Men's Red-White Scrimmage at the Devaney Center - Oct 13, 2024

My Thoughts:

1. This has to be one of the biggest, longest, and versatile teams that have ever set foot on campus. I posted early simply about the heights of the guys who "started," but everyone else is also huge. 

2. This team is athletic in ways but also woefully unathletic in others. We are long, tall, strong, and have some guys who can get vertical. But we are very much missing "twitchy" guys. Ulis does add a nice defensive element off the bench from a quickness/twitchy perspective, but I could see us having a bit of a problem with quick guards. However, our length and verticality, plus Meah protecting the rim, should hopefully mitigate some of that.

3. The main line-up will be:

1. Worster
2. Williams
3. Gary
4. Berke
5. Meah
6. Ulis
7. Morgan
8. Essegian

Then guys like Griffiths, Hoiberg, will definitely have roles but will be determined by the type of game. I don't think any of the freshman are really "ready" to play any type of meaningful role yet. 

4. Brice Williams is the best player on the team. I am not 100% sure how I feel about that. He almost has one of the most NBA-type games we've ever had here... But I am not sure where he is at mentality-wise. Not a knock on him, necessarily... but is he a killer? Is he going to be aggressive? Can he lead verbally?

5. They clearly have a long way to go offensively to be considered a well-oiled machine. Hoiberg mentioned this after the scrimmage. Gavin Griffiths, who was kinda disappointing, is swimming in it. Definitely not understanding the flow of the offense yet, or the spacing. He is a very natural and instinctual basketball player - but for those of you who have coached and played - you can see how maybe "being in a 'system'" is not something that is natural or instinctual for him. Will take some time to get him in the flow. But he is going to "make plays" out of nowhere, for sure. 

6. I'm not concerned about the shooting. There's guys who can clearly make them and their shots look nice. That will sort itself out in a real game, when not everyone is shooting. 

7. Reink and Josiah were the heart and soul of this team last year, and they will be sorely missed from an intangibles perspective... But man, I really think we should be able to replace their actual production fairly well with Meah, Berke, Morgan - who are all very capable dudes. Meah's gonna add an element defensively we've essentially never had here. And offensively for that matter, catching lobs and being a pain on the O boards for easy put backs and tip ins. However, the less Braxton Meah handles the ball in any form, the better. I am not sure how they are going to get Reink/DWalker level production out of him in the high post or the full-court as a pressure release/trailer - he does NOT have that game. I will wait to see if Morgan does, but Meah absolutely does not have that. He's a ball screen and roll, hand-off, dunker spot to dunker spot guy. I do not believe he possesses the skills to run the offense through him at the high post. 

8. I understand Fred's offense, I really do... but I can't stand some of the "false motion" that they do. All those touch passes and faux reversals do nothing to move the defense. But it can be very effective when you have five guys who know what they're doing, and run that false motion with speed and efficiency. That's why guys like Griffiths will struggle to play right away, until he starts understanding that spacing and movement - he's a tempo killer right now. 

9. Hot take... we're not going to miss KT much. I think this team will flow better, guard better, and be more versatile/unselfish without him. 

10. I like this team... I like it a lot. We have the truest Point Guard we've had in a LONG TIME in Rollie. You give me height, length, a true point guard, and a true defensive big - along with some of the other rebounding upgrades we made - and we're going to be a very tough out. 

32 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

My Thoughts:

 

1. This has to be one of the biggest, longest, and versatile teams that have ever set foot on campus. I posted early simply about the heights of the guys who "started," but everyone else is also huge. 

 

2. This team is athletic in ways but also woefully unathletic in others. We are long, tall, strong, and have some guys who can get vertical. But we are very much missing "twitchy" guys. Ulis does add a nice defensive element off the bench from a quickness/twitchy perspective, but I could see us having a bit of a problem with quick guards. However, our length and verticality, plus Meah protecting the rim, should hopefully mitigate some of that.

 

3. The main line-up will be:

1. Worster
2. Williams
3. Gary
4. Berke
5. Meah
6. Ulis
7. Morgan
8. Essegian

Then guys like Griffiths, Hoiberg, will definitely have roles but will be determined by the type of game. I don't think any of the freshman are really "ready" to play any type of meaningful role yet. 

 

4. Brice Williams is the best player on the team. I am not 100% sure how I feel about that. He almost has one of the most NBA-type games we've ever had here... But I am not sure where he is at mentality-wise. Not a knock on him, necessarily... but is he a killer? Is he going to be aggressive? Can he lead verbally?

 

5. They clearly have a long way to go offensively to be considered a well-oiled machine. Hoiberg mentioned this after the scrimmage. Gavin Griffiths, who was kinda disappointing, is swimming in it. Definitely not understanding the flow of the offense yet, or the spacing. He is a very natural and instinctual basketball player - but for those of you who have coached and played - you can see how many being in a "system" is not something that is natural or instinctual for him. Will take some time to get him in the flow. But he is going to "make plays" out of nowhere, for sure. 

 

6. I'm not concerned about the shooting. There's guys who can clearly make them and their shots look nice. That will sort itself out in a real game, when not everyone is shooting. 

 

7. Reink and Josiah were the heart and soul of this team last year, and they will be sorely missed from an intangibles perspective... But man, I really think we should be able to replace their actual production fairly well with Meah, Berke, Morgan - who are all very capable dudes. Meah's gonna add an element defensively we've essentially never had here. And offensively for that matter, catching lobs and being a pain on the O boards for easy put backs and tip ins. However, the less Braxton Meah handles the ball in any form, the better. I am not sure how they are going to get Reink/DWalker level production out of him in the high post or the full-court as a pressure release/trailer - he does NOT have that game. I will wait to see if Morgan does, but Meah absolutely does not have that. He's a ball screen and roll, hand-off, dunker spot to dunker spot guy. I do not believe he possesses the skills to run the offense through him at the high post. 

 

8. I understand Fred's offense, I really do... but I can't stand some of the "false motion" that they do. All those touch passes and faux reversals do nothing to move the defense. But it can be very effective when you have five guys who know what they're doing, and run that false motion with speed and efficiency. That's why guys like Griffiths will struggle to play right away, until he starts understanding that spacing and movement - he's a tempo killer right now. 

 

9. Hot take... we're not going to miss KT much. I think this team will flow better, guard better, and be more versatile/unselfish without him. 

 

10. I like this team... I like it a lot. We have the truest Point Guard we've had in a LONG TIME in Rollie. You give me height, length, a true point guard, and a true defensive big - along with some of the other rebounding upgrades we made - and we're going to be a very tough out. 

A great review.  I was thinking about your comment about the defense struggling with quick guards which could be true, although Rollie and Aaron have the reputation of being good defenders.  Do you think they will run the same defense at last year?  (Force sideline/baseline, double the post and rotate out)  If Meah is in the game we should not need to double the post and with the added length will they tweek the man defense with how we guard or maybe play more zone?

17 hours ago, Huskerpapa said:

- Juwan looks strong.  I pray that he does not fall in love with the perimeter.  His shot looks fine, but they were not falling.

Yep..... Every time he shoots a three I do a little grimace. I suppose he has to do it to keep other teams honest (has to make them, of course, too). But each time he shoots a 3 I am left wishing the possession was used differently. 

3 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

 

A great review.  I was thinking about your comment about the defense struggling with quick guards which could be true, although Rollie and Aaron have the reputation of being good defenders.  Do you think they will run the same defense at last year?  (Force sideline/baseline, double the post and rotate out)  If Meah is in the game we should not need to double the post and with the added length will they tweek the man defense with how we guard or maybe play more zone?

From what I saw them working on in warm-ups and what I saw in game - yes - I think a lot of the defense will be the same. Lots of switching, essentially a 2-3 match-up zone, full rotating vs. jab/recover, pre-rotate on baseline actions. Whether the double the post will be match-up dependent and what big is in. 

Audio if you wan to hear Kent and Jake's takes

https://huskerhoopscentral.com/2024-25/RadioBroadcasts/2024-10-13 Red-White Scrimmage.mp3

4 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

From what I saw them working on in warm-ups and what I saw in game - yes - I think a lot of the defense will be the same. Lots of switching, essentially a 2-3 match-up zone, full rotating vs. jab/recover, pre-rotate on baseline actions. Whether the double the post will be match-up dependent and what big is in. 

Sounds good, thanks.  I like switching since we will not really have a short guy on the floor (except Hoiberg who is pretty physical and will battle a switch miss match) and the match-up look should be effective with our added length. 

Hoiberg Presser

19 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

Box Score

 

Cale Jacobsen leading both teams with a +22 would not have been on my pregame short list of predictions.

1 minute ago, Shawn Eichorst's Toupee said:

 

Cale Jacobsen leading both teams with a +22 would not have been on my pregame short list of predictions.

I'm like, easily in the top 3 of Cale Jacobsen Fans on this board, so remember that before this next part... But I always think back to the story Nick Bahe has told a few times on the radio and on his podcast. When he was a freshman walk-on at KU, he scored 30 in an inter-squad scrimmage and was sure he was going to be the man. But as people started picking it up and playing above that level, it was clear that scrimmage work aint real work. 

Good breakdowns by everyone.

I was really impressed with our passing ability.

Worster was as good as advertised.

Essegian had really good passes as well.

Fred always talks about making the simple plays and I thought we did a solid job of that.

This will hopefully be a team that takes really good care of the ball. 

I really like the unselfishness of this group.

Could be a special year! 

1 hour ago, basketballjones said:

I'm like, easily in the top 3 of Cale Jacobsen Fans on this board, so remember that before this next part... But I always think back to the story Nick Bahe has told a few times on the radio and on his podcast. When he was a freshman walk-on at KU, he scored 30 in an inter-squad scrimmage and was sure he was going to be the man. But as people started picking it up and playing above that level, it was clear that scrimmage work aint real work. 

I love Cale and Sam. On many old Nebraska basketball teams they would easily be in an 8-man rotation. But right now can I say either of them are getting minutes ahead of these 9: Worster, Williams, Gary, Berke, Meah, Essegian, Morgan, Griffiths, Ulis? Not without injury or other unavailability in my opinion. That's not a knock on those guys. We're just better now. I still think Sam will get situational minutes, especially if we're lacking energy or not playing the right way defensively. And Cale will get a lot of second half minutes in non-con as we pound some of these teams at PBA. It sure is a great problem to have some very talented basketball players on the end of our bench, rather than football players or student managers turned basketball players. 

Also I apologize to Braden Frager, I was unfamiliar with your game. I went into this season thinking he was a certain redshirt candidate because he wasn't going to be near ready for DI, let alone Big Ten, basketball. He looks like a senior in college out there, not a senior in high school, which is what he should be. Now I'd like to see him redshirt because he could be a really good redshirt freshman next year, not because I think he isn't ready to play right now. 

Also it's beyond stupid (maybe the stupidest thing the NCAA has ever done...at least top 5) that football players can play 33% of their season and still redshirt, while much longer seasons like basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, lose their redshirt if they play a single minute. How was that ever passed for football without consideration for other sports? It sure would be nice to see Braden Frager and Nick Janowski get 10 minutes here and there against some of the lesser teams on our schedule while still keeping their ability to redshirt. 

35 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

Also I apologize to Braden Frager, I was unfamiliar with your game. I went into this season thinking he was a certain redshirt candidate because he wasn't going to be near ready for DI, let alone Big Ten, basketball. He looks like a senior in college out there, not a senior in high school, which is what he should be. Now I'd like to see him redshirt because he could be a really good redshirt freshman next year, not because I think he isn't ready to play right now. 

 

Also it's beyond stupid (maybe the stupidest thing the NCAA has ever done...at least top 5) that football players can play 33% of their season and still redshirt, while much longer seasons like basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, lose their redshirt if they play a single minute. How was that ever passed for football without consideration for other sports? It sure would be nice to see Braden Frager and Nick Janowski get 10 minutes here and there against some of the lesser teams on our schedule while still keeping their ability to redshirt. 

Because football rules the NCAA and college sports in general. The other sports are just along for the ride. Why do you think USC and UCLA left the PAC12 for the Big10? It sure as hell wasn't for basketball.

Rereading my reply to The Ghost, I realize I didn't answer the question. I was going to delete my reply but then decided to ask the question again. Does anyone know how that rule was put in place for football and not the other sports?

18 minutes ago, LincecumFan said:

Because football rules the NCAA and college sports in general. The other sports are just along for the ride. Why do you think USC and UCLA left the PAC12 for the Big10? It sure as hell wasn't for basketball.

I understand all that. But there's a total lack of common sense in allowing that for football but not other sports. Because at the end of the day it isn't exactly that complicated of a decision to make and seems like something that could have been handled in a 1 hour meeting. "Hey we're letting football do this. Should probably let basketball do it too. Play in 10 regular-season games and get to keep your redshirt sound good? Great. Moving on."

There are plenty of ways they could have done this, and it literally hurts no one and can help a lot of coaches and players in determining what their future is in a program. For basketball in particular, you could say if you play in more than 10 regular-season games, you lose your redshirt. Or if you play after January 1, you lose your redshirt. Or if you play in a conference game, you lose your redshirt.

I don't really care how they handle it. But the whole you step on the court and burn your redshirt thing is so archaic with what football has going on now. Also this was approved for football in summer 2018. 6 years and they haven't figured this out. 

You can wrestle in up to 5 dates as a freshman without losing a year of eligibility.

As far as football vs any other sport, it seems like the reasoning for allowing to keep a year despite playing in 4 games might center around football having the highest injury rate.  You're a lot more likely to have to play a few snaps or a few games because a bunch of guys got injured at your position. 

1 hour ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

 

I understand all that. But there's a total lack of common sense in allowing that for football but not other sports. Because at the end of the day it isn't exactly that complicated of a decision to make and seems like something that could have been handled in a 1 hour meeting. "Hey we're letting football do this. Should probably let basketball do it too. Play in 10 regular-season games and get to keep your redshirt sound good? Great. Moving on."

 

There are plenty of ways they could have done this, and it literally hurts no one and can help a lot of coaches and players in determining what their future is in a program. For basketball in particular, you could say if you play in more than 10 regular-season games, you lose your redshirt. Or if you play after January 1, you lose your redshirt. Or if you play in a conference game, you lose your redshirt.

 

I don't really care how they handle it. But the whole you step on the court and burn your redshirt thing is so archaic with what football has going on now. Also this was approved for football in summer 2018. 6 years and they haven't figured this out. 

I agree with you completely and I apologize for doing such a lousy job trying to answer your question.

2 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

You can wrestle in up to 5 dates as a freshman without losing a year of eligibility.

 

As far as football vs any other sport, it seems like the reasoning for allowing to keep a year despite playing in 4 games might center around football having the highest injury rate.  You're a lot more likely to have to play a few snaps or a few games because a bunch of guys got injured at your position. 

I was thinking the same thing. The NCAA hates to work and processing that many medical hardship waivers pry made them mad to have to do anything at all.

Some real evidence of roster development and building depth is:

in the not so distant past, Cale Jacobsen would be in the regular rotation and possibly even start. He’s a good athlete and a solid overall player. And he’s better than a couple of previous starters we’ve had in the past 24 year or so. But now we are in a scenario where he may not see regular rotation minutes in conference play. For the record, I really like Cale, he’s an outstanding young man and I hope he finds minutes somehow! 

Braden & Nick should BOTH Redshirt, refine their skills, bulk up & be an addition to an already Solid returning Core. Berke is Really the “X” Factor isn’t he? Hard to say what his Ceiling might be but I’m excited to find out. 

A couple takes after watching the scrimmage:

1. Two guys I wasn’t expecting anything from that showed me a lot…Cale Jacobson and Braden Frager. Cale looks like he could be a rotation piece, not big minutes but should get in regularly for a few minutes or when we run into foul trouble. He looked natural on the ball, moved it well, and his shot looked good. He brings a lot of the same things Sam does, but is 4” taller. Frager is raw, but looks the part of a Big Ten player already. He made some nice athletic plays and his shot looked better than I expected even though he didn’t make a 3. Looks like he could fill the Juwan Gary role after a redshirt year. It would be a shame if he chooses to play a few spot minutes this year and lose a year of eligibility that could be an impactful senior year. Even Bolis looks like a good developmental prospect; I’m interested to see if he can polish his game to match his physical gifts.
    
2. I know I shouldn’t play the “what if” game…but can you imagine how good this team would be if Rienk was healthy. We could run out a lineup of Worster, Williams, Gary, Berke, Mast.  Or an all-shooter lineup of Williams, Essegian, Griffiths, Berke, Mast without sacrificing any size. Alas…

 Nebrasketball season can’t get here soon enough!

15 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

Or an all-shooter lineup of Williams, Essegian, Griffiths, Berke, Mast without sacrificing any size.

I suspect we would be involved in a lot of 110-108 type games 

57 minutes ago, HuscurAdam said:

Cale looks like he could be a rotation piece, not big minutes but should get in regularly for a few minutes or when we run into foul trouble. He looked natural on the ball, moved it well, and his shot looked good. He brings a lot of the same things Sam does, but is 4” taller.

To me, Cale brings a lot of the things Rollie does, not Sam. Cale's a ball control/facilitator player with good size. If he can shoot it as well as he did Sunday, then there's a role for him. The wildcard for what Cale and Sam end up doing this year is Ulis. If he is productive offensively, with what he can bring naturally defensively, Cale and Sam's minutes will be limited. Cale's especially. 

With Rollie’s Size I wouldn’t be afraid to let he & Uhlis play in the Backcourt together for Spot Minutes with Brice, Juwan & Berke @ the 5