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This year vs. Last


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We know less about this upcoming season that any season in our history.  We have 1 player returning that if things go well, won't see the floor unless in mop-up duty.  I wanted to see others thoughts about what we may expect going forward with this year's team compared to last year.  Last year was supposed to be our best, most complete team we had in 20 or so years.  I didn't turn out that way, but we have already discussed that plenty.  Moving on...

 

PG:

Glynn Watson vs. Cam Mack:

  • While Glynn was a good/great player for us that last 4 years, he was still wildly inconsistent with his shot and didn't finish well at the hoop.  I remember watching a game late in the season and Glynn finished a drive with his left hand.  I looked at my 14 year old son, and we both said "He finished with his left!!!" in amazement.  He was soooo right hand dominant it limited him greatly.  We will miss his overall defensive game the most, as he was great at it.
  • My hope is that Cam will equal or exceed Glenn's offensive capabilities from the start and be worse on defense.
  • PUSH

 

SG:

Thomas Allen vs. Jervey Green

  • If Green lives up to his billing, this should be an upgrade.  I liked Thomas's game and he was progressing well, but he was fairly small for a 2 and that puts a slight ceiling on his overall game.
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE GREEN

 

SF:

JPJ vs. Dachon Burke

  • JPJ was our alpha dog and he brought it most every night.  While great, he just wasn't very efficient.  Whether that was due to the Tim Miles system or not is beside the point at this time.
  • Dachon has received good to great reports from most of last season.  He's supposedly a good defender and it's my understanding that his game is somewhat similar to JPJ, but he has less length.
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE JPJ

 

PF:

Copeland vs: ???? (Cheatham)

  • There is a clear advantage to Copeland.  We missed and will miss the size and overall game of Cope.  Cheatham is supposed to be a good/great defender, but that is at the 3, not the 4.  Hard to know who will play the '4' on this team at this point, and only put Cheatham there of out need.
  • ADVANTAGE COPELAND

 

PF:

Roby vs ???? (Stevenson)

  • I loved Roby and his game, but always felt like there was another level to his game.  Would have loved to seen what Roby would have done this year under Fred.  Oh well.  We will really miss Roby on the defensive side of the ball.  He was great defender playing out of position.  No idea who will be playing another big on this team.  Not sure Cross or Draogo will be ready to start the year, so I put Stevenson in there for this hypothetical.
  • I like many things that Stevenson should bring to this team, just not sure where he will play.  Most likely at the '4' if Cross or Draogo are somewhat ready.
  • BIG ADVANTAGE ROBY

 

 

Bench:  This is where it get's interesting.

 

PG:  Amir Harris vs ??? (no clue who our backup point will be.  I'm guessing it will be Burke or Green when Cam need's a break.

  • ADVANTAGE BURKE/GREEN

 

SG:  Amir Harris vs.  Samari Curtis

  • It's my hope that Curtis will come in and be able to play some decent minutes.  We got the state of OHIO player of the year!!  I'm assuming that he will be able to come in and log Amir Harris type of minutes next year
  • ADVANTAGE CURTIS

 

SF:  Nana vs. Kavas

  • Nana started the season pretty well (first 10 games or so) and then was a pretty big disappointment.  Couldn't shoot, didn't ever feel comfortable handling the ball.
  • Kavas is a dead-eye sniper from deep and if he shoots 40-45% from 3, he will play a key role and good minutes on this team.
  • BIG ADVANTAGE KAVAS

 

PF:  Heiman vs Cross

  • Brady needed a redshirt year and we all knew that.  He just wasn't ready.  He played OK to start the year, but in Big 10 season, he was another liability.
  • We know very little about Cross.  Is he really 6'8", or 6'6"?  Looks like he can handle it a little and has decent range.  Will be interesting to see how the season plays out.
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE CROSS

 

PF:  Borchardt vs Draogo

  • Loved the effort , heart and intensity of Borchardt.  
  • Another complete unknown with Draogo.  If he can match what Borchardt did for us, I would consider that a win for this team.  
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE BORCHARDT

 

MISC:  Thor vs Thor

  • Thor should be better this year, although I hope we don't need him.
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE '19/20 Thor 

 

We don't have as much proven front line talent, but the hope is that we are a much deeper team.  I didn't mention Arop, Banton, and Walker who should make our practices better with more high-level players on the scout team.  We should find out a little during the Italy trip which is HUGE for this team this year.

 

Sorry for the long rambling post.   Thoughts.....

 

Edited by NU Follower
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This is just me personally, so feel free to speculate all you want.

 

But, having said that, I think it's hard to compare this year to last year when the roster is full of new players we've never seen play before and when we don't really know for sure who the starters are even going to be.

 

I'm hopeful Cam Mack is all that, but until he suits up in a Husker uni, I'd say you can't call it a push between him and a kid who was a Rivals 4-star and 4 year starter, among the top 10 career scorers in Nebraska history. Cam has a lot to prove before you elevate him that high and I think it diminishes Glynn Watson to say he's no better than a juco transfer who will be in his 2nd year in college.  At this point, I'd say you have to give Glynn some credit and, until Cam proves it on the floor, call it big advantage to Glynn.

 

Allen vs. Jervay Green: Are you sure Jervay will start? Seems probable based on what little we know, but there's so much we don't know.

 

I feel pretty comfortable saying that Matty Kavas will be a better shooter than Nana Akenten, and that Samari Curtis is probably a better player for Hoiberg's system than Amir Harris.  And I think our bench *should* be deeper this year.

 

Beyond that, though, I just have no idea.

 

I'm curious if anyone thinks they have a pretty good feel for it at this point and, if so, what their thoughts are.

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I think this years team is more talented from top to bottom. But last year's team was more talented at the top. Glynn Watson, Thomas Allen, James Palmer, Isaac Copeland, and Isaiah Roby. I dont see a player on the current roster that would rank any higher than 4th when compared to those 5 guys (this is what I believe that guy meant by lack of "star power").

 

But one could say all 13 current scholarship guys are better than Amir, Brady, Tanner, Nana, Karrington Davis, and (soph.) Thorir and I wouldnt argue you about it.

 

This will be a good topic to discuss after Italy and our exhibition game.

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31 minutes ago, khoock said:

I think this years team is more talented from top to bottom. But last year's team was more talented at the top. Glynn Watson, Thomas Allen, James Palmer, Isaac Copeland, and Isaiah Roby. I dont see a player on the current roster that would rank any higher than 4th when compared to those 5 guys (this is what I believe that guy meant by lack of "star power").

 

But one could say all 13 current scholarship guys are better than Amir, Brady, Tanner, Nana, Karrington Davis, and (soph.) Thorir and I wouldnt argue you about it.

 

This will be a good topic to discuss after Italy and our exhibition game.

 

Italy should tell us a lot.

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Another factor that must be added in, tempo and style of play.  If some of last years guys were turned loose what would we have?  It seemed that when they went up and down the floor they were very good last year.  Just wasn't the depth last year to do that, especially at the end of the year.

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It's tough to compare player vs player as the system they will be playing in will be polar opposites. Team chemistry is what it will probably come down to as far as team success goes. Early on last year it looked like we had it but of course we know how it played out. I would think this year's team will improve the more they play together, the problem is conference play will be much tougher than the non-con schedule.

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Very tough to judge; and although the trip will be helpful, I'm not sure we will really know this team until December.

 

Heck, we often say we don't know a juco until the second semester...we not only have a couple jucos, we have a full team of newbies.

 

It is good to be optimistic, but unfair expectations can destroy a team.

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7 hours ago, NU Follower said:

SF:

JPJ vs. Dachon Burke

  • JPJ was our alpha dog and he brought it most every night.  While great, he just wasn't very efficient.  Whether that was due to the Tim Miles system or not is beside the point at this time.
  • Dachon has received good to great reports from most of last season.  He's supposedly a good defender and it's my understanding that his game is somewhat similar to JPJ, but he has less length.
  • SLIGHT ADVANTAGE JPJ

 

Dachon's sophomore numbers look a lot like JPJ's Sophomore numbers....both players have an eFG% around 50%, get to the line, and have large usage rates. I wouldn't call Burke all that efficient either but he's obviously capable of carrying the load for team like JPJ was. The other caveat is that Burke put up his numbers vs the Northeast Conference whereas JPJ did his damage vs the B1G. 

 

Thus, the big questions I have about Burke are:

  • how his game will translate vs better competition?
  • Considering that it probably would be better for the team if he dominated the ball less can he make that adjustment?

 

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That really is the key isn’t it?  This teams success depends on the scoring load being spread out over several players rather than having 2/3 dominate the ball & the stat sheet. Should be a deep squad, with LOTS of shooters & options. It will be interesting to see who shares the PG role with Mack.

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31 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

That really is the key isn’t it?  This teams success depends on the scoring load being spread out over several players rather than having 2/3 dominate the ball & the stat sheet. Should be a deep squad, with LOTS of shooters & options. It will be interesting to see who shares the PG role with Mack.

 

Like many teams the Iowa St Hoiberg teams typically had 'a guy' dominate the shots.

Perhaps this will be one of those teams where it's split among a few guys but it's very possible that one guy emerges.

While I think Burke has the potential to be a fine player for us I think if he is the ball dominant guy this year then we will not have a good year.

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I love Glynn but Mack has a higher ceiling. If Hoiberg gets him to

Monte Morris part 2 then we’re talking about an NBA career. Obviously a lot of unknowns on this team, but Petteway, JPJ, Glynn, Cope were all unknowns in a sense. I think this team has as high of an upside as any of Miles squads. Glass is always half full friends! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This will a good thread to revisit at the end of the season.

 

PG Watson vs Mack: (Watson)

4yr starter. Glynn will be missed.

Allen vs Green (Allen)

Allen is a proven player vs BIG 10 competition.

JPJ vs Burke (JPJ)

JPJ all conference player

Copeland vs ??? (Copeland)

Healthy Copeland, could be argued, was our best player. His value was evident when we tanked down the stretch

Roby vs ??? (Roby)

2nd round NBA pick

 

BENCH:

Thor vs Thor 

I think you might be undervaluing Thor. I might be wrong but I think he will do well in Hoiberg system.

Borchardt vs Drago (Borchardt)

Borchardt got better as the season progressed

Heiman vs Cross (Push)

Heiman never did anything to stand out.

Nana vs Kavas (Kavas)

Nana had moments but nothing ever stood out. Kavas shoots anywhere close to this 3pt % then it is an upgrade. Kavas could be sneaky good this season.

 

If you want to know what to expect this season, look at Hoiberg's 1st season at ISU. It isn't going to be pretty.

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On 6/28/2019 at 8:30 AM, OmahaHusker said:

Gotta love the off-season...when we're already talking like Mack is a better PG than a four-year starter. Glynn will be missed next year. 

He played very poorly a lot of the games last season.  The optimal Watson sure.  But the fact is he wasn’t very good last year on offense, especially when things went south and needed his senior leadership.  He is very reblaceable imo.  

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On 7/12/2019 at 3:43 PM, Ron Mexico said:

This will a good thread to revisit at the end of the season.

 

PG Watson vs Mack: (Watson)

4yr starter. Glynn will be missed.

Allen vs Green (Allen)

Allen is a proven player vs BIG 10 competition.

JPJ vs Burke (JPJ)

JPJ all conference player

Copeland vs ??? (Copeland)

Healthy Copeland, could be argued, was our best player. His value was evident when we tanked down the stretch

Roby vs ??? (Roby)

2nd round NBA pick

 

BENCH:

Thor vs Thor 

I think you might be undervaluing Thor. I might be wrong but I think he will do well in Hoiberg system.

Borchardt vs Drago (Borchardt)

Borchardt got better as the season progressed

Heiman vs Cross (Push)

Heiman never did anything to stand out.

Nana vs Kavas (Kavas)

Nana had moments but nothing ever stood out. Kavas shoots anywhere close to this 3pt % then it is an upgrade. Kavas could be sneaky good this season.

 

If you want to know what to expect this season, look at Hoiberg's 1st season at ISU. It isn't going to be pretty.

Maybe. I think this squad is gonna have more to work with than that ISU squad which was pretty bare bones. We won't (shouldn't) be that. I don't think we'll be 4-16 in B1G play come season's end.  I think we'll be better than that. To what degree, I don't know.

 

The range of possibilities with this team is pretty wide.

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To be honest, if we're as good as last year's team pre-injuries, we are a top 3-5 team in the conference.  I'm not ready to jump THAT far.

 

However, being slightly worse is nothing to be ashamed of... and would be ... say... .500 in conference and a fringe ncaa team.

 

I CAN see that... fairly easily, specifically if a certain transfer eligibility plays out in our favor.

 

If this team gels correctly, we could make some major noise in the B1G tournament and that's definitely good enough for me in year 1.

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