basketballjones

My favorite part of Wednesday was that FH was locked in and pissed about stuff. He lit into the guys once, sat KT for quite a while, and knew he had to be on refs all game. All that and he kept the team together. 10/10 coach.

NU - 88 CSF- 51 I honestly have no idea lol

2 turnovers!?!?!?!?!?!?

We shouldn’t look far in transfer portal next year, just grab a couple of these dudes

NU - 76 DQ - 69

I don’t mean to make too big of a deal out of that game. But that was huge. We always lose a game kinda like that in the non con that bites us in the ass. To completely take care of them is such a breath of fresh air.

I think our numbers from 3 are bad right now because of two guys we expect much higher efficiency from - KT and JL.

I wonder if he'll see the court there... Feel like they get some more ready-made players than I thought NB was.

All I see there is we're literally playing one of the softest non-con schedules in the nation and we're stopping those teams from scoring 2's, lol. Defense did not look very good running 3pt shooters off the line last night.

Skers: 79 Beavs: 68

- Stony Brook had some dudes, man. I wonder if they’ll make some noise in their conference? You can’t be “bad” with that guard play. And they had some serviceable size too. Well coached. - Some maddening stuff to start the game but they got in a better rhythm eventually. - KT’s gotta let the game come to him more and be focused on the other stuff to start the game. You could see his teammates getting a little frustrated. - Well Gary looked nice… dang. That’s a new element. - Our dudes are menaces on the glass. Adding Gary just made us even more menacing. He and Allick are bash brother’s material. - Guys…. Is Mast a better passer than Walker?!?!? Walker will absolutely hit you when you’re open a cut - Mast made guys open on some cuts. He threw some “if you’re even you’re open” passes that were to tight windows. - These guys have got to realize that Fred’s offensive system works if you do what he asks you to do first, and then read and react based off what it gave you. They gotta cut harder, move it faster, screen better, and dudes are gonna be wiiiide open. Can’t just go through the motions with those initial weaves and passes - that’s where everything gets set up. - Speaking of screening: ghost screens are the worst thing to happen to basketball in the last five years. They can’t be the fundamental aspect of your offense. Set hard, decisive screens. Ghost 1/5 times.

Good for the Albert's family. Rough life!

Never excuse in victory what you would not in defeat. We're not playing very well from an offensive-cohesiveness standpoint and the weaknesses are glaring. If you're not seeing that I guess we just have different views on the game. My take isn't a doomer take at all. Maybe it's a weakness in my writing style, but I'm just providing honest analysis and criticism from a educated and experienced standpoint. I'm a HUGE buy on this team. I believe talking NIT with this team is a disappointment. This is as deep, old, experienced, and versatile of a team as you can find in 2023 with the transfer portal and the way the basketball environment is in general. We should be doing BIG things this year. I'm not saying this is a top 1-2 team in the conference or a top 10 team. But this is a top 25 team as far as roster composition goes, in my opinion. We have inside scoring, rebounding, defensive cohesiveness and effort, 3pt shooting galore (in theory), and decent depth and multiple positions.

Some thoughts... - That game left a nasty taste in my mouth and left me feeling very frustrated. Just being honest. I'm seeing a ton of hero-ball in our first three games and I really do not like it. Maybe I am not seeing it, but I don't see it being addressed either. Guys who are jacking stuff up certainly seem to stay in the game. I hate our shot selection (they just went in more the first game, against a horrific team). - Remember against Lindenwood when I said how embarrassing their coaching and effort was? This game is what I am talking about. Sure, Rider had more talent than Lindenwood - but they also played their damn asses off and had a systematic approach to the game. They had a scout and a gameplan. That is coaching, and their staff should be applauded - I expect big things from their team in conference this year. Good on them. - This is my biggest fear with Keisei - everyone gets it "watch what he can do/let's hope he hits a shot" mode. That very much worries me. We should be playing to use his gravity and his constant movement to help everyone else. Not standing, watching, and praying he does something sweet. KT also needs to chill out and run the offense. It's not the KT show, especially early. Keep your teammates engaged and involved - the sooner in the game he tries to "take over" the earlier we get into watch/hope mode. - Disappointed in Sam Hoiberg. He's played so well and forced himself into the regular rotation - but he can't forget how or why he's there, or who he is. He took some bad, forced, rushed shots tonight. That's not his game. He's an in-rhythm, open 3-point shooter, ball mover, and an attack the basket guy. Then defense and energy also, obviously. He doesn't need to be taking shots that are rushed/early/forced. - Some positive, our defense is just lights out, and we are soooo physical rebounding. Even when we don't get rebounds (O or D), we at least make them truly earn it. Guards are flying in and rebounding, bigs are bashing and rebound - good stuff here. Proud of the guys for their gutsy effort and commitment to that end. Now if we could just be committed to true ball movement, player movement, and unselfishness on the offensive end... - Need to figure out who BWilliams is and what his role will be. - Excited/nervous/very interested to see what this team looks like with Gary back, and who loses minutes, or what line-ups get thrown out there.

He reminds me of like the wide receiver who can only make ridiculous leaping catches but will drop a routine ball. Or like how KT can’t hit a kick-out, wide open 3 - but can be falling backwards with a hand in his face and splash it.

NU - 77 SB - 49

Atrocious shot selection and selfishness right now.

Good lord @HuskerFever, no kidding. I thought I did really well with the first two. Didn't know I was competing with a bunch of Las Vegas line makers.

Very true. To be honest, you could probably even go even further with this and say, “not sure why you’d redshirt anyone.” Unless of course they came in wanting to or injury. Other than that there’s absolutely zero guarantee they stick around.

He’s getting like…. 6min a game against the worst teams in the nation, and once Gary is back it’s gonna drop to essentially nothing meaningful.

Agreed. He must have not wanted to.

Also didn't have his feet set, and didn't have those unset feet narrow enough - all things that won't be called in February.

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.

Wanted to see if anyone had any more experience with the type of defense Nebraska has - or has done their research on it? Why do we force ourselves into rotation situations before we even have to? I truly don't understand it, not saying I disagree with it or think it's wrong, I honestly don't understand it. For example, we double post players - not even in the post - in the short corner, before they have even dribbled, made a move, or shown they can even score in the post. We will also run guys off the line, seemingly by design, without them even being a threat to shoot (or if they're even a shooter to begin with). It seems by design. Do we want to be in scramble/rotation? They're clearly very good and well repped in it. Is the idea that we're going to scramble/rotate on our own accord, before the defense makes us? So kind of an Amoeba style defense (in a way)? This seems to be the most likely explanation. I know versus Creighton last year, we got steal after steal as they seemed unprepared for how we were going to X-out on the backside as they swung/skipped the ball. To beat this defense, I would be 5-out and back-cut, back-cut, back-cut, back-cut until my legs fell off. I would also emphasize getting us into our doubles/traps and instantly kicking the ball out and making one more pass, then be on the attack. IMO, you beat our defense from having the ball at the top of the key with your posts, and screening actions in the slot where one's going to perimeter and ones going to the rim - we'll mess up a switch at some point.

Having 13 of those from 3 or FT certainly helps.