Departures/Returnees/Arrivals

[Norm Peterson]

Returnees:

 

Trey McGowens 39.1/36.7/65.7

Dalano Banton 41.1/24.7/65.9

Lat Mayen 39.6/34.8/77.8

Kobe Webster 38.2/38.0/65.4

Derrick Walker 60.0/0.0/45.5

Trevor Lakes 37.5/33.3/75.0

Eduardo Andre 64.7/0.0/45.0

 

Departures:

 

Teddy Allen 44.9/37.6/69.1

Shamiel Stevenson 43.7/18.8/72.3

Thor Thorbjarnarson 34.2/29.4/76.9

Yvan Ouedraogo 42.4/0.0/39.1

Elijah Wood 28.6/20.0/0.0

Akol Arop (DNP)

 

Arrivals:

 

6'6 Bryce McGowens (5-star, Rivals #18/ESPN #22)

6'7 Keon Edwards (4-star ESPN top 50)

6'9 Wilhelm Breidenbach (4-star 2021 ESPN #64)

6'5 CJ Wilcher (4-star 2020 ESPN #81)

6'1 Keisei Tominaga (Rivals 3-star)

7'0 Oleg Kojenets (Rivals 3-star)

 

Thrilled to edit this post to add the new player!!!

Edited April 17, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[Silverbacked1]

Not that it matters but do know that Thor is gone?

Edited April 15, 2021 by Silverbacked1

[Norm Peterson]

The LOIs are signed. There might be another arrival. I've heard rumblings but nothing firm. I get the sense we're done with reaching and anyone else that comes in will be someone we're going to like.

 

Six months ago, I asked people to explain to me why I should feel confident that year 2 would be any better than year 1. And, I mean, it was a little better, I guess. This year feels a bit different. I'm not here to say we're going to shock the world. But we have a core nucleus of players (is that redundant?) that return who, statistically, were probably our best players. We didn't lose the guys we didn't want to lose. The guys who left, while great kids, don't seem like a kick-in-the-gut situation like when Chad Johnson transferred. Anyone remember that?

 

You feel like the guys who stay should be better next year in the aggregate than they were the year before. I mean, players just develop. It's hard not to when you play and practice as much as they do. Some will show greater improvement than others, but as I sit here now, I'm going to take for granted that, across the board, the returning players will be better in certain respects next year than they were last year.

 

So, the key is whether the players we brought in are a net gain over the players who've left.

 

Anyone want to take a swing at that one?

[Norm Peterson]

Just now, Silverbacked1 said:

Not that it matters but do that Thor is gone?

 

I'm going with what the prevailing understanding is right now. And, yeah, it's my understanding he's going to go pro in Europe. Or Iceland. And best of luck to him. I think that's great.

[hhcmatt]

The slashes are shooting%/3p%/FT%?

Teddy Allen's 3pt% needs to be bolded

[Norm Peterson]

Here's an interesting topic for discussion:

 

If you took next year's freshmen and the incoming sophomore and played them against next year's upper classmen and returning sophomore, which team wins?

 

Rosters:

 

T Mac

K Web

Dalano

Lakes

Lat

Walker

 

vs.

 

B Mac

Keisei

Wilcher

Breidenbach

Eduardo

Oleg

 

Would your answer depend on whether they played at the beginning of the season or the end?

Edited April 15, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[Huskerbballfan]

Is Shamiel Gone?

 

[HuskerFever]

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

The slashes are shooting%/3p%/FT%?

Teddy Allen's 3pt% needs to be bolded

 

Look at the thread title... The " / / " are "Departures/Returnees/Arrivals" probabilities for each player.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, CamHuskerbballfan said:

Is Shamiel Gone?

 

 

Not officially. And I don't have any inside info. But the various correspondents who report about this stuff for the various on-line publications have speculated that the players who are staying vs. going are as set forth above. I think it's just kind of been accepted as the conventional wisdom. If it's not the case, I will gladly issue an apology and correction to the players whose intentions I've misidentified.

[Norm Peterson]

6 minutes ago, Bill Self's Toupee said:

 

"Man, that's just MEAN. That's MEAN, man." ~Justin Fairfax

 

Just your average joke.

[Huskerpapa]

3 hours ago, CamHuskerbballfan said:

Is Shamiel Gone?

 

Good question.  As far as I have heard, he is here.  Interesting to look at his twitter account:

This is an example above...draw your own conclusions.

[Bugeaters1]

 

[Norm Peterson]

For those interested in Thor's and Shamiel's status, here's a free article from Robin Washut stating both are considering pro careers vs. returning to NU and the coaches are supporting and assisting them with those decisions (which I interpret to mean telling them how much PT they're likely to have if they come back.)

 

Fastbreak: Hoiberg breaks down Nebraska's 2021 signees (rivals.com)

[aphilso1]

5 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

So, the key is whether the players we brought in are a net gain over the players who've left.

 

Anyone want to take a swing at that one?

 

-From a talent perspective, Teddy is the only one who is a loss.  Obviously we can debate his fit in Fred's system, whether he would have gelled with the new players, etc.  But Teddy was clearly a talented basketball player on the offensive end of the floor. 

-Yvan worked hard, had a fantastic attitude, and was a big body for DW and EA to go against in practice.  I would've liked to keep him around because that's the sort of teammate I want using an end-of-the-bench scholarship.  But if our second most significant loss is a guy who would've been at the end of the bench, then that's a good sign.

-I'd put Thor in the same category as Yvan, although lower on the priority list because he plays at a position where we are relatively deep.

-I was never on the Shamiel bandwagon. I felt like his skillset wasn't a good fit and he wasn't talented enough to overcome that bad fit.

-Elijah and Akol, we barely knew ya.  But good luck and thanks for being a Husker.

 

So we lost an offense beast who didn't fit in great, a couple dudes who were great teammates, a guy who some fans had high hopes for but didn't pan out, and some young guys that never saw meaningful minutes on historically bad teams.  Overall, that's not bad.  Now compare that to what we are bringing in:

 

-Highest rated Husker recruit in the era of recruiting rankings

-A Top 100 player who fits the mold that Fred wants in a stretch 4

-A Top 100 player that we desperately wanted last year and is transferring in with four years of eligibility.  Oh yeah, and he can shoot

-Another 3pt specialist

-A tall guy

 

I'd say the incoming players are a clear improvement over the outgoing players.  But more importantly, the "returnees" list actually includes a group of guys that played well together down the home stretch for us this year.  

[Norm Peterson]

5 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

I'd say the incoming players are a clear improvement over the outgoing players.  But more importantly, the "returnees" list actually includes a group of guys that played well together down the home stretch for us this year.  

 

That "returnees" group consists of basically our starting lineup to end the year plus a couple of extras.

 

And you had to think a bit about the question of whether, if you took Andre, who will be a freshman again, and put him with the newcomers, they could hang with or potentially even beat the vets.

 

I'd actually like to see that matchup. Probably by the end of December, it would be a pretty evenly-matched scrimmage. Once they get used to the offense and to college, the newcomer group is comparatively loaded with shooters.

[Cazzie22]

We should be improved but I don’t look for a Great Leap Forward in the standings.  We need a distributor at point guard.

[cornfed24-7]

Maybe a slight tangent here, but I think the returning players are gonna come back with a chip on their shoulders and the confidence they belong in the Big and could do well.

 

They took it to way more teams after the covid break than I thought possible. Especially in the 1st halves. And most of the time the reason they pissed it away had nothing to do with talent. Dumb turnovers, bad shots, not listening to the coach, fatigue,  and Teddy going Teddy(and I enjoyed watching him). 

 

To my eyes you could see that they were fixing those issues game to game. And by the end of the season I really liked the progress they made. 

 

And I don't know about you, but I haven't seen a 5 star recruit come around these parts before. And sprinkle in a couple of 4 stars. I'm mildly excited.

 

Where do I think that takes us? Probably the bubble...outside looking in.  And that doesn't disappoint after these last 2 years. I also subscribe to the "year 0" theory so theres that.

 

Ask me when the season gets here and I'm less grounded...We're dancing and making our 1st Sweet 16 run

 

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by cornfed24-7

[HuskerFever]

16 minutes ago, cornfed24-7 said:

Ask me when the season gets here and I'm less grounded...We're dancing and making our 1st Sweet 16 run

 

Didn't you hear? The Big Ten is down next year.

[hugh42]

17 hours ago, Bugeaters1 said:

 

 

Sam's incorrect according to huskers.com in that Walker is our oldest player, not Shamiel FWIW.

[Norm Peterson]

10 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

We should be improved but I don’t look for a Great Leap Forward in the standings.  We need a distributor at point guard.

 

For some reason, they don't seem to be interested in going out and finding a true PG. They seem to be comfortable filling that role with the players we already have.

 

One thing I think is clear: there will be no more reaches this year. Kojenets might be a project in some respects, but he seems to have some shooting skill and so they must feel they can work with it. But, like last year when we took Woods, we were clearly reaching. There won't be any reaching this year. Now that we have Wilcher, I think the coaches are satisfied that they have the boxes checked and they don't need to go find warm bodies just to fill a roster.

 

No more reaches. That's a good thing.

[hugh42]

3 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

For some reason, they don't seem to be interested in going out and finding a true PG. They seem to be comfortable filling that role with the players we already have.

 

One thing I think is clear: there will be no more reaches this year. Kojenets might be a project in some respects, but he seems to have some shooting skill and so they must feel they can work with it. But, like last year when we took Woods, we were clearly reaching. There won't be any reaching this year. Now that we have Wilcher, I think the coaches are satisfied that they have the boxes checked and they don't need to go find warm bodies just to fill a roster.

 

No more reaches. That's a good thing.

 

We appeared to go after PG's in the portal and also reached out to TyTy so apparently we were interested. It could be that the guys we wanted just weren't that interested in us for whatever reason so Fred decided to stand pat for the upcoming season. The following year it should be a priority however.

 

I'm going to disagree a little bit on reaches. Regarding Woods, he was obviously plan B after Witt bailed, but why not take a flyer on someone who might be borderline talent wise for this level when essentially you were recruiting him as a backup in the first place? In the past, we were taking developmental players that were forced into playing right away because we didn't have adequate depth and the player suffered because of this. Going forward, if we have a 10-11 guys each year that are legit for this level, then taking a developmental player or two to fill out your roster isn't going to hurt you.

[Norm Peterson]

Keon Edwards was a 2021 recruit. But he decided to enroll early at DePaul and reclassify to the 2020 class. I'm not sure that he had a Rivals rank after he reclassified. If you look at his rating on ESPN, though, it would put him in the top 50.

 

So, for 2021, we have 4 players that are or would have been among the top 100 players in the ESPN rankings for the class of 2021.

 

We have the horses to compete at the level of teams in the upper half of this conference. Granted, they'll still be young, so, if not this year, then certainly next.

 

It's all on the coaches now. Ain't no excuse to finish in the bottom 1/3 of the league with this crew. Probably no excuse to finish in the bottom half.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[Norm Peterson]

With the addition of Edwards, it's now even more intriguing to wonder how the scrimmages would turn out if we divided up the squad. But, instead of giving the freshman group one of the sophomore players, why don't we just play freshman against the world?

 

Rosters:

 

T Mac 6'4

K Web 6'0

Keisei 6'1

Dalano 6'9

Lakes 6'7

Lat 6'9

Walker 6'8

 

vs.

 

B Mac 6'6

Wilcher 6'5

Keon 6'7

Breidenbach 6'9

Eduardo 6'10

Oleg 7'0

 

I think those are two squads that both have some offensive firepower and could put up a lot of points. Not saying the freshmen would win, but they'd make it a game. Adding Keisei to basically the end-of-year starters from last year I think makes them better than they were, and gives them a shooter we desperately needed last year. The freshmen, though, are absolutely flush with talent. Loaded. Guys at every position who can score the basketball.

 

I would love to see this matchup in a scrimmage.

Edited April 17, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[Nebrasketballer]

With the incredible group of freshman additions to the roster next season, it’s additionally exciting to think about the fact that Andre can still be considered a freshman in 2021-2022 too...meaning that effectively Nebraska’s freshman class next season will be McGowens, Wilcher, Edwards, Breidenbach, Kojenets, and Andre.

 

In that regard, for the long term development of the program, I think it would be very beneficial to redshirt Kojenets next season, both for him to develop as well, as for long term roster management. This would create better scholarship spacing at the Center position. In 2022-2023, the center position would look like: Keita (Jr), Andre (So), Kojenets (rs-Fr).

[millerhusker]

14 minutes ago, Nebrasketballer said:

With the incredible group of freshman additions to the roster next season, it’s additionally exciting to think about the fact that Andre can still be considered a freshman in 2021-2022 too...meaning that effectively Nebraska’s freshman class next season will be McGowens, Wilcher, Edwards, Breidenbach, Kojenets, and Andre.

 

In that regard, for the long term development of the program, I think it would be very beneficial to redshirt Kojenets next season, both for him to develop as well, as for long term roster management. This would create better scholarship spacing at the Center position. In 2022-2023, the center position would look like: Keita (Jr), Andre (So), Kojenets (rs-Fr).

Keita will be a sophomore eligibility-wise when he gets here. This year doesn’t count towards juco players eligibility, so he’ll be a freshman again next season at Coffeyville. Tominaga will be a sophomore this upcoming season, even though he’s played two years of juco ball.