Jacob Padilla

I'd expect to see Griesel, Bandoumel, Wilcher, Breidenbach and Walker as the starting five at this point. I think Breidenbach is more of a five than a four defensively, but they have two fives that are definitely going to play and he has a better shot of hitting perimeter shots than Gary does (though I'm skeptical of how good of a shooter Wilhem actually is). Wilhelm definitely has to play better than he did last year to hold onto that spot, but I think that's where they're at right now. Gary is more of a physical defender than a quick one. You want him on 4s and 3s; don't think he'd hold up super great on quick guards. That'll be an issue again like it was last year. With that starting lineup, Bandoumel will likely take the team's best guard and they'll figure it out with Griesel and Wilcher on the others. Keita and Gary will play, and I think they're trying to figure out the rest of the rotation from there. Two of Lloyd, Tominaga, Dawson and maybe Lawrence will fill the back-up guard/wing minutes. I do think there's a good chance we could see Jacobsen at some point, similar to what happened with Charlie Easley. I don't want to bump a bunch of old threads or start my own, but I've been putting together some scouting reports including video clips on a lot of the guys, both newcomers and returners, over the last few months. Finished my last one this weekend, so I thought I'd share them here if anybody is interested. Returners: >> Derrick Walker >> C.J. Wilcher >> Keisei Tominaga Newcomers: >> Sam Griesel (How his game translates to the Big Team is TBD, but I'm a big fan and I think he fits really well into what Hoiberg wants to do.) >> Juwan Gary >> Emmanuel Bandoumel (He showed some promise running pick-and-rolls at SMU, but I'm very skeptical of Bandoumel as a lead ball-handler.) >> Blaise Keita (He was almost purely a post-up and dunker spot big for Coffeyville; ran very few pick-and-rolls.)

Look at the numbers I put above. Teddy is really effective off the ball as a catch-and-shoot player. He's very good running off screens. His most common play type this season (nearly a quarter of his possessions) is as a spot-up player where he's catching and shooting or attacking closeouts. A good point guard would allow Nebraska to take better advantage of his abilities in all those areas. Better shooters around him would create more space for him to work with inside the arc. He's also been a noticeably more willing passer since he came back from his benching, getting into the paint and kicking out to guys on the perimeter quite often the last handful of games. He is a good pick-and-roll player. A legit roll man threat would both allow him to take advantage of that part of his game more and it would create more opportunities for himself or to kick to a corner shooter with the roll man's gravity. Heading into Thursday, Synergy had classified just 31 of his possessions as true isolation plays (8.3%). He's also not doing particularly well with the post touches so Nebraska can probably just take those out of the game plan.

To add even more to this, Teddy is an excellent pick-and-roll player as both a scorer and passer(1.109 PPP, 85th percentile) and he's also excellent as a catch-and-shoot player (1.304 PPP, 88th percentile). He doesn't have to dominate the ball or isolate all the time. Get him a competent roll man (Walker's filled this roll nicely) and a point guard who can consistently set him up for jumpers and you've got a really dynamic offensive player on your hands. That being said, he's also one of the best off-the-dribble shooters in the Big Ten, so...

Teddy Allen is scoring 0.967 points per possession, which Synergy classifies as "very good" and in the 73rd percentile. He's "very good" both in the halfcourt and in transition. He's in the 72nd percentile or better in each of his top four play types (spot up = 1.033 PPP, 72%; transition = 1.173 PPP, 74%; off screen = 1.128, 76%; P&R ball-handler = 0.921, 82%). He's also in the 64th percentile in isolation after that Penn State game, scoring 0.867 PPP ("good"). Teddy is above average at almost everything he does offensively. The man-to-man defense and turnover issues are a problem, but there are a lot of talented players that struggle in those areas yet still succeed. If you can't find a way to win with that, that's probably more of a you problem than a Teddy one. He's the least of Nebraska's problems, especially with the way he's been playing the last several games. I think people get too caught up on the 1, 2 or 3 plays a game that look really bad. He's still a net positive even with a bad shot here and there, and honestly, some of those "bad shots" have a better chance of going in than a lot of the other things Nebraska has been doing on offense. Between shot attempts, free-throw attempts, assists and turnovers, Teddy's using up roughly 20 possessions per game. Nebraska is averaging 74.4 possessions per game. Other guys have plenty of opportunities to stay involved.

Well, he only has six offers. I think he's probably going to play out this summer and see what happens with the dead period before making any decisions.

Limited exposure over the summer + lack of ability to take visits + the potential return of seniors all over the country + potential free transfers is going to make it tough on non-blue chip 2022 prospects.

Per Synergy, he has 13 shooting possessions as the pick-and-roll ball-handler. It hasn't gone well: 7 points, 2-7 FG, 1 foul, 5 turnovers. Tack on his passing possessions (six of them) and you don't get any more points, just 0-5 FG and another turnover.

Shamiel in 8 games since the return to play: 7.0 PPG, 48.8% FG (30% 3FG), 61.9% FT, 3.6 RPG, 0.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.5 BPG, 2.1 TPG, 16.6 MPG. Expand that to 30 MPG (for comparison's sake) and that's 12.6 PTS, 6.5 RPG, 0.9 APG, 2.0 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 3.8 TPG. That's pretty much on par with Dalano's season averages (minus the playmaking).

McGowens is shooting 43.2% inside of 5 feet overall this season. Was at 47.9% and 47.2% his two years at Pitt.

I was there all day. Session I recap. Session II recap. Let me know if there are any players or teams you want to hear about.

Well, I think it's safe to say that Teddy isn't exclusively the reason for the lack of ball movement and offensive struggles. Wasn't any better or more consistent without him; the other guys just aren't as good as he is at scoring in a bad situation.

Apparently that was a misdiagnosis. Their doctors told him it's tendinitis and scar tissue (injury is in the same knee with the repaired ACL).

That is not the case. And he didn't cut his list down to six, those are the six he said have been recruiting him the hardest. Came from this interview.

Yeah, he's about that unless he's had a growth spurt in the last few months. Not any taller (unless you count his hair).

Unfortunately, it took a whole lot of shots to get McGowens those points. He shot 43-131 from the field, 15-57 from 3 and 45-60 from the free-throw line with 8 assists and 15 turnovers in those seven games. Oak Hill: 23 pts, 7-18 FG (1-9 3FG), 8-11 FT, 8 reb, 1 tov, 3 blk Hamilton Heights: 38 pts, 13-25 FG (6-13 3FG), 6-9 FT, 7 reb, 1 ast, 2 tov, 4 stl Sunrise Christian: 10 pts, 3-17 FG (1-7 3FG), 3-6 FT, 4 reb, 4 tov, 1 blk Montverde: 23 pts, 9-21 FG (4-9 3FG), 1-3 FT, 2 reb, 2 ast, 1 tov, 2 blk, 2 stl Wasatch: 14 pts, 3-17 FG (2-8 3FG), 6-8 FT, 2 reb, 1 ast, 2 tov, 1 blk, 2 stl Bishop Walsh: 18 pts, 5-15 FG (0-5 3FG), 8-9 FT, 3 reb, 2 ast, 2 tov, 2 blk La Lumiere: 20 pts, 3-18 FG (1-6 3FG), 13-14 FT, 7 reb, 2 ast, 3 tov, 1 stl In his defense, the point guard that's heading to South Carolina is pretty decent, but the rest of his team really doesn't stack up to most of the other teams in that event from what I saw. Still, he had a rough couple of weeks outside of that Hamilton Heights game.

I don't believe he had the spacing to even try it in college.

I coach one of the national teams at OSA.

A lot of that is his competition level, but he has topped 40 three times already. John's really streaky from the perimeter but he's a good player. He's definitely a shooting guard the way he plays too; he's a pure scorer. I coached against him this past summer.

And my point was I see no outcome where Garza comes anywhere close to Gasol on defense, and that's a huge part of who he he is as a player. I just don't see the comparison at all, and I'll be shocked if Garza comes anywhere close to having the kind of pro career Gasol has.

I'm guessing Hoiberg has a better feel for what's going on in the inner workings of and interpersonal dynamics within his program than any of us on the outside looking in. What does "Hoiberg better start taking notice" even mean? More generally, McGowens is shooting 40.6% inside the arc and while he's shooting well from 3, he's taken twice as many 2s and isn't shooting well from the foul line either. He has 15 assists and 22 turnovers in 11 games this season. It's great that he played really well against a bad defensive team in Michigan State; hopefully that carries forward. But due to factors both in and out of his control, he's been as much a part of the offensive struggles as anyone. They need to get better across the board. I'm going to need to see more evidence before I'm on board with the idea that giving McGowens the ball to run the offense is going to fix things.

At his peak Gasol was one of the best defensive players in the NBA.

NU announced after the first game that a player in the program who did not play had tested positive and was isolating. Obviously, Andre was the only one not at the game so the dots were easy to connect, and then Hoiberg talked about him missing time and not being able to practice and all that.

FWIW, his name is actually St. Cyr Thomas. He goes by Saint.

He doesn't really have those offers any more. He basically had to restart his recruitment entirely. I guess TCU is still talking to him, but that's about it from the original group.