Tarin Smith, 18 games into freshman season

[49r]

 

 

 

 

Please allow me to share a funny but true story.  So back in the day, when Huskers and Jays played in the summer league at Omaha South High School, I used to attend.  I was at the game that featured Steve Harley and Cookie Miller vs. Cavel Witter, P'Allen, and Booker Woodfox and saw Shang Ping level Joe Dabbert.  Maric played too.

During that game, Sek Henry wasn't playing.  He was sitting in the front row with his good pal's Ricky Thenarse and Anthony West. Across the gym, is this punk named Chad Millard who's yapping it up with Sek and Ricky.  At one point, I thought Ricky was going to go over there and pummel Millard. After a challenge was issued to meet after the game, Millard grew quiet, and clung to the Jay's players after the game. He basically hid next to Joe Dabbert and scampered out of there.  Sek was quite vocal for his hatred of all things Blue, and promised me he'd do everything in his power to kick their A**  Well, I think NU won by 2, but Sek didn't score. Still, was a big time Sek fan after that Summer league game.

I was at that game.

I also attended the summer league games at Omaha South High School--and started following Husker Hoops Central around that time too.  Don't remember the events mentioned above--but always thought Cookie Miller to be the best and most exciting player involved in that summer league . . . by far.

 

Swan, I believe I met you at one of those games.  I met a guy there, anyway, who sounded like what you've described of yourself.  And he had a camera ... but hadn't read the "Photography for Dummies" book. 

 

That was Cliff Clavin, Norm.

What I remember is being a little naive on the avid Creighton fan's attitude toward Huskerland.  That naivete evaporated at Omaha South High School.  At one game, for example, a friend sat on the bleachers across the court, so decided to go sit by him and visit awhile.  While approaching him and standing on a bleacher seat two rows down from him, a Creighton player apparently scored; whereupon, and he jumped up and down with fists pumping for about ten or fifteen seconds, bellowing at the top of his lungs with red face (was afraid he might have a heart attack) like they'd just won the National Championship . . . ; whereupon, I promptly pivoted, returned to the prior seat and sat down . . . now fully aware of (and exceedingly surprised at) the depth of emotion involved. 

 

 

 

I wonder how much Dr. Jack Stark influences that, because I know he works directly with their team and has for quite some time now.

[colhusker]

Wait did somebody say that Joe Dabbert is a douche?

But is he at the Gibbs level of doucheness?

Has anyone achieved the Gibbs level of doucheness EVER?

[ShortDust]

No one will ever match Gibbs level

[Bugeaters1]

I've been sayin' all season that I like the Smith kid. Just sayin'.

Does Shields know about this?

Probably not BR hasn't tweeted it

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[HuskerCager]

Minutes played means a lot more to me than whether he starts.  He played 29 minutes on Tuesday which is pretty good for a freshman.

[AuroranHusker]

Minutes played means a lot more to me than whether he starts.  He played 29 minutes on Tuesday which is pretty good for a freshman.

 

Finish the game. Do it well & win the game. That's what matters most.

[HuskerFever]

Minutes played means a lot more to me than whether he starts.  He played 29 minutes on Tuesday which is pretty good for a freshman.

 

Usain Bolt's races are useless without a good start. Muhammad Ali finished a lot of his matches with knockout punches.

 

Maybe Tarin can provide us with that spark in the first few minutes to either keep us in a game or keep the opponent out of the game.

[jimmykc]

I look at starting as being more about the players' heads than about getting a jump start on anyone. I can't remember ever thinking that giving the "twelfth man" a start for the Texas A&M football team or letting seniors start on senior day basketball teams caused anyone to lose a game. Rather, starting should be used as a reward for practicing hard, buying into the team concept, and meshing with one's teammates. I agree that who finishes the game and who plays the most minutes are  much better measures of a player's value.

[GATA]

 

Minutes played means a lot more to me than whether he starts.  He played 29 minutes on Tuesday which is pretty good for a freshman.

 

Usain Bolt's races are useless without a good start. Muhammad Ali finished a lot of his matches with knockout punches.

 

Maybe Tarin can provide us with that spark in the first few minutes to either keep us in a game or keep the opponent out of the game.

 

 

Agreed. And Parker's energy off the bench seemed like it was a major difference-maker for us last year. I'm all in on Smith as a starters.

 

What's really great is how high people seem to be on Watson. We're going to be in good hands for the foreseeable future.

[Norm Peterson]

I look at starting as being more about the players' heads than about getting a jump start on anyone. I can't remember ever thinking that giving the "twelfth man" a start for the Texas A&M football team or letting seniors start on senior day basketball teams caused anyone to lose a game. Rather, starting should be used as a reward for practicing hard, buying into the team concept, and meshing with one's teammates. I agree that who finishes the game and who plays the most minutes are  much better measures of a player's value.

Keith Moody got to start in the NCAA tourney game against Xavier his senior year as a reward for how well he played in the Big 8 tournament.

 

The Huskers never recovered and ended up losing to a 14 seed.

[Norm Peterson]

Selecting starters is important.  The first five and last five minutes of each half tend to have a big impact on the game.  Absent foul trouble, those are minutes where you tend to see the starters in the game.

 

It tends to be about who the best players are but it's also about what combinations work the best. 

 

I think I would tend to agree with those who say Benny seems to work very well as a sparkplug off the bench.  And that might be his best and most important role.  Tarin is showing incredible poise for a true freshman and seems to be getting better as the season goes along.  You can see it in his play and you can see in his minutes that the coaches see it.

 

It may very well be time to inject a little Tarin Smith into the starting lineup and see if that maybe helps us get off to a faster offensive start to the games.

[jimmykc]

 Norm:I think I would put the finger of blame on our friend Beau Reid for the loss to Xavier rather than on Moody who played ok as well as I can remember.

[cipsucks]

 Norm:I think I would put the finger of blame on our friend Beau Reid for the loss to Xavier rather than on Moody who played ok as well as I can remember.

And the Tony Farmer fiasco and the late frickin' tip-off....

[Silverbacked1]

and wasn't that the two steak dinner game too?

[Huskerpapa]

You don't always start the best five players...instead you start the five that play best together.

[HB]

 Norm:I think I would put the finger of blame on our friend Beau Reid for the loss to Xavier rather than on Moody who played ok as well as I can remember.

 

To this day I have no idea what Beau was thinking that night.  Billy Cunningham finally declaring "Beau Reid is killing Nebraska right now" will linger in my memory forever.    Rich King played is ass off that night.  Moody was fine.  Most everyone else struggled. 

[HB]

and wasn't that the two steak dinner game too?

 

That was earlier; I think in Kansas City.  And that wasn't really about the steak, of course.  A little bit going on behind the scenes, and the steak was a convenient excuse to go off on old Jose. 

[Silverbacked1]

and wasn't that the two steak dinner game too?

 

That was earlier; I think in Kansas City.  And that wasn't really about the steak, of course.  A little bit going on behind the scenes, and the steak was a convenient excuse to go off on old Jose. 

[Norm Peterson]

Moody got his pocket picked by Xavier's guards a couple times early and it set the tone for the rest of the game. I still say we never recovered. They came out and punched us in the mouth and we took a step back.

[Bugeaters1]

 

and wasn't that the two steak dinner game too?

 

That was earlier; I think in Kansas City.  And that wasn't really about the steak, of course.  A little bit going on behind the scenes, and the steak was a convenient excuse to go off on old Jose. 

 

Wasn't he going off in Nee's wife?

[PeltzFan12]

Yes, those summer league games were at Omaha South and I believe the previous year were in Council Bluffs.  I was sitting with John Turek's dad when Roburt Sallie broke a CU player's ankle on a crossover (Pierce Hibma, I think) drove down the lane, and one hand tomahawked dunked on a CU big (Michael Grimes I think)  I remember thinking he was going to singlehandedly turn the tide in NU hoops recruiting.  I'll just stop there...

[hhcmatt]

This thread as all the ups and downs of a freshman

[Norm Peterson]

This thread as all the ups and downs of a freshman

Great segway back into the original topic.

 

Hey, how about that Tarin Smith.  Just continues to impress, huh?  Major, major, plus plus athleticism.

[hhcmatt]

 

This thread as all the ups and downs of a freshman

Great segway back into the original topic.

 

Hey, how about that Tarin Smith.  Just continues to impress, huh?  Major, major, plus plus athleticism.

 

 

For once I wasn't trying to bring this back online...this thing is off the rails.

Tarin didn't have the best game but finally made some FTs. Came into the game shooting 60% and went 4-5 with some big ones at the end.

[HB]

 

This thread as all the ups and downs of a freshman

Great segway back into the original topic.

 

Hey, how about that Tarin Smith.  Just continues to impress, huh?  Major, major, plus plus athleticism.

 

Actually he played poorly most of the game, but came through at the end.  He's a bit of a gamer.