team has a chance to do some special things. Can't wait Til' Saturday! 

Few things

 

1. The reason Northwood had so many rebounds is because they missed so many shots.  They missed a lot of close shot put backs too.

 

2. You know that we were not diving for balls against Northwood, why risk injury?  I guarantee you this game was about getting an idea who could score, and not about who hustles the most

 

3.  Roby is a top 3 rebounder and missing from the game.  

Edited November 8, 2017 by big red22

[Norm Peterson]

26 minutes ago, big red22 said:

Few things

 

1. The reason Northwood had so many rebounds is because they missed so many shots.  They missed a lot of close shot put backs too.

 

2. You know that we were not diving for balls against Northwood, why risk injury?  I guarantee you this game was about getting an idea who could score, and not about who hustles the most

 

3.  Roby is a top 3 rebounder and missing from the game.  

 

They had a 6'2" guard nab 9 boards. Most of anyone in the game. He had one dunk on a put back, but he wasn't in the trees out-leaping our guys for most of those boards.