Jacob Padilla

8 hours ago, Chuck Taylor said:

Frankie Fidler in the portal.

 

https://www.verbalcommits.com/transfers

Both local high-majors may have their sights set higher at this point, but he's already drawing significant interest from outside the state. 

What I know of Bolis in high school: undersized center who missed his junior season with a serious injury but bounced back to have a good senior year. Bouncy, rebounded it well, blocked shots and finished at the rim but was very raw offensively. He was a 50% free-throw shooter, and looked like it too. Listed at 6'8" and 200 (so he's probably 6'7"). 

What's somewhat interesting is he's 10-28 (35.7%) from 3 this season at Southeast and is shooting and 65.3% from the free-throw line while leading Southeast in scoring. I did not see a Division I player at all in high school (and neither did coaches; he had GPAC and JUCO offers only) and I saw him play quite a bit during the summers, but I haven't watched a second of him this season and don't know how much he's improved.

It's pretty difficult for me to evaluate JUCO ball without watching a ton of it myself because there are so many levels and such a wide array of talent. You have D-I, D-II, NAIA and kids who wont play past JUCO all on the same rosters depending on what school you're talking about. 

As for Bashir, his twin brother Abdi is a freshman at Monmouth averaging 6.4 PPG and shooting 39.7% from 3 while doing virtually nothing else at all. They both left after their junior year to go to an academy or something, reclassified then went to different prep schools I think. They were intriguing while they were at Bryan (Abdi was further ahead from what I remember) but weren't particularly good players at that point. No idea how much better they've gotten.

On 2/28/2024 at 11:17 AM, millerhusker said:

For folks who have seen him play, can you shed some light on why people who are involved in Nebraska high school hoops aren’t nearly as high on him as people nationally are? Just watching his highlights (which of course don’t tell the whole story) his skillset looks to me like he’s equal parts Derrick Walker and Rienk Mast. Seems to be a perfect fit for Hoiberg’s offense. 

I guess that depends on who you're referring to and what those comments are. There are some locally who are very high on him.

If you want the critical breakdown, decision-making still has plenty of room for improvement, although it's tough to hold that against him too much considering the pieces around him at Bryan. He's pretty turnover-prone, both getting his dribble ripped when he tries to do too much and some bad passing. Takes some really tough shots at inopportune times. This may just be a strength thing that a college S&C program will solve, but he can struggle to finish around the basket with even a little bit of contact at times.

That being said, I've been impressed by the improvements he's made. He really did have a terrific season individually. The 3-point shot was more flashes than an actual weapon for him until this season (low 3s his first two seasons and didn't make many at all for MOKAN last summer), and this year he nearly doubled his attempts and still shot 40%. He's a very different player if the shot is for real, and it appears to be getting there. Good frame, long wing span, athletic enough. He can make some plays off the dribble, but we'll have to see how that translates to college. He rebounds it well, has some moves in the post and can make some impressive plays in transition. 

On 2/15/2024 at 9:48 AM, Norm Peterson said:

Serious question for anyone who wants to take a swing at it: What does Matar Diop have that Treyson Anderson lacks?

Diop is quite a bit bouncier. 

3 hours ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

Without knowing any more details such as competition level, would these numbers get anyone interested?

I put together a Twitter thread with video clips on him over the weekend. 

3 hours ago, basketballjones said:

Why do you always kill my buzz lol?

Can I just add... And this is just my opinion (also, please don't take anything I say as a "shot" towards AAU/Summer ball) - but I personally am growing a bit weary of your first sentence when it comes to evaluating D1 prospects. You're obviously not the first person to say that so I am not coming at you or anything. But summer/AAU ball is almost entirely about athleticism and individual ability. 

 

There are countless guys Nebraska continually gets beat/torched by over the years that I guarantee would not stand out in the summer circuit. But things really change when you get into actual competition. How do you play within a system? How do you play when teams are playing scouted, practiced, team defense vs prioritizing 1 on 1? How do you play when you're balancing a full course load, weights, individuals, film, and 3 hour daily grueling practices? 

 

FWIW, I am fully aware that AAU has greatly improved and these teams are very serious. But at the end of the day the slide is still heavily pushed towards "showcasing your individual talent" vs "team basketball."  But this is why I predicted, after the first time I saw them play in an actual game, that Chucky Hepburn would have a better college career than Hunter Sallis (Hunter's having a nice year this year, but I'd say it's pretty clear Chucy's had the better college career, and yes, Hunter is still the obvious better NBA prospect). 

 

You obviously can't have a team full of Marcus Glock's, I get that. But if I'm nebraska I'm keeping my eye on him for future transfer looks. 

I know you were joking with the first comment, but I think it's important to be honest and thorough with evaluations. There are too many people in this state who don't know what they're talking about filling kids' and their parents' heads with unrealistic expectations which in turns only hurts the kids' recruiting. There's a reason I watch as many games as I do (both high school and AAU) and try to keep my own box score whenever possible to get a true feel for what players are capable of over a larger sample size. When coaches ask me for feedback, I want to be able to provide something of substance. 

On Marcus specifically, he can really, really shoot the ball, and his summer team ran a ton of actions to get him free for looks (it wasn't just pick-up ball). He just struggled to make a real impact in any other phase of the game. The length and athleticism he went against gave him real problems trying to create anything for himself or teammates inside the arc consistently, he wasn't really a factor on the glass and he ran into some tough matchups on defense.

Northwest Missouri State is arguably the best Division II program in the country, probably better than many low-majors. It's a good place for him to develop and prove himself. He's improved even since the summer for sure and will probably continue to do so because he's a hard worker. I'm excited to see his college career play out.

Mostly, I'm just interested in kids landing in a good situation where they can develop. You can find good hoops at every level of college.

As for the HS vs. AAU in general, they're both important and you have to understand what you're looking at with each. I'd argue shoe circuit and elite prep school basketball will tell you a lot more about what might translate to high-major D1 basketball than C1 games in Nebraska or whatever because talent and physical tools really do matter. For every Keisei type you find who overcomes physical limitations I think there are probably far more players that it doesn't work out for. But those outliers do exist for sure. 

I coached against him last summer. Tough matchup. 

The perimeter skill hasn't really developed at all (14% 3FG, 59% FT for his career at LPX) and he'd be a bit undersized at the five spot at the Big Ten level. He's having a terrific season, but he's also not going up against a ton of guys his size or bigger like he will in college.

I don't think Nebraska missed on Josiah. Taking the path he did helped him become the player he is now. There's nothing wrong with developing at a mid-major and then potentially earning on opportunity to transfer up and test yourself later on; that can often work out better than heading to a high-major out of high school and potentially getting stuck on the bench.

On 2/2/2024 at 1:33 PM, basketballjones said:

Are we 100% sure Marcus Glock is not a D1 guy? 6’4”, decent athlete, lefty, has gotten a lot stronger. But most importantly, just a pure sniper. Has some limitations athletically as a D1 guy for sure… but…. Idk man…

 

@Jacob Padilla

I watched him play all summer against higher-level athletes than he sees playing for Wahoo (and was also there for his 54-point game). I think Northwest Missouri State is a good fit for him. 

If you want to get ready for Maryland by looking back at Ohio State, I put together a Twitter thread on Rienk Mast's 34-point game against the Buckeyes.

I put together a Synergy breakdown of Wilcher and his recent hot streak in case anybody is interested.

https://hurrdatsports.com/nebraska-mens-basketball/red-hot-c-j-wilcher-sparking-nebraskas-offense/

Put together some summer highlights and my thoughts on them for both Frager and Janowski if anybody is interested.

https://hurrdatsports.com/nebraska-mens-basketball/nebraska-recruiting-breaking-down-fred-hoibergs-2024-signing-class/

16 hours ago, Cornbread21 said:

@Jacob Padilla Off topic but is there anywhere to access the husker player profiles you did for Hail Varsity? I found those super intriguing, and you were able to use clips from Second Spectrum that many don’t have access to. I was going to look back at some of those because they were super informative. 

Unfortunately, with the changes at work and Hail Varsity content being incorporated into the Hurrdat Sports website, the old HV site is gone and they didn't bring the full archives over to the new site. I believe I still have the text and the clips saved, so I could theoretically republish so they still exist, but I haven't gotten around to doing so.

3 hours ago, Vinny said:

I don't know enough about Creighton's roster over the last few years to know why those players redshirted, who was in front of them, what injuries they were working through, if they needed time in the weight room etc. I pay attention to that program for about two or three days a year, like most of our opponents. My guess would be McDermott determined they wouldn't be in a position to help the team win at that time. 

 

Which is what I would call meaningful minutes.  Minutes when the outcome is yet to be determined.  If a player brings something to the table to help you win, you have to play them.  For the Huskers this year, I'm thinking the most about Matar. If Blaise isn't going to get right and be able to play, meaningful minutes will be there for Matar.  If the coaches think him getting minutes at the 4/5 when we're in foul trouble is better than say, sticking Brice down there, I don't think you should redshirt him.  I'm of the opinion that you can learn how to set a screen in practice and still play in the games.  

It's been a mix of strength and conditioning, skill level and veteran guys ahead of them that have led to the determination that they'd get more out of redshirting. 

Since Diop is the one who started this discussion, if the Florida A&M game is what it's going to look like for him (not playing until the very end and struggling in those minutes), then I think there's an argument to be made he would be better served redshirting. If they think he'll progress enough to give them actual rotation minutes, then you play him. My response was more to the second half of your original statement because it's in line with a common thought I've seen here that redshirting is a thing of the past and you shouldn't do it anymore. That I disagree with.

On 11/11/2023 at 8:22 PM, Vinny said:

I don’t see why you’d redshirt anyone who can give you any meaningful minutes. Players have more freedom to leave than ever. Using redshirts for development is basically doing work someone else will reap the benefits of.

I guess I'm wondering what qualifies as "meaningful." Why you would redshirt someone depends entirely on the player in question, his relationship with the coaches and the state of the roster/program. There is still value to a redshirt if everyone is on the same page and you have a good plan, and doing what's best for the player is still part of being a good college coach in my mind. Creighton has redshirted scholarship players three years in a row. Mason Miller is now starting and Jasen Green was competing for minutes before getting hurt. They have two scholarship freshmen redshirting now who were late adds taken as developmental prospects to fill the last couple of schollies. Their other freshman in Dotzler was on track to redshirt before making strides over the past few weeks, though it appears he's the 9th man and they may only go 8-deep in competitive games early.

1 hour ago, busticket said:

The one thing I would add is Creighton seems less hectic (back to the OP) because McDermott is okay with guys taking shots they aren’t good at.  If you are a crappy three point shooter, he’ll give you that shot and dare you to make it.  I do like that we force midrange baseline shots but I also agree with letting crappy shooters shoot versus scrambling just because.  I wonder if  our coaches are trying to build the defensive intensity in our kids so they have them going full bore all the time?

Yeah, Creighton is 100% a scouting report defense where each game plan is tailored the opponent based on good shooters and poor ones. Nebraska looks to be playing the same way regardless of opponent. If this is the way they're going to play in conference, it makes sense to just work on it now even if they can win these games playing straight up. Try to get the rotations locked down and make it second nature. 

1 hour ago, basketballjones said:

It's not sort of, it definitely is no middle, force baseline. 

 

It is, at its core, a match-up zone. They're essentially in a 2-3 and they pass off/switch screening actions (hence why I would slip/back-cut everything). But when the ball gets slotted and over, they're full forcing baseline and not allowing middle. They're kind of "icing" everything, in a way. 

 

My biggest beef is why they force themselves into rotations/scrambles before they have to. I think they can accomplish everything they want without doing that - just my opinion. 

I think you've described it pretty well, and I also am not a huge fan of that concept in general. I think where they're coming from is if you look at the roster, there isn't a ton of lateral quickness or strong one-on-one defenders, especially when you're playing 2 or 3 of Tominaga, Williams, Wilcher and Coleman together. They'd probably struggle to stay in front in a more conservative scheme, and I think they'd have a tough time closing out under control to shooters out of traditional help positions. They also don't have a traditional rim protector (like Creighton with Kalkbrenner; they also chase guys off the line and funnel ball-handlers into mid-range shots or to Kalkbrenner at the rim, but they're less hectic in the way they do it because they have a two-time DPOY on the back line). So they try to offset that by flying around and speeding teams up. That works against bad teams and will catch some others off guard, but I think back to the game at Michigan State last year - it seemed like they know exactly what to expect and picked them apart. 

On 11/6/2023 at 11:02 PM, Faux Mike Peltz said:

JL had a couple of nice threes but also missed a couple of layups that he would’ve made last year. I agree with a previous commenter- it did appear he was pressing a bit. But he will be fine.

Lawrence actually only shot 50% at the rim last year which is pretty poor, and that showed up on film. He's not terribly explosive athletically, and touch around the rim has looked to be a problem as well. That's definitely an area in which he needs to improve if he's going to be the player Nebraska fans think he can be.

Notice who isn't in any of these clips (until the very end where he looks to be moving awkwardly).

38 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Fred and his staff have worked very hard to show they value the in-state kids in the last few years. They’re making huge progress and the talent is starting to blossom.

 In-state recruiting became a priority for Loenser as soon as he started recruiting post-Abdelmassih. 

I think you can probably pencil Tominaga, Lawrence and Williams in as close to 40% guys. 

Less confident about Mast, Coleman, Wilcher and Allick. They're the swing guys. We've all seen what Wilcher has been; hard to predict what he'll be this season because of it. 

Mast has been low-volume; there's really not a whole lot separating 35% from 28% when you're taking 2-3 per game (see Mast's three seasons a Bradley). He really needs his feet set to shoot a good percentage from what I saw when I did my film study, which limits his versatility and effectiveness as a shooter. Allick is similar in that he's shown the ability to hit 3s at a decent rate, but it's been low volume and in only two of his four seasons.

Coleman's shooting has been all over the place throughout his career (including 30% during his only high-major season to date), and in the film I watched from last year he missed a lot of good looks but also knocked in some really tough ones. Overall, I would have liked to see more of his shots go in than I did based on the kind of player he is.

I'll believe it when I see it on Gary (didn't love what I saw in the 20 minutes of practice warm-up we got to see). 

He's Jordy's brother.

Talking with a Summit League coach recently (not UNO), he'd be a no-brainer for them. They just haven't offered yet because they're gauging his level; don't want to put too much into recruiting him if he's going to end up as a sure high-major kid. That's where he's at right now — D-I for sure, but what level remains to be seen. Ball-handling and athleticism would be the concerns, but he may still get to true wing size (his brother is 6'7" and played baseball at UNO).

Noah Boyed and A'mare Bynum are visiting Saturday. They won' be there tonight, unless something has changed.

The biggest weakness I see is dynamic on-ball creation. There isn't really anybody on the roster who is adept at beating his man off the dribble to create an advantage for himself or collapse a defense and get a teammate open reliably. There isn't really a plus athlete in the backcourt, and that will be a problem on defense as well. There's only so much scheming you can do; eventually your guys just have to win in key moments.