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You didn't ask for this post so sorry for quoting you personally haha. But personally... I've made a choice to drink the kool aid. I believe social media, "insider" boards, constant media attention, have taken a huge amount of the fun out sports and fandom. We've all become so fatalistic about our sports teams and it's really tiring and annoying. I've gotten to the point where I've chosen to start each season with a clean slate and be an optimist. I no longer see the value of being realistic, and, effectively, wishing (subconsciously and consciously) for your team to perform poorly so that it matches your opinion/beliefs/predictions. I see a lot of that happening. And I irrationally believe in the power of "positive energy." I think Husker Football, especially, has been doomed by all of the negative energy and camps that have been built up due to "Coach X" being hired/fired. There were people all over the insider boards who called Pelini's, Riley's, Frost's failure from the start. And it seems like they very much enjoyed their predictions being right. And I never understood why they relished in being so negative or "realistic" from the start. I guess I believe in the power of positive energy. Every team starts each year or era with obvious flaws/holes. I find it a lot more fun to believe our coach will fix those and let it happen. Maybe I get let-down? To me, personally, it's better than playing the "I told you so" game that so many of my friends like to play. I find myself during Husker Football and Basketball games being the "Dude - can we just watch and cheer the game? I don't care what you read on your insider board about why you know they'll fail." That's just me!

Over how many seasons?

Yep, it's way early but here is ESPN's new way to early Top 25 Guess who's in the Top 25 ? Nebraska and Creighton are in it. Huskers are 22, Creighton is 21 Iowa no, 6 https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/story/_/id/34086750/women-college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2022-23

We got no time for haters, it Kool Aid drinking time. We got to chug it because it might not last long

I know we won't, but personally, I would intentionally lose his phone number. We courted the dude to through two recruitments and he chose a different dance partner...so, see ya!

I can't imagine Gary not starting. Fred loves him. He was a part-time starter on a team that was #6 in the country at one point last year. The year prior, he was a rotation player on a team that ended up as a 2 seed in the NCAA tourney. We need guys who are used to winning. And we need grit and toughness. He brings all of that. He lacks skill for sure, but seems to make up for it with effort and physicality. I'd swap him for Wilhelm. The rest of the starting lineup I agree with. I think Ramel, Wilhelm and Keita will be the main three off the bench. Just about everyone will probably get playing time early in the year. But, eventually I think that will be the 8 man rotation. I wouldn't be upset if Lawrence surprised us and became a solid 3 and D guy off the bench, though.

I think 7 spots are pretty well set for being in the rotation Griesell Bandumel Wilcher Gary Breidenbach Walker Keita That leaves 4 guys battling for basically the back up wing minutes, probaly see all 4 for stretches in the 1st few games before a pecking order established Lloyd Dawson Keisei Lawrence And that leaves walk ons & Oleg as guys who probably aren't seeing meaningful minutes unless their are multiple injuries.

Sugar free Kool Aid is . Can't do normal Kool aid unless I want to start taking pills and insulin.

Speak English man. I can't understand a word you are saying. An oldie but a goodie:

New Maggie interview interview I hadn't seen..... Mostly about volleyballl, but some interesting stuff about basketball to.

First of the pre-season. You'll need to fast forward to 1:48:50 to get to Wilhelm who is followed by Emmanuel. After a break you get HCFH. A real emphasis on defense and chemistry in this one.

What is your projected starting lineup and who will be the 8-10 rotational players? My projected starting lineup: PG - Griesel SG - Bando SF - Wilcher PF - Wilhelm C - Walker Other rotational players: Keita - C Gary - PF LLoyd - PG/SG/SF Keisei - SG Dawson and Lawrence will be battling for for playing time. If Keisei struggles again early this year, Lawrence may get some of his minutes. After listening to the press conference (and the Sam Hoiberg show on 93.7), it was surprising how many times Fred brought up Dawson's name unsolicited. Based on what I saw of Dawson in warm-ups last year, and what limited amount Fred has said about him, it appears clear that Dawson has a ways to go on his shot, but he must be impressing on the defensive end. Fred said he is leading the team in deflections in practice, and even commented that he considered pulling his RS last year (but concluded that would not be fair to him since he didn't arrive until after semester). I had not planned on anything from Dawson this year, but if he can give 4-8 minutes of intense defense and hustle, and just not screw up on offense, he might be able to find a small role. McPherson is out for the season with his injury and I don't see Oleg getting any meaningful minutes this year. Although I think Bando will start at SG, I think he will also be the backup PG, so Fred will have to stagger his minutes. Maybe Bando gets pulled early to get a breather, and then inserted back in at PG when Griesel comes out for a break, and so forth. Question is whether this will throw off the continuity of Griesel and Bando playing together strong starter minutes. I am not expecting a lot of Keita this year. But it sounds like he is a quick learner and is picking up the defense well. Fred said he is leading the team in taking charges (which I am not sure i want from my big man, but oh well). But if Keita can come in and be a tall and strong backup and play solid fundamental defense, that could be quite valuable for this team, especially against some of the giant centers in the B1G. I don't see him being much of a scorer, so others will have to pick up the slack on the offensive end. I don't see Keita and Walker playing together, and frankly think that would be a disaster. So Keita's minutes are going to be somewhat limited unless he could really impress enough to take some of Walkers minutes. But at this point, I just don't see him starting any games as long as Walker is healthy. If I am wrong on this, that would be great, because that would mean he is even more impactful that Walker, but that is a lot to ask of a first year juco. Wildcard: If Huskers have an injury or foul trouble, it is possible Cale Jacobson could be inserted for a few minutes to run the PG. But if it gets to this point, probably means something has gone wrong or not as expected.

Gary may be our best defender regardless of whether he is covering the opposing team's 1-4. Obviously we'd lose some of his rebounding if he is face guarding out on the perimeter, but if we need a stop I bet he's the guy glued to the opposing team's stud. Seems weird that we would use our 4 on the other team's 1, but I don't think that's out of the question.

We flipped the entire coaching staff and he's talking about defense before watching us suck at it during Christmas break. The results might not change but that's a substantial amount of change.

We're going to defer the tip-off to the 2nd half, Doc Style

I mean, we do have the same record as the likes of Duke and KU this many games into the season, so bubble contention isn’t out of the question. Every team is a bubble team until they ain’t.

Hell even I'm starting to come around. You know if this break this way...and that breaks that way...then maybe...just maybe...BUBBLE TEAM! MY MAN POLISH RIFLE!

I admire the fans who still drink the Koolaid. Wish I was one of you.

Whatever they do I hope that they do not settle on a starting line-up right away and then go with it for the rest of the season no matter what. Play with the line-up, plan ahead on line-ups you're going to try out, etc... Don't make a "promotion/demotion" thing - let the team know ahead of time you have about 3 or 4 line-ups you want to try and they're already predetermined.

Jacobson will be much MORE of a factor then expected.

I like this roster, lotta DAWG in this group. Inject the Kool Aid straight into my veins. Bubble Team.

STARTERS Griesel Bando Wilcher Gary Walker ROTATION Wilhelm Lloyd Keita Dawson The starters seem somewhat obvious to me so I won't spend much time going into analysis on those 5. I think Gary starts for the reasons millerhusker said above, but that starting lineup is a little short. Breidenbach as the 6th man gives you length, and Gary has enough defensive versatility that you can see him on the floor at the same time as the lateral quickness-challenged trio of Wil, CJ, and DW. I'd guess that most games will see Wil as first man off the bench, either as a direct replacement for Gary or as a way of adding length while Gary shifts up and guards the other team's 2 or 3. I haven't heard much said about Lloyd this offseason, which does worry me. But on a team full of hustle guys and role players, he looks like the only one who has star potential. I just feel like talent alone should be enough to get him into the top 7 on the team in terms of minutes played. Keita will be a big body in a league that requires you to play lots of big bodies. Hard to see him not making the rotation, but I think we will be disappointed considering how hyped his recruitment was. My guess is he will be defensively ready but lacking the offensive capability that some are expecting. Dawson sure has been talked up as a spark plug ever since getting to campus. Gotta be enough to sneak his way into that final rotation spot, right? I'm guessing some games he doesn't play at all, and others he plays significant minutes for us. Such is the life of an end-of-the-rotation player. Everyone else will still play. HCFH knows he needs all hands on deck this year if he wants any hope of seeing a next year. No redshirts, but also no meaningful minutes from the rest of the crew. Keisei could be the exception if he is subbed in and gets hot from 3, but his lack of any other basketball skill will keep him from playing regularly.

Tough to beat Akoy Agau's record

Well after watching the press conferences I am correcting my record prediction to 25 wins.

You don't have to make things personal

That reminds me of the video I used to post in every game thread during our run in 2014:

I'm guilty - I was trying to figure out whether we'd be a 3 or 4 seed for the NCAA tournament by the time we hit the 10-minute mark in the second half of the Colorado game. This year, I'm going to have way more self-control. I promise to wait until the last under-4 timeout in the Colorado game before I over-estimate our NCAA seed.

With the transfer portal there is always a chance he could turn us down a 3rd and 4th time. Might be a record brewing here. Something to keep your eye on in the future.

Don't have to worry about the shot right away. If she can play good defense and hustle after rebounds she will get her playing time. Could be a great combo off the bench as we approach the end of the conference season. Stewart bringing in the offense and Mendelson the defense. Can't wait.

watched a couple angles of her against OSU. man, she looks long. she could be very intimidating around the basket!

Big loss. She was typically the primary go-to player in crunch time. As Cazzie22 said, her ability to attack the rim and score or get to the free throw line will be hard to replace. Maybe Weidner can take up some of the slack - she showed some decent ability to get in the paint and score. Best wishes to Sam in her recovery. She's always been one of my favorite Huskers.

Congrats on becoming an US citizen