uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 13; ed 14 - @ Minnesota

10 hours ago, Bugeaters1 said:

 

I know it was time to move on from TEXASS but damn the Big 10 sucks

1 hour ago, colhusker said:

I know it was time to move on from TEXASS but damn the Big 10 sucks

Between the way football played out, the above, and how baseball is trending, I think it’s safe to say that the Big 10 has been less than stellar this year and that’s putting it nicely.

I didn't watch. And idk how many I'll watch during this run lol. No consistent practices is going to lead to very ugly offense. 

NU basketball & football motto: "We do less with more!"

There are some on this site who know hopelessness but cannot find the strength to express it, most however cannot even abide the thought. It is the other cohort I am speaking to: the few who are brave enough say to themselves: NU is shit, has always been shit, and will ride the asymptotic curve of shit into eternity- right down to the Planck-scale. It is to you- the small set of fans who have heard the chimes at midnight lo these many decades and cannot waste any more time picking over the bones and viscera of this holocaust, that I speak.

I say: save yourself by stealing back the time you would have lost by engaging further in any way with this abortion. Read more books, watch good films, listen to music, build, create, hike, garden. Spend more time with friends. Above all, seek God! I know the small-minded will toss reactive insults my way and tell me to go away, that I am stupid, am a troll etc. This, on an "open forum" no less- funny how the dimmest among us are the loudest in their denunciations of others with differing opinions. Remember: NU basketball speaks for itself. No amount of desperate histrionics or kindergarten insults will change the facts! I don't offer my thoughts to hurt anyone, players or coaches. They work hard and do their level best. Nature, however, bats last. Some are born for success, others to toil in Lincoln, Nebraska....

Recently someone on this board lamented NU's current conference affiliation. If NU was in the Big 12 they would still be winless.

This nightmare is ongoing and inescapable. It won't get better. Why would it/how could it? The system requires good shooters and therefore doesn't fit the personnel at NU. This team was still-born from the beginning. The former recruiting "advantage" Hoiberg had at ISU (culling the best transfers) is no longer a secret. Every team is doing it. The recruiting momentum is waning- I am seeing demonstrably fewer highly ranked players even considering NU as the months roll by. McGowens, the Younger signed w/ NU only because his brother plays here, so the five-star hysteria should be given an asterisk... and that assumes he even follows through with his commitment. 

Moreover, who could blame good players from backing away from NU? Hoiberg's cache has vanished as has Frost's in football. Players talk and they know the whiff of death surrounds this steaming pile of garbage. I want to formally apologize for comments about Sallis, Traudt, Murrell, Hepburn and the other good players who want no part of this wreck....

Mercifully, only eight more games remain in the regular season. Following those eight blowout losses will be the opening day blowout loss in the conference tournament. After celebrating consecutive last place honors we will see the annual mass exodus of players, which will be followed by a desperate influx of paper champions running from their respective pasts.

This forum will be agog over their incredible potential and like Linus van Pelt waiting for the Great Pumpkin, cries that this will be "the year" when all the suffering will have been worth it! Of course, the season will start and the tragi-comedy will resume. The bad shooting and dopey play will commence and when March rolls around alas, the fourteenth place three-peat will be ours!

Perhaps the most astonishing element in this whole scenario is the differential between NU and the other teams in the league. NU is so much worse than whichever program is second most inept. Even historically bad Northwestern has three times the wins NU does, and has beaten several really good teams. NU isn't even competitive. We have seen no improvement from last season. No improvement from the start of this year. All the hype (Walker will give us a legitimate inside presence, Lakes will keep defenses honest, etc.) was nothing but the annual bullshit shoveled into the mouths of NU's desperate fan base. Lakes, Ouedraogo, Andre, Wood and Arop: nothing, nothing, nothing!

Yes, friends this is the end of the line. The Huskers have no business playing in the Big Ten in basketball or football. Frost and Hoiberg, Hoiberg and Frost. They are out of their depths. NU should shut down the program and save the money. Put it into research and hiring good professors, or at the very least drop down to Div. II. UNO (Omaha) went from Div. II to Div. I, why can't NU find a more suitable level?

Ultimately this is strange, because I thought Hoiberg would be the one to overcome the curse- he is a brilliant basketball mind, after all. Some obstacles are simply too great to conquer. I might just offer my services as head coach once Hoiberg decides to extricate himself. Heck, I'd coach the team for a fraction of the current salary. I know I could lead them to an 0-20 record every year, blowouts guaranteed!

Just remember: "We do less with more".

That said, I wish everyone peace and bonhomie.

Selah.

1 hour ago, thrasher31 said:

No consistent practices is going to lead to very ugly offense. 

But isn't that what these games essentially are right now? I want want a win just as bad as anyone. But what does it matter at this point? These guys have an opportunity to fix mistakes from a game two days later in another game. The coaches get to see who's taking coaching nearly instantly. Is it ideal? Of course not. All we have left for this season is silver linings. I am hoping to see some legitimate growth with this condensed schedule.  These guys get to "practice" against some of the best competition in the NCAA. 

4 minutes ago, cornfed24-7 said:

But isn't that what these games essentially are right now? I want want a win just as bad as anyone. But what does it matter at this point? These guys have an opportunity to fix mistakes from a game two days later in another game. The coaches get to see who's taking coaching nearly instantly. Is it ideal? Of course not. All we have left for this season is silver linings. I am hoping to see some legitimate growth with this condensed schedule.  These guys get to "practice" against some of the best competition in the NCAA. 

I see where you're coming from. I do. But for a team that needs practice reps after having a month off, and it's fairly obvious at this point, not having a walk through today/inconsistent practice schedule is not going to benefit them. Now, to your point it will show some guts on some of these players. The effort seemed to be the the other day, didn't watch last night, but they were in it <5 min left, so that tells me there is effort. 

It's a shitty circumstance, and I do see what you're saying though. 

13 minutes ago, Husker Hoops Penitent said:

Just remember: "We do less with more".

Not disagreeing with the assessment. I believe some of our programs are in bigger shambles than we'd like to admit to ourselves. But over the last 20 years of our basketball and football programs, the strategy of a revolving coaches seat isn't a solution either. Hoiberg needs his time, and we should give him his time. Mind you, I haven't seen year-over-year progress happening to this point, but I'm not evaluating his worthiness into Year 4. Then I'm ready to start having that conversation.

All that aside, it seems you've heeded the advice of the Nebraska men's athletic programs by doing less with more. Your post could've just been summed up with "We suck." and it would've had the same message.

Former Vikings football coach Jerry Burns use to say, “Yer Big Knockers have to show up on Sunday” aka Difference Makers. We have a collection of role players or what would be complimentary players on a “Good” team. We don’t have any Big Knockers...

13 hours ago, jason2486 said:

If the following isn't Nebrasketball in a nutshell, then I don't know what is:

 

Our opponent shoots 38% overall, 22% from 3, go 1-20 during a stretch in which we are ONLY able to cut it to 9 or 7, miss a wide open dunk in that stretch, and then somehow proceed to lose by 18.

 

One day this nightmare will end, but my God this has been a brutal year and a half. Here's to hoping we can get some more positive moments that eventually bring us a W.

I thought nothing epitomizes Nebrasketball in a nutshell better than making somewhat of a run (or, more accurately, an opponent flawlessly executing a standstill reminiscent of a patented Nebrasketball scoring drought) and then off of a nice interior pass, launching a reverse power dunk (that would've really fired up the team) 30 feet into the bench area instead of through the basket.  This program is cursed.

2 hours ago, Husker Hoops Penitent said:

NU basketball & football motto: "We do less with more!"

 

There are some on this site who know hopelessness but cannot find the strength to express it, most however cannot even abide the thought. It is the other cohort I am speaking to: the few who are brave enough say to themselves: NU is shit, has always been shit, and will ride the asymptotic curve of shit into eternity- right down to the Planck-scale. It is to you- the small set of fans who have heard the chimes at midnight lo these many decades and cannot waste any more time picking over the bones and viscera of this holocaust, that I speak.

 

I say: save yourself by stealing back the time you would have lost by engaging further in any way with this abortion. Read more books, watch good films, listen to music, build, create, hike, garden. Spend more time with friends. Above all, seek God! I know the small-minded will toss reactive insults my way and tell me to go away, that I am stupid, am a troll etc. This, on an "open forum" no less- funny how the dimmest among us are the loudest in their denunciations of others with differing opinions. Remember: NU basketball speaks for itself. No amount of desperate histrionics or kindergarten insults will change the facts! I don't offer my thoughts to hurt anyone, players or coaches. They work hard and do their level best. Nature, however, bats last. Some are born for success, others to toil in Lincoln, Nebraska....

 

Recently someone on this board lamented NU's current conference affiliation. If NU was in the Big 12 they would still be winless.

 

This nightmare is ongoing and inescapable. It won't get better. Why would it/how could it? The system requires good shooters and therefore doesn't fit the personnel at NU. This team was still-born from the beginning. The former recruiting "advantage" Hoiberg had at ISU (culling the best transfers) is no longer a secret. Every team is doing it. The recruiting momentum is waning- I am seeing demonstrably fewer highly ranked players even considering NU as the months roll by. McGowens, the Younger signed w/ NU only because his brother plays here, so the five-star hysteria should be given an asterisk... and that assumes he even follows through with his commitment. 

 

Moreover, who could blame good players from backing away from NU? Hoiberg's cache has vanished as has Frost's in football. Players talk and they know the whiff of death surrounds this steaming pile of garbage. I want to formally apologize for comments about Sallis, Traudt, Murrell, Hepburn and the other good players who want no part of this wreck....

 

Mercifully, only eight more games remain in the regular season. Following those eight blowout losses will be the opening day blowout loss in the conference tournament. After celebrating consecutive last place honors we will see the annual mass exodus of players, which will be followed by a desperate influx of paper champions running from their respective pasts.

 

This forum will be agog over their incredible potential and like Linus van Pelt waiting for the Great Pumpkin, cries that this will be "the year" when all the suffering will have been worth it! Of course, the season will start and the tragi-comedy will resume. The bad shooting and dopey play will commence and when March rolls around alas, the fourteenth place three-peat will be ours!

 

Perhaps the most astonishing element in this whole scenario is the differential between NU and the other teams in the league. NU is so much worse than whichever program is second most inept. Even historically bad Northwestern has three times the wins NU does, and has beaten several really good teams. NU isn't even competitive. We have seen no improvement from last season. No improvement from the start of this year. All the hype (Walker will give us a legitimate inside presence, Lakes will keep defenses honest, etc.) was nothing but the annual bullshit shoveled into the mouths of NU's desperate fan base. Lakes, Ouedraogo, Andre, Wood and Arop: nothing, nothing, nothing!

 

Yes, friends this is the end of the line. The Huskers have no business playing in the Big Ten in basketball or football. Frost and Hoiberg, Hoiberg and Frost. They are out of their depths. NU should shut down the program and save the money. Put it into research and hiring good professors, or at the very least drop down to Div. II. UNO (Omaha) went from Div. II to Div. I, why can't NU find a more suitable level?

 

Ultimately this is strange, because I thought Hoiberg would be the one to overcome the curse- he is a brilliant basketball mind, after all. Some obstacles are simply too great to conquer. I might just offer my services as head coach once Hoiberg decides to extricate himself. Heck, I'd coach the team for a fraction of the current salary. I know I could lead them to an 0-20 record every year, blowouts guaranteed!

 

Just remember: "We do less with more".

 

That said, I wish everyone peace and bonhomie.

 

Selah.

 

 

It took two hours but my text-to-talk finally read the whole post. Whether Nebraska loses their next 100 straight games or not, at least the sun will still come up tomorrow! 

2 hours ago, Husker Hoops Penitent said:

Mercifully, only eight more games remain in the regular season. Following those eight blowout losses will be the opening day blowout loss in the conference tournament. After celebrating consecutive last place honors we will see the annual mass exodus of players, which will be followed by a desperate influx of paper champions running from their respective pasts.

 

This forum will be agog over their incredible potential and like Linus van Pelt waiting for the Great Pumpkin, cries that this will be "the year" when all the suffering will have been worth it! Of course, the season will start and the tragi-comedy will resume. The bad shooting and dopey play will commence and when March rolls around alas, the fourteenth place three-peat will be ours!

 

Sometimes the truth hurts, and this? This hurt.

A lot of the other stuff was a bit extreme, but not what is quoted here.

Rinse. Repeat.

3 hours ago, Husker Hoops Penitent said:

NU basketball & football motto: "We do less with more!"

Ohhhh!   Just........

I grew up in Nebraska and am a DONU grad, so it's not like I looked for a basketball program to follow and selected this one. So I'll follow the team like always. But to be honest, I'm not hopeful that this coaching staff is going to get it done. We're going to have a lot of turnover again in the offseason, and why shouldn't we? Half the roster shouldn't be playing in the Big Ten. Teddy's got a family, so I think he'll leave to get a paycheck. Maybe Delano does too. Maybe Bryce McGowens comes, but maybe his brother leaves and he decides to go to the G league or some other alternative. Either way, I'm not sure he's good enough to lift this collection of talent. And, of course, we'll again be watching a team struggling to play together early because there's no continuity. And after that, we'll be running the gauntlet of perennial Big Ten powerhouses again. 

So where does that leave us? I agree that you can't keep firing coaches, so that means watching the same old crap because that's what we do. Call it loyalty, or not having anything better to do. 

This doesn't make sense to me

Pre 2000: This is a football school which is why we are bad at basketball

Post 2000: We are bad at football so that drags down our basketball with it

4 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

This doesn't make sense to me

 

Pre 2000: This is a football school which is why we are bad at basketball

Post 2000: We are bad at football so that drags down our basketball with it

 

 

That was an oft quoted sentiment prior to 2000, especially by analysts who only did one Nebraska Basketball game a year. Remind me tho which one of these, Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Ohio St. are Football or Basketball schools...

I am really, really trying here guys.  Yet in going back a looong time, I am quite sure we are playing as bad as any Husker team within my memory.  How?  Why?  

I keep hearing we are close...but are we?

8 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

I am really, really trying here guys.  Yet in going back a looong time, I am quite sure we are playing as bad as any Husker team within my memory.  How?  Why?  

I keep hearing we are close...but are we?

We aren’t anywhere near close. 

I want to thank all of the faithful for reading without prejudice as well as offering excellent insights and comments. I know it was bombastic but I needed to purge. I want to state, I love Hoiberg and the staff and hope for the best. It is tough and I don't presume to have any answers. He is working hard and is brilliant, witty and funny. I love NU and am a graduate and have stuck with the team since I first began listening and watching (live and on t.v) back in 1976. You dance with the one that brung 'ya, so I will persevere.... The sun will still rise, indeed.

Cheers, mates!

10 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

This doesn't make sense to me

 

Pre 2000: This is a football school which is why we are bad at basketball

Post 2000: We are bad at football so that drags down our basketball with it

 

 

From 1990-2000, we were a football and basketball school. 

6 hours ago, hhcscott said:

From 1990-2000, we were a football and basketball school.

It's almost like one thing doesn't determine the outcome of the other

The B1G is historically, frighteningly good this season.  Is that an excuse?  I don't know.

What I do know is that Fred's offensive philosophy cannot work without multiple three point shooters on the court--not just threats, but shooters.

Will we get that next season?  I gotta think the three guys coming in see some minutes based on their shooting alone.  

A true 5-out means you spread the court with all 5.  I'm encouraged because I don't think there is a player who can guard Trey, Banton, or Teddy 1 on 1 without help.  Right now, they have no one to kick it to, and our bigs are not stretch bigs, so the lane is bunched.

To see the offense work, I'm guessing we're going to need something like:

Bryce (3pt)

Trey

Dalano

Wilhelm (3pt)

Lat (3pt)

with an itchy trigger for something like:

Bryce (3pt)

Keisei (3pt)

Teddy (3pt)

Wilhelm (3pt)

Lat (3pt)

I think we have some nice pieces, but last night we couldn't field one lineup with multiple three point threats.  Just Lat.  To me, that's not really a reason for eternal pessimism--it just means Fred's roster hasn't arrived in totality yet.