uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 11; ed 21 - Wisconsin

3 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

I was thinking about this today.  I haven't been following Nebrasketball nearly as long as some of you.  I haven't been alive long enough to follow.  However, there have been many seasons that I have followed where we struggled to hit 11-13 wins.  Here we are with 10 games left and already at 13... Season is far from over.

One game can change everything. But right now it sucks. 

Also, there was a jump ball call that should have been a travel right before the half. NU kept the ball, but instead of getting the ball out of the break, Wisconsin did. I believe they missed a shot, so it may not have mattered, but at the time, when NU was trying to claw back, that could have been a pretty significant hidden swing.

2 hours ago, burgundy95 said:

 

Was this the one when Borchardt fouled out? If so, as much as I hate Davison, Borchardt was inside the circle (split second too late getting there) and the call was correct. Although it was a flop, he's going to get the benefit of the doubt with the size of Borchardt plowing into him.

No, it was the previous play. Davison was supposedly boxing out Borchardt, except Brad was riding Tanner all the way outta the lane !!!

4 hours ago, royalfan said:

 

These are things the good or great coaches have ready to go as second nature.  It is instinctual.  Miles does not have good instinctual coaching ability.  That is why things happen like the awful Ohio St. loss at the buzzer a year or two ago.  He is certainly in the bottom group in this league in strategic and instinctual coaching ability.  

Exactly. I was trying to help the guy !

6 hours ago, hskr4life said:

 

I will say that I loved Thor last night.  I think he should be the 6 man with Cope out the rest of the year.  Maybe that would light a fire under Nana as well.  However, there were times when Thor did some head-scratching things last night.  He still had some WTH fouls and some WTH passes.  His hustle was amazing and that was something that this team was lacking in previous games.  However, when we had Cope, there wasn't really a need for Thor.  Especially with the way that Nana was playing as a 6th man early this year.  Combine Cope with Nana's struggles and we had the perfect storm for Thor to come in and show us what he's got.  I would love to see him the rest of the year.  It's his time.  He didn't do any more to hurt the team last night than anyone else, and his hustle and ability to rebound was better than we have seen in about 3 weeks.

Yeah, well of course Thor had some dumb moments, he's *never* had any reasonable playing time. He's green. But, you know what he does, Thor hustles his butt off !!!!

 
No, it was the previous play. Davison was supposedly boxing out Borchardt, except Brad was riding Tanner all the way outta the lane !!!
 
 

1 hour ago, rr52 said:

Should Wisconsin player have been called for over and back? Friend beside me said it looked like Davison(?) stepped on midcourt line.

From where I was sitting, it didn't look like it.

4 minutes ago, burgundy95 said:

Yeah that was pretty bad. Brad just thinks that was a good box out. Surprised he didn’t flop while boxing out to try and draw the push foul on Borchardt. Either way he got what he wanted. Might be the most hatable player on the B1G.


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Well, yeah, Davison got a call he didn't deserve (because they did call a foul on #20 for Nebraska, somehow....) then, soon thereafter, UW's #34 baited Tanner into trying for a "charge call" when it seemed fairly obvious that Borchardt should have played "Ole!" D on that specific, follow-up confrontation. So, yes, I'm still a lil' pissed at lil' Bradley. He's a punk !!!

10 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

Yeah, well of course Thor had some dumb moments, he's *never* had any reasonable playing time. He's green. But, you know what he does, Thor hustles his butt off !!!!

 

 

We have a football coach that said something akin to the following....we know that mistakes will occur, we just want the players to go all out on every play.  With Thor, he is going to make mistakes, but he will make them in kamikaze style. 

Just now, Huskerpapa said:

We have a football coach that said something akin to the following....we know that mistakes will occur, we just want the players to go all out on every play.  With Thor, he is going to make mistakes, but he will make them in kamikaze style. 

A desire to excel, and no fear of failure.

As far as that quote, I kinda think Thor actually still fears the "failure" part some, but at least he's busting his hump doing it !!!!

12 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

Yeah, well of course Thor had some dumb moments, he's *never* had any reasonable playing time. He's green. But, you know what he does, Thor hustles his butt off !!!!

 

 

Couldn't agree more.

4 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Couldn't agree more.

Yeah, I know; still have no idea how Nana started a game, tho. He's a step slow & his shot is wonky. Love that he tries to better myself, but his entire game at the D-1 level is flawed.

Just now, AuroranHusker said:

 

Yeah, I know; still have no idea how Nana started a game, tho. He's a step slow & his shot is wonky. Love that he tries to better myself, but his entire game at the D-1 level is flawed.

 

 

Prior to January, he was doing something that we usually can't.  He was shooting the three ball at a 41.3% clip.  Since the Maryland game he is 6.25%.  Yikes.

1 minute ago, hskr4life said:

 

Prior to January, he was doing something that we usually can't.  He was shooting the three ball at a 41.3% clip.  Since the Maryland game he is 6.25%.  Yikes.

Yeah, Nana appeared to be confident against a bunch of lesser opponents; the Big Ten isn't for the faint of heart, so his struggles have magnified his inherent weaknesses. Like I wrote earlier, love that Akenten tries his best to be the best version of myself through practice, but at some point his talent level has proved out to be just slightly less than B1G-worthy. Just my opinion.

Just now, AuroranHusker said:

 

Yeah, Nana appeared to be confident against a bunch of lesser opponents; the Big Ten isn't for the faint of heart, so his struggles have magnified his inherent weaknesses. Like I wrote earlier, love that Akenten tries his best to be the best version of myself through practice, but at some point his talent level has proved out to be just slightly less than B1G-worthy. Just my opinion.

 

Yep.  Right now, I am actually in the boat of getting Roby, Thor, Borch, Palmer, Watson, and Allen the majority of the minutes and playing Nana sparingly with Amir and Brady a little more sparingly than that.  I guess I would rather lose with the new "Big 4" playing so many minutes they are running out of gas than having Nana shoot at a 6% clip, Brady struggle with strength, or Amir shoot at a 0% clip because he refuses to shoot.

2 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Yep.  Right now, I am actually in the boat of getting Roby, Thor, Borch, Palmer, Watson, and Allen the majority of the minutes and playing Nana sparingly with Amir and Brady a little more sparingly than that.  I guess I would rather lose with the new "Big 4" playing so many minutes they are running out of gas than having Nana shoot at a 6% clip, Brady struggle with strength, or Amir shoot at a 0% clip because he refuses to shoot.

Totally concur with JPJ, Roby, Glynn & Tom (and Tanner, now that Cope is gone... too bad for Isaac, still, man).

Play the dudes. Let the duds ride the pine. Get Thor in the mix with Amir, Nana, & Brady for spot minutes as time/score, & matchups allow.

Just now, AuroranHusker said:

 

Totally concur with JPJ, Roby, Glynn & Tom (and Tanner, now that Cope is gone... too bad for Isaac, still, man).

 

Play the dudes. Let the duds ride the pine. Get Thor in the mix with Amir, Nana, & Brady for spot minutes as time/score, & matchups allow.

 

 

Yeah.  I included Thor with the starting 5 because I don't know that Tanner will be able to see 20-25 minutes of floor time without fouling out.

3 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Yeah.  I included Thor with the starting 5 because I don't know that Tanner will be able to see 20-25 minutes of floor time without fouling out.

Happ's a terrible matchup for Tanner.... then you gotta throw in a couple crappy fouls called against TB from punks like Brad Davison... I suspect Borchardt will be able to stay alive if Miles & Co. can manage his minutes a bit better going forward. That 1st game without Cope was always going to be a crapshoot.

4 hours ago, uneblinstu said:

No, it was his fourth while Borchardt was going for a rebound. Davison boxed him out and essentially slumped down while "falling" backwards.

The one he fouled out on would have been an easy charge call if he'd been outside the arc.

Would like to see the difference between this call and the one Thomas Allen got called for versus Rutgers.

1 hour ago, rr52 said:

Would like to see the difference between this call and the one Thomas Allen got called for versus Rutgers.

Nebraska's somehow the red-headed step child of the Big Ten. Even Rutgers "gets" calls that NU never does....... smh

On 1/29/2019 at 11:21 PM, TimSmiles said:

our best +/- lineup tonight was glynn, allen, thor, palmer, roby.

Where did you see that? That lineup had one good stretch in the first half (+2 in 3:53, 5-3) but was -6 (6-12) in 5:47 in the second half.

The starting 5 was the best lineup tonight. It outscored Wisconsin 18-14 in 10:07. Allen, Palmer, Thorbjarnarson, Harris, Roby was also +4 (5-1) in 1:16.

I tallied all this myself for a story. (FWIW, if a lineup was changed after a shooting foul I still charged those FT points to the previous lineup).

1 hour ago, Jacob Padilla said:

Where did you see that? That lineup had one good stretch in the first half (+2 in 3:53, 5-3) but was -6 (6-12) in 5:47 in the second half.

 

The starting 5 was the best lineup tonight. It outscored Wisconsin 18-14 in 10:07. Allen, Palmer, Thorbjarnarson, Harris, Roby was also +4 (5-1) in 1:16.

 

I tallied all this myself for a story. (FWIW, if a lineup was changed after a shooting foul I still charged those FT points to the previous lineup).

That certainly makes a lot more sense. Miles & Co. certainly pay attention to the analytics so the starters likely are "the starters" for a good reason.

There have been some great perspectives shared on HHC during this period of angst. We are just sick about what has happened, and, because we are loyal fans, we will keep rooting for our guys and hoping against hope. That despite having our hearts ripped out too many times to count.

Obviously, Coach Miles and staff want to get this ship righted more than any of us. I don't watch practice and I've never been paid to be a coach. But as a guy who loves and has watched lots of basketball, I have reached the following opinions about our current team (I admit they may miss the mark and I would love to see differing perspectives):

1) Miles' offense is ISO heavy and is predicated on guys being able to make exceptional plays in order to score. That has especially been the case since we've gone all in on playing small ball. If you've got enough talented guys to do that, it may work out fine.  It was effective last year when it was new and we had a deeper roster, but I think the Big 10 has adjusted to us, and we are not making our own adjustments accordingly.  It appears that our high ball screen, dribble hand off sets have become very mechanical, and predictable. It puts so much pressure on our playmakers. We have to draw up something to help them out. 

When we move the ball from side to side and move ball and man, we seem to have much more success. Problem is we never have enough discipline to continue doing the things which give us the best chance to succeed. Moreover, it seems like we don't mix in designed sets which put our guys in great position to get consistently good looks. For example, we had those set plays for the free throw line curls we ran for Cope, and a nifty high back screen against Ohio State which freed Glynn for a layup.  Those are few and far between. 

2) Many of our ISOs do not put our players in the best possible position to score. JPJ is often starting his ISOs 20-25 feet from the basket. Roby gets isolated on guys he could take off the dribble, but we're asking him to do that from the top of the key outside of the 3 pt. line. It's almost impossible to get to the basket from those positions. How about spacing the floor and isolating JPG or Roby in the short corner or high post, where they can attack off 2 or 3 dribbles? An example would be on the play where Roby took Happ off the dribble from the baseline about 15-17 feet and got a dunk. 

It could be that Coach has been harping on ball movement and discipline with these guys, but that they have simply tuned him out. Problem is, our bench is so thin, we have no viable options to turn to right now to keep guys accountable. Defensively, we knew we were gonna struggle with legit 4's and 5's, but the fire, the tenacity, the "want to," doesn't seem near the level we saw last year. That's at least partially attributable to losing guys like Gill and Taylor, and even Jordy (a legit post defender).  

Hope we can salvage things. We'll see. At least I know I'm not suffering alone. 

22 minutes ago, Coaches kid said:

but I think the Big 10 has adjusted to us, and we are not making our own adjustments accordingly. 

Often it just comes down to this. Palmer's been decoded for the most part. defenders know to just stay inside his drive and shuttle him down to the baseline where he'll almost always re-set: generally after he just ate about 10 or more seconds off the shot clock. I agree I'd like to set Zay up more for the ball at the foul line.His first step is usually too quick for most of the league's bigs to keep up with. But that requires more consistent aggression from him. When he is in beast mode, you can see he can get to the basket with a single dribble and two whopping steps from about 15 feet away. Dude should be averaging 20 a game. I think fouls have really gotten in his head the last two seasons, and he gets contact shy pretty easy. 

But this streak really has been about putting the ball in the basket. In a lot of htese losses, our guys were getting good looks. And missing. No offensive scheme can correct for that. I mean, we're getting the ball to the rim and still regularly coming away empty. That's not a scheme problem, that's a head problem. Playing tight. Playing afraid to fail. Thinking too much at speed. 

You whip out a calculator (insert blazing saddles joke here) and it doesn't take long to see that if were just hitting 40% from the floor about 4 of those losses would be wins. That's not very demanding. 

So in the end, I still think what our guys need most is head work. 

1 hour ago, Coaches kid said:

There have been some great perspectives shared on HHC during this period of angst. We are just sick about what has happened, and, because we are loyal fans, we will keep rooting for our guys and hoping against hope. That despite having our hearts ripped out too many times to count.

 

Obviously, Coach Miles and staff want to get this ship righted more than any of us. I don't watch practice and I've never been paid to be a coach. But as a guy who loves and has watched lots of basketball, I have reached the following opinions about our current team (I admit they may miss the mark and I would love to see differing perspectives):

 

1) Miles' offense is ISO heavy and is predicated on guys being able to make exceptional plays in order to score. That has especially been the case since we've gone all in on playing small ball. If you've got enough talented guys to do that, it may work out fine.  It was effective last year when it was new and we had a deeper roster, but I think the Big 10 has adjusted to us, and we are not making our own adjustments accordingly.  It appears that our high ball screen, dribble hand off sets have become very mechanical, and predictable. It puts so much pressure on our playmakers. We have to draw up something to help them out. 

 

When we move the ball from side to side and move ball and man, we seem to have much more success. Problem is we never have enough discipline to continue doing the things which give us the best chance to succeed. Moreover, it seems like we don't mix in designed sets which put our guys in great position to get consistently good looks. For example, we had those set plays for the free throw line curls we ran for Cope, and a nifty high back screen against Ohio State which freed Glynn for a layup.  Those are few and far between. 

 

2) Many of our ISOs do not put our players in the best possible position to score. JPJ is often starting his ISOs 20-25 feet from the basket. Roby gets isolated on guys he could take off the dribble, but we're asking him to do that from the top of the key outside of the 3 pt. line. It's almost impossible to get to the basket from those positions. How about spacing the floor and isolating JPG or Roby in the short corner or high post, where they can attack off 2 or 3 dribbles? An example would be on the play where Roby took Happ off the dribble from the baseline about 15-17 feet and got a dunk. 

 

It could be that Coach has been harping on ball movement and discipline with these guys, but that they have simply tuned him out. Problem is, our bench is so thin, we have no viable options to turn to right now to keep guys accountable. Defensively, we knew we were gonna struggle with legit 4's and 5's, but the fire, the tenacity, the "want to," doesn't seem near the level we saw last year. That's at least partially attributable to losing guys like Gill and Taylor, and even Jordy (a legit post defender).  

 

Hope we can salvage things. We'll see. At least I know I'm not suffering alone. 

 

 

Hard to do that without any shooters. Teams don't respect the guys they're trying to space the floor with. That backfired on Creighton, but not really for anybody else.