Norm Peterson

It also looks like he just took a bit of time to transition from juco to D1, which often happens. He was playing much less earlier in the season and much more later on.

When he was hot, he was really, really hot. But when he was cold ... he went 1-14 from 3 in the conference championship loss to Marshall. I don't think I've ever seen a guy take 14 treys in a game. I know I've never seen a guy miss 13 treys in a game. Highlights include shooting against us. Gotta give the guy credit for being able to get his shot off.

So, why did Lyle average less than 20 min/game at UTSA? SEASON AVERAGES SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 UTSA 19.6 3.9-9.3 .416 2.7-6.8 .403 0.8-1.2 .628 3.7 0.3 0.1 0.3 2.1 1.0 11.3 SEASON TOTALS SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 UTSA 687 136-327 .416 96-238 .403 27-43 .628 129 12 4 9 72 35 395

Didn't realize this, but he's from Hastings. Like Hastings, Nebraska. 6'5" and shooter with NBA range. Seems he can also drive. No idea how his defense is but his offense is pretty solid. He'd be the replacement for Anton Gill except probably more consistently able to hit shots across a season. And perhaps longer on the defensive end. All of which would be good for us.

Yeah, TA is a good shooter. Agree with what you say here. A shooter like Allen in the mix will really force defenses to pick their poison. I was lurking over on that other board and there were some ignoramuses talking like they knew something about basketball and one of them completely blew any credibility he had. They were bagging on Thomas Allen, with one of the guys saying he "needs to improve..... a whole bunch to sniff increased minutes in major conference basketball." Then, he claimed, "Tim's offense is the EXACT same "motion" set Doc ran." But, the real doozy was when someone said Allen was basically nothing but a 3-point specialist who was a defensive liability, and this genius claimed, "With a slow release." I'm sorry, but I've watched an awful lot of Thomas Allen shooting. He does NOT have a slow release. At all. This was just an example, I'm sure, of some guy who knows nothing about hoops, but has heard people talk about "slow releases" in the past, just parroting what he's heard other people say in order to try to sound like he knows what he's talking about. For those who have no clue, this is NOT a slow release:

Yeah. Thing about Watson, as I showed yesterday, is that he had basically the same number of attempts soph and jr year but, because he shot the ball so much better from 3-point range as a soph, his scoring was a lot better. Same attempts, basically. So, Glynn wouldn't need to steal shot attempts from anyone in order to up his production. All he needs to do is connect at the rate he connected at when he was a sophomore. I think we'll see a more confident Glynn Watson doing just that this coming season. And if Glynn RETURNS to 40% from three, and Isaiah STAYS at 40% from three, and Copeland REACHES 40% from three, who do you try to stop when you're defending them?

Good info, Dimes. With the graduation/departure of 400+ shot attempts from last year, I see Isaiah making a similar jump as Tai Webster from year 2 to year 3. As we know, Tai was better with the ball on the drive, and that's something Isaiah needs to work on. That, and he doesn't always finish strong. But his sophomore shooting numbers are very encouraging compared to Tai's.

I looked real quick and couldn't find the video of Roby shooting off the dribble, but he's apparently one of the more accurate guys around when it comes to shooting off the dribble. If I remember right, he's more accurate off the dribble than in catch-and-shoot situations.

Isaiah's shooting is coming around. His jumper from year 1 to year 2 was totally transformed and I think the results speak for themselves. Season Averages SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 NEB 24.0 3.0-5.3 .565 0.5-1.3 .405 2.2-3.1 .724 6.3 1.7 2.0 0.6 3.2 1.5 8.7 2016-17 NEB 15.2 1.2-3.1 .394 0.1-0.7 .200 0.5-0.7 .762 2.9 0.7 0.8 0.5 1.9 1.2 3.1 Season Totals SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 NEB 769 95-168 .565 17-42 .405 71-98 .724 200 53 63 20 103 48 278 2016-17 NEB 457 37-94 .394 4-20 .200 16-21 .762 88 22 25 16 58 36 94 If he continues to improve that shot, look out. He has a surprising ability to shoot off the dribble; I'll try to find the video I saw of that. Also, he can dribble fast in a straight line, so, in the open floor, he's pretty effective. It's dribbling on the drive and changing direction that pose challenges for him. He'll lose the handle trying to get around someone, for instance. But that's fixable.

He's good. He's a 6'4"-6'5" kid whose just finishing 8th grade. That puts him in the 99th percentile of height for 14 year olds. Also the 99th percentile for height for 15 year olds. Leg hair situation appears favorable for further growth. Good ball handler in the open floor. Nice step-back trey. This kid has some tools. Some guard skills in a definitely power forward body. I don't know what he projects to, but I would imagine it's in the 6'10" range. (Can't assess his athleticism for obvious reasons.)

Imagine if we got 2016-17 productivity out of Glynn Watson this coming season. Season Averages SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 NEB 29.7 3.6-10.5 .347 1.0-3.5 .291 2.2-2.8 .780 3.3 3.2 0.2 1.4 2.4 1.5 10.5 2016-17 NEB 31.6 4.6-11.1 .417 1.5-3.9 .397 2.2-2.7 .810 3.0 2.6 0.1 1.6 2.9 1.5 13.0 2015-16 NEB 24.3 3.4-8.7 .389 0.6-2.2 .267 1.2-1.6 .792 1.9 2.4 0.1 1.2 2.1 1.0 8.6 SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 2017-18 NEB 981 120-346 .347 34-117 .291 71-91 .780 110 106 7 47 78 48 345 2016-17 NEB 979 144-345 .417 48-121 .397 68-84 .810 93 81 4 50 91 48 404 2015-16 NEB 826 115-296 .389 20-75 .267 42-53 .792 63 83 3 40 73 35 292 He didn't take any more shots; he just made more of the shots he took. Fewer assists, but that's probably because the guys he was passing to that year were missing more of their shots.

I wonder what the NBA scouts said Copeland and Palmer needed to work on most. Found this about Copeland on NBA Scouting. Think someone else has posted it somewhere. Sounds fair. Most importantly, these are all things he has control over. Cons: Needs to improve his shooting Not an elite ball handler Can be too passive on offense Needs to improve his rebounding Does not collect many steals or blocks Must get stronger May struggle to adjust to NBA tempo

They all did. Miles utilizes assistants completely differently than Doc Sadler did. Doc tried to do too much by himself.

Was listening to Sports Nightly last night and the hosts were talking about Copeland coming back to the team and everyone was pretty positive about that. But then they brought up the '14-15 season and how we tanked after the NCAA tourney run from the year before. And the point was made, I forget by whom, that the danger when you get some guys returning for another year, wanting to impress NBA scouts, is that they could be playing more for the name on the back of the jersey instead of the name on the front. In that sense, was having both these guys coming back somewhat of a mixed blessing? It didn't work out so well a few years ago. I got to thinking about that. Sure, that's a risk. You have a couple of guys for sure who want to increase their draft stock. Part of what will make them more appealing to NBA scouts is that the team does well. So, a good part of them has to know that team success is very important for their NBA aspirations. But, y'know, there's probably a small part in the backs of a few of their brains that says "I have to get my touches, too." I have a few reasons to think it isn't going to be as much of an issue as some might fear: 1. Top 6 players in assists from last year: Glynn Watson -- 106 James Palmer -- 99 Evan Taylor -- 74 Isaiah Roby -- 53 Isaac Copeland -- 38 Anton Gill -- 34 In '14-15, Petteway was a primary ball handler and he took 465 shots against 87 assists. Compare that with Palmer's 408 shots and 99 assists last year. At a time when James was harboring NBA aspirations, he dished out 9 assists against Minnesota. In our NIT loss, he had 5 assists. It's a big part of James's game to hit his teammates when they're in a position to score. (Same with Isaiah Roby, by the way, whose shots-to-assists ratio is even better.) I don't see that changing. The guys who will have the ball in their hands to initiate the offense will mitigate any tendency of any other players to go "me first" at the expense of the team. 2. 418 shot attempts from last year graduated or went pro. Anton Gill and Evan Taylor combined for 362 shot attempts last season. They both graduated. Those shot attempts are going to be redistributed. Our top returning players -- the same ones with NBA aspirations -- are going to be the primary beneficiaries of the increased opportunities. They won't absorb them all, but they should get enough of a chunk of the extra attempts that they aren't going to feel like they need to force things in order to get theirs. 3. It's about efficiency. And they know it. These guys know that it's not all about getting more looks but about getting more out of the looks they get. Copeland's comments when he announced he'll return for his senior year were about needing to show that he can excel at something, how all the guys in the NBA really excel at at least one thing. He talked about perimeter shooting being an area where he needs to improve. Ok. So, Isaac shot 37% from three last year. Not bad. But he needs that number to be over 40%. That sounds like a win-win to me. A perfect combination of Palmer penetrating and dishing to Copeland for a corner trey. The team is not lessened or diminished in that scenario. These guys also know they need to be able to prove they can defend multiple positions, so it's not just about padding offensive stats. 4. They're already used to each other. Don't underestimate the advantage of familiarity. We return our top 4 scorers and 6 of our top 8. Those top 4 scorers -- all starters -- were generally on the floor at the same time last year. They already have a feel for each other's tendencies. Whereas one player in particular coming off our NCAA tourney run a few years back expressed public dissatisfaction with his lack of attempts and seemed to pout about it the whole next year (which affected the team, no question) I don't get that vibe from this group. They seem to feel like getting left out of the dance was a slap in their collective faces and that they have something to prove. As a team. I think this is a situation where the team goals and the individual goals line up. The better these guys do individually, the better off the team will be. Bottom line: I think these NBA aspirations that a few of our players harbor are a good thing for us. It's like how baseball players facing free agency magically have career-best seasons. The guys are going to be motivated to fix a couple areas of weakness or really work to improve a skill to the point of excellence. That helps us. A lot. I don't think there's as much of a downside as there might be if it was just one guy looking to pad his stats for the NBA scouts or if the player seeking to get drafted happened to be a ball-hog prone to taking questionable shots. In this case, I think individual success is going to beget team success. Go Big Red.

He made 40% on the season last year. (Really small sample size tho -- 2 of 5.)

Was thinking about this yesterday. I'm not smart enough to do it, but I wonder if someone could create and post trend-line graphs that show Roby's trajectory over the course of 2 seasons in minutes, points and rebounds. I'm curious to see where his trends would take him if you forecast them out over this coming season. Anyone have the skills to do that?

That could be pretty close. I feel like, as the roster stands now, we really need one of Amir, Thor or Nana to really step up and be unexpectedly good. We have to replace 50 minutes per game between Evan Taylor and Anton Gill. I think some of that is definitely going to come from Thomas Allen. But, let's say TA gets 25 minutes/game. That's still another 25 minutes that someone else has to be good enough to earn. I think Thor is sneaky good on the offensive end and will get minutes if he can hold up on defense. But he's not a lock-down defender like Evan Taylor. But neither, from what I've seen, is Nana. It's going to be interesting to see how it all shakes out.

I'm not shitting you when I say this rising 9th grader (just finished 8th grade) from Omaha is someone to watch.

One to keep an eye on.

Wish I knew how to cut and paste charts. "Recruited by Armon Gates." https://247sports.com/Recruitment/Jordan-Lathon-90422/RecruitInterests

Helpful coincidence that we have an open spot and just hired an assistant coach who probably played a role in recruiting him there.

On senior night against Penn State, 4 guys played 30 minutes or more, Roby played 28, Gill had 23, Jordy had 12 minutes, and no one else played more than 5.

I'm not sure I want to know the answer to that question. ?

I would take a freshman guard of this caliber over the big man transfer from Tennessee State. Not that we're necessarily in the running for either, but if someone granted me special powers for a day and I could just decide for them, provided his revocation of admission to Northwestern wasn't reflective of a serious character issue, I'd pick a kid like this. Hands down.

Speaking of Bruno Fernando, wouldn't it be nice to have an athletic, 6'9", 245# center to hold down the lane next year when we face Maryland in conference? Christian would be like "Come at me, bro." And, see, that's the thing. Some guys transfer for better playing time. Some guys transfer for a better situation or a better opportunity to have an impact. We're uniquely positioned this year to add a guy who wants to join a team that has a shot at winning some big games. That makes us a relatively more attractive target for someone like this.