There needs to be a new topic

[Norm Peterson]

And, hey, that's what I'm here for. Here goes:

 

So, what has to happen (within the realm of reason and reality, and given our current roster structure) for the men to go over .500 in conference play this year?

 

And I mean just controlling for what we can control. Obviously, if the starters for half the league teams were all ruled academically ineligible for the season it'd help, but that's not within our control.

 

I'll start:

 

1. Bryce McGowens has to be the real deal. I think that's necessary but, by itself, not sufficient. In other words, we need more than just to add Bryce. But we need him to be a guy who can end scoring droughts. That guy who, when you absolutely need a bucket, you can put the ball in his hands and feel pretty good about your odds. And "real deal" doesn't mean 18 points per game, but it probably does mean double figure scoring with efficiency. Bonus if he can also distribute.

 

2. I think it would be really helpful if the team could increase it's 3-point shooting by 3% from just over 33% to just over 36%. That would put us in the top half of the league based on last year's numbers. I think Lat's shooting will go up. I think Banton's will either be a lot better accuracy or a lot fewer attempts. I expect Trey will still be a low volume perimeter shooter but reasonably accurate. I think the key is going to be the trio of new guys that includes CJ, Keisei and Bryce. And possibly also Keon Edwards. If they're as accurate as one would hope based on what we've seen of them coming in, then it could well be more than a 3% improvement.

 

3. I think we also have to be better at FT shooting. We can't miss front-ends late in close games like last year and hope to significantly improve our W/L record. Closing out games and holding onto leads in close games happens at the FT line. We gotta be better.

 

4. We lost our best rebounder in Yvan. We have to have some guys step up and board for us. In conference play, the team that won the rebounding battle won the game 15 out of 19 times. The times the team with fewer rebounds won: Michigan State by 7 when we beat them 31-29 on the boards; our OT loss to Illinois when we outrebounded them 40-39; our win against Penn State where they outrebounded us 39-35; and Northwestern who beat us by 1 but lost the boards to us 30-29. And there was one time against Maryland we tied on the boards and lost. When the rebounding disparity was 5 or greater, the winning team had more rebounds every single time. So, I think Eduardo Andre's development is going to be key. It's crucial that he add some good weight and builds strength. We need both him and Walker to board. And we need another couple of guys to step up and rebound their position better, including Lat.

 

According to the official Big Ten stats, we were 2nd to last in the conference in rebounding defense, which I assume is some measure of how well we prevented the other team from getting offensive rebounds. You can talk about the merits of giving up offensive rebounding in order to prevent opponent fast break points. I get that. But there's no corollary when it comes to defensive rebounding. Throw a body on somebody and get the damn ball. We can't get outrebounded regularly and hope to come out on the winning end more often than not.

[Norm Peterson]

Is there a stat besides scoring margin that is a better predictor of win/loss record than rebounding margin?

[Navin R. Johnson]

You hit the nail on the head especially with rebounding and free throws and I would add team chemistry.

[Huskerpapa]

Everything mentioned is critical...no doubt in my mind.  Two other intangibles bubble up to the top for me:

1)  Learning how to win.  That includes general decision making; knowing how to use the team throttle; and understanding game situations.

2)  I think it was Johnnie Orr who mentioned a "junk yard dog" when mentioning the Huskers many a year ago.  We need to develop that junk yard dog mentality.  Protect and fight with every bit of energy...being good is not good enough.  Being good often gets in the way of being great.  It is a critical mindset.

[millerhusker]

5 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Is there a stat besides scoring margin that is a better predictor of win/loss record than rebounding margin?

Points scored per possession I believe is still #1 on that list, followed by points given up per possession. 
 

We have everything in place systematically for our points per possession to be high. Our shot selection chart for the season was best in the big ten. We just turned the ball over way too much and missed way too many open threes, shots in the lane and free throws. 

[REDZONEDAN]

5) Fans need to bring it like we did in Year 1 of the PBA.  Create that home court advantage where we don’t lose at home.

 

We would have gone undefeated in Year 1 if Michigan doesn’t hit that half court shot at the end of the first half.

[Norm Peterson]

27 minutes ago, millerhusker said:

Points scored per possession I believe is still #1 on that list, followed by points given up per possession. 
 

We have everything in place systematically for our points per possession to be high. Our shot selection chart for the season was best in the big ten. We just turned the ball over way too much and missed way too many open threes, shots in the lane and free throws. 

 

We didn't have the players to run Hoiberg's system. I think we will now. CJ can shoot lights out when he gets hot. So can Keisei. If you were worried about Bryce's shooting based on what some Creighton fan posted about him, keep in mind he came in 2nd in the 3-point shooting contest for the functional equivalent of the McDonald's AA game, which included the very best players in the nation. And don't forget about Keon Edwards because I think he could be a pretty good shooter, too.

 

Also, did you know that every player with more than a single 3-point attempt who shot less than 33% from 3 has left the team except for Dalano Banton? And that every single player who shot better than 33% has returned except for Teddy Allen? And now we add those other shooters?

[colhusker]

Think you nailed it Norm.  Son's talked about some site that should shoots in the game and if we just shoot better, we win several of those games last year because we simply missed open shoots that were good looks.  FT shooting HAS to improve and so does rebounding.

[49r]

11 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Everything mentioned is critical...no doubt in my mind.  Two other intangibles bubble up to the top for me:

1)  Learning how to win.  That includes general decision making; knowing how to use the team throttle; and understanding game situations.

2)  I think it was Johnnie Orr who mentioned a "junk yard dog" when mentioning the Huskers many a year ago.  We need to develop that junk yard dog mentality.  Protect and fight with every bit of energy...being good is not good enough.  Being good often gets in the way of being great.  It is a critical mindset.

 

It was Norm Stewart, and he wasn't being complimentary.  He referred to the fans at BDSC as a bunch of "Dead Dogs", meaning it wasn't a very intimidating place for them to play.

 

For a year or two, then, the student section was called Dead Dog Alley (that was probably coach Nee's idea).  We had t-shirts made up and everything.  I'm pretty sure I had one of those t-shirts.

[atskooc]

14 minutes ago, 49r said:

 

It was Norm Stewart, and he wasn't being complimentary.  He referred to the fans at BDSC as a bunch of "Dead Dogs", meaning it wasn't a very intimidating place for them to play.

 

For a year or two, then, the student section was called Dead Dog Alley (that was probably coach Nee's idea).  We had t-shirts made up and everything.  I'm pretty sure I had one of those t-shirts.

"Sit Down, Norm!"

[75unlgrad]

You are forgetting that we added Quaran McPherson late to our roster.  He is another possible 3-point shooter for us this year.

[HuscurAdam]

17 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Is there a stat besides scoring margin that is a better predictor of win/loss record than rebounding margin?

 

Everything mentioned is important, but in my mind the thing we need to improve on the most and impacts winning is assist-to-turnover ratio. We obviously need to cut down on turnovers, especially the lazy "lack of focus" TOs and the "dribbling into 3 guys" TOs.  But a big way to improve assist-to-TO is just make open shots when your teammate gets you a good look, or when Fred draws up something to get you a wide open shot, knock it down. Hopefully, with Bryce, CJ, Keisei, and Keon we have the players in place that can do that now. 

Edited May 13, 2021 by HuscurAdam

[Dead Dog Alley]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

 

It was Norm Stewart, and he wasn't being complimentary.  He referred to the fans at BDSC as a bunch of "Dead Dogs", meaning it wasn't a very intimidating place for them to play.

 

For a year or two, then, the student section was called Dead Dog Alley (that was probably coach Nee's idea).  We had t-shirts made up and everything.  I'm pretty sure I had one of those t-shirts.

 

Actually it was Johnny Orr who said it while dissing the Nebraska crowd.   The Dead Dog Alley marketing campaign might have been Nee's idea, but when Danny explained it, it really didn't make a lot of sense.  (Why should we embrace an insult someone else hurled at us?)  The t-shirt came with the student ticket and it was just for one year - 1990 - the year Beau Reid was injured and they stunk it up, going 10-18.  The next year when they went 26-8 the whole Dead Dog Alley thing was completely forgotten.

 

I thought at the time it was one of the dumbest marketing campaigns I'd ever heard of, and I still do.  The t-shirt wasn't bad though.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by Dead Dog Alley

[49r]

8 minutes ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

Actually it was Johnny Orr who said it while dissing the Nebraska crowd.   The Dead Dog Alley marketing campaign might have been Nee's idea, but when Danny explained it, it really didn't make a lot of sense.  (Why should we embrace an insult someone else hurled at us?)  The t-shirt came with the student ticket and it was just for one year - 1990 - the year Beau Reid was injured and they stunk it up, going 10-18.  The next year when they went 26-8 the whole Dead Dog Alley thing was completely forgotten.

 

I thought at the time it was one of the dumbest marketing campaigns I'd ever heard of, and I still do.  The t-shirt wasn't bad though.

 

 

 

 

I stand corrected!  Could have sworn it was Norm, but whatever.  It was a pretty dumb marketing campaign.

 

#DeadDogAlley'd

 

[Norm Peterson]

1 minute ago, 49r said:

 

 

I stand corrected!  Could have sworn it was Norm, but whatever.  It was a pretty dumb marketing campaign.

 

#DeadDogAlley'd

 

Norm Stewart accused Danny of being a bush league coach.

 

Or was that Billy Tubbs? I know there was zero loved lost among the three of them.

 

Either way, there wasn't the sense of collegiality among coaches back then that seems to permeate the industry today. Nowadays, when a school goes to fire a coach, all the other coaches in their conference jump forward to say what a great coach the guy is and what a huge loss to their school it would be if he gets fired.

 

Back then, they would have said, "that guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag and I'm shocked he lasted as long as he did."

[Shawn Eichorst's Toupee]

Win more games than they lose.

[Norm Peterson]

3 minutes ago, Shawn Eichorst's Toupee said:

Win more games than they lose.

 

And what do you think they have to do to do that?

[Silverbacked1]

1 hour ago, Shawn Eichorst's Toupee said:

Win more games than they lose.

 

I agree but might I also add more Runzas 

[HuskerFever]

19 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Is there a stat besides scoring margin that is a better predictor of win/loss record than rebounding margin?

 

12 minutes ago, Silverbacked1 said:

 

I agree but might I also add more Runzas 

 

Don't have the raw stats on this, but I'd hypothesize this is highly correlated with wins.

 

[Huskerpapa]

3 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Norm Stewart accused Danny of being a bush league coach.

 

Or was that Billy Tubbs? I know there was zero loved lost among the three of them.

 

Either way, there wasn't the sense of collegiality among coaches back then that seems to permeate the industry today. Nowadays, when a school goes to fire a coach, all the other coaches in their conference jump forward to say what a great coach the guy is and what a huge loss to their school it would be if he gets fired.

 

Back then, they would have said, "that guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag and I'm shocked he lasted as long as he did."

Norm was forever pissed that we helped get rid of Moe Iba.  Danny came in, with a major swagger that his Big 8/12 brethren hated.  

[jayschool]

Get After Their Asses.

[Cazzie22]

4 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Norm Stewart accused Danny of being a bush league coach.

 

Or was that Billy Tubbs? I know there was zero loved lost among the three of them.

 

Either way, there wasn't the sense of collegiality among coaches back then that seems to permeate the industry today. Nowadays, when a school goes to fire a coach, all the other coaches in their conference jump forward to say what a great coach the guy is and what a huge loss to their school it would be if he gets fired.

 

Back then, they would have said, "that guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag and I'm shocked he lasted as long as he did."

I am  probably in the minority here, but I loved “Stormin’ Norm Stewart and in my mind, Billy Tubbs elevated Big 8 Basketball.

[mwm89]

5 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

Norm Stewart accused Danny of being a bush league coach.

 

Or was that Billy Tubbs? I know there was zero loved lost among the three of them.

 

Either way, there wasn't the sense of collegiality among coaches back then that seems to permeate the industry today. Nowadays, when a school goes to fire a coach, all the other coaches in their conference jump forward to say what a great coach the guy is and what a huge loss to their school it would be if he gets fired.

 

Back then, they would have said, "that guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag and I'm shocked he lasted as long as he did."

It was "Stormin' Norman" that said it.  I was at the game in the bleacher section close behind the MU bench.  We booed and catcalled him when we heard it.  Those were the days.  Unless Tubbs said it at some point also, but I'm not aware that he did.

Edited May 13, 2021 by mwm89

[Dead Dog Alley]

If you think we're facing off with some good coaches now - well, take a look at the career wins and losses (in Division 1) of the guys coaching in the Big 8 in 1991.

 

Kansas	Roy Williams	903	264
Oklahoma St	Eddie Sutton	806	329
Kansas State	Dana Altman	690	353
Missouri	Norm Stewart	634	333
Oklahoma	Billy Tubbs	609	317
Iowa State	Johny Orr	466	346
Nebraska	Danny Nee	409	382
Colorado	Joe Harrington	251	220

[kldm64]

I agree with everything you outlined Norm and would add that our team depth has to be solid.  Last year, we had a drop-off in some positions when the starters weren't on the floor.  Great teams have back-ups almost as good as the 5 starters so you don't lose much when you sub in.  I really think this year, our team depth will be the key.  We ran out of gas in several games we lost last year due to this issue and if we can develop better depth this year, those can easily be turned into wins this year.