2021-2022 expectations

[kleitus]

11 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

I like what is being put together but I am concerned about rebounding at both ends of the court.  

 

I've got the same concerns.  The idea behind hoibergs system is to not sacrifice ball handling -- ever.  He walks the line of getting "just enough" rebounding due to length and allows doc to do his thing on defense. 

 

If we outrebound our opponents we should win by 30 every night.

 

If he gets his shooters to stop missing, we will have a lot of fun games to watch over the next 2 years.

[HuscurAdam]

18 hours ago, Nebrasketballer said:

The more I learn about Keon Edwards, the more I think he will crack the starting lineup next season. Before Edwards committed, I assumed Wilcher would start at the 3 spot, but now with Edwards on the roster, I think he will start at the 3.

 

When it comes to Bryce, I don’t think there’s any way that the first 5 star in Nebraska history won’t start. (I think most Nebraska fans feel the same way.)

 

Before reclassifying to 2020, Edwards was ranked the #22 overall prospect in the 2021 class, while Bryce is ranked the #19 overall prospect in the 2021 class. There’s virtually no difference between #19 and #22. I think a lot of us don’t fully appreciate the level of player that Hoiberg has landed by signing Edwards. I’m getting really excited about him.

 

I'm thinking we could see a starting lineup of:

 

1- Trey McGowens (6’4”)(Jr)

2- Bryce McGowens (6’6”)(Fr)

3- Keon Edwards (6’7”)(Fr)

4- Lat Mayen (6’9”)(Jr)

5- Derrick Walker (6’8”)(Jr)

 

 

I still think Wilcher will start to take advantage of his shooting to open up the floor for others.  I think Edwards fills the "super-sub" role, backing up the 2-3-4 spots and perhaps playing starter-like minutes.  

[75unlgrad]

13 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

I like what is being put together but I am concerned about rebounding at both ends of the court.  

That problem should be solved when Blaise Keita arrives next year.  In fact, with Keita, Andre, and a red-shirted Kojenets next year, our rebounding may go from a negative to a positive.  Is that when the 30 point victories start coming???

[jayschool]

1 hour ago, 75unlgrad said:

That problem should be solved when Blaise Keita arrives next year.  In fact, with Keita, Andre, and a red-shirted Kojenets next year, our rebounding may go from a negative to a positive.  Is that when the 30 point victories start coming???

They started with Doane. We're just waiting for the second.

[huskerbill85]

I said 18 wins a month ago. I'll stand by that.

[hhcmatt]

It might still happen but boy I expected us to address our PG situation with the addition of a PG.

[kldm64]

18 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

It might still happen but boy I expected us to address our PG situation with the addition of a PG.

 

What PG situation as don't see we have a major issue there?

[hhcmatt]

Just now, kldm64 said:

 

What PG situation as don't see we have a major issue there?

 

Who is our starting PG next year?

[kldm64]

1 minute ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Who is our starting PG next year?

 

Trey

[hhcmatt]

47 minutes ago, kldm64 said:

Trey

 

While I do like what seems to be an ability to push the ball and to not need to over-dribble, I feel like he's a combo guard because he's a SG who can handle the ball, not a PG who can shoot. Regardless of what positive attributes or observations we can assign to Trey Mac, Banton, and/or Webster, that group represents the ball handling core of the worst TO% offense Hoiberg has ever coached.

[MichHusker]

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

It might still happen but boy I expected us to address our PG situation with the addition of a PG.

Well...here you go

 

[hhcmatt]

Just now, MichHusker said:

Well...here you go

 

 

This reminds me of the boy reading the playboy in animal house who ends up saying "thank you god" after some random woman gets thrown through his window

[49r]

5 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

This reminds me of the boy reading the playboy in animal house who ends up saying "thank you god" after some random woman gets thrown through his window

 

 

His voice is so wholesome when he says it too...it's like a Disney movie or something:

 

 

[kldm64]

22 minutes ago, MichHusker said:

Well...here you go

 

 

He might be a nice back up role for this year and maybe start in a few years but won't change the rotation much for this season.

[Norm Peterson]

I think this season, I don’t know what our record will be or needs to be, but we need to finally start punching above our weight class. We need to hold serve against all lower division teams and knock off more upper division squads than games we lose to teams in the bottom half. We don’t need to finish top four or top five but we need to finish top half, anyway. That’s my thought on the subject.

[Silverbacked1]

No Wednesday game!

 

Bubble would be nice, but would take a deep run in the NIT... 

[kleitus]

I don't think people necessarily realize just how good this squad can be in two years because we are outright not used to getting players like  wilcher or keon edwards added as transfers... and having them seem so ho hum boring. 

 

We effectively got two top 25ish players and a BUNCH of either complimentary or highly talented ones on top of that.

 

If this team is going to gel into something special in 2022, you will know this year.  Or not.  We may not have gotten a high end calipari Kentucky class but this is a solid level below that.  And that's not being insulting, that's saying it's damn, damn solid.

 

So expectations?  At this point I think you need to see an ncaa bid or at least a late season run that comes close.  And the talent is there.

[aphilso1]

13 minutes ago, kleitus said:

I don't think people necessarily realize just how good this squad can be in two years because we are outright not used to getting players like  wilcher or keon edwards added as transfers... and having them seem so ho hum boring. 

 

We effectively got two top 25ish players and a BUNCH of either complimentary or highly talented ones on top of that.

 

If this team is going to gel into something special in 2022, you will know this year.  Or not.  We may not have gotten a high end calipari Kentucky class but this is a solid level below that.  And that's not being insulting, that's saying it's damn, damn solid.

 

So expectations?  At this point I think you need to see an ncaa bid or at least a late season run that comes close.  And the talent is there.

 

I hear ya.  But we've seen the talent upgrade significantly from the Collier/Sadler eras to the Miles/Hoiberg eras, and yet seen similar results.  Perhaps some of us (OK, maybe just me) underestimated just how much deeper and more talented the B1G is compared to what we played in in the Big 12.  We could win a lot of games in the Big 12 by putting a plucky, hard-nosed, unselfish team on the court.  Sure, KU boat raced us twice per year, but we still managed to be middle of the pack and in the post-season discussion about half the time.  Then we added talent like Petteway, Watson, Morrow, Roby, Copeland, JPJ, etc...and went dancing exactly one time.

 

Sorry if I seem overly pessimistic when I say I'm not ready to really, truly, get my hopes up too high yet.  I've done it before.

[Norm Peterson]

Returning players (Hoiberg minutes)

 

Trey McGowens (766)

Dalano Banton (736)

Lat Mayen (691)

Kobe Webster (625)

Derrick Walker (331)

Eduardo Andre (176)

Trevor Lakes (135)

 

1. Due to Covid and a suspension, our returning bigs didn't get in a lot of minute-reps last season and are probably lagging behind their peers in experience. For comparison, Cliff Omoruyi from Rutgers (HS teammate of CJ Wilcher, FWIW), logged 343 minutes as a backup to Myles Johnson last year. That's as much as our returning starter got.

 

2. If our recruits are as good as we hope and need for them to be, at least 2 of the above will have their minutes cut and maybe by a lot. Which means we'll be swapping experience for talent in the rotation. Which means some of that gain in experience is illusory.

 

3. I don't know what the stats say, but my eyes tell me Trey is not a PG. He's really strong attacking the rim. Has very active hands on defense. Competent shooter at low volume from deep. But not a PG. Doesn't make those put-your-guy-in-position-to-score dishes. Maybe he just didn't have a chance to showcase that skill or maybe he'll rediscover it in the off-season. If he doesn't play point, where do you use him? With everything else he has, he'd be a great PG if he just had a feel for the passing game.

 

4. Two players I think are most likely to take big steps forward are Lat and Eduardo. Don't ask me why. Well, OK, here's why: Eduardo has the highest ceiling and steepest learning curve and most likely to significantly develop physically during the off-season; Lat seemed like he was doing a much better job of settling into a role as the season progressed and was learning how to get his feet set quickly to prepare to shoot later in the year, and I think we'll see a progression in that shooting come this fall.

 

5. The freshman class ought to be an outlier in terms of productivity, in part because 3 of them played parts of a season of college ball already and in part because a couple of them are just high-end recruits. That's five guys who are either more experienced or just plain more talented than your typical Nebraska freshman. They might not all find their way on the floor, but the odds are pretty good that 3 of the 5 will have an impact.

[Huskerpapa]

Chemistry...if this team can play as a unit, it has high potential. If not....

[Nebrasketballer]

4 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

 

I hear ya.  But we've seen the talent upgrade significantly from the Collier/Sadler eras to the Miles/Hoiberg eras, and yet seen similar results.  Perhaps some of us (OK, maybe just me) underestimated just how much deeper and more talented the B1G is compared to what we played in in the Big 12.  We could win a lot of games in the Big 12 by putting a plucky, hard-nosed, unselfish team on the court.  Sure, KU boat raced us twice per year, but we still managed to be middle of the pack and in the post-season discussion about half the time.  Then we added talent like Petteway, Watson, Morrow, Roby, Copeland, JPJ, etc...and went dancing exactly one time.

 

Sorry if I seem overly pessimistic when I say I'm not ready to really, truly, get my hopes up too high yet.  I've done it before.

A key difference now is that Hoiberg is on another level than all of those other coaches with the ability of his offensive scheme to generate high quality shots. It's not even close in my opinion. Hoiberg isn't just assembling a talented roster, but he will be able to get those guys high percentage open shots. Also, to me, the top end talent on this team is higher than any of Miles/Collier/Sadler teams, as well as the depth of high quality talent on this team, compared to Miles/Collier/Sadler.

[HuskerFever]

1 hour ago, Huskerpapa said:

Chemistry...if this team can play as a unit, it has high potential. If not....

 

[HuskerFever]

I can't wait to see how we play against N/A at Penn State this upcoming season...

 

 

[Go Big Fred]

1 hour ago, HuskerFever said:

I can't wait to see how we play against N/A at Penn State this upcoming season...

 

 

Still Insane seeing us third on this list, also Tamar Bates has had an insane recruiting bump in these last few weeks

[aphilso1]

9 hours ago, HuskerFever said:

I can't wait to see how we play against N/A at Penn State this upcoming season...

 

 

 

Ignoring PSU for the moment, that is an impressive list. 

-13/14 schools landed a Top 200 recruit. 

-9/14 landed a 4* Top 100

-6/14 landed a Top 40

 

It's a sobering reminder that, while our talent has indeed upgraded, this league continues to be the most talented top-to-bottom in the country.