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I will say though guys - for the first time in my recent Nebrasketball history I can't say that we are "this guy away from being good." I think we have enough pieces.... We're just trying to figure out how to use them.

That made me laugh out loud, very loud and made the dog jump off my lap.From where I sit it looks like he shoots a knuckle ball. Does anybody else see that? It's a fairly flat shot, not a lot of arc, but I have not been able to observe the rotation from where I sit. Does he know things rotate differently in the Northern Hemisphere? Are you talking about Webster or Silverbacked's dog.....

Couldn't agree more about the ball movement in the 1st half. Problem was, we didn't hit our shots today. Those balls go in and magically the offense looks great. In the second half, we struggled, then tightened up and looked lost a little bit. I'm just glad we found a way to hold on despite terrible shooting all day, from the floor, from three, and especially freethrows.

Tai: Hi mum! Mum : Hi son, it's your release. Tai: Huh? I was calling to see how you guys are doing. Mum: Don't change the subject young man. You know it is your release, and now you are letting it get between your ears. Tai: But mum... Mum: Don't "but" me young man. I raised you to overcome this little hiccup. Now, enjoy school, keep good friends, be a good boy; But doggone it, have a fizzy and get your head on straight.and next time we visit I want to tell you good on ya, mate!:

It was pointed out in the KenPom thread that our defensive efficiency is trending downward quickly. Does it matter who gets the most shots on offense if we give up 18 points in 22 minutes to guys like Jordan Threloff? With all seriousness, can either Surge or Kye play 1-4 minutes of defense a game without fouling? If we lose the Miami game or Creighton game, it's not going to be because a guy shot too much or not enough...it's going to be because a guy like James Kelly puts up 30 or MackD puts up 50.

That made me laugh out loud, very loud and made the dog jump off my lap.From where I sit it looks like he shoots a knuckle ball. Does anybody else see that? It's a fairly flat shot, not a lot of arc, but I have not been able to observe the rotation from where I sit. AJB, you hit the nail on the head. We know the basket diameter is approximately twice the size of the ball's diameter. With a ball falling down from a high projectory there is 4 to 5 inches margin of error on an unguarded FREE throw to wander from center. When you shoot a flat free throw the margin for error can be cut to a significantly smaller margin.... Right now, Tia shoots this lower percentage shot....while getting 1/3 the points he should score. Once Tia uses more wrist and he allows the ball to approach the hoop from up high... he will make it so he can participate in the future end games. We need him to be able to participate in the end game for his creative offense...yet he will kill us if the opponent can just fouls him to get the disaster that is his current foul shot. It is not that hard to fix...when he does, it may be hard to recall he had the problem. Until he does, it will be hard to think of anything else when he is on the floor in the end game. Seriously, he may want to watch the women practice...and ask Rachel for a few pointers!

That made me laugh out loud, very loud and made the dog jump off my lap.From where I sit it looks like he shoots a knuckle ball. Does anybody else see that? It's a fairly flat shot, not a lot of arc, but I have not been able to observe the rotation from where I sit. Does he know things rotate differently in the Northern Hemisphere?

He may not be our best option at guard late in games now, but he's going to need to be at some point this season, so I think it's better to show confidence in him now. Ideally he would have made a couple of those late FTs and started feeling more confident. It didn't work today, but it makes sense to do that in a December game vs maybe what Coach Miles does in February.

Definitely two camps on this one. Pluses and minuses on both sides but I like forcing them to have to sting multiple items together to have a chance to tie as opposed to just giving them a chance to do one thing - hit a three - and then you have a tie ballgame.

At least Tai has a sense of humor. Was he really our best option out there the last 2 minutes at guard? Knowing we were going to shoot a lot of free throws, I would like to think we had better options on the bench - maybe not.

Agree with you on Leslee Smith. I was hoping he could give us 8-10 minutes/game, and a few rebounds. He's brought that and a lot more. He has some solid moves inside and appears to be a leader. This team still hasn't learn to pass. We've seen that with a few of the newcomers, but was a little surprised and disappointed to see Shavon fall into that habit with a 5-1 break 2 minutes into the second half. He had a couple of options to dish it off for an easy lay-in but took it on in himself (I do think he got fouled at least).

Also, I thought pitchford had a great 1st half getting rebounds and hustling actually inside the arc. Gotta keep that effort going into the second half

A lot of great dive and dishes during the first half, loved the ball movement

Agree with this. I still think that people are getting too caught up on the number, the number of shots Petteway takes. I thought the ball was shared today. The offense was a little stagnant at times but it wasn't just Petteway, Petteway, Petteway going 1 on everyone forcing it to the rim on every play. Shields got the ball a number of times and was bottled up. Would everyone be more okay with our offense if Shields forced some shots, really took it to the hoop when nothing was there and forced them so he could get his attempt number up? And what is Petteway supposed to do? Not be aggressive when Gallegos throws a somewhat ill-advised lob? Just let it go so he doesn't add an attempt to his stat line? Not shoot a wide open corner 3 off a beautiful drive and kick by Biggs? I say all of these things still agreeing that Shields needs to be more involved in the offense. I just don't think that Petteway is preventing that right now. The ball was shared today and if we didn't have those aggressive drivers (Biggs/Petteway) then I think there would be frustration from us right now wondering when somebody was going to take charge and assert themselves. Right now we have that, the entire team just needs to sort some things out about who should do this and when they should do this. They will figure it out.

I firmly believe this team should be built around Shavon Shields. Petteway is a fools gold player. Probably has all the tools to be "the dude," on your squad... But there's just something missing. He's can't attempt your most shots. If he does you've got a problem. I really think Shields is your dude, and Biggs and Webster should be creating for him. Petteway should get buckets in transition, offensive rebounds, steals, and strong drives.

Generally I thought Petteway took shots in the flow of the game. On a few occasions that was not the case, but I thought he was more selective and he was more of a team player today. Walter seemed to force a few today. We also tried to make a couple of awesome plays, and they ended up being turnovers. We just seem disjointed more often than not. This was not a good team, but we made them seem better then they were. I will give them credit, they never quit. I am still trying to figure out who should be in the starting line up. Today, if you forgive some of the mistakes, I kind of liked Biggs, Webster, Petteway, Shields and Leslee. But I am not convinced that should be the starting five. I walked out of the game today with many, many more questions than answers.

I think I only saw one or two shots today from Petteway that were WTF. The rest of the time he almost seemed a little passive...there were a couple of times where we could have used him to be more selfish. Shields is great but he's not really helping the team by committing dumb fouls all the time either. Seems hard for him to get involved or shoot if he isn't on the court.