uneblinstu's post game chatter: vol 5, ed 1

Deverell Biggs can ball.

Mike Peltz = Drake Beranek. He is someone who is not really a liability when put on the floor, which will be good for us this year

Who won?What was the score?

Any idea on some stats for those of us that couldn't go? Did Biggs only play late in the game?

Sorry, but this may be a long season, of course we knew that. Some thoughts:

We need to shoot better.

We need to rebound better.

We need to cut back on the turnovers

We work hard.

We will get better.

Our freshman center reminds me (just a bit) of Rich King. But Rich redshirted and put on weight and strength. I wish we could do the same with this kid.

Benny has many +'s, but he does not appear to be much of an offensive threat at this point...but hopefully that will improve.

Talley and Gallegos look like shooters, but to be shooters, the shots must fall. Tonight, they didn't.

Biggs played a good number of minutes throughout the game. He's going to be good the next couple years. Looks to be one of the better passing point guards we've had in some time.

Agree on Sergei. Has nice touch on his shot. Give him some time and many steaks and he could be good. Liked his effort and hustle.

Brandon looked much improved on offense in his limited duty. He has to stay out of foul trouble!

Andre played more minutes than I expected. Looks to be in good shape for his size.

Peltz looked better than expected. Definitely not a liability and joins Rivers on the "all hair" team...

Rivers looked much improved. The extra 20 pounds helps him a lot.

Parker was decent, more solid than I thought. Good build for a B1G point guard.

Not sure what to make of Dylan or Ray yet.

Was nice to see movement and freedom to shoot on offense. Long ways to go but liked what I saw.

Overall, we aren't good but should see leaps and bounds improvement throughout the year.

Miles is very entertaining. Loved when he plugged his ears at the mock boos at the end when the fans wanted another score for Runzas.

A side note, I loved that Miles had the redshirts actively involved and dressed well instead of sitting in the student section in sweats. Very clear he is looking to build a team that includes everyone.

Thanks for posting this, fellas. Can't wait to see the game for myself Friday morning.

I'm very excited about the future with Biggs. Obviously this year is going to be long, and I was disappointed he was going to be redshirting, but now I think it's probably a good idea. He's very quick, and made some great passes in that 2nd half. I think the year of practice and observing the B1G will only help.

As for Sergei, that boy needs to hit the weight room. I'm afraid what could happen to him when conference play begins.

Overall, it was a decent game. I'm encouraged about the future of our program. Coach Miles is going to be entertaining to watch throughout the season.

http://omaha.com/assets/pdf/OW8242117.PDF#box-score-nebraska-68-midland-40-exhibition

Box Score

I haven't seen the game and am only looking at the box score, but what made Biggs jump out to you guys? His numbers were pretty terrible, so I'm assuming he simply passed the eyeball test.

I haven't seen the game and am only looking at the box score, but what made Biggs jump out to you guys? His numbers were pretty terrible, so I'm assuming he simply passed the eyeball test.

He did some nice things...he seemed quick, made some nice moves, looked better than he played. Meaning, there were errors made, but he looked good making them -- if that makes sense.

He did some nice things...he seemed quick, made some nice moves, looked better than he played. Meaning, there were errors made, but he looked good making them -- if that makes sense.

Gotcha, thanks for the response.

Biggs' shooting was bad but he had some electrifying passes, a couple nice steals and he's pretty athletic. Defense needs some work. He got owned by Parrott in the first half with a jab step move from the wing that left Biggs holding his jock. But he seemed to rebound from that. Needs to work on his shooting. But he's there as an athlete and seemed to get more into the flow as the game went on. He'll be at the very worst a competent player for us and if he can improve his shot, he could be a scoring threat as well.

Kye Kurkowski played 3 minutes and in that 3 minutes, you could clearly see he's a better player than Vucetic and it's not even close. Vucetic gets the minutes because he's on scholarship, he's 7 feet tall, and has perhaps a higher upside. But, if you were to go strictlly by who's the better player when passing out minutes, it'd be Kurkowski.

The offense. Hmmm. Some people are going to like the fact that we're taking quicker shots. I don't think that will necessarily translate into not having those long scoring droughts, though. We're going to struggle to get points at times this season. More later.

I've only seen the box and the highlights they had on huskers.com. But from that I can tell we must improve our shooting. It really isn't good when most of the highlights are put-backs.

Kye Kurkowski played 3 minutes and in that 3 minutes, you could clearly see he's a better player than Vucetic and it's not even close.

He's stronger than last year but let us see how he does against competition that isn't the Midland bench.

Kye Kurkowski played 3 minutes and in that 3 minutes, you could clearly see he's a better player than Vucetic and it's not even close. Vucetic gets the minutes because he's on scholarship, he's 7 feet tall, and has perhaps a higher upside. But, if you were to go strictlly by who's the better player when passing out minutes, it'd be Kurkowski.

The offense. Hmmm. Some people are going to like the fact that we're taking quicker shots. I don't think that will necessarily translate into not having those long scoring droughts, though. We're going to struggle to get points at times this season. More later.

Not sure I saw the same as you on Kye vs Sergei. I thought both looked capable but didn't think Kye stood out. I'm curious what you saw Norm, can you give some more details?

Norm is right...that said, the shots were there, we just have to bang them down. At one point, I believe it was at the 16 minute mark of the first half, we had made only two, perhaps three "2" point shots. We missed a number of entry passes, and simply looked nervous. We did improve upon that in the second half.

We played tentative. That is likely (or perhaps) a byproduct of inexperience, a new coach, new program, etc.

I guess it is about what I expected. A baseline is kind of in place. I will be VERY interested in the growth that this team should have, from this point forward. I realllllly would like to redshirt Vucetic. He needs 30lbs of muscle. Although we need him to play, we will likely look back and wish the redshirt could happen...perhaps next year.

Talley was 1-7 on shots that weren't 3-pointers. Since I won't be able to watch the game until probably some time this weekend, what was going on with this?

The guys still looked comfortable playing defense.

In the second half the Midland coach towards the end had his guys in a huddle and was screaming at them.

Not sure I saw the same as you on Kye vs Sergei. I thought both looked capable but didn't think Kye stood out. I'm curious what you saw Norm, can you give some more details?

Yeah, certainly. I'm not saying Kye is a world beater by any stretch but he's clearly a lot stronger than Sergej is right now. Sergej still appears to be growing into his frame. He has some skills to the extent he went 4-4 from the stripe. But he's nowhere near as skilled or as athletic, frankly, as Diaz was at the same stage of his career.

Vucetic's problem is that he's almost frail. And he's a bit clumsy. Kye is clearly much stronger, more mobile and agile. Surgej, when he got the ball down low a couple of times, struggled getting the ball out of his hands. Kye was only in briefly but there was one moment where he picked up the ball in the short corner, wheeled and scored on a short jumper from about 10-15 feet. (That's what it looked like from where I sat.) Kye had the awareness to know he was immediately open and he stroked it without even thinking about it. Sergej made a couple shots, too, but the ones he missed reflect a kid who's going to struggle getting the ball out of his hands when he posts up. I think Kye is clearly stonger and more athletic. Kye looks to me -- in that short time that he was in -- like one of the better walk-on bigs we've had since I can't remember when.

Biggs' shooting was bad but he had some electrifying passes, a couple nice steals and he's pretty athletic. Defense needs some work. He got owned by Parrott in the first half with a jab step move from the wing that left Biggs holding his jock. But he seemed to rebound from that. Needs to work on his shooting. But he's there as an athlete and seemed to get more into the flow as the game went on. He'll be at the very worst a competent player for us and if he can improve his shot, he could be a scoring threat as well.

I'm more in line with Norm's description than those who are touting Biggs as a major baller. He'd help us this year, but I don't see him as "the deal". If his outside shot improved it would help him a ton, but that typically doesn't happen to 4th year college guys. If they can't shoot it by the time they're this age, it isn't to be.

As I said earlier this week, not much to be learned from an exhibition game. I did take away a few things:

- Fans want their Runza's.

- Biggs is going to be good. There will be talk that he should play right now. Save it. This is the right decision. I don't care what Kent and Matt say.

- Vucetic seems to have some ability, but he looked a little nervous, which is probably to be expected. I'd assume we'll see him improve over the course of the year. A steak or two might not be a bad idea.

- I like Parker, broader than I expected him to be. Well put together.

- Seemed like the whole team came out somewhat sluggish the first half. Definately still learning to play together in the new system.

- These are probably, no not probably, these are definitely my favorite Red Zone tshirts yet.

- Good to see Andre and Ray back on the floor. Nothing really stuck out to me about Ray's game tonight, he'll play a lot, I expect. Don't know that we learned much about Andre. He's big and Midland didn't have anyone that could handle him when they got the ball to him.

- From where I was sitting, I couldn't tell much about how they're going to run offense, I'll need to watch the replay later to get a better idea.

- Don't really take too much out of Ubel's game. Couple tough calls on the blocking calls early, foul trouble and all kept him from really doing much. He'll be fine. Not really worried .

- I think we're going to see a fair amount of Peltz. Seemed capable. Not flashy, but probably not going to do much to hurt the team anyway and we need depth at guard.

- Looking forward to getting to see Shields on the floor.

I'm probably forgetting some things. It was just good to be back at the Devaney Center watching some basketball. Here's to a new year!

First thanks for your post game chatter, I'm looking forward to reading them again this year.

I agree with you on Benny. He didn't look at all like I had pictured him in my mind. Must stouter.

The first thing I said about Peltz when he drew that charge, looks like he's carrying on the walk-on tradition.

Yeah, certainly. I'm not saying Kye is a world beater by any stretch but he's clearly a lot stronger than Sergej is right now. Sergej still appears to be growing into his frame. He has some skills to the extent he went 4-4 from the stripe. But he's nowhere near as skilled or as athletic, frankly, as Diaz was at the same stage of his career.

Vucetic's problem is that he's almost frail. And he's a bit clumsy. Kye is clearly much stronger, more mobile and agile. Surgej, when he got the ball down low a couple of times, struggled getting the ball out of his hands. Kye was only in briefly but there was one moment where he picked up the ball in the short corner, wheeled and scored on a short jumper from about 10-15 feet. (That's what it looked like from where I sat.) Kye had the awareness to know he was immediately open and he stroked it without even thinking about it. Sergej made a couple shots, too, but the ones he missed reflect a kid who's going to struggle getting the ball out of his hands when he posts up. I think Kye is clearly stonger and more athletic. Kye looks to me -- in that short time that he was in -- like one of the better walk-on bigs we've had since I can't remember when.

Thanks Norm. I can see your points but I didn't think Sergei looked that bad. Only time will tell but good analysis on your part.