Tom Jones

YES! Our starting lineup could have included two sophomores (Potts & Nisley), and two freshmen (Prince and Hargrove*) plus a graduating senior center. That might have looked really attractive to a big looking to transfer - think a Raegan Beers type - who might think "hmmm two sophs and two freshmen - all productive players - looking for someone to play in the middle ... I might fit in really well there". *Hargrove might have been #6 not a starter. That's a pleasant dream but I know I gotta accept the loss of Potts and move on.

yep, that's the conundrum... you have to have one or two to get to the point that you can attract the next ones. Similar to the old "you have to have experience to play and playing is how you get experience".. This is why losing Potts was so devastating - she came close to being that player - to being a Leigha Brown type. With her, I think we would could have finished in the conference top four, gone maybe even three rounds in the tournament, and gained the nat'l attention needed to further upgrade recruitment. Hopefully, we will have her next year, but, failing a portal acquisition, then we will not have the post player to go with her. AM, IMO, would be much more effective (less double teaming) with Potts a threat to drive along the baseline or to stay put and hit the 3. Sigh.

Agree 100% re Betts. And there is another example - Addison O'Grady at Iowa. Three and two years ago she was "tall and that's all". She was less effective on offense than was Kate Cain. Footwork did not put her in good shooting position and she seemed to lack "touch". Seeing her now ... looks like a different woman. Last game I saw for her she was something like 8 for 8 from the field and moved like a Gustafson. Just noticed ... O'Grady leads the conference in FG % at 67%!

I hope not, but i fear that BP .... (others too, but they have not known as much HS success) .... is about to experience something entirely foreign to her - being pretty much out of the game early in the 2nd quarter and then just watching it get worse and worse all around her. If I recall it right, she was offered by UCLA.

LongTimeFan said "I'm sure they work with Markowski taking shots around the basket all the time. She just doesn't have a good touch around the basket. I don't think you can teach touch. Her whole career has been that way. However without her we would have been in trouble and not won a lot of games ." What mystifies me is that she made a high % of those shots all thru high school. In her last game for state championship, she had a rotation of two or three girls taller than she but very thin (built like Coley) leaning/hanging/banging on her the entire game, collecting fouls, and she still scored around the rim.

main things I hope to see: 1) Markowski getting it into the hoop - we need 50% + for conference play; 2) Hargrove taking another step forward - playing with confidence; 3) ditto for Bozan; 4) Weidner making explosive penetration cuts to the rim; 5) ditto for Moriarty

I don't know what to think about Amy's turnstile substitutions. On the one hand I would like to see Rimdal play more. (She is an excellent shot maker from all three levels). But on the other hand, I would like to see more of Weidner, Hargrove and Bozan. And I don't know who I would want to see play less. This is just by far the deepest team I can ever remember having had here. I think Hargrove is going to be really really good. Markowski: I don't know what happened to her ability to get the ball to go thru the hoop. As a senior (without checking the stats), I think her percentage is lower than in her first three years. I don't understand her attempting the bank shot from 2-3 feet from the baseline vertically and 4-6 feet from the hoop horizontally. The angle is so oblique that It seems to me to be a very difficult shot and I can't remember other players even attempting it. Turnovers: Obviously Prince: keep shooting and more penetration drives. Weidner: I am really curious to see what others think of this ... Tho in limited quantity, I think we are now seeing something very close to the 2022 version. Could be wishful thinking.

damn Iowa!

Does this even still exist? I notice from the web site that there are no recent newsletters. Relatedly , is there any talk about an organized trip to California for the USC and UCLA games?

OK, I can name a player of the game - and with no default needed. Hake easily would win that award. 16 points on 50% shooting, 5 of 9 outside the arc, four rebounds, four assists, two steals, no turnovers and effective defense .... all in just over half the game time. Double the playing time, as tho she had played the entire game, and those are close to Caitlyn Clark numbers. I know it's not against quality competition, but that's the competition that was in the game. AM did not have a great game, but mostly just bc her shots from the near the hoop didn't go in. Season long she is shooting just over 50%. Yesterday she was three for twelve. If three more shots had gone in to make 50%, she would have scored 16 points, had 10 rebounds and two blocked shots. But they didn't go in so I agree - not a good game.

what's your guess?

I wonder and let's see ..... how much of what Potts took to the bench can Hargrove bring to the floor? I know it's a tall order for a freshman coming out of a small HS but dang i saw some of her play last year and she looked more than a little like Jordan Hooper. Maybe she can be to 2024 a little bit what Potts was to 2023 bc we need more than what the others can bring.

Whoop said "way early, but, have watched two iowa games. they look pretty darn good" Yeah. Sadly, I say, "yeah". I thought that losing to Iowa might be over for a while. They lost so much from last year - not just CC but all the Ms - and the Huskers, I thought, might have best team ever. Then Iowa added one of the very best players available from the portal and the Huskers lost their best player. I have watched two Iowa games and they look great. Playing them would be a toss up WITH Potts - without her I fear we are in for more losses to Iowa. Oh, how I hope to be wrong.

yes, and i figured it would be Nissley, but she seemed to disappear. We also needed interior defense. Yes, the threes hurt us, but all those uncontested under the basket scores kept CU in the game in the first half. Without 22 these Huskers will be, in the conference season, a a very average team. 50% might be a challenge. Potts may well end up with a fifth year, but with not having her and LM on the same team we lose the opportunity to be really really good and maybe a top 3 finish. Glad to see the faster and quicker version of AW and BP is getting better all the time. On a couple plays, CU didn't defend her any better than did her high school opponents. Several of us said we hoped that we would get a mobile big from the portal. And tho Bozan was a nice surprise, we didn't. We now lack such a player and thus, like so many past teams, we are one card short of a winning hand.

" Is it still early enough in the season that she could qualify for a medical redshirt for this season and then come back next year with 3 seasons of eligibility with NU? Apologies if that’s been discussed on here already." I tried to find out, but so many of the sites reached by my query skirted around the question - often confusing "redshirt" with "medical redshirt". I THINK the answer is that a medical redshirt can be awarded if the player has not played in more than 30% of the "permissible dates of competition". It's not clear to me if or if not this includes post regular season games, but since the regular season is well under 30% complete, it would appear that NP can get a medical hardship and therefore a 5th year. That's good and bad. Good bc she would actually GAIN some playing time. Bad bc we all have to wait a year to enjoy watching her play - and bc she may want to get on with her post collegiate life in less than five years. And that might include pro ball. This is my reference https://stanford_ftp.sidearmsports.com/custompages/Compliance/RedshirtsandMedicalHardships.pdf

"so Petrie and Hargrove will be keys going forward." ..... So far I think I can see development/advancement in Petrie's play from last year. I really thought that Hargrove would adapt more quickly to D-1 play and perhaps she will but right now she doesn't seem able to contribute much. Her size and strength put her in a good position to contribute, but she needs to get confident and assert herself - as Hake as done. But i hope we don't wait a year for that to happen

UPDATE on AW-3. I notice from a better photo of the players on the bench saturday night the she appeared to have a nasty bruise on her left knee and upper shin. So hopefully her injury is on the outside of the knee compartment not the inside. Let's see what happens tonight.

i was at the Pentagon tonight. I wonder if anyone else notice what I think I saw. I KNOW I saw AW-3 playing w/o the knee brace. I THINK I saw a much faster and quicker and more mobile version of the AW-3 we have seen in the first three games. More of the acceleration boost we saw pre-injury. Anyone notice? BUT she played so few minutes - I am not sure if she even played in the second half. Gotta wonder I took a still shot of the bench on one of videos on X and blew it up . AW had a wrap on her left knee. Could have been an ice bag.

although Rimdal didn't start, she played more minutes than anyone else. I too was not all that impressed by either her video or her stats while at Florida, and am pleasantly surprised at her play so far. AW has the luxury of being able to choose from among four guards all of whom can be effective and to adjust playing time depending on the opponent and the flow of the game.

I am astonished. Except for one line on the Events list, today's LJS has no mention at all of UNL vs Southern tonight. We have a top 25 ranked team with some impressive personnel additions from last year who put on an entertaining show a few days ago - worked hard, showed grit, played with urgency and determination. LJS just blew off the next game. The team deserves better than to be ignored by the local media. Even though the next match is not until Thursday, 20% or so of the front page of the sports section is used for a story about volleyball. Could that have not waited until the Wednesday edition so as to free up space for a story about BB tonight?

Just watched Iowa DESTROY Va Tech 71-52. The post Clark era has begun, and there doesn't appear to be as much drop-off as I had hoped. Although she only scored 20, transfer Luci Olson looks like 85% of Kaitlyn Clark. The real star of Hawkeye show was Addison O'Grady who went a (no kidding!) 9 for 9 from the field and looked downright Gustafson like. Two years ago she had the size but none of the moves. Whoever does the coaching of the bigs at IU has turned her into a polished post player.

First, I don't recall having seen many opponent teams as quick and as fast all across the roster as was SELA yesterday. Huskers were consistently out quicked and outrun. Many rebounds were seemingly in the hands of a Husker before being swiped away by a pair of quick hands connected to a pair of really fast feet. Hake was a warrior out there, controlling the pace, getting the ball upcourt before opponents' quickness closed in on us, and getting the ball to teammates for open shots. Her defense was best yet. She doesn't seem to run out of gas. I loved the persistent urgency and intensity of the entire second half in trying to keep up with a team shooting such at such a high percentage - near 60% well into halftime. Potts: She said her summer work especially included improving her 3 point shot. Looks like mission accomplished so far. If she can keep that around the 35% level, she will have it all as an offensive threat. She can post up and score close in, and pull up and score at mid range, and she can drive and score and draw fouls. Add to that the ability to set up and score from beyond the arc and she will be even more of an opponent coaches' head ache. Rimdal: Fits right in. Looks as tho she has been playing in this system and with these teammates for years. Nissley: Fleet feet. Yaaay! Weidner: Effective, but not (yet I hope) 100%. Bozan: What a nice surprise! Several of us on here, myself included, were bemoaning the lack of having found, either thru recruiting or the portal, another big especially given that this is AM's last year. And then along came Petra. Interesting that so early in the season she got more minutes at important game moments than did Petrie. She could turn into a very potent scoring threat. As to her size - she and AM are both listed as 6-3. I thought I noticed this in the National Anthem lineup last game but didn't pay close enough attention. Yesterday I focused on it. She stands next to AM in that line and the top of AM's head looks to match up to the bridge of PB's nose They are not the same height.

Petrie → 9 PTS, 8 REB and she did this in only 15.5 minutes of playing time!

Multiple causes for sure. I will add another. I think that some middle and HS girls athletes- and probly more so their parents - decide against bb because of the physicality in today’s game. BB used to be called a non contact sport. But not any more. In some girls’ games the action under the basket is brutal. and floor fights are not all that unusual anymore. Girls can enjoy the athleticism in VB w/o getting beaten on