Nebraska Basketball: 10-man rotation next season (maybe even 11-man rotation?)

[49r]

Facebook picture from Husker Hoops blog of LS airborne

 

 

Looks to be a bit of a change up from Ubel.

[49r]

Fortunately, Petteway and Pitchford have been around a year.  They aren't just wet-behind-the-ears new guys and I would expect them to be able to hit the ground running this fall.  Including Shields and Rivers in that mix gives us four front-line players with a year under Miles who should make us as competitive up front as we were last year. 

 

Biggs has also been around a year and so, similarly, the backcourt has at least some guys who aren't going to be rolling out for their first practices with Miles trying to learn a whole new system.

 

I'm thinking Fuller could have the same kind of impact in his first season as Shields did last year and there's certainly potential that Webster could as well. 

 

If those freshmen and Smith pan out, this team could be pretty good.  THIS year.  And I think we'll be reasonably competent with the guys coming back (including the transfers) that we should be able to hold down the fort until the new guys catch up to speed.

 

Still, we'll need to find an identity and we are mixing a bunch of new guys into the mix who haven't had experience with each other until now.  Building that chemistry might take some games to occur.

 

Now THERE'S the uber-optimistic, sunshine pumping Norm we all know and love!

 

It just doesn't seem like it's truly the offseason until the Norm blooms!  

[Dicemanhusker]

Fortunately, Petteway and Pitchford have been around a year. They aren't just wet-behind-the-ears new guys and I would expect them to be able to hit the ground running this fall. Including Shields and Rivers in that mix gives us four front-line players with a year under Miles who should make us as competitive up front as we were last year.

Biggs has also been around a year and so, similarly, the backcourt has at least some guys who aren't going to be rolling out for their first practices with Miles trying to learn a whole new system.

I'm thinking Fuller could have the same kind of impact in his first season as Shields did last year and there's certainly potential that Webster could as well.

If those freshmen and Smith pan out, this team could be pretty good. THIS year. And I think we'll be reasonably competent with the guys coming back (including the transfers) that we should be able to hold down the fort until the new guys catch up to speed.

Still, we'll need to find an identity and we are mixing a bunch of new guys into the mix who haven't had experience with each other until now. Building that chemistry might take some games to occur.

Now THERE'S the uber-optimistic, sunshine pumping Norm we all know and love!

It just doesn't seem like it's truly the offseason until the Norm blooms!

I'm right there with ya Norm! How do I join the sunshine club?!? :-)

Of course I'm a realist, but also an optimist! We do have a chance to be pretty darned good this year if some guys really work very hard & develop. I have no reason to believe they won't. I'll call mine "tempered optimism".

GBR

[Huskerpapa]

Is that Rivers in the white???  If it is, he has put on more muscle.

[uneblinstu]

 

Interesting that they don't use the same ball that they use in games...

Are they perhaps going away from the Adidas ball? They always had a billion of those balls for practice ever since they had started using them.

 

Entirely possible.

[PimpMario]

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

[Swan88]

 

 

Fortunately, Petteway and Pitchford have been around a year. They aren't just wet-behind-the-ears new guys and I would expect them to be able to hit the ground running this fall. Including Shields and Rivers in that mix gives us four front-line players with a year under Miles who should make us as competitive up front as we were last year.

Biggs has also been around a year and so, similarly, the backcourt has at least some guys who aren't going to be rolling out for their first practices with Miles trying to learn a whole new system.

I'm thinking Fuller could have the same kind of impact in his first season as Shields did last year and there's certainly potential that Webster could as well.

If those freshmen and Smith pan out, this team could be pretty good. THIS year. And I think we'll be reasonably competent with the guys coming back (including the transfers) that we should be able to hold down the fort until the new guys catch up to speed.

Still, we'll need to find an identity and we are mixing a bunch of new guys into the mix who haven't had experience with each other until now. Building that chemistry might take some games to occur.

Now THERE'S the uber-optimistic, sunshine pumping Norm we all know and love!

It just doesn't seem like it's truly the offseason until the Norm blooms!

I'm right there with ya Norm! How do I join the sunshine club?!? :-)

Of course I'm a realist, but also an optimist! We do have a chance to be pretty darned good this year if some guys really work very hard & develop. I have no reason to believe they won't. I'll call mine "tempered optimism".

GBR

 

Hey, Norm, let's not forget Ray Gallegos.  Averaging 35.7 minutes per game has got to count for something in terms of not being a wet-behind-the-ears new guy!

[uneblinstu]

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

But the first thing we need to do is finish those near misses.  Close that gap and that's 3 to 5 games from last year, suddenly, that season takes on a whole different feel.  You close that gap with better talent, and if what we're hearing about the guys coming in is only halfway true, they've improved the talent from last year.  Will that translate into wins?  Time will tell, but the Big Ten won't be as strong as it was last year and NU should be stronger than it was.  It's not unreasonable to expect some of those games to tip in favor of the Big Red.

[PimpMario]

 

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

But the first thing we need to do is finish those near misses.  Close that gap and that's 3 to 5 games from last year, suddenly, that season takes on a whole different feel.  You close that gap with better talent, and if what we're hearing about the guys coming in is only halfway true, they've improved the talent from last year.  Will that translate into wins?  Time will tell, but the Big Ten won't be as strong as it was last year and NU should be stronger than it was.  It's not unreasonable to expect some of those games to tip in favor of the Big Red.

 

 

I hear ya but its not usually that simple.  The games against better opponents that we almost won were ugly and it was usually due to the other team having a bad game.  I would argue that they simply weren't up to play us.  If we start doing better than we will get more respect and we won't be able to sneak up on MSU or Wisky.

[TomEadesSucks]

 

 

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

But the first thing we need to do is finish those near misses.  Close that gap and that's 3 to 5 games from last year, suddenly, that season takes on a whole different feel.  You close that gap with better talent, and if what we're hearing about the guys coming in is only halfway true, they've improved the talent from last year.  Will that translate into wins?  Time will tell, but the Big Ten won't be as strong as it was last year and NU should be stronger than it was.  It's not unreasonable to expect some of those games to tip in favor of the Big Red.

 

 

I hear ya but its not usually that simple.  The games against better opponents that we almost won were ugly and it was usually due to the other team having a bad game.  I would argue that they simply weren't up to play us.  If we start doing better than we will get more respect and we won't be able to sneak up on MSU or Wisky.

 

 

True, but you could also argue that this team has far more confidence and swagger than last year's team. We might not sneak up on as many teams, but we also won't be intimidated by the names on their jerseys.

[uneblinstu]

 

 

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

But the first thing we need to do is finish those near misses.  Close that gap and that's 3 to 5 games from last year, suddenly, that season takes on a whole different feel.  You close that gap with better talent, and if what we're hearing about the guys coming in is only halfway true, they've improved the talent from last year.  Will that translate into wins?  Time will tell, but the Big Ten won't be as strong as it was last year and NU should be stronger than it was.  It's not unreasonable to expect some of those games to tip in favor of the Big Red.

 

 

I hear ya but its not usually that simple.  The games against better opponents that we almost won were ugly and it was usually due to the other team having a bad game.  I would argue that they simply weren't up to play us.  If we start doing better than we will get more respect and we won't be able to sneak up on MSU or Wisky.

 

Maybe, but it happend multiple times.  If it happened only once or twice, that'd be one thing, when you see it happen five or six times, you have to start crediting the team that's playing in all those games.  

 

You're right though, it's not that simple, my thought is just that if the team is better and the conference is worse (which it will be, though still likely very good) it *should* translate into more success.  How that plays out in the W-L columns?  That's anybody's guess.

[hhcmatt]

Is that Rivers in the white???  If it is, he has put on more muscle.

 

That is Rivers.  I too must play the "Did Rivers put on some muscle or is that Petteway" game

[hskr4life]

I wanna say that is Rivers, LS, Parker, and Gallegos

[TheKamdyMan]

I wanna say that is Rivers, LS, Parker, and Gallegos

The guy that looks under Leslie is Deverell and can only tell because of his hair.

[hugh42]

Smith, Rivers, Biggs and the other appears to be Tyrance.  Gallegos has tats.

[hskr4life]

yep now that you say that... I agree with Tyrance and Biggs

[Donkey]

 

 

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

But the first thing we need to do is finish those near misses.  Close that gap and that's 3 to 5 games from last year, suddenly, that season takes on a whole different feel.  You close that gap with better talent, and if what we're hearing about the guys coming in is only halfway true, they've improved the talent from last year.  Will that translate into wins?  Time will tell, but the Big Ten won't be as strong as it was last year and NU should be stronger than it was.  It's not unreasonable to expect some of those games to tip in favor of the Big Red.

 

 

I hear ya but its not usually that simple.  The games against better opponents that we almost won were ugly and it was usually due to the other team having a bad game.  I would argue that they simply weren't up to play us.  If we start doing better than we will get more respect and we won't be able to sneak up on MSU or Wisky.

 

 

It is often easier to over simplify, and thus minimize, a well played defensive game by asserting "the other team [had] a bad game" than to actually examine the reason for Nebraska's success last season.  Some of the games were ugly but that was designed to play to Nebraska's strengths.  

 

1.  The starting talent was not that bad.  Granted they were not a bunch of surefire lottery picks (or even 2nd round picks for that matter).  The starters played well together and matched up decently against many of the teams they played against.

 

2.  The defense, for the most part, was fundamentally sound.  Doc Sadler was a good defensive coach.  Some posted on here that Miles' defense was not much different than Sadlers.  As a result, the kids had good fundamentals and knew how to play good defense.  

 

With these strengths in mind, Miles attempted to slow down games by running more half court offensive sets which moved the ball around, walk the ball up the court, limit fast break opportunities by having players crash the boards all in an effort to eat time off the clock.  To reduce fouls Miles sometimes ran zone defenses (although they were less effective).  The result were some ugly, but effective, games.  This same strategy was used by John Cheney while coaching at Temple.  Temple regularly had a shallow bench but played some of the best teams in the national every season.

 

If one of the starters got into foul trouble or was hurt, only Almedia or Parker normally came off the bench (Tyrance sometimes played but it was primarily based upon match ups or other players being unavailable).  Further complicating matters, Nebraska needed decent scoring which did not always happen.  There were a few games which Nebraska would have won had it shot 35-40% instead of 25-30%.  

 

Teams that did well in the areas of defensive rebounding and fast break points dominated Nebraska because it played right into Nebraska's weaknesses.  By the end of some games, the starters were getting worn down and things got out of control.  

[royalfan]

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

 

Was a miracle what we did last year with what Miles inherited.  Incredible that we had that many near misses.  Not sure what there is to be discouraged about.  Puzzling. 

[nustudent]

 

I have a question for the sunshine pumpers.

 

When we were getting our butts handed us to us last year in games did you guys actually watch the game or turn it off?  We are still in the B1G. 

 

It seems to me like some of you are only remembering the near misses last year and not the blowouts.

 

Was a miracle what we did last year with what Miles inherited.  Incredible that we had that many near misses.  Not sure what there is to be discouraged about.  Puzzling. 

 

Correct.   Last time a miracle of that nature occured was about 2200 years ago when someone was walking on water