2024 Portal Watch

[millerhusker]

3 minutes ago, AGHANSEN said:

It's because of AJ Storr. Storr was much more versatile offensively and defensively.

Wiscy was a a NIT team with Essigian playing a lot of minutes in 22-23 and this year the Badgers were a 5 seed in the tourney with Storr.

 

I guess I would take Essigan, but it wouldn't get me that excited. 

My Wisconsin friends say Storr was the weak link of their defense this year. They had a top 20ish defense last year and a top 60ish defense this year, and really the only difference in personnel was Storr taking Essegian's spot. 

Storr did obviously bring an element of three level scoring that Wisconsin hasn't had since probably Sam Dekker. 

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

58 minutes ago, huskercabby said:

I agree with you 100%. We need to improve our athleticism. It wasn’t just A&M. 

 

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team.  

 

-If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). 

 

Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: 

 

-Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to  Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. 

 

-Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. 

 

-Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. 

 

-Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. 

We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year. 

Edited April 19, 2024 by GhostOfJoeMcCray

[Silverbacked1]

Also doesn’t these last couple of guys balance the classes some. I know nobody will stay the whole time. But you also don’t want to have knowingly have to bring in 7 new players each year because of one and dones. 

[k3s3i]

47 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team.  

 

-If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). 

 

Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: 

 

-Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to  Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. 

 

-Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. 

 

-Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. 

 

-Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. 

We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year. 

Great breakdown, I think a lot of people are underselling the overall upgrade of length and athleticism. Just think, no matter what high major we were playing, when cj and keisei were on the floor they were the 2 worst athletes 8/10 times 

[hskr4life]

1 hour ago, huskercabby said:

Isn’t that what he basically did for Wisconsin, come off the bench to provide a spark. He’ making a parallel move. Why? Don’t feel good about him at all!

I mean— he played 7 MPG last year.  I’d venture to say we can offer more than that off the bench, so next exactly parallel move— even though he might still be projected to come off the bench.

[hskr4life]

We also have to trust that Fred knows what he’s looking for now.  He’s got the formula to the secret sauce that works for him.  I don’t think he’d go away from that just to get more athletic.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fred was completely transparent and honest with what he expected and envisioned for each player we’ve recruited.

 

I would hope, much like Boogie, that each player took that to heart before committing and they know that we expect ‘we over me’.

[hhcmatt]

Re: Essegian losing playing time and transferring 

 

2022-23 season

 

2023-24 season

 

Regardless of the intent, Essegian got recruited over. If someone has some time they could probably dig through Wisconsin message boards about why he was basically phased out of the rotation. Could have just been a simple confidence thing.  Pretty easy to see why he'd want a change of scenery though.  Seems like he easily could be a drop in place Wilcher replacement with the potential to go Tominaga.

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

4 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

I mean— he played 7 MPG last year.  I’d venture to say we can offer more than that off the bench, so next exactly parallel move— even though he might still be projected to come off the bench.

 

I read an article on Essegian. Fans were very high on him and excited about him coming into the season after being on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. He hurt his back in the first game of the season, then received little playing time because Gard didn't like his defensive effort. 

 

Yet as Essegian jogged from the scorers table out onto the court, the ovation was loud. He grinned wryly as he settled into his defensive spot. And as quick as Essegian's joy revealed itself, it vanished. Jacksonville State guard Caleb Johnson cut backdoor, with Essegian allowing a layup to Johnson on his first play of the game. Gard called guard Isaac Lindsey off the bench, who replaced Essegian on the court just 25 seconds after he entered. The cheers for his arrival turned to boos as he departed. He draped a towel over his head and paced for a moment before finding his spot on the bench, again, to wait.

 

"We can't afford to let him play through it," Gard said. "The stakes are too high in terms of what this team wants to accomplish."

 

After Essegian's eighth game of less than 10 minutes, the waiting still continues. The sophomore did check in again, hitting a 3-pointer to finish with three points on 1-of-2 from deep in four minutes, but it's his play on the other end of the floor that put Gard in a position where he feels he cannot allow Essegian to find a rhythm with court time."

 

**I don't know enough about his defensive effort, but I do know Wisconsin fans more or less despise Gard and how he "developed" Essegian. 

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

P.S. in that game mentioned above for Essegian, Wisconsin was up 46-37 with 13:50 remaining when Gard put him in, and that basket he allowed made it 46-39, and Gard benched him 22 seconds later at the next dead ball. Some might call that tough love coaching, others might call it being a d!ck, and others might call it showing up and embarrassing your player. You're going to pull a guy after giving him 20 seconds and one mistake while you're up 7 on Jacksonville State? Why even put him in then if you have that little confidence in him? Just strange. I would imagine at that moment Essegian put both feet out the door. 

Edited April 19, 2024 by GhostOfJoeMcCray

[BjoeHusker]

1 hour ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team.  

 

-If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). 

 

Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: 

 

-Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to  Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. 

 

-Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. 

 

-Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. 

 

-Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. 

We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year. 

Eli Rice is very athletic.

[HuskerFever]

27 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

We also have to trust that Fred knows what he’s looking for now.  He’s got the formula to the secret sauce that works for him.  I don’t think he’d go away from that just to get more athletic.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fred was completely transparent and honest with what he expected and envisioned for each player we’ve recruited.

 

I would hope, much like Boogie, that each player took that to heart before committing and they know that we expect ‘we over me’.

 

I think we may be overlooking an element too that just because we're going after certain transfers doesn't mean we're top contenders.

 

Fred's going to have to balance between sure things, 50/50s, and long shot guys. And he's got to do all that while trying to determine how to best fill a roster.

[Vinny]

34 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

P.S. in that game mentioned above for Essegian, Wisconsin was up 46-37 with 13:50 remaining when Gard put him in, and that basket he allowed made it 46-39, and Gard benched him 22 seconds later at the next dead ball. Some might call that tough love coaching, others might call it being a d!ck, and others might call it showing up and embarrassing your player. You're going to pull a guy after giving him 20 seconds and one mistake while you're up 7 on Jacksonville State? Why even put him in then if you have that little confidence in him? Just strange. I would imagine at that moment Essegian put both feet out the door. 

Put both feet out the door, then stepped back in to audition against us and go 4/7 from deep in 12 minutes.

[Huskerpapa]

2 hours ago, Art Vandalay said:

As for Morgan. I think we went after him early because he is a solid all around big guy who is willing to come off the bench. Most of those guys want starting roles. I think he is perfect as long as we get 1-2 more starter types.

I am puzzled, and not in a disrespectful manner.  I simply have never heard Morgan or anyone from our coaching staff state that he is coming to Nebraska in order to be a bench or role player.

I believe he is coming here with every intention of being a starter.  In fact, I hope and pray that every player we are bringing in has the character and skills to earn a starting job. 

The million dollar attribute though, is that they fight for a starting position; but mentally are capable of accepting and will thrive in whatever role is earned.

[hskr4life]

It probably also helps too that you can go back and see that Fred truly does play the hot hand.  So coming off the bench doesn't automatically assume you're getting less than starters minutes.  How many times did JLaw play a ton of minutes off the bench late or how many times did KT ride the bench on his off nights for extended periods of time.

 

I think Fred does a really good job of not getting caught up in how many minutes a guy has or hasn't played and rides who is hot more often than not.

[Art Vandalay]

50 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

I am puzzled, and not in a disrespectful manner.  I simply have never heard Morgan or anyone from our coaching staff state that he is coming to Nebraska in order to be a bench or role player.

I believe he is coming here with every intention of being a starter.  In fact, I hope and pray that every player we are bringing in has the character and skills to earn a starting job. 

The million dollar attribute though, is that they fight for a starting position; but mentally are capable of accepting and will thrive in whatever role is earned.

No worries, I agree that is the mindset they should all have. I have to believe Fred was very upfront with him in that he wants to have at least a 3 man rotation at the 4/5 and he would probably be the one starting on the bench unless we miss our other targets. He only played like 23 minutes a game in ND so it will not be a shock for him. I think part of the reason we targeted him is him being open to that role.

Edited April 19, 2024 by Art Vandalay

[thrasher31]

For those asking about essegian and the fall off he had, he had a back injury at the first game of the season and he never found his footing after that. Storr obviously was outstanding, and they did need size at that spot. Blackwell coming in and being as good as he was, that was as bit unexpected also. Barely a top 250 guy that outperformed expectations a lot. So that put Connor 4th in the pecking order in that 2/3 slot for minutes. 

 

I think there's some stuff there for sure. Defense needs improvement definitely, but he has good size at 6'3-6'4. He plays with a bit of fire I remember from the Wisconsin games I watched. 

[Fullbacksympathy]

4 minutes ago, thrasher31 said:

For those asking about essegian and the fall off he had, he had a back injury at the first game of the season and he never found his footing after that. Storr obviously was outstanding, and they did need size at that spot. Blackwell coming in and being as good as he was, that was as bit unexpected also. Barely a top 250 guy that outperformed expectations a lot. So that put Connor 4th in the pecking order in that 2/3 slot for minutes. 

 

I think there's some stuff there for sure. Defense needs improvement definitely, but he has good size at 6'3-6'4. He plays with a bit of fire I remember from the Wisconsin games I watched. 

 

 

His freshman tape might be a better indicator of his upside.  He had a hell of a season when healthy.  I'm guessing Fred is pulling out all the stops here.  I'm not sure he's a bench player when healthy.  Pretty natural 2 guard.  

[thrasher31]

If I'm gonna be completely honest, I prefer Hausen between the two. But, having big ten experience is something I would like, and worst case scenario, Janowski is sitting right there. 

 

I'm on board with this one though. Getting an off ball movement shooter was obviously a priority, and Connor/Hausen fit that to a T. 

[jimmykc]

Well, is he "N" or not? we seem to be the only site saying this so far.

[huskercabby]

Hopefully, we wait until after Hausen visits.

[Nebrasketball1979]

1 hour ago, huskercabby said:

Hopefully, we wait until after Hausen visits.

It does not look like that is going to happen as it sounds like the Essegian commitment is imminent.

[HuskerFever]

Does this mean Illinois gets extra scholarship spots for the types of players they recruit?

 

 

[k3s3i]

I think essigian might have a little more game off the bounce, but I’ll take whoever commits first, and it looks like essigian 

[hhcmatt]

2 hours ago, huskercabby said:

Hopefully, we wait until after Hausen visits.

 

We simultaneously have too many and not enough scholarships available

[Swan88]

This usually means a commit: