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Here's my choice

I don't

Also I apologize to Braden Frager, I was unfamiliar with your game. I went into this season thinking he was a certain redshirt candidate because he wasn't going to be near ready for DI, let alone Big Ten, basketball. He looks like a senior in college out there, not a senior in high school, which is what he should be. Now I'd like to see him redshirt because he could be a really good redshirt freshman next year, not because I think he isn't ready to play right now. Also it's beyond stupid (maybe the stupidest thing the NCAA has ever done...at least top 5) that football players can play 33% of their season and still redshirt, while much longer seasons like basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, lose their redshirt if they play a single minute. How was that ever passed for football without consideration for other sports? It sure would be nice to see Braden Frager and Nick Janowski get 10 minutes here and there against some of the lesser teams on our schedule while still keeping their ability to redshirt.

My Thoughts: 1. This has to be one of the biggest, longest, and versatile teams that have ever set foot on campus. I posted early simply about the heights of the guys who "started," but everyone else is also huge. 2. This team is athletic in ways but also woefully unathletic in others. We are long, tall, strong, and have some guys who can get vertical. But we are very much missing "twitchy" guys. Ulis does add a nice defensive element off the bench from a quickness/twitchy perspective, but I could see us having a bit of a problem with quick guards. However, our length and verticality, plus Meah protecting the rim, should hopefully mitigate some of that. 3. The main line-up will be: Worster Williams Gary Berke Meah Ulis Morgan Essegian Then guys like Griffiths, Hoiberg, will definitely have roles but will be determined by the type of game. I don't think any of the freshman are really "ready" to play any type of meaningful role yet. 4. Brice Williams is the best player on the team. I am not 100% sure how I feel about that. He almost has one of the most NBA-type games we've ever had here... But I am not sure where he is at mentality-wise. Not a knock on him, necessarily... but is he a killer? Is he going to be aggressive? Can he lead verbally? 5. They clearly have a long way to go offensively to be considered a well-oiled machine. Hoiberg mentioned this after the scrimmage. Gavin Griffiths, who was kinda disappointing, is swimming in it. Definitely not understanding the flow of the offense yet, or the spacing. He is a very natural and instinctual basketball player - but for those of you who have coached and played - you can see how maybe "being in a 'system'" is not something that is natural or instinctual for him. Will take some time to get him in the flow. But he is going to "make plays" out of nowhere, for sure. 6. I'm not concerned about the shooting. There's guys who can clearly make them and their shots look nice. That will sort itself out in a real game, when not everyone is shooting. 7. Reink and Josiah were the heart and soul of this team last year, and they will be sorely missed from an intangibles perspective... But man, I really think we should be able to replace their actual production fairly well with Meah, Berke, Morgan - who are all very capable dudes. Meah's gonna add an element defensively we've essentially never had here. And offensively for that matter, catching lobs and being a pain on the O boards for easy put backs and tip ins. However, the less Braxton Meah handles the ball in any form, the better. I am not sure how they are going to get Reink/DWalker level production out of him in the high post or the full-court as a pressure release/trailer - he does NOT have that game. I will wait to see if Morgan does, but Meah absolutely does not have that. He's a ball screen and roll, hand-off, dunker spot to dunker spot guy. I do not believe he possesses the skills to run the offense through him at the high post. 8. I understand Fred's offense, I really do... but I can't stand some of the "false motion" that they do. All those touch passes and faux reversals do nothing to move the defense. But it can be very effective when you have five guys who know what they're doing, and run that false motion with speed and efficiency. That's why guys like Griffiths will struggle to play right away, until he starts understanding that spacing and movement - he's a tempo killer right now. 9. Hot take... we're not going to miss KT much. I think this team will flow better, guard better, and be more versatile/unselfish without him. 10. I like this team... I like it a lot. We have the truest Point Guard we've had in a LONG TIME in Rollie. You give me height, length, a true point guard, and a true defensive big - along with some of the other rebounding upgrades we made - and we're going to be a very tough out.

Doc occasionally threw out this lineup for a couple minutes at times in 2009: 5 - Sek Henry (6'3") 4 - Paul Velander (6'2") 3 - Brandon Richardson (6'0") 2 - Steve Harley (5'11") 1 - Cookie Miller (5'7")

User name checks out!

Welp, got our tickets for both the Oregon and Washington games. Should be a good trip.

We have so much length this season that Juwan Gary got bumped from the back row to a chair with the guards

This is the team photo right here that goes down in history and will be framed in all of our man caves for years to come.

Back from the BOB. I must say, it was cool to watch the game there. Good environment. No clue on attendance; but guessing a number between 2500 to 5000ish. Whether he wants the role or not, Brice is the leader. I really don't have many negative takes. It was a life-like scrimmage. A lot of good movement and pretty selfless play on offense. I know who started for the two teams, yet I'm not yet positive who the starters will be and what roles have been finalized. We do have quality depth, no question. - Brice was Brice. Well rounded performance. - Juwan looks strong. I pray that he does not fall in love with the perimeter. His shot looks fine, but they were not falling. - Berke is great, then he isn't. He can do a lot of great stuff; but sometimes the effort didn't seem to be there on defense. - Rollie is a good one. He made his only 3; but seems to rather facilitate then shoot. Good rebounder and defender. - Braxton is a dude. Kind of got knocked around a bit; but he knocked players around as well. My concern is with his limited offensive game. He only seems comfortable dunking. - Connor can shoot the rock and moves well. Umm, can he defend...not sure yet. He sometimes made me think that Keisei was a great defender in comparison. - Sam is Sam. He will have a role. - Ahron is interesting to me. He brings us speed. He passes and defends well. I think Rollie is the starter at point; but Ahron could easily step in. - I was pleasantly surprised with Braden. He is further along than I anticipated. Could he redshirt? Sure. If so it would be because of our depth rather than his 17 year old age. - Andrew is a good one. I really liked his performance today. He plays with a bit of piss and vinegar which I like. - Nick is a smooth operator. Honestly, his shot release is a bit funky and I could see him struggling getting his shot off in the league. But the kid has game. - Gavin struggled with his shot; but also showed his athletic ability. His shot is beautiful, I think he is a good get. - Cale could get minutes. I'm not sure where he can find those minutes; but he has the skills. - Justin could give minutes in an emergency...or he could redshirt. Anyway, just my humble observations. Fun day...and yes, the popcorn at the BOB is still the best.

My word, all the serious grinding on one very small appendage on the letter "N". We REALLY need to get this season started.

One of the things I hate the most with so many college hoops floor designs is the amount of visual clutter that gets jammed on the floor like different stains and painted areas, skylines and state outlines and whatnot. I have always much preferred a clean look, so for me this is pretty good. This is honestly a pretty close facsimile of the original BDSC court design and for me that's pretty cool.

A reminder from January that only top 15 teams get into the conference tournament. So step one is win enough to be safely above that. https://x.com/BigTenNetwork/status/1752382180138086619?t=RwolfXJ-DnC_TVQeWvDoaw&s=19

I attended the scrimmage as well. I agree with your assessment. It will be interesting with Rollie and Ahron as they both are very solid and are both good enough to be the starter. We are big this year which is nice for a change. This could be a very dangerous team once they all settle in and accept their roles on the team. Lots of veteran players. Totally agree on Cale. He is a good player but his minutes will be very limited and not sure who you are going to take minutes away from. Branden needs to redshirt. It would be a waste of year for him if he doesn't.

Red team starters were not necessarily the starting lineup I expected going in - but after watching the scrimmage that would probably be who I would project to start now - although we clearly have a lot of depth and can put some different kinds of lineups on the court. So I could see playing time for some guys vary quite a bit based on matchups and playing the hot hand - which is also what we have seen from Hoiberg in the past. Thought Brice was the best player on the floor by a lot - and he and Juwan were clearly the leaders - but some of that may them just being more comfortable with the system and environment. Berke definitley has a Big 10 body and if he can develop his offensive game and play with the kind of effort we get from Juwan Gary - he could be really special. He hit a 3 - but just not sure he can do that consistently yet. But he also has the size to guard 5's so I could see us using him at that spot some as well - at least against certain teams. Worster was definitely looking to distribute - but I think he can contribute as a scorer as well - at least hope so. Uhlis and Jacobson are also PG options. Connor E is a great shooter and will get lots of minutes as a result and we need to find him looks. But others are going to have to be outside threats to so teams can't just focus on defending Connor there. Griffiths may have that ability but did not shoot that well today although he is very active on the court which looked good. Just also very thin and will need to show Big 10 strength on the defensive end. Meah and Morgan with both contribute at the 5 - but are very different players. I think who gets the most minutes between them may depend on the opponent. Meah clearly has more size and he seemed to have decent vision - but also is not going to be much of an offensive threat. Morgan was not as big as I hoped but was active and I think can spread the floor some. Did not shoot much - but form looked like he could shoot well. That said I don't think either of them is Rienk Mast by a long shot. I thought Frager looked much more ready to play in the Big 10 than I expected - although I am not sure where the minutes will come from this year. On the flip side - Nick J. was not at the level I was hoping for from him. Maybe he still just needs to adjust to the speed of the college game - but appeared to me to be a step slow and not that athletic - and while he clearly has a shooter reputation it appears he will struggle to get his shot off at this level. Of course - for both of these guys I am making judgements off of a very small sample size - so could very well be proven wrong. Overall the scrimmage was fun to watch and hope they continue to do that in the future.

Theoretically you might want Meah as a starter because he is a 49% FT shooter so you don't want him in there at the end

Who are you most excited to see play ? I'm going with Rollie Worster. I'm excited to see his pass making ability and creating winning plays. I am hoping to see how well he commands the court on both sides of the ball.

This might have been the first time the men outshot the women in the 3pt contest and it wasn't because the women couldn't shoot.

I was There & it was Dope AF

Was a fun event. Weather was beautiful and lots of young fans interacted with the players. I’m getting pretty excited for the season!!!

I get why Connor Essegian is into the design I would have preferred an obnoxiously large N if the only choice is just a N at mid court

So much for people saying that Potts was leaving last year.

Man, our players [team] should feel the disrespect that flows from the media. I guess we simply need to keep winning and remain stealth.

No team with more than 1, only 1 unanimous selection, and no one from MSU, Illinois, or UCLA. It's going to be a wide open B1G season.

The idea, from what I remember, stemmed from Johnny Orr allegedly saying that the Devaney Center crowd was a bunch of "dead dogs". For some reason, Danny Nee and crew thought this would be an excellent marketing opportunity. I'm not sure why embracing an insult from an opposing coach would be a successful marketing strategy; I never really understood the logic of it. But, as Danny described it (with some paraphrasing) "I want our crowd to be crazy, be wild like a bunch of dogs." So, every student that bought season tickets got a Dead Dog Alley t-shirt. Nebraska went 10-18 that year.

Insanity. I wish football would just break away and let the conferences go back to how they were, or at least some sort of configuration that makes sense.

Should we all go in and get some balloons and a get well soon card?

I am going to put in my first ever basketballjones Crystal Ball prediction on this one... I think he is "N." His comments, on how he felt about the visit, seem like we made a real personal and emotional level connection with this young man.

Haven't talked a ton about him, but anything he can provide this year will be a win. He may be needed if one of Berke, Morgan, or meah miss time. Long term wise, I just hope he develops. Would love to see a Lincoln kid succeed

Agreed. Rollie is a poor man's Sam Griesel (from a size perspective), but a rich man's Sam Griesel (From a point guard perspective).

It's that time of year again; Ken Pomeroy just dropped his rankings for the new season and hoo boy does the Big Ten look like it's gonna be a slog! Once again Nebraska comes in with an all time high ranking to start the season (Hoiberg era) at #56. Two spots ahead of last year's starting position. In terms of predicted league finish, he's got Purdue winning the league title comfortably, then the next FIFTEEN schools are predicted to finish between 11-9 and 9-11. 5 teams each in the 11-9, 10-10, and 9-11 groups. Nebraska is predicted to go 16-13 (9-11). Okay, and for the first time this season, here we go! KenPom rankings as of 10-14-24 ======================= B1G (0-0): 10. Purdue (A) 23. Illinois (H) 26. UCLA (H) 29. Oregon (A) 31. Ohio State (2) 33. Iowa (2) 35. Michigan State (A) 36. Michigan (H) 37. Maryland (2) 39. Indiana (H) 46. Wisconsin (A) 50. Northwestern (A) 56. Nebraska 57. USC (H) 59. Minnesota (H) 61. Penn State (A) 63. Rutgers (H) 75. Washington (A) Non-Conference (0-0): 307. UTRGV 301. Bethune Cookman 351. Farliegh Dickinson ---Sanford Pentagon--- 34. Saint Mary’s 12. @Creighton 265. South Dakota 253. North Florida —Diamond Head Classic--- 112. Murray State 128./198. Charlotte/Hawaii 144./136./79./173. Oregon State/Charleston/Loyola/Oakland 249. Southern

I could score points to if I was a ref and a player.

we could go all in. corn maze.

It was pretty good, Gary and Brice repped us really well. Two things Fred has said a couple times now. His hardest job will be getting everyone minutes and Berke is very talented and will play some 5 in smaller lineups. Seems pretty confident in this group.

They both did well. Watched some of it on BTN.

Tomorrow is the Men's Basketball Big Ten Media Day.

Perhaps you needed to bet a lot more money and buy bet I mean give to 1890's basketball fund

We have practice clips! The season is upon us.

He is really, really good. All around game, high IQ, scores at all three levels, very good passer, loves defense. Effort kid to boot. 6’7” ish with a Bryce level ability to handle. Absolutely love this get.

It's a video of Rhymes making high iq and hustle plays which is amazing in this day and age.

Looks happy to be in Boise

No doubt in my mind... - we will ba a top 20 team - we will win one or two games in the NCAA tournament - we will have two players on our team that will be All Big Ten [top three teams) - we will have one all american. - we will be in the top 4 in the league. - we will have multiple complaints about Amy.