Norm Peterson

I golfed with him once at one of those Doc Sadler golf invite things. Cool guy. He had some interesting stories about his roommate and Janet Nee.

Would not *have* made that mistake.

I think Aguek's college stats prove Tim was right. (And Bruce Chubick was being a little bitch about it.) STATS 2022-23 2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 2018-19 GP MIN FG% 3P% FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS 29 15.6 63.6 25.0 65.2 2.7 0.8 0.6 0.6 1.9 0.8 4.4 25 15.0 45.7 33.3 44.0 3.3 0.5 0.3 1.0 1.4 0.8 3.5 20 13.9 48.5 15.4 48.4 2.3 0.7 0.2 0.7 2.3 0.9 4.2 22 10.0 50.0 0.0 62.5 2.3 0.4 0.2 0.4 1.0 0.6 3.1 31 14.6 44.6 20.0 61.3 2.7 1.0 0.6 0.5 1.5 0.8 3.1

Wilhelm is not a 5-tool guy. He needs to get really good at a couple of things. And he needs to get bigger and stronger. Right now he's this really tall jitter bug that can't hold his position in the post and fouls on the perimeter a lot.

The best way to describe Wilhelm's defense is probably ADHD. I mean, he's very active on defense. Hyperactive, even. But he's everywhere and nowhere and frenetic all the time but maybe just not where he needs to be when he needs to be there. He's like the opposite of the old adage about working smart, not hard.

We have a motion; do we have a second?

Big if.

I thought about that. But do you remember Derrick as a sophomore? He was stout defending inside. He was a dawg. These current guys aren't dawgs.

They should hire MsCasland as fast as they can. Before someone else has a vacancy with a more attractive job.

There really is a balancing act between trying to develop a roster with some veteran leadership versus having to induce a bit of turnover in order to get some key upgrades. You want players with experience in your system, but what if the vets just aren't very good. I expected 4-star Wilhelm to be a bit better at this point in his career. The problem with Breidenbahc/Kojenets/Keita isn't simply that they don't pass as well as Walker. They also don't defend the post nearly as well. Keita might be able to defend, but if he's not on the floor because of his ankie boo boo, he's not doing you any good.

His career 3-pt% is about 30. I think I'd rather have John Tonje if he entered the portal.

So, just for shits and giggles, I'm going to fill out the roster based on rank speculation given what some on here have reported and nothing more: PG Chucky Hepburn SG Jamarques Lawrence SG Ramel Lloyd PF Juwan Gary PF BJ Mack Don't know that Hepburn would ever leave Wiscy; even if he did, don't know if he'd come here; reported on here by @millerhusker that it's being rumored in Omaha schools. Lawrence showed himself out as a true freshman stepping up when Bandoumel went down. Feel pretty good about him. Lloyd. Did you see the spliced clips in that tweet? The kid has skills. I mean, he's a bucket. And good length. Have no clue about his defense, but let's just say ... Gary should be back and better than before, which was already good enough to start. And Mack looks like a guy who could fill the Derrick Walker role AND shoot threes. Is that a starting lineup that moves us into the top half of the conference? Y/N?

Hadn't heard Ramel wasn't healthy. Had heard Griesel had a nagging hip problem. I might have, at some point, misspoke and said it was Ramel rather than Griesel, if that info came from me. I've heard Ramel is back. That could always change. But most recent word was he's looking forward to returning. And, given that film we should be looking forward to seeing what he can do once he shreds that redshirt. I think a lineup that includes whichever PG is behind Portal #3, and a big man, possibly even the Wofford transfer, would present a pretty appealing lineup with the talent we have returning, including Lawrence and CJ at SG, Ramel at wing, and Gary at PF.

This video shows some big-time skill for a 6'6 kid. He would probably be more advanced next year if he'd played this year rather than sitting out, but make no mistake: Ramel Lloyd will have gained from this year. He will not start out the season like your typical true freshman. So, with that said ... PG (pick 1): Q? (not convinced Q will be that guy) SG/Wing (pick 2): Jamarques, CJ, Sam H., Keisei?, Ramel Bigs (pick 2): Blaise, Wilhelm, Juwan, Oleg, Eli, Denim? (not sure where to put Denim) I have a feeling we'll keep all or most of the guys we'd like to keep and clear some room for some portal opportunities. Just my feeling.

Derrick Walker clone? Or taller, better shooting version of Juwan Gary?

We could show this kid some videos of Derrick that would show him exactly how he could fit in our system. I will say he seems to have a bigger butt than Derrick, which allows him to create space down low.

He's out w/ some highlight vids just in time to announce he's transferring. Still, comparison to Derrick very apt.

The comparison to Derrick seems very appropriate.

Chucky alone does not help us make that kind of jump. We'd still need a suitable replacement for Walker. And it would be nice to find one more stud scorer. But someone on the "team player" end of the spectrum rather than a black hole "I need to get my shots so I can establish my NBA cred" kind of player.

I listed him as one of the front court guys with eligibility. But he's not one of my "must keep" players. He might stay; he might not. He'd have to make a lot of progress in order to be an impact player next year, so if he doesn't stay, it's not going to be a big hit to our prospects for the season.

I stand by this comment.

So this comment is kinda interesting to me. I think, oddly enough, we probably did about as well without them as we could have hoped to have done with them. Not to knock either of them, but it really forced some other players to step up and those guys rose to the occasion. The comments about Gary >>>> Breidenbach are well-taken. Wilhelm has some off-season work to do, for sure. But we are most certainly better positioned for next year given the development that certain players have received, that they wouldn't have gotten sitting on the bench behind Bandoumel and Gary. So, what at first had me thinking we might not win another game really has turned into a blessing in disguise. Backcourt guys with eligibility: Keisei CJ Lawrence Hoiberg McPherson Lloyd Jr Frontcourt guys with eligibility: Keita Gary Breidenbach Kojenets Dawson Rice We have two spots available right now. That will probably change as the transfer portal opens. Based on historical trends, you might expect 2-4 players to enter the portal from our end. If that were the case, we'd have somewhere between 4-6 new players we could bring in. If we can keep CJ, Lawrence, Hoiberg and Lloyd Jr and add a solid transfer PG, that would actually give us a pretty competitive backcourt. Maybe if you can find a wing who could be an efficient scorer from all 3 levels, you'd take a guy like that. If we can keep Gary, Breidenbach and Kojenets as well as bringing in Rice, we'd still need to find a really good big man to make up for the loss of Walker, but it would be doable. It's not beyond the realm of possibility. This is not an impossible task. Not too big of an ask. It's not that many pieces for us to be able to field a reasonably credible team next year.

Maybe there's a way, but I don't know how any computer ranking system would be able to factor injuries in or out of an equation of where to rank a given team. Computers dispassionately look at what they're told to look at, and it's all math from there. But, as humans who have insight, we get that injuries to the wrong players can derail a season. After Gary and Bandoumel went down, I wasn't sure we'd win another game all season long. I thought our goose was cooked. Maybe squeak out a home win against Minnesota, but that was about it. Given where we are compared to what I expected, I cannot help but give the coaching staff HUGE, GINORMOUS, EFFUSIVE PRAISE for what this team has done since the beginning of January. Not only did they overcome season-ending injuries to TWO starters, but they also utilized a legit walk-on to do it. BIG STAT OF THE SEASON: Sam Hoiberg's cumulative total minutes in the first 20 games (through Bandoumel's injury): 12 Sam Hoiberg's cumulative total minutes in the last 11 games (since Bandoumel's injury): 237

OK, so this is just fucking crazy. Iowa loses by a small amount and goes up three spots in the NET. We win buy an equally small amount and drop five spots in the NET. And it was the same game. At Iowa. Their non-blowout home loss to us >>>> our non-blowout road win over them. Scrap the NET and start over.