Norm's Conference Recognition Watch List

[Norm Peterson]

There's been talk about CJ being conference 6th man of the year. Deservedly so. With 60% of the conference season complete, there are others under consideration:

 

Fred Hoiberg, Coach of the Year: We were picked ~11th to 14th. We're currently all alone in 6th with wins over 4 of the teams ahead of us and an OT loss on the road against the 5th. Brad Underwood repeated last night what other coaches have said: "These guys (Nebraska) are good."

 

Rienk Mast, All Big Ten 2nd Team: His current standings, conference games only: 21st in scoring; 5th in rebounding; 16th in assists. Wisconsin's PG, for comparison purposes, is 11th in assists. Show me another player who's basically top 20 in all three major statistical categories and I'll show you a 1st team All-Conference selection. He's also among the leaders in 3-pointers made, blocks, FG% ...

 

Keisei Tominaga, All Big Ten 2nd or 3rd team (media) or honorable mention: He draws the top defensive assignment from every team we play, they grab him and hold him throughout every game (it's called "strategy" if the refs don't call it), and he's still averaging 14.3 ppg even with a hand in his face on every shot. Coaches who know how they have to game plan around him will probably rank him more highly than the media.

 

Brice Williams, All Big Ten honorable mention: Currently top-25 in the following statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, free throw percent.

 

Juwan Gary, All Big Ten honorable mention, all-defensive team: Currently top-25 in the following statistical categories: blocks, steals. In addition, he's a utility defender who draws our most difficult defensive assignments game after game.

 

CJ Wilcher, 6th man of the year: Easily in the discussion if not the runaway choice. In conference games alone, he and Keisei are tied for 6th in the league for 3-pointers made per game. His merit has been detailed in another thread, so I won't go into it further here.

 

 

[Norm Peterson]

I should also mention Rienk Mast for conference Newcomer of the Year.

[AuroranHusker]

4 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

I should also mention Rienk Mast for conference Newcomer of the Year.

 

Yes, all of this...

 

 

[hskr4life]

12 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

I should also mention Rienk Mast for conference Newcomer of the Year.

Tominaga is great.  CJ is having a breakout year off the bench!  Complete glue guy.

 

But we’re nowhere near where we would be right now without Mast.  He’s such a big piece for why this works.  Can play inside and shoot it from outside.  We’re very fortunate his injury happened when it did.  Even if he’s out a few weeks in conference, those games would be very tough to win.

 

He'll be one that you don’t fully appreciate until he’s gone.  Then you realize how big of a piece he truly was.

Edited February 5 by hskr4life

[49r]

I've said it before and I'll say it again here...Juwan Gary is the human cheat code.  He does so much for us that the average Joe doesn't want to do.  I would say that along with Mast he's probably our most important player.

[Norm Peterson]

1 minute ago, hskr4life said:

Tomonaga is great.  CJ is having a breakout year off the bench!  Complete glue guy.

 

But we’re nowhere near where we would be right now without Mast.  He’s such a big piece for why this works.  Can play inside and shoot it from outside.  We’re very fortunate his injury happened when it did.  Even if he’s out a few weeks in conference, those games would be very tough to win.

 

He'll be one that you don’t fully appreciate until he’s gone.  Then you realize how big of a piece he truly was.

 

The biggest question ANY of us had going into this season was whether we'd be able to find anyone who could even remotely fill Derrick Walker's shoes. Followed closely by can we find a point guard to replace Griesel.

 

Derrick was a fabulous player for us. His ability to hit Keisei on back cuts was next level. His touch on drives around the rim was special. But he couldn't hit threes. And he wasn't a back-to-the-basket post-up big.

 

There are things Derrick could do well that don't fit in Rienk's arsenal. But I have to agree that what Rienk brings to the table is maybe the biggest difference for why we are where we are this year.

[Handy Johnson]

5-6 more games like last night from Tominaga might make 1st Team All-B1G hard to deny. 

[tcp]

KT in the running for 2d or 3rd team all conf. reink  for 3rd team or honor mention. 

 

still possible for reink to play his way onto 2d team as well given the competition and how well he's playing of late. 

 

it would be fabulous just to have two players represented on the 3 all conf. teams

[Cazzie22]

Buie of NW

Shannon-Illinois

Coleman-Illinois

Edey-Purdue

Storey-Wisconsin

 

These guys will probably be All B1G.  Who am I leaving out?

[brfrad]

I saw Mast leads the team in PPG, RPG, and APG.  That's a pretty good achievement.  I wondered when the last time that a player led the Huskers in all 3 categories?  Turns out it was only last year when Derek Walker led in all 3 categories.

[Art Vandalay]

2 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

Buie of NW

Shannon-Illinois

Coleman-Illinois

Edey-Purdue

Storey-Wisconsin

 

These guys will probably be All B1G.  Who am I leaving out?

‘Walker at MSU and J Young (my pick) are deserving, not sure Shannon will get much love, missing multiple games and a rape charge.

 

i will be surprised if KT makes it but hopefully he kills it down the stretch again.

[hhcmatt]

2 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

Buie of NW

Shannon-Illinois

Coleman-Illinois

Edey-Purdue

Storey-Wisconsin

 

These guys will probably be All B1G.  Who am I leaving out?

 

Jahmir Young, Maryland

Tyson Walker, Mich St

Braden Smith, Purdue

[Cazzie22]

If we finish strong then we should have a representative on first team.

[cipsucks]

10 minutes ago, Cazzie22 said:

If we finish strong then we should have a representative on first team.

 

If we finish 9-0,and win a game or two in the conference tourney, we will never have a first team player.  Sorry.  But on the positive side, we will finish 9-0!  

[AGHANSEN]

Conference selection picks are always tough to predict.

Should you go off stats more or who provides the most value for a team?

For example, AJ Storr, for Wiscy, doesn't have eye popping stats, but he has changed the trajectory for the Badgers this year with his athleticism.

I'm not really sure, but it would certainly change the picks. 

 

Here is mine,

 

First Team:

Boo Buie - NW

Tyson Walker - MSU

Jahmir Young - Maryland

Zach Edey - Purdue

Braden Smith - Purdue (definitely struggled with the fifth guy)

 

Second Team:

Kayne Clary - PSU

Terrence Shannon Jr - Illinois

AJ Storr - Wisconsin

Dawson Garcia - Minnesota

Rienk Mast - Nebraska

 

 

 

[Huskerpapa]

8 minutes ago, AGHANSEN said:

Conference selection picks are always tough to predict.

Should you go off stats more or who provides the most value for a team?

For example, AJ Storr, for Wiscy, doesn't have eye popping stats, but he has changed the trajectory for the Badgers this year with his athleticism.

I'm not really sure, but it would certainly change the picks. 

 

Here is mine,

 

First Team:

Boo Buie - NW

Tyson Walker - MSU

Jahmir Young - Maryland

Zach Edey - Purdue

Braden Smith - Purdue (definitely struggled with the fifth guy)

 

Second Team:

Kayne Clary - PSU

Terrence Shannon Jr - Illinois

AJ Storr - Wisconsin

Dawson Garcia - Minnesota

Rienk Mast - Nebraska

 

 

 

Maybe I am just a fool (okay that is a given); but given the accusations against Mr. Shannon, is it right to "honor" him?  As a comparison, baseball writers refuse to honor players, that were arguably the best players during their era's!  Yeah, I know that they honored certain players, like Ty Cobb, even thought he was a racist and bigot; but I think you get my point.  Typically if a player is associated with misdeeds, they will not be honored.

[hhcmatt]

3 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Maybe I am just a fool (okay that is a given); but given the accusations against Mr. Shannon, is it right to "honor" him?  As a comparison, baseball writers refuse to honor players, that were arguably the best players during their era's!  Yeah, I know that they honored certain players, like Ty Cobb, even thought he was a racist and bigot; but I think you get my point.  Typically if a player is associated with misdeeds, they will not be honored.

 

Considering that guys on losing teams tend to not get voted onto this list, could very much see media and coaches not voting for Shannon out of principle and potentially giving that vote to Marcus Domask which might put neither of them on the first or second team.

[Norm Peterson]

19 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Maybe I am just a fool (okay that is a given); but given the accusations against Mr. Shannon, is it right to "honor" him?  As a comparison, baseball writers refuse to honor players, that were arguably the best players during their era's!  Yeah, I know that they honored certain players, like Ty Cobb, even thought he was a racist and bigot; but I think you get my point.  Typically if a player is associated with misdeeds, they will not be honored.

 

False accusations happen. They ruin lives and careers. I don't know the details about the accusations against Terence Shannon, but I'm not willing to pronounce him guilty before he's had a trial. Until prosecutors have proven their case, it's just an allegation as far as I'm concerned. And I don't think he should be excluded from any post-season honors on the off chance he might be found guilty down the road.

[cornfed24-7]

7 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

False accusations happen.

They do. But let's go with some facts here. The vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported. The ones that are reported the vast majority go unprosecuted. The ones that are prosecuted the vast majority end in aquital. One only needs to look at the FBI statistics to see this doesn't and up. I thought that this was all worth mentioning since for YEARS any time there is an allegations your go to comment is about false allegations. Go ahead and die on that hill. Mr Shannon may be innocent. He may not. But a bit of caution regarding accolades is warranted. 

[BugeaterZ]

False accusations happen but it's far more common for a legal acquittal to happen despite an actual assault. That's because there are rarely witnesses and it's a case of he said/ she said. Thus why so many go unreported, because why relive the trauma when nothing will happen to the perpetrator?

 

Obviously none of us knows the truth here but imagine he did it and the victim sees him honored. Preventing him from playing basketball won't ruin his life, even if he is innocent. He is still getting a free education while suspended.

 

But in America we value rights more than responsibilities.

[millerhusker]

19 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

Buie of NW

Shannon-Illinois

Coleman-Illinois

Edey-Purdue

Storey-Wisconsin

 

These guys will probably be All B1G.  Who am I leaving out?

Domask is getting a lot of first team love right now. Rightfully so, probably. He's been a big reason for their success. 

Other players who will likely be on the teams that I haven't seen mentioned:  Tony Perkins, Payton Sandfort, Brooks Barnhizer, Kelel Ware, Malik Reneau, Julian Reese, Bruce Thornton, AJ Hoggard. 

[hhcmatt]

2 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Yeah, I know that they honored certain players, like Ty Cobb, even thought he was a racist and bigot

 

I don't care about Shannon either way because I know if he was a Husker that some of the people on here questioning his right to play would be defending his right to play.  Thus I wanted to note, with no relation to what we're discussing here, that you and the rest of us might have been misled about Ty Cobb.

[Norm Peterson]

2 hours ago, BugeaterZ said:

False accusations happen but it's far more common for a legal acquittal to happen despite an actual assault. That's because there are rarely witnesses and it's a case of he said/ she said. Thus why so many go unreported, because why relive the trauma when nothing will happen to the perpetrator?

 

Obviously none of us knows the truth here but imagine he did it and the victim sees him honored. Preventing him from playing basketball won't ruin his life, even if he is innocent. He is still getting a free education while suspended.

 

But in America we value rights more than responsibilities.

 

That all may or may not be true, but it's irrelevant to the point I was making. He's only been accused. He's not been convicted. We don't presume guilt. We do the opposite. Until he's been convicted, a mere accusation isn't sufficient, IMO, to knock him out of contention for post-season recognition. I suppose if there was video or some other unassailable, unimpeachable evidence, I might be willing to change my mind on this point. But an accusation alone isn't going to do it.

[cornfed24-7]

29 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

That all may or may not be true, but it's irrelevant to the point I was making. He's only been accused. He's not been convicted. We don't presume guilt. We do the opposite. Until he's been convicted, a mere accusation isn't sufficient, IMO, to knock him out of contention for post-season recognition. I suppose if there was video or some other unassailable, unimpeachable evidence, I might be willing to change my mind on this point. But an accusation alone isn't going to do it.

You really have a hard time with this. It's not just an accusation. It's been vetted by a DA. And that person believes there's enough evidence to warrant charges. But you go a head and die on that hill. 

[BugeaterZ]

4 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

That all may or may not be true, but it's irrelevant to the point I was making. He's only been accused. He's not been convicted. We don't presume guilt. We do the opposite. Until he's been convicted, a mere accusation isn't sufficient, IMO, to knock him out of contention for post-season recognition. I suppose if there was video or some other unassailable, unimpeachable evidence, I might be willing to change my mind on this point. But an accusation alone isn't going to do it.

I fully agree that innocent until proven guilty is the right standard for criminal conviction.  The privilege of playing college basketball and winning awards is a far different standard in my opinion.  He shouldn't be playing. Lawrence Phillips shouldn't have been allowed back on the team, despite what I wanted in 1995. My thinking has evolved on this and many other things in the last 30 years.