Expansions and Auditions

[jayschool]

I was thinking of two analogies to draw up for 2020-21 Nebrasketball.

 

EXPANSION

The first had to do with an NBA expansion team in the not-so-distant past. That comparison is all about getting a bunch of guys through different manners of acquisition: the expansion draft would net a bunch of guys who were the eighth and ninth players on other NBA rosters, good guys, but not game-changers; combing through European and developmental league rosters for a few guys who could contribute, though if they were really good, they'd be on an established team; and the first college draft, where you're picking in the middle of the first round or later, might get you a decent rookie or two to build around.

 

The first year is a struggle, no matter how hard the team may play or well they're coached. They're going against established teams that have played together for years, so wins are nearly impossible to come by. But the real payoff comes at the end of that first year, when you've likely finished at or very near the bottom of the league. That's when you get that first lottery draft choice and you're able to build a team that can compete almost every night and start to inch toward .500 and playoff contention.

 

That's what we are right now — an expansion team. So we shouldn't be too disappointed that winning in the Big Ten has become a seemingly impossible proposition, at least this early in the season. If this team isn't starting to win a few games here and there by late January and into February, then it might be that bad. Still, there's that lottery pick and another high draft choice already in the fold for next year.

 

AUDITIONS

The second analogy has to do with theater, comparing this season to a continuing round of auditions in front of no audiences, just the producer, the director, and the nutty assistant director.

 

We're slated to open on Broadway in about a year, at the beginning of the Big Ten season. We'll go on tour, sure, before then, performing in front of audiences in various venues before the 2021-22 conference season, and that will be the final weeding out process of determining if we have a cast that will start to compete on a more-or-less even court with the rest of the Big Ten. We've signed our top billing, our biggest name ever, to star, but right now we're still in the first round of auditions, looking for a few strong supporting cast members to fill out the cast. There are eight parts to fill, with a couple of stand-ins available if we need then. 

 

So how are the auditions going?

The Stars (2)

Bryce McGowens may not immediately be the best actor on stage when he arrives for the touring version of the show, but he's what we're counting on to improve everyone's performance. Dalano Banton will play the other star role, balancing his skills with Bryce's to lead the production.

The Other Leads (2)

Teddy Allen and Trey McGowens seem to have the other two spots in hand if you think of the work having four main characters. They'll need to make sure they understand that when the leads are on stage, their roles are supporting ones, and they can take the lead and shine when one of the stars isn't on stage. They've proven they can help a mid-level Big Ten team succeed.

The Supporting Cast (4)

This is where the auditions over the next two-and-a-half months will show who's going to be stepping out on stage for us when we hit the Great White Way (otherwise known as Wisconsin and Iowa).

• Lat Mayen is struggling to prove he can "act" at this level. Early reviews are mediocre at best. Will he even get a callback?
• Kobe Webster and Thor have shown some talent, but it's not sure if either will even stick through the touring stage as they might have offers to do summerstock in Europe.
• Yvan Ouedraogo and Eduardo Andre have shown some intriguing talents, but neither is a lock to make the supporting cast.
• Derrick Walker, Wilhelm Breidenbach and Elijah Wood haven't been given much of a chance to show what they can do, though we'll learn about Walker soon.
• Trevor Lakes and Keisei Tominaga have similar range, but different skills, though there may be room for only one of them in the regular cast.
• Shamiel Stevenson right now appears to be on the no-callback list.
• On edit: Oh, and Akol Arop.

So that's 12 "actors" for four spots as regular cast members. 

 

Who are the four you'd go with at this point to complement B. McGowens, Banton, Allen and T. McGowens? In other words, who's acing the auditions at this point? And do we have enough quality actors auditioning for the parts to last a whole season on Broadway?

Edited December 27, 2020 by jayschool

[hugh42]

Leads

Bryce McGowens

Dalano Banton

Teddy Allen

Trey McGowens

plus Derrick Walker

 

This would be a pretty interesting starting lineup.

 

Supporting cast

Yvan Ouedraogo

Eduardo Andre

Trevor Lakes

Lat Mayen

Elijah Wood

Wilhelm Breidenbach

Keisei Tominaga

 

Who steps up to be the main contributors of this group or who may look for greener pastures remains to be seen. We have a lot of length for sure and potentially some really good shooters.

 

??

Shamiel Stevenson

Akol Arop

Thorir Thorbjarnarson

Kobe Webster

 

We still have one scholarship to fill to get to 13 (don't know how the extra year the NCAA will be giving will impact things). Will it be one of these guys? If so, I would bet on Arop.

[jimmykc]

Review: A fun -- and fast -- read | Book Reviews and News | journalstar.com                    Example of how any "system" will not succeed unless players buy into it and the coach can recruit the players who "fit" his style.

[Huskerpapa]

2 hours ago, jimmykc said:

Review: A fun -- and fast -- read | Book Reviews and News | journalstar.com                    Example of how any "system" will not succeed unless players buy into it and the coach can recruit the players who "fit" his style.

I will attempt to take this an additional step.  A good coach will have a good system and recruit players to fit that system.  Look around...the NCAA is filled with a number of good coaches.  

Great coaches will have systems and recruit to their system HOWEVER, they also have the wherewithal to adjust/tweak their systems to adjust to their players skillset.  Many coaches are hesitant or too stubborn to make those necessary adjustments.

By the way, that LJS reviewer is pretty special...I hope they keep him around and perhaps enhance his pay a bit ☺ 

Edited December 27, 2020 by Huskerpapa

[jayschool]

2 hours ago, jimmykc said:

Review: A fun -- and fast -- read | Book Reviews and News | journalstar.com                    Example of how any "system" will not succeed unless players buy into it and the coach can recruit the players who "fit" his style.

Well done.

[Handy Johnson]

The only certainties obviously are Delano, Teddy & the McGowens brothers. I’m surprised how little we’re getting out of Thor & Kobe, I can’t imagine a Senior wanting to come back for another year, but we’ll see. Hopefully Andre & Breidenbach will actually give us some consistent scoring on the block. Such a small sample size @ this point, but the talent is THERE, either the Conference grind will make them steely or wither...

[jayschool]

35 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

The only certainties obviously are Delano, Teddy & the McGowens brothers. I’m surprised how little we’re getting out of Thor & Kobe, I can’t imagine a Senior wanting to come back for another year, but we’ll see. Hopefully Andre & Breidenbach will actually give us some consistent scoring on the block. Such a small sample size @ this point, but the talent is THERE, either the Conference grind will make them steely or wither...

That's why I wrote this post. These next 18+ games will give us a better understanding of what we will see next year, when our expectations should rise. I'd love to win half of those games, but realistically, I'm just hoping to spot three or four guys — aside from T. McGowens, Teddy and Dalano — who can compete in the Big Ten. We know they can compete in the Summit.

[Chuck Taylor]

Teddy will be 23 in June and have finished 4 years in school. I don't think his return is a certainty. Delano's shown up on at least one draft board, so he's not a certainty either. The McGowens are.

[millerhusker]

29 minutes ago, Chuck Taylor said:

Teddy will be 23 in June and have finished 4 years in school. I don't think his return is a certainty. Delano's shown up on at least one draft board, so he's not a certainty either. The McGowens are.

Teddy also has two children. Wouldn’t blame him if he wanted to start making money playing basketball. 

[millerhusker]

If Kobe and Thor don’t come back, I wouldn’t be surprised too see us add another guard in the transfer market.

[millerhusker]

1 – Dalano Banton

2 – Trey McGowens

3 – Bryce McGowens

4 – Trevor Lakes

5 – Derrick Walker

 

G – Kobe Webster

F – Lat Mayen

G – Keisei Tominaga

C – Wilhelm Breidenbach/Yvan Ouedraogo/Eduardo Andre

 

G – Elijah Wood 

F – Akol Arop

 

My guess at our group next year. Washut told us there was mutual interest between Kobe and Hoiberg about Kobe returning. Although, if his role continues to be what it's been in the first two conference games, he might move on. In that case, hopefully Elijah is ready to contribute some next year (or we get a transfer). 

We do have 3 ball handlers in that starting lineup, and I'd imagine at least one of those three guys will be on the court at all times. 

 

I like Lakes in that first group, to help space the floor and I think you can somewhat hide his defense with Trey, Bryce and Walker out there. Bryce has great potential on defense, and Trey won't let him take any possessions off. 

 

We'll only play 8 or 9 guys significant minutes come conference play, so it'll be interesting to see how our frontcourt rotation shakes out. 

[HB]

11 minutes ago, millerhusker said:

1 – Dalano Banton

2 – Trey McGowens

3 – Bryce McGowens

4 – Trevor Lakes

5 – Derrick Walker

 

G – Kobe Webster

F – Lat Mayen

G – Keisei Tominaga

C – Wilhelm Breidenbach/Yvan Ouedraogo/Eduardo Andre

 

G – Elijah Wood 

F – Akol Arop

 

My guess at our group next year. Washut told us there was mutual interest between Kobe and Hoiberg about Kobe returning. Although, if his role continues to be what it's been in the first two conference games, he might move on. In that case, hopefully Elijah is ready to contribute some next year (or we get a transfer). 

We do have 3 ball handlers in that starting lineup, and I'd imagine at least one of those three guys will be on the court at all times. 

 

I like Lakes in that first group, to help space the floor and I think you can somewhat hide his defense with Trey, Bryce and Walker out there. Bryce has great potential on defense, and Trey won't let him take any possessions off. 

 

We'll only play 8 or 9 guys significant minutes come conference play, so it'll be interesting to see how our frontcourt rotation shakes out. 

 

If Lakes plays more than spot minutes to shoot some 3s against zones, I quit.   Starter in the Big?  I don't see it.  

[aphilso1]

Prior to this season, I felt like we were building toward something special in Year 3 of Hoiball.  I'm becoming a tad more pessimistic as the year progresses though.  It's really, really difficult to keep players bought in if they don't see progress.  So while in theory we could have a solid experienced roster next year, my worry is that we will lose a large chunk of our key rotation and not have much to build on.  

[HuskerFever]

2 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

Prior to this season, I felt like we were building toward something special in Year 3 of Hoiball.  I'm becoming a tad more pessimistic as the year progresses though.  It's really, really difficult to keep players bought in if they don't see progress.  So while in theory we could have a solid experienced roster next year, my worry is that we will lose a large chunk of our key rotation and not have much to build on.  

 

I'm probably in the same boat. In terms of wins/losses so far this season it's aligned pretty well with my expectations. I wasn't focused on that either. I was hoping to see tangible progress on the court in terms of scoring ability, staying in tight games (win or lose), and see some chemistry with the team. I haven't seen a drastic increase in either of those areas. Sure, we've held close with multiple ranked teams, but the game is 40 minutes, not 20. If we blew competitive games around 35 minutes that's another story.

 

We'll see how the rest of this season goes, but my expectations for 2021-2022 will drop if we're not seeing progress in some of the stat sheet. That would be a waste for such a talented recruiting class coming in; another "rebuilding" year.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, aphilso1 said:

Prior to this season, I felt like we were building toward something special in Year 3 of Hoiball.  I'm becoming a tad more pessimistic as the year progresses though.  It's really, really difficult to keep players bought in if they don't see progress.  So while in theory we could have a solid experienced roster next year, my worry is that we will lose a large chunk of our key rotation and not have much to build on.  

 

Wait till we see what Walker can do. He could come in and be the answer in the post. And I think Andre has a lot of upside. Once his conditioning recovers to his pre-Covid form, we'll have a lot better idea of what to expect from him.

 

And if Lat and Lakes can simply get on track with their 3-point shooting, we could see a lot of "progress" in a short window of time just from guys hitting the looks they're getting. Right now, they're just not hitting at a rate that would be consistent with historical expectations.

 

Unfortunately, this was a year where we *needed* a full slate of non-conference games including a few cupcakes for the guys to figure out how to play together. Some of that is going to happen against some high-quality league foes and we're going to have to just bite the bullet on some losses while the team gets things figured out.

[millerhusker]

On 12/28/2020 at 9:22 AM, HB said:

 

If Lakes plays more than spot minutes to shoot some 3s against zones, I quit.   Starter in the Big?  I don't see it.  

If Lat doesn't find his shot, I think we will. Unless we go smaller with another guard in the lineup. Either way, we absolutely need guys playing alongside Dalano and Trey who will stretch the defense. A big reason Dalano is having to pull up for these low percentage mid-range attempts is because off-ball defenders can keep a foot in the lane without the consequence of us making kickout threes. 

Edited December 29, 2020 by millerhusker

[75unlgrad]

On 12/28/2020 at 9:34 AM, aphilso1 said:

Prior to this season, I felt like we were building toward something special in Year 3 of Hoiball.  I'm becoming a tad more pessimistic as the year progresses though.  It's really, really difficult to keep players bought in if they don't see progress.  So while in theory we could have a solid experienced roster next year, my worry is that we will lose a large chunk of our key rotation and not have much to build on.  

I think years 1 and 2 were strictly survival mode (take who you can get) and year 3 is when we see the type of future players that Fred and Matt will bring in.  Bryce McGowens and Wilhelm Breidenbach are great foundational pieces (and I don't think recruiting for next year is over -- I expect one or two more new recruits).  We also add Keisel Tominaga (Japan's Steph Curry).  We have quality pieces like Delana Banton and Trey McGowens.  Maybe Lat Mayen IF he gets his confidence up and Teddy Allen IF he plays within the system.  We will find out about Derrick Walker and Eduardo Andre as this season plays out.

But again, I believe (hope) year 3 is the beginning of our future Husker basketball team.  Each year we add two or three players the same quality as Bryce and Wilhelm.

I think the 'core' of our future teams arrive next year.

[hskr4life]

4 minutes ago, 75unlgrad said:

I think years 1 and 2 were strictly survival mode (take who you can get) and year 3 is when we see the type of future players that Fred and Matt will bring in.  Bryce McGowens and Wilhelm Breidenbach are great foundational pieces (and I don't think recruiting for next year is over -- I expect one or two more new recruits).  We also add Keisel Tominaga (Japan's Steph Curry).  We have quality pieces like Delana Banton and Trey McGowens.  Maybe Lat Mayen IF he gets his confidence up and Teddy Allen IF he plays within the system.  We will find out about Derrick Walker and Eduardo Andre as this season plays out.

But again, I believe (hope) year 3 is the beginning of our future Husker basketball team.  Each year we add two or three players the same quality as Bryce and Wilhelm.

I think the 'core' of our future teams arrive next year.

 

While I love the addition of Bryce-- I would like to see us land a really solid prospect where we didn't have "an in."  Wilhelm is a nice piece, but we've picked up nice pieces before.  Bryce is the first "wow" recruit, but I don't know that we get him had his brother not been here.  So, jury is still out for me whether we can add 2-3 players of his caliber each year.

[OmahaHusker]

29 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

While I love the addition of Bryce-- I would like to see us land a really solid prospect where we didn't have "an in."  Wilhelm is a nice piece, but we've picked up nice pieces before.  Bryce is the first "wow" recruit, but I don't know that we get him had his brother not been here.  So, jury is still out for me whether we can add 2-3 players of his caliber each year.

We’re not going to land 2-3 players of Bryce’s caliber each year, but if we’re able to mix him with other players that we develop we’ll be able to compete. What you really need is a healthy mix of great players that you know will leave early (like Bryce) along with 3-4 year guys that understand the system and culture to really flourish in college IMO. 

[75unlgrad]

13 hours ago, OmahaHusker said:

We’re not going to land 2-3 players of Bryce’s caliber each year, but if we’re able to mix him with other players that we develop we’ll be able to compete. What you really need is a healthy mix of great players that you know will leave early (like Bryce) along with 3-4 year guys that understand the system and culture to really flourish in college IMO. 

Why not Dream Big??  It's a lot more fun.  We got Fred and Matt -- we got a chance.  What IF we brought in 2 or 3 players each year the caliber of Bryce and Wilhelm.  Long suffering Huskers take heart -- we could become a 'Kansas' type basketball team.  Drink double shots of the kool aid and Go Big Red!!!