uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 12; ed 2 - Southern Utah

If any coach in Nebraska history deserves a year or two to build a program without criticism, it’s Fred Hoiberg. This team was never going to win 20 games and it might be tough to win 10. Year 3 will be the year. Sucks to be patient when football blows too but it will be worth it. 

— I just worry about mentality.  If we were so fragile before the season that Fred even mentioned it, where are they going to be after an 0-2 start.

— I like the Cross kid.  Like all of our young kids.

— May be time to sit Kavas, play Curtis and let him take the lumps.

— Feel for the two grad transfers.  They’re going to have to take the brunt of a possible really rough season.

— Still holding out hope that Stevenson gets the waiver and he somehow changes the outlook of this season.

— I know all of us on this board know that the future is still probably bright.  However this start isn’t good for the average fan.

— I thought the offense would look better with Fred.  I know that it could be the players just aren’t making them, but The entire team outside of Burke and Thor are basically Fred’s guys.

— Things don’t get easier.  We could use a win before the Cayman Islands.

2 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

The entire team outside of Burke and Thor are basically Fred’s guys.

How many of these guys would Hoiberg have recruited under normal circumstances?

Just now, khoock said:

How many of these guys would Hoiberg have recruited under normal circumstances?

That is a fair point!  I just thought the offense was something we could hang our hat on with Fred.  Losing games 82-81.  Not what we have seen.  I know that it’s also game 2, but the D’s we’ll see are going to be better, not worse.

Again, Stevenson busts that zone in the middle and spaces the court for us at the 5.  It’s killing us without him just from a position standpoint.

Defense was a little better.

I’ve gotta think Arop is better than Kavas at this point.  Why not play him?  He’s gonna give us defense and above the rim athleticism.  Kavas isn’t quick enough to guard or get open, and his shot comes from his chest.  
 

Easley is clearly our best shooter.  Why not play him?  He’s gotta be serviceable against a friggin zone.  
 

Also, even though he completely disappears with the lights on, Cheatham has to become an aggressive scorer.  Mack and Green are terrible shooters.  I’d rather have Cheatham looking for his outside shot than those two.  
 

Yikes.  Cross and Yvan might be our two best available players right now.  

6 minutes ago, khoock said:

How many of these guys would Hoiberg have recruited under normal circumstances?

This.  I’m all about patience on the recruiting front with Fred.  He knows what he needs and there’s going to be infinite opportunities.  

1 minute ago, LK1 said:

Again, Stevenson busts that zone in the middle and spaces the court for us at the 5.  It’s killing us without him just from a position standpoint.

 

Defense was a little better.

 

I’ve gotta think Arop is better than Kavas at this point.  Why not play him?  He’s gonna give us defense and above the rim athleticism.  Kavas isn’t quick enough to guard or get open, and his shot comes from his chest.  
 

Easley is clearly our best shooter.  Why not play him?  He’s gotta be serviceable against a friggin zone.  
 

Also, even though he completely disappears with the lights on, Cheatham has to become an aggressive scorer.  Mack and Green are terrible shooters.  I’d rather have Cheatham looking for his outside shot than those two.  
 

Yikes.  Cross and Yvan might be our two best available players right now.  

Great point with Arop and Easley.  What can it hurt right now to at least try and find some points?

22 minutes ago, MichHusker said:

If any coach in Nebraska history deserves a year or two to build a program without criticism, it’s Fred Hoiberg. This team was never going to win 20 games and it might be tough to win 10. Year 3 will be the year. Sucks to be patient when football blows too but it will be worth it. 

Let me tell about a coach who had to take over for Mike Riley

Going with the same five for most of the last 10 minutes and overtime was extremely disappointing. 

They weren't scoring at all and we slowly watch our lead and momentum melt away

Most disappointing start to a season that I can remember. Frustrating that it is the same flaws that existed under previous coaches even with all the changes.

I’m guessing Fred didn’t “draw up” a one-handed, alley oop dunk to win the game. Like Chick Hearn use to say, “the mustard fell off the hotdog”....

1 minute ago, Handy Johnson said:

I’m guessing Fred didn’t “draw up” a one-handed, alley oop dunk to win the game. Like Chick Hearn use to say, “the mustard fell off the hotdog”....

Kent on the radio made it sound like a heck of a play that just wasn’t executed.  I didn’t see it though.

Just now, hskr4life said:

Kent on the radio made it sound like a heck of a play that just wasn’t executed.  I didn’t see it though.

I would’ve preferred a higher percentage shot myself...

2 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

I would’ve preferred a higher percentage shot myself...

Can we honestly say what that is for this team? It's not FTs, or layips (spelling intentional) or 3 from "career 45 percent" shooters. 

Well... it’s NOT

1. Cross from 3

2. Mack at the rim

3. Yvan on the block

4. Green baseline

5. Or, Easley/Arop from the bench

Like others have mentioned, you throw Stevenson, Banton & Walker into the mix & that changes the complexion of yer entire roster, simply from a SIZE standpoint.

Long game, longer notes...

Just want to see improvement and effort game to game. Also with the new coach I feel pretty privileged to see hoiberg work...see maybe some offensive sets and how he tools with lineups throughout the year. Like frosty, I think we will start seeing positive change manifest when we get Fred's recruits in (and develop!) 

Got inside early which is a sight for sore eyes!
Keep an eye on Morgan for the Thunderbirds, apparently hes a former 5 star who transferred after injury.
Yvan out early 4 min in. Hope to see defense consistent and aggressive even when yvan is out
Dachon burke is our benny parker! Lotta soul in this team, I can tell. We'll see it as the team and core matures. Well worth the season tix. 
-14 min mark 1st

Sloppy few minutes there. Had a few bad sets of wimpy Nebraska pass it around. 

Farah faucett's son is knifing through our D.

A few nice shots and FTs (we are hitting them today), but not much scoring. 

The nice thing about kids like Yvan with his wide frame but coming in lean is that you get the length with the speedy feet, and dont sacrifice on defensive end. Love this guy, hes talented. Do things right and he might be a monster inside. Need more like him. 
Defense in sync today! Sloppy at times but finding ways to not fall behind and contest everything.
19-12 8 min mark. 

Finally getting the offense rolling around 5 min mark, lead up to 14, then 11 at 28-17 with 3 left.
 
Its true what I heard last week, we have to get that swagger going again. The looks we saw in Italy. I think we could see a team playing with passion might be 3 or 4 times better than the crap we saw game 1. 

Heheh, our little guys seem to like running into the teeth of the trees with no fear. 
Cross has absolutely no fear of taking any shot, ever. Might be a useful talent down line if he can up his percentages. Honestly I like him a lot going inside and attacking, getting to the line. Plenty of value there but he can shoot a bit as well. Halftime. 

Bad team, but finally beating a team like this like we should. Defense is looking amazing, I love this brand of Doc scary smother D. Have to build on that foundation although I know Fred's main thing is the offensive innovation. 

Team definitely has some big things to fix on offense, or to invent. Because its ugly right now. But getting this win is a huge deal for confidence, every bit helps. I think the offense comes with time and chemistry, practice. 

8 min 2H, game really slowed down. This ain't over yet. 54-51 huskers. 
Idk anything about the thunderhawks, but you can tell a team is well coached by how organized and them not quitting. Have to show we care more. Southern Utah has crazy swagger, its scaring me. These small teams arent scared of ANYONE. You have to impose your will, I want to see that. 

Another not so great 3pt shooting, and OVR scoring outing, but markedly better. And we killed it at the line!! [Until we didnt]
Also noticed we added male cheerleaders like people were talking about. Pretty excited to see that, it is good for the college game. They have the bass in the cheers I always love to hear in the tourney and at places like Kansas, why cant we do it too? Love it.

Let's adopt a Russell westbrook philosophy, "Why not?"

Woohoo, 2 OTs was fun. Let's keep conditioning because you could tell they were exhausted late. Just win the damn game outright next time. FT shooting really fell off at end. 

The ironic jeering cheering(Chicago bears fans crossover, think we're becoming similar) is out of hand. Just support them guys! Bad fans sometimes. #notthegreatestfans But great ones who stayed. Gonna win one eventually... right? O/u 5 wins GBR

58 minutes ago, PimpMario said:

 

Let me tell about a coach who had to take over for Mike Riley

Everybody loves Scott Frost but it’s clear he’s still learning on the job. Dudes been a head coach for 3 and a half years. Hoiberg has a successful model to build a program. He deserves nothing but patience right now 

50 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

I’m guessing Fred didn’t “draw up” a one-handed, alley oop dunk to win the game. Like Chick Hearn use to say, “the mustard fell off the hotdog”....

Well I am pretty sure he designed it pretty much the way it happened - and it actually was very well-designed.   No I don't think he told Jervay to try to dunk one-handed - but the play design really worked if the pass and catch had been executed.    I actually thought it was the best designed offensive possession we had all game.   Unfortunately that is a very low bar.

3 minutes ago, MichHusker said:

Everybody loves Scott Frost but it’s clear he’s still learning on the job. Dudes been a head coach for 3 and a half years. Hoiberg has a successful model to build a program. He deserves nothing but patience right now 

Wow. Great point. 

Huge diff between our football and basketball programs (besides the misery): in fb, it's a coach learning on job + a lot of catchup for repairing a bad program. 

Vs 

In basketball, sure theres no tradition here, but you had miles build you a great trampoline jump point for foundation... the momentum and progress in the program imo were fairly obvious and visible. + you get a quite experienced  and successful college coach in Hoiberg. 

Both home run hires. Both geniuses in their own ways, imho. 

Overall another VERY disappointing loss.   Did see much better effort from the perimeter guys (Dashon at least) on defense that we had last game.     At one point Cam Mack just took over the game for about 3 possessions - but then he really struggled after that point.   Green showed some things.   Cross does have ability to finish around the basket which we need -but we have to make him understand we need him to be in that area more instead of just looking to take 3 point shots.   He also seems only mildly interested in rebounding or playing defense.   We are a horrible rebounding team - can't afford to have our 5 men not focused primarily on rebounding.

We were certainly better in most phases this game than the first one.   But we had absolutely no idea how to attack a zone.   Fred needs to fix that in a hurry.   Maybe Stevenson is the answer to that problem - but I don't think we can wait for him to arrive before addressing that issue.

I said it before the season, look at what he did at ISU, a much better program. It sucks but from fan perspective this is a throw away season. We will get better as the season progresses but that doesn’t mean we are going to win many games. May win in the range of 5 to 10 games.


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They'll eventually pick one up against someone. 

But these are the guys we're stuck with for a couple of seasons, so let's hope it isn't a talent issue. 

I will say this again in the post game thread. But why keep playing Cheatham and Kavas?

1. This season isnt going anywhere 

2. They havent been effective so far

3. Akol, Samari, and Shamiel (when eligible) will be with the program much longer. Let them develop and get live reps in the system

3. This staff doesn't really like to recruit grad transfers anyway so who cares if you sour that pipeline

Once again, i know its not fair to Cheatham and Kavas. But think about how beneficial 10-15 min a game for a whole season would be for Akol and Samari.