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I would also be one that believes basketball will still turn it around under Fred. On Happer and Schaefer this morning, one of them mentioned that Fred has actually filled some of the gaps on the roster pretty well with more gap fillers coming in the next class. The one hole they haven’t figured out yet is the pg spot and it just might be the biggest part of that puzzle. We won’t see the full potential until that piece gets solved. 

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Speaking of filling roster gaps, think abut how many years in the post-Aleks Maric Era we have been "a big man away" from feeling as fans like we had a complete team.  And this year we have Walker and Ed, plus Wilhelm.  And even Lat can at times slide over to be a stretch 5.  Kind of annoying that bigs aren't prioritized in Fred's system, because for once we actually have a bit of a big man pipeline.  Although none of them seem to be able to rebound.  But that seems partially like a systemic thing, too.

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I woke up feeling optimistic this morning. Over the past several years I've noticed that I'm probably one of the more pessimistic folks on this board. I wish I wasn't that way, but can't help it. I prefer to call it cautious and realistic. I usually take the "you have to show me before I actually believe" approach when it comes to Husker sports. 

 

I guess that's why I'm a little surprised at the current overall attitude of the board. I mean I get it, but still surprised. This is a place I come for real hoop discussions and, most of all, optimism. I get so tired of talking to Husker football fans about basketball (pretty sure most of them secretly - or not so secretly - cheer for Creighton and/or Duke). "We suck" is the probably the most common phrase I've heard out of these people over the last 20 years, without them having any knowledge whatsoever of the team. It's exhausting. True Husker hoops fans are hard to find out in the wild. 

 

Anyway, I actually do believe in the players on this team and in our coaching staff. I see real potential. This team does have more talent than last year, and I enjoyed watching the team last year in the last month or two of the season. The results didn't show up in the W/L column, but we were competitive in almost every game during that time and you could see things start to click on both ends of the court, as opposed to early in the season (the Nevada, South Dakota and Ohio State games stick out in my head as being absolutely brutal to watch). We were outmatched in every game, but seeing Hoiberg's offensive philosophy come to fruition on the court was fun. When the ball didn't stick, we got good shots. There was good ball movement, and off-ball movement. Spacing and movement allowed guys like Thor and Lat to get numerous layups off backdoor cuts. Unfortunately, our best shooters had disappointing years shooting the ball from three, but Lat, Thor and Trevor got wide open looks consistently within the flow of the offense.  I believe Hoiberg will get it figured out with this current team and things will start to gel. I've seen glimpses. We've had at least 5 layups off backdoor cuts in the first three games. Bryce, CJ and Keisei are doing a good job of moving without the ball at times, but they are newcomers and still need to learn how to do it all the time.

We were poor offensively against Creighton, but still had 15 assists on 26 made field goals. In the 20 years before Hoiberg, I would be happy if we got to double digits in the assist column in any game. 

 

If you think the offense was hard to watch in the Creighton game, go back and watch almost any game from the Tim Miles era. I'm not sure we had 5 backdoor cut layups during those 7 years. The offense was literally one-on-one hero ball at the end of the shot clock. Even in our 2014 tourney run I remember thinking this style of play is not sustainable. You can't rely on individual players to always bail you out by making tough shots at the end of every possession.  But I don't remember this amount of negativity over the offense during those years. Maybe because we were always great defensively, so that masked other problems. Or maybe because Terran, Palmer, etc were just doing their job (and were pretty damn good at it). Verge, on the other hand, is doing it against the wishes of his coaches, and that makes it harder to watch. Some other things need to stop happening, too. Like any time a player single-handedly wastes a possession, they need to be held accountable - when Verge shoots a midrange jumper, or when Lat tries to dribble, or when Derrick shoots a three. Missed block outs and lazy defense. Eduardo, Wilhelm and Keon all give consistent effort in those two categories. Play them.

 

I feel for Trey, but him being out for awhile might be a blessing in disguise. Underclassmen, like Keon, will now get opportunities and experience that they may not have gotten otherwise. And Bryce still needs to learn what it takes to play hard all the time at this level. I'm sure Trey will be watching him like a hawk from the bench now and will stay on him throughout the game. 

 

Maybe the disappointment comes from higher expectations because of who our coach is. Those expectations are a good thing. I still feel lucky that Fred Hoiberg chose to be the coach of my favorite basketball team and think he'll get this thing on the right track. And I think it will happen soon. 

The Big Ten is down and Nebraska can still be a dangerous team this year. My prediction is we'll finish above .500 and make the NIT. Sorry for ranting. 

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1 hour ago, Fastbreaker said:

OK they have found shooters.  Now we need some makers.  Haven't seen that so far.  

They did vs. Colorado and I thought they were better vs. Creighton. So maybe we're going to have to endure an adjustment period with all the new pieces and young players, but I think it's quite a bit better than it was the past couple of years. I expect as the year goes on and everyone gets more comfortable, we'll see things get better there, too.

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38 minutes ago, cornfed24-7 said:

To be fair they've been mostly correct ☹

I guess it's all subjective and relative, but I just disagree. Most Husker football fans think of Doc and Collier as sucky coaches. But we were in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in 5 out of 6 years with Collier and 4 out of 6 years with Doc. And the Big 12 was no joke. We have sucked pretty bad the past two years, for sure. 

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24 minutes ago, millerhusker said:

I guess it's all subjective and relative, but I just disagree. Most Husker football fans think of Doc and Collier as sucky coaches. But we were in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in 5 out of 6 years with Collier and 4 out of 6 years with Doc. And the Big 12 was no joke. We have sucked pretty bad the past two years, for sure. 

 

I think it's pretty clear by this point that the Big 12 was, and still is, a much easier conference to climb the ladder into relevance compared to the B1G.  It was a top-heavy league during the Collier and Sadler years, which allowed less talented teams to hang around if they played with discipline and identity.  It's pretty tough to challenge for a top half B1G finish unless you have a glut of 4*+ kids and play well as a team.  

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22 minutes ago, millerhusker said:

I guess it's all subjective and relative, but I just disagree. Most Husker football fans think of Doc and Collier as sucky coaches. But we were in the middle of the pack in the Big 12 in 5 out of 6 years with Collier and 4 out of 6 years with Doc. And the Big 12 was no joke. We have sucked pretty bad the past two years, for sure. 

Look, I hear you. I'm with you. What we are debating here is levels of suck. With a few average seasons mixed in. And one 10ish game stretch of pure awesomeness. Regardless of the level of suck I have enjoyed most seasons. Always so close to getting over the hump. But the truth is over the last 20 years we don't make the tournament, we struggle to make the NIT, and we almost always play day one of the conference tournament. 

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49 minutes ago, cornfed24-7 said:

Look, I hear you. I'm with you. What we are debating here is levels of suck. With a few average seasons mixed in. And one 10ish game stretch of pure awesomeness. Regardless of the level of suck I have enjoyed most seasons. Always so close to getting over the hump. But the truth is over the last 20 years we don't make the tournament, we struggle to make the NIT, and we almost always play day one of the conference tournament. 

Gotcha. I'd much rather talk to a real fan about our suckiness than a casual one who brings nothing else to the conversation other than "we suck". 

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3 hours ago, millerhusker said:

If you think the offense was hard to watch in the Creighton game, go back and watch almost any game from the Tim Miles era. I'm not sure we had 5 backdoor cut layups during those 7 years. The offense was literally one-on-one hero ball at the end of the shot clock. Even in our 2014 tourney run I remember thinking this style of play is not sustainable. You can't rely on individual players to always bail you out by making tough shots at the end of every possession.  But I don't remember this amount of negativity over the offense during those years. Maybe because we were always great defensively, so that masked other problems. Or maybe because Terran, Palmer, etc were just doing their job (and were pretty damn good at it).

 

Miles' style certainly was unpopular here and people here often voiced their displeasure about it.  The deal though it was always softened because we won more than we lost and Miles' big personality.

 

There is an argument that the ceiling is higher with Hoiberg. The problem is there is also an argument that no one here as done less with more than Hoiberg.  This is part of the reason there is a rollercoaster of emotions here.

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