Next years starting lineup.

[uneblinstu]

Green's not coming off the bench.

[hhcmatt]

At least to start is Curtis the backup point to Mack? 

 

If Drago does end up as our starting center I could see

 

Mack

Burke

Green

Cheatham

Ouedraogo
 

[jayschool]

If you don't get The Athletic online, Mitch Sherman also wrote a piece yesterday about the roster. He interviewed Matt Abdelmassih, who commented on the players. Without disrespecting The Athletic's paywall too much, here are some of Matt's observations:

• “He’ll be a huge part of what we’re doing,” Abdelmassih said of Burke.
• Of Cheatham and Kavas: “They fit the way we want to play,” Abdelmassih said. “They could be leaders that we need.”
• Cheatham: “He brings experience and a Big Ten body,” the coach said. “Defensively, he’ll be able to hold his ground. He’s a load going to the basket. That’s his strongest attribute, being able to finish over length and finish through contact.”
• Kavas: “Really skilled,” he said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s able to put the ball on the floor. We’re looking for him to be an all-around offensive player. He’s clearly gifted at shooting the basketball. But if he’s playing at the 4, we’re really going to bring those opposing bigs out, where we feel like we can expose some mismatches.”
• Mack: “The quickest guard that I’ve ever come across,” Abdelmassih said. ‘It’s elite-level quickness and elite-level athleticism — both things that translate to where he could play anywhere in the country.”
• Green: “Immediately, he’s going to bring a presence,” Abdelmassih said. “He’s able to score the ball multiple ways, an ultra-talented kid who, if he fine-tunes some stuff, can be special.”
• Stevenson: “He’ll be a huge piece,” Abdelmassih said, “certainly an impact guy. He can be special here.”
• Banton and Walker: “Ultimately, two really talented kids,” Abdelmassih said. “When you take sit-out kids, you need to really be confident that the following year, they have a chance to be huge impact players. Banton is as special of a talent as you’re going to find at his size. If they follow the plan and do their part, we will do ours.”
• Cross: “He’s a mismatch nightmare.”
• Ouedraogo: “He could play in a Big Ten game tomorrow,” Abdelmassih said. “He’s strong, athletic, able to move.”
• Curtis: “He’s oozing with potential, oozing with talent. He brings more of a dynamic all-around game because he’s bigger. From a style-of-play standpoint, I don’t think there’s a guard who fits better.”

[Fullbacksympathy]

43 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

At least to start is Curtis the backup point to Mack? 

 

If Drago does end up as our starting center I could see

 

Mack

Burke

Green

Cheatham

Ouedraogo
 

 

Yep.  With Curtis, our two deep PG position is going to be really, really good.  Complete team:

 

Mack - Curtis

Green

Burke 

Cheatham - Kavas (Stephenson) 

Ouedraogo - Cross 

[royalfan]

1 hour ago, jayschool said:

If you don't get The Athletic online, Mitch Sherman also wrote a piece yesterday about the roster. He interviewed Matt Abdelmassih, who commented on the players. Without disrespecting The Athletic's paywall too much, here are some of Matt's observations:

• “He’ll be a huge part of what we’re doing,” Abdelmassih said of Burke.
• Of Cheatham and Kavas: “They fit the way we want to play,” Abdelmassih said. “They could be leaders that we need.”
• Cheatham: “He brings experience and a Big Ten body,” the coach said. “Defensively, he’ll be able to hold his ground. He’s a load going to the basket. That’s his strongest attribute, being able to finish over length and finish through contact.”
• Kavas: “Really skilled,” he said. “He’s a tough kid. He’s able to put the ball on the floor. We’re looking for him to be an all-around offensive player. He’s clearly gifted at shooting the basketball. But if he’s playing at the 4, we’re really going to bring those opposing bigs out, where we feel like we can expose some mismatches.”
• Mack: “The quickest guard that I’ve ever come across,” Abdelmassih said. ‘It’s elite-level quickness and elite-level athleticism — both things that translate to where he could play anywhere in the country.”
• Green: “Immediately, he’s going to bring a presence,” Abdelmassih said. “He’s able to score the ball multiple ways, an ultra-talented kid who, if he fine-tunes some stuff, can be special.”
• Stevenson: “He’ll be a huge piece,” Abdelmassih said, “certainly an impact guy. He can be special here.”
• Banton and Walker: “Ultimately, two really talented kids,” Abdelmassih said. “When you take sit-out kids, you need to really be confident that the following year, they have a chance to be huge impact players. Banton is as special of a talent as you’re going to find at his size. If they follow the plan and do their part, we will do ours.”
• Cross: “He’s a mismatch nightmare.”
• Ouedraogo: “He could play in a Big Ten game tomorrow,” Abdelmassih said. “He’s strong, athletic, able to move.”
• Curtis: “He’s oozing with potential, oozing with talent. He brings more of a dynamic all-around game because he’s bigger. From a style-of-play standpoint, I don’t think there’s a guard who fits better.”

Subscribed based or your recommendation recently.   Well worth it!

[jayschool]

1 minute ago, royalfan said:

Subscribed based or your recommendation recently.   Well worth it!

Did you read the piece about Sparkman hitting Anderson on the helmet last night? Lots of butt-hurt south-side meth-heads.

[khoock]

Man im excited for these practices to get started. The competition between Mack, Green, Burke, Cheatham and Curtis is gonna be crazy. We gotta hit on three of those guys being ready right off the bat. Kavas has to be able to knock down the 3 at a good clip at this level. Get Stevenson eligible and hit on Ouedraogo or Cross and were working with something here.

 

Most importantly we need team chemistry. I know its a lot of "ifs" but the possibilities are very exciting.

[uneblinstu]

 

[Searching 4 Chester Surles]

2 hours ago, jayschool said:

Abdelmassih summary... via the Athletic... via jayschool (thanks).

 

GOOD LAWD.

 

CAN'T. WAIT. FOR. NOVEMBER.

 

[Huskerpapa]

I am truly attempting to keep my expectations in check.  Coach Matt made it seem like we have a fantastic roster with no holes, yet we all know holes will exist.  That said, it appears to me that there will be great competition for playing time, and that will make every player better.  

[Norm Peterson]

11 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

I am truly attempting to keep my expectations in check.  Coach Matt made it seem like we have a fantastic roster with no holes, yet we all know holes will exist.  That said, it appears to me that there will be great competition for playing time, and that will make every player better.  

 

Yeah. Starting a 17-year-old Euro kid at center from day 1 does not, on paper, sound like a good situation.

 

But he has great size and a little bit of nasty in him. He could be our next NBA guy after Roby.

[royalfan]

5 hours ago, jayschool said:

Did you read the piece about Sparkman hitting Anderson on the helmet last night? Lots of butt-hurt south-side meth-heads.

 

Yeah, was watching it live.  It was ridiculous.  

[Norm Peterson]

5 hours ago, khoock said:

Man im excited for these practices to get started. The competition between Mack, Green, Burke, Cheatham and Curtis is gonna be crazy. We gotta hit on three of those guys being ready right off the bat. Kavas has to be able to knock down the 3 at a good clip at this level. Get Stevenson eligible and hit on Ouedraogo or Cross and were working with something here.

 

Most importantly we need team chemistry. I know its a lot of "ifs" but the possibilities are very exciting.

 

That Italy trip will really help things coalesce.

[AuroranHusker]

All I Got, So Far:

 

[Navin R. Johnson]

Nice article in the OWH today on the Husker basketball team.  Short synopsis of each player.  Also a couple articles on the Frost/Hoiberg/Moos goodwill tour or whatever they are calling it.

[Blackshirt83]

I hope (and assume) the coaches know something I don't because I can't see Cheatham as a 4 in this league.

 

Even if he puts on 10lbs of muscle it's like playing James Palmer at the 4.

 

The past couple years our bigs who had 2+ inches and 30+ lbs on  Cheatham still got pushed around at will by certain teams.

 

Can someone explai what am I missing because this looks like a bad case of flawed situation awareness.

[Nebrasketball1979]

2 minutes ago, Blackshirt83 said:

I hope (and assume) the coaches know something I don't because I can't see Cheatham as a 4 in this league.

 

Even if he puts on 10lbs of muscle it's like playing James Palmer at the 4.

 

The past couple years our bigs who had 2+ inches and 30+ lbs on  Cheatham still got pushed around at will by certain teams.

 

Can someone explai what am I missing because this looks like a bad case of flawed situation awareness.

 

This is all you are missing, just drink the damn koolaid, enjoy the ride, and certainly don't ask legitimate questions, at least not until October! 

 

[hhcmatt]

19 minutes ago, Blackshirt83 said:

I hope (and assume) the coaches know something I don't because I can't see Cheatham as a 4 in this league.

 

Even if he puts on 10lbs of muscle it's like playing James Palmer at the 4.

 

The past couple years our bigs who had 2+ inches and 30+ lbs on  Cheatham still got pushed around at will by certain teams.

 

Can someone explai what am I missing because this looks like a bad case of flawed situation awareness.

 

In the past the mindset under Miles was 'whoever you can guard is what you are'

The mindset with Hoiberg will be more 'you have to guard who we roll out there'

 

So if you're Penn St and you're rolling out Lamar Stevens and Mike Watkins one of them has to guard Cheatham on the perimeter and then we just hope we score more points out there than they do inside. I'd assume that in a lot of games we'll mitigate the damage from bigger players by either zoning or playing a pack line defense. When we play against teams with post players quick enough to hang with the undersized 4s we will roll out it's probably going to end up with us losing.

[busticket]

15 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Yeah. Starting a 17-year-old Euro kid at center from day 1 does not, on paper, sound like a good situation.

 

But he has great size and a little bit of nasty in him. He could be our next NBA guy after Roby.

 

Don’t have to worry about that.  Cross will be the starter.

 

Only half kidding...from recent quotes from the staff:  matchup nightmare.  Reminds me of Niang.  

 

Still puts us in a position having a true freshman in the post, though.  I am really looking forward to see how this shakes out.  At this point in time I am betting on my boy Kevin to be the day 1 starter at center.

Edited May 31, 2019 by busticket

[uneblinstu]

I guess I have a hard time putting either Cross or Yvan in the starting 5 from day one. Maybe they're develop into that by years end, but I don't really see it in November.

[khoock]

20 minutes ago, uneblinstu said:

I guess I have a hard time putting either Cross or Yvan in the starting 5 from day one. Maybe they're develop into that by years end, but I don't really see it in November.

I think one will start but they wont play starter minutes. For example Ouedraogo is your starting 5 but most nights only plays 15-20 minutes.

[busticket]

2 hours ago, khoock said:

I think one will start but they wont play starter minutes. For example Ouedraogo is your starting 5 but most nights only plays 15-20 minutes.

 

This is what I suspect will happen.  Kavas and Shamiel may steal minutes there as well.  

 

I would love to see one of the freshmen emerge and play big minutes, though.  Similar to how McDermott was forced to play big minutes as a freshman at Creighton because they didn’t have any frontcourt depth.  And no, I am not advocating for Kevin to be an all American......yet

[Norm Peterson]

After putting together my "Meet the Huskers" thread today and reviewing all those old videos I'd looked at before, I'm still flummoxed at what the starting lineup will look like.  There are so, so many possible combinations. Part of the problem with trying to assess who the starters might be is that only one guy on the roster has ever played for us before and he's almost a unanimous pick for coming off the bench.  Plus we have a new coach and we aren't going to know quite what he wants or how he wants to put things together.  So, it's all basically guesswork.  And a lot of guys have tools who could make an argument to get a starting nod.

 

Down low (if there's such a thing as "down low" on a Hoiberg club) you could see any two of the following as legit candidates to start: Drago, Stevenson, Kavas, Cheatham, Cross. Each brings something to the table that could get them on the floor in the starting rotation and, at this point, you really can't count any of them out.

 

In the back court, you could legitimately go with any three of the following:  Mack, Green, Burke, Cheatham, Curtis, Kavas, Stevenson.

 

I could legitimately buy a starting lineup of Mack, Green, Burke, Stevenson, Drago.  But I could also see Cheatham starting over Burke, Kavas over Stevenson, Drago getting bumped in favor of a 4th guard, Green shifting to point if, say, Mack doesn't pick up the offense, or any number of other possible combinations.

 

It's not just that we have basically an entirely new roster; it's also that we have a new coach whose thought processes are not as well-known to us as a coach who's been here a few years.

 

But this is an interesting discussion and, now that the roster has firmed up, and we know for sure we don't have Roby or Jayce Johnson, it's interesting to read people's takes on trying to divine which numbers Hoiberg will draw in the Starting Lineup Lottery. 

[khoock]

Not a single person, myself included, is giving Thor or Arop a chance to start or even be in the rotation.

[Swan88]

On 5/30/2019 at 6:58 PM, Norm Peterson said:

 

Yeah. Starting a 17-year-old Euro kid at center from day 1 does not, on paper, sound like a good situation.

 

But he has great size and a little bit of nasty in him. He could be our next NBA guy after Roby.

6’9” and 260 lb., with quickness, athleticism, handles and a ton of experience (despite his youth) against high-level competition.  Hmmmm . . . I’d say, forget what ink on paper says: “Put him in, Coach!”

 

Edited June 1, 2019 by Swan88