Cookie Miller Wasn't Dirty

Meah probably hits the 20 minute mark if he wasn’t in foul trouble. His size was causing Kalk issues.

What a great feeling. I was wrong about this team! I don’t think Creighton is what they’ve been the last few years, but it’ll end up being a Q1 win unless they tank with an injured Ashworth.

You were fun to watch. I miss those teams!

Sure. But the sentiment of that saying is that it doesn’t matter as long as you win. And that’s not true in college basketball. It should be true in November, but for some reason the selection committee is told to treat November games equally to February games. Which is absurd and goes against the spirit of sports.

Unfortunately, the metrics used to select tournament teams disagree...

Yeah, I understand a new roster takes time to gel, but the problems appear to be deeper than that. Pretty much as you described... the individual players added from the portal just aren't very good IMO. Not enough shooters, and it's not like we have athletic freaks in their stead. Just a bunch of plodders. People overreacted from the tourney game last year. Everyone freaked out that we needed to get bigger just because one team beat us in the paint. But they never mention that A&M happened to hit all their threes that night too, something they never did. I wonder if Fred got wrapped up in that narrative... I do not agree that this will be Fred's last year. Nor should it be. We aren't firing a coach a year after making the tourney.

More guys will get minutes early on, but I believe this will be the rotation that develops. Starters: Worster Williams Griffiths Gary Meah Bench: Janowski Essegian Morgan Mystery Portal Big Man If Janowski isn’t ready to roll, it opens the door for Hoiberg or Ulis to get some minutes.

Robin just said he thinks Kyle ends up at UCLA. Damn.

He still pulled defenders out of the lane because they knew he could shoot. Kyle’s defender wouldn’t have to set foot outside the lane. I’m not saying the additions are bad or that I don’t want Kyle. I’m just refuting the comment from another poster that said we’re not moving away from what Fred does offensively. A guy like Kyle or Payne would absolutely change the offensive game plan, for better or worse.

As much as I like our new additions, I’m not sure I’d say we’re maintaining our offensive identity with these changes. Neither Worster nor Ulis are good shooters, especially not as good as the guys they’re replacing. If we replace Allick with a guy like Kyle or Payne, that’s a big change from Allick stretching the floor. Neither of those guys are three point threats. My concern is we’re overreacting to the last game we played, and the changes we make could do more harm to the offense than good to the defense. Not to mention I don’t think we’ve actually added any great defenders… just guys who are improvements over bad defenders like Keisei and Wilcher.

I hope not. I think people are forgetting Ulis was like… Plan D in our portal PG search last year. Then he got suspended and we went to Boogie as Plan E. Based on their careers prior to Nebraska, Worster seems more poised to be starter.

Per Gary Sharp (UNO play-by-play guy), Fidler will be announcing on his morning radio show on Monday morning. Probably means it’s either us or Creighton. I’d rather have Griffiths if we can only land one, but both would be nice.

Except Gary was in a red jersey meaning it wasn’t even from the dance

This is exactly what I’ve been saying. People overreact to the last thing that happened. Suddenly we aren’t good enough to win a tournament game because we lost one game? Yeah, they beat us off the dribble and on the glass. Despite that we’d still have been in that game if they didn’t go uncharacteristically nuclear from three. Also when you’re not a top five team, you’re going to have some weaknesses. Our weakness was handling extreme athleticism. Sure, in a perfect world you want to fix that weakness… but at what cost? If it takes away our strengths is it worth it?

I think they can play together. It shouldn’t be much different than Rienk playing with Allick. The nice thing about Morgan is if Rienk is on the bench he can serve as a center better than Allick could due to his size. But ideally we get one of the athletic bigs (Payne, Kyle). That way we can pretty much always have two of the three on the court at once.

I still can’t believe they made that rule. Even at the time I thought it was ridiculous. Too many decisions are made without considering the consequences. Every high school senior in 2020-21 got screwed because the kids a year older than them got to redo their freshman years. It would’ve been one thing if the 2020-21 season was actually canceled. But it wasn’t.

I wouldn’t give up on high schoolers entirely, but I know what I would do… only recruit them if they’re from around the area. Like 500 mile radius max. The probability of someone like Lawrence from the east coast staying more than a year or two are so much lower than a kid who is within reasonable driving distance of home.

There are reasonable explanations for why each of these guys entered. Mostly because of playing time. I honestly think we’re a better team if we were to recruit over Wilcher anyways. He was too one dimensional, and that one dimension was also inconsistent. Lawrence is very replaceable. Remember we were playing good ball even when he was bad for over half the season. Am I glad he’s leaving? No. His spark certainly improved the team, mostly because he was so bad before that. But he’s a dime a dozen imo. I’m sad to lose Diop because I had high hopes for him. And I’ve stated before I don’t think Rice had much upside anyways. Just need to look at his list of portal suitors to see that. The biggest bummer is losing so many guys can affect the locker room. But individually I don’t think we’ve lost anything critical. I’m not going to freak out unless any of the big three decide to leave, or if we fail to land any good portal options.

He seems like a really great talent. I wonder where his head’s at after his incident at Ole Miss. But if Fred thinks he’s a good fit in the locker room I’d be pumped to land him.

Wonder what his defense is like. Averaged 1.2 steals per game last year which is more than anyone on our team. He also looks pretty jacked, so I doubt he gets pushed around by opposing guards. Highlights showed he’s not just a spot up shooter. Good ball handler. And he did dunk on a fast break which isn’t always a given for a 6’3” guy.

Oh come on. He had a great January then reverted back to his inconsistent shooting the final six weeks. When he’s hot you can put up with his poor defense and dribbling. When he’s not he’s a major liability. I’d much rather have a more well rounded and consistent player, even if his overall 3P% is lower.

I know this will come off as after the fact sour grapes, but these were my exact concerns that I expressed during the season. Rigid and hunched over… 6’8” frame but plays like he’s 6’5”. Every time he got to the rim I’d think, “Geez, I don’t know how he did it but I guess whatever works.” I didn’t think he’d blossom into anything special, but who knows. Maybe he will.

Simeon Wilcher plummeted in the rankings his senior year for whatever reason. I don’t think he was at all expected to be a one and done by the time he set foot on campus. Still, his lack of playing time through two years could be irking him.

I wouldn’t say so. I think a lot of guys would say, “Of course I’ll be back.” But in this NIL and free transfer era, I get that kind of answer will be less common.

I don’t love the quotes from our guys who are eligible to return. I wouldn’t lose any sleep if we lost CJ… in fact I think we should seek to replace him with a more well rounded player anyways. But man we really need the other three to come back. Mast: “I haven’t made a decision yet. Probably going to see what opportunities are out there this offseason. I’ve been around enough offseasons and been around enough teams where you never know what happens in the offseason. I’m just going to explore my opportunities, but I definitely love this place and team. I’ve met a lot of great people here, but I’m not going to say a for sure thing. I’m just going to see what’s out there and then make a decision.” Brice: “No, I haven’t thought about that yet. I’ve just been focusing on the Huskers.” Gary: “I haven’t made a decision yet. But I’m always going to be grateful to come back here and play for Coach Fred. He’s the reason I’m here; the coaching staff is the reason I’m here. Without those guys, there wouldn’t be Juwan Gary at Nebraska. So I’m grateful for the coaching staff, the players, the G.A.s, even the equipment managers. Everybody that bought into this team this year, I’m all grateful for it. Like I said, I don’t know what’s going to be my next step, but I’m always going to be grateful to come back here for sure.” Wilcher: “I haven’t really thought too much about that. I just want to be present with these guys and bask in the ambiance a little.”