Starting lineup

[Vinny]

I like that lineup, but Essegian was the other player who saw his role shrink along with Meah against Maryland. Something is keeping him from contributing like we know he can right now.

[Huskerpapa]

Instead of the starting five  I will look at the finishers at this moment.  One prerequisite for being on the floor at the end of games is the ability to make free throws.  So who are our top five free throw shooters, AND, do those five hit free throws when the pressure is on. 

 

The easy first choice is Brice.  92% from the line and he makes them when they count.  Shoot, we may be watching one of the best free throw shooters we've ever had.

 

Secondly, Sam Hoiberg.  He shoots 82%.  This may sound strange, but I think the coaches should rethink his offense/defense switches at games end.  He hasn't really had to make a free throw under pressure; but I have little doubt about his ability to do so.  Besides, if he missed it  he would likely turn around and steal the outlet pass.

 

Third, Connor Essigian.   He shoots 81% and his free throws seem a lot smoother since the first several games this year.  He is a shooter and is comfortable launching his shots from anywhere, including the line.

 

Fourth, Juwan Gary.  He has improved his stroke; and although I often scream "oh no" when he shoots from the outside; and "dunk the damn ball" when he misses a bunny; I trust him from the line, and he is shooting 76%

 

Braxton 27%, nope.

Ulis 37%, nope.

Morgan 64%, not quite good enough.

Rollie has improved; 69%; but he would be #6

 

My fifth would be Berke.  He is 68% and we need a big.  I don't believe he lacks the confidence  he simply needs to find his stroke.

 

Yes, I know that many other things go into the equation.  Including handles, rebounding, defense, yada-yada.  What do ya think.

Edited January 20 by Huskerpapa

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

37 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Instead of the starting five  I will look at the finishers at this moment.  One prerequisite for being on the floor at the end of games is the ability to make free throws.  So who are our top five free throw shooters, AND, do those five hit free throws when the pressure is on. 

 

The easy first choice is Brice.  92% from the line and he makes them when they count.  Shoot, we may be watching one of the best free throw shooters we've ever had.

 

Secondly, Sam Hoiberg.  He shoots 82%.  This may sound strange, but I think the coaches should rethink his offense/defense switches at games end.  He hasn't really had to make a free throw under pressure; but I have little doubt about his ability to do so.  Besides, if he missed it  he would likely turn around and steal the outlet pass.

 

Third, Connor Essigian.   He shoots 81% and his free throws seem a lot smoother since the first several games this year.  He is a shooter and is comfortable launching his shots from anywhere, including the line.

 

Fourth, Juwan Gary.  He has improved his stroke; and although I often scream "oh no" when he shoots from the outside; and "dunk the damn ball" when he misses a bunny; I trust him from the line, and he is shooting 76%

 

Braxton 27%, nope.

Ulis 37%, nope.

Morgan 64%, not quite good enough.

Rollie has improved; 69%; but he would be #6

 

My fifth would be Berke.  He is 68% and we need a big.  I don't believe he lacks the confidence  he simply needs to find his stroke.

 

Yes, I know that many other things go into the equation.  Including handles, rebounding, defense, yada-yada.  What do ya think.

 

100% agree. And I'm fairly certain we do close out most games like this - if we have the lead. 

 

That said, I still think the starting lineup needs a change if for no other reason than for a shot in the arm. You never know what you might find. If we change our rotations and beat USC by 20, that could be the momentum we need to kickstart something. Other than Brice coming off the floor, I'm really not opposed to anything. That includes Juwan coming off the bench. 

 

Brice and Connor are the only two players on our team opponents really need to strategize their defensive gameplans around. They both need to be on the floor TOGETHER as much as possible and we actually need to make defenses work to defend us. Our starting lineup is way too easy to defend. 

 

[thrasher31]

1 hour ago, Huskerpapa said:

Instead of the starting five  I will look at the finishers at this moment.  One prerequisite for being on the floor at the end of games is the ability to make free throws.  So who are our top five free throw shooters, AND, do those five hit free throws when the pressure is on. 

 

The easy first choice is Brice.  92% from the line and he makes them when they count.  Shoot, we may be watching one of the best free throw shooters we've ever had.

 

Secondly, Sam Hoiberg.  He shoots 82%.  This may sound strange, but I think the coaches should rethink his offense/defense switches at games end.  He hasn't really had to make a free throw under pressure; but I have little doubt about his ability to do so.  Besides, if he missed it  he would likely turn around and steal the outlet pass.

 

Third, Connor Essigian.   He shoots 81% and his free throws seem a lot smoother since the first several games this year.  He is a shooter and is comfortable launching his shots from anywhere, including the line.

 

Fourth, Juwan Gary.  He has improved his stroke; and although I often scream "oh no" when he shoots from the outside; and "dunk the damn ball" when he misses a bunny; I trust him from the line, and he is shooting 76%

 

Braxton 27%, nope.

Ulis 37%, nope.

Morgan 64%, not quite good enough.

Rollie has improved; 69%; but he would be #6

 

My fifth would be Berke.  He is 68% and we need a big.  I don't believe he lacks the confidence  he simply needs to find his stroke.

 

Yes, I know that many other things go into the equation.  Including handles, rebounding, defense, yada-yada.  What do ya think.

Fred has said before he cares more about who's finishing games vs who's starting. I need Connor to up the efficiency from 3 in conference play. Him, Brice and Gary honestly. They're all 35% and below with Connor and Brice at 34 and 33%. If Connor doesn't improve his efficiency from 3, teams tend to target him on defense and get him pinned under the basket more often than not. 

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

What I'm realizing is Rienk Mast was a bigger loss than I anticipated.

 

Here are some fun facts:

 

-Mast averaged 0.5 blocked shots per game. Rim protector Braxton Meah averages 0.4 blocked shots per game. 

-Mast averaged 7.5 rebounds per game. Meah averages 3.5. Morgan averages 4.6. Berke leads the team with 5.9.

-Mast led the team in assists at 3.0 per game. True point guard Rollie Worster averages 2.6 per game.

-Mast had an A:TO ratio of 1.64. Worster is marginally better at 1.81.

-Mast shot 34.4% from 3 and made 1.3 per game. Only Connor and Brice are making that many 3s per game on our team. 

 

 

[cozrulz]

Ulis needs a look in the starting lineup if he is going to perform like he did yesterday.  10 assists is huge for our point guards that can't seem to shoot.  I thought he was pretty good both on offense & defense.  One steal from him was all because of hustle.

 

Brice and Juwan both appear lackadaisical.  The past couple games have made me question if they have been sick or something.

 

I still like this team and hoping this was just a big rough patch.  Hopefully the crowd & team bring some energy for the USC game.  I don't know if Meah is a matchup problem for them or us.  Can he draw some early fouls against USC?  Or does it make the three ball for them more open?

[TourneyBound]

1 hour ago, cozrulz said:

Ulis needs a look in the starting lineup if he is going to perform like he did yesterday.  10 assists is huge for our point guards that can't seem to shoot.  I thought he was pretty good both on offense & defense.  One steal from him was all because of hustle.

 

Brice and Juwan both appear lackadaisical.  The past couple games have made me question if they have been sick or something.

 

I still like this team and hoping this was just a big rough patch.  Hopefully the crowd & team bring some energy for the USC game.  I don't know if Meah is a matchup problem for them or us.  Can he draw some early fouls against USC?  Or does it make the three ball for them more open?

If ulis is going to play those kind of minutes we need him to be more of a threat on offense.  1 for 6 from field is not gonna cut it.

[cozrulz]

20 minutes ago, TourneyBound said:

If ulis is going to play those kind of minutes we need him to be more of a threat on offense.  1 for 6 from field is not gonna cut it.

 

It's fine if he is getting double digit assist numbers.  Worster was 2-5 with 1 assist.  It would be nice if our point guards were better shooters.

Edited January 20 by cozrulz

[hskr4life]

I like Ullis off the bench if he’s going to be feeding guys like that with little scoring punch. The first group if you sub Morgan for Meah and either Burke or Essegian should provide enough spacing to work on the dribble drive.

 

Id also be interested in some pick and roll lob passes utilizing Meah and Ullis.

[HuskerBB]

2 hours ago, cozrulz said:

 

. . . . . .   It would be nice if our point guards were better shooters.

Just have to highlight this as what may be the understatment of the year on this board. :)

[Handy Johnson]

1 hour ago, HuskerBB said:

Just have to highlight this as what may be the understatment of the year on this board. :)

A Moment of Silence *          * for Glynn Watson 

[Shawn Eichorst's Toupee]

17 hours ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

-Mast led the team in assists at 3.0 per game. True point guard Rollie Worster averages 2.6 per game.

-Mast had an A:TO ratio of 1.64. Worster is marginally better at 1.81.

 

It always felt like also all they came on good back cuts to the rim. This helps keep the defense honest and gives a little more space for those guys to get shots off.

[Vinny]

2 hours ago, Shawn Eichorst's Toupee said:

 

It always felt like also all they came on good back cuts to the rim. This helps keep the defense honest and gives a little more space for those guys to get shots off.

Players have to be making those cuts though. Gary has been spending more time waiting for the corner three than crashing to the block this year.

[hhcmatt]

20 hours ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

What I'm realizing is Rienk Mast was a bigger loss than I anticipated.

 

Here are some fun facts:

 

-Mast averaged 0.5 blocked shots per game. Rim protector Braxton Meah averages 0.4 blocked shots per game. 

-Mast averaged 7.5 rebounds per game. Meah averages 3.5. Morgan averages 4.6. Berke leads the team with 5.9.

-Mast led the team in assists at 3.0 per game. True point guard Rollie Worster averages 2.6 per game.

-Mast had an A:TO ratio of 1.64. Worster is marginally better at 1.81.

-Mast shot 34.4% from 3 and made 1.3 per game. Only Connor and Brice are making that many 3s per game on our team. 

 

We'll see how the year ends but currently this team has the best Defensive rebounding% and block% of the Fred Hoiberg era. 

Mast has more rebounding and block number than Meah in total simply because he played more minutes per game.

 

I expected the 3pt shots to go down and with that assist rate.  To me the unexpected thing has been our turnover issues. 

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

43 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

We'll see how the year ends but currently this team has the best Defensive rebounding% and block% of the Fred Hoiberg era. 

 

If only our opponents would start missing more shots 

[Faux Mike Peltz]

I think we are missing KT’s ability to hard cut and run sets w Mast. He was such a threat to shoot from inside 30’ that teams overplayed him and he often times scored at the rim. Pretty sure his 2pt fg% was really high last year. We lose KT and lose Mast’s passing ability, it had a big impact. 

[hhcmatt]

10 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

If only our opponents would start missing more shots 

 

So that we're clear here, I'm talking in terms of not giving up offensive rebounds and I'm talking about a percentage.  Specifically, what percentage of the time do you give up an offensive rebound on a missed shot which gives your opponent another possession. This is a calculation built on misses, not whether or not your opponent misses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

Just now, hhcmatt said:

 

So that we're clear here, I'm talking in terms of not giving up offensive rebounds and I'm talking about a percentage.  Specifically, what percentage of the time do you give up an offensive rebound on a missed shot which gives your opponent another possession. This is a calculation built on misses, not whether or not your opponent misses.

 

 

Right, I just meant since we are better than recent years at grabbing defensive rebounds when we have a chance to, it would be nice to get more opportunities to do that. 

 

[hhcmatt]

In today's presser Fred said we had a couple of guys who were held out of practice due to injury though were hoping they'd be available tomorrow so it doesn't sound bad. 
It's possible we could see a lineup change due to availability.

[royalfan]

Essegian needs to play more.  We need to have court spacers out there.  Allows more room for Gary and Williams to operate.  They way hoiberg is shooting it I think our best unit is one without either true point guard.  They just cannot make an open shot.  Big 10 guards need to be able to.  

[cozrulz]

Seems like our bigs aren't giving us enough minutes.

[GhostOfJoeMcCray]

17 minutes ago, cozrulz said:

Seems like our bigs aren't giving us enough minutes.

 

I think they're giving us minutes, just not good minutes. We have 3 guys doing the job that 2 did last year. 

 

Mast 29.7 mpg

Allick 23.8 mpg

 

Berke 23.4 mpg

Morgan 17.7 mpg

Meah 15 mpg

Edited January 23 by GhostOfJoeMcCray

[75unlgrad]

We are not getting the point guard production/big man production we need.  My starting line-up would be:

Brice Williams -- point guard

Connor Essegian -- shooting guard

Juwan Gary -- small forward

Berke Buyuktuncel -- power forward

Andrew Morgan -- center

 

I would like to see Gavin Griffiths get a few minutes each half.  He has potential to help us with perimeter shooting.

Worster, Meah, Ulis, and Hoiberg come off the bench.

[lang]

2 hours ago, 75unlgrad said:

We are not getting the point guard production/big man production we need.  My starting line-up would be:

Brice Williams -- point guard

Connor Essegian -- shooting guard

Juwan Gary -- small forward

Berke Buyuktuncel -- power forward

Andrew Morgan -- center

 

I would like to see Gavin Griffiths get a few minutes each half.  He has potential to help us with perimeter shooting.

Worster, Meah, Ulis, and Hoiberg come off the bench.

Sounds solid to me….it’s time to start tinkering.

[basketballjones]

I am kinda done with this season because I am so disappointed in the product we are putting on the floor, the coaching, the lack of true support from 1890, etc... 

 

But call me crazy, I would start:

1. Bryce

2. Sam

3. Essegian

4. Juwan

5. Berke/Morgan (whoever is playing better)

 

Defense decides if you win games, offense decides by how much. What players you play in your normal rotation at P5, Division 1 basketball, shouldn't have a "massive" impact on your defense - that is - if you have an actual program and a recruiting philosophy. 

Edited January 24 by basketballjones