Norm Peterson

Elijah, baby. Don't sleep on Elijah. Some have seemed quick to write him off. Do so at your own peril.

Start your comparison with Petteway, Palmer and Allen. I think each of those guys is an elite scorer who can create his own shot and be a volume scorer who can find a bucket when you need one. Each of those other teams, though, had a second and third guy who, though slightly less prolific in the scoring department, could still shoulder a load. So, you had Shields and Pitchford in 2014, and then Copeland and Watson a couple of years ago. Does this team have that couple of guys? Maybe. You expect McGowens to be someone who can put up double-figure scoring and perhaps Banton as well. Maybe that 2nd or 3rd scorer is Lat Mayen. Then, after the top 3 scorers, you're really looking for role players who can fill certain functions. A Roby who's sneaky quick and long or a Gallegos who can shoot treys off the dribble and force the D to account for him. It'll be interesting to see how it all plays out. I expect this crew to take a rather large step forward this year. But we were a pretty large step behind the rest of the league last year and a large step might not get us very far. I could see us finishing anywhere from 12th or 13th all the way up to 9th or 10th. Depends on how good the rest of the crew is. After Teddy Allen, do we have guys who can put up points? That's the question.

I feel jilted. Those bastards.

Why, yes. Yes we did.

I didn't say Eduardo would be the main competition for Yvan let alone the only competition. I'm looking at those two specifically because 1) Yvan is a projected starter (by some) and 2) they seem to be comparable in terms of age and experience and position and size and things like that. Comparable doesn't mean the same, by the way. I think Yvan has a head start over Eduardo because of all the playing time he got last year. But let's be clear: Yvan didn't get playing time as a true freshman because he was of such skill and ability that he was able to beat out an established upper classman for the job. He got the playing time because our alternative was Kevin Cross. Yvan grabbed a lot of boards because there weren't a lot of other guys on the roster who were fighting him for rebounds. This year, it won't be that way. I suspect his rebound numbers will decrease and his playing time might also. Other than the head start he got from playing college last year as essentially a high school senior, I don't see a lot of other attributes which give him an advantage over Eduardo. And so I simply ask the question what does Yvan have that Eduardo lacks?

Yep, like I said in that post, Yvan has a full year of D1 ball under his belt. Then again, while he was stuck in France over the summer, Andre was here. One question I asked was how long would it take for Andre to catch up to Yvan's level of experience? I think Yvan does some things well. But I think his ceiling is lower than Yvan's. Maybe he'll prove me wrong, and I hope he does.

I was thinking about Jordy when I was typing this. He and Andre have some things in common, not least of which is that they are both lefty posts. I think Andre is more agile than Jordy was and he appears to be just a better athlete all around with a better set of skills at this moment. Jordy showed flashes as a freshman. You wanted him to get minutes to see him develop in the same way I'd like to see Andre get minutes to develop. But Jordy took a step back as a sophomore. I agree that Walker and Yvan are competition for minutes. But it seems like Lat will be the stretch 4 in a lineup that features either Walker or Yvan. And from what I've seen, Andre could swing between those two spots and back either Lat or whoever gets the starting nod between Walker and Yvan at the post/5/center/whatchacallit spot. And I think there's some remote possibility that the front court starters are Lat and Andre. Can't say it's likely, but it seems like a possibility at least. In other words, it appears the starting front court will include Lat and either Yvan or Walker or even possibly Andre. Assuming Andre doesn't start, which seems a safe assumption, I could see him getting minutes behind Lat or whoever starts at the 5. And, then again, I could be way off. But I am anxious to find out.

I'm going to go out on another one of my limbs and say that I'll be shocked - or at least disappointed - if Eduardo Andre gets fewer than 10-15 minutes per game this season. This is a kid who, because of his measurables, you want to see develop. That length, combined with his agility, is a rare combination. I love the active hands shown in some of the steals he got in his highlight film above. I think we got pretty lucky with this kid.

Does this look to you like a team that should climb out of the Big Ten cellar?

I brought my A game today.

He is a superb shooter and I mean superb. He can score efficiently at all three levels but he is a superb shooter with NBA three point range. He’s good at everything; doesn’t have any real weaknesses; but his shooting is definitely his strength.

And I still say the white team would’ve given last year’s group a run for their money.

Well, if they’re trying to divide the roster up to make balanced teams, they sure aren’t doing a very good job of it.

Not picking favorites or dissing any player; just trying to look at this objectively. What does Yvan have that Eduardo lacks? I haven't seen a birthdate for Eduardo, but given how young Yvan was, I'm going to go out on a short limb and guess that they might be roughly the same age. Eduardo might even be a bit older. Yvan has a full year of D1 ball under his belt; Eduardo was working out with the team all summer while Yvan was stuck in France. I think Eduardo has been playing American ball longer. Yvan if beefier than Eduardo; Eduardo is longer (by a good margin) than Yvan. I think I saw that Yvan's wingspan is right at 6'9" whereas Eduardo's is more like 7'3". Don't remember where on here I saw that or who posted it, but let's assume for the sake of argument that it's true. I've seen Yvan play. He's very strong and he's good at not getting backed down in the paint. But his offensive skills were underdeveloped. His shooting needed a ton of work. He cups the ball in the palm of his hand rather than in his fingertips and he doesn't flex his wrist very well, so he's using more of the big muscles in his arm rather than the small muscles that would be involved in fine tuning (i.e. "touch.") When catching an entry pass, he would take too long (indecisive?) to gather himself to go up with the ball, by which time the defense almost always had time to react and get in position to contest him. Remember that time he had a clear path to the rim and got blocked from behind? Some of that is stuff that can be addressed with coaching. But Covid last spring and him being in France limited the amount of individual workouts after the season. This is basically all I know of Eduardo: So, someone want to handicap the race? How long would it take for Eduardo to make up the ground Yvan gained by starting on a D1 basketball team when other people his age were playing against high school kids?

Well, him too.

They’re pretty rare, 5-stars, when you think about it, what with Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, etc., taking their share. There tend not to be many left over for programs that have never won an NCAA tournament game.

I like the length and athleticism of Eduardo Andre. I hope he’s not a stiff and has some skills. If he develops decently, he could be the missing link. A year from now is go-time and he better be ready.

I remember being excited that Roburt Sallie was just *outside* the top 150. That seemed like a big improvement for us. Now, I'm disappointed if we don't get a guy in the top 150.

Are there any holes in this 21-22 lineup? If so, where? How good is Lat Mayen? Can Eduardo Andre progress enough to be a Big Ten-worthy rim-running rim protector? If we get favorable answers to those two questions, I think the roster lines up pretty darn well. The strength would be the backcourt, but as long as the front court isn't a weakness, I think we'll be good to go.

Finally, we have a guy we don't have to call a "poor man's" this or that. Yeah. We can compare our guy to Caris Levert. Straight up. Bitches.

I don't disagree with this. I think I've already said so.

Friday the 13th is our new lucky day.

Husker basketball's twitter account put out a meme with Bryce's sig on his LOI.

They're all signed, sealed and delivered. Coaches wouldn't have been able to comment without it.

Beautiful thing to see: https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/2021/bryce-mcgowens-236024 BRYCE MCGOWENS SHOOTING GUARD 6'6'' | 175 LBS CLASS OF 2021 GREENVILLE, SC LEGACY EARLY COLLEGE RANKINGS - RATING 23 NATL 6 POS - ST COMMITMENT STATUS VERBAL COMMITTED 11/13/2020 NEBRASKA RECRUITED BY N/A PREVIOUSLY COMMITTED TO FLORIDA STATE 02/08/2020 - 10/08/2020 SCHOOLS SNAPSHOT 16 OFFERS 1 TOTAL SCHOOL INTERESTS HIGH 1 MEDIUM 0 LOW 0