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Damn those Husker fans for showing up by the thousands to watch a terrible product on the floor. I haven't mentioned this before but I'm going to take the opportunity now and say some things of which I am RELIABLY informed: Matt is a terrible dude. He undermined the coaches. All of them. Even Hoiberg. All of those great recruits he's so proud of for bringing in? He basically sheltered them from consequences for crappy behavior. If your last name was McGowens and you didn't want to show up for conditioning, Matt would fix it for you. If you were one of Matt's guys and the coaches got on you in practice, Matt would take you aside and tell you you didn't have to do what they said. Matt was the cause of rifts among the assistants. Matt tried to get good people fired. Matt is an awful dude and the night-and-day difference you see in effort and team play this year is directly attributable to him not being here anymore.

Without question my favorite Hoiberg Husker team and it's not even close.

Besides early first half turnovers, this was our best all around game of the year, by far. Balanced scoring and efficient on offense. Lots of points in the paint. SG hit some timely threes. Gary played aggressive and attacked the rim with a lot of effort. His dunks are powerful. Someone asked in a previous thread whose minutes Walker takes…tonight it was Keita. Walker is just so much more established and developed as a basketball player. This is something to build on. We can beat BC. They apparently lost to Maine and we beat Maine. I know that’s not how it works, but still… Oh, I need to point this out. All summer when people were saying Kesei was so limited and one dimensional and just a spot up shooter. Well…his ability to drive and make heady plays, 13 points with only one three and no free throws, his scoring 10+ points off the bench, that’s been a nice development.

I have heard.... and don't shoot the messenger here I could be wrong... That he has a hip issue that doesn't seem to be resolving itself, and the best plan of action at this point is to redshirt and not risk further injury.

I get a lot of information from a lot of different people, yet I have not heard anything regarding DW. Nothing. I did get confirmation that he is day-to-day. Here is my issue, if someone has concrete information, please share. But rumors and innuendo that besmearches a kids reputation is pretty mean spirited. I guess it is a reflection of the current environment.

Its a win over a P5 team. There won't be many more this season. Watching Walker run point was fun! We all know this teams deficiencies so no need to pile on. Let's enjoy the win

We're going to fire Fred for Christmas? I mean, come on. He's going to finish the season and we'll see if he wins enough games to make it interesting.

First picture of the Groves brothers I found on Google was this one: They remind me of the Geico Neanderthal and Butt-Head

Strong Incarnate Word vibes at the end of the first half. I sacrificed chicken sandwich at halftime. Must have worked.

The last two games there was a lot of anxiousness and stressing about getting beat, and my thought had been, well, neither Memphis nor Oklahoma really "manhandled" us. And I saw some things that I thought were good. Both of the teams we faced previously in this tournament were top 30ish type teams and we didn't get just blown out. Now, FSU isn't great but they aren't exactly chopped liver either. They might be 1-7 but if they were not a Power 5 team but were instead a solid mid-major coming in to face us at PBA, it'd be the kind of match-up where we'd be a little concerned even with our best of teams. It's a Kenpom top 150ish team. Those kinds of teams have given us fits at home in the non-con. And we handled them easily in this neutral floor game. Everything about this team is eminently more watchable than they were a year ago. No hero ball. No me ball. No bullshit of certain players wanting to make sure they get their shots in to the detriment of the team. I mean, yeah, we lack talent. But I'm going to rejoice in the improved execution by players who are more concerned with team goals than individual stats. That said, here are my three likes, in no particular order: After a rocky start, we got things under control. We had 4 TOs in the first 4 minutes of the game and only 10 TOs the rest of the way. We made some adjustments to the way they were pressing and it worked. Sam Griesel almost had a double-double with points and assists. He would have been well over 10 assists if Bandoumel had had a better shooting night from the corner. But Sam is showing some solid court vision and awareness. He's making the passes that set his teammates up for success. The return of Walker. What can you say? I mean, second game back and he puts up 20 points and grabs 13 boards on 10 shots from the field? He even had 4 assists. The man really showed up tonight. I don't think his presence would have flipped any of the games we lost, but it probably would have made them closer contests. But we probably win some going forward that we would have lost without him. Glad he's recovered from his health issues. He was probably the biggest difference in the game tonight. He's giving up 8 inches to McLeod, but he out-muscled him. And can we also give it up for @hhcmatt? His game day essentials pegged it. FSU is the second-tallest roster in the nation (behind only Oregon IIRC) and yet he predicted we'd out-rebound them. And we did. Good work on the essentials, Matt.

Probably hurt his back “Farming” just like Matt A said we all do here.

Man, some of you guys need to just stay away. And this is coming from a non kool-aid and rose colored glasses wearing fan. I’m typically pretty critical and vocal. But this is an exhibition game against a capable power 5 team that has big dance potential. One with good players and good size. And we ran a vanilla offense without Walker down low and stayed within striking distance until the final minute. Let’s let some things play out here fellas….

You know what they say. When the going gets tough... find somebody worse than you to make you feel better.

That Westside-Gretna game was one for the ages. I've conferred with a fellow board member, and we agree it was maybe the best HS football game we've ever seen. I'm still just marveling at it. Gretna down 13 pts in the 4th quarter and they score two TDs, the last one coming with under 2 minutes left in the game, on the strength of their really tremendous QB who is a Okie State commit. Then, Westside just needs to basically cross midfield because they have probably the best HS kicker to ever come out of Nebraska. The kid had already made kicks of like 26, 42, 46 and 50 yards. The 50 yarder would have been good from 70th and A. I mean it hit high up on the net behind the goal posts, so easy 60 yard range. With 4 seconds left, he has a 45 yard attempt from right between the hashmarks. Never had a doubt. You knew it was good the moment it left his foot. Westside wins 43-41. Mickey called the Westside kicker after the game (which ended at like 10:30 p.m.) and offered him a full ride.

Let's stop all the rampant rumors and drama right now and just name Walker as the new football coach.

3 more wins and they are Bowl Eligible!!!! Go Big Red!

If Curbelo only was as good as he knows he is.

Nebraska lost to Western Illinois last season, it's the NU-CU reverse curse.

Little slow on the uptake here as I didn't realize that all the posts about blaming the medical department for not clearing a guy who we don't even know would have chosen Nebraska over K St had he been cleared are for the purpose of campaigning for another Hoiberg year. If Hoiberg does get fired for not winning enough games it's because it's the 4th out of 4th years of not winning, not some hypothetical commit to a team that is using all its scholarships.

Let me say this about that: Watching warmups last year, there were plenty of times Keisei attempted a dunk and got stuffed by the rim. Last night he had a couple of throwdowns during warmups that were legitimately impressive. It appears he has spent some time in the weight room working on his explosiveness. We might have seen that play out in a couple of drives to the rim. Speaking of warmups, it's refreshing to see a Hoiberg team appear to take warmups seriously. Finally. There was none of that horsing around bullshit we saw in prior years. They even came out after half and ran drills instead of just an unstructured shoot-around after half. That was one of my big complaints last year. They did not have a businesslike approach to their pre-game preparation and that would carry over to their game performance. This year definitely looks like more getting down to business. That was good to see.

Good lord...stop the fire the coach chatter at least until the first official loss. Come on.

Not to offend anyone, but Moriarity just might be putting up the numbers to be a starter.

We need a new coach, fellas. A fresh start is desperately needed here. And I say this as someone who was a full Hoiberg believer and just could have never believed it would come to this.

Well… at least we’re bringing Walkers Jersey.

Worst winning percentage in Nebraska basketball history. "No way it's the recruits." Top 15 in attendance every year for the last decade. "It's the fault of the fans." "It's hard recruiting people to convince them to be farmers. And corn. And no electricity." Hate to say it, but Creighton seems to be doing just fine. Same with Iowa, Kansas, etc. Blame others when things get tough. That's when true character starts to show. Be bitter. Go enjoy your Thanksgiving, Matt. Maybe you should go find something to be thankful for.

We'll be in at least one close game this year??

Disappointed but not as disappointed as most of you. We held off the pressure for awhile but ultimately it overwhelmed us. Real problem is that our bigs play incredibly soft St John's figured that out and we had no answer. Getting Walker will make a big difference with that part - but Wilhelm just seems lost at this level - and Keita has just as clearly not adjusted to D1 yet at a minimum. Did not expect to win this game and was really surprised to be ahead at half - particularly as poorly as we shot the ball (I know St Johns shot it worse in the first half). But we needed a quicker whistle to take them out of their pressure game and give us a chance to keep our composure - and the opposite happened especially in the 2nd half. I do like that this team plays hard on D - even when things are going poorly and I still think they are much more fun to watch than what we saw the last couple years even if they are not as skilled in some ways as those teams.

Standhardinger must have been an outlier to this hypothesis.

A lot more energy. A lot greater sense of urgency than last year. Gary is clumsy with the ball and doesn't have a deft touch around the rim. But he's an amazingly quick leaper with long arms and can snag offensive rebounds. It's almost as though he's using his first shot as an opportunity to pass the ball to himself off the rim so he can go back and get it and put it in. I like the Griesel kid. I'm glad he's a Husker. I think we'd have been better off as a program if he'd been here all along. Better late than never. We won't win many games without him. Defense is troubling. Like very troubling. We're collapsing inside and lowly Maine is kicking it out and reversing it and finding open shooters and we're either not closing out fast enough or biting on pump fakes, leaving our feet, and flying by the shooter to give them a 5 on 4 advantage. What's going to happen when we play someone good? There's not really anyone on this team who is a bucket. No kid who's just going to go get you points. But we have unselfish players who are willing to run the system and wait for their shots rather than force the action so they make sure they get theirs. I will probably forever resent Verge and McGowens for their selfish play. I look at this group and think, man, if we just had a lightning-quick PG who could make seeing-eye passes and a long, smooth shooting guard who could get to the rim and shoot from outside, we'd be competitive. Well, we had those guys last year but they were soooo focused on trying to make sure they got theirs that they sacrificed the team. We'll be a better *team* this year without them. If only they had bought in. Character flaws. Keisei had a night. Happy for him. Quit trying to draw fouls on three-point attempts and just go play.

I agree, I love Double D’s

Maine for 5 minutes shot the ball like Golden State, all while not being able to hit free throws. That was bizarre.

Man, we looked good today. Also, Sam was walking around without a wrap and with barely a limp.

https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/mens-basketball/after-bleeding-ulcer-threatened-his-life-sam-griesel-is-thrilled-to-be-wearing-red/article_d64b9b83-7be6-50e4-a7ee-82b5119cbcba.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share I've read a very similar article about Sam's medical event, but Amie Just of the LJS put it together again today. Definitely worth the read as we start the season tomorrow. I just don't know you can't like and respect this kid.

Maggie Mendelson has performed fairly well for a 17 year old freshman on a top 5 volleyball squad. She could likely be a big part of the equation in 2023 for John Cook (since Kaitlyn Hord's eligibility will have been completed). I'm not seeing the problem with her competing for both NU volleyball and NU basketball. If Nebraska hadn't allowed M.M. to try both, she wouldn't be in Lincoln... end of story.

Nebraska going out of its way to distract everyone from the lack of Derrick Walker updates

Florida St is KenPom's 349th best in securing defensive rebounds Juwan Gary

The guy recruited to Iowa St. He's clearly full of shit at all times.

Top 3 AND a first place finish for a game?? Stop the count!!

Outside of that stretch where they outscored us 58-23, we were right in it.

There is a pretty good track record on successful college guys who go to the pros, flame out, and come back to become successful college guys. There is also Fred Hoiberg.

For the 1st time in Fred's 4 years, we are 2 - 0 to start a season.

So if the B1G gets 8 teams in the Dance, we’ll finish 8th & they’ll take the NINTH place team, got it…

First thing I'm going to say: Walking up to the stadium I heard about 4-5 little kids so f***ing excited to see Sam Griesel play. Saw so many #5 jerseys in the stadium. If you do not understand the point of taking and fostering in-state talent then I don't believe you should be a fan of this program or coaching here. No one is asking for an entire roster of Nebraska kids. But Jesus H. Christ - take 1 or 2 as actual scholarship kids every couple of years. Frankie Fidler should be playing at NU and I believe you will see that Thursday in what I think has loss potential written all over it. He's every bit of a player as SG, potentially even more polished out of high school. Some Positives: - Guys played hard. - Looks like they made some of the drive-defense adjustments to limit straight-line drives. - I liked some aspects of their match-up zone. Looks to be a good base defense. - KT hit some shots. - Sam took over when something needed to happen. That was cool to see. - Oleg did some super nice things in his limited time. He doesn't know that he's 7'1", which is frustrating, but it's coming along. - Didn't give up when Maine made a huge push, were able to put their foot down and finish it. - Crashed the boards hard. - I thought Wilhelm played a bit more "within himself." Negatives: - Oh boy where do I start with this offense... None of our actions go to the rim. There's no back-screening, no flex-screening, no shuffle screens. Guys don't know how to read screens based off of what the defender did. It's all hand-offs and weaves around the perimeter until someone decides to do something. The guys can't change gears. There's no 1st to 5th gear change, hard stop-starts. It's all floating around in 2nd-3rd gear. There's zero post presence from a slam-seal perspective (would have been unbelievably easy last night for Keita to seal on reversals for lay-ups but he didn't). So many negative passes away from the hoop for no reason (tough one for me to explain without showing). There's just no rhythm and timing, which you could say "hey it's the first game!" Yeah - that's the problem when you start with a new team every year. - 3pt Shooting is going to be an issue... again... deep sigh - I'm just not sure Keita is that good, very unfortunate. Too bad he didn't start out somewhere as a freshman and develop. - 19 Points from KT - and about 10 of the worst, most offensive basketball mistakes I've seen. Against real competition, we won't get that 19 from him, but we will get the mistakes. - Maine was like 351st in Kenpom - and I'm not 100% sure you could tell which team was the P5, millions of dollars spent on the entire operation team, and which was the effectively D2/NAIA team. There's only a couple guys out there for us who make that evident. - Hoiberg just looks lost and has zero confidence. I'm not saying it doesn't look like cares or doesn't have passion - he just looks so unsure and restrained. He's not coaching with a free mind or body. You can see he feels the crowd and whatnot behind him... it's the worst position to be in as a coach and I have felt it before. I honestly feel for the guy. Don't think in his wildest dreams he thought this would go this way. - Was not in love with the bench demeanor of our assistants outside of Nate Loesner. What are you doing guys? Every game matters, give juice, be focused, look dudes in the eyes and get them going... Idk, just a nitpick of mine. @Huskerpapamentioned the opposite, so I wanted to acknowledge that I must have not done a good enough job of paying attention to them.

Dusting this off... https://huskerhoopscentral.com/pavelkatron/

And really it isn’t any of our business.

"Hoiberg's Goose is Cooked because Walker was out Getting Baked" is a hell of a headline.

Makes ad-hominin attack. Next sentence... Rails against ad-hominin attacks.

Oleg is playing pretty well.