After watching the feed of game 1 from Espana, would you rather ...

[Norm Peterson]

If you ran the zoo, would you bring in a center or a shooter to fill that last spot?

[Norm Peterson]

Interesting.  Before that game in Spain, I would have thought the results of a question like this would be damn near unanimous.  In fact, the thought wouldn't have even occurred to me to ask this question.  I would have figured it was a no-brainer that we need a 6'10" 245# beefy dude to defend the paint and board.

 

But, after watching that game, I'm not so sure we don't need another guy who can reliably drain the deep ball.

 

And the poll results so far (70/30 split in favor of finding a big) suggest there's some doubt creeping into the minds of others as well.

 

I'm not saying I would definitely take a shooter over a big.  But I am saying the poll results so far kind of correspond to my nagging sense that another legit deep threat could be just as important.

[Norm Peterson]

What I saw that troubled me in the game in Spain against Crizna or Cessna or whoever it was was similar to something that troubled me last year.  Now, granted, the feed was pretty low definition so maybe there were things about spacing or whatnot that weren't clear to me.  But I saw too many times where I felt a Husker player should have launched a 3-ball where they turned it down.

 

Specifically, when you dribble behind a screen and there's no hedge and the defender isn't fighting to get over top of the screen, you're open as far as I'm concerned.  And we were turning down those looks.  And maybe Miles wanted to focus on getting the ball inside and finding cutters, etc.  But, still, watching guys pass up open 3 point looks reminded me of last year.

 

We weren't confident in our perimeter shooting a year ago.  And I think that lack of confidence was a chicken vs. egg kind of thing with our bad shooting numbers.  Were we lacking confidence because we were a bad shooting team?  Or did we become a bad shooting team because we lost confidence in our shot?

 

I was hoping to see a turnaround this season.  When guys get an open look from deep, I want to see them step into the shot with confidence and let it fly.  When you have that open look, though, and you don't take it, it suggests you aren't confident in your ability to make the shot.  And just feeling confident can go a long way towards turning shots into makes.

[twinswingohuskers]

Norm,

interesting topic, I wonder if our guys weren't launching because of the deeper 3-point line they use.

As for me I still would prefer a back to the basket big who can defend the rim as well.

[Fullbacksympathy]

I thought they were taking advantage of what the defense gave them in driving to the rim, but the three guys I was most interested in didn't disappoint from 3:

 

White -- 2/5

McVeigh -- 1/2

Shields -- 1/2 

 

I think White is, by all accounts, a sharp shooter. 

 

As for bigs, I'm really interested in seeing Jacobson more once his face heals up.  I also think Hammond will be serviceable. 

[HuskerFever]

Norm,

interesting topic, I wonder if our guys weren't launching because of the deeper 3-point line they use.

As for me I still would prefer a back to the basket big who can defend the rim as well.

 

Beat me to it. But to Norm's point, if you watch some confident college 3-point specialists they're more than confident that can put up a shot even a foot behind an NBA 3-point line. Maybe lack of confidence has a little to do with it as well?

[Norm Peterson]

Norm,

interesting topic, I wonder if our guys weren't launching because of the deeper 3-point line they use.

As for me I still would prefer a back to the basket big who can defend the rim as well.

That could be.

 

But that won't help the confidence of our shooters.  If you're not confident in your shot, you're not going to make it.  Shooters have to be confident.  And confidence or lack of it can influence a whole team, which is what I think happened last year.

[ajb5856]

Norm,

interesting topic, I wonder if our guys weren't launching because of the deeper 3-point line they use.

As for me I still would prefer a back to the basket big who can defend the rim as well.

That could be.

But that won't help the confidence of our shooters. If you're not confident in your shot, you're not going to make it. Shooters have to be confident. And confidence or lack of it can influence a whole team, which is what I think happened last year.

Agree that shooters have to be confident. I think White will be confident enough to let it fly when appropriate. As for yesterday, I don't think you can look at all passed up 3s and say yep that's a confidence issue. Maybe the shots weren't taken for other reasons. There's a fine line here. Yes, shooters have to be confident but shots have to be taken at the right time and in the right situation as well. Sometimes a shooter just knows when the time is right versus when something is a little off, like a mis-catch or timing issue. To us it might just look like an opening and a passed up opportunity. When players become overconfident, the shots fly, the misses add up, and the percentage goes down. When percentages plummet, things that took place last year start to happen. Defenders back off, shooters tighten up, and the mind game enters into the equation.

[Silverbacked1]

I guess I will go the other way and say i'm not worried.  First pass of the scrimmage was to White who fired up a three.  If we weren't in Spain right now we wouldn't even be worrying.  Also if they aren't going to play any defense take it to the hole that is a better % shot anyway, even more so this year as we have some guys who really want to throw it down and can.

 

Still would like somebody to bang when we get into league and if or when we get back to the tournament, but maybe we will be that team that everybody can't match up because we all shoot well and are fast.

 

Also St Mary in Toledo is possibly the coolest church I have ever been in and I have seen many on my trips to Europe.  Tim had really good tweeter pic.

[49r]

I agree, Silver.  Or to put it another way...don't try to out #shitball a #shitball team.  They're gonna let you drive to the hoop, so...drive to the hoop!

[Huskerpapa]

Playing in Europe (Spain) with limited practices and tired legs tells me that the shooters likely would/will struggle.  We need a big for Big Ten play.

[atskooc]

Hammond won the tip; we're good there.

Shooter it is.

[HuskerPower #nato73]

We will be a better shooting team.  Hard not to be.  Combination of jet lag and deeper 3 point line make it too early to judge.

[basketballjones]

What I saw that troubled me in the game in Spain against Crizna or Cessna or whoever it was was similar to something that troubled me last year.

You weren't wrong in these observations. That thing you saw that bugged you is poor spacing, indecisiveness, and lack of hard second action on screens/cuts. And possibly more importantly, poor transition lanes with poor decisions being made in make or miss transitions opportunities.

I'm going into my 4th season harping on these things so I don't think it's stuff that's gonna change. We're clearly going to be a team who relies on great defense, individual play-makers, and clever crunch time sets I suppose.

BUUUUUT - I could be also doing my typical "making a mountain out of a molehill," and maybe it was just our first game of the summer with new kids. Who knows?!?!?!?

[lanigan123]

With the current team i would take a shooter, another 3 ball shooter like a Cochran.

I like what Ed showed offensively in the post.

A big, I want for rebounding and defense but with the current team going in to next year I want a shooter.

Still hoping we land a sr big man or a juco big man for 2016 season.

[AuroranHusker]

Based on the fact that big men don't grow on trees, a 2-guard is more attainable at such late notice. And, either a 5 or a 2 would fill a big need based on last year's results. In fact, a "3 & D" would be ideal.