Post Game Chatter: ed 7, vol 19 - Michigan St

[Norm Peterson]

Plus 1, HB.

 

Walt's tweets after the NCAA loss last year exposed some chinks in his armor.  I'd assumed he'd have learned and grown from them over the summer, but then came back this fall with perhaps an even more fragile ego (how else do you go from knocking down 16-25 treys in the public scrimmage and only 1-16 of your first real treys when the ball goes live?)  Seeing Walt getting consistently out-muscled by inferior opponents in the OOC was disappointing to say the least.  I will say he rebounded well (no pun intended) with a good defensive performance against the Minnesota behemoth.  But, having said that, Walt had 6 points and 10 boards at half and finished with 6 points and 11 boards in that game.  So, did he sustain the effort for an entire game?  I don't know.

 

As hopeful as I was that he'd maybe turned a corner in the Minnesota game, it made me just as worried that he hadn't when he got tossed from Michigan State.

 

Dude, figure it out!

 

You're in your 4th season of college ball.  Toughen the hell up!  And by "toughen" I don't mean "elbow some guy who clamped your arm with his."  I mean don't be such a pussy about someone clamping your arm.  Get after his arse.

[Fullbacksympathy]

I don't know who praised him throwing the forearm, but I said understand it, and don't have much of a problem with it.  It wasn't his best decision, however.

 

As for getting bullied, we're playing semantics.  Maybe I should've said playing "soft".  I'm in agreement with you there.  Getting owned in the post and on the boards is what I consider allowing yourself to be bullied.  Forearm shivers go on all the time too, just not to the head. 

 

As for trash talking, it's not my thing, but I'm not sure you can find many great players from the past 40 years who didn't do it.  MJ? Bird? Magic? Kareem? Kobe? Lebron? Malone? Pippen? Barkley? Garnett? All of them are/were notorious trash talkers.  It's part of the game (and most major sports), fortunately or unfortunately. 

[Handy Johnson]

THIS looks like the Husker team I've been waiting all season to see...... Keep it rollin' boys, now it's on to MI & MN!

[Red Don]

I don't know beans about Basketball, but we don't seem to play very 'smart' sometimes (and it's not just Walt).  Crazy fouls at critical times, missed easy lay-ups (& dunks), jacking up shots early in the shot-clock.  It seems to me when we miss a 'hail-mary' or easy shot, more often than not we go on a scoring drought.

 

Given the psychological complexities of the team, I'd call it emotional, if not fragile, I think it might be more on the players than it is on 'coaching.'  It is not just a matter of 'Telling' them; Some things just don't seem to get through.  From what I've read, Miles style seems to be more of a  I'll tell you like it is and when you want it bad enough you'll do what takes to win,' rather than jam it down their throats.

 

It does seem that we are slowly getting back to near season-ending form (a full complement of players, starting to get healthy helps) and we may very well be seeing the start of another run at the 'Dance.'  Whether we make it there this year or not, do not despair.  Help is on the way in the recruits and the future of Husker Hoops is bright.

[hal9000]

You know, speaking strictly from a technical perspective, that was a pretty sweet move he put on Costello.  Snapped that elbow right upside his head, tout quick!  Wonder if he's been studying the master....(see 0:08)

[HB]

I don't know who praised him throwing the forearm, but I said understand it, and don't have much of a problem with it.  It wasn't his best decision, however.

 

As for getting bullied, we're playing semantics.  Maybe I should've said playing "soft".  I'm in agreement with you there.  Getting owned in the post and on the boards is what I consider allowing yourself to be bullied.  Forearm shivers go on all the time too, just not to the head. 

 

As for trash talking, it's not my thing, but I'm not sure you can find many great players from the past 40 years who didn't do it.  MJ? Bird? Magic? Kareem? Kobe? Lebron? Malone? Pippen? Barkley? Garnett? All of them are/were notorious trash talkers.  It's part of the game (and most major sports), fortunately or unfortunately. 

 

I don't mean to be overly contrary, as you've raised some good points.  But Walt is such a different example than the smack talkers you listed.  He needs to do something before he can do as much woofing as he does.  Rather than giving him any kind of advantage, his woofing and dumb fouls seem to distract him, rather than have him rise up.  Petteway's hard wiring causes him to make some mistakes, but also do some great things.   Not sure any of this goes on the plus side for Walt; if anything, it seems to be a deterrent from doing his job.  He can get over the apparent softness by focusing and playing the game the right way. 

 

Most guys who play a little soft or noncompetively have a laid back personality.  If Almeida did this, maybe we would think "hey, maybe that's a good sign".  But Walt was already bouncing off the walls out there. 

[Huskerpapa]

The bottom line on Walt is that we need him.  Next year it may be even more imperative.  So let's hope that he get's it and continues to raise the level of his play.  He has a great skill set if he can draw it out game in and game out.

[hhcmatt]

I just happened to notice Realtime RPI had us picked to beat Michigan State 72-70. 

 

They were correct on the winner and the final margin, but missed on the score by 14 total points.

 

Would they have had the top score in the HHCC for the Michigan State game?

 

Easily

[hhcmatt]

BTW, the "Husker Power" chant was replaced by "Avery Strong"

[HuskerActuary]

BTW, the "Husker Power" chant was replaced by "Avery Strong"

That was a cool idea. Average execution (not surprising since it wasn't advertised beforehand). Looking forward to Husker Power again for the Northwestern game.

[jason2486]

If I remember right, Walt was pretty emotional against Costello and Payne last year in East Lansing. Maybe there's some bad blood between him and Costello.

[Silverbacked1]

Is Costello a Michigan kid maybe something from high school?

[Silverbacked1]

Okay what was the over/under on number of suicides Walt ran today?

[hskr4life]

Okay what was the over/under on number of suicides Walt ran today?

 

 

1 for every T he has gotten this year (Ejection counts as 5)?

 

1 for every minute we did not have him for?

1 for every bucket Michigan State got in the paint?

1 for every offensive rebound we gave up?

1 for every minute Leslee played over his season average?

 

THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS 

[jason2486]

Is Costello a Michigan kid maybe something from high school?

http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/02/michigan_states_matt_costello_15.html

Here's an article from last year's game. It doesn't say if they were rivals, but Costello is also from Michigan. It basically says Costello didn't respect us. I remember this article coming out right after we beat them last year.

[AuroranHusker]

 

Is Costello a Michigan kid maybe something from high school?

http://www.mlive.com/spartans/index.ssf/2014/02/michigan_states_matt_costello_15.html

Here's an article from last year's game. It doesn't say if they were rivals, but Costello is also from Michigan. It basically says Costello didn't respect us. I remember this article coming out right after we beat them last year.

 

 

Yep, I'd imagine there was a lot of "talk" on the court last year by Walt. MSU basically got under Walt's skin. Gotta be better than that, Pitch; next time 'show' them by taking your game to them by rebounding & making buckets.