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People said we need to be more athletic like A&M. Well we just got a little closer.

-We're trying hard to get William Kyle, who would be one of if not the best athletes on the team. -If you watch Milicic tape, he's got a lot more to his game than Allick did and he is not unathletic in the least. Based on his frame and shooting numbers you might assume he's Brian Conklin, but that he is not. He blocked 35 shots last year. Our highest on the team was 21 (Brice and Juwan). We haven't had a player with 35 blocks since 2018-19 (Roby had 66). Those two guys would be instant, huge upgrades and impact players. Now looking at what we already have: -Griffiths is more athletic and 6-8 compared to Keisei's "6-2" and, try as he might, was a big liability on defense. Griffiths blocked 13 shots in 571 minutes last year. For comparison, Allick blocked 12 shots in 785 minutes. Keisei and Lawrence each blocked 1 shot in 800+ minutes. -Eli Rice and CJ Wilcher were not athletic. Essegian isn't Lebron James but he's no stiff out there. -Morgan is more athletic than Mast, especially if Mast is hobbling out there. -Ulis and Worster will give us way more at the PG spot than Lawrence did. We haven't added any high fliers or anything but I think sneakily we've gotten more athletic, and if we can get Kyle and Milicic (please!!!), I will be expecting us to be a Top 25 type of team throughout the year.

This is easy. You recruit HS kids so that you have a better chance to land them on their 2nd-5th stop.

Offensively Keisei could do so much more than shoot threes. Standing in the corner waiting for kick outs is the opposite of what Keisei did. I understand your point, but he’s an Admiral now. He deserves the corresponding respect.

Per Washut: William Kyle canceled his visit to Iowa State. Still visiting Wake Forest Sunday-Monday, then back in Lincoln for spring game weekend. Nebraska staff visited him again earlier this week. Milicic decision coming as soon as this weekend.

Nebraska lands their fourth commit out of the transfer portal with the verbal commit of Wisconsin transfer Connor Essegian. The Indiana native, known for his 3pt shooting, has two years of eligibility remaining. Nebraska currently has open three scholarships remaining for 2024-25 View full article

Pleasantly surprised by the rebounding rates from Essigian over the last couple of years. Will easily be a plus over Keisei or CJ in that department. Not entirely sure what Griffiths brings in that department because of how dominant Cliff was there.

We now have 6 players who have averaged double figure ppg in their careers. I'm guessing we'll add at least one more. Kyle and Igor would both be in that category. Plus Sam, Ulis and Griffiths have all been contributors. Don't think Nebraska has ever had that much previous year(s) production on the roster going into a season.

We've really signed two guys who, with the right change of scenery, could absolutely EXCEL under Fred. If they come in with the right mindset-- look out!

A better one. We're adding a big PG with elite passing and solid defense in addition to Ulis who is a good PG. We're adding a 6'8" guard who has an NBA future and will undoubtedly find his shot with Fred. We're adding a skilled, athletic 6'10" center who was all conference and can stretch the court. We're likely adding another solid 6'4" guard from Wisconsin who is a 3pt specialist. We're likely going to get Kyle to help with our front court athleticism. We have a chance to land Milicic as another versatile weapon at 6'10" who can play the 4-5. In all seriousness, I think the most important thing Fred is looking for is skill. All of these guys outside of maybe Kyle (who is tremendously skilled defensively) can handle the ball and shoot. Typically skilled players have learned a lot and worked on their game on their own a lot, which probably means they have a high IQ and work ethic to match their skills. Coach's dream. Defensively, our system requires smart players but it's so help heavy it's basically a zone which typically makes up for some lack of athleticism. I think Fred is looking for long players who can fill it up on offense with the hope that their length creates problems in our hybrid defense. Brice is like this. Mast is like this. Gary is probably the only player left that doesn't quite fit this mold exactly but he has really worked on his offense, and he was already an elite defender, so he still fits in very well. I'm intrigued.

Between the shooting ability and possibly the defensive issues, guy most likely to get the side eye from Brice this season

We simultaneously have too many and not enough scholarships available

I wouldn’t necessarily call a multiple year starting PG at Utah, a former top 25 SG, and a big man who we beat another B1G team (who was closer to home than us) underwhelming. Especially when we’ve basically upgraded/equaled out each position we’ve lost. Lawrence - Woosley Diop/Keita - Morgan Rice/Tominaga - Griffiths and we still have 3 ships to fill.

The connection to note for Eli Rice to Penn St is that Rice was heavily recruited by VCU who at the time was coached by now Penn St coach Mike Rhodes.

That how I dated in college

his only double digit scoring game in February or March was against us. Fits the profile of what we look for in transfers.

So much this. It’s probably not every day you can grab a former P5, 3 point specialist, who is willing to accept a role of the bench, and who won’t cause problems, before stepping foot on campus. But CJ is one of those guys.

I'm guessing Trev put in a good word as far as his character, work ethic, and being a good locker room guy. He seems like a genuinely good kid and I hope he does well in his final year unless we meet up in the tournament again!

Been dealing with a back injury since 2018. When you're in the throes of an acute flair up it's hard to just exist. It's tough to do anything well, average, or even poorly

Put both feet out the door, then stepped back in to audition against us and go 4/7 from deep in 12 minutes.

Also doesn’t these last couple of guys balance the classes some. I know nobody will stay the whole time. But you also don’t want to have knowingly have to bring in 7 new players each year because of one and dones.

Tominaga shouldn't be listed as he is out of eligibility, whereas Rice made a choice and I wish him the best of luck at PSU. As for Rice over Griffiths, I have to disagree there as GG's ceiling is a lot higher than ER's IMO. He has a better overall skill set, can defend multiple positions and has better length. He was pretty impressive at times in our game at home against Rutgers, especially when he was matched up with Gary. Blocked Gary's shot twice when he tried to take him to the bucket, rebounded over Williams down low and drew a foul and scored over a taller defender taking the ball to the basket making a difficult finish look easy. I think we really got a good one.

What about a team with two point guards?

Dude is an absolute legend and his fame continues to grow!

That was my exact same thought. And now two hours later I won't be able to live without him!

OVERRATED

We arguably have the best kid out of the state this year with Braden Frager. The problem with landing the Nebraska kids out of the portal you're talking about is that they are up there in terms of cost to obtain. Chucky has a Badger tattoo and he's on the road to signing with a Louisville team that lost 24 games last year. $$$ and it's tough to blame him.

The players have to WANT to be here too. Obviously we reached out to Frankie. He visited. He chose elsewhere. We also can’t over pay just to get guys from the state. You make it sound like he has completely ignored in state talent when it seems like we’re usually the first to reach out.

Why recruit pre-Madonnas when you can instead get post-Madonnas.

KenPom highlights the highest rating given to your program since 1997

Good skillset for a team that finished as the 342nd best 3pt shooting in D1

Essegian isn’t a specialist. He’s an all around player. Tough to do anything well with an injured back. Assuming he’s 100% to begin next season we just got an absolute steal and a definite contender to start at the 2. Either way, if healthy, I expect a huge contribution, and we’ll have him for a couple years.

In the next 5-10 years it won’t even matter. This all is clearly moving to a new conglomerate of power 5+ schools eliminating the ncaa and conferences as we know it.

We also have to trust that Fred knows what he’s looking for now. He’s got the formula to the secret sauce that works for him. I don’t think he’d go away from that just to get more athletic. I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fred was completely transparent and honest with what he expected and envisioned for each player we’ve recruited. I would hope, much like Boogie, that each player took that to heart before committing and they know that we expect ‘we over me’.

If that's what his role would be here, like CJ, then he would be an upgrade. Just watch some film before you get too upset. I love CJ, but there's not one aspect of the game that he's better than Essegian at. Don't trust Greg Gard and his offense that doesn't generate open looks. You'll see Essegian, Chucky and Storr's efficiency metrics all magically go up next year.

This dude appears to be that sixth or seventh man who is a specialist. Sort of a CJ type of player. The hope is that he can come in and light it up from three point line and provides a hard driven 15 to 16 minutes a game. I may be totally off base; but that is my initial reaction.

FWIW: Gavin Griffiths was a top 50 national recruit with offers from UCONN, Alabama, Creighton and others. Nick Janowski was a top 130 national recruit with offers from Marquette, Wisconsin, Iowa State and others. Eli Rice was a top 300 recruit with offers from Georgetown and St. Bonaventure. Jamarques Lawrence was a top 200 recruit with offers from Wake Forest, Cal and DePaul. At least on paper, this is a serious upgrade in talent at guard over Rice and Lawrence. Now, Keisei's clutch shots and momentum changing shots will certainly be missed, don't get me wrong. At the end of the day he provided 15.1 ppg and was a 37.6% three point shooter. I think Griffiths/Janowski and the increased volume for Williams can make up all that difference, and we'll be better defensively just by not having Keisei out there.

Wouldn't think so until we dot our i's and grapheme our c's

We're still very active. Believe a couple of guys are visiting today. Shooting guard and big post player. Somehow the post player has been under the radar.

If Frankie and Chucky both play at UNO next year they might win a tournament game before we do

If you can get PGs that can hit 3s or post players that can hit threes, great. However at some point it's important to value defending and rebounding as well given they're factors to winning. As long as Fred has self-starting guys, he's more than capable of adjusting his gameplan.

Griffiths reminds me of former Terp Kevin Huerter. And that's meant as a compliment.

I want player(s) who fit our system, who is/are unselfish and place team accomplishments above their own.

No worries. We'll get Bigor.

Schrödinger’s roster

I read an article on Essegian. Fans were very high on him and excited about him coming into the season after being on the All-Big Ten Freshman Team. He hurt his back in the first game of the season, then received little playing time because Gard didn't like his defensive effort. Yet as Essegian jogged from the scorers table out onto the court, the ovation was loud. He grinned wryly as he settled into his defensive spot. And as quick as Essegian's joy revealed itself, it vanished. Jacksonville State guard Caleb Johnson cut backdoor, with Essegian allowing a layup to Johnson on his first play of the game. Gard called guard Isaac Lindsey off the bench, who replaced Essegian on the court just 25 seconds after he entered. The cheers for his arrival turned to boos as he departed. He draped a towel over his head and paced for a moment before finding his spot on the bench, again, to wait. "We can't afford to let him play through it," Gard said. "The stakes are too high in terms of what this team wants to accomplish." After Essegian's eighth game of less than 10 minutes, the waiting still continues. The sophomore did check in again, hitting a 3-pointer to finish with three points on 1-of-2 from deep in four minutes, but it's his play on the other end of the floor that put Gard in a position where he feels he cannot allow Essegian to find a rhythm with court time." **I don't know enough about his defensive effort, but I do know Wisconsin fans more or less despise Gard and how he "developed" Essegian.

Hyper athletic guys aren't always that skilled, but I think we do have two dudes who can guard a quick PG now. We didn't have that last season, and when we finally went against a true NBA pg against A&M it showed. From what I can tell, Worster is a very good perimeter defender and a big body who has no problem punishing smaller players on the other end. Ulis seems to have the capability to guard the perimeter as well. We don't currently have a great defender at the 2 but I think Brice is serviceable. He's just long and, again, will outscore about 95% of his matchups this season at 6'7". As for the transfers from other programs, it really depends on what the team needs are going to be and what their situation was. The kid from Nova got recruited there by an all time great in Jay Wright and then had to play for someone mediocre when he arrived. The kid from Wiscy was getting spot minutes for all star prick Greg Gard, but it looks like he has a higher ceiling to me, and he blew up Nebraska when we played there this season. I think he also can be serviceable as a perimeter defender. In both instances, as specialists, they are almost certain to be able to get a decent paycheck to go somewhere else. The all conference caliber mid-majors are trying to put their play on film at the high major level and also get a paycheck likely higher than any Euro team would ever offer them.

Conferences are desperate to grow revenue. I can't dismiss this enough.

With all due respect to Fansided and this author, they will let any moron print anything on that site.

My father played on the 1956-57 freshman basketball team at NWU. Plainsmen forever.