Norm Peterson

He went in to the tunnel diagonally across from the tunnel the team usually uses. He got hurt and just kept running straight off the floor during the middle of the action.

For those wondering, Gary hurt his shoulder and ran off the floor and they didn’t stop the action.

That dunk though. #DenimDawson

@hhcmatt isn't it nice to know you're not just shouting into the ether and that people really do read these things?

UNL game notes lists Gary starting instead of Breidenbach. Just FYI @hhcmatt Also, Lat Mayen is a game time decision?

OK, just by way of explanation, the reason for the added commentary in that thread title is because it's common for me to start threads about what I'm thinking for down the road a season or two. And it seems like EVERY TIME I do a thread on what might be coming down the pipe a year from now, there's always someone who chimes in with "Why are you talking about NEXT year? I don't want to talk about NEXT year. I want to talk about THIS year." So, I just thought I'd give folks a heads-up that if you want to talk about THIS year, fine, nobody stopping you, but this ain't that thread.

The executive summary of what the thread is about?

If you look at HHCC, most of our fans on this board are expecting a MUCH closer game. I mean some on here were predicting a 2–3-point win. Most were within 10 points. Only a few had us winning by 15 or more. It's very interesting what the last few years have done to our self-image.

Did Matt get drunk on Nyquil last night? Where's the scouting report on UNO?

I called him. I made sure he knew the omission was merely because I assumed he'd be playing pro ball by then. We're all good now.

They're dreaming. Or drunk on red Kool-Aid. When did they become Nebrasketball fans?

Whoever's in your avatar.

6'6 kids who can pull this trigger don't grow on trees. I'd like to see if we can develop him, nurture him. Maybe there's background noise and somebody in his ear causing problems with their own agenda. That happens sometimes. Usually to a kid's detriment. But if he's redshirting to save a year to play somewhere else, then there's a good chance someone is running interference. Hope that's not the case. Because, again, 6'6 kids who can pull this trigger don't grow on trees.

But, seriously, IF Ramel can become the point guard he's been touted as potentially becoming, he'd be a third-year player. He'd be 6'6. We'd have CJ as a SG at 6'5. Then you'd have Rice as a SG/wing at 6'7. Probably Wilhelm somewhere at 6'10. And then ... someone. That's a group that could potentially be a tough out. I'd like to be able to see what could develop. I'm getting tired of the turnover. It would be nice to see some stability, and those guys have some tools that would make them some clay you could work with.

No one except Walker, right?

I appreciate the fact no one pointed out that I mistakenly omitted Oleg from my list.

Signing day made me think about who we're bringing in and where they might fit in a couple of years. We have three seniors and two juniors who will absolutely be gone two years from now: Srs: Griesel; Walker; Bandoumel Jrs: Gary; Tominaga That's basically your rotation right now with underclassmen CJ, Wilhelm and Blaise thrown in. And Denim. And they're gone in 2 years. So, 2 years from now, if ppl stick around, we'll have: Srs: Wilcher; Breidenbach; Keita Jrs: Dawson; Lawrence; McPherson; Kojenets Sos: Lloyd Jr.; Rice Having looked at video on Rice and Lloyd today, I have to be honest and say I hope we see them both on the roster 2 years from now. A couple of 6'6-6'7 dudes who can shoot and score. Neither of them appear to be strictly spot-up shooters like CJ. I like the fact that CJ can get hot. I like the fact that CJ can get his shot off quickly without a lot of space. I don't think we've seen the best version of CJ yet, not by a long shot. But I don't think he's ever going to be that guy who can put it on the floor and drive to the rim. From what little I've seen, I feel like Lloyd and Rice have the ability to contribute at this level. I could even see them on the floor at the same time. Wilhelm can certainly fill the role of being the big. I don't see the PG in that group, though. If Ramel is supposed to be that guy, it'd be nice to see him in the rotation this year getting backup PG minutes. Am I wrong for being skeptical?

I wasn't disagreeing with you. I was surprised to see that he hardly saw the floor. He was 12 min/game for us last year as a raw soph still putting up better than 3 and 3 per game. It would have been time for him to make a bit of a jump. I would have figured 20 minutes and 6 and 4. Maybe even 7 and 5. But 4 minutes and no points? Ooookay.

Ed played 4 minutes the other night for Fresno St. and didn't score.

Contrast with Ramel Lloyd who appears to be about the same height/length, a little thinner body but springier athlete. I'd really like to see these two guys stick around and develop.

Seems to fit our style of play.

So, my take is he doesn't appear to have impressive athleticism. He's got good touch, though, and a very compact, repeatable stroke with range. He's apparently 6'6 or 6'7 depending on which source you go with. Looks like good length. A Hoiberg 4 mayhaps?

Alright. OK.

BTW, the existence of NIL money renders a guy like Matt A superfluous. Absolutely superfluous. Before the portal, you needed recruiters who were good at building relationships. That still counts with high school prospects. But that wasn't Matt's deal. Matt's deal was being able to schmooze the handlers of the kids who entered the portal. Now that the money is out in the open, what value is there to a guy like Matt? Even if he didn't have the other baggage. He knew nothing about basketball. He was totally worthless during the season. His only value was when the transfer portal opened up after the season. And then his usefulness ended about 2 months later. Take that $400K and spread it among guys who are really good at scouting opponents, really good at spotting talent of potential recruits, and really good at player development. You didn't get any of that from Matt.

Well, the guy is wrong, first of all. He says Hoiberg only succeeded the first time around because he hit the portal before other people figured out how to hit the portal. Yeah, maybe, but he still had to coach those players up once he got them in the program. And I've been saying this and saying this and I don't care how many other teams also have NIL programs, but NIL and portal are the great equalizers for a program like ours. As long as we can sell prospects on the idea that they could come be part of a winner, we can get our foot in the door with the NIL checks our boosters are willing to write. When it comes to NIL money, we've got to be near the top. I think I saw somewhere that we're top 10 for NIL money. Like it or not, money talks. We can write as big of checks as anyone and bigger than most. Bigger than the vast majority. If we can just show some marginal improvement, some marginal success, we'll be a player when it comes to the portal. And that's because players won't take checks to be a great player on a terrible team. But they will look at the money if they think they could be on a competitive team AND get paid. The first three years probably don't matter as much now as they would have before NIL. If we can show progress THIS year AND slide a big check in front of transfer targets, we have a chance to upgrade our roster for next year in a meaningful way. The key is we have to show some reason for potential recruits to believe that we're on the upswing and that they won't become the only good player on a terrible team. Money isn't enough to overcome that.