Projected Rotation and Starting Lineup

[aphilso1]

23 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Sam's a lot better at guarding guards than you're probably giving him credit for. He's a big body with good length, allows him to give some space while still being able to contest. 

 

Gary may be our best defender regardless of whether he is covering the opposing team's 1-4.  Obviously we'd lose some of his rebounding if he is face guarding out on the perimeter, but if we need a stop I bet he's the guy glued to the opposing team's stud.  Seems weird that we would use our 4 on the other team's 1, but I don't think that's out of the question. 

[Handy Johnson]

10 hours ago, basketballjones said:

You’re OK in my Book BJones, you know who Randy Edwards is…

[Fullbacksympathy]

8 hours ago, basketballjones said:

Sam's a lot better at guarding guards than you're probably giving him credit for. He's a big body with good length, allows him to give some space while still being able to contest. 

The games I watched he didn’t guard opposing 1 or 2 guards and was usually guarding the 4.  It’s not a knock on him. I like him a lot.  There’s no way he can stay with small quick guards. 
 

He’s a special player because he can guard the 3-4 just fine and then create all sorts of matchup problems on the other end as a PG.  But you have to pair him with someone who can guard the point or that mismatch he presents is a wash.  That way the opposition has to either put a small guard he can bully or a forward he can blow by or stretch the court.  Bando can help for sure at guard opposing PGs, but he can’t do it all game.  I think it’ll be up to Lloyd to step in if possible. 

[Fullbacksympathy]

7 hours ago, aphilso1 said:

 

Gary may be our best defender regardless of whether he is covering the opposing team's 1-4.  Obviously we'd lose some of his rebounding if he is face guarding out on the perimeter, but if we need a stop I bet he's the guy glued to the opposing team's stud.  Seems weird that we would use our 4 on the other team's 1, but I don't think that's out of the question. 

I don’t think he’s quite that quick but he is a pretty special athlete and very versatile defensively.  Outside of Lloyd, he might be our best shot here.  I just haven’t seen the other newbies enough.  I don’t think Keisei can stay in front of PGs but it would be nice to let him try it out.  

[millerhusker]

17 hours ago, Fullbacksympathy said:

I’ve got this starting 5 as well.  Griesel and Bando can create shots, and Wilcher is a good kick out option who will probably have a little more wiggle to his game with decreased weight.  Gary gets ugly hustle points (and he is a dog on defense) which is something we’ve needed on our roster for a long time, and Walker is just a very good all around player.  This starting 5 would kill last year’s team.  
 

I have no clue what the bench will be and I’m not convinced WB can play the 4 due to his lack of quickness.  I’d rather have him be a stretch 5 but Keita is a true 5, so we probably have to stick w WB at the 4.  
 

I think Lloyd will get significant minutes as the moment won’t be too big for him. He’s gone against better players already than he’ll often see in college and more than held his own.  What I’m hoping for him is that he has the athleticism/length to guard opposing point guards.  Last season we only had Trey who could do that.  Sam is too slow.  Bando can, I believe. No chance with Wilcher.  Keisei can’t. So it’s gotta be a new guy.  
 

What I do know is there should be very few teams that outrebound us this season or the coach has to go.  He has the bodies.  We’re going to struggle guarding the perimeter but our help defense should be fantastic with our length, strength, and hopefully attitude. 
 

I’m cautiously optimistic that we’ll see some bully ball this year.  It would be nice to have an identity. 

Griesel is probably both quicker and faster than Lloyd. Ramel is not a great athlete. His skillset may allow him to play point guard on offense. Not on defense.

Edited September 30, 2022 by millerhusker

[huskerbill85]

A decade+ in the B1G and we finally (on paper) have a good/big front court 

[FredsSlacks]

going to be very surprised if this team has a winning season. hope i am surprised.

[huskercappy]

On 9/30/2022 at 6:22 AM, millerhusker said:

Griesel is probably both quicker and faster than Lloyd. Ramel is not a great athlete. His skillset may allow him to play point guard on offense. Not on defense.

I'd be careful using Griesel and quicker in the sentence, though. I agree that Ramel is not very athletic.  Point guard will be a weakness this year. Come to think of it, each position will be a weakness. One positive: I do believe we will play hard and as a team this year.  Obvious upgrade over the last 3 pitiful seasons.

 

1st Post:  How'd I do?

[jimmykc]

Merits another scoop of porridge tomorrow. 

[Nighthawk]

27 minutes ago, huskercappy said:

I'd be careful using Griesel and quicker in the sentence, though. I agree that Ramel is not very athletic.  Point guard will be a weakness this year. Come to think of it, each position will be a weakness. One positive: I do believe we will play hard and as a team this year.  Obvious upgrade over the last 3 pitiful seasons.

 

1st Post:  How'd I do?

Until I see them actually play a true game on the court and end up on the winning side...outside of the fact we have a team with players playing basketball on a basketball court and playing with the proper equiptment, there is very little obvious about this season. No one is an "obvious upgrade" until we see them play in a countable game...hell...I don't even look at the scrimages as holding any weight anymore. 

[Huskerpapa]

One thought did pop into my shallow brain...I am sorta betting that you will see more bodies sprawled on the floor this season.  That includes us going hard for loose balls, us taking and perhaps giving charges and opponents flying to the floor, while thinking they are going show time on us.  

[FredsSlacks]

i agree that this team probably won't be as selfish as previous years. that may be the catalyst that leads to more wins. but not sure there is enough overall talent to compete in the big 10. 

[HuskerFever]

1 minute ago, FredsSlacks said:

i agree that this team probably won't be as selfish as previous years. that may be the catalyst that leads to more wins. but not sure there is enough overall talent to compete in the big 10. 

 

This has been a common theme ever since we joined the Big Ten. There's been some of our rosters that have looked less equipped to compete in the Big Ten yet they held their own. Who knows, some of it may be coaching as well.

[millerhusker]

47 minutes ago, FredsSlacks said:

i agree that this team probably won't be as selfish as previous years. that may be the catalyst that leads to more wins. but not sure there is enough overall talent to compete in the big 10. 

Just all depends on how well things click. Hoiberg and Miles both have had some relatively talented rosters on paper that were absolutely atrocious on the court. Collier and Sadler had some rosters that were Summit League level at best that finished middle of the pack in the Big 12. 

[hskr4life]

Playing hard and starting off the season with some positive Juju might allow us to actually win some games.  With that being said, We're going to have to play super hard and super smart.  On paper, this looks like a 14th place team.  But the games aren't played on paper... as shown by our team last year.

[huskerbill85]

11 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

One thought did pop into my shallow brain...I am sorta betting that you will see more bodies sprawled on the floor this season.  That includes us going hard for loose balls, us taking and perhaps giving charges and opponents flying to the floor, while thinking they are going show time on us.  

I value your opinion.  Seriously. After the late night or whatever you call it you were the first person to point out what you saw which you called "hero ball" and you were 100% correct on it. Hopefully the effort you saw the other night can lead us to around .500

[huskercappy]

On 10/1/2022 at 12:57 PM, Huskerpapa said:

One thought did pop into my shallow brain...I am sorta betting that you will see more bodies sprawled on the floor this season.  That includes us going hard for loose balls, us taking and perhaps giving charges and opponents flying to the floor, while thinking they are going show time on us.  

I think I read that they are charting taking charges in practice.  I think more emphasis is being put on the little things.

[Chuck Taylor]

4 hours ago, huskercappy said:

I think I read that they are charting taking charges in practice.

Great, now BIG refs will give us flopping calls. 

 

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/6/9/media-center-panel-approves-awarding-a-technical-foul-for-flopping-in-mens-basketball.aspx#:~:text=The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight,would shoot one free throw.

[HuskerFever]

1 minute ago, Chuck Taylor said:

Great, now BIG refs will give us flopping calls. 

 

https://www.ncaa.org/news/2022/6/9/media-center-panel-approves-awarding-a-technical-foul-for-flopping-in-mens-basketball.aspx#:~:text=The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight,would shoot one free throw.

 

Of course they wait until Brad Davison finally leaves.

[Jacob Padilla]

I'd expect to see Griesel, Bandoumel, Wilcher, Breidenbach and Walker as the starting five at this point.

 

I think Breidenbach is more of a five than a four defensively, but they have two fives that are definitely going to play and he has a better shot of hitting perimeter shots than Gary does (though I'm skeptical of how good of a shooter Wilhem actually is). Wilhelm definitely has to play better than he did last year to hold onto that spot, but I think that's where they're at right now.

 

Gary is more of a physical defender than a quick one. You want him on 4s and 3s; don't think he'd hold up super great on quick guards. That'll be an issue again like it was last year. With that starting lineup, Bandoumel will likely take the team's best guard and they'll figure it out with Griesel and Wilcher on the others.

 

Keita and Gary will play, and I think they're trying to figure out the rest of the rotation from there. Two of Lloyd, Tominaga, Dawson and maybe Lawrence will fill the back-up guard/wing minutes. I do think there's a good chance we could see Jacobsen at some point, similar to what happened with Charlie Easley. 

 

I don't want to bump a bunch of old threads or start my own, but I've been putting together some scouting reports including video clips on a lot of the guys, both newcomers and returners, over the last few months. Finished my last one this weekend, so I thought I'd share them here if anybody is interested.

 

Returners:

>> Derrick Walker

>> C.J. Wilcher

>> Keisei Tominaga

 

Newcomers:

>> Sam Griesel (How his game translates to the Big Team is TBD, but I'm a big fan and I think he fits really well into what Hoiberg wants to do.)

>> Juwan Gary

>> Emmanuel Bandoumel (He showed some promise running pick-and-rolls at SMU, but I'm very skeptical of Bandoumel as a lead ball-handler.)

>> Blaise Keita (He was almost purely a post-up and dunker spot big for Coffeyville; ran very few pick-and-rolls.)

 

[jimmykc]

Great post, Jacob. Thanks for the effort. Lots of information to ponder before the season starts and it will be interesting to see how your impressions stand up as the schedule unfolds. 

[millerhusker]

I always trust your info and opinions, Padilla. Sure hope Wilhelm has improved a ton from last year. He wasn't just inefficient as a shooter. He was wildly inaccurate. Good shooters can have rough years, but most of their misses tend to be either short or long. It seemed like half of Wilhelm's misses completely missed the rim, to one side or the other. I have no doubt that he makes threes in practice. Just kinda tired of hearing about it. Lat was more accurate than Kyle Korver in practice... Wilhelm's defense was also poor last year, both in the post and especially on the perimeter. He's not able to stay in front of the 4's of the Big Ten (guys like Gabe Brown and Tyler Wahl). I suspect Gary will take his spot at some point, due to his reliability on the defensive end. Offensively, as of now, I'm considering it a wash. I do hope Wilhelm proves me wrong. Just got to see it to believe it at this point. 

[hskr4life]

1 hour ago, millerhusker said:

I always trust your info and opinions, Padilla. Sure hope Wilhelm has improved a ton from last year. He wasn't just inefficient as a shooter. He was wildly inaccurate. Good shooters can have rough years, but most of their misses tend to be either short or long. It seemed like half of Wilhelm's misses completely missed the rim, to one side or the other. I have no doubt that he makes threes in practice. Just kinda tired of hearing about it. Lat was more accurate than Kyle Korver in practice... Wilhelm's defense was also poor last year, both in the post and especially on the perimeter. He's not able to stay in front of the 4's of the Big Ten (guys like Gabe Brown and Tyler Wahl). I suspect Gary will take his spot at some point, due to his reliability on the defensive end. Offensively, as of now, I'm considering it a wash. I do hope Wilhelm proves me wrong. Just got to see it to believe it at this point. 

I thought he looked very much like a freshman.  However, with that being said, don’t count out the experience that playing as a freshman can have on development.  Also remember he only played like half a year— if that— so I wouldn’t judge too hard on a half a year’s worth of freshman play/stats.

[Navin R. Johnson]

1 hour ago, hskr4life said:

I thought he looked very much like a freshman.  However, with that being said, don’t count out the experience that playing as a freshman can have on development.  Also remember he only played like half a year— if that— so I wouldn’t judge too hard on a half a year’s worth of freshman play/stats.

 

He also was one of the few guys on last year's team that would dive on the floor for a loose ball.  I really hope he shows improvement this year in other parts of his game.  Some of his shots last year seemed like he was just shooting it without any rhythm, just to shoot the ball because he could. (kind of like the whole team at times) 

[Jacob Padilla]

4 hours ago, millerhusker said:

I always trust your info and opinions, Padilla. Sure hope Wilhelm has improved a ton from last year. He wasn't just inefficient as a shooter. He was wildly inaccurate. Good shooters can have rough years, but most of their misses tend to be either short or long. It seemed like half of Wilhelm's misses completely missed the rim, to one side or the other. I have no doubt that he makes threes in practice. Just kinda tired of hearing about it. Lat was more accurate than Kyle Korver in practice... Wilhelm's defense was also poor last year, both in the post and especially on the perimeter. He's not able to stay in front of the 4's of the Big Ten (guys like Gabe Brown and Tyler Wahl). I suspect Gary will take his spot at some point, due to his reliability on the defensive end. Offensively, as of now, I'm considering it a wash. I do hope Wilhelm proves me wrong. Just got to see it to believe it at this point. 

 

He only played 10 games and took 39 total shots before he got hurt, which is way too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions. He was also a true freshman. Like I said, he has to play a lot better than he did last year, but I don't think we got to see much of the kind of player Hoiberg thinks he can be. He was 3-6 on pick-and-pop 3s (and 0-for on every other kind of 3); again, too small of a sample size, but it's all we have. I watched all of his Mater Dei games that I could find on YouTube and he didn't actually take that many 3s for them compared to the way Hoiberg has raved about his shooting ability, which is why I thought it might take him a bit of time to grow into that shooting big role. Hopefully he got plenty of shots up this offseason.

 

Gary's a tough guy to figure out in terms of how he fits with this team offensively. Griesel and Walker are probably the team's best players, and they both do their best work inside of 15 feet, as do Gary and Keita. Perhaps his cutting is something thy can utilize while playing though Walker or Griesel in the middle of the floor, but I worry about teams just not guarding him on the perimeter and always having an extra body crowding the paint. Hoiberg has never quite managed to put a lineup out there that can consistently space the floor, which has made life very difficult for their best players. Breidenbach has the best chance of their forwards/centers at hitting shots and forcing defenses to defend him on the perimeter, though that certainly in't a given at this point.

 

Nebraska will probably have trouble guarding one-on-one at multiple spots in the lineup again this season no matter who they throw out there. Hopefully their team defense and commitment to playing hard on that end improves to make up for that. The added size and length helps there, but they're once again lacking foot speed at a lot of spots.