5 Key Questions for 2014-15 Nebrasketball Season

[ajb5856]

So if he plays it's either because he's good enough to contribute now or because he's bad enough that he needs to save the redshirt year for a transfer? This question has about a million different answers and probably none of them are right. It's one of those things that no matter what happens you probably get to the end of the season and second guess how something happened. So I guess you make the best decision possible at the time and just go with it and live with the outcome.

[Norm Peterson]

So if he plays it's either because he's good enough to contribute now or because he's bad enough that he needs to save the redshirt year for a transfer? This question has about a million different answers and probably none of them are right. It's one of those things that no matter what happens you probably get to the end of the season and second guess how something happened. So I guess you make the best decision possible at the time and just go with it and live with the outcome.

Yep, pretty much. 

[hhcmatt]

 I'm speculating that the coaches wanted him to be able to save his redshirt year for when he transferred

 

We did need him. He didn't play because he wasn't good enough.

If anyone was saving a redshirt for transferring, it was him. The staff wanted him to redshirt because they knew he was a project (they didn't know how big). The staff recommends but ultimately defers to the player. Do you think the staff wanted to redshirt Deverell coming in from Juco?

To say that we recruited this guy and wanted him to save his redshirt for transferring is ludicrous.

 

Hammond is more of a Brandon Ubel, not a Surge.  He's not a guy we recruited because we needed tall humans. We actually scouted him. He's a guy who is going to contribute for us but then we'll look back during his senior year and think "what-if" he had put on muscle his freshman year instead of playing.

[hal9000]

Sixth question to ponder: Has Kasey been buried yet?

All but his head.

[Marv]

Can we afford to redshirt Hammond? The team needs to play defense and improve the shooting as the Huskers won't sneak up on anyone this year. I want my optimism for the season to overcome my pessimism.

Cazzie, I think you're probably right. We probably need Hammond more than we could even afford to redshirt him.

I've been thinking about this. To this point and by all accounts it's been suggested that Hammond will play and will not redshirt this season. We desperately need the big man depth. But...is Hammond good enough for us to need him this year? You say we "need Hammond more than we could afford to redshirt him." I don't have a clue where he's at, but honestly, if it's going to be a situation where he might get 2 spot fill in minutes every couple games, then yes, we can absolutely afford to redshirt him.

Again, I have no clue where Hammond is at in his progression, but is there a chance Miles is pulling a Fuller on Hammond? Leading him along like he's for sure playing, but ultimately leaving it up to Hammond, maybe wanting Hammond to realize on his own that he doesn't stack up this year, and needs to decide to redshirt? Is this possible? I know we desperately need the depth or whatever, but is it worth it if he basically doesn't play anyway and is just getting a spot minute or two in preparation in case there's an injury. I may get laughed at but can't Kurkowski provide a fill in, a run up and down the court and grab the rebound? He's been around long enough that he should be able to provide what the freshman could at least. Thoughts?

I agree with your Kurkowski comment. Hammond is obviously better and has upside, but is he going to bring THAT much more that you can't afford to use Kurkowski to commit 3 fouls per game, lean on the opponents big guy, and log 3-7 minutes per game until January?

Hammond isn't going to be a part of the offense, he's going to set screens and crash boards. All things that Kurkowski should be able get by doing.

[Norm Peterson]

 

 

 

Can we afford to redshirt Hammond? The team needs to play defense and improve the shooting as the Huskers won't sneak up on anyone this year. I want my optimism for the season to overcome my pessimism.

Cazzie, I think you're probably right. We probably need Hammond more than we could even afford to redshirt him.

I've been thinking about this. To this point and by all accounts it's been suggested that Hammond will play and will not redshirt this season. We desperately need the big man depth. But...is Hammond good enough for us to need him this year? You say we "need Hammond more than we could afford to redshirt him." I don't have a clue where he's at, but honestly, if it's going to be a situation where he might get 2 spot fill in minutes every couple games, then yes, we can absolutely afford to redshirt him.

Again, I have no clue where Hammond is at in his progression, but is there a chance Miles is pulling a Fuller on Hammond? Leading him along like he's for sure playing, but ultimately leaving it up to Hammond, maybe wanting Hammond to realize on his own that he doesn't stack up this year, and needs to decide to redshirt? Is this possible? I know we desperately need the depth or whatever, but is it worth it if he basically doesn't play anyway and is just getting a spot minute or two in preparation in case there's an injury. I may get laughed at but can't Kurkowski provide a fill in, a run up and down the court and grab the rebound? He's been around long enough that he should be able to provide what the freshman could at least. Thoughts?

I agree with your Kurkowski comment. Hammond is obviously better and has upside, but is he going to bring THAT much more that you can't afford to use Kurkowski to commit 3 fouls per game, lean on the opponents big guy, and log 3-7 minutes per game until January?

Hammond isn't going to be a part of the offense, he's going to set screens and crash boards. All things that Kurkowski should be able get by doing.

 

Maybe Hammond's middle initial is "S" as in "Sergej."

[TheKamdyMan]

I think that in 4 years Miles will be able to get bigger and better to replace a Hammond assuming he is still around so why not do it then in year 4 than in year 5.

[ajb5856]

I think that in 4 years Miles will be able to get bigger and better to replace a Hammond assuming he is still around so why not do it then in year 4 than in year 5.

Was thinking about this as well. Miles has struggled recruiting 4-year big men thus far. At the time Hammond committed, he was a huge get for us. He was ranked in the rivals150 before falling out of the final rankings. At the time, he was the best recruit (on paper) we'd seen around these parts for a long time. This was before last season's success and before we signed Andrew White and two rivals top 100 guys. Miles is most likely confident that he can now parlay that on-court success and recruiting success into landing highly regarded bigs in the next class. Some bigs they are already talking to and ones who could come in and be above Hammond's level immediately. Don't get me wrong, I hope Hammomd develops into a useable piece, but just because Miles recruited him and brought him in doesn't mean he still sees him as a future starter (difference maker) at the current time. Maybe Miles currently projects him as a future glue guy.

[jimmykc]

It is amazing to me how prescient fans become. Hammond has played 3 minutes as a freshman and some are already able to predict his entire career arc here and envision his potential replacements. Somewhere David Robinson must be softly chuckling to himself.

[bball23]

It is amazing to me how prescient fans become. Hammond has played 3 minutes as a freshman and some are already able to predict his entire career arc here and envision his potential replacements. Somewhere David Robinson must be softly chuckling to himself.

So glad you said it before I did.  I am kind of chuckling at this.  Anybody remember Brandon Ubel?  Guys on THIS board wanted him gone, what was Doc thinking, worst player ever.  I think Ubel ended up doing ok for himself at NU and by the end people loved him.

 

May I introduce you to David Rivers.  Again, so many on here wanted him "gone" guys a "bum"  Welcome to 2014 David Rivers, one of our "glue" guys as so many of you have said.

 

Hammond is being put in a tough spot.  Coaches I'm guessing wanted to RS him until Smith got done.  It takes big men much more time to develop in College and that includes a lot of "great" players.  So let's hold off judgement on Hammond too much.

 

I remember a lot of you couldn't stand Petteway either, and I'm thinking most of you kind of enjoy having him on the team now.

[ajb5856]

Not trying to predict his career. Not saying I wouldn't want Hammond to develop into a good player and not saying that he doesn't have a chance to do so. Obviously, Ubel and Rivers are good examples. You could also throw in Benny Parker. All I'm doing is trying to reason the non-redshirt. Come up with possibilities as to why he's not redshirting, as a fan who has seen a very limited amount of action from him. Obviously, it could be wrong. We are wrong on here all the time. And I hope I'm wrong. Not second-guessing the staff just trying to come up with a reason as to why he's playing this year when it looks obvious that he won't see significant time save for a couple disastrous injuries. Could be way off and I hope I'm wrong. And injury backup might be the entire reason he's not afforded a redshirt season, that's been discussed. Program trajectory and recent recruiting success/Miles' confidence in future big man recruiting ability is another guess. A guess. At least I think it could be a legitimate reason. Of course, Miles won't come out and say anything about it (nor should he and speak about a current player of his in that light but us fans can guess and speculate) Again, not trying to predict Hammonds career arc, I want him to succeed, but fact is that no matter how good he gets, we could recruit another big who comes in better. And it's certainly fine to offer guesses as to why he didn't redshirt this year.

[ajb5856]

I think we can all agree that as of this instant, Hammond isn't ready to significantly contribute this season. Obviously Miles thinks so too, otherwise he would've played him more than 3 minutes in the opener. Opinion on that could change as early as tonight's game or saturday game or 5 games down the road. I don't know the answer to this but is it always in a players best developmental interest to redshirt year one if they are not immediately ready to contribute significantly? Hammond isn't redshirting potentially because of lack of depth and injury concerns to this years squad. You could argue that Miles has this years team placed ahead of Hammond's individual development. I don't know where overall long term program health fits in as a consideration of the head coach but you would think that confidence in future recruiting or recruits the program currently has a chance at are at least thought about in what to do with a rostered player. This has to be a part of recruiting strategy and recruiting class planning.

[jimmykc]

I suppose the player's desire must also be considered. If one wants to keep all options open, does the mandatory "sit out" year when going to another Div.I program count as a red shirt year? I don't know the answer, but players who think they might want to transfer later on might not be as comfortable in taking a red shirt year and then losing another year of competition if they end up transferring. And I am sure that anyone with Hammond's high school rating would think that he would be able to help the team by playing as a freshman anyway.

[Red Don]

I had thought Miles had made it pretty clear in his press conferences that he would rather red-shirt Hammond, but with Leslee Smith's injury he didn't think that would be an option; he'd be needed to play.     If it's team over individual development, I'd think the player would have some say whether or not to red-shirt.

 

It seems a rather moot point now, as the red shirt was burned in Sunday's game.