uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 12-Oregon State

36 minutes ago, kldm64 said:

 

Just curious what is so interesting and exciting about next year as we lose a ton of seniors after this year.  We are losing Ulis, Williams, Gary, Morgan, Worster, and Meah.  What makes you excited about next year losing all this experience?

I think it’s the idea of two bigs like Berke and Mast playing together who can both handle the ball, pass, and shoot it. But replacing BW and JG won’t be easy. 

6 minutes ago, Bugeaters1 said:

 

Yeah, I guess not counting the Big Ten tournament and NCAA tournament makes it so. I was just referring to the last 50 games overall.

1 hour ago, kldm64 said:

 

Just curious what is so interesting and exciting about next year as we lose a ton of seniors after this year.  We are losing Ulis, Williams, Gary, Morgan, Worster, and Meah.  What makes you excited about next year losing all this experience?

From a roster construction perspective (around Juwan and Brice), this roster couldn’t be much different than last year’s. I expect next year will be a blend of the two. I’m not sure if it was overcompensation from the A&M game, but we prioritized size and physicality over everything in portal recruiting. It has worked out exactly as planned defensively, but offensively we only have two shot makers and nothing is easy for us on that end. I expect us to continue to prioritize toughness and positional size (Berke returning should be priority #1), while adding more shooters.

Looking at five of the guys who won’t be on next year’s roster - Ulis, Rollie, Gary, Morgan and Meah - it’d actually be hard to add five players who collectively aren’t better shooters. Mast’s return will help, of course. Having the offense run through him makes everything a little less cluttered and a little easier for the guys around him. B1G coaches know how valuable he is - they voted him 2nd team all-league last year. Not sure if they’ll be in the rotation next year, but Frager and Janowski have the positional size of Rollie and Gary, while probably being better shooters. Physically, Quentin Rhymes is a Brice Williams clone. Skill set eerily similar as well, he’s just 6 years younger. 
 

A returning core of Mast, Essegian, Berke and Sam is interesting enough. In May of ‘23 I was worried about what we would be without Griesel and Walker. There were games when they were our entire offense. We ended up being a tourney team in ‘24. I just think Hoiberg and staff have figured out the blueprint they want, and will keep tweaking and honing it each season. 

I’m living in this year. But next year, a front court of Mast and Berke is a nice foundation, with CE growing more 

13 hours ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

 

It's wild the turnaround Fred has made at NU, he was flailing with a 21-66 record before winning at a 52-30 clip in the past 3 years or so. His overall record is 73-96.

The start in regular season conference games was 6-50; 25-20 since.

11 minutes ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

The start in regular season conference games was 6-50; 25-20 since.

That's even more incredible, tbh.

1 hour ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

The start in regular season conference games was 6-50; 25-20 since.

58 minutes ago, AuroranHusker said:

 

That's even more incredible, tbh.

 

Got to think Covid really benefited him.  Would he had been given another year if we hadnt gone thru covid??  I believe under normal circumstances he wouldnt of got another year to turn things around.  Glad it worked out.

2 hours ago, kldm64 said:

Just curious what is so interesting and exciting about next year as we lose a ton of seniors after this year.  We are losing Ulis, Williams, Gary, Morgan, Worster, and Meah.  What makes you excited about next year losing all this experience?

Out of that group, the only ones I fear we might not find someone as good in the portal are Williams and Gary.

And last year, Mast and Williams were new portal additions for us and we seemed to do OK.

At this point, I see no reason to think we can't find at least *some* transfers who could fit the bill. Fingers crossed we get Mast back. If so, we'll have Berke and Essegian alongside him. We'll need a floor general. We'll need a couple of wings. And another big man. And there will be a lot of guys to choose from once the portal opens.

If this season plays out consistent with how the computers seem to see us (roughly top 40 with an upward trajectory), we could very easily dance for a second year in a row. And I think we're positioned as well as we have ever been in the era of the portal to land some dudes who can contribute right away.

14 hours ago, Faux Mike Peltz said:

37-13??? Let’s remember this when we lose our next conference game and some fans say Fred’s seat is getting warm.

 

 

This times 1,000 !

6 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

Hope everyone was this excited to open their Christmas presents

I had to look three times to see that, that was Brice… guess he can be animated!

The fact that we were losing the rebound battle 13-6 halfway through the first half and ended up winning it 24-31 is amazing to me with the size they had.  Our success on the boards this year is very interesting to me as it seems like we have 6ish guys that grab 5ish boards most games rather than 1 dominant rebounder 

10 minutes ago, B-town hoopsfan said:

The fact that we were losing the rebound battle 13-6 halfway through the first half and ended up winning it 24-31 is amazing to me with the size they had.  Our success on the boards this year is very interesting to me as it seems like we have 6ish guys that grab 5ish boards most games rather than 1 dominant rebounder 

I think that is because we do have enough guys to get after ball and don’t have to hope one guy gets most of them.  Does that make since?

7 minutes ago, B-town hoopsfan said:

The fact that we were losing the rebound battle 13-6 halfway through the first half and ended up winning it 24-31 is amazing to me with the size they had.  Our success on the boards this year is very interesting to me as it seems like we have 6ish guys that grab 5ish boards most games rather than 1 dominant rebounder 

Berke seems to have a knack for coming away with the ball on contested rebounds. Great hand-eye coordination and sticky fingers. Somehow, his eyes are able to track the ball and his hands move better and quicker to where the ball is than almost anyone else out there. Braxton, OTOH, does not track the ball well. He's a bit clumsy and he does not have soft hands. So, he's resorted to a strategy of playing tip drill to try to keep the ball alive until someone else (like Berke) can get to it. Andrew Morgan is a good rebounder. And Juwan and Rollier are rebounding really well for their positions. But I honestly would have expected more out of our 7'1 guy.

22 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

Out of that group, the only ones I fear we might not find someone as good in the portal are Williams and Gary.

 

And last year, Mast and Williams were new portal additions for us and we seemed to do OK.

 

At this point, I see no reason to think we can't find at least *some* transfers who could fit the bill. Fingers crossed we get Mast back. If so, we'll have Berke and Essegian alongside him. We'll need a floor general. We'll need a couple of wings. And another big man. And there will be a lot of guys to choose from once the portal opens.

 

If this season plays out consistent with how the computers seem to see us (roughly top 40 with an upward trajectory), we could very easily dance for a second year in a row. And I think we're positioned as well as we have ever been in the era of the portal to land some dudes who can contribute right away.

Some context:

24/7 sports ranked all the portal transfers from last year. Indiana had three of the top 25. And 4 total who were ranked higher than ANY of our transfers (Griffiths graded out tops ofr us at #171.) Yet we kicked their ass.

Ever since we parted ways with Matt Abdelmassih, the staff have done a very good job of identifying the kinds of players they want and landing at least some of them.

At this point, I don't see any reason to think that trend won't continue.

Another theory on Braxton, he is 7'2" and seems to get fouls called on him that aren't called on others.  So he is not as aggressive as Andrew or Berke.  Braxton can also be a tad dramatic at times, which likely pisses off the refs.

11 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Another theory on Braxton, he is 7'2" and seems to get fouls called on him that aren't called on others.  So he is not as aggressive as Andrew or Berke.  Braxton can also be a tad dramatic at times, which likely pisses off the refs.

As far as him not getting rebounds?

I like my theory better. I just don't think he's that good at it. Give him credit for great size and the impact it has on keeping opponents out of the lane, but he's not a good rebounder in traffic. Berke is.

23 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

Another theory on Braxton, he is 7'2" and seems to get fouls called on him that aren't called on others.  So he is not as aggressive as Andrew or Berke.  Braxton can also be a tad dramatic at times, which likely pisses off the refs.

I recall having a debate with Glen Potter in one of my classes about statistics and how they can either be misleading and/or they do not provide the full story.  One example is there is no stat line on 'finding your man on a shot and putting your body on him,' or in short, boxing out.  A second example is the pass that leads to the pass that results in an assist.  

There are numerous examples involving tips, picks, turnovers and so forth.  The point is that just because Meah doesn't grab the rebound, doesn't necessarily mean he isn't doing his job on the boards.  It may mean he is creating the opportunity for one of his teammates 

These highlights with Kent's call are great...

3 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

As far as him not getting rebounds?

 

I like my theory better. I just don't think he's that good at it. Give him credit for great size and the impact it has on keeping opponents out of the lane, but he's not a good rebounder in traffic. Berke is.

He's extremely clumsy it seems in what I've seen. He fights on the glass on both ends, so I'll give him credit for that. His tips have led to keeping possessions alive at times. 

My ask of him is the same it was in the preseason. Be a dunker of the basketball. Deter people from driving to the rim. Crash the glass hard. Id say he's doing the first two well and the third can be improved upon. He adds a dimension none of the other bigs do with just how massive he is on defense. 

I will say though, Berke has been great on defense this year. There was a possession on defense where an OSU player (guard or wing) tried driving middle and Berke beat him to the spot and forced him into the help. The defense by him was not something I expected this year from him. If he can get his offense to where it was in Hawaii, that gives them a low post threat that can pop out other than Morgan. 

15 minutes ago, thrasher31 said:

He's extremely clumsy it seems in what I've seen. He fights on the glass on both ends, so I'll give him credit for that. His tips have led to keeping possessions alive at times. 

 

My ask of him is the same it was in the preseason. Be a dunker of the basketball. Deter people from driving to the rim. Crash the glass hard. Id say he's doing the first two well and the third can be improved upon. He adds a dimension none of the other bigs do with just how massive he is on defense. 

Absolutely this.  Meah is a rim-protector and a dunker, and that's all we need him to do.  Anything else is gravy.

19 hours ago, thrasher31 said:

 

I will say though, Berke has been great on defense this year. There was a possession on defense where an OSU player (guard or wing) tried driving middle and Berke beat him to the spot and forced him into the help. The defense by him was not something I expected this year from him. If he can get his offense to where it was in Hawaii, that gives them a low post threat that can pop out other than Morgan. 

Agreed, Ive been pleasantly surprised by Berke's defense.  I know on the broadcast they even talked about how Berke was our 2nd best defender next to Gary and Id agree with that except for maybe Sam.