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I think reality slapped some fans in the face last night like a drunk sorority girl with an attitude. We don't have the talent. If you're starting Denim Dawson in place of an injured Juwan Gary, you're not going to win in this league. Denim Dawson might be a very good kid. He might have a lot of down-the-road potential. He would either not have a roster spot or would be riding the pine at any other legit Power 5 program. Our talent level is not very good and, if we lose Juwan Gary, it just got a lot worse.

WBB can and should be a top 25 team every year. I do think there is room for Amy to get better as a coach. Part of her growth I think can come from not only her years on the bench but also from her assistants. As has been talked about here, Keller has been a nice addition. But this has been her first change in quite sometime. I do think we should be dancing almost every year and those off years should be rare.

The scouting report is out on this team. In the B1G, if you have weaknesses, they will be exploited. This is why it is soooo difficult to win with guys who are role player talent, even if they play tough and gritty on defense, rebounding, etc. I love Walker and his heart and what he has giving this team this year. But the scouting report on him is not complicated. He NEVER shoots a jumper. Ever. So Illinois simply put their very large defender right under the hoop and told him to never extend out to defend Walker. This prevents Walker from being able to using his dribbling skills to maneuver past his defender on his way to a layup. It also doesn't help that the other Illinois defenders were playing off their man and helping in the paint because we have so many guys who can't/won't shoot the 3 (more on this below). Gary gives so much heart and grit to this team, hope he isn't seriously injured. Need him back. With that said, the book is out on him. Opponents simply do not guard him away from the hoop. #33 for Illinois was playing very soft on Gary in the first half which allowed him to help in the paint against Walker and when Griesel tried to penetrate. This is why having "complete" basketball players is so important. It is why shooting is so important. Gravity is so important. Without those offensive skills, teams can sag off their man and clog the paint. Keisei and Wilcher - The scouting report is out. Teams guard both Keisei and Wilcher EXTREMELY tight on the perimeter. These are pretty much the only two players on the entire Nebraska roster that the opponent must guard tight, so they do it with a vengeance. This makes it extremely tough for either of these 2 to get off a 3 point shot. With that said, they both still occasionally pass up on 3s that they could get off (especially Wilcher) and they need to take them when available. Last night they combined for just two 3 pointers (0-2). This is not going to work, they need to combine for about 6-10 3s per game. Bando has lost all his confidence. He is now shooting 22% on 3s and just 36% overall. Bando has never been an efficient scorer. Last year at SMU his overall shooting percentage was just 36%, but he did at least shoot 35% on 3s with good volume. We need a 35% from 3 Bando to have any chance at success, and we have not got it this year. I do wonder if all the effort he exerts on the defensive end affects his shot. Nonetheless, on a team devoid of shooters, losing his 3 point production is a killer. Griesel had a rough night. Played sooo hard (dove on the floor about 20 times), but turned the ball over and wasn't efficient on his shooting (including FTs). Griesel is another player that can't/won't shoot the 3, he has only made nine 3s all season, that is about .5 per game and at only a 32% clip. Again, not going to get it done in this league. Keita has been a shell of himself since returning from injury and is unplayable. Wilhelm still has way too many dumb fouls, and he really struggled closing out on shooters when on defense. But, he did have a nice 3 minute stretch where he flashed what we hope he can be. He scored 8 straight points in the second half by making a 3, then on the next possession he pump-faked at the top of key and when the defender bit, he drove by and scored, and then he hit another contested 3 from deep after that. This is what Wilhelm must continue to develop. He MUST continue to take and make that 3 point shot. Without the 3 point shot, he simply does not have the athleticism to be an efficient player, but with the 3 point shot, he can be a solid player as he develops. His 3 point shooting last night illustrated exactly why 3 point shooting is so important. After he made his first 3, the defense had to extend out and defend him. This opened up the lane for him and other players--Gravity. Gravity is so important. Fred started Dawson in replacement of Gary in the 2nd half. I don't think he is the replacement solution if Gary is out for a while. Dawson is athetic and plays hard, but his offensive game right now is offensive. The problem is who to play in Gary's place. Wilhelm could play the 4, but he is foul prone and also is the backup 5, so playing at the same time as Walker doesn't really work. This means Fred will probably have to go small and play either Keisei or Lawrence and have Griesel guard the opposing 4. Not ideal, and NU will lose defense, length and rebounding, but at least it will have more shooting and gravity on the floor. Nebraska's defensive philosophy can be frustrating to watch at times. We over-help sooo much, and seemingly give up wide open 3s all game when the opponent simply swings the ball to the weak side corner. Illinois only shot 28% on 3s last night, so I guess the 3 point defense wasn't the problem, but man it seems like we are constantly scrambling and failing to close out on wide open shooters. That #24 for Illinois is a 3 point specialist in the corner and we let him hit two in a row in the 2nd half that were daggers. Shannon on Illinois is a STUD. That is the type of guy NU needs to make a leap. In the first half, Illinois was cold from 3, but he took over. TALENT changes everything. Unfortunately, Keyonte Johnson would have been our stud this year, but the athletic dept crapped the bed again and ruined it for this team and the fans. Some things never change.

Came out in the second half and scored 6 quick points to cut it to 5 and Illinois called timeout. Crowd was JACKED! But instead of Sandstorm or music to keep the crowd into it, they played a promo for a home game on February 18 - five weeks from now. When play resumed, crowd was sitting back down. Rewarding Underwood for calling that timeout. Need the arena to do their part with home court advantage. Like, maybe don't reset the shot clock after an air ball, giving them time to regain themselves and setup a play that resulted in a made three. And I can make putts from longer distances than some of the bunnies we missed tonight. Keita can dunk, right? Tonight was pathetic. Doesn't give me much hope. Make sure you have your afternoon open on Wednesday, March 8 to watch us in the B1G Tournament. I'm a sad Husker fan tonight...

Time to find more minutes for Kesei and less for Wilcher.. I really feel Keisei is just as good a defender as CJ. CJ is just not confident in his shot right now.

We have had too many poor starts this year. The energy level at the start of games has been poor at best. We need to start hot and keep our foot on the pedal.

This is a tough year. Injuries in addition to an overall lack of numbers are taking a toll.

I was on record being opposed to firing Tim Miles. Who wins an NCAA tourney game first: Nebraska?; or whichever team Tim Miles is coaching?

Not having the students back hurts attendance as well as the overall vibe. I actually thought that the crowd attempted to get "into" the game on multiple occasions; but the superb play of Illinois, the subpar husker performance and the heavy dose of the referees whistles kept fan enthusiasm at bay.

No. Bryce was a potential future stud, but he was not a STUD last year. Not even close really. Bryce was a super skinny freshman who was inefficient on offense and a complete liability on defense. Bryce shot 27% from 3 and 40% overall, and did not have the grit or physicality to bang and grind in the B1G. This is WAY different than guys like Shannon and Keyonte who are grown MEN who are built like Juwan Gary, but also have elite offensive skills. Keyonte is currently averaging 18.4 pts, 7 rebounds and almost 3 assists on 57.4% overall FG% and over 40% from 3. Bryce was not in the same stratosphere as a skinny freshman last year. He may eventually get there if he develops his body, but last year he was almost as much as a liability as a weapon in most games.

Have to wonder how long Gary is out Was sort of surprised to see Blaise in the game with the pre-game report being he had an injury setback during practices; looked awful during his 4 minutes. Dain Danjia was eating Derrick's lunch. I don't think Walker scored on him. Breidenbach got hot there in the 2nd half for a stretch. He also committed 3 fouls in 4 minutes in the first half. Griesel with 4 turnovers and 4-9 from the FT line. Bando's shooting is broken. He has officially entered the Ouedraogo zone. Wilcher and Keisei are 3pt shooters who constantly pass up 3pt shots. I feel like M from James Bond yelling into a phone TO TAKE THE BLOODY SHOT seven times a game. If those guys aren't shooting 3s, play more Lawrence. He's a capable shooter. Hard to play Denim because he's a guy that doesn't score on a team that doesn't score. We tend to bounce back but playing a good to great game at Purdue doesn't at all mean a win

I was just thinking they had the same amount of open shots as those teams. The stat that is the most surprising was they were 8 - 29 from 3. It did not feel like they shot that poorly.

Obviously they haven’t attended a game in years… because we’ve paid for a lot of em.

That's what I'm afraid of. And if we lose Gary -- which, I mean, given what we saw last night, could happen -- it could be cataclysmic. Apocalyptic, even. I've been thinking a strong year, culminating in any kind of post-season bid, might give us the momentum we needed to be able to sell portal transfers on the idea of coming here to play for a program on the upswing. If we crap the bed again, that will be a difficult concept to sell to anyone. Fred might have earned an extra year, given the clear improvements made within the program. However, I *fear* that an extra year would just be delaying the inevitable because, unless we hit the jackpot in the portal, we once again just won't have the horses to compete.

Don't think this is nearly as black and white as you're laying it out here, though I do agree coaches are often too far to the conservative end of the spectrum. To last night's game in particular, Nebraska was hanging around until the last three minutes, and it's not like Walker was doing much when he was on the court anyway. I think Hoiberg was trying to get to halftime and give Walker a chance to reset and then play freely in the second half without potentially picking up a third in the first half. Then the wheels fell off late. Like Matt mentioned, there were 24 fouls called in the first half, so the risk factor for third foul for either Walker or Bandoumel, especially considering who they'd likely be guarding, was pretty high. Part of it depends on the coach's trust in the player and understanding of the player's ability to play smart and avoid fouls. You'd rather have one of your best players on the court than not, but when a guy plays in foul trouble it can often make him less aggressive and a liability on defense as teams target him knowing he doesn't want to pick up another, and if he does that's also a win. It's not entirely about making sure the guy is available at the end in case of a close game (though that's certainly part of it).

Hate to say it but I think this is where the wheels start to fall off. I don't see anything better than 3-7 or 2-8 in our next 10 games.

I agree with this. I had grown accustomed to the previous coach getting us to the NCAAs most years, with a few WNITs sprinkled in (except for her first year and one really off year after we lost a lot of the team after our almost-undefeated season). I feel that having the same expectations of Williams as I did of Yori is reasonable. I will also note that I have largely lost interest in watching this team, happened about 2 or 3 years ago for me. Not having a player connection to the program is part of it. Another part is that I watch more and more non-NU WBB, and then when I switch to a game of ours that is actually televised, it seems like a drop-off. TBH, I prefer to watch Creighton, and I never thought I would say that. So one of my questions is this - how much longer does NU wait?

The team that I saw last night looks defeated, and even gave up late. That's a sad tale. I hadn't noticed that attitude from this squad, perhaps the Juwan Gary injury deflated their hopes of a 2nd half comeback. That 17-1 scoring spree by the Illini to end the game was wildly disappointing. Yeah, the game was essentially lost, but at least our Huskers have to give a FIGHT to the finish.

You might have blinked when Breidenbach picked up his 3rd foul in the first half. Hoiberg during his career has been about middle of the road between coaches who play guys a lot of minutes with 2 fouls and those who never play them. The game itself was a disjointed mess in general with 24 fouls being called in the first half and 14 in the second half. Real hard to figure out a rotation when what constitute a foul fluctuates like it did last night.

At least the “Bubble Talk” lasted until the first week of January this year, it was fun while it lasted…

One other note. Massive, massive, MASSIVE pet peeve: Coaches that refuse to play players after they have 2 fouls in the first half. This is one of those "conventional" coaching strategies that is conventionally stupid. What is the point of saving a player for the 2nd half if the game is pretty much over by the end of the first half? And what is the only way to absolutely maximize the amount of minutes a player plays in a game? HINT: It's not by benching them with 2 fouls. The only way to maximize a players minutes is to keep playing them, because who knows, maybe they will not foul out. And maybe, just maybe, they won't even commit any more fouls the entire rest of the game. Last night, Walker only played about 7 minutes in the first half and Bando also sat the rest of the half after picking up his 2nd foul. And NU was down 11 at half, which is almost insurmountable for a team so offensively challenged. Some might say you absolutely must have your best players on the court for the last few minutes of the game and that is why you save them. Hmm. Well, last night, the only players on the court at the end of the game were the backups because it was a blowout and all the starters were taken out with 3 minutes to go. And how many fouls did both Walker and Bando have at the END of the game? TWO--neither of them committed a single foul in the 2nd half. Sure is a good thing we saved those 3 fouls in the first half so they could take them to the locker room with them when the game was over!

This is why I've never been a fan of Doc Sadler and his defensive philosophy. We constantly try and double team and just leave wide open shooters with teams that swing the ball quickly. We have to rely on teams having an off night shooting in order to win. While I appreciate Fred's willingness to make changes this year, just doesn't appear he is the guy that is going to get it done at Nebraska. We had a STUD in Bryce McGowens last year but it was a total wasted year. Poor coaching and selfish play ruined that.

I think it is somewhere between "Amy has not reached her ceiling - there is room to grow" and "becoming a perennial top 5 or 10 program is not realistic". I think NU WBB can be an often ranked team that from time to pulls an upset and seldom or never embarrasses itself - such as the clunker at Rutgers. I keep coming back to this - after a coaching staff and facilities, the next thing a team needs is players - both quality and quantity of players. And it seems like every year the quality is good enough to be that team that plays consistently solid, but it runs out of players. I watched the Michigan-Iowa game and counted 15 players on both teams. Same with other teams that come here. Yes, losing AW was a blow, but injuries happen to other teams too but when a player goes down, they have choices re which bench player will be asked to step up. As already discussed here, the Huskers repeated have scholarships available but unused as well as used scholarship being occupied by players forever on the injured reserve list. I don't know if multiple offers have been made to potential recruits who got away and there was just not any HS or JC players left. Maybe that's it. And in this regard, next year doesn't look any better. We lose Sam for sure, probably Izzy, and Jazz possibly. So we are looking at losing two or three and adding only two. Bottom line - we need transfers. It would be interesting if Amy - on one of her radio shows - were asked why we have unused scholarships. Something else that we haven't mentioned much - as the season wears on I come to think that losing Cravens was more impactful than I expected.

At least our next game is a ‘get right’ game against Purdue.

I have also been disappointed in the sound team this year. What I'd give to have Chris Pankonin back! Looks like he's with the Jazz now.

It’s just hard when it’s year 4 and “more than I thought possible” is 9-8, 2-4 and staring 9-10, 2-6 in the face.

KT would be such a good role player on a decent team. Sometimes we just need him to do too much for us. He does a lot of good things.

Hell he's been a solid contributor tonight.

Guarantee they will let them beat the hell out of each other in the 2nd half.

can't see this game, but radio making it sound like refs whistle happy?

Yeah at this point its just nice to be able to continue to have these hypothetical post season message board conversations instead of having all hope removed and having the hypothetical who's the next coach gonna be message board conversations.

Nebraska Cornhuskers (9-7) vs Illinois Fighting Illini (10-5) Date: January 10th, 2023 Time: 8:00 pm Arena: PBA Broadcast: BTN Illinois Info Head Coach: Brad Underwood Location: Champaign, IL Conference: B1G Nickname: Fightin Illini Mascot: Chief Illiniwek They got rid of Chief Illiniwek in 2007 Line: Illinois by 3.5 Typical Rotation Depth: 8+ KenPom rank: 35 A couple of Famous Alumni: Nick Anderson, Steven Bardo Other: 5 star PG Skyy Clark left the team last week. Was avg 7.0ppg in 24.4 min KenPom Analysis: With Clark leaving Illinois made some adjustments on offense to try and eliminate turnovers. The tricky part with the Illini offense is that when they miss 3pt shots they've been very good at grabbing offensive rebounds Player to watch: F Coleman Hawkins It's not surprising that the mobile post player leads the team in rebounds; it's somewhat surprising that he leads the team in assists. While he can hurt you inside, it's his streaky 3pt shooting you worry about. Hawkins is shooting 33.9% for the year after hitting 6-9 vs Wisconsin Player to watch: F Terrence Shannon The Texas Tech transfer is a 3 level scorer, leading the Illini in scoring. Shannon draws all sorts of contact going to the rim and is likely to be the catalyst for Illinois trying to suck in the defense to find 3pt shooters Player to watch: C Dain Dainja Elite shot blocker and a bucket. Likely he's an auto-double when he touches the ball. Foul prone, will be a game of cat-and-mouse between Walker and Dainja about who sits first due to foul problems. Bad FT shooter KenPom most used lineup PG SG SF PF C Pct 1 0 Terrence Shannon 6-6 225 Sr 1 Sencire Harris 6-4 160 Fr 24 Matthew Mayer 6-9 225 Sr 33 Coleman Hawkins 6-10 225 Jr 42 Dain Dainja 6-9 270 So 10.8 2 3 Jayden Epps 6-2 190 Fr 15 RJ Melendez 6-7 205 So 0 Terrence Shannon 6-6 225 Sr 24 Matthew Mayer 6-9 225 Sr 33 Coleman Hawkins 6-10 225 Jr 7.3 Others to watch Matthew Mayer transferred in from Baylor and is capable of playing anywhere from SF to C Fresham Guard Harris is a nice defender UNL Game Notes Probable starters for Nebraska 5 Sam Griesel G 6-7 25 Emmanuel Bandoumel G 6-4 0 C.J. Wilcher G 6-5 4 Juwan Gary F 6-6 13 Derrick Walker F 6-9 Bench 15 Blaise Keita C 6-11 30 Keisei Tominaga G 6-2 32 Wilhelm Breidenbach F 6-10 10 Jamarques Lawrence - G 6-3 12 Denim Dawson - F 6-6 33 Oleg Kojenets F 7-0 12 Sam Hoiberg G 6-0 31 Cale Jacobsen G 6-4 35 Henry Burt F 6-6 24 Jeffrey Grace III G 6-3 Injured 3 Quaran McPherson G 6-3 - Out for the Year The Skinny: Illinois is a talent team filled with a bunch of new players and freshman and thus is the type of team that has impressive wins over Texas and UCLA but has yet to record a win in a true away game. Look for the Illini to lean on their upperclassmen tonight. Brad Underwood knows Nebraska takes away the paint and will be content to shop around for 3pt shots most of the night. While Illinois will find success there, 2nd chance points likely determines the success of the Illini tonight. Nebraska will need to crash the boards all night vs this lengthy team. Illinois tends to run people off the 3pt line which is just fine with what Nebraska wants to do. The team with composure and focus likely wins this one. Leaning towards Illinois road woes continuing. Prediction: Nebraska 70 - Illinois 67 View full article

But the numbers are her doing.

Under Hoiberg's leadership, we've gone on a: 3-game winning streak 3 times 4-game winning streak one time 10+ game losing streak twice (10 and 17 game streaks)

Which team did Chris Beard pick?

A big win would certainly help everybody.

Unless you bring in a guy or two, might have been hard practicing 5 on 5. 13 players on the roster, including Dillard, Brady, Mendelson (volleyball), Sam (injured early) and Allison (injured now). Izzie was out a bit. I'm sure others have had issues. Bodies would help, even if preferred walk-ons. Are the numbers a result of staff preference? Recruiting? If recruiting, why? Effort? Staff isn't that good at it? Program doesn't have the recruiting support system needed? Budget restraints? Who knows. We sure could use a win tonight. My posts are much too negative as of late. Sorry.

The amazing Sladek not falling off the chairs was about the only thing that went right for us tonight

And let’s hope Gary is back. His loss would be critical

"He's scored eight straight points. It's a one man run!"

They call it Big 10 after dark because children shouldn't be watching this.

Stop dribbling in fucking traffic

Fixed it for you.

Important game, makes sense we would get a ref show. God I hate CBB reffing. Its a different sport depending on which crew you get.

CJ once again passes up an open three to dribble into a contested long two. Beyond frustrating at this point.

I loved wild kingdom!

Courtney Green? We’re screwed. Put a fork in us.

I hate to say it but the UC Riverside game sat the tone for the Hoiberg Era.

You guys scare me...as in putting the cart before the horse. Nothing in our history should provide us that ability for wishful thinking. Again, I would love nothing more than to place my rose-colored glasses back on; but we cannot afford to think beyond the next game. Think KSU. Think MSU. Think St. John's. We cannot think beyond the game in front of us. Can we beat Illinois? Can we come out and out hustle, out physical and out play them and earn a win. Then, and only then, can we worry about the next game on the schedule. We shall see, game time is a bit over two hours away.