Leaderboard

Hopefully, but these kinds of decisions are made every day at portal time. How far to go on NIL with each player/agent, figuring out what's real, drawing a line knowing that's effectively letting a guy go. I'm probably stating the obvious, but this is so much about money now, rather than a better fit at a new program, etc. And on the program end, there comes a point where the price is higher than the player is good, and you have to keep some dry powder. The good news is in the play for pay era, our new AD is totally committed to that, and will overtly support 1890 until the system changes and allows direct institutional participation or changes to an employee model. Fred is very pleased with Dannen so far. Fred has almost double what he had to work with on the pay players budget from a year ago. We're all in on the current system. We're really trying to get a visit from Payne, but the NIL demands are very, very high. We're getting a visit from Essigian, assuming he doesn't commit to Indiana on his visit there. Kyle supposed to come next weekend but concerned about Wake giving him a huge number, like they did Sallis.

Nebraska lands former Rutgers transfer Gavin Griffiths from the transfer portal. The 4 star 6'8" sharpshooter was a big commit for the Scarlet Knights but struggled during his freshman year until the end of the season. Despite the size look for Griffiths to slot at either the 2 or 3. Griffiths will have 3 years of eligibility left and is the 3rd known commitment for 2024-25. Nebraska currently has 4 scholarships remaining. View full article

-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.

Someone sent me this— appears KT is engaged!

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.

After Friedrichson, Sallis, and now Kyle, I'm starting to think Steve Forbes' recruiting strategy is just "see who Fred offers, then offer them a big bag."

Didn't turn him down directly, but indirectly, we declined to dig deep and come close to what Xavier was willing to pay.

Think about this. We now have two legit point guards that are penetraters, pass first, and strong defenders. And oh yeah, Brice has shown he can play point guard; and then there is that kid named Sam.

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.

We don't need to sell our soul or completely change course, but we do need to get more athletic to successfully compete on an ongoing basis. It's not an all or nothing thing.

This. And I'm glad we're not selling our soul to just go get the most athletic guys out there just to try and beat 2024 Texas A&M that shot unbelievable from 3 and would have beaten almost anyone on that night. We have to continue doing the model that has won us Big Ten games over the last 14 months, which is smart, hard-working, unselfish, experienced dudes who can shoot and will give max effort on defense. You can't win a tournament game if you can't get to the tournament. After the A&M game, some fans seem to think we should be getting athletic freaks and that those same players will also be great shooters and super effective in Fred's 5-out offense and will also have the discipline, work ethic and attitude of a Sam Griesel/Sam Hoiberg. Newsflash: if you are all of those things you are in the NBA or getting offered by UConn/North Carolina/Kansas/Duke.

I really like this kid’s potential and think he’ll be a perfect fit for Hoiberg’s offense. I remember watching him play against Nebraska thinking I’d love to have this kid on our team. Big get IMO.

Nice that we have enough PG depth that someone will have to be the backup

Holy crap I hope this guy really likes Brice because dang he checks a lot of boxes in what we want to run

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.

And can we all agree to not get too overexcited about the token 6’11” high ceiling 17 year old we bring in this summer to be on the scout team next season

Malique Ewin. We're still in the mix

We have 6 more spots to fill. But if you're making this type of comparison, Keisei wasn't a PG so it's more like allick/Boogie/lawrence with worster/morgan/uhlis

Last two seasons Worster has averaged 5+ assists to <2 TO. That’s a very big deal. If he can get his 3pt shot above 30% it sure would be nice. But he gets to the rim really well in P&R and is a deadly passer. Do-it-all player everywhere else. 5rbs a game from your PG adds up and helps the team a ton in offensive transition. Great get. Put 4 other shooters on the court with this kid and it really is pick your poison.

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!

I sort of look at it this way; Keisei's replacement is already on the roster. His name is BRICE WILLIAMS.

We have moved on from Joseph. Griffith got the nod over him. Joseph rebounding stats poor.

Goggles 2, Electric Boogaloo.

Good luck to Jamarques. I’ll be rooting for him.

I really like his potential

The more I read about and watch this guy the more I think he may actually be our starter this season. But we need to get some shooters. I didn't realize CJ ended the year 50-127 (39.4%) and Brice ended at 50-129 (38.8%). Nearly identical. Would not have guessed Brice was as accurate from 3 as CJ was, but CJ did struggle quite a bit down the stretch. Keisei was only 37.6% (76-202). Milicic was 56-149 (37.6%). We need at least 1, ideally 2 shooters. I want that to be Milicic and Griffiths.

Adding a 2nd PG, whether Worster starts or not is not terribly relevant in my mind, frees Brice Williams to play more like the scoring threat he can be without the responsibilty of running the offense. The fact that Worster seems pretty productive in the PG role is just icing on the cake. Happy to have him!

Say what you will about recruiting rankings, but Griffiths was a top 40 recruit by Rivals, by ESPN, by 247 Sports and by ON3. He played one season of college basketball and has three years remaining and is a 6-8 shooter. If Fred helps this kind find his stroke (which he will)...

Here's her stats. Has played quite a bit in her 3 years at Florida, and will be a seasoned player. ....but is not the high minuets like Jaz usually played. Has good percentage at 3's, but doesn't look like she might go off for 20 pt. game, ....in the Gator system anyway. In ours it could be a different story, Looks to be a perimeter guard. https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4898610/alberte-rimdal VIDEO https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/39552712

They had real good players last year, too.

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

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.

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

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

Helpful to reference who we have G Ahron Ulis - 6'3" - SR G Rollie Worster - 6'4" - SR G Brice Williams - 6'7" - SR G Sam Hoiberg - 6'0" - JR G Gavin Griffiths - 6'8" Soph G Nick Janowski - 6'3" FR F Juwan Gary - 6'6" - SR F Rienk Mast - 6'10" - SR F Andrew Morgan 6'10" - SR F Braden Frager 6'6" - FR ------------------------------ Gary, Juwan Ahron Ulis Williams, Brice Mast, Rienk Worster, Rollie Morgan, Andrew Griffiths, Gavin Janowski, Nick Frager, Braden Seems like prioritizing guys who might be here past next season should be highly considered.

Great pickup. 5* kid who needed a year to put his game together at the B1G level. This is one of those situations where you’re happy to be the player’s second stop rather than the school he chose out of high school. Rutgers got him when he was pure potential. We got him for the year(s) he will be productive.

We can agree (as I know that I will not uphold this agreement when we sign some 7’1 young man from England by way of Nigeria, and I blow his highlights way out of proportion, and talk myself into him being all conference in 3 years, as I forgot all prior evidence that these rarely stay 3-4 years)

Good luck to Lawrence. I enjoyed watching him play for the Huskers.

Ullis at 6'3 and Worster at 6'4" is decent height at the PG spot.

Yep. He’s far more productive than Ulis.

I was gonna give him “Props” for Rockin’ the McCathorn Clayton Jersey.

I did not need to know how you spend your weekends

If Hoiberg can land Milicic, William Kyle, and Connor Hickman we're not just talking about going to the tournament and winning a game...we're talking about more. Potentially *much* more!

Got to think Kyle would like our on-court pitch. The Josiah Allick (++) role. But more ideally for Fred and William, the Jameel McKay role. Very similar players. 6'9", long, bouncy, defensive-minded. Fred's last year at Iowa State McKay was the Big 12 DPOY and 3rd team all-conference. The 3-4-5 on that team was Hogue-Niang-McKay. Hogue looks and plays an awful lot like Juwan Gary. Hoiberg has talked a lot about how he uses Mast in the same way he used Niang in the offense. The point guard on that team was Monte Morris (c'mon Chucky).

I'd also snap up von Oelhoffen from OSU