Xavier Pinson -> Mizzou -> LSU

[colhusker]

Apparently Nebraska reached out to Xavier (I know a shock) shortly after he hit the portal.  He and Martin clashed down the stretch this year which led to him getting benched.  Kid can fill it up when he is on but tends to disappear for several games at a time.

Edited March 24, 2021 by colhusker

[hhcmatt]

He's a high scoring PG.

 

Start of season: Huskers implement Pinson Plan

End of season: Bailout necessary for failing Pinson Plan

[millerhusker]

Washut seems to be excited about this. Not sure how I feel about it. He can score, but he's a high volume guy and very inefficient. Poor shooting percentage, turns the ball over a lot (1:1 assist/TO) and clashed with Cuonzo Martin. Offensively, his play style and situation at Missouri is very similar to Trey and his situation at Pitt. I love Trey, but I'm not sure how these two would fit together on this team. Where these two differ is the fact that Trey loves to play defense. Pinson apparently doesn't. 

 

Not sure if Tyson Walker is a realistic possibility for us, but he'd be number 1 on my board. I think he'll be one of the better point guards in the country before his college career is done, and he'd be a great fit in our system. 

[colhusker]

I will cheer for whomever Fred gets, but I would prefer Walker.

[Nebrasketballer]

 

[Nebrasketballer]

 

[Nebrasketballer]

 

 

"Following its first win against a program ranked No. 11 or higher since 2013, Mizzou Men's Basketball defeated Ole Miss, 71-68, on Tuesday night at Mizzou Arena, picking up its third win in the last four games. Xavier Pinson and Dru Smith continued their electric play of late, combining for 48 points. Pinson led all scorers with a career-high 32 points, including going 4-for-4 from deep. The 32 points were the most by a Tiger since Jabari Brown poured in 33 points on Feb. 1, 2014 vs. Kentucky."

 

 

Edited March 24, 2021 by Nebrasketballer

[Fullbacksympathy]

84% free throw shooter and 33% from 3.  Elite athlete who would have a wide open court with our shooters coming in next season.  I'm sure Doc can get him to play D.  

 

Sign me up.  

[hugh42]

I would like to see better assist numbers from the point guard position. He appears to be score first, pass second. I would prefer the reverse.

[basketballjones]

Hmmm.....

Pros:

Arguably the best player on a rated, NCAA tournament team. 
Elite ball screen manipulator (desperately missing this)

Electric in transition (desperately missing this)

Big time athlete/body for the B1G, at his position

 

Cons:
Has clashed with a coach most consider an elite players-coach

Nearly 1:1 A:TO. Which is not something we need more of

Looks to be a bit of a jack. And we've seen how that looks 

I think I would rather have TyTy over the long term... But looking at the "Pros," I kinda feel silly even questioning taking a guy like this. 

[millerhusker]

16 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Hmmm.....

Pros:

Arguably the best player on a rated, NCAA tournament team. 
Elite ball screen manipulator (desperately missing this)

Electric in transition (desperately missing this)

Big time athlete/body for the B1G, at his position

 

Cons:
Has clashed with a coach most consider an elite players-coach

Nearly 1:1 A:TO. Which is not something we need more of

Looks to be a bit of a jack. And we've seen how that looks 

I think I would rather have TyTy over the long term... But looking at the "Pros," I kinda feel silly even questioning taking a guy like this. 

According to Washut, we’ll likely take a guard, a wing and a big. It sounds like Wilcher is N (which is huge IMO). And the Lithuanian big if we want him. There’s our wing and our big. If TyTy and Tyson Walker don’t wanna come here, then I agree we should take Pinson. I’m skeptical, but if he comes Nebraska, I’ll sure be cheering for him to prove my current opinion wrong.

[Navin R. Johnson]

22 minutes ago, millerhusker said:

According to Washut, we’ll likely take a guard, a wing and a big. It sounds like Wilcher is N (which is huge IMO). And the Lithuanian big if we want him. There’s our wing and our big. If TyTy and Tyson Walker don’t wanna come here, then I agree we should take Pinson. I’m skeptical, but if he comes Nebraska, I’ll sure be cheering for him to prove my current opinion wrong.

 

If we get a chance at Myreon Jones (Penn State), we take him in a heartbeat.

[TourneyBound]

Can cross off Walker unfortunately.  We didn't make his final list.

[hhcmatt]

Dug more into Pinson. 

Has the elite Cam Mack type speed we all want and miss.  In theory we might get more out of him than Mizzou given our style of play.

Really it boils down to how is he going to fit in offensively.  Can he make a Kobe Webster-esque adjustment on the amount that he shoots when on the court?  If yes, sign this dude up.  If no we're looking at going 3-3 on guys who are talented but contribute to us not playing winning basketball.  That's the tough part about evaluating anyone coming here: it's hard to figure out their mentality by looking at stats.

[basketballjones]

1 hour ago, millerhusker said:

According to Washut, we’ll likely take a guard, a wing and a big. It sounds like Wilcher is N (which is huge IMO). And the Lithuanian big if we want him. There’s our wing and our big. If TyTy and Tyson Walker don’t wanna come here, then I agree we should take Pinson. I’m skeptical, but if he comes Nebraska, I’ll sure be cheering for him to prove my current opinion wrong.

Do you want to know how dumb I am? I thought TyTy and Tyson Walker were the same people. Who the heck is Tyson Walker? I'm losing track of every single one of these guys. 

[millerhusker]

6 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Do you want to know how dumb I am? I thought TyTy and Tyson Walker were the same people. Who the heck is Tyson Walker? I'm losing track of every single one of these guys. 

Walker is the point guard transfer from Northeastern. Turns out, we’re not on his final list. I think he ends up at either Michigan State or Kansas. 

[jayschool]

44 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Do you want to know how dumb I am? I thought TyTy and Tyson Walker were the same people. Who the heck is Tyson Walker? I'm losing track of every single one of these guys. 

If you ask me to choose between TyTy and Tyson, it's a Ty.

[Navin R. Johnson]

3 minutes ago, jayschool said:

If you ask me to choose between TyTy and Tyson, it's a Ty.

 

That should clear things up.

[thrasher31]

I'm not exactly in love with him. He fills a need and he would be a take, but it's risky. 

 

With Tyson Walker ship sailing and Stef Smith likely also, we'll probably see the portal continue to fill with guards. This is just initial contact. I don't think they need to rush this one

[REDZONEDAN]

Officially offered per Washut

[B-town hoopsfan]

I don’t really get the whole picking and choosing thing that people think we can do, we are still Nebraska not like players are lining up to come here.  He would fill out biggest need unfortunately it appears he would add to our senior total. 

[TheKamdyMan]

18 minutes ago, B-town hoopsfan said:

I don’t really get the whole picking and choosing thing that people think we can do, we are still Nebraska not like players are lining up to come here.  He would fill out biggest need unfortunately it appears he would add to our senior total. 

 

 If they give all players an extra year he could have 2 years left.  If not, we'd be able to find another guy in the portal for next year or hopefully a good HS player.

[hhcmatt]

13 hours ago, B-town hoopsfan said:

I don’t really get the whole picking and choosing thing that people think we can do, we are still Nebraska not like players are lining up to come here.  He would fill out biggest need unfortunately it appears he would add to our senior total. 

 

The takeaway from our team last year was that we played almost as well if not better without Teddy Allen, a talented offensive player. We have a core of guys that seem to work together; It seems prudent to consider whether or not a talented player like Pinson is going to be a fit because we want to move forward, not sideways.

[hskr4life]

15 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

The takeaway from our team last year was that we played almost as well if not better without Teddy Allen, a talented offensive player. We have a core of guys that seem to work together; It seems prudent to consider whether or not a talented player like Pinson is going to be a fit because we want to move forward, not sideways.

 

This!  So much this!  I'll lead off with... I would take Pinson in a heartbeat if he wants to come and trust Fred and Co to do what they think is best.

 

However, I could see why some might be a little hesitant.  He fills a positional need, yes.  But sometimes that doesn't always equate to a "team" need.  While he fills our positional need of a PG, does he fill our team need of a pass first, ball distributing PG?  Is he going to be ok taking on more of that role?

 

Overall, like I said, I would take him in a heartbeat.  We can't be picky.  But I also can certainly see why some are questioning.

[hhcmatt]

To expand upon Teddy, here are some efficiency numbers vs top 100 teams last year (The "filter garbage" time toggle turned on)

 

  

 

Top set is when Teddy was on the court, middle set is Teddy off the court, bottom is baseline.

The definitive takeaway is that we shared the ball more when Teddy was off the court.  You could see that just by watching and the A% echoes that.

Number indicate that we played worse offensively but better defensively with Teddy off the court and it was a net positive. One caveat to this was during our pause Hoiberg sat down and decided it would be a good idea to work on defense.  With Teddy sitting more towards the end I don't know how much of our improvement defensively was 'No Teddy' vs 'scheme'

 

 

You can see individual players with or without Teddy on the court. The one guy that really stood out to me was Trey McGowens.

 

McGowens was significantly better with Teddy out of the game despite being relied on more offensively. One thought I had was that maybe it was him taking over for Banton at the end but his numbers with Banton on or off the court are about the same.  I think it's possible that McGowens pressed more offensively when Teddy was on the floor and likely was because he thought he wasn't getting the ball back. 

 

Circling around back on topic: Is Pinson a guy who can exist with  McGowens et al.?

Despite shooting a ton last year he was a PG who passed the ball in an offense not necessary geared to pass the ball off.  I'm really hopeful on him being a good fit.