Player Power Rankings

[cjbowbros]

I thought it would be interesting to take all of the of the former and current players who have been on the team for at least one year and played significant minutes since the start of the Tim Miles era. It took me about 30 minutes to make mine and was also the subject of Jake and I's discussion on the second episode of the Risky Roadz Podcast. We only released the 11-35 on this episode so I will hold my top ten but I'd be very interested to hear yours. I decided my ranking based on overall significance to the program in the case of former players and overall expected significance to the program by the end of their careers (taking into effect that we think some players may transfer or leave for any other reason).

11. Jordy Tshinmanga

12. Anton Gill

13. Thomas Allen

14. Leslee Smith

15 Benny Parker

16. Dylan Talley

17 .Duby Okeke

18. Michael Jacobson

19. Jack McVeigh

20. David Rivers

21. Ed Morrow

22. Moses Abraham

23. Ray Gallegos

24. Nana Akenten

25. Andre Almeida

26. Tanner, Borchardt

27. Mike Peltz

28. Thorir Thorbjarnason

29. Jake Hammond

30. Jeremiah Horne

31. Tarin Smith

32. Bakari Evelyn

33. Nick Fuller

34. Nathan Hawkins

35. Deverell Biggs

For reference here's my top ten in random order.

Andrew White III

Terran Petteway

Tai Webster

Evan Taylor

Shavon Shields 

Isaac Copeland

James Palmer

Isaiah Roby

Glynn Watson

Walter Pitchford

And again the podcast can be found on itunes if you search Risky Roadz Pod.

Excited to know what you think!

Edited July 9, 2018 by cjbowbros

[B-town hoopsfan]

Watson and palmer and roby are probably 1 n 2 n 3 as Watson had been here for the valleys and the peaks n if we get this rolling we will probably look back at palmer and roby as the reason why 

[aphilso1]

1. Petteway.  His individual success and leading the team to the Dance would probably already have been enough to make him #1 in my book.  Now add to that the fact that his success opened the door for Miles to recruit and land more impact transfers.  TP3 is #1 by a landslide.

 

2. Watson.  When everyone else left, he stayed.  If he had't, the Huskers would likely have a different head coach and we'd no longer still be in the Tim Miles Era.

 

3. Roby.  He's got the best chance to be a recognizable face in the NBA.  If he does that, I imagine recruiting and future success will be a lot easier in Lincoln.  For that reason he's got a chance to make an impact on our program for years to come.

[HB]

8 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

1. Petteway.  His individual success and leading the team to the Dance would probably already have been enough to make him #1 in my book.  Now add to that the fact that his success opened the door for Miles to recruit and land more impact transfers.  TP3 is #1 by a landslide.

 

2. Watson.  When everyone else left, he stayed.  If he had't, the Huskers would likely have a different head coach and we'd no longer still be in the Tim Miles Era.

 

3. Roby.  He's got the best chance to be a recognizable face in the NBA.  If he does that, I imagine recruiting and future success will be a lot easier in Lincoln.  For that reason he's got a chance to make an impact on our program for years to come.

 

Very insightful post. 

[jimmykc]

Left off Copeland from choices and misspelled Watson. I'll defer vote until these corrections are made.

[TourneyBound]

9 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

1. Petteway.  His individual success and leading the team to the Dance would probably already have been enough to make him #1 in my book.  Now add to that the fact that his success opened the door for Miles to recruit and land more impact transfers.  TP3 is #1 by a landslide.

 

2. Watson.  When everyone else left, he stayed.  If he had't, the Huskers would likely have a different head coach and we'd no longer still be in the Tim Miles Era.

 

3. Roby.  He's got the best chance to be a recognizable face in the NBA.  If he does that, I imagine recruiting and future success will be a lot easier in Lincoln.  For that reason he's got a chance to make an impact on our program for years to come.

Can agree with this.  Only difference I had was Shields instead of Watson as I thought he was a legacy recruit that always left everything out on the court.  I had thought about Watson but was a little hesitant after this last year he had shooting the ball.

[TourneyBound]

15 hours ago, cjbowbros said:

I thought it would be interesting to take all of the of the former and current players who have been on the team for at least one year and played significant minutes since the start of the Tim Miles era. It took me about 30 minutes to make mine and was also the subject of Jake and I's discussion on the second episode of the Risky Roadz Podcast. We only released the 11-35 on this episode so I will hold my top ten but I'd be very interested to hear yours. I decided my ranking based on overall significance to the program in the case of former players and overall expected significance to the program by the end of their careers (taking into effect that we think some players may transfer or leave for any other reason).

11. Jordy Tshinmanga

12. Anton Gill

13. Thomas Allen

14. Leslee Smith

15 Benny Parker

16. Dylan Talley

17 .Duby Okeke

18. Michael Jacobson

19. Jack McVeigh

20. David Rivers

21. Ed Morrow

22. Moses Abraham

23. Ray Gallegos

24. Nana Akenten

25. Andre Almeida

26. Tanner, Borchardt

27. Mike Peltz

28. Thorir Thorbjarnason

29. Jake Hammond

30. Jeremiah Horne

31. Tarin Smith

32. Bakari Evelyn

33. Nick Fuller

34. Nathan Hawkins

35. Deverell Biggs

For reference here's my top ten in random order.

Andrew White III

Terran Petteway

Tai Webster

Evan Taylor

Shavon Shields 

Isaac Copeland

James Palmer

Isaiah Roby

Glynn Watson

Walter Pitchford

And again the podcast can be found on itunes if you search Risky Roadz Pod.

Excited to know what you think!

Ray below Moses..........  Come on  Ray should be higher IMO

[khoock]

Its a good discusssion post. The players in the top 10 seem right. But i think there are some glaring misrankings with the rest imo. 

 

Conk's post above me is one. Another glaring one is why is Duby so much higher than say David Rivers. Duby was a one year rental that was on the bench more than the court. David Rivers was a multiyear starter for a tournament team and put up better stats.

[Huskerpapa]

I had Glynn #1.  The reasoning is nearly identical to what aphilso mentioned.   He is now a senior and has been our PG leader for four years.  Number 2 was TP for his work leading us to the dance and number 3 is Isaiah.

[Norm Peterson]

#1 is a no-brainer in my opinion.  You gotta start with making the dance in year 2.  Terran Petteway was the single biggest factor in us making the dance.  Without him, we don't make the dance.  Period.  And, if we don't make the dance, we don't land transfers Andrew White, Anton Gill, Isaac Copeland, or James Palmer; nor do we land Glynn Watson, Isaiah Roby, etc.

 

Given how significant a factor I believe making the dance was in subsequent recruiting, I'd say the 2nd most important player in the Miles era was Shavon.  He started as a freshman and would have been a day-1 starter had he not injured his elbow, but his emergence as a sophomore was critical to that run to the dance, and he was just a solid kid and solid player all the way around.  If Shavon had been the player we all thought we were getting coming out of high school, Miles is probably coaching somewhere else right now. But Shavon turned out to be a 4-star caliber player in a marginal 3-star's body.  Shavon is definitely my #2.

 

James Palmer is 3rd.  The reason we were even in the hunt for a return trip to the NCAA tournament is because we had a guy like Palmer who could get us buckets when we needed them.  The reason we'll be in the hunt again this year is because opposing Ds will have to line up to stop him and it'll make other players on the team better.  He scores, he dishes assists, he's deceptively quick, and he's really long at the guard spot.  He's been ranked by whatshisname as one of the top 15 returning players in the nation.  That's not for nothin.  The fact that he returned for his senior year is HUGE for this program.

 

So, that's my top three and the whys and wherefores.

[Fullbacksympathy]

1.  Roby will be our poster child for the next tier of recruiting as he will likely log meaningful minutes in the NBA.  He'll end a, what, 20 year drought?  

 

2.  I picked Tai because he can answer questions about 4-year player development under TM.  Hopefully GWIII will finish with a great season--I will say his defense has definitely improved each season.  

 

3.  Terran provided the blueprint for unbelievable transfer success here.  This has been amazingly important.  

[Handy Johnson]

1. T Petteway - Legitimized the Program and got us to the dance in year two.

2. S Shields - Could have left with a new Coach coming in, stayed and was a talented stabilizing force.

3. J Palmer- Set up to be two time All B1G with the Star Power that will propel Big Red hoops to dizzying heights.

[cjbowbros]

8 hours ago, ConkintheCorner said:

Ray below Moses..........  Come on  Ray should be higher IMO

I am aware that there were a few errors in this list and on the pod. Should have done a little more research when thinking about 35 players over 7 years so I apologize.  I was unfortunately 13 when Ray graduated and forgot that he played on the tournament team so retrospectively I would have moved him up significantly higher along with David Rivers and Ed Morrow  Also would have moved Moses and Jacob Hammond down a bit. 

Edited July 10, 2018 by cjbowbros

[cjbowbros]

5 hours ago, LK1 said:

1.  Roby will be our poster child for the next tier of recruiting as he will likely log meaningful minutes in the NBA.  He'll end a, what, 20 year drought?  

 

2.  I picked Tai because he can answer questions about 4-year player development under TM.  Hopefully GWIII will finish with a great season--I will say his defense has definitely improved each season.  

 

3.  Terran provided the blueprint for unbelievable transfer success here.  This has been amazingly important.  

I'd also be interested to hear this debated, you said that Roby playing NBA minutes is very important. How would you compare that to the impact of on court team success and particularly making the tournament in terms of the benefit it gives to recruiting. I would say that team success is more important because players want to play on good teams and figure the NBA scouts will think they're better if they make it to the big stage. A perfect example this year is Donte Divincenzo who wasn't in the top 30 on just about anyones big board until he had the huge championship game and suddenly his combine was great and he goes 17th in the draft. Obviously both go together and the opposite would be Kentucky where coach Cal basically has said "My job is to get kids to the NBA not to win" which is obviously not true since he limits the roles of his players so much.  But anyway both team and individual future success go together I think for Nebraska team success matters more.

[Norm Peterson]

15 hours ago, cjbowbros said:

I'd also be interested to hear this debated, you said that Roby playing NBA minutes is very important. How would you compare that to the impact of on court team success and particularly making the tournament in terms of the benefit it gives to recruiting. I would say that team success is more important because players want to play on good teams and figure the NBA scouts will think they're better if they make it to the big stage. A perfect example this year is Donte Divincenzo who wasn't in the top 30 on just about anyones big board until he had the huge championship game and suddenly his combine was great and he goes 17th in the draft. Obviously both go together and the opposite would be Kentucky where coach Cal basically has said "My job is to get kids to the NBA not to win" which is obviously not true since he limits the roles of his players so much.  But anyway both team and individual future success go together I think for Nebraska team success matters more.

 

I think it goes hand-in-hand.  Divincenzo's team did really well and so did he.  Part of the team doing well was him doing well.  A big part of it.  His individual success brought about team success.

 

Similarly, I'd say if Roby has a 17th-pick-in-the-draft kind of season, it's going to mean the Huskers did well.  Very well.  If he's playing like a near lottery pick, they're going to be going places as a team as well.

 

Now, Roby has some work to do to make that happen, but I think he's capable of playing at that level.

[Fullbacksympathy]

16 hours ago, cjbowbros said:

I'd also be interested to hear this debated, you said that Roby playing NBA minutes is very important. How would you compare that to the impact of on court team success and particularly making the tournament in terms of the benefit it gives to recruiting. I would say that team success is more important because players want to play on good teams and figure the NBA scouts will think they're better if they make it to the big stage. A perfect example this year is Donte Divincenzo who wasn't in the top 30 on just about anyones big board until he had the huge championship game and suddenly his combine was great and he goes 17th in the draft. Obviously both go together and the opposite would be Kentucky where coach Cal basically has said "My job is to get kids to the NBA not to win" which is obviously not true since he limits the roles of his players so much.  But anyway both team and individual future success go together I think for Nebraska team success matters more.

 

Good questions/points.  To be clear, I think Villanova has nailed the sweet spot between NBA talent and player development.  They aren't loaded with one and done players like Kentucky or Duke, but they recruit well enough to get kids into the league a few years into their system.  That's almost always going to end up being better for the program than a bunch of one and done prospects.  Roby is the sort of talent that Nova recruits and develops, and having someone drafted every other season or so seems like the next step in TM's recruiting.  If you look at Nee's best years--90-91 (three NBA players), 91-92 (one NBA player), 92-93 (two NBA players), 93-94 (three NBA players), 97-98 (two NBA draft picks)--they all have a common thread of talent.  I think Nee was an awful Xs and Os coach, but he could out-recruit anyone else we've ever had here.  TM has the same recruiting talent but a higher ceiling on the court, in my opinion.  

 

I've always said that a coach's worth in basketball is 90% recruiting and 10% Xs and Os.  I really believe this.  So that probably tells you what side of the fence I'm on.  You have to be a horrible coach and manager of egos to fail with great talent in the NCAA.  The questions were out on TM given players like Walt, AWIII, and Morrow leaving the program, but the fact that he brought the entire team back this year after a great season tells me something has greatly improved in that area.  I think he's going to hit another home run on the recruiting trail this year.  

[Blindcheck]

Jay Wright is a believer in Universal Offensive Concepts...which means they have very few plays and his players read what the defense gives them and take advantage (imagine playing pickup ball with High IQ basketball players)...I do think that leads to players developing over time and learning and playing under those concepts is not something every first year player can accomplish.

 

I do think his system develops players much better than an offense that is run this play, run that play....as it teaches players to adapt to what is shown by the defense....You still need the DNA, but if I was in the NBA and comparing two similar players, i would lean towards a guy who has learned the concepts not plays.

[northwillriseagain]

#1 is Roby for me. He’s a guy that if he hits his potential, Nebraska will be doing things they have never done.

 

He’s also the guy that could be a 1st rounder at his best, and recruiting with NBA development is easier.

[cjbowbros]

Here's my full and updated player power rankings list (to fix clear flaws in the first version and the transfer of Jordy) do you feel that Jordy's contribution to the team in the last 2 years should put him at 18 on this list.

1. James Palmer

2. Shavon Shields 

3. Terran Petteway 

4. Glynn Watson

5. Isaiah Roby

6. Tai Webster

7. Isaac Copeland

8. Walter Pitchford

9. Andrew White III

10. Ray Gallegos

11. Anton Gill

12. Thomas Allen

13. Evan Taylor

14. David Rivers

15. Ed Morrow

16. Benny Parker

17. Dylan Talley

18. Jordy Tshinmanga

19. Leslee Smith

20. Michael Jacobson

21. Tanner, Borchardt

22. Jack McVeigh

23. Duby Okeke

24. Nana Akenten

25. Andre Almeida

26. Jeremiah Horne

27. Mike Peltz

28. Thorir Thorbjarnason

29. Moses Abraham

30. Tarin Smith

31. Jake Hammond

32. Bakari Evelyn

33. Nick Fuller

34. Nathan Hawkins

35. Deverell Biggs

 

Edited July 22, 2018 by cjbowbros

[Handy Johnson]

Dylan Talley is too low & Thomas Allen hasn't really done anything...YET.         

[Norm Peterson]

Jordy should be no higher than 25th. You must have been rating on potential.

[cjbowbros]

6 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Jordy should be no higher than 25th. You must have been rating on potential.

I would say he was more important than Tanner will be if he plays a relatively small role this season which I believe he will. He was also clearly more important than Duby last year alone I mean he started over 15 games last year. I was as critical as anybody about him starting and liked him in his much reduced role much more but he was still an important part of a team that won the most conference games in Nebraska basketball history. On top of that in my opinion he was better as a freshman than as a sophomore. I could have put other guys in the 19-25 range in front of him but certainly not all of them. That group was probably one of the hardest for me to separate. Though if you factored in the fact that he sort of screwed us recruiting wise and assumed he was a distraction in the locker room you which would fit the definition of this list, I very much could agree with you. 

[TourneyBound]

On ‎7‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 1:44 PM, Handy Johnson said:

Dylan Talley is too low & Thomas Allen hasn't really done anything...YET.         

Agree with Talley observation

[Swan88]

 

[Swan88]