Huskerpapa Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 Well, I'm not the coach, obviously, so it isn't my call to make. And I'm not giving up on Sergej so much as I am trying to figure out what Coach Miles is thinking, and that's whose opinion Sergej needs to worry about, not mine. But I can look at the available information and try to discern if the handwriting isn't already on the wall. So, let me pass along what information I see that would suggest to me that Vucetic's spot isn't safe. 1. He's burned his redshirt. He's seen the floor, so he's no longer able to redshirt this year. Which means that's not a reason to not play him. 2. He's not playing. 3. Even when Coach Miles was trying to experiment with "extending the bench" by sending in Menke, Vucetic didn't play. 4. This team is desparate for bodies and, even when Shavon Shields was out with his elbow injury and we were basically playing 7 guys, Vucetic didn't play. 5. We're currently rotating only 3 players across the front line: the two starters and a 6'7" sophomore who doesn't yet weigh 200 pounds. The 7 footer who weighs roughly 240# isn't getting into games. 6. When allocating minutes in a game, it's not done by position. It's done by who you think will help the team. If a 6 foot guard gives you a better chance to win than the 7 foot center, then you play the 6 foot guard and adjust the lineup accordingly. When a sub-6 foot walk-on from Beatrice gets minutes and a 7 foot scholarship kid does not, that's not a good sign. 7. And it's not like they're still trying to preserve his redshirt. I covered that already, right? Absent a suspension or displinary issue, there's only 2 reasons not to play the guy. Either you're trying to preserve his redshirt or he's not capable of contributing at this point. We already know one of those options doesn't apply. There's only one other possibility. And, in spite of the fact that we're in desparate need of size/depth along the front line, he's not playing. I guess watch as the season goes on. Maybe he'll start getting into games. Maybe he'll start getting minutes. If he doesn't, then I would suggest that the coach may have already made some decisions. I am with you Norm. I would hope that one of the beat writers would pose the question to Coach Miles. I am hoping the answer is that we are working with him, and when the time is right, we will see him on the court. Perhaps after we get through the next two games, we may see him on the court again. By the way. I have watched him in warm ups. The kid can shoot. The kid can move. So my take is that he is struggling understanding or learning the offense and defense, or that he has an injury, or that he simply lacks the strength/conditioning at this point. But again, WRITERS, ask the question.
HB Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 speaking of Chapman, I havent felt as bad for a player in a long time as I have for him. I was at the 09 Oregon State game and all his family was there since he is from Oregon. After the game he came out and started crying profusely into his moms arms and heard him say he was done and that Doc told him he wouldnt see the floor. I could tell with all his family there to have him say that had to have been tough. Needless to say he was gone a week or two later. Interestingly enough, it was Doc who pushed to sign Chapman in the first place. His assistants were very skeptical, and Doc said "No, he can play, I'm going to sign him". Too bad it didn't work out. He worked hard everytime I watched him in practice. Not sure if he had any success after he left here or not. I had a similar situation in high school--my older brother was a teacher at a school we played, at the other school's town. His students were giving him a hard time, he was all set to watch me play, parents made the road trip.......you guessed it; I don't leave the bench, didn't play a second, and I thought the world had ended. Never saw it coming.
49r Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 I am with you Norm. I would hope that one of the beat writers would pose the question to Coach Miles. I am hoping the answer is that we are working with him, and when the time is right, we will see him on the court. Perhaps after we get through the next two games, we may see him on the court again. By the way. I have watched him in warm ups. The kid can shoot. The kid can move. So my take is that he is struggling understanding or learning the offense and defense, or that he has an injury, or that he simply lacks the strength/conditioning at this point. But again, WRITERS, ask the question. You're seeing this, right, Lee B? Good, just wanted to make sure!
GATA Posted December 5, 2012 Report Posted December 5, 2012 I think we need to exercise some patience with the young man. I think Nebraska took a chance on a 7-footer who clearly wasn't ready to play, but on the other hand, doesn't have the upside to waste 5 scholarship seasons on. I would expect him to get more and more playing time as the season grows (because we are going to get our tails kicked in some games).
nebrasketball10 Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 Agree with gata that 7 games into his freshman season the jury is still out. It is interesting that we didn't redshirt him, but maybe we were HOPING (because we had to) that he'd be ready sooner than he has been. Some of the upcoming cupcake games will tell us a lot.
hhcmatt Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 Not sure I get what you're saying. Are you saying you think Vucetic is going to blow up like Ray did? You've seen something from Vucetic that makes you think that could happen? My point is that a lot of people gave up on Ray. Why is anyone giving up on a guy who drew comparisons to Pau Gasol when he basically needs to fill out and we're putting the players on the court that have us at 6-1? Miles said that Vucitec is physically unready at the moment and if they don't get him minutes this year they basically blew his red shirt.
Norm Peterson Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 OK, fair enough. Miles said that about blowing his redshirt, though?
colhusker Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 Norm I will use Mr Rivers as an example as why Vucitec may not be in the boat you think. Rivers (while playing more than Vucitec as this year so far) seldom saw the floor for Doc and Doc said he was not ready and would sit the freshman during conference games last year. Now while David is not going to lead us to the final four this year, his level of play with another year in the weight room and with another year of coaching is vastly improved.
nebrasketball10 Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 Norm I will use Mr Rivers as an example as why Vucitec may not be in the boat you think. Rivers (while playing more than Vucitec as this year so far) seldom saw the floor for Doc and Doc said he was not ready and would sit the freshman during conference games last year. Now while David is not going to lead us to the final four this year, his level of play with another year in the weight room and with another year of coaching is vastly improved. Good point, Col. And I remember hearing from Doc and others within the program that they thought Rivers really had some promise. I think they'd hoped he'd develop faster than he did through practices and non-con games, but he didn't. So we basically wasted his Freshman year. But they still thought he had promised, and would be a contributor some day.
Neebraska Posted December 6, 2012 Report Posted December 6, 2012 If Vucitec were to have surgery on a knee/shoulder/ingrown fingernail/etc, would he not have a medical redshirt available? We've had football players who play early in the season who end up not being ready for conference ball take a similiar route, by having surgery to clean something up and apply for a medical. Not aware of any issues with Vucitec, but it is another option why he isn't playing, Miles just plans on going that route with him.
dskurz Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 Per Twitter, Duke is now looking at him...ugh
Cookie Belcher Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 I take this as a good thing. Being after the same recruits as Duke is not a bad thing.
dskurz Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 Problem is we don't win those battles.
Concrete Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 isn't he from canada? Maybe he doesn't know the difference between Duke and Nebraska
CornHoopsters Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 According to Robin Washut, Duke is now looking into Atewe. Said he's still planning on making his official visit to Lincoln Jan 6.
HuskerFever Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 Duke must be following Coach Miles on Twitter.....
ShortDust Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 It's not a bad thing, but also hard to compete with them. Getting him on campus on the 6th will be huge and if we can some how pull off a "W" it would be even better. Hasn't he set his commit date sometime in march? Like his birthday? It would be nice to lock it in before then.
ShortDust Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 Lets just hope out previous relationship with him helps and since we've been on him for some time it will help. He does like that we have international players on our roster.
tcp Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 isn't he from canada? Maybe he doesn't know the difference between Duke and Nebraska now this is my kind of optimism. "Oh, Duke? Yeah, see, that's this community college in rural North Carolina--where there's no beer and chicks and stuff. Solid program, if no beer and no chicks is your thing. Sure, we can wait while you check out the 5 buildings on campus."
PAhusker Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 now this is my kind of optimism. "Oh, Duke? Yeah, see, that's this community college in rural North Carolina--where there's no beer and chicks and stuff. Solid program, if no beer and no chicks is your thing. Sure, we can wait while you check out the 5 buildings on campus." sounds like a great tour though
FredsSlacks Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 It looks like NU fans are going to have to give Atewe the Webster treatment when he gets here jan. 6 for the Wisconsin game. I take this as good news that Miles is finding a lot of under the radar guys.
nebrasketball10 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 According to Robin Washut, Duke is now looking into Atewe. Said he's still planning on making his official visit to Lincoln Jan 6. I was just going to say that Atewe's offer list isn't very impressive...
nebrasketball10 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 This should be in the recruiting forum. There's already a thread in there regarding Atewe.
Swan88 Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 I was just going to say that Atewe's offer list isn't very impressive... The offers list in the OWH is underwhelming at best . . . Charlotte and St. Bonaventure, for Pete's sake. While the OWH article cites Rivals, it fails to provide the following additional information from Rivals: (i) the Rivals list of offers includes Marquette, (ii) Rivals reports that Atewe visited Auburn in October, (iii) Rivals reports Atewe as saying that, among the schools recruiting him the hardest are Georgia Tech and Miami.
hhcmatt Posted December 11, 2012 Report Posted December 11, 2012 The offers list in the OWH is underwhelming at best . . . Charlotte and St. Bonaventure, for Pete's sake. While the OWH article cites Rivals, it fails to provide the following additional information from Rivals: (i) the Rivals list of offers includes Marquette, (ii) Rivals reports that Atewe visited Auburn in October, (iii) Rivals reports Atewe as saying that, among the schools recruiting him the hardest are Georgia Tech and Miami. We'll have to see how our guys pan out and the guys we've offered pan out but it would seem that with guys like Webster and Atewe and some others we're showing that we're good at identifying initially undervalued prospects. That's the sort of skill you absolutely need in order to succeed at a school that doesn't have a big basketball tradition.
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