The View from out here on My Limb

[Chuck Taylor]

1 hour ago, jayschool said:

Whatever the lineup, is this more of a:

• Pikiell at Rutgers rebuild second season (3-15, 14th place in 14-team conference); a
• Miles at Nebraska rebuild second season (11-7, 4th place in a 14-team conference); a 
• Hoiberg at ISU rebuild second season (12-6, tied for third in 10-team conference); OR
• Somewhere in between.

 

I think this roster lands us somewhere in between Pikiell and Miles/Hoiberg, but that's a huge space to occupy. The early non-partisan analysis like this and this, have us struggling to rise much above Pikiell's benchmark, and unless Allen emerges as a Pettway-style all-conference type player and we have other players emerge and complement in the fashion of Rey Gallegos, Shavon Shields, Walter Pitchford, Tai Webster and Benny Parker, they may be right.

I agree that Teddy is the key. Not sure there's another player on the roster who can be among the conference's top 15 players. Kobe King might have, but ... 

 

Bart Torvik adds up the numbers and places us last in the BIG, the only team above 100. He also sees Thor averaging 13 ppg.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

 

See, to me it's Walker's two years at Tennessee and a year as a redshirt that makes me think he is more of a known commodity than Mayan who had a partial season at TCU and then one at JUCO. Combine that with Mayan weighing just shy of 210 and it becomes very hard to picture him guarding centers in the B1G unless he has superior rebounding, shot blocking and/or shooting attributes.  He certainly has more range than either Yvan or Walker but I just don't think it's going to be enough to displace the girth those guys bring.  Why else are we still recruiting traditional centers?

 

Hopefully we shall see.

 

But that's like when a really bad team returns all of its starters.  The known part about Walker is that he is a career 15-44 from the FT line and had diminished productivity from his freshman to sophomore year, where he averaged 0.8 points and 1.1 rebounds in 5.3 minutes per game.

 

Lat averaged 2.1 points, 1.2 rebounds in 7.9 minutes while averaging 77.8% from the freethrow line as a freshman.

 

I agree he's skinny. I agree guarding Big Ten bigs is a big ask for a skinny guy like that, which is why it's a reluctant endorsement from me.

 

But he still gets the nod from me because he's 30-50% better from the line than the other two options and, if the shooting numbers hold, he'll give us another offensive threat on the floor. Plus he's a quality rebounder at the juco level who I think gets you some of those 50/50 balls.

[Vinny]

I think the team height of a potential 1-4 of Banton, Teddy, Thor, Shamiel, would mean we can have someone like Lat at the 5 for stretches. 

[Norm Peterson]

10 minutes ago, Vinny said:

I think the team height of a potential 1-4 of Banton, Teddy, Thor, Shamiel, would mean we can have someone like Lat at the 5 for stretches. 

 

Good point. Shamiel has enough heft to hold his ground in the post on defense, and the other guys listed would make us long enough to double and recover if we had to double the post.

 

I'm not trying to tear anyone down. I think it's possible that Walker and Ouedraogo have both made significant strides since they last logged official minutes.

 

But just going by what I think I can reasonably rely on, I'm picking Lat to start. It's just a wild-ass guess, really.

 

Anyway, that would certainly be an intriguing combo.

[aphilso1]

29 minutes ago, Vinny said:

I think the team height of a potential 1-4 of Banton, Teddy, Thor, Shamiel, would mean we can have someone like Lat at the 5 for stretches. 

 

Playing some Baylor-style zone defense with that lineup should work.

[thrasher31]

I'll stand by that we'll likely see a variety of lineup combos until one sticks. Walker/Yvan both spotting each other at the 5 and Lat getting minutes at the 4 and 5. I believe it's matchup dependant and also depends who plays well together. The shooting upside of Lat is a very good point, which is why I think we will see him out there at the 5 for stretches at a time. I do not know how he would do against the Kofis or Potter's at the 5( two most obvious guys. Not including Luka, trevion, or TJD). It's certainly possible, but I'm still sticking that we'll see Yvan at the 5 and Lat/shamiel at the 4 to start out the year. That will likely change though depending how guys play and who plays well together. Also, getting Trey eligible would be a huge lift for this team. WITH Trey eligible, this would be my rough draft. 

Trey

Allen

Banton

Stevenson/Lat

Yvan 

First guys off bench: Thor/Kobe (can fill in at any wing position/can provide shooting)

 

This is an extremely versatile team that we will have next year. You could argue about 4-5 different starting lineups and we will likely see about 4-5 different lineups throughout the year. 

[Vinny]

2 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

 

Playing some Baylor-style zone defense with that lineup should work.

Doc Sadler and zone defense?!

[millerhusker]

On 6/27/2020 at 8:54 PM, hhcmatt said:

I will go out on a limb and say Lat will play very little at the 5 and that a combination of Yvan and Walker will be on the court over 90% of the time.

FWIW, Washut has said multiple times that the staff loves Mayen and he’s Washut’s pick to start at the 5. Before I heard that, I would’ve agreed with you on this. 

[Vinny]

1 hour ago, millerhusker said:

FWIW, Washut has said multiple times that the staff loves Mayen and he’s Washut’s pick to start at the 5. Before I heard that, I would’ve agreed with you on this. 

Then I’m going to say my 1-5 from my previous post is my guess at a starting five, Banton, Teddy, Thor, Shamiel and Lat. Kobe/Trey probably start over Thor, but I like my lineup and I’m sticking with it.

[swmckewon]

One thing about Yvan: I believe he cares. I think he really wants to get better, and did, and isn’t ambivalent about the game. 

 

 

[swmckewon]

The reason that matters is Nebraska has had its share of “what am I doing here? How did I get here? Do I want to be here?” posts over the years. 

[Norm Peterson]

3 hours ago, millerhusker said:

FWIW, Washut has said multiple times that the staff loves Mayen and he’s Washut’s pick to start at the 5. Before I heard that, I would’ve agreed with you on this. 

 

I did not know this before I went out on my limb.

[Norm Peterson]

11 hours ago, swmckewon said:

One thing about Yvan: I believe he cares. I think he really wants to get better, and did, and isn’t ambivalent about the game. 

 

He is mature beyond his years, that's for sure. Great kid. I hope he has the Husker career he dreams of.

[49r]

10 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

He is mature beyond his years, that's for sure. Great kid. I hope he has the Husker career he dreams of.

 

 

I'm hoping he has the Husker career we're ALL dreaming of!

[Handy Johnson]

19 hours ago, swmckewon said:

The reason that matters is Nebraska has had its share of “what am I doing here? How did I get here? Do I want to be here?” posts over the years. 

Jordy, Duby, Leslee Smith...the list goes on. Meanwhile, if Yvan’s game makes a BIG jump, (I’m just talking converting on put backs & learning to use the glass) so will our record!

Edited June 30, 2020 by Handy Johnson

[aphilso1]

17 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

Jordy, Duby, Leslee Smith...the list goes on. Meanwhile, if Yvan’s game makes a BIG jump, (I’m just talking converting on put backs & learning to use the glass) so will our record!

 

Leslee Smith?  No way.  Leslee was 100% bought into being a Husker.  The dude rushed a recovery from an ACL tear to re-join the team.  I probably wouldn't even include Duby in that group either, as Duby seemed more like a guy who just wasn't a good fit rather than a guy who didn't want to be here.  Jordy, JBD, and Pitchford are the guys that I would guess were being referred to.

[Handy Johnson]

5 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

 

Leslee Smith?  No way.  Leslee was 100% bought into being a Husker.  The dude rushed a recovery from an ACL tear to re-join the team.  I probably wouldn't even include Duby in that group either, as Duby seemed more like a guy who just wasn't a good fit rather than a guy who didn't want to be here.  Jordy, JBD, and Pitchford are the guys that I would guess were being referred to.

I have no inside information, and yer probably right on Smith, but here’s a couple others that come to mind: Christopher Nieman, Shaun Ping...

[aphilso1]

4 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

I have no inside information, and yer probably right on Smith, but here’s a couple others that come to mind: Christopher Nieman, Shaun Ping...

 

Agreed on Ping.  Niemann just had some terrible health after he got here if I remember correctly.  Similar to Chris Balham.  Which now that I think about it, "posts with debilitating injuries" could be its own lengthy list here.  

[Fullbacksympathy]

Lat can play point center too.  I think he’s a poor man’s Roby.  

[Dead Dog Alley]

59 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

I have no inside information, and yer probably right on Smith, but here’s a couple others that come to mind: Christopher Nieman, Shaun Ping...

 

Niemann had a bunch of knee issues, and sometimes when it gets to the point where guy realizes it's just not going to happen for him, the focus on basketball decreases.

 

As for Shang Ping...

[Norm Peterson]

Shang Ping played professionally after college. He wasn't as bad as some might have thought.

 

With all due respect to Doc Sadler, I don't think Doc's style was particularly a good fit for Shang. It was all Shang could do to understand Doc's southern twang English. He no doubt wasn't used to getting abused in practices. Doc didn't have a lot of patience for Shang's learning curve. And then when he tried to knee Chris Balham in the nads ... that was kinda it.

[millerhusker]

2 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

I have no inside information, and yer probably right on Smith, but here’s a couple others that come to mind: Christopher Nieman, Shaun Ping...

Niemann was my Uber driver one night in Lincoln about three years ago. For some reason he’s bitter about his time on the basketball team. He had nothing but bad things to say about his teammates, especially Lance Jeter. It was a strange conversation. 

[Dead Dog Alley]

39 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

Shang Ping played professionally after college. He wasn't as bad as some might have thought.

 

With all due respect to Doc Sadler, I don't think Doc's style was particularly a good fit for Shang. It was all Shang could do to understand Doc's southern twang English. He no doubt wasn't used to getting abused in practices. Doc didn't have a lot of patience for Shang's learning curve. And then when he tried to knee Chris Balham in the nads ... that was kinda it.

 

You raise good points, now that you mention it he looked like a guy who spent all of his time trying to figure out who Sack was.

[Handy Johnson]

4 hours ago, millerhusker said:

Niemann was my Uber driver one night in Lincoln about three years ago. For some reason he’s bitter about his time on the basketball team. He had nothing but bad things to say about his teammates, especially Lance Jeter. It was a strange conversation. 

Weren’t Nieman & Standhardinger on the same Club Team in Germany? And what in the hell has kept him in Lincoln Nebraska...?

[Norm Peterson]

4 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

Weren’t Nieman & Standhardinger on the same Club Team in Germany? And what in the hell has kept him in Lincoln Nebraska...?

 

What else? A girl.