uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 2 - Bethune-Cookman

I miss Lawrence and CJ’s shooting.

i know CJ couldn’t guard anyone but at least he could get hot and hit 4-5 threes in a game. 

They should be embarrassed after that “effort.”

This team isn’t “bad,” (I don’t think anyways…) - but boy do they do some atrocious things. We’re gonna get the brakes beat off of us by Creighton and St. Mary’s.

Brice Williams needs to check the attitude/ego at the door. His body language is such shit. It’s clearly all about him out there, and if he doesn’t have it he’s checked out. 
 

Braxton Meah is not a good basketball player, and if he can’t figure out how to be 7’1” with a 20ft wingspan then he will be riding pine. 
 

I asked after the scrimmage, “does this team have mono?” And I’m starting to wonder if either I was onto something, or they all just hate each other. Definitely looks like 2 or 3 different teams depending on the line-ups. And certain guys play different when other guys are on the bench. 
 

Last thing I’m going to say - all I’ve heard is how smart of an offensive mind Fred Hoiberg is - when have you ever said, “damn Fred really dialed up some stuff tonight?” I can’t think of one game. His hot potato 5-out weave offense is so ridiculously easy to guard. These guys never space the floor and let actions happen/develop. No one knows how to draw two and kick, then use it. They never get solid kick-out 3’s (and if they do it’s to the wrong guys). 
 

I’m pretty fed up with what I’ve seen from this crew the first few games. Lazy, uninspired, too-cool-for-school basketball. Zero team chemistry. 
 

Get it figured out fellas 

Good: We had a season's worth of bricks from inside 5 feet, so maybe we got it out of our system.

Bad: I'll give B-C credit for playing hard, but I'd argue that's one of the 10 worst opponents we've ever played at PBA.

Ugly: This kind of game kills our NET, but without major, major improvement, at least we won't have to worry about it.

Horrible on so many levels. 

A bunch of new guys on the squad, many of whom are objectively good at basketball. Perhaps we should give them the noncon to gel before we start passing absolute judgments.  

Based on immediate reactions to this game, this is set up to be a loooooooong season.

8 minutes ago, B1G Red said:

A bunch of new guys on the squad, many of whom are objectively good at basketball. Perhaps we should give them the noncon to gel before we start passing absolute judgments.  

In theory I agree with you. In reality they are well further behind where they should be, new guys or not.  

About the only positive I have from tonight is defense. I think that side is really clicking. Few missed rotations, but overall very happy with that end. 

Offense, nothing really was good. Probably my biggest gripe was Brice and his aggressiveness. He can't have 6 shots any game no matter who the opponent is. I expect more from him honestly. 

Lid seemed to be on the basket on short shots tonight and from 3. Throwing the ball to cutters who weren't there at least twice. To be expected with a essentially new team, but need to work it out very very quickly. 

We had better significantly improve our offense efficiency or we are cooked. We won’t be quick enough defensively when we play against good teams. Hopefully we see a big jump in the next few games. 

Starting to give off 2014-15 vibes

Did anyone catch the post game radio with Kent and Jake? Was odd but I wasn't sure I caught it all because of a bad signal

That was one very Fugly basketball game.  Goodness, it reminded me of a cat who caught a mouse and simply wanted to knock the mouse around rather than simply kill and eat it.

Okay, I am not close to being in a panic mode at this point; but for a mature team we do a lot of bad things.  Bad passes, forcing penetration, defensive breakdowns, failure to box out, et al.  Everything is a tick too quick or a tick too slow.  Frustrating to watch.

I trust the staff and players will have a light bulb moment and figure this out.  

So am I concerned, yes.  Am I in a panic no.

We did win.

kind of wonder if we'll see Janowski start getting minutes

1 hour ago, B1G Red said:

A bunch of new guys on the squad, many of whom are objectively good at basketball. Perhaps we should give them the noncon to gel before we start passing absolute judgments.  

In the portal era, this is probably 90% of teams though. Have to be able to figure it out sooner now days. There are teams playing much harder schedules with just as many new guys.

1 hour ago, thrasher31 said:

About the only positive I have from tonight is defense. I think that side is really clicking. Few missed rotations, but overall very happy with that end. 

 

 

We might not have the shooters or offensive threats to take nights off on this end. So, this better always be a positive or we’re cooked.

1 hour ago, Busch Light said:

We had better significantly improve our offense efficiency or we are cooked. We won’t be quick enough defensively when we play against good teams. Hopefully we see a big jump in the next few games. 

I blame Satterfield.

8 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

I blame Satterfield.

Too soon.

Going to be a long Big Ten season I fear….gotta shorten that rotation in a hurry I think 

some thoughts
 

Berke- timid shooting 3s. Can see why after he attempted a couple. I think back to his games over seas this summer and thought he shot the ball considerably better. If he can’t have confidence to make the 3 then we might have to look elsewhere. I do like him on boards. 
 

Sam Hoiberg- had a couple wide open 3s and couldn’t hit. Missed his FT at end of game. Just doesn’t appear to have the same energy he did last year. I know him and keisei were tight so maybe him being gone is part of it or maybe even his injury.

Brice-couple bogus charge calls felt like it took him out of his game. Saw this some last year where his body language is just bad. Saw him get beat on a couple defensive rebounds as well. Need more energy from him

meah-was actually pretty dang good inside tonight but once again him on perimeter is a disaster

rollie-  yikes he struggled with just about everything tonight. Hopefully just an off game

uhlis- was pretty happy with his play tonight. Think he might of had one bad turnover but other than that he was solid

Gavin- played pretty well. Had a nice pass for an easy score. Doesn’t force things

Connor- need him to hit his 3s. Did have a couple nice drives for some buckets. Made his FTS which were big.

morgan-  surprised but don’t believe we have seen him shoot a 3 yet..  needs to improve his defense and rebounding. I think those two factors led to him not playing as much tonight

gary-  was great defensively tonight but man he has to finish at the time better. Left way to many points out there.

i hate to say it but man I’m just not seeing it from this team. Hope they can get things figured out but scoring seems to be so difficult either way these guys..  I do watch body language out there and guys do seem to get along good which is a good sign.  Really miss Mast if you ask me. He was just the perfect 5 in this system and these guys we got are too hesitant to shoot the 3.  Berke had an open 3 but put ball on floor and traveled.  Got to shoot it!!

im headed up to SD next week and am a little worried..

I actually appreciated that Coach changed who was playing mid-game. It shows the newcomers that minutes are precious. And you better play good D or you're on the bench!!

Optimist in me says if we finish around the rim like I THINK we are capable of while it's still an ugly game, we probably win by like 15ish points and all feel slightly better. The number of missed layups/put backs was unbelievable. Hoping it was an anomaly

 I think we'll get things cleaned up and be able to play decent ball. The coaching better be elite this year, because the talent level isn't.

Our bigs. 

Meah - I was worried from the very first possession of the first game, when he missed that dunk. Got fouled (mayble), but should've made the dunk. But that alone didn't bother me. After the missed dunk, he lazily/nonchalantly walked around the paint for a bit, smiling and laughing, before he made his way to the free throw line. Then clanked two free throws. That whole scene was a microcosm of years 1-3 of Fred here at Nebraska. Last night, he did the "too small" gesture after dunking on someone a foot shorter than him. We were losing to Bethune Cookman at that time. Read the room, guy. He also had Brice laughing on the court last night. If there's one player you want to be locked in at all times, it's Brice. He's prone to losing focus, and is much better when he doesn't. I want Brice pissed off when we're not playing well. All these things are signs and symptoms that remind so much of Fred's first three teams and it worries the heck out of me. Culture matters, and Fred's timeline here is proof of that. 

Morgan - isn't a very good defensive rebounder, which I suppose is to be expected. He wasn't a very good rebounder at NDSU either. Doesn't have the vision or passing ability to play the Mast role. The staff thought he could stretch the defense when they brought him on, but he has only made 17 threes in his entire college career. And we haven't ran anything to get him a perimeter set shot, like we did with Mast. Just more of a traditional post player. Can definitely still have a role in the rotation, but there's a reason he isn't starting or getting starter's minutes. 

Berke - Does have the natural vision and passing ability to play the Mast role. The handful of times he's been in that spot, he's looked pretty damn good. Kind of surprisingly, he looks like our most sound interior defender, as well. Meah has long arms and will block some shots, but he gave up at least 4 layups last night. Berke has a wide base, long arms and defends without fouling in the post. He looks much more comfortable as the 5 on both ends of the court. He looks bigger than Mast to me. Certainly longer and more athletic. I hope we don't continue to insist on playing him at the 4 for 22 of his 27 mpg. 

Our "finisher lineup" is Rollie, Connor/Sam, Brice, Juwan, Berke. Yet I'm pretty sure we didn't see that group play together at all in the first 37 minutes. If that's your best group, how does that make sense? I suppose Fred didn't expect a barn burner with Bethune-Cookman. It's pretty clear to me that our best five is that group, with Connor in the 2 spot. Connor only playing 14 minutes in that game is inexcusable. I don't care that he went 0-fer from three. Still had 8 points in those 14 minutes and he's the ONLY player on our team that constantly makes the defense work with his off-ball movement, similar to Keisei. He's also our best shooter - can be hard for a shooter to get into a rhythm coming off the bench playing spot minutes (see Connor's freshman vs. sophomore seasons). I know Fred doesn't want to go small with Gary at the 4 in conference play, but I think we're going to have to.

We can still be a good team. Can still go up to Sioux Falls and beat St. Mary's. But we have a lot of work to do. 

Was at the game last night....SLOPPY!!  

I think some of this has to do with the fact that we are rotating so many guys in as Fred's still trying to figure out rotations.  So I completely get it.  I was even sitting the crowd last night thinking "Who would I have in that can maybe give us some offensive flow?"  Last night I'm hoping was just one of those games where for whatever reason it just didn't "work"  

Here is the optimist in me that feels we can still continue to improve as the year goes on.  Brice and Rollie combined for ELEVEN of our 18 turnovers.  I don't believe that will the norm by any means at all.

I felt on numerous occasions we were able to get to the paint, but our decision making was very poor.  I do believe with some film those are things that can be corrected.  Numerous times we had guys get into the pain with shooters open on the wings/corners and for whatever reason didn't get the ball to them and forced up a tough two.  

Other thing.  We missed SO many buckets at the rim.  I saw Robin tweet that at the 1/2 we were 6/12 on layups/dunks.  Second half I bet we missed 5-6 more.  I really don't think that will be the norm with this group.  Heck, Gary missed about 4 at the rim and that is not him at all.

Defensively I do like our length. I do think as the year goes on we can be a pretty solid defensive team.  Especially with certain lineups. 

Look, last night wasn't pretty by any means.  I've walked out of the Bob/PBA on NUMEROUS occasions where we lose that game last night. We did find a way to win.  Was it pretty? NOT AT ALL.  Were their some things we can improve on....ABSOLUTELY!  I do worry about how we may struggle to score at times this season, but every team goes through that.  Its why in basketball you see upsets all the time!  I believe I saw that in the Big East alone they have already lose 3 "buy" games and we are just in the 2nd week of the season.  It happens.

I also like that our schedule isn't "brutal" to start as we try and find those right rotations.  I will be curious to see how this team does.  I do feel we can still be a solid team this year.  We may have to "ugly" up games this year almost the same way Doc did.  I'm sure we will lose some we shouldn't, but I also think we can win some we maybe shouldn't either.

Lets not hit the panic button though.  

I remember after a game one time Kent Pavelka after beating Indiana said to Doc "What do you feel you guys did to look so much better tonight."  Doc simply replied "We made shots."

Let's avoid the 4-22 on 3's and all the turnovers and see where this season takes us.

GBR!!