uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 14; ed 6 - vs. Tennessee State

I went from thinking we had the pieces to be a bubble team to I’m not sure we’ll win a conference game. 

I actually thought we came out of the gates pretty well.  I think assists on our first 3 or 4 baskets, got out to 13-3 at the first media timeout.  Really went to the crapper when the subs came in and the defense didn't recover until sometime after halftime.  As much as I like him, breidenbach had no business being on the court tonight.  Looked awful out there on both ends tonight, just slow and clumsy.

The 4 has been a big problem so far. Lat has been the king of playing long stretches while contributing nothing. Breidenbach has flashes, but is a foul machine. Edwards has been the 3 I guess when he's started the last couple games, but his production has been non existent. Seems when we go small wilcher is obatensively the 4 and been ok, but that won't fly much in the big 10 with the size we will be facing.

What we once thought might be deep and talented team is clearly not.  Webster and Wilcher are the only reliable subs.  Actually, they should start.  

Verge was good good at times tonight and would have more assists if we could knock down some open looks.

Lat playing the most minutes is puzzling to me.

Hope we can pick it up against the Coyotes.

woof

it is an incredible drag to a be a 3pt shooting team that doesn't make or think it can make 3s

Total train wreck.  Really bad team.  Have a good evening 

If you listened to Fred’s postgame show with KP, “sobering” doesn’t begin to cover it…

 - At some point most possessions there is at least one person guarding air. They just don't communicate well on offense. 

- How in the hell do you leave #20 wide open at the end of the 1st half after he just hit 4 threes on you? Where is the basketball IQ? 

- Bryce needs to go get the ball at the end of games. He's great at the free throw line. It ended up being one elbow Walker/Lat over screen at the elbow. Throw it to Lat, Lat would give it back to Verge. Verge/Walker PnR. 

- This offense doesn't move off the ball. They'll swing it around a little bit and then it will just be Verge at the top of the key calling for Walker to come set him a screen.

- It sure is refreshing, though, to be confident when Nebraska's big man has the ball around the rim. Walker can finish well, something Nebraska hasn't had in 15 years. 

- I like the way Keon plays. He was sometimes out of position on defense but he took shots in rhythm and was confident in those shots. I will never understand why he starts every half, plays until the first media time out, and then sits the rest of the half. 

- The 2nd Lat Mayen dribbles the ball the possession might as well be over. And not because he's scoring. He shouldn't be in the rotation. 

- Fred drew up a great play out of the timeout to get Wilcher a wide open three. Surely he has some plays that he could run in the normal course of basketball too, right? 

- Wilcher is the only consistent shooter. Happy to have him on this team. But for a good shooting team this team is horrible at shooting. 

- I think the reason I'm so frustrated is because I truly thought this team would be good. It is clear by now that this team's ceiling is about 11-12 wins. Last couple years they were bad, but they fought hard. It felt like Hoiberg was outcoaching the other team, even with less talent. Now it feels like Hoiberg isn't doing any coaching at all. Nebraska has always had less talent but they played really really hard, and we could be proud of that. This team does not fit that mold. They don't play hard but they make up for it by playing stupid. These games are just flat out unenjoyable.

Start:

Verge

Kobe

Bryce

Wilcher

Walker

Sub in:

Lat
Keisi/Keon (sparingly if at all)

Wilhelm/Andre (sparingly)

That should just be the rotation until Trey comes back. Do what Nova does and just run their starting 5 a crap ton with one prominent sub and try to even avoid sprinkling in other subs. I think that’s our best chance to win with those 5 that run the defense best.

Is Fred going to coach us ever? Show some passion ever? Call a timeout ever? 
 

Absolutely pathetic effort and quite obvious that not much coaching is going on. 

305th in 3pt%. 328th in Opponent Rebounds per game. 325th in Opponent Offensive Rebounds per game. 

And this is against an average Creighton team + the little sisters of the poor. 

6 minutes ago, OmahaHusker said:

Start:

Verge

Kobe

Bryce

Wilcher

Walker

 

Sub in:

Lat
Keisi/Keon (sparingly if at all)

Wilhelm/Andre (sparingly)

 

That should just be the rotation until Trey comes back. Do what Nova does and just run their starting 5 a crap ton with one prominent sub and try to even avoid sprinkling in other subs. I think that’s our best chance to win with those 5 that run the defense best.

I like the 5 you mentioned and Keisei/Wilhelm as a solid 7 man rotation.

Keon and Andre as needed.

Officially over the Lat experiment.  He hurts us more than he helps in almost every game.  Tonight was probably his best statistic night of the year and it took him 36 minutes to get a 5-5-2 stat line.

Remarkable run inside the arc the last two games fueled by Derrick Walker going 14-15.

1.  I do not understand Lat playing 36 minutes and really.... I’m to the point where I don’t know that he should be in our 8 man rotation.  Maybe #9 (with Trey out)

2.  I don’t know... I had high hopes for this year and I am officially going into every game expecting a battle and struggle.

3.  Verge had been a huge bright spot the last few games.  Kid has officially taken to his role and his stats in most all areas have improved as a result.

4.  Bryce continues to grow each and every game.  I’m actually pretty upset it’s looking like we may waste his one year here.

5.  NIT?  Maybe?  No probably not.  I think we win more than the past few years... but that’s not gunna do much for me with the supposed talent upgrade we’ve brought in.

6.  We haven’t looked “good” yet.  We’re lucky Creighton was average or it may have been and probably should have been another 15+ point loss.

Not saying I was pleased with the game tonight - but certainly not as depressed as the rest of you seem to be.   I don't think this team is quite as bad as their Kenpom rating indicated - sounds like they really got homered at South Dakota (had a double digit lead before 2 technical fouls before half and SD shot something like 40 free throws).   In any event they shot really well - some of that was bad defense to be sure - but even at that they shot very well at least in the first half so I thought they also played over their head a little bit.   I also thought we came out really pretty well.  Had good possessions early.   Problem was really when we brought the first subs in and got really lazy on defense.

My main comments - Alonzo Verge took a lot of criticism on this board early this year - but he was very good tonight - by far our best player and we likely don't win the game without him playing at a high level.   Second - Derek Walker is far and away our best post player contrary to what lots of people were saying on this board a week or two ago.   He is a bit undersized but he battles hard and is really skilled both as a passer and at finishing.   We are just now figuring out how to use him in the offense to play to his strengths - and that bodes well for the future to some extent.

I do think most everyone probably had too high of expectations for the team - but frankly that is human nature.   We do have holes and are still a very poor rebounding team.  Bryce has great flashes but has not figured out yet how to play hard off the ball and on defense.   I like what Keon brings but he is not comfortable on offense yet.   CJ is good in flashes also but falls asleep on defense at times and also has really poor rebounding fundamentals.     This was a game where we shot poorly both from 3's and at the line - when the opponent shot over their heads at least a little - yet we still found a way to win - not comfortably but really should have been by 10 had we made FTs at the end.

16 minutes ago, OmahaHusker said:

Start:

Verge

Kobe

Bryce

Wilcher

Walker

 

Sub in:

Lat
Keisi/Keon (sparingly if at all)

Wilhelm/Andre (sparingly)

 

That should just be the rotation until Trey comes back. Do what Nova does and just run their starting 5 a crap ton with one prominent sub and try to even avoid sprinkling in other subs. I think that’s our best chance to win with those 5 that run the defense best.

I agree that this is probably our most talented group, but it is just so small. We already get killed on the glass, playing this small heavy minutes would just exacerbate that. 

Just now, Crush78 said:

I agree that this is probably our most talented group, but it is just so small. We already get killed on the glass, playing this small heavy minutes would just exacerbate that. 

True but it’s also not like Andre and Wilhelm are lighting it up defensively and grabbing a ton of rebounds anyway. Andre barely plays as is and wilhelm is on the perimeter most of the time on O and is nonexistent on the D end. I think you just take your chances riding Walker as long as you can until he gets tired or into foul trouble. 

What's wild is if we are like the 150th best 3-point shooting team and not the 300th best 3-point shooting team - we are 6-0. Are they gonna eventually fall consistently?

What's wild is if we are like the 150th best 3-point shooting team and not the 300th best 3-point shooting team - we are 6-0. Are they gonna eventually fall consistently?

it's not like we're out there moving and busting tail only to see that effort go unrewarded. 

if anyone else is watching what I'm watching, I'm seeing a team that can barely be called that, infected by a lethargy bordering on disinterest. 

the persistent standing around bothers me more than anything in the world. that level of disengagement carries over to defense, which is probably why we suck so bad. 

do we really expect that a team that can't be bothered to move without the ball in order to score those precious points is going to be motivated to move without the ball in order to prevent the other team from scoring? 

It's the same as it was in game 1: 5 dudes hanging out, might as well be with a bunch of capri suns in their hands and talking about what they're going to check out on netflix later when this stupid game gets over with. 

I...uhh.... I've never been so happy not miss a Nebrasketball game in my life. Sounds...... brutal. I'm so sorry for those who had to go though this.

53 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

woof

it is an incredible drag to a be a 3pt shooting team that doesn't make or think it can make 3s

BEST WEEK OF PRACTICE!

That's the first time, including exhibition games, that one was able to walk out of the PBA 3 consecutive times with a win in the Fred Hoiberg Era

A sense of urgency would've been nice tonight.

The defensive effort/communication/fundamentals were atrocious. Not sure if we have too many guys freelancing, it's an effort thing, it's a concentration thing, they don't get what they're being taught, or all of the above. I liked how we forced a lot of tough 2-pt FGs vs Southern, but that did not happen at all tonight. 

How do we only draw 10 fouls in the first 35+ minutes against a team that begins fouling as soon as it gets off the bus? 

Hope they are waiting to turn it on against the power teams on the schedule, but that looks less likely with every performance. Lots of work to do.

On the bright side, Verge does seem to be figuring out what it takes to play the point. His off-script forced plays on offense were down again tonight. Still freelances waaaay to much on defense, but we've have too many other issues on that end to count.

I thought Verge, Walker, Bryce and Wilcher all played well tonight.  We shot over 50% from the field and only had 10 turnovers.  The other team didn’t shoot that well overall….and we only won by 6.

Some of that is surely their 13 made 3s.  And we didn’t have a good night at the line.

But it is interesting that this Game felt different than the sum of its parts.

For one thing…we have to address a couple elephants:

- I was a member of the Goggles fan club, but he has been awful.  Completely out of control, bad defensive rotations, horrible decisions, poor rebounder, hasn’t made enough 3 pt shots to justify how often he shoots them.  He is real bad on both ends of the floor right now, but all of that pales in comparison to his immaturity.  Whining for calls, don’t love his body language either.  I know it’s growing pains and I believe he will end up being great one day…but right now he is hurting the team.

- Lat Mayen has been a problem for 2 years.  If he cannot shoot, he does not give you enough other things.  He is the shortest 6-9 player I’ve ever seen.  He does not play to his length, and the fact we play him heavy minutes despite the ridiculous dribble circus and his lack of hands or defense makes no sense.

- I would really love to know what Andre does to not warrant more playing time.  He protects the rim and can finish.  He gives you a lot more than Goggles right now IMO

- Our inability to get Bryce open looks within the flow of the offense is puzzling and frustrating.  Surely we have something other than a clear out 1-on-1 for him…right?  He is forcing it because he never sees the ball enough.

all that said….it’s a win.