uneblinstu's Post Game Chatter: ed 7, vol 25 - Purdue

[uneblinstu]

- They came out focused and ready to play, which I expected after Friday. Couldn't sustain it, though.

- Purdue's a whole different squad from last year. Playing much more together. Some nice young talent, too. 

- Nebraska's offense is so frustrating and their issues arent' going to get fixed this year, it's only going to come from roster changes. 

- If there's a coaching opening this year, I'd hope Miles looks for an offensive wizard.

- Shields was great today. 

- Instead of using the trap as a way to get back into games, I'd love to see it a little earlier in games and use it to keep teams uncomfortable.

- As good as the defense is, it can't overcome an inept offense. It's the hoops version of the 2009 football team. 

[HuskerFever]

High-level season thoughts:

 

- We're only 1 game out from going back to 0.500 now

- We are 0-6 on the road in conference play

- Winning out might be enough for some home NIT games

- We knew we'd have a rough season ahead of us at the beginning of the year; Miles was very vocal about his concerns and he was certainly right

[hal9000]

Defensive rebounding (lack of) was our death knell today.

[Huskerpapa]

...our cake is missing some ingrediants. 

[hal9000]

FWIW, I felt the whole team was much more reserved in its mannerisms today, keeping visible displays of emotions more in check.

[hskr4life]

Another tough one... dang.  Was doing the Big 10 bracket generator.... and was wondering something...

 

Would Nebraska benefit from getting the 11 seed?  Now hear me out...

 

We know we can play with any team in the league, and our inability to win games that are right there for us to grab sucks.  This team is capable of getting on a roll though if something starts to click.  By getting the 11 seed, we would play the 14 seed... then the 6 seed... then the 3 seed if we made it that far.  Now in the bracket that I recently did, we ended up here.  Our schedule?

 

Rutgers... Iowa... Indiana

 

Now, we have to win a few of our remaining games to actually have to "benefit" from the 11 seed, but what are your thoughts? Would the 11 seed help us assuming there is something to play for?

[uneblinstu]

They'd probably get past Rutgers, but the matchups really aren't going to matter if they don't start figuring out how to play offense.

[hhcmatt]

[hhcmatt]

Defensive rebounding (lack of) was our death knell today.

 

They'd probably get past Rutgers, but the matchups really aren't going to matter if they don't start figuring out how to play offense.

 

I thought them shooting 20 more FTs than us was the biggest difference in the game and an explanation for our lack of offense. I know we're ridiculously awful at the 3pt line, but Purdue is a team that puts you on the line. AJ Hammons had zero fouls....the only time that has happened this year.

[unl]

Dave, so you're saying addition by subtraction?

 

Free throws are killer. We can't continue to let our opponents shoot 3 times as many free throws (15-20 a game!!!) and expect to win...Part of it I would question the refs but the bigger part of the equation is we look lazy - go to the rim and draw contact! We pass up jumpers to pass to well-guarded players then either hoist up a bad shot or turn it over. We are not playing smart basketball and we are not giving 100% effort on offense.  Frustrating. 

 

We have the pieces to do it. All but 3 players are here from last year including a walkon, a player who came in the final 2 minutes of blowouts, and a reserve. We can also play, or beat, anyone in the league. To me, it's more mental. A little focus and determination goes a long, long way.

[jimmykc]

Had to watch this one late and used the fast forward too much to add much to the conversation. I was not terribly surprised by anything I saw though. I did think Walter played better instead of spending the game curled into a fetal ball by the pressure of living up to the Year of the Walter. I think now we are on the outer fringe of postseason play.

[Rachoo]

I can't believe the inability to understand and execute the principle of boxing out - and being in position to have visual access and then actually securing the ball on rebounds!  I realize we don't have a lot of height - athletic length to match some teams - but the basic principles of the art of rebounding and the effort and aggressiveness  (when you consider the steady defensive effort they consistently put forth) it seems they should be able to match others offensively and defensively on the boards.  What a difference that would make!

[Silverbacked1]

I can't believe the inability to understand and execute the principle of boxing out - and being in position to have visual access and then actually securing the ball on rebounds!  I realize we don't have a lot of height - athletic length to match some teams - but the basic principles of the art of rebounding and the effort and aggressiveness  (when you consider the steady defensive effort they consistently put forth) it seems they should be able to match others offensively and defensively on the boards.  What a difference that would make!

As I watch games I think I see the art of boxing out has gone by way of the two hand set shot.

[HuskerFever]

Would Nebraska benefit from getting the 11 seed?

 

No. And the reason I say that is because we have never fared well in conference tournaments (Big 12 and Big Ten). We tend to either get one win or zero wins in the tournament no matter the opponent(s).

[Huskerpapa]

Had to watch this one late and used the fast forward too much to add much to the conversation. I was not terribly surprised by anything I saw though. I did think Walter played better instead of spending the game curled into a fetal ball by the pressure of living up to the Year of the Walter. I think now we are on the outer fringe of postseason play.

Dr. Walter Bishop from Fringe...excellent choice Jimmy!

[AuroranHusker]

 

Would Nebraska benefit from getting the 11 seed?

 

No. And the reason I say that is because we have never fared well in conference tournaments (Big 12 and Big Ten). We tend to either get one win or zero wins in the tournament no matter the opponent(s).

 

 

Well, there was this time back in '94...

[AuroranHusker]

 

Had to watch this one late and used the fast forward too much to add much to the conversation. I was not terribly surprised by anything I saw though. I did think Walter played better instead of spending the game curled into a fetal ball by the pressure of living up to the Year of the Walter. I think now we are on the outer fringe of postseason play.

Dr. Walter Bishop from Fringe...excellent choice Jimmy!

 

 

Great show. Excellent Walter for a team on the 'fringe'

[jimmykc]

Walter Bishop=one of my all time favorites. And let us not forget the lovely Anna Torv.

[throwback]

Walter Bishop=one of my all time favorites. And let us not forget the lovely Anna Torv.

1 up for Fringe reference  Outstanding!

 

As far as the rebounding issues, Coach Miles mentioned it on the post game, but when you're doubling and scrambling on defense, it's tough to match up on the box out, Coach said it's similar to playing zone. And we are lousy rebounders when playing zone, so the rebounding problems probably shouldn't have been a significant surprise.

 

Now you can debate whether we should have run 1/2/3 extra defenders at Hammonds every time, maybe we could've changed up a bit in the 2nd half, but when you're going to immediately double/triple and try to make Hammonds to beat us passing the ball, forcing you to scramble defensively, you're going to have more rebounding problems than normal.

 

PU also seemed to get nearly every loose ball to bounce its way, like the ball we knocked loose on the double team in the first half and bounced to a Boiler standing in the lane for a layup, or the air ball PU shot late in the game that landed in the hands of a Boiler offensive player for a layup. Couple of key momentum plays that the road team needs to go its way.

[hhcmatt]

 

Walter Bishop=one of my all time favorites. And let us not forget the lovely Anna Torv.

1 up for Fringe reference  Outstanding!

 

As far as the rebounding issues, Coach Miles mentioned it on the post game, but when you're doubling and scrambling on defense, it's tough to match up on the box out, Coach said it's similar to playing zone. And we are lousy rebounders when playing zone, so the rebounding problems probably shouldn't have been a significant surprise.

 

Now you can debate whether we should have run 1/2/3 extra defenders at Hammonds every time, maybe we could've changed up a bit in the 2nd half, but when you're going to immediately double/triple and try to make Hammonds to beat us passing the ball, forcing you to scramble defensively, you're going to have more rebounding problems than normal.

 

PU also seemed to get nearly every loose ball to bounce its way, like the ball we knocked loose on the double team in the first half and bounced to a Boiler standing in the lane for a layup, or the air ball PU shot late in the game that landed in the hands of a Boiler offensive player for a layup. Couple of key momentum plays that the road team needs to go its way.

 

It's tough to blame Miles for the strategy. Purdue hitting 38% of their 3s is them have a better than their average day.

Leslee and Moses had 7 fouls in 15 minutes. What would it have been if we were single covering? Would Walt just slowing down Hammons have been a better plan?

[throwback]

 

It's tough to blame Miles for the strategy. Purdue hitting 38% of their 3s is them have a better than their average day.

Leslee and Moses had 7 fouls in 15 minutes. What would it have been if we were single covering? Would Walt just slowing down Hammons have been a better plan?

 

I wasn't questioning the plan - sorry if it came across that way. It certainly worked well enough through the majority of the game. If we could've just shot the ball with a little consistency, we'd have had the lead most of the way.

 

I just thought PU had adjusted to it in the first several minutes after halftime, but I thought it was a good strategy overall. If we just rebound a bit better, it's a brilliant strategy, but playing the way we played did left us open to allowing more offensive rebounds, and PU did a good job of making us pay on 2nd-chance points. 

 

I think Miles said the 2 PU post players had something like 90 turnovers and 20 assists on the season combined, so forcing them to pass with the quick double/triple was a smart option in my mind, and it worked well the majority of the game. 

[Huskerpapa]

All we had to do to win the Purdue game was to make shots.  Sounds elementary, but we have been in each of the last several games.  Sure we could have rebounded better and sure they went to the line too much, but if we shoot the ball like we should be shooting it...we flippin win these games.