uneblinstu's postgame chatter : vol 17; ed 27-Penn State

8 hours ago, Fred Zoidberg said:

About roster acquisition...Do you feel like we aren't competitive enough on the NIL front?

TBH roster construction falls into coaching IMO.  This isnt a great roster.  The floor is low with this team.  Just hope 2 do something that hasnt been done in 30 years or something that hasnt been done and it leads to better players.

1 hour ago, TourneyBound said:

Compare his stats to Gary's...  Gary needs to pull his head out and be a leader!  He's just too inconsistent. 1-7 6 points in 30 minutes and 1 flippin rebound  ugh

It's shocking to me how many games Juwan has had this season with either 1 or 2 rebounds. It is not good.

19 hours ago, HB said:

 

Hard to say.  I think we're middle tier in the league.   When we got desperate late in the portal season, we paid VERY amply to get Meah and Berke.   Enough that it's been a bit of a locker room problem because we have a couple guys who are DUDES making considerably less than those 2 guys. 

 

I don't think it would be accurate to blame everything on NIL, although I think we're pretty average there.     This is a job where you have to try harder on all fronts.   Fred has admitted he doesn't like recruiting.   How much his heart condition holds him back I don't know.   But we need to work harder in reaching out to Nebraska high school coaches, and in recruiting overall.   This is a tough place, but I think we have things to sell--great fan support and attendance, facilities, and recent NBA guys reflecting high levels of player development by our staff.  I realize one could say that none of that matters anymore; it's all $$ now.   But we have to do something--add a great recruiter, make a total commitment to roster acquisition, probably have Fred get more engaged (and also get more of his buddies contributing to basketball NIL).  And perhaps make better decisions on portal offers.   Perhaps it wasn't poor identification of talent, and we got the best we could get.  But the point guard selection is an example of portal disaster.   All just my 2 cents.

Cynically one might say our portal acquisitions came down to 3 guys that happened to play well against us in one game/scrimmage (handshake line is an underrated recruiting technique), two guys we had to overpay for, and Andrew Morgan.  Optimistically, we've potentially assembled just the 3rd tourney team here this century.  The effect will dictate the cause.

As far as high school, I'd sharpen that to Omaha as there are at least some guys that fall into the group of being talented and not wanting to play for Creighton. We've arguably had some success in Lincoln be it out of HS or else in the portal.

Nate is the culture. So when it comes to recruiting either in HS or the portal, are Adam and/or Ernie pulling their weight.  Even if they aren't, there has to be some value to continuity for our coaching staff.

I think this is all of our HS recruits since 2019. I believe we haven't had a single HS scholarship recruit spend more than 2 years here. If Janowski and Frager were to complete the 2025-26 season and not transfer, it would be unprecedented. And I do have high hopes for Frager, Janowski and Rhymes. But if you are the staff looking at the success of last year, the success of this year (so far), and the list below (sans McGowens), you probably figure you're better off recruiting the transfer portal than swinging and missing at HS guys. I do think with Frager and Janowski and hopefully Rhymes they are really emphasizing "fit" and "quality over quantity" now. Maybe I'm naive, but I can easily see Frager and Janowski playing key reserve roles next year and coming back for a 3rd year in the program. 

Nick Janowski - TBD

Braden Frager - TBD

Eli Rice - transfer after 1 year

Matar Diop - transfer after 1 year

Ramel Lloyd - transfer after 2 years, never played

Jamarques Lawrence - transfer after 2 years, decent rotation player

Denim Dawson - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Bryce McGowens - NBA after 1 year, impact player

Wilhelm Breidenbach - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player

Oleg Kojenets - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Quaran McPherson - transfer after 2 years, never played

Elijah Wood - transfer after 1 year, barely played

Eduardo Andre - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player 

Samari Curtis - transfer after less than 1 year, barely played

Akol Arop - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Kevin Cross - transfer after 1 year, decent rotation player 

Yvan Ouedraogo - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player

12 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

I think this is all of our HS recruits since 2019. I believe we haven't had a single HS scholarship recruit spend more than 2 years here. If Janowski and Frager were to complete the 2025-26 season and not transfer, it would be unprecedented. And I do have high hopes for Frager, Janowski and Rhymes. But if you are the staff looking at the success of last year, the success of this year (so far), and the list below (sans McGowens), you probably figure you're better off recruiting the transfer portal than swinging and missing at HS guys. I do think with Frager and Janowski and hopefully Rhymes they are really emphasizing "fit" and "quality over quantity" now. Maybe I'm naive, but I can easily see Frager and Janowski playing key reserve roles next year and coming back for a 3rd year in the program. 

 

Nick Janowski - TBD

Braden Frager - TBD

Eli Rice - transfer after 1 year

Matar Diop - transfer after 1 year

Ramel Lloyd - transfer after 2 years, never played

Jamarques Lawrence - transfer after 2 years, decent rotation player

Denim Dawson - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Bryce McGowens - NBA after 1 year, impact player

Wilhelm Breidenbach - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player

Oleg Kojenets - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Quaran McPherson - transfer after 2 years, never played

Elijah Wood - transfer after 1 year, barely played

Eduardo Andre - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player 

Samari Curtis - transfer after less than 1 year, barely played

Akol Arop - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Kevin Cross - transfer after 1 year, decent rotation player 

Yvan Ouedraogo - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player

That's a pretty underwhelming list withe exception of Bryce.  Crossing my fingers for Janowski and Frrager

3 years of Matt A era

19 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

Ramel Lloyd - transfer after 2 years, never played

Jamarques Lawrence - transfer after 2 years, decent rotation player

Denim Dawson - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Bryce McGowens - NBA after 1 year, impact player

Wilhelm Breidenbach - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player

Oleg Kojenets - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Quaran McPherson - transfer after 2 years, never played

Elijah Wood - transfer after 1 year, barely played

Eduardo Andre - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation player 

Samari Curtis - transfer after less than 1 year, barely played

Akol Arop - transfer after 2 years, barely played

Kevin Cross - transfer after 1 year, decent rotation player 

Yvan Ouedraogo - transfer after 2 years, below average rotation playe

3 years after

20 minutes ago, GhostOfJoeMcCray said:

Nick Janowski - TBD

Braden Frager - TBD

Eli Rice - transfer after 1 year

Matar Diop - transfer after 1 year

57 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

3 years of Matt A era

 

3 years after

 

Both of those last year were semi explainable too. Diop was a late flier that wasn't bound to stick anyways. He's done ok at LMU, with potential to build on. I was never a big fan of Rice so wasn't upset when he left, which may be a hot take. 

Both of them agreeing to redshirt should say they're bought into here long term. Could've easily said no to redshirting, like others have in the past. Janowski could spurn us, but I'm not sure.