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Who's our point guard next year?


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With all the clamor about bringing a point guard in for next year, I wanted to posit the possibility that we may already have our starting point guard on board. Trey handled the majority of minutes at the point during the last 4-5 games. I don't think he is a natural point guard, but it seemed to me that he showed great improvement as a floor general and in his decision making over the last several games. I think he was our best player during that time. In fact, one of the biggest factors in our Big 10 tourney loss to Penn State was Trey getting his fourth foul early in the second half. While things weren't going well before that happened, they deteriorated even further after that call. 

 

If we were to land Pinson, is it possible we would let him operate off of the ball, and let Trey handle the point position? Some have commented that Pinson is really adept in pick and roll situations, but you don't necessarily have to initiate the pick and roll at the beginning of a possession. It could come after a few passes swinging the ball side to side, or after several dribble handoffs. Not sure how I'd feel about making Trey the main guy at point, but will his late season improvement make this an option going forward? That being said, if we could bring in a quality, true point guard, I don't think we pass that up. 

 

Edited by Coaches kid
typo
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17 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

I wasn't going to say anything on here.... But I might as well let the cat out of the bag. Matt A. actually contacted me the other night - It's me - I'm playing point next year! Pretty excited about it. 

 

Soooooo... Your Sam Hoiberg then?🤨

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3 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

To answer your question - I thought we looked nice with Webster running it a bit. But who knows. I don't think I even know what "point guard" means anymore. 

Yes - the game has changed drastically since I was in college. I think I'd characterize a point guard, generally, as somebody who: 1) can be the go to guy to handle the ball against pressure; 2) take command of the offense and get you into your sets; 3) has the poise and floor savvy/basketball IQ to be a leader on the floor, and 4) can distribute the ball within the context of the offense. But as you suggest, in today's game, a 6'8" guy with the right skill set could fill that role. 

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23 minutes ago, Coaches kid said:

Yes - the game has changed drastically since I was in college. I think I'd characterize a point guard, generally, as somebody who: 1) can be the go to guy to handle the ball against pressure; 2) take command of the offense and get you into your sets; 3) has the poise and floor savvy/basketball IQ to be a leader on the floor, and 4) can distribute the ball within the context of the offense. But as you suggest, in today's game, a 6'8" guy with the right skill set could fill that role. 

Right. The days of having your 5'11" guy who doesn't look to shoot/score, but gets everyone in the right spot and holds numbers up on his fingers, are over. 

I think the Derrick Roses, Russell Westbrooks, of the world  and analytics basically ended that idea. You want the guy who has the ball in his hands a lot getting to the paint and either scoring or directly creating the bucket. Also, everyone runs some sort of pattern, or at a minimum, a highly principled and spacing rules offense. Everyone needs to know where to be and where to move or how to react. So it's not like you need some guy walking it up and yelling, "Chicago," "Kansas," "5," or whatever, each time up the court. Most "in game" calls made are just determined reads/entries into your pattern/motion offense. Any actual "set plays," ran are discussed during dead balls. 

Edited by basketballjones
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6 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

re: what is a point guard

 

What attributes does a successful PG at Nebraska need? Looking beyond his antics, was Cam Mack checking all the boxes?

Cam had quickness, vision and passing. The best point guards also are mentally tough, efficient and you can trust them to close out games by making the right decisions and knocking down free throws. Monte Morris checked all the boxes for Hoiberg. I don’t think Cam did.

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I had the opportunity to come here to play baseball...so if I could have come here to play basketball, football or any other sport (today, tomorrow or yesteryear), I would do so in a nanosecond even if I would have to break through a brick wall to do so.

I do understand though, that today's (ahem) generation has a (ahem) slightly different mentality than my generation...but still.

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Presuming we are still looking to add a point guard for next season, but with our #1 target going to MSU and not hearing much more on Pinson, who else are we targeting? Two I think we would be looking at are Khristian Lander from Indiana and Kellan Grady from Davidson. Any other names to discuss?

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54 minutes ago, hugh42 said:

Presuming we are still looking to add a point guard for next season, 

 

That's a really interesting presumption.  Not saying you're wrong, but I'm also not sure if that's true. 

 

We've all heard this a thousand times by now, but HCFH's system is a lot more positionless on offense then most.  Ergo, having a true point guard is less important as long as we have enough capable ball handlers to share the load.  The flipside of that is that we've now seen two full seasons where Fred has one guy who initiates the offense, even if that guy handles the rock a bit less than the PG on other teams.  That guy was Cam in year one.  Then it was Dalano for the first 2/3 of the season and Trey in the final 1/3.  And sprinkle in a bit of Kobe depending on who else is on the floor at the time.

 

My presumption is that we were OK taking a true PG as long as he was a proven elite player at his position.  But I'd be a bit surprised to see us snag a PG just for the sake of taking a point guard.  We have four guys currently (McGowens x2, Webster, & Banton) who will see lots of minutes and are capable ball handlers.  I'm sure we'll take at least one more guard, but I don't think we are prioritizing a PG over a combo guard.  Just my two cents.

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16 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

 

That's a really interesting presumption.  Not saying you're wrong, but I'm also not sure if that's true. 

 

We've all heard this a thousand times by now, but HCFH's system is a lot more positionless on offense then most.  Ergo, having a true point guard is less important as long as we have enough capable ball handlers to share the load.  The flipside of that is that we've now seen two full seasons where Fred has one guy who initiates the offense, even if that guy handles the rock a bit less than the PG on other teams.  That guy was Cam in year one.  Then it was Dalano for the first 2/3 of the season and Trey in the final 1/3.  And sprinkle in a bit of Kobe depending on who else is on the floor at the time.

 

My presumption is that we were OK taking a true PG as long as he was a proven elite player at his position.  But I'd be a bit surprised to see us snag a PG just for the sake of taking a point guard.  We have four guys currently (McGowens x2, Webster, & Banton) who will see lots of minutes and are capable ball handlers.  I'm sure we'll take at least one more guard, but I don't think we are prioritizing a PG over a combo guard.  Just my two cents.

 

Yes, it could end up being a CG, but someone who is used to having the ball in his hands a lot as opposed to playing off the ball. I agree we are not just looking to fill a spot, but looking for someone that would contribute right away. Any thoughts on who might be a good fit for dear old NU?

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Just now, hugh42 said:

 

Yes, it could end up being a CG, but someone who is used to having the ball in his hands a lot as opposed to playing off the ball. I agree we are not just looking to fill a spot, but looking for someone that would contribute right away. Any thoughts on who might be a good fit for dear old NU?

 

Me?  Nope, no clue who that could be.  I get my intel from this message board.  I have no behind the scene sources.

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9 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

 

Me?  Nope, no clue who that could be.  I get my intel from this message board.  I have no behind the scene sources.

 

You and anyone else who wants to throw out some names. We have reached out to Myreon Jones too and he would be a good fit, but I don't know if he has any interest. Just trying to keep the conversation going while we wait for the next bit of news. 🙂

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30 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

What if...

 

What if Cam Mack goes to St Johns instead of NU and then transfers to PV AM. Is he a target for us this year as a point guard?

With his stats at PV AM I doubt it, 26% from 3 and 36% from the field in the Swac does not exactly inspire confidence

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