Spain Trip - good and bad

[kldm64]

If you had to pick one player (assuming you were able to watch the games online), which player did you feel was the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment just based on these 4 games.

 

Biggest Surprise = Jack McVeigh

Biggest Disappointment = Andrew White III

 

With that being said, this freshman class did not disappoint.  I was impressed with Marrow and Watson as well but thought Jack was better than I expected.

[huskerbaseball13]

If you had to pick one player (assuming you were able to watch the games online), which player did you feel was the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment just based on these 4 games.

 

Biggest Surprise = Jack McVeigh

Biggest Disappointment = Andrew White III

 

With that being said, this freshman class did not disappoint.  I was impressed with Marrow and Watson as well but thought Jack was better than I expected.

 

I would say that's correct....with that said...AW looked solid but right now doesn't appear to be someone who can step in and produce like Petteway did. 

[HuskerFever]

Biggest surprise: Jack McVeigh, by far.

I'll leave the disappointment category open for whoever earns it in the regular season.

[mrjam]

Remember it was AW'S first game in a year

[mrjam]

I think he has the most pressure on him

[mrjam]

Remember it was AW'S first game in a year

[49r]

There's a lot of good that can be taken away from the experience, I am sure.  Bonding, experiencing new and different cultures, etc.

 

But I will definitely say the bad has got to be the grainy video we had to endure watching the games.

[Huskerpapa]

There were no real disappointment.  I guess if I were forced to name a name, it would be Mr. Fuller.  I still have higher expectations for that young man.  The good...the entire group of freshmen.

[jimmykc]

You forgot the ugly. It's a tie between the uniforms and the head camera.

[hhcmatt]

Petteway was quite good while he was here....in a few years he'll be looked at as even better.  To me he's a different type of player than White...much more aggressive about and better at taking his own shot though the downside is that there were a lot of those shots you wished he wouldn't take.

 

To me, I see Andrew White as the Gallegos dream realized.....the guy who not only takes 3s for us but hits them plus brings more to the table in terms of length, rebounding, and being able to dribble purposefully.  Can we delegate Petteway's work so that a guy like Tai or Shavon or McVeigh is slashing to the rim?  That's hopefully what we got out of this...a way to cover everything TP did over multiple guys so that we function more as a team.

[basketballjones]

Good - McVeigh, Watson, Morrow, Jacobsen. This is the foundation of our program. Keeping these guys around and keeping them happy, healthy, and motivated is paramount to our success under TM. Shavon Shields should see things open up for him if other guys step up. Hammond looked serviceable.

Bad - What I had gathered/worried about AW is correct. Fuller continues to disappear. We can't shoot. Offensive transition/point guard decision making in transition (make or miss) is my favorite part of the game and the area I'm most critical on, and we're not great here.

Indifferent - I don't think Webster can do what he did in Spain against D1 guys and the Big 10. He was taking advantage of smaller, weaker, less athletic defenders on his way to the paint... That's my hypothesis anyways. I've always felt a PG's offensive ability is more important than his defensive ability - I think Watson has to see as much minutes than Benny at the point.

[Huskerpapa]

Good - McVeigh, Watson, Morrow, Jacobsen. This is the foundation of our program. Keeping these guys around and keeping them happy, healthy, and motivated is paramount to our success under TM. Shavon Shields should see things open up for him if other guys step up. Hammond looked serviceable.

Bad - What I had gathered/worried about AW is correct. Fuller continues to disappear. We can't shoot. Offensive transition/point guard decision making in transition (make or miss) is my favorite part of the game and the area I'm most critical on, and we're not great here.

Indifferent - I don't think Webster can do what he did in Spain against D1 guys and the Big 10. He was taking advantage of smaller, weaker, less athletic defenders on his way to the paint... That's my hypothesis anyways. I've always felt a PG's offensive ability is more important than his defensive ability - I think Watson has to see as much minutes than Benny at the point.

I do believe that Tai started to elevate his game towards the end of last season.  He played the same slashing type game that TP played and simply was second banana to TP.  This year, I believe Tai will come into his own.  He has a bigger body, and will be more physical.  There has not been a question about his defense, especially last year.  If he can develop even an average outside shot, he can likely be a major bonus for us this year.

[Norm Peterson]

Excellent:  I'm going to single out Ed Morrow.  While none of the freshmen disappointed -- and I should stress that they all at least lived up to expectations -- Ed Morrow's motor stood out.  I love his tenacity and desire to make plays, whether by setting a solid screen or going hard after a rebound.  He's clearly the player he was billed to be.

 

Really Good:  Depth and rotations.  We are legitimately 9 men deep this year.  Regardless of who ends up starting, we should have  a bench that can come in and score.  That is really nice to see.

 

Pretty Good:  I liked the tempo.  I liked seeing them push the ball in their transition offense.  Especially considering we don't have a post presence on offense where we can hope to find some points in the half-court, I liked seeing the ball movement and getting layups off of basket cuts.  They were loving the rim even as they appeared to have a love/hate relationship with the three ball.

 

Reasonably Good:  Jacob Hammond was a mixed bag.  At times, his defense looked sketch; his free throw shooting at times cringe-worthy.  But we have Glynn Watson.  And Jack McVeigh.  And Jacob was smart enough to hang out near the rim to receive the dish pass so that if they got a step on their defender, he was available for the dish.  That was good.  He rebounded decently and had a couple of really nice blocks.  For a guy who only played like 13 minutes all last year, he was a lot better than I expected he would be.  Reasonably pleasant surprise there.

 

Bad:  The team 3 pt percentage sucked.  Horribly.  Which is really scary when you don't have an inside post presence whom you can count on to score with his back to the basket.  Hard to open up those driving lanes when the defense can play a sagging, help D and we'd be hard pressed to force them out of it.  They won't be chasing shooters over the top of ball screens because there'd be no point.  Why bother?  We aren't going to have anyone dribble behind a screen and shoot it.  And, if they did, like they're going to make it?  I wish that was something we could fix between now and the beginning of the season -- our perimeter shooting, that is.  But too many unlikely things would have to happen for that to change to any great extent.

[Chuck Taylor]

Good - McVeigh, Watson, Morrow, Jacobsen. This is the foundation of our program. Keeping these guys around and keeping them happy, healthy, and motivated is paramount to our success under TM.

That's it for me. I have modest expectations for this year, but this class is the one that has to get it done.

[lanigan123]

Good, I liked the ability to play lots of guys for a good number of minutes. The good, Tai, he is finally starting to put it together. Morrow was good. Hammond was better than I thought I'd see. White, I think he is exactly what we thought he wod be. He isn't a slasher, I like what he brings. I think we saw some glimpses of what Watson brings. McVeigh looked good as well.

I've never been a fan of Fuller. I think he is a good player, probably a spot minute type Big Ten player. He could be a good standing shooter. He athletically is just not their. He works hard. Teams need guys like him.

[jimmykc]

So you are saying Fuller will be more like Terry Novak, Mark McVicker, or John Matzke?

[Swan88]

https://twitter.com/robinwashut/status/637648226288594945

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[49r]

"We're pretty small this year, but all it is is toughness when it comes down to it."

[Hooper]

I do disagree on Fuller, as I don't see a role for him going forward. He was a complete non-factor in Spain. I feel it will be hard to justify substantial minutes for Fuller if McVeigh plays the way I feel he's capable of playing. If someone's going to play that stretch-four role this year, it's going to be McVeigh over Fuller as far as I see it.