Immediate and long-term future....what is your opinion?

[twister31]

First and foremost, nothing that is discussed in this topic is a *personal* attack on anyone. Simply, these are observations and thoughts that I and friends/family have had over the last several years (so it's not a knee-jerk reaction to the end of the season).

 

With that, please feel free to add and share what your observations and thoughts are. I'm generally interested to see what the consensus is on the board. These are my rambling thoughts. 

 

First, in terms of the future success of the program, I think it’s been shown that Nebraska needs to get much bigger, stronger/physical, and more athletic. We can beat teams of similar talent and athleticism, and we occasionally beat teams who are higher than us in those elements. But we can’t/don’t *consistently* beat those teams that are in the upper echelon and where I’d like to see Nebraska get to, at least off and on. We need guards who can get to the basket and who can create for themselves as well as others. I've heard several close friends/family members mention that the NCAA tournament has shown that the B1G doesn't have the athletic guards across the league (not like the SEC, PAC-12, etc.). Post play I’ll discuss later on.

 

One way to shore up *some* of these deficiencies is through the portal. In my opinion, we simply don’t utilize it well or enough. It might seem cutthroat, but a coach's job (among others, obviously) is to win, and to do that you need to consistently bring in players who threaten to put your current starters on the bench. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will always accomplish that, but if you aren’t actively trying to do that, then I think that’s where you get programs that stall out or decline because what you bring in isn’t better than what you have. It's one of the main reasons why volleyball is so successful. Sure, Cook recruits at an extremely high level, bringing in recruits that put multiple-year starters on the bench, but he also uses the portal to accomplish that too (or to fill glaring holes where we don't stack up). Back to basketball, take this year’s team for example. Realistically, out of our starting lineup, we had 2, maybe 3, players who would be considered bona fide starters. The rest were borderline starters/role players elevated to starters or much bigger roles than they might have somewhere else. And to the player’s credit, they played hard and did the most with the situation that they could.

 

I know it’s Williams’ philosophy, but I don’t like, or maybe it's the fact that I don't understand, our sub-patterns. Too many times we get players that just start getting into a groove and then they are subbed out. That can mess with your offensive rhythm, both individually and team-wise, which we saw periodically throughout the year. Either we need to be better conditioned so that players can play longer, or we need to recruit players who can do that. You need to be able to keep your difference makers in the game for as long as possible. One exception that I can think of is the 2009-10 team, they often subbed in five at a time, but they were also a very aggressive in-your-face defensive team; we currently aren’t. I’d be ok with the subs if we pressed a lot and played an in-your-face style, but we don’t and that’s probably because we don’t have the athleticism to do so effectively.

 

Breaking presses, I won't discuss that much. We seemingly have always struggled with it. Does anyone with expert knowledge in that area have any opinions? 

 

Now, let's switch gears to immediate success, starting next year. This *assumes* that the four seniors who walked on senior day are done (looks like it), we don’t have any players transfer out, and that Weidner returns and is at least close to her previous level of play (which is going to be difficult but I’m rooting for her).

 

There is no magic formula to dramatically increase our current collection of guards' athleticism to get by quicker, longer defenders. However, every one of them can improve their ball-handling abilities which would certainly help negate those disadvantages a bit. From observations, we cross over in front of defenders a lot and I’m surprised we don’t have the ball stolen more. Being able to dribble between the legs at a high proficiency would also help. I have also noticed that sometimes when our guards drive, we don’t see who’s open, which, appears to be because of tunnel vision. I think confidence in ball-handling ability would help alleviate that.  I also see a lot of guards from other teams that can drive in and then use a quick spin move and get to the bucket rather easily. I hardly see our players do that (maybe Jaz a couple times?).

 

As far as post-play is concerned, it’s not *that* far off but certainly areas for improvement. One thing that I’m genuinely jealous of is Iowa’s ability to develop posts that have terrific footwork, use quick moves, and know how to use angles and touch to score in the post. I’ve felt too many times that we take very poor angles and/or rocket the ball off the backboard and those shots generally don’t have a chance. Now, the caveat that I will add here is that there was some improvement in this area between last year and this year so I’m leaving that on a wait-and-see mode. However, our defense in the post is....suspect. There are many times you can see the opposing team's post dribbling to one side of the lane and you *know* they're going to drop step back to the other side and it works quite often. I don't know if that's a philosophy thing or if we don't anticipate that move coming, but sometimes it's really obvious. Also, it really annoys me when the posts stop with their hands straight up in the air watching the ball after some contact that may be called a foul. I could put together a small movie of this happening and we lose the rebound because the offensive player simply goes and gets the ball. Like I said earlier, I don't think the post play is off *that* much and it seemed improved this year.

 

In terms of general play, I hope we focus on defense in the offseason. If we could improve it even a bit to the degree we improved our rebounding that would help eliminate some of those losses that we can’t afford (like Rutgers/Illinois). I also hope, that with Prince and a hopefully fully recovered Weidner, we push the issue more on transition. I believe in both of their abilities to get the ball and immediately go. They both have great vision. There may be some growing pains early in turnovers, but I think it's crucial going forward, especially because I think that’s a real strength of both of them. Getting easy baskets in transition would help out immensely. Essentially, what I’m saying is I don't want us to waste opportunities where we have the ability.

 

Last but not least, I think hosting the NCAA tournament is within reach and should be a legitimate goal for next year.

 

This got long, but as I mentioned, these are observations from multiple people that I talked to. Now, rip this apart lol. 

 

 

[Bugeaters1]

Did you see coach Hoiberg's Presser toward the end of the season where he talked about the analytical part of how Nebraska basketball, he was told that the players were at maxium load. Fred wadded the paper up and through it in the trash. That is why Amy makes the substitution that she does.

 

[twister31]

9 minutes ago, Bugeaters1 said:

Did you see coach Hoiberg's Presser toward the end of the season where he talked about the analytical part of how Nebraska basketball, he was told that the players were at maxium load. Fred wadded the paper up and through it in the trash. That is why Amy makes the substitution that she does.

 

The only time I remember him talking about this and throwing the paper in the trash is when we lost to Maryland and they gave him those analytics and he said no, we need to go hard. Now, by the time we got to the end of the season with conference and NCAA tournaments, then he mentioned how he'd follow their advice.

[Cazzie22]

Jaz played nearly 38-40 minutes a game.  I am wondering who will take that role? The substitution pattern probably helped us in some games and seems to be good for team morale. I think Alexis wants to be good and she will work in improving in the post.  She has to as the caliber of post play is going up in the B1G. We have a good core group of players.  Can we blend in transfers that will make a major impact without disrupting team chemistry.  I would certainly like us to pursue Amoore, from Va Tech.  She is an Australian but might follow her coach to Kentucky.

 

Iowa is showing that you don’t have to extremely athletic to win.  Those girls battle and hustle.

[Bugeaters1]

Did anyone catch that Staley plays 9 players?

 

[twister31]

1 hour ago, Bugeaters1 said:

Did anyone catch that Staley plays 9 players?

 

They also play a very aggressive style of defense so naturally you're going to have to sub more

[twister31]

1 hour ago, Cazzie22 said:

Jaz played nearly 38-40 minutes a game.  I am wondering who will take that role? The substitution pattern probably helped us in some games and seems to be good for team morale. I think Alexis wants to be good and she will work in improving in the post.  She has to as the caliber of post play is going up in the B1G. We have a good core group of players.  Can we blend in transfers that will make a major impact without disrupting team chemistry.  I would certainly like us to pursue Amoore, from Va Tech.  She is an Australian but might follow her coach to Kentucky.

 

Iowa is showing that you don’t have to extremely athletic to win.  Those girls battle and hustle.

I would say the sub pattern probably helped us later in the B1G tourney, but I'd also say it hurt us in some regular-season games. I think Prince is going to have to take up that slack from Jaz. Doesn't have to play the point all the time, Weidner can help (if healthy), but I don't know if you can take her passing and creating ability off the court. Unless she plays bad defense.

I don't think Iowa is a very good example considering who plays for them lol.

[Bugeaters1]

They also play a very aggressive style of defense so naturally you're going to have to sub more

You have all of the answers don't ya!!!

Sent from my SM-S911U using Tapatalk

[Redhac]

There are multiple items to improve on:  First of all we do not use free throw line jump shots really at all which would help with  the offense.  Nissley can and likely Weidner as well.   The guards need to more effectively use the screens to either do a quick catch and shoot (Nissley is good at quick catch and shoot)and  or drive to the basket hard to either score or get fouled.  Moriarty drove to the basket but only insolated instances.  Our passing is suspect more than it should be with bad longer passes at times so improved passing mentality is warranted.  It seems that schemes and movement for Potts and Markowski could improve to get open more.  The addition of Prince will be a huge plus with various shooting and passing skills.  Adding a couple of 6'3" or more quality players would also be huge.

[caveman]

A few thoughts........ We are going to have change our recruiting strategy, cause the west coast should now be open for business.  If we efficiently change up, the length and atheleticism should take care of itself (Lot's of talent on the west coast).  Fundamentally I think we do pretty poorly here.  Pass, catch and boxing out we need to do a better job of teaching and pounding the importance of that.  Let's go Cook here (serve and serve receive is the most important part of the game.  In spite of how much the crowd loves the thunder shot and the roof).  I am sick of watching lazy passes being our down fall.  I also think our offense needs to be tweaked.  Long entry passes and the three point line are not going to beat the best teams (usually).  We need to do more with dribble penetration and midrange.   That being said, I do think we are going in the right direction.  We took coach Williams as a feel good hire, but any amount of common sense should have told us that she was going to take a bit of time developing as a coach.  Though I've questioned it in the past, I do think she has turned the corner.  So I do think our future is pretty bright, but I also think we're a still about 4 years away from that tremendously bright future

[Cazzie22]

The Nebraska WBB program is on solid ground.  We have demonstrated this past season we can play with the best (Iowa) and lose to the worst (Rutgers) or get blown out when not ready to play (Ohio St).  So there is still work to be done.  With the West Coast teams entering that work became much more difficult.  Juju Watkins will be a matchup nightmare for every B1G team.  I think we will be competitive and maybe that’s the most we can expect.

[Neb Nets]

1 hour ago, Cazzie22 said:

The Nebraska WBB program is on solid ground.  We have demonstrated this past season we can play with the best (Iowa) and lose to the worst (Rutgers) or get blown out when not ready to play (Ohio St).  So there is still work to be done.  With the West Coast teams entering that work became much more difficult.  Juju Watkins will be a matchup nightmare for every B1G team.  I think we will be competitive and maybe that’s the most we can expect.

I agree that the arrival of the 2 California schools next year makes Amy’s job more challenging. 
 

1 year and 9 months after the news was announced, and I still can’t wrap my brain around the fact that Nebraska will be in the same athletic conference as USC and UCLA. WHAT?!?!
 

Crazy world that we’ve been thrust into. 

[Gamafn]

On 4/1/2024 at 4:54 PM, twister31 said:

First and foremost, nothing that is discussed in this topic is a *personal* attack on anyone. Simply, these are observations and thoughts that I and friends/family have had over the last several years (so it's not a knee-jerk reaction to the end of the season).

 

With that, please feel free to add and share what your observations and thoughts are. I'm generally interested to see what the consensus is on the board. These are my rambling thoughts. 

 

First, in terms of the future success of the program, I think it’s been shown that Nebraska needs to get much bigger, stronger/physical, and more athletic. We can beat teams of similar talent and athleticism, and we occasionally beat teams who are higher than us in those elements. But we can’t/don’t *consistently* beat those teams that are in the upper echelon and where I’d like to see Nebraska get to, at least off and on. We need guards who can get to the basket and who can create for themselves as well as others. I've heard several close friends/family members mention that the NCAA tournament has shown that the B1G doesn't have the athletic guards across the league (not like the SEC, PAC-12, etc.). Post play I’ll discuss later on.

 

One way to shore up *some* of these deficiencies is through the portal. In my opinion, we simply don’t utilize it well or enough. It might seem cutthroat, but a coach's job (among others, obviously) is to win, and to do that you need to consistently bring in players who threaten to put your current starters on the bench. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you will always accomplish that, but if you aren’t actively trying to do that, then I think that’s where you get programs that stall out or decline because what you bring in isn’t better than what you have. It's one of the main reasons why volleyball is so successful. Sure, Cook recruits at an extremely high level, bringing in recruits that put multiple-year starters on the bench, but he also uses the portal to accomplish that too (or to fill glaring holes where we don't stack up). Back to basketball, take this year’s team for example. Realistically, out of our starting lineup, we had 2, maybe 3, players who would be considered bona fide starters. The rest were borderline starters/role players elevated to starters or much bigger roles than they might have somewhere else. And to the player’s credit, they played hard and did the most with the situation that they could.

 

I know it’s Williams’ philosophy, but I don’t like, or maybe it's the fact that I don't understand, our sub-patterns. Too many times we get players that just start getting into a groove and then they are subbed out. That can mess with your offensive rhythm, both individually and team-wise, which we saw periodically throughout the year. Either we need to be better conditioned so that players can play longer, or we need to recruit players who can do that. You need to be able to keep your difference makers in the game for as long as possible. One exception that I can think of is the 2009-10 team, they often subbed in five at a time, but they were also a very aggressive in-your-face defensive team; we currently aren’t. I’d be ok with the subs if we pressed a lot and played an in-your-face style, but we don’t and that’s probably because we don’t have the athleticism to do so effectively.

 

Breaking presses, I won't discuss that much. We seemingly have always struggled with it. Does anyone with expert knowledge in that area have any opinions? 

 

Now, let's switch gears to immediate success, starting next year. This *assumes* that the four seniors who walked on senior day are done (looks like it), we don’t have any players transfer out, and that Weidner returns and is at least close to her previous level of play (which is going to be difficult but I’m rooting for her).

 

There is no magic formula to dramatically increase our current collection of guards' athleticism to get by quicker, longer defenders. However, every one of them can improve their ball-handling abilities which would certainly help negate those disadvantages a bit. From observations, we cross over in front of defenders a lot and I’m surprised we don’t have the ball stolen more. Being able to dribble between the legs at a high proficiency would also help. I have also noticed that sometimes when our guards drive, we don’t see who’s open, which, appears to be because of tunnel vision. I think confidence in ball-handling ability would help alleviate that.  I also see a lot of guards from other teams that can drive in and then use a quick spin move and get to the bucket rather easily. I hardly see our players do that (maybe Jaz a couple times?).

 

As far as post-play is concerned, it’s not *that* far off but certainly areas for improvement. One thing that I’m genuinely jealous of is Iowa’s ability to develop posts that have terrific footwork, use quick moves, and know how to use angles and touch to score in the post. I’ve felt too many times that we take very poor angles and/or rocket the ball off the backboard and those shots generally don’t have a chance. Now, the caveat that I will add here is that there was some improvement in this area between last year and this year so I’m leaving that on a wait-and-see mode. However, our defense in the post is....suspect. There are many times you can see the opposing team's post dribbling to one side of the lane and you *know* they're going to drop step back to the other side and it works quite often. I don't know if that's a philosophy thing or if we don't anticipate that move coming, but sometimes it's really obvious. Also, it really annoys me when the posts stop with their hands straight up in the air watching the ball after some contact that may be called a foul. I could put together a small movie of this happening and we lose the rebound because the offensive player simply goes and gets the ball. Like I said earlier, I don't think the post play is off *that* much and it seemed improved this year.

 

In terms of general play, I hope we focus on defense in the offseason. If we could improve it even a bit to the degree we improved our rebounding that would help eliminate some of those losses that we can’t afford (like Rutgers/Illinois). I also hope, that with Prince and a hopefully fully recovered Weidner, we push the issue more on transition. I believe in both of their abilities to get the ball and immediately go. They both have great vision. There may be some growing pains early in turnovers, but I think it's crucial going forward, especially because I think that’s a real strength of both of them. Getting easy baskets in transition would help out immensely. Essentially, what I’m saying is I don't want us to waste opportunities where we have the ability.

 

Last but not least, I think hosting the NCAA tournament is within reach and should be a legitimate goal for next year.

 

This got long, but as I mentioned, these are observations from multiple people that I talked to. Now, rip this apart lol. 

 

 

Very astute observations, all of which I agree with.  This team was very frustrating to follow.  It had pretty obvious deficiencies noted above and yet looked terrific at times, e.g. against Iowa twice.  At other times they looked like they were just going through the motions, e.g., Rutgers obviously, but after an impressive run through the B1G tournament they played poorly in the dance against both A&M (barely winning against a 12-loss team playing without their best player) and OSU (who played poorly in that game and were ripe for picking off).  The same can be said for the key players, Shelley and Markowski, terrific at times and MIA other times.  Not sure what the answer is, but I do agree that both portal recruiting and development need to ratchet up.

[Huskerpapa]

Question.  At Nebraska, what coach within the women's programs should be paid more, Volleyball or Basketball?  And why?

[All About the Corn]

Volleyball. Cook's resume speaks for itself. When Cook retires and if it is who I think it will be (DBK) then she should still be paid more than our WBB coach. Again her resume speaks for itself.

[Fastbreaker]

1 hour ago, All About the Corn said:

Volleyball. Cook's resume speaks for itself. When Cook retires and if it is who I think it will be (DBK) then she should still be paid more than our WBB coach. Again her resume speaks for itself.

It's not So much The resume but What is the going rate for a coach in the P6 conferences. Women's BB coaches Get get paid lots more than volleyball coaches

[Cazzie22]

2 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Question.  At Nebraska, what coach within the women's programs should be paid more, Volleyball or Basketball?  And why?

Basketball is still a premier sport.  Cook deserves every dollar he earns for developing a monster program that must be fed.  VB could overtake BB nationally as more girls are playing at the scholastic level than play BB.

[Neb Nets]

3 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

Question.  At Nebraska, what coach within the women's programs should be paid more, Volleyball or Basketball?  And why?

I think Cook deserves more money than Amy not only because of greater success on the court but also the fact that NU Volleyball is a revenue-generating sport and NU WBB is not. 

[whoopdeedoo]

huskers at #21

 

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39882544/womens-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2024-25-poll

[whoopdeedoo]

huskers at #21

 

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39882544/womens-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2024-25-poll

 how many of you thought the huskers would defeat maryland twice in the same season?

sure hope this continues

Edited April 9 by whoopdeedoo

[HUD]

32 minutes ago, whoopdeedoo said:

huskers at #21

 

https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/39882544/womens-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2024-25-poll

 

have to admit, how many of you thought the huskers would defeat maryland twice in the same season?

sure hope this continues

Or 2-0 against Michigan, 3-0 Purdue, 2-0 Mich state.