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Molinari. I am convinced more than ever that this team is a product of its de facto head coach, Jim Molinari. When Craig Smith was here, he was the true Xs and Os guy. When he left, Miles replaced him with Molinari, who has 30 years coaching experience. Miles knew he needed an Xs and Os guy to replace what he lost in Smith. The thing is, that means Nebraska is in essence a Jim Molinari coached team (with respect to the Xs and Os, basketball strategy, philosophy, etc). Molinari has always been the coach of the "underdog" team and he has learned to "grind" out wins using techniques that are suited for teams with significantly less talent than his opponent. He was outgunned at Western Illinois and his other coaching gigs, so he learned to play an intense defensive style of basketball and a grind-it-out offensive style that always allowed his overmatched team to stay in the game and then hope to pull it out at the end. That is why he writes on the team board before the game "We love low scoring close games" That is his philosophy. It is part of his core--his nature. Now, it has become part of the players core. And it is a good thing---on the defensive side of the court. But it is a deflating philosophy on the offensive side of the court. I think Molinari is even more defensive oriented than Doc Sadler. It puts so much pressure on every offensive possession b/c the players know there are only going to be so many possessions and they "can't screw up". I remember writing almost this exact same post after year one of Doc because I saw it coming. The players are adopting the philosophy that they are not "good enough" or "talented enough" to truly compete. That philosophy permeates the mind over time. Miles said on his pre-game interview that every single substitution in a game is based solely on defensive match ups. Really? Is it any surprise that our offense suffers? Can't it be 50-50? of even 70-30? So if a NU player on the floor suddenly gets hot and hits a couple shots, but then the other team subs and that same player has a bad defensive matchup. Is Miles going to sub him out to get a better defensive match up? Apparently yes based on his own statements. Or the opposite, if a player is contributing absolutely nothing on the offensive end, is Miles going to sub him out to try and get some more offensive power on the court? Apparently not if the defensive match ups don't allow for it. But most importantly, IMO, is that the style of play can have an effect on energy and confidence and attitude on the court. Why do we walk the ball up the court time after time after time, allowing the defense to get set and creating a "lethargy" in our offensive sets. Playing slow creates a "slow" mindset that is not thinking about attacking. It is hard to walk the ball up, pass it around for 30 seconds, and then suddenly "turn it on" and become a full-fledged attacking mentality team. Notice how in the Penn St game when Nebraska started pressing it went on a 14-0 run. Why? Some obviously b/c Penn St. struggles against the press (much like us). But some because it created an attacking mentality in the NU players. it puts the players in an attacking mindset. It creates energy. It takes away all the standing and thinking and allows players to just play. Why do we have to walk the ball up the court every time. Why can't we push the ball after every single missed shot. I am not saying we have to "fast break" every possession, but you can push the ball and if the initial break isn't there, you can secondary break, and if that isn't there, you can pull it out and run a set or attack again. At least this puts all the players in an "attacking" mindset all game long on every offensive possession. Right now, there is too much standing around, too little energy, and it is a product the style of play created by Molinari. And Miles said after the game that NU really hasn't practiced the press that much so that is why is his so reluctant to run it in games. Well, why haven't they practiced it? Little league teams that practice one hour a week have enough time to practice the press. Come on. They have time, it is all a matter of priorities on that time. The loss of Craig Smith was dramatic. It makes me concerned about the future as well. Molinari has never been the more talented team in his career. Will he know how to run a team that has talent? Or will he try to conform those talented players into this "we are the underdog so grind it out" philosophy?

A lot of our problems comes down to 1 simple asset of the game. 1) We struggle to put the ball in the hoop. Sure, we can say its game planning and schemes, but I swear we miss more open shots than any team (although I watch us more closely obviously). As a coach myself, all you can try and do it put the players in the best position possible to succeed and hope they can execute and knock down open shots. We simply haven't been consistent this year with that. On top of that, we really have no low post presence and we have no great 3 point shooters. That is a HUGE problem. Teams are jamming the lanes and not allowing TP and SS to attack the hoop. Or they sit in a zone and dare us to shoot 3's. Vs PSU we went 2-19 on 3's. Not going to win any games going 2-19 on 3's. At some point, guys have to hit open shots. At home vs MSU and NW we hit open shots, we scored points, we won. I know, seems simple, but its almost as if we have a mental block no the road and our guys play tight and we miss open shot after open shot. Had we even shot DECENT last game in that 1st half I truly believe we run away with that game. The key for this team seems to be seeing the ball go in early and building off of it. When we struggle early its almost as if players get hesitant to even shoot the open shot. Then what happens is all of a sudden the shot clock is at 10 and we have to chuck up a bad shot late.

I hope that the play this season is more a by-product of Miles and Molinari learning to mesh more than anything else. Learning a new defensive system had to initially have an affect on the offense to begin with and that appears to be carrying over. The extra focus on defense put the offense to the side for awhile and it hasn't developed over the course of the season. There's nothing wrong with Molinari's focus on being a hard-nosed defensive squad, we would just obviously like to have that mentality without sacrificing anything offensively. I mean, we can have both. I think everybody would much rather win 78-65 than try and grind out 52-49 bloodbaths where every possession is critically important and every mistake is magnified times a thousand. The OP is correct in the assessment that this is what inferior teams try to do to scrape out Ws. We have B1G talent and there's no need to risk losing trying to play that way when we don't have to. If your half court defense is truly that good (and not just a by product of wasting time on the offensive end) then taking extra chances on the offensive end by speeding things up and attacking a bit should be a no brainer. Especially if you're a good FT shooting team that can attack and create points that way. Hopefully the Miles-Molinari tandem can find a way to adjust/mesh their strategy.

I see us play and I see our schedule and I think the question is valid. Could we win a few more? Sure, maybe Iowa, @ Illinois who knows. A few thoughts: - Why don't Petteway & Shields ever try to post up? - Forget about Pitchford's lack of a low post game, he doesn't have a mid-range game either. - T. Smith is a bright spot. - I didn't expect much from our 5s this year, but we get even less. Did this team fall in love with it's press clippings? I don't think so. But, I do think those early losses to Creighton & Incarnate Word rattled our psyche to the point that we've never really recovered.

I disagree that Molinari is the problem. We've played excellent defense this year. We haven't pressed much because we probably don't have the depth to do so. Offensively, we have Petteway and Shields, who basically play the same position and have similar one-on-one scoring mentalities. Every good team needs guys like that, but those are also the sorts of players who get the most attention. What we don't have an even serviceable offensive post presence or a designated three point specialist. Those are coming. All that said, I think a trapping defense makes a whole lot of sense with our guard length and athleticism. Having a team this skilled defensively and this poor offensively means we need to force more turnovers and transition opportunities for our offense. Look how much better Tai was utilized when we allowed him to pressure the ball and take some chances. I wouldn't mind a 40 minutes of hell mentality and use all our bodies to do so just for the hell of it to finish out the year.

First off, your post hit home hard. My team can't score, and as I evaluate, I realize maybe we're focusing on the wrong things and overcompensating with defensive stuff. However, you're a bit off in my opinion, on Coach Mo's influence. We haven't chanfed defensive scheme, were still a pack-line, switch ball screens/hand-offs, fight through off-ball screens, force back to the middle team. We also rarely have ever pressed under Miles. Most D1 teams not named Louisville, Kentucky, or VCU don't. So it's not a shock to hear we haven't practiced it much. As someone who's been a head and assistant - assistants are for recruiting, scouting, individual workouts, and providing input (primarily defensively) for game-plans. The general philosophy and team dynamic comes from the man up top, and doesn't shift much because assistants change. If you ask me, my guess would be TM went after Coach Mo because he assumed scoring wouldn't be as difficult as it has been, and he wanted to bring in someone who could amp up their defensive abilities and game-plan really well. IMO, we've never had great flow on offense under Miles. And now the conference has seen it and has us scouted like crazy. If I'm Coach Miles I'm probably just as flabbergasted by our offensive woes. I also would have assumed our individual talent was good enough to score points. I'd be in the same boat right now as him. Would have had the same assumptions and priorities going into the season.

The last time we played Wisconsin it was on the road following a flight that landed at 3:27 in the morning against a team coming off a loss to Rutgers. We lost by 15 after being down 10 at half. Wisconsin hasn't lost since then and has played 2 road games. Iowa and Michigan kept their games under 10 points including an OT win over Michigan. It's very probable this game is under 10 and with some luck we can pull out a W.

Dimes can move this to appropriate location if desired but personally I think it is worthy of the main forum. In my basement I have a personal letter and autographed Sports Illustrated cover from Dean to my father saying that my dad was Dean's boyhood idol. He was my dad's ball boy at Emporia high school where his own father coached and mine starred for one of his teams. Dean sent him a North Carolina yearbook each year until he developed Alzheimers at the end of his life. He was one of the true greats.

Well...anyway you call it, this will be the year of the goat come 2/19. So to avoid you becoming the goat... I say you made Walter your Pidgeon!

We are averaging 57 points a game in the Big 10 compared to 63 last year. Six points is quite a bit of difference in the grand scheme of things. You would hope and like to think that with returning 4 starters we could have improved off that number...not get worse. At the end of the day our offense is ranked #294 on Kenpom....that would put us as having the worst offense from the power conferences. Next closest is Rutgers at #277. There is really no excuse for that. No doubt we need better scorers...but I'm afraid it goes deeper than that. At least this year that's the case.

We are only scoring 4 less points per game than we did last year. 67 down to 63 ray is gone and leslee has barely played. Those 2 accounted for 13 ppg last year. the new guys: moses, nick, tarin, jake, are scoring 7.7 ppg this year. so really, our offense hasn't changed much from last year. we need to recruit better scorers. Hopefully our incoming players will be more offensively skilled, and we can get over the hump next year.

+1. But Miles is not dumb. He sees the same things we do. You have to think if our anemic offense is a product of Molinari's philosophy's then Miles as the head man would have dialed it back a long time ago. At the time Molinari looked to be a good hire because of his experience and time in the Big Ten. But, I'm afraid your message is very close to being correct. I hope Miles can breath some life into the offense starting next year.

Its not like these kids just started playing basketball yesterday. It just seems when they are away of PBA they act like it. No offense in the world will cure brick shooting. They need to get right between the ears when they are on the road. Coach will try to push buttons to find the issue but these guys need to start balling. I think this team lacks a balanced leader on the floor. If they had a good floor general type point this team would be lots better. Just my opinion, wrong or right, thats how I feel.

Well, I did not see or find Cip's thoughts in this thread... Yet, I wondered this same thing a few days ago... Hmmm...could the year of Walter be overwhelming WP? And then it occurred to me... The Oriental New Year will provide a perfect opportunity to make this THE year of the Smiths! So that Jimmy did not become the GOAT. Then perhaps like magic, the Smiths come on with TS starting...while LS gets stronger while providing increasing muscle in his heightened role. Then think of the photo oppurtunities! Will, Amber, Stephen A., Jaden, Sam, and Wesson....endless! Right now, an NCAA berth is a dream...so let me be a dreamer too!

Apparently Dean lives on in cyberspace with our very own "Dean Smith" On a serious note, I believe that John Wooden & Dean Smith have impacted the game in all aspects both on & off the court. Legends of coaching the game of basketball and the game of life.

Dean Smith's legacy lies in his innovation and more importantly his convictions towards social justice. As great of a coach as he was, he was a better person. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=12296331

Great coach. But he was only able to beat Nebraska once.

Honestly, I think we win 3.

You poke a couple guys in the eye during a game, you can chalk it up as incidental. You do the same thing a couple of weeks later, you're the guy who pokes people in the eye https://vine.co/v/OUJz92qWi0l Woodbury poked Melo Trimble in the eye today and they call him for a flagrant 1

As pissed as all the players are going to be... will we lose another game... that is the real question here.

probably not. better shut the program down now. I'm sure PBA could be used for some livestock shows or something. hendricks would be a great place for the students to take over as well.

I will sometimes count down on the "Fast" or the "Slow" countdown, and mix it up. Every once in a while I will give true count... in Hebrew! This is more effective at the women's games, since at Northwestern there are no other students who regularly attend.

Cip: I think it is because Barry, Doc, and Moe sounds like a law firm composed of the Three Stooges.

I'm beginning to think Cip was right and the Year of the Walt was just too much for Pitchford to handle. Maybe it will toughen him up for next year though, so I'm pushing ahead anyway. this year may well be lost already. Apropos of todays' avatar: the team must beware of the "monsters from the id."

WHY DID YOU USE IBA'S FIRST NAME and NOT COLLIER'S and SADLER'S IN THE THREAD TITLE?

I miss Andre Smith.

Doesn't seem like a fun party

LOL.....I use this excuse at home too. Last night the wife told me to take out the garbage, Coach Miles says I don't have to. All my Husker apparel is either black or red. I suppose I better head to Husker Headquarters before tuesday's game. Better Burn the Blacks! Wait...what?! HA! Yeah, that does sound a little doesn't it?

I don't think posts will ever be big parts of Miles system either. But we need bigs that can defend, run pick and rolls with capabilty of finishing and get some offensive rebounds. Miles needs to error on the side of athletic abiltiy and devooping a little more on the interior front IMO.

Well?