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11/22/2013 - UAB Report Card


hhcdave

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OFFENSE: D+

 

Nebraska shot just 43% from the field and 66% from the line.

 

More than that, they had no offensive structure or identity, outside of let Terran Petteway shoot whenever he wants and for small stretches, remember to try and run some stuff for Shavon Shields.

 

Seriously, this "motion offense" is going to be more fun to watch than in years pass because of the athletes we have. However, at the moment, it looks like there is no structure and no offensive identity outside of Petteway. That's not good. A strength of this team should be that it has plenty of potential scorers and that anyone could carry you on any given night. But it looks like we have no clue what we want to do most of the time and no semblance or structure.

 

A lot of that is that guys are just playing their third game together as a full team and the last two against superior competition. That's hard to accept - but true. UAB and UMass are better than us right now, and it's not really close.

 

I expect this team to get better as the year progresses and think we'll score our fair share of points, but between bad decisions, bad shots leading to early offense the other way (and transition points), bad free throw shooting and no semblance of strategy, this is not good at the moment, 74 points or not.

 

DEFENSE: F

 

Three stops in the second half. Against UAB. Not Michigan. Not Indiana. Not Michigan State. UAB.

 

I'm not joking when I say this - I would put GOOD MONEY that Nebraska Wesleyan could get three stops in a half against UAB. Being serious. Not trying to mock anyone. That's how mind blowing that stat is.

 

UAB shot 54% for the game and 83% from the field in the second half. 83%. Scoring 56 points. And that was all legitimate - no fouls at the end to drag it out.

 

Nebraska played even more careless on defense (hard to imagine) than it did on offense. Gamble here, gamble there. Dumb mistake here, dumb mistake there. And on the once in five possessions UAB missed a shot, they got the damn rebound and scored or were fouled.

 

I don't claim to know the answers, I'm just telling you what is obvious - Nebraska is the worst looking defense team (right now) that I have ever seen out of the 20 years I've been following this program inside and out. Even Danny Nee's "bad" teams played much better defense than this.

 

REBOUNDING: F

 

Walter Pitchford needs to become a guard. He's softer than Charmin.

 

6 rebounds? Not awful on the stat sheet.

 

But good lord, how many times did he not box out? Or when he did, get shoved four feet? Some of the offensive boards UAB got off of missed free throws were insane.

 

And it's not just Pitchford - its probably not fair of me to single him out that much. He's a good kid and I expect he'll become a solid player by the time he's done here. I know he's certainly capable of much better on the boards.

 

Leslee Smith with ONE rebound?

 

Totals - UAB 41 (14 offensive), Nebraska 28 (11 offensive).

 

BALL HANDLING: D

 

Nebraska only turned it over six times. Good thing.

 

Bad thing? The GOD AWFUL inbounds pass by Petteway that took us from down 2 to down 4 in the blink of an eye (literally). That was the beginning of the stretch of the game where things got away.

 

Nebraska struggled with spacing and once again, had virtually no assists (seven). But that's what happens when you have no semblance of offensive structure.

 

COACHING: F

 

Eye test, as far as athleticism and improvement? No doubt - very solid.

 

Eye test, as far as team concept (offense and defense)? No doubt - completely inept.

 

Coach Miles is seeing virtually no passion from his team, especially on the defensive end. No structure. His team looks lost. This crap is unacceptable, rebuilding year or not. Three stops in a half? Huck and chuck offense? Don't box out?

 

Once again, I love Coach Miles and this is a bump on the road. But I'm embarrassed as a Nebraska basketball fanatic right now, based on these two games, than any time in recent history. I can take losing when its hard fought and a lot of effort, and when their is competence on at least one side of the floor.

 

But this? I'd rather watch CSPAN.

 

BTW, are we still glad we didn't want Fahro Alihodzic in favor of Serg? Didn't think so.

 

OVERALL GRADE: F

 

I may as well have just copy and pasted yesterday's report card.

 

Nebraska played truly pathetic. I can't think of any other way to put it. Especially in the second half - NO INTENSITY ON DEFENSE. Ever. No fire. Ever. Notice how yesterday, UMass slapped the floor on "D" and would get excited to play it? Their sidelines were really into it.

Today, UAB looked aggressive and like they enjoyed playing defense.

 

Our guys look like they are getting their wisdom teeth taken out when they try to play "defense." They don't want to do it. They hate it. We have so many offensive minded and selfish players right now that it needs to be pounded into their heads that they can actually GET POINTS off of defense. If we told them that, maybe they'd start caring.

 

No fire. No passion. Lackluster. Maddening.

 

I'm fully aware its game five and we are young. This is a long season. I still expect Nebraska to compete for the NIT and 8th place in the Big 10.

 

But if this is how we're going to play defense and rebound, and if our offensive philosophy is going to be to just jack up shots and play like we're at the Rec Center, then the pre-season pollsters know a hell of a lot more about this team and its future fortune than any of us around here did.

 

PLAYER OF THE GAME: TERRAN PETTEWAY

 

2013-2014 PLAYER OF THE GAME TOTALS:

 

Terran Petteway - 3

 

Tai Webster - 1

 

Shavon Shields - 1



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Wasn't referring to "we" as in us. Was referring to the "we" as in the program/coaching staff. He still wanted to come here after the coaching change and thought he was going to get to. I'll just leave it at that. I also have no problem with his tweet. That's the kind of kid I want playing in my program - one that's want to win and be a proud member.

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Wasn't referring to "we" as in us. Was referring to the "we" as in the program/coaching staff. He still wanted to come here after the coaching change and thought he was going to get to. I'll just leave it at that. I also have no problem with his tweet. That's the kind of kid I want playing in my program - one that's want to win and be a proud member.

I agree. No problem with the tweet. Miles was the one who stopped him from coming here.

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As I recall, Fahro had been lost somewhere in the Canary Islands and there were some residual issues related to his JUCO history. I still will defer my choice until we see how Serge's history plays out here. And I am not a hater-I think Fahro has some very nice tattoos.

What does Serge have to do wtih anything?  Just curious because NU had an open scholarship both last year and this year.  So, I am just not getting the connection with Serg.

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As I recall, Fahro had been lost somewhere in the Canary Islands and there were some residual issues related to his JUCO history. I still will defer my choice until we see how Serge's history plays out here. And I am not a hater-I think Fahro has some very nice tattoos.

What does Serge have to do wtih anything?  Just curious because NU had an open scholarship both last year and this year.  So, I am just not getting the connection with Serg.

 

I think people are just upset that we have a 7'1 guy that can't be on the floor for a minute. I think serg is gone after this year.

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I don't see how Petteway deserves POTG.  Our best stretch came when he was out with 2 fouls in the first half IMO.

 

Edit:  I've been considering who else deserves it, and I'm not really sure there is anyone.  Biggs?

In any event, instead of giving it to Petteway, it should just go to Ubel.

Give it to Andre.  He never got one last year and actually earned it once.

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By the way, UMass beat No. 19 New Mexico by 81 - 65 today.

By the way further, according to ESPN, UAB started 3 seniors and 2 juniors, and their 30-minutes off-the-bench guy is a senior. This is the same UAB team that took No. 19 New Mexico into overtime yesterday.

By contrast, NU started (again, according to ESPN) Rivers (Sophomore), Petteway (Sophomore), Pitchford (Sophomore), Shields (Sophomore), Webster (Freshman), and our 24-minutes off-the-bench guy is a Senior.

Hmmmm . . . we seem to be just fine right now, with plenty of growth in process.

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By the way, UMass beat No. 19 New Mexico by 81 - 65 today.

By the way further, according to ESPN, UAB started 3 seniors and 2 juniors, and their 30-minutes off-the-bench guy is a senior. This is the same UAB team that took No. 19 New Mexico into overtime yesterday.

By contrast, NU started (again, according to ESPN) Rivers (Sophomore), Petteway (Sophomore), Pitchford (Sophomore), Shields (Sophomore), Webster (Freshman), and our 24-minutes off-the-bench guy is a Senior.

Hmmmm . . . we seem to be just fine right now, with plenty of growth in process.

 

If I could plus this one more than once, you can rest assured I would.

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We'll be fine.  This team has the physical tools to become something special.  I'd rather lose like that than how we have in the past.  The coaches can take a loss like this and teach the team where they need to improve.  What were the coaches (either staff) supposed to do in previous years?  Probably just look at the film and say "well, we played hard but unfortunately the other team actually has talent.  And all we've got is Chris Balham's 50 year old knees."  Yeah, I'll take mental mistakes and growing pains any day over knowing that the team's ceiling is .350 in league play.

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I'm confused as to why this is overreacting?

 

The report card is about this game only - not the grand scheme of the program.

 

With that said, I DID say we'd compete for 8th and make the NIT, which is more optimistic than any "expert."

 

But I'm confused as to what I wrote about this particular game (which is what the report card is about - one game only) is incorrect?

 

UAB is a solid team but we will see them 18 games in the Big 10, and name a game (other than yesterday) where you've seen a WORSE defensive effort in the last 20 years? Thanks. I'll hang up and listen off the air.

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Defensive was an F for sure.  Think offense was better than a D+ and ball handling sure did not seem to be a big issue to me.  If we were in the game most of the game against a solid team something had to have been better than those grades I would think.  But I was not talking about you overreacting, I am talking about all of us.  There is going to be a lot of it both good and bad. 

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I'm confused as to why this is overreacting?

 

The report card is about this game only - not the grand scheme of the program.

 

With that said, I DID say we'd compete for 8th and make the NIT, which is more optimistic than any "expert."

 

But I'm confused as to what I wrote about this particular game (which is what the report card is about - one game only) is incorrect?

 

UAB is a solid team but we will see them 18 games in the Big 10, and name a game (other than yesterday) where you've seen a WORSE defensive effort in the last 20 years? Thanks. I'll hang up and listen off the air.

 

Well, without much time, because I have to go drink, we had two close games (even with a 13 point loss, UAB was close until the final minutes, and we led by 6 in the second half) on the road against good teams, with an extremely inexperienced team.  We didn't lose at home to Maryland Baltimore-County or whoever the hell it was.  But yeah, the defense sucked.  Not sure it wasn't because anyone was not trying ("effort"), but lots of new guys who haven't done it much against any competition at this level, don't know what and how to do it.  Just a perspective of who we played, when we played them.  I would say Wake Forest and Oregan at home Doc's last year was a more perplexing and bad "effort" than this.  This is going to take awhile, and it seems everyone is living in the moment (they sure did after beating 3 lame teams at home) and is overly harsh. 

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