What will our rotation look like next year?

[Huskerpapa]

I heard a rumor that the players believe playing time and personal glory is secondary to team success.  Again, who plays, when and for how long, will be EARNED.  The process is now ongoing.

[huskerbill85]

On 7/8/2021 at 1:20 PM, Norm Peterson said:

Edwards could be as good as you hope, @Nebrasketballer. It'll be interesting to see. If he's good enough to crack the starting rotation, it means he beat out some good players to get there, and that would definitely be a good thing for us.

Yeah I'm not sure what to think of Edwards. I mean I havent seen him play but if he really was the 30th best player or whatever according to Rivals you think a guy like that should be able to crack the starting line up for a team that's won single digit games the last 2 years. Obviously the talent is much better now but still it's not like the roster is crawling with guys who were rated as high as Edwards.

[Norm Peterson]

On 7/11/2021 at 3:22 AM, huskerbill85 said:

Yeah I'm not sure what to think of Edwards. I mean I havent seen him play but if he really was the 30th best player or whatever according to Rivals you think a guy like that should be able to crack the starting line up for a team that's won single digit games the last 2 years. Obviously the talent is much better now but still it's not like the roster is crawling with guys who were rated as high as Edwards.

 

Going by the ESPN rating system, Edwards would have been around top 40 in the class of 2021.

 

Rivals had him around top 100.

 

From what I've seen of him, I'd say he and Bryce have similar skillsets. Bryce is probably an overall better shooter. That's what makes him an elite, 5-star-level player. But Keon isn't far behind. He has ample athleticism, can create his own shot, and appears to be able to score at all 3 levels.

 

It's possible the only thing that will keep him out of the starting lineup is Bryce.

[dustystehl]

With Banton's departure, I think the only player on the roster we've seen play live is Jace Piatkowski. Walker was hurt during the scrimmage/Rick Ross "concert", but Banton and Stevenson scrimmaged that night. So very tough to even begin guessing what the rotation will look like. The talent/depth has been upgraded. I like that they staff has seemingly gone away from signing JUCO players (Tominaga was committed before last season, so no new JUCO recruits this cycle). I think things are trending in the right direction. I'm looking forward to getting back into PBA this winter. I think it could be a fun season.

[TheKamdyMan]

43 minutes ago, dustystehl said:

With Banton's departure, I think the only player on the roster we've seen play live is Jace Piatkowski. Walker was hurt during the scrimmage/Rick Ross "concert", but Banton and Stevenson scrimmaged that night. So very tough to even begin guessing what the rotation will look like. The talent/depth has been upgraded. I like that they staff has seemingly gone away from signing JUCO players (Tominaga was committed before last season, so no new JUCO recruits this cycle). I think things are trending in the right direction. I'm looking forward to getting back into PBA this winter. I think it could be a fun season.

 

 Im baffled by this post.  Did we travel back in time?

[49r]

14 minutes ago, TheKamdyMan said:

 

 Im baffled by this post.  Did we travel back in time?

 

I believe what he meant is we haven't seen anyone on the current roster play (except Jace) as fans in the stands.

[Dean Smith]

1 hour ago, dustystehl said:

With Banton's departure, I think the only player on the roster we've seen play live is Jace Piatkowski. Walker was hurt during the scrimmage/Rick Ross "concert", but Banton and Stevenson scrimmaged that night. So very tough to even begin guessing what the rotation will look like. The talent/depth has been upgraded. I like that they staff has seemingly gone away from signing JUCO players (Tominaga was committed before last season, so no new JUCO recruits this cycle). I think things are trending in the right direction. I'm looking forward to getting back into PBA this winter. I think it could be a fun season.

They have not - Blaise Keita. You take players where you can get players.

[dustystehl]

6 hours ago, Dean Smith said:

They have not - Blaise Keita. You take players where you can get players.

Forgot about him! 

[hugh42]

Appreciate you @terencecrawford. pic.twitter.com/r9SLpLV0xr

— Nebraska Basketball (@HuskerHoops) July 15, 2021

Looking at the group photo in this tweet, Edwards is all of 6'7", maybe taller. And HCFH grew a little too!

[aphilso1]

Haha, funny to see Fred as the only one attempting the tip toe trick.

 

Did Eduardo grow this off-season?  He is listed at 6'10" and is standing next to two guys listed at 6'9".  Eduardo sure looks more than an inch taller than Lat and Wilhelm.  And no, not just because of the hair.  

 

 

[Navin R. Johnson]

Thinking about this, there is not one player left from that Italy trip we were all excited about a couple years ago. 

[Red Don]

But What a GREAT Trip!      

[HuskerFever]

1 hour ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

Thinking about this, there is not one player left from that Italy trip we were all excited about a couple years ago. 

 

[millerhusker]

The roster appears to be set now. Unlike the previous two seasons, the info on our Lindy's magazine page may actually give outsiders a glimpse of what our team will look like. I don't think we'll be ranked dead last in every Big Ten preseason poll this year. Below is the ppg, rpg and apg of each player in the 2020-21 season. We'll have 6 or 7 guards/wings competing for playing time in the backcourt and 4 or 5 guys in the frouncourt. There's only 200 total minutes to go around per game and we know Hoiberg likes to whittle down the regular rotation to 7-9 guys eventually. I have no idea how it will shake out, but in my opinion this will be the starting five to begin the season. 

 

G – Alonzo Verge  6-3    Sr.                     14.0       3.9       3.8  (Arizona St)

G – Trey McGowens  6-4    Jr.                 10.7       3.9       2.3

G – Bryce McGowens  6-6    Fr.              Five star freshman

F – Lat Mayen  6-9    Jr.                           8.6         4.5       0.6

F – Derrick Walker  6-8    Jr.                    5.9          4.8       1.6

 

G – Kobe Webster  6-0    Sr.                     8.1        1.7      1.3

G – CJ Wilcher  6-5    Fr.                           3.3       1.1       0.3  (Xavier)   Four star in 2020 class

G/F – Keon Edwards  6-7    Fr.                 Four star in 2020 class

F – Wilhelm Breidenbach  6-10    Fr.        Four star freshman

C – Eduardo Andre  6-10    Fr.                  2.7        2.2      0.5

 

G – Keisei Tominaga  6-2    Soph.           JUCO All-American

G – Quaran McPherson  6-4    Fr.           Three star freshman

F – Trevor Lakes  6-7    Sr.                         3.2         1.1     0.4

C – Oleg Kojenets  7-0    Fr.                     Three star freshman

[basketballjones]

Was looking up this thread (or to find another like it)... And after seeing some Alonzo Verge practice highlights - I can't imagine he's not starting at point? I mean nothing negative by this, but I was not excited about Trey playing point - just do not think it is his natural position. In other words, I think your breakdown, @millerhusker, is pretty spot on as far as a depth chart goes. The only thing I could potentially see being different is if Keisei can't be displaced because he's knocking down shots, and someone like Wilcher loses time. But who knows? 

[hhcmatt]

Boy if Wilcher and/or Edwards are rotation players this is going to be a formidable team

[HuscurAdam]

I don't mean to sound crass, but why is Trevor Lakes still on the team?  Nothing against the kid, and I understand his scholarship doesn't count against the limit, but I just can't imagine any scenario where he sees the floor except in the biggest of blowouts (unless there is a litany of injuries).  It would be different if he still had a few years left to develop, but this is his last dance.  Wouldn't he have a better experience at a low/mid major where he can play a lot and contribute?  Maybe make a run at the tourney in a role other than bench mob?  Again, I have nothing against him, I just wouldn't want to be in that situation knowing I'm not going to play after being a key contributor earlier in my career.      

[atskooc]

15 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

I don't mean to sound crass, but why is Trevor Lakes still on the team?  Nothing against the kid, and I understand his scholarship doesn't count against the limit, but I just can't imagine any scenario where he sees the floor except in the biggest of blowouts (unless there is a litany of injuries).  It would be different if he still had a few years left to develop, but this is his last dance.  Wouldn't he have a better experience at a low/mid major where he can play a lot and contribute?  Maybe make a run at the tourney in a role other than bench mob?  Again, I have nothing against him, I just wouldn't want to be in that situation knowing I'm not going to play after being a key contributor earlier in my career.      

Every team has players who won't see the floor unless it's the biggest of blowouts.

 

Trevor's situation is not unusual on that front.

 

Maybe he likes it in Lincoln and feels it's a good situation for him.

 

Playing time isn't everything.

Edited August 31, 2021 by atskooc

[Swan88]

13 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

I don't mean to sound crass, but why is Trevor Lakes still on the team?  Nothing against the kid, and I understand his scholarship doesn't count against the limit, but I just can't imagine any scenario where he sees the floor except in the biggest of blowouts (unless there is a litany of injuries).  It would be different if he still had a few years left to develop, but this is his last dance.  Wouldn't he have a better experience at a low/mid major where he can play a lot and contribute?  Maybe make a run at the tourney in a role other than bench mob?  Again, I have nothing against him, I just wouldn't want to be in that situation knowing I'm not going to play after being a key contributor earlier in my career.      

Trevor has already been there, done that low/mid major "play a lot" thing.

[millerhusker]

25 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

I don't mean to sound crass, but why is Trevor Lakes still on the team?  Nothing against the kid, and I understand his scholarship doesn't count against the limit, but I just can't imagine any scenario where he sees the floor except in the biggest of blowouts (unless there is a litany of injuries).  It would be different if he still had a few years left to develop, but this is his last dance.  Wouldn't he have a better experience at a low/mid major where he can play a lot and contribute?  Maybe make a run at the tourney in a role other than bench mob?  Again, I have nothing against him, I just wouldn't want to be in that situation knowing I'm not going to play after being a key contributor earlier in my career.      

There will only be 7-9 players in the regular rotation out of our 14 scholarship players. Having 5-7 guys sitting on the bench who all think they should be playing can cause a lot of problems. Trevor likely knew his minutes wouldn’t increase coming back this year. The value in having guys like that on the bench is under-appreciated. Illinois had a great season last year - 1 seed in the tourney and they only had 8 guys on their roster with a pulse. If you watched their bench players in mop-up minutes, it was hilarious. To an extent, depth (past the 9th or 10th guy) in college basketball is overrated. Good team guys are more important than pure talent at the end of the bench. It’d be nice if those two things weren’t mutually exclusive, but they often are (example: Trevor Lakes and Shamiel Stevenson). There was a reason Trevor wasn’t shown the door. 

[basketballjones]

1 hour ago, HuscurAdam said:

I don't mean to sound crass, but why is Trevor Lakes still on the team?  Nothing against the kid, and I understand his scholarship doesn't count against the limit, but I just can't imagine any scenario where he sees the floor except in the biggest of blowouts (unless there is a litany of injuries).  It would be different if he still had a few years left to develop, but this is his last dance.  Wouldn't he have a better experience at a low/mid major where he can play a lot and contribute?  Maybe make a run at the tourney in a role other than bench mob?  Again, I have nothing against him, I just wouldn't want to be in that situation knowing I'm not going to play after being a key contributor earlier in my career.      

Lotta benefits to being a D1 Bball player... giggity giggity

[Norm Peterson]

2 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

Boy if Wilcher and/or Edwards are rotation players this is going to be a formidable team

 

Because Wilcher and Edwards are great players? Or because, if they make the rotation, it would mean they're better than other guys whom we know more about?

[Norm Peterson]

On 7/3/2021 at 12:34 AM, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

Well, go ahead and play fill in the blank game with either >>, >, =, <, << compared to the roster from 4 years ago.

 

Trey McGowens	>>	Anton Gill
Bryce McGowens	<	James Palmer
Lat Mayen	>=	Isaac Copeland
Derrick Walker	=<	Isiah Roby
Kobe Webster	<	Glynn Watson
CJ Wilcher	>	Evan Taylor
Eduardo Andre	>	Jordy Tshimanga
Keon Edwards	>	Thomas Allen
Keisei Tominaga	>>	Jack McVeigh
W.  Breidenbach	>>	Duby Okeke
Q.  McPherson	>	Nana Akenten
Trevor Lakes	=	T. Thorbjarnarson
Oleg Kojenets	<	Tanner Borchardt

 

[Norm Peterson]

3 hours ago, basketballjones said:

Was looking up this thread (or to find another like it)... And after seeing some Alonzo Verge practice highlights - I can't imagine he's not starting at point? I mean nothing negative by this, but I was not excited about Trey playing point - just do not think it is his natural position. In other words, I think your breakdown, @millerhusker, is pretty spot on as far as a depth chart goes. The only thing I could potentially see being different is if Keisei can't be displaced because he's knocking down shots, and someone like Wilcher loses time. But who knows? 

 

I think you're right.  I think Verge does start.

 

One of the things that occurs to me is that, over the last several seasons, certainly for as long as Fred has been our head coach, we haven't had that player that made other players around him ... better.

 

You could argue that Cam Mack did that a bit, but the players he was dropping dimes to couldn't hit their shots, so there's only so much polish you can apply to a turd.

 

But look at those clips of Verge dishing to Derrick Walker, for instance.

 

I think Derrick Walker will be a more productive player for us on offense with Alonzo Verge running point than if Dalano Banton was running point. In fact, there might not be another player on the roster who benefits as much from a Banton-for-Verge swap as Derrick Walker. Him and Andre, for sure.

 

Dalano could drive and kick to the corner or wing, but otherwise he'd be driving to the basket himself. You didn't see him drop the ball off much for someone else down low. And part of that was that just wasn't his game. I mean, if he gets it inside, he's not going to dish to the tall guy because he IS the tall guy.

 

The perimeter guys are going to get their looks because Fred's system is designed to do that. But for the big men, it takes someone to set the table for them a bit. And Verge is more of a guy who can do that compared to Banton. And the really nice thing for us is that both Derrick (60% FG%) and Andre (64.7% FG%) are both players who can take advantage.

 

I'd look for Derrick's 4.4 attempts per game to go up. It might just be one additional attempt per half. But if he makes 60% of those additional attempts, he can pretty easily go from just under 6 points per game to just over 8. And that's enough from our big man when you have guys all over the floor who can stroke it from deep, which we oughta have this year.

[hhcmatt]

53 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Because Wilcher and Edwards are great players? Or because, if they make the rotation, it would mean they're better than other guys whom we know more about?

 

i'm bought in to both McGowens, Mayen, Walker, Verge, Kobe and Andre as part of the rotation. I've recently sold myself on Breidenbach having the Kevin Cross 'I get it' mind with hopefully better shooting ability. That's 8 guys.  Actually, I'd probably put Wilcher in the rotation after thinking about it. He'd worked his way into Xavier's rotation and reportedly has been stroking. That's 9 which is pretty deep.

 

So let me re-shift and wonder if Edwards and/or Keisei in the rotation?  That's potentially 10-11 guys for a coach who'd probably prefer to play 8.