Jacob Padilla

Worth noting that the best team Kevin Cross has played this year is KP No. 85 Nevada, and he had 5 points and 4 fouls in 14 minutes in that one. Otherwise he's beat up on some pretty not good teams. He was terrible his sophomore year at Tulane then made a big leap last year, improving his efficiency inside the arc (though he still can't shoot). He averaged 13.7 PPG on a .484 eFG%, 7.7 RPG and 3.3 APG in AAC play, but he didn't play any teams from the Power 6. Which is why averages minus context don't really tell the story. Putting up numbers in the Summit is different than putting up numbers in the AAC, and putting up numbers in the AAC is different than doing so in the Big Ten. Finding the level at which you belong is an important part of having a successful college career. I think Kevin has done that, just like Charlie Easley has. We're seeing that Scheierman and Griesel both CAN translate to the high-major level after 3-4 years of development. I am curious what their careers would have looked like had they gone to Nebraska or Creighton straight out of high school.

Josiah Dotzler looks like the only high-major kid in the 2023 class. The 2024 class is filled with really good high school players, but a lot of them lack the physical tools to be safe bets to translate to high-major college basketball. Treyson Anderson, a 6'9" stretch big at Lincoln Pius X, is the only player in the class who currently holds a D-I offer (South Dakota State). Jaden Jackson (Bellevue West), CJ Mitchell (Omaha Westside), Elijah Gaeth (Millard North), Will Cooper (Millard South), Marcus Glock (Wahoo) and Neal Mosser (Millard North) are all guys D-I schools are watching, but they all have a long way to go. In 2025, I wouldn't expect Nebraska to get involved with Chuck Love (for reasons you can probably guess). A'mare Bynum, a 6'7" forward from Omaha Bryan, is the guy to keep an eye on. He played for MOKAN with Chuck this past summer and is the son of former Iowa State hooper Omar Bynum. Long arms and can shoot it a bit.

TheGov21 is correct.

You can focus on defense while still pushing the pace strategically. If Nebraska is going to struggle in the halfcourt offensively, they're going to need to steal some easy points wherever they can, and trying to beat the defense down the floor is one way to do that. I think Griesel has done a good job of slowing the tempo down when the situation calls for it. I'm not convinced Nebraska has the personnel to be good enough on defense to consistently hold teams in the upper 50s or lower 60s; they're going to have to find a way to generate points. What they can't do is force shots early in possessions and force tempo that way (which they're not; KenPom has them 255th in average possession length through two games).

The pre-game talk was all about St. John's pressure, but it's worth pointing out that Nebraska is forcing turnovers at a higher rate than St. John's does. The Johnnies are a little above average in that area after being 33rd last year. They have, however, been shooting the ball at an outlier level for them to this point. Their offense has been better than their defense to this point against low-level competition.

C.J. said he was cramping.

Hoiberg said he "jammed" his shoulder. He wraps/tapes it every practice/game, so apparently it's something that has been bothering him and he must have hit it the wrong way. Hoiberg said he could have gone back in if he needed to but with the lead they had, they decided to hold him out.

Sounds like Omaha will get Kennedy Brown, the 6-foot-9 JUCO transfer I mentioned, back tonight.

It caught me by surprise, though I wasn't exactly digging around asking about it. Seems like it was a choice made shortly before the season started. He was probably No. 10 in a 9-man rotation at the end of the preseason. I can't speak to his health situation. I thought there was a chance for him to crack that rotation if Tominaga doesn't take a step forward from where he was last year, or perhaps if the Bandoumel as back-up point guard thing didn't work out. But like Matt said, the most likely path to pulling that redshirt would be an injury to one of Griesel or Bandoumel.

Brougham, their starting center, is listed at 6'9" and 195 pounds, and he doesn't shoot the ball (just 5 3s all last season). Jungers (6'9", 210) is currently their back-up center, and he's definitely a stretch-big. They might have played a little small ball with Marquel Sutton (6'7", 205, bouncy) at the five. Their 6'10", 250-pound freshman has been out and their 6'9" JUCO forward also missed the Kansas game.

If you didn't see Hoiberg's Zoom press conference today, here's what he had to say on Ramel.

Jungers has made a huge leap over the past 10 months or so. He was really good down the stretch of his senior season and then the upgraded strength and conditioning program at Omaha helped him immensely this summer. You probably weren't wrong in your evaluation at the time.

Presser isn't until Friday (if you didn't already figure that out). Think they're trying to avoid double-booking with football.

I tracked lineups through the first 35 minutes against Chadron State (the last 5 belonged to the deep bench, obviously). There were 14 different units used during those 35 minutes. Lot of experimentation. Here are the groups the shared the court for at least 2 minutes of game time: Starting five: 12:38, -5 Griesel-Tominaga-Dawson-Gary-Keita: 4:48, +3 Griesel-Bandoumel-Wilcher-Gary-Walker: 2:38, +2 Griesel-Tominaga-Bandoumel-Gary-Keita: 2:34, +5 Bandoumel-Tominaga-Wilcher-Gary-Walker: 2:23, +4 Griesel-Wilcher-Dawson-Gary-Keita: 2:22, +7 Wrote about some of the things I noticed in the second half of this: https://hailvarsity.com/football/padding-the-stats-on-trey-palmers-prowess-and-fred-hoibergs-rotation/

Don't hold your breath. Keita averaged 0.6 blocks last season. He was a bit better his first year at 1.6, and he does a good job of staying vertical around the basket, but he's just not an explosive player in any way. You need more than height to be a good shot-blocker at the college level. Between Walker and Keita, expect to see a lot of charge attempts because they are much better at positioning than they are getting off the ground and swatting shots.

That's why I included the eFG% percentage as well. You do well in both, you probably know what you're doing out there. Cam and Alonzo were both pretty dynamic passers when they wanted to be, but they occasionally (probably too often) tried something that had a very small chance of succeeding. Sam's assist percentage is lower than the others, so it's not quite a 1:1 comparison with the other three, but here are the respective turnover percentages for each: Griesel: 13.7 Verge: 19.6 Banton: 20.4 Mack: 17.3 Also, the areas where Mack's and Verge's low IQs most showed up were shot selection (which is reflected in their scoring efficiency) and simply dribbling the ball too much (not really a stat for that one). Also, the defense like I mentioned before. So much getting lost on defense.

Nothing definitive here, but I pulled assist-to-turnover ratio and effective field goal percentage for each of the starting backcourts during Hoiberg's time in Lincoln. Other factors certainly are involved, but I think both of those statistics reflect decision-making/IQ to a certain degree. Of course, Big Ten vs. AAC/Summit factors in here as well. Griesel: 1.73 AST/TOV ratio, .525 eFG% Bandoumel: 1.38 AST/TOV ratio, .472 eFG% Verge: 1.63 AST/TOV ratio, .480 eFG% McGowens: 1.00 AST/TOV ratio, .449 eFG% Banton: 1.57 AST/TOV ratio, .495 eFG% McGowens: 1.02 AST/TOV ratio, .451 eFG% Mack: 2.42 AST/TOV ratio, .475 eFG% Burke: 0.86 AST/TOV ratio, .465 eFG% Of course, these are offensive numbers and in no way reflect defensive IQ. I think Griesel continued to improve as a decision-maker throughout his career, especially considering he switched to point guard mid-way through. His coaches and teammates have certainly been impressed with the IQ he's shown to this point from everything we've heard. Bandoumel I think is much more of a gunner than a high-IQ guy, but his feel on the defensive end seems to be significantly better than some of the guys who have started recently. The way they did it is different, but I kind of view Bandoumel as a McGowens replacement - they seem to have similar strengths and weaknesses (though Bandoumel is a volume shooter and probably a better passer than Trey).

I did not see that at all on his tape. I'm pretty skeptical of him as a primary initiator. He's a decent passer who makes good pick-and-roll reads, but he struggles mightily to score with the ball in his hands. This is from the film study I did on him that I previously linked elsewhere on this board (https://hailvarsity.com/basketball/nebrasketball-film-study-emmanuel-bandoumel/).

The answer probably needs to be Griesel for this team to have a chance at success. We don't know exactly how his game will translate to the Big Ten (he made a huge leap last season, but didn't get a chance to test his improved game against any high-major teams), but he's the most well-rounded player on the team. I think Nebraska is really going to struggle if Bandoumel has a better season than Griesel. Sam isn't just a token culture guy.

I asked Fred in Minneapolis about the rotation, and as part of his answer he said unprompted that Denim Dawson is a guy he hasn't talked about enough, saying he knows what he's going to get from him every single time (and the strengths he described certainly fall in line with the offseason talking points of defense, toughness, grit, etc.). Then we get this line from Thursday's availability: "Then guys like Juwan, and guys like Blaise, Denim, off the bench who give us a size and physicality..." (Part of a long answer responding to a question about how things are looking on the court in terms of chemistry and adopting the defensive and rebounding mindset he's talked about.) Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but it sounds like Dawson might actually be in the rotation to open the season. If those three (Gary, Keita, Dawson) play off the bench, then you're looking at maybe one rotation spot for the guard group of Tominaga, Lloyd, Lawrence and Jacobsen.

“For last year’s team, I think we kind of just walked out every game thinking we were going to win and we let our hype get to us more than anything, because we were a talented group and we had some really good players. So I just thought everyone was going to go out and rely on those talents and we were just going to win instead of having to actually work the game for the full 40. Just having all that talent on the team and so many egos and stuff like that, we just didn’t get the outcome that we wanted.”

Fred talked a lot more than the brief stint in front of the BTN cameras. We have videos from Amy Williams and her players on our YouTube channel as well for those interested.

Some schools have student broadcasters, others don't. Nebraska didn't last year. Looks like he's essentially replacing Buzzy Caruthers as the color commentator on the B1G+ broadcasts.

That seems to be the plan, at least to a certain degree, based on the things Hoiberg said after hiring Adam Howard. We'll have to wait until the games start to see how much and which zones they use. It's definitely a tactic worth considering with the current make-up of the roster, like you said.

He only played 10 games and took 39 total shots before he got hurt, which is way too small of a sample size to draw any meaningful conclusions. He was also a true freshman. Like I said, he has to play a lot better than he did last year, but I don't think we got to see much of the kind of player Hoiberg thinks he can be. He was 3-6 on pick-and-pop 3s (and 0-for on every other kind of 3); again, too small of a sample size, but it's all we have. I watched all of his Mater Dei games that I could find on YouTube and he didn't actually take that many 3s for them compared to the way Hoiberg has raved about his shooting ability, which is why I thought it might take him a bit of time to grow into that shooting big role. Hopefully he got plenty of shots up this offseason. Gary's a tough guy to figure out in terms of how he fits with this team offensively. Griesel and Walker are probably the team's best players, and they both do their best work inside of 15 feet, as do Gary and Keita. Perhaps his cutting is something thy can utilize while playing though Walker or Griesel in the middle of the floor, but I worry about teams just not guarding him on the perimeter and always having an extra body crowding the paint. Hoiberg has never quite managed to put a lineup out there that can consistently space the floor, which has made life very difficult for their best players. Breidenbach has the best chance of their forwards/centers at hitting shots and forcing defenses to defend him on the perimeter, though that certainly in't a given at this point. Nebraska will probably have trouble guarding one-on-one at multiple spots in the lineup again this season no matter who they throw out there. Hopefully their team defense and commitment to playing hard on that end improves to make up for that. The added size and length helps there, but they're once again lacking foot speed at a lot of spots.