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Williams said Teddy’s commitment “definitely, definitely, definitely played a part”. Which puts Hoiberg in a really tough spot, if Teddy makes the team better we gotta take him. Williams being committed didn’t deter Teddy, but Teddy’s commitment deterred Williams - so that’s the way the cookie crumbled. We wanted both.

Are you really a fierce competitor if you’re de-committing because you don’t think you can beat out players for the early playing time you desire?

I am not all that upset by this. It is pretty clear he prioritizes being an alpha dog over things like winning.

I’m encouraged Hoiberg didn’t tell the kid everything he wanted to hear to commit. He would have done way more damage to instate recruiting making promises he can’t keep. I still don’t find fault with either party. If early PT is Williams biggest want, he absolutely should go elsewhere - and Hoiberg is also in the right for not promising that.

You're telling me if a 4-star kid from Omaha decommitted from Creighton our fans would be above tweeting at him "GBR"? Give me a break lol.

Holy moly. Roby is a very fluid athlete, but his explosiveness is overblown by Husker fans. He’s no Miles Bridges. He has a 7’1+ wingspan, which may make him appear more vertically explosive(that’s half a foot longer than Copeland’s for comparison). At the combine his standing vertical was 32.5” and max vertical was 35.5”. There’s no way Cross has a 20” max vertical. Cross has surprised me a few times this year when he catches a dump down pass, gets off the floor quickly off two feet and throws it down with two hands within the flow of the half court offense. Shoot, Jordy is 6’11” with a 7’5” wingspan and I don’t recall him ever doing that. I’m in no way saying Cross is an NBA player, but he’s got some deceptive athleticism. He’s pretty methodical with the ball in his hands, which makes him look pretty slow. But he’s also much more under control as a ball-handler than Roby was even as a junior.

It sucks to lose him, but if he wanted to be handed a starting spot well then oh well. I hope every coach of a team I cheer for is trying to over recruit what he or she has on the roster and the kids coming in are willing to compete and earn the spot. I know that is old school but.

Just my 2 cents, but it sounds like he wants to be wanted, and feels he deserves to play right away. I'm sorry, but this isn't OSA ball. You might actually have to, you know, earn your keep! So much entitlement with some of these recruits.

Umm... if you re-read my post, I was responding to the fans giving Donovan a jab.

Dang. I’m seeing some fans on twitter basically tweeting at him to not let the door hit him on the way out...and that he wasn’t good enough- as a lifelong fan, are program isn’t to the point where we can be pushing away home state four star kids- they don’t historically grow on trees here- wish the young man well.

What I'd really like to see is development from Akol Arop. I want to see him getting in games; I want to see him learning and getting mistakes out of the way; and I want to see him improve as the season goes along. He has fantastic length and athleticism. And I've watched him stroking the ball in warmups. The kid has a pretty good shooting stroke. What's he lacking? Ballhandling? What's the reason he isn't seeing the floor?

We haven't talked to much about the newest Australian commit RUBY PORTER i predict (with great modesty)...that she will be a huge add to the team. She's got it ! RUBY PORTER (2020 prospect - AVAILABLE) 5'10'' Wing/Guard Class of 2020 Prospect In April of 2019, she participated in "Next Generation Saturday" at the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa, before participating in the Australian Team Camp alongside current Husker freshman Isabelle Bourne for a spot on the U19 team at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup.As a member of the Sturt Sabres in Australia's Premier League, Porter averaged 15.9 points per game at the U20 national championships in February of 2019. In April of 2018, Porter averaged 16.2 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.6 steals in helping South Australia to a silver medal at the U18 National Championships. Ruby’s strengths include: • One of the best 2020 prospects in Australia • Great ability to play both sides of the ball • Length and athleticism to defend multiple positions • Great team mate always positive and encouraging • Great communicator on and off the floor • Runs the lanes well and gets on the end of transition • breaks regularly • Ability to score all over the floor, behind the 3 pt line and on the rim • Fantastic work rate and attitude Some of Ruby’s recent achievements include: 2018 JULY: U/17 Sapphires (Australian National Team) World Championships team. World Championships held in Minsk, Belarus OCTOBER: 3x3 Australian National team participating in the Youth Olympic games in Argentina APRIL: Silver medal at a the U/18 National Basketball Championships representing the state of South Australia in Geelong. 16.2 PPG @ 52% | 3.5 SPG | 2.6 APG | 5.6 RPG 2017 JUNE: National Junior Classics, Silver Medal, Sturt Sabres 2016 JULY: Bronze medal at the U16 National Junior Championships, held in Kilsyth

Wish the young man the best of luck. Just heard OWH's Mike Sautter on the radio - paraphrasing, but he said DW wanted this coaching staff to re-recruit him and treat him with the same level of attention the previous coaching staff did, and they just weren't willing to do it, as they had bigger roster holes to try to fill & he was already committed. Ultimately, DW just didn't have the relationship he wanted with this staff like he had with Lewis/Miles. After a coaching change, stuff like this happens, unfortunately. Sautter also said DW could have signed in November, but he chose not to. NU was more than willing to take his signature and honor the commitment. He guesses DW will have to play out the HS season whenever he can return and may have to play AAU ball in April as an unsigned senior to prove his knee is sound before bigger programs are willing to give him a commitable offer. If he struggles with the knee, he may have to try prep school. Tough break for DW, but he did have the chance to sign with NU in November. He probably would've been smarter signing with NU, giving it a shot, and if it didn't work out, transferring. But we'll see. Maybe he gets a few nice offers. Waiting till the 2nd signing period sometimes works in favor of the player, as some programs get pretty desperate if they have a bunch of transfers after the season.

Disagree on this. It’s not like we pushed Williams out, or he has ill will or feelings against Hoiberg or Nebraska. He didn’t see a path to immediate playing time, so he’s gonna pick a school that fits that want. Sallis may pick KU or another school but I doubt Williams will be a huge factor.

I'd say the best comparison to a recent former Husker is to Roby's classmate, Jeriah Horne. That's who Cross most resembles.

Hmmmm I like Donovan a lot, so this sucks, but can’t really blame either side here. Let’s not spin this as Williams not wanting to play under Hoiberg or Hoiberg not wanting Donovan. Hoiberg obviously wants guys that will be immediately ready to get us to a tournament and Donovan wanted to be the alpha dog from day 1. With the commitment of Teddy it’s obvious that Donovan wasn’t gonna be the alpha dog from the start.

I really think our starters will be Mack/Burke/Banton/Allen/Yvan. Walker platoons with Yvan, while Shamiel and Thor give the other four starters breathers. I think it will be an uphill battle for anyone else to get serious minutes. I hope I'm wrong, but I could see Jervay and HCFH mutually parting ways.

I find this decommitment really disappointing. Home town 4* kid that is moving on...ouch. Quite a bummer.

So I don’t want to say starters etc, but... Guys who play major minutes each night Mack Burke Allen Banton Guys who will play major minutes most nights Stevenson Thor Green Guys who will play minutes based on match-up and hot hand Yuv Walker Cross

Coaching staff is in Vegas watching him right now. Perfect fit for what we want on both ends of the court. I believe Nebraska and Stanford are his two favorites at this point.

Is it just a coincidence that Donovan Williams decommitted literally within hours after I posted this?

According to the OWH, the coaching staff thinks Banton has first round potential. Not that my opinion matters, but he is my favorite player on the roster.

Dec 16th, 2019 Show #7 - Hoiberg HCFH recaps Indiana and Purdue. It was helpful that the gameplan vs Purdue was similar to Indiana. Hoiberg specifically mentions we didn't cover the backside on the first play so they were able to throw an easy one to Haarms. (sure enough) Ball movement has increased and HCFH attributes that to the guys trusting each other more. Sharp notes Kevin Cross's 5 assists in the last two games. Hoiberg notes that we had 22 assists on 26 made baskets vs Purdue. They talked about the film session after the Creighton game and the lack of following the game plan and ball movement. This also seemed to be a spark. Hoiberg was surprised there hadn't been a triple double before. While naming some of the guys he played against made a rib on Piaktowski that he'd have to pass the ball to someone else to get the assists. Hoiberg challenged Mack and Burke to get 14 rebounds vs Purdue and they ended up with 17. Has thought Cam has really played under control the last two games. Grand Island Chris thinks players are starting to buy in and Hoiberg is able to run with this non-question and expand on the thought. Chris doubles down and agrees with Matt Painter's assessment that Nebraska has the best fan base but once again Hoiberg is able to expand on the thought. Sharp and Hoiberg go through the Indiana game again and HCFH thought that the key was defending well when we went through a scoring drought. Dan in Omaha asks how Hoiberg keeps his composure and the talent/depth of the team as Arop/Easley are not getting a lot of minutes. HCHF complements Easley, walk-ons, redshirt players. Expands on Arop improving daily and notes his contribution in the Indiana game where he got a needed extra possession. Notes that Easley was presented with an opportunity on Sunday and made the most of it. Hoiberg likes the staff chemistry. Notes Gates' experience in the B1G here and at Northwestern. Notes he's impressed by Matt Holt in the video department. Greg and Fred delve into how much the use of video has changed over the years. Hoiberg doesn't know how many teams use video at half time but all NBA teams do. Sharp brings up 'personnel things' which is code for Jervay Green being indefinitely suspended. Hoiberg talked about everyone having to pick it up a bit to fill in the minutes. HCFH once again praised Yvan and Cross about their play this season. Looking at the upcoming schedule, Sharp mentions North Dakota but they don't really care to get into details. HCFH thinks Kavas is pressing a bit and the law of averages will have him make 5 in a game soon. Staff is telling him to hunt his shots. Thought he had some good takes. He's confident that he'll get going. Switching to Thor, Hoiberg could sense Thor's understanding of the game back in the spring. The offense is all about reading and reacting and Thor will get baskets because of his ability to cut. Thinks Cam and Thor have developed good chemistry. Brings up Banton in practice making 4-5 layups per day making the right read and cuts. The more high IQ players we have the better the system is going to look Joe from Lincoln wants to know if anyone on the team is or could be a defensive stopper. Also wants to know his favorite golf course in Lincoln. HCFH leads with Cheatham. Next with Jervay. Tabs Firethorn for the golf question. Went over the holiday schedule. Doensn't watch much NBA but will watch the highlights for plays to borrow. The play at the end of the Indiana game (I think where Cheatham hit the three) came from there. Sharp's 3rd attempt at a Hoiberg Christmas shopping joke gets a pity laugh from the coach to end the show.

He's out there doin' it to 'em every day!

This team just needs to worry about qualifying for the Big Ten tournament right now.

Trigger warning: For those who don't like "next year" threads, that's what this one is, so you can check out now and go on to something else if you don't like talking about stuff down the road. OK, so Fred got his first 2020 commit, and the kid is a player. Has an interesting life story (some might say tragic) and he's taken an unusual path to get here, but there's no doubting he's a dude who can put the ball in the hoop. His first team, WVU, is ranked. His second team, WSU, is 4th in others receiving votes. And my understanding is he was projected to start for WSU this year. So, good enough to start for a team that's on the cusp of being ranked. That says quite a bit right there. His stats from WVU are misleading. He didn't shoot the 3 much while there, and when he did, it didn't go in for him very often (12% 3-ptFG%), but he must have really worked on his shot in his redshirt year at WSU, because he's lighting it up from beyond the arc now (42.5% 3-ptFG%). So, given that he was a projected starter on a virtually top-25 team at WSU, and given what he's doing in juco, it's probably reasonable to pencil him in as a starter for us next year. Cam Mack, from the looks of things, will be the starter at point at Nebraska as long as he wants to be. So, you can probably sharpie him into the starting lineup (barring catastrophic injury or transfer.) That leaves 3 starting spots to be claimed. We have only 2 seniors on this team, one of whom starts. So, only 1 current starting spot will be vacated by graduation. We also have 3 guys sitting out as transfers, and at least 1 more scholarship to fill (depending on whether Donovan signs his LOI in the spring.) Based on everything I'm hearing, I'm going to guess Banton jumps into the starting lineup right off the bat next year. So, that leaves 2 starting spots left to claim. You starting to see the direction this is heading? The players on the team know who's performing in practices.

I really don't like the concept of "guilty until proven innocent" . Let's reserve judgement on Allen's character until he is on the team for awhile. And on any other social platform someone would undoubtedly label me as a supporter for domestic violence. I think we are more mature on this board.

I like the Allen pickup. He strikes me as an unconscious scorer when watching his film. He can throw it in from anywhere. Good fit for the Hoiberg offense. I think the other stuff is behind him. Support him and encourage him with a clear set of firm rules&expectations and I think he will be fine.

That may be but I was simply responding to @Chuck Taylor sarcastically saying not to worry about Donovan playing for Creighton because of their fans turning their nose up at a (former) NU commit not being worthy of playing in their "system". And I just wanted to have an opportunity to take a cheap jab at that Van Smack wierdo. Don't read any more into it than that.

Present time genius: We do not need you Future time genius: Please transfer back here

Gotcha. Missed that.

My thoughts exactly. In a season with very little chance at post-season play, I'd like to get an athletic in-state kid some minutes so that he can take his lumps now. Akol appears to have a very high ceiling (although admittedly also a low floor).

we were just talking about this. If Roby had Crosses confident and mindset he would have been a 20 & 10 guy and probably 1st rounder. Wish Cross had that much athleticism.

I personally love looking ahead. I have been pondering it all day and this is what I got. STARTERS Cam Mack 6'2 JR Dachon Burke 6'4 SR Teddy Allen 6'5 JR Dalano Banton 6'8 SO Yvan Ouedraogo 6'9 SO ROTATION Jervay Green 6'3 SR Shamiel Stevenson 6'6 JR Thorir Thorbjarnarson 6'6 SR BENCH Kevin Cross 6'8 SO Derrick Walker 6'8 JR Akol Arop 6'6 SO Charlie Easley 6'2 SO Man thats really tough to do!!

Per Washut: “He had every opportunity to sign an NLI in November and chose to wait. Nebraska kept recruiting.” Donovan liked the idea of coming to Nebraska when it looked like we’d have somewhat of a depleted roster and he’d be guaranteed a role. Not joining a roster full of veteran players.

Interestingly, in one thread, we're talking like we're going to dance next year. That would have been independent of signing or not signing Donovan Williams. I wish Donovan all the best, but we're going to have a good program going forward either way.

I’d say that’s spot on, but swap Walker for Oeudrago. I’d also feel confident saying that’s a roster certainly capable of a top 6 B1G finish & post season play...

Narrator: "He won't"

This is too good not to post. Kid helping his mom clean out a turkey and wonders what the turkey's sex was. Lo and behold, he finds ...

Right now there’s no way Burke isn’t a starter next year. He’s been killing it in conference play. Cam - Green (utility guard) Burke - Thor (utility anything) Allen - Stephenson (utility forward) Banton - Cross Yvan - Walker Spot/development minutes — Easley. Williams, Arop I think the 8 man rotation will change nightly based on matchups and hot hands.

When he shed the weight from day 1 I knew we had a killer, especially after his freak show high school tape. He’s baby Draymond.

So, if my tea-leaf-reading skills are on point (usually they aren't, so take that for what it's worth) ... 20-21 starting lineup: PG Cam Mack (sharpie) Wing Delano Banton (pen -- blue ink) Wing Teddy Allen (pencil) Wing Big Options for last two starting spots (as things stand now): Remaining Wing spot: Dachon Burke Jervay Green Thor Thorbjarnarson Shamiel Stevenson Big: Kevin Cross Yvan Ouedraogo Derrick Walker Outside chance: Donovan Williams Charlie Easley Akol Arop Scholarship recruit to be named later That's a lot of competition. Question: Is that a sufficient talent upgrade to make us competitive in the Big Ten race?

You do not yet understand the greatness of Kevin Cross but it's ok, you'l get there.

They did. I think the one thing we can both agree on is that the staff will continue to recruit better players who are better fits than the guys we currently have, as all teams do. They put this entire roster together in about 6 weeks and did a pretty darn impressive job of it. The bigs we’re recruiting in the 2021 class will be more to your liking. But until then either Yvan or Derrick will be our starting 5. We’ll just have to agree to disagree if you think Brady was the answer. The staff didn’t think he was a good fit after individual and team workouts in the spring. Obviously, I’m trusting their judgement over anyone else’s. Cross has a quicker release than Roby. Has good balance. Keeps his elbow in. He gets his left thumb in there a little bit more than I’d like but so do 95% of NBA players. Did you think Roby was a bad shooter his freshman year? Factually untrue. Ohio States four other guys in that rotation are all 6’1” to 6’3”. Going forward, the “other guys” we’ll have available will include Thor, Banton, Shamiel, Teddy.

He is 17 years old. I've seen high school seniors who are 19, so he could be a sophomore or junior in some schools. And he didn't lift before. He's going to get more explosive as he goes through our strength and conditioning program, as well as he actually grows into his body.

Not sure on the bolded - have you seen the size of Rutgers front court? And they're from New Jersey. Just hope none of our guys end up in a rolled up rug at some point during the game.

#NoHypeGang

I enjoy the phenomenon that if you are able to get a picture with Steph Curry this legitimizes your shooting ability