Leslie Smith

[colhusker]

After watching the last few games I just wonder where we would be if he had been healthy.  He made a couple wonderful passes last night, got after the boards, played some mighty fine defense and wanted to be part of the offense in terms of scoring.  There were a couple times he took shots that he should not have, he was not alone, or tried to do to much.  That said it was refreshing to see a kid wanting.

[Lifetimesker]

He looked like a man on a mission last night. Shon Morris couldn't stop talking about him, it was fun to watch him play. Weren't their reports this week about his surgically repaired knee getting a little worse? Didn't look like it last night! 

[Huskerpapa]

I like Leslee, I sure wish he could have sat out the entire year to heal up and then play next season.  He played on guts last night.

[basketballjones]

I feel so bad for Leslee. He's a great dude, very mature, super intense.

You're getting about 75% of his capabilities because of all the injuries he's had. Guy has good hands, smooth moves at times, and good smarts. You just get zero of his athleticism and explosiveness he once had. What could have been....

[HuskerCager]

Right now, he's by far the best thing we've got going inside.  We didn't get a lot of production inside this year with Smith-Rivers-Abraham-Pitchford.  Like others, I'm looking forward to the players we have coming next year.  But our inside game is going to go from sub-par to scary bad.

[arliepro]

You think Jake Hammond can help at all next season? Or Michael Jacobsen?

[Huskerpapa]

You think Jake Hammond can help at all next season? Or Michael Jacobsen?

I certainly hope so.  Both likely need to put on muscle/weight.  Michael Jacobson appears to be more of a four.  Waukee has another big kid on their team that is going to play football for Iowa that plays more inside.  That said, Jacobson plays physical and is kind of a tough sob.  Jake was going to redshirt this year, but due to the injury to Leslee, didn't.  Likely something that many will look back on.  If he an put...say...25 to 30 lbs of muscle on, then yes, I believe he can help.  His offensive game seems to show glimpses of quality...so we shall see.

[jimmykc]

Have we ever had a player who "should have redshirted" but ended up sitting on the end of the bench who contributed anything significant his freshman year? I can't think of one. Ubel was adequate but I still would have preferred him at the end of his career. I think the coach should be more active in encouraging redshirt years rather than letting the player have the final decision. Or do the coaches buy into their own recruiting hype so much that they actually foresee that much progress realistically occurring during a player's freshman year?