HUD

What about Grace Mitchell?

I'm quite sure that with all the medical personnel including trainers on staff they will make the right decision on playing her and how much.

Even though it wasn't for the championship, what a way for a team to finish.

Just to clarify I was talking about Kathleen Doyle in the previous post.

With the population size of Illinois, just to be in the conversation as a potential as player of the year is quite a compliment.

Sorry HB but I have to take exception that we couldn't win without Shepard and Blackburn. Even though neither of them had much of a game against Rutgers we could have or should have won the game. We still have 3 healthy forwards.

I was visiting my daughter in Salina today so took in the aforementioned game. Close game and Grace had her usual 20 ptrs. She can shoot from the outside but also drove to the hoop well. Some one previously discussed Grace's team mate 6'1" junior Lauryn Snipes as having a lot of potential. She looked to me to be the real deal as she was the glue that held their team together. Good ball handler and defender as well. Very athletic. She will generate a lot of interest next year.

Does anybody know if the Huskers are still Practicing?

I think that the success of the class of 2016 as noted in previous posts will have as big of an impact as to where our program is going as any class since the 2012 one. I think Coach Yori has potentially one of her best. I think a couple of the new coaches found at least a couple of the recruits. Hopefully they have figured out what we need to be an upper level team in the B10.

With the ongoing improvement of Romeo, Cincore and Simon I would look for C. Yori to possibly redshirt one or two of the freshmen. that would be a luxury that we haven't had much in the past. That would also help level things out. Of course if we continue with the injury bug that could be a different story.

I still think Coach Yori plays some people too long in the games making the aforementioned even worse. Besides depth isn't developed. Why do you put all your cards at point guard on two players coming off major knee and ankle surgeries when neither one is going to be here next year anyway. Puzzling to me.

The injury thing has me bewildered. According to my recall the only players not suffering one this year were Anya and Woody.

We can cut through the chase and admit that when you give the opponents 16 more shots then we get we are probably going to get beat. That has been our nemesis all year long. We have way too many unforced turnovers and give up a lot of offensive rebounds. I predicted a win if we could stay at 10 or less turn overs. We had 14.

I listened to the Ok. St. / K. St. game the other night which was won by O.St. K.S. plays a really slow down boring type of BB. I'll take our offense any day. The slower pace fits Kaylee Page much better then the type of offense we run. At this point we don't miss her.

I went back and watched the 10 point loss to them in their place from the end of Jan. We jumped out to a 12 point first qtr lead that they reduced in the 2nd qtr. It was tied up at the end of the 3rd qtr and we just ran out of gas in the 4th. That was the game that the starters Theriot, Havers, Shepard, Clark and Romeo basically played the whole game. Only subs were Kalenta and Cincore for 4 minutes each (0 pts). Theriot had a decent game and Romeo and Shepard played very well except for 5 turnovers by Shepard. Havers and Clark had really rough games. I counted at least 12 unforced turnovers. Primarily poor passes and traveling. Also Coach Yori admitted in post game that she should have subbed more. Keep our turnovers under 10 and I see a win on Thursday! GBR!

That's been my complaint for years as well. It even happens to the women's VB team at times and they are a regular top 5 team. I have been a sports fan all my life and prefer watching women's bb over men's. Call me crazy but they just don't have the ego problem as much.

Just announced J.S. is Freshman of the year. Also all Big Ten by by coaches and media.

The win last night was one of those team unifying feel good moments. I like where we are at. The Rutgers game looks like a 50/50 for us but more practice time with the dose of confidence we picked up will pay off. We just need to be competitive and make the WNIT where we will get quite a bit of additional practice time. Should give the returning players and coaches a good look at what we need to do during the off season. Team chemistry will be very important. You can already see N. Romeo becoming the big leader going forward. She is showing her complete game and inspiring those around her which is great for a sophomore.

I agree on the lazy pass aspect. Part of the blame on some of them lies with the person for whom the passes were intended. In those cases where they are facing the pass if they would move toward the passer I think some of them would have been caught or the defensive person called for a foul.

Natalie's drives to the hoop reminds me of the L. Moore days.

In her post game interview coach Yori noted that Maddie spends more time in the gym outside of practice then anybody on the team. She said that when someone like that has a good game it's a reward for the extra work.

y Sam McKewon / World-Herald staff writer LINCOLN — Rachel Theriot sits just outside the interview room of Pinnacle Bank Arena. Her hands fiddle with a red foam stick that Nebraska women’s basketball fans wave during games. Her team has just lost badly to Purdue, in part because Theriot didn’t play, because the shooting pain below her left ankle was too severe. “Running’s fine,” Theriot said. “Walking’s fine. Going in different directions? No.” Hours earlier, the senior leaned against a railing in the arena during warm-ups, distraught over not being able to play while coach Connie Yori patted her gently on the back. With a three-game homestand, NU had to win all three games to firm up its NCAA tournament résumé. Without Theriot, the Huskers are 0-2 in that homestand and rudderless on offense. So a lengthy interview occurs at a low moment for one of the best passers in Husker history, and at perhaps an odd time for Theriot to reminisce about her four-year career. Theriot, who sees on a basketball court so well that her coach thinks she’s two or three steps ahead of the action, can’t easily see, on this padded chair in an empty hallway, just how good her career has been. The painful present, in these quiet minutes, blots out the past. “I haven’t had the greatest four years basketball-wise,” Theriot said, meaning it. This from a four-year starter. A Big Ten tournament MVP. A two-time All-Big Ten player. An honorable mention All-American in 2014. A player with a career nearly every Husker would love to have. Still ... “It’s hard,” she said. “You know how you can be — and what you’re capable of — and sometimes an injury like this, you have restrictions. You’re limited. It’s hard to get past that point where, you know you can’t do things you used to do. It’s one of the hardest things. The simple stuff — going up and shooting — doesn’t feel like it used to. Or stopping and going. It may seem little, but it’s a big deal.” Because of the pain — which Theriot said stems from the bones in her feet being “structured differently” — she hasn’t practiced in more than a month, a situation that Yori calls awkward. If Theriot weren’t a senior, and weren’t so smart, she probably wouldn’t have played at all. And, for the last two games, she hasn’t. Theriot shut it down last Sunday. The coaches shut it down on Wednesday in a loss to Indiana. Now, Theriot has one last home game. Sunday. Senior day. Northwestern. She wants to play. Her foot has to let her. Will it? “We’ll see,” Yori said, adding that NU’s trainer has to sign off on Theriot playing. “It’d be a shame if Rachel couldn’t play.” As good as Theriot has been over her career — she’s easily passed the 1,000-point career mark, she’ll finish third in career assists, and she has a school-record 12 games with double-digit assists — these lingering injuries have even vexed Yori to some small degree. Theriot has been healthy for only one season — her sophomore campaign, when she averaged 14.1 points and 7.1 assists and won that tournament MVP award. The 6-footer from Middleburg Heights, Ohio, was slowed for most of her freshman season. She tore up the ankle halfway through her junior year. And she’s been off her game this season, especially since Big Ten play started. “You just always wonder what she could have done if she wasn’t injured throughout her career,” Yori said. “Where would she fit into some of the best players in the history of our program? Unfortunately, she got bit by the injury bug and was never fully able to shake that.” Theriot’s senior campaign, Yori said, “hasn’t been what any of us wanted,” Theriot included. “Shots in the past where you’d say, ‘That’s pretty much money,’ those shots weren’t going in at the same rate this year,” Yori said. “She couldn’t go game speed in practice situations. She could do some light shooting, but not game speed — as you’d like it to be.” Last season, NU still made the NCAA tournament after Theriot got hurt because of four seasoned seniors. This year, Theriot became the most experienced player on the roster, and, implicitly, she was called on to be a leader of many sophomores and freshmen. But rehab from the ankle injury kept Theriot on the sideline for a summer trip to Australia. She went on the trip but she didn’t play. And Theriot, a true introvert, doesn’t see herself as a vocal leader. She’s plenty insightful — in a one-on-one setting. In larger groups, she relies on her craft, her skills, her knowledge of the game. Not her voice. So trying to lead several freshmen, she said, was “very tough.” “It’s a lot of pressure, when you’re holding everything together,” she said. The role felt unnatural to her. “But, at that point, what do you do? You try to aim to please,” she continued. “I do a lot of my work on the court. I’m not going to come at someone, yell in their face and say, ‘Hey, you do this and that.’ I’m more of a teaching person, more than I will demand it or yell at you.” As Yori puts it, her senior guard is “not afraid of her own shadow anymore, but she might be afraid of other people’s shadows.” “She’s still pretty quiet and reserved,” the coach said. “She isn’t a rah-rah leader. But she’s someone who, early on, could not step in front of a group and speak without feeling very anxious about it, and now she’s capable of doing that and willing to do that.” Foot injuries haven’t limited Theriot’s mind for the game one bit. She has every pass in her arsenal. Her best might be a deft drop-off when a post darts for the basket after a pick. It’s not fancy, but what makes it special is where Theriot leaves the ball — right where freshman center Jessica Shepard can catch and shoot in one motion. Shepard is a lock for Big Ten freshman of the year. She might be the top freshman in college basketball. But in the first game Theriot missed, Shepard had two points. Theriot’s basketball IQ “is off the charts,” Yori said. “She sees three steps ahead of the play, and most players are lucky if they can see one step ahead of the play. And some players play from behind. Rachel always sees what’s in front of her.” Said Theriot: “I get more joy out of getting my teammates involved and seeing them succeed — especially now that I’m injured and can’t do as much as I think I can. Sometimes it’s good to be selfish — and sometimes it’s good not to be.” Which is why, when plugged again for a favorite memory, Theriot picks the 2014 Big Ten tournament. She had 18 assists in a quarterfinal game against Minnesota. The Huskers won the Big Ten tournament title, and, for three nights, Theriot was the best player in the league. Nebraska sent off senior Jordan Hooper as the hero that Theriot thought Hooper was. That Nebraska team was effortless on offense — it could score from anywhere — and Theriot set NU’s season record for assists with 234. She was unselfish in a way that allowed everybody to win big. She’d like for her feet to let her play one last game at Pinnacle Bank Arena. And she’d like to play for years to come. Theriot wants to pursue pro basketball — stateside, overseas, wherever she can. She smiles at the thought of that. “I don’t want to get a job yet,” she said. “C’mon now. Who wants that? Play the sport you love, right? It means that you’re really not even doing a job. You are, but it doesn’t seem like it.” Contact the writer: 402-219-3790, [email protected], twitter.com/swmckewonOWH Share<a class="map16" '=")%>','','','');" title="Show on Map" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); line-height: initial;"> Print Ben Stille signs with Nebraska Omaha World-Herald BRT Player Breakdown: Tristan Gebbia Omaha World-Herald Big Red Bash Omaha World-Herald Sam McKewon, Jon Nyatawa discuss signing day at Nebraska Omaha World-Herald Mike Riley talks signing day Omaha World-Herald Offensive lineman John Raridon signs with Nebraska Omaha World-Herald Ben Stille signs with Nebraska Omaha World-Herald BRT Player Breakdown: Tristan Gebbia Omaha World-He Mike Riley talks signing day Offensive lineman John Raridon signs with Nebraska Ben Stille signs with Nebraska BRT Player Breakdown: Tristan Gebbia Big Red Bash Sam McKewon, Jon Nyatawa discuss signing day at Nebraska Mike Riley talks signing day Offensive lineman John Raridon signs with Nebraska Ben Stille signs with Nebraska BRT Player Breakdown: Tristan Gebbia Big Red Bash Sam McKewon, Jon Nyatawa discuss signing day at Nebra

Update on Mitchell and Wellington KS GBB. 2. Mitchell, Wellington girls look to break 3-point accuracy record One major theme this season has been multiple 3-point records falling. St. John’s-Tipton’s Davis Dubbert sunk 11 straight earlier this season to break the boys’ mark for consecutive treys made. On Feb. 12, Argonia freshman Baylee Booker went 8 of 8 from 3-point range for 26 points in a victory against Flinthills. It set the girls’ record for consecutive treys without a miss in one game. Now, Wellington girls, headlined by Nebraska signee Grace Mitchell, has an opportunity to easily break the team record for 3-point accuracy. Wellington, 18-0 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A-I, has sunk 108 of 238 3-pointers, good for 45 percent. The state record is 40.2 percent (49 of 122) set by Frontenac in 2002 Mitchell averages 21.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and has made 61 of 121 3-pointers, good for 50 percent. She’s made 58 percent of her 2-pointers, but has made just 42 of 78 foul shots, for 54 percent.

I agree with a lot of the previous post. I just don't know why we have to go through cycles and not just have 3 to 4 good recruits per year with an occasional redshirt given out here and there. It's pretty obvious that our recruiting for the 2012 and 2013 seasons wasn't very good outside of Theriot and Havers. People will say we would have had better classes if some of the players wouldn't have left but that's one of the keys to recruiting. You have to get players who will fit our culture and want to work hard for playing time.

The biggest adjustment for freshmen is in playing defense. Of all the players we miss from last year I would put Hallie Sample at the top of the list. We just don't have that person this year. She would often guard the other teams best scoring threat whether it was a guard or fwd. Hopefully Nicea Eliely will eventually fill that role. The league has too many top caliber scorers especially at guard to not have someone that can slow them down.