What happened yesterday and why

[Norm Peterson]

I'm not sure if a new thread is the right place for this or whether it should go to the PSU post-game chatter. It seems more of a broader kind of topic, so I'm starting a new thread.

 

In any event, what was different about last night? Was it just that we were making shots or was there something more? I think there was something more.

 

I listened a bit to Jack Mitchell interview Dirk Chatelain on the radio this morning and they were trying to diagnose things as well.

 

I'll be honest, I listened to the game on the radio but due to various circumstances, I wasn't able to watch it live. But I did watch extended highlights last night and was immediately struck by the level of effort. Guys were literally sprinting back on defense. They were grabbing PSU made baskets to rapidly inbound the ball. They weren't just making the extra pass; they were making the first pass. So, instead of just going 1-on-5 and trying to attack the glass, you had Verge and the McGowens and Kobe drive but then kick to shooters on the wing. We were hitting the offensive glass in a way I haven't seen in the Hoiberg era. The difference in effort was substantial and obvious.

 

So, how did this new-found intensity come about?

 

I have a theory.

 

At the beginning of the season I shared privately and, over time, began to hint publicly about my frustration with warmups, which tended to look like a disorganized mass of guys lobbing themselves balls to dunk, horsing around, not seeming to take seriously the task at hand. At first, I was a little annoyed that the players were horsing around during warmups instead of seeming focused and businesslike. And then the Ls started piling up, and it made me think there was a correlation between which team was winning (not us) and which team was taking their warmups more seriously (again, not us.)

 

However, something happened at halftime of the Iowa game that I have literally never seen before.

 

The players came out of the locker room early and started running defensive drills. Coordinated, specific, intentional, deliberate defensive drills. Everyone had a role and everyone played that role. The practice players were simulating an opposing offense and the rotation players were drilling on moving their feet on defense.

 

Did anyone else notice that?

 

And, sure, we went on to lose. But it indicated to me a renewed commitment to buckle down and get serious.

 

And one game later, we blew the doors off PSU.

[BjoeHusker]

You make an excellent point. Personally, I was tired of watching Tominaga try to dunk in warmups. Last nights team looked focused. I was extremely impressed with our ball movement. Best I've seen from Nebraska in years. 

[uneblinstu]

I think that begs the "why" question even more. Why did it take nearly 3 years to get organized and focused? I thought that was going to be a hallmark of this program? That kind of thing *should* be the first thing to get in place, not the last resort. Was the vote of confidence, or whatever that was, from Trev a wake-up call? I haven't seen warm-ups much this year, so if that changed at halftime on Friday, that's so baffling to me. If things change from here on out as long as Fred's here, cool, but why wasn't it always that way? We all know he wants pace and space and player freedom, but the paradox is that boundaries, guard rails and expectations actually bring freedom, not the absence of those things.

[Huskerpapa]

Oh dude, I couldn't agree more.  Anyone who sits within five rows of me knew of my ongoing frustration.  Our lackadaisical attitude coming out at half was almost embarrassing. 

Pregame warmups and even the early drills were halfhearted at best and more so, a waste of time.

Yes the change noticed at the Iowa game was met with a standing ovation from me.  

It is amazing the role that effort and attitude can play!

And hey...why not us?

Edited February 28, 2022 by Huskerpapa

[hskr4life]

Would be interesting to hear from anyone who was at PSU, and will be at OSU and Wisco if any of these things continue.

[Ron Mexico]

I think it goes even deeper than this. What you see in warmups is what is seen, or not seen, in practice.

Yes, @Norm Peterson I did notice the difference in 2nd half warmups. Like most of who have attended games in person this has been a huge frustration.

It was obvious in January that Fred changed what we were doing on offense as it was clearly not working.

What didn't get improved during that time was a focus on effort and team play i.e. rebounding and making the extra pass.

 

Watching the team execute on offense was an absolute clinic. 

[hhcmatt]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:03 PM, Huskerpapa said:

Oh dude, I couldn't agree more.  Anyone who sits within five rows of me knew of my ongoing frustration.  Our lackadaisical attitude coming out at half was almost embarrassing. 

Pregame warmups and even the early drills were halfhearted at best and more so, a waste of time.

Yes the change noticed at the Iowa game was met with a standing ovation from me.  

It is amazing the role that effort and attitude can play!

And hey...why not us?

Expand  

 

I wasn't there for pre-game. What was that like?

[Handy Johnson]

Knocking down Threes at the clip we were certainly puts a “spring” in your step too…

[49r]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:39 PM, Handy Johnson said:

Knocking down Threes at the clip we were certainly puts a “spring” in your step too…

Expand  

 

Shooting 65% from three certainly is not sustainable though.

[royalfan]

The ball was popping and they played together for starters.   We were getting open threes instead of wild difficult ones.  We still took a few of those way too early in clock but was much improved.  

 

There is one for sure fools gold part of it.  Penn St. doesn't have anyone that remotely commands a double team.  That gives our defense a fighting chance to not get decimated.  Harrah not going to beat anyone with back to the basket stuff. 

 

The other potential fools gold is that it is much easier to give effort on defense when shots are falling.  It needs to be the other way around.  Good teams are able to ratchet up the defensive energy when shots are not falling.  This is why so many games got out of hand on us.  We tend to play worse defense the worse we play offense.  

[Huskerpapa]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:32 PM, hhcmatt said:

 

I wasn't there for pre-game. What was that like?

Expand  

Going through the motions...at best.  That said, there was more effort by a couple of the bigs.  Oleg and DW looked like they were trying to improve their game.  Others seemed to be robotically going through their drills.  Does that make sense? Meaning, they were doing what they were supposed to do, but with no extraneous effort.

Then...when they come out and go through pre game warmups...please.

They simply lob passes to themselves and try various dunks.  I for one am not impressed.  I guess certain students may ohhh and ahhh.  But are they mentally game ready??  Based upon results, no they are not.  

And then, they wait through two anthems and the pregame hype and we are so game ready...not!

[Handy Johnson]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:48 PM, 49r said:

 

Shooting 65% from three certainly is not sustainable though.

Expand  

Clearly not, but being somewhere between “worst in the Nation” & competent should be expected. Having a dynamic scorer like Bryce gives us a chip, chair & a chance against anyone. Then factor in your shooters being at least a concern for the defense & the whole squad looks different.

[Norm Peterson]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:32 PM, hhcmatt said:

 

I wasn't there for pre-game. What was that like?

Expand  

 

I showed up about an hour beforehand. Senior night kind of messed with the schedule a bit, but Loenser was there with a few of the guards and they were doing solid work on passing, catching and shooting. He'd space 3 guards around the perimeter, one on each wing and one in the corner and he'd initiate the drill by passing to the wing opposite the corner guard and they would reverse the ball until each guard had a ball, at which point each would shoot a three. And then they would rotate so that each would catch the "kick-out" and then make the extra pass into the corner.

[hhcmatt]

  On 2/28/2022 at 5:32 PM, Norm Peterson said:

I showed up about an hour beforehand. Senior night kind of messed with the schedule a bit, but Loenser was there with a few of the guards and they were doing solid work on passing, catching and shooting. He'd space 3 guards around the perimeter, one on each wing and one in the corner and he'd initiate the drill by passing to the wing opposite the corner guard and they would reverse the ball until each guard had a ball, at which point each would shoot a three. And then they would rotate so that each would catch the "kick-out" and then make the extra pass into the corner.

Expand  

 

I miss a lot of pre-games. Is this what regularly happens?

[Norm Peterson]

  On 2/28/2022 at 5:36 PM, hhcmatt said:

I miss a lot of pre-games. Is this what regularly happens?

Expand  

 

From my vantage point, it seemed more business-like than usual. And more specific, like Loenser had implemented a drill to address a specific issue or set of issues. And 2 games later, we see that extra pass and the shooting drills come precisely into play.

[hhcmatt]

  On 2/28/2022 at 5:42 PM, Norm Peterson said:

 

From my vantage point, it seemed more business-like than usual. And more specific, like Loenser had implemented a drill to address a specific issue or set of issues. And 2 games later, we see that extra pass and the shooting drills come precisely into play.

Expand  

 

I'm spitballing here but I have to think that all the conversations that led up to Trev's announcement has caused an internal change to the point that Nate Loesner is essentially functioning as the associate head coach. Is that what has happened or am I just reading way too much into all of this?

[Fullbacksympathy]

  On 2/28/2022 at 5:52 PM, hhcmatt said:

 

I'm spitballing here but I have to think that all the conversations that led up to Trev's announcement has caused an internal change to the point that Nate Loesner is essentially functioning as the associate head coach. Is that what has happened or am I just reading way too much into all of this?

Expand  

 

It looked to me like the order of bench coaches changed in the Penn State game in terms of who was nearest to Fred.  

[Norm Peterson]

Seems like a reasonable conclusion based on what we've been able to observe, @hhcmatt.

[Huskerpapa]

  On 2/28/2022 at 5:52 PM, hhcmatt said:

 

I'm spitballing here but I have to think that all the conversations that led up to Trev's announcement has caused an internal change to the point that Nate Loesner is essentially functioning as the associate head coach. Is that what has happened or am I just reading way too much into all of this?

Expand  

Yup, I  agree.  I believe there may have been an awakening.

[Chuck Taylor]

  On 2/28/2022 at 4:48 PM, 49r said:

 

Shooting 65% from three certainly is not sustainable though.

Expand  

I'd like to see how they play when they don't shoot 65% on 3s in the next two games. What team isn't enthused when they're shooting out of their minds? 

[royalfan]

  On 2/28/2022 at 8:11 PM, Chuck Taylor said:

I'd like to see how they play when they don't shoot 65% on 3s in the next two games. What team isn't enthused when they're shooting out of their minds? 

Expand  

 

It isn't all about the percentage, it is the quality of the 3's we got.  We got a ton of wide open 3's.  Wide open 3's are going to drastically rise our success rate versus the types we have generated most of the season.  

[uneblinstu]

What yesterday showed me is that they have the ability to defend, run an offense and rebound for nearly 40 minutes. No, they won't be able to shoot that well most nights. Those other things should be portable, though. That's the next step. Do those things regardless of whether or not the shots fall. If they do, they'll be in games that haven't been in because they couldn't keep their mental wits about them with the shots didn't fall or just simply had a bad possession. 

[royalfan]

Also the spacing and cutting was so much better than at any point all year.  Really kept the defense confused.  This is a very good defense we did that to,  

[AuroranHusker]

  On 3/1/2022 at 12:01 AM, royalfan said:

Also the spacing and cutting was so much better than at any point all year.  Really kept the defense confused.  This is a very good defense we did that to,  

Expand  

 

It looked like the Hoiberg offense that I'd expected from the get-go, after the Colorado exhibition. I really feel like Trey McGowens' absence affected this team's intensity level. That's my working theory at the moment; Trey had mentioned on the twitter box that he's back to being myself, finally.... let's check back after tomorrow's ballgame at OSU to see what happens next for this team. Nothing seems to be certain, that's for sure. 

 

 

[NUdiehard]

  On 3/1/2022 at 1:55 AM, AuroranHusker said:

 

It looked like the Hoiberg offense that I'd expected from the get-go, after the Colorado exhibition. I really feel like Trey McGowens' absence affected this team's intensity level. That's my working theory at the moment; Trey had mentioned on the twitter box that he's back to being myself, finally.... let's check back after tomorrow's ballgame at OSU to see what happens next for this team. Nothing seems to be certain, that's for sure. 

 

 

Expand  

 

There is no doubt losing Trey completely set this team back.  Not only did he miss all those games, but even after he came back he clearly was not the same until maybe last game.  This means we have essentially played this entire season without peak performance from our team leader, best defender and instrumental offensive player.  Not to mention Wilhelm who would probably be getting a lot of Lat's minutes by this point (and maybe some of Andre's).