basketballjones

Wherever they finish in the Big East - I would NOT want to play them in late February or March when the refs forget where their whistles are.

NU - 80 APB - 67

I feel like you need to read more of my posts and get a better idea of where I'm coming from and how critical I am of this team/coaching staff. I saw things on the defensive end as far as attitude, toughness, physicality, tougherness last night that I haven't seen for years. What they did in the first half, and not cave under what St. John's was doing, was also very impressive to me. Watching that fist fight, to come out with a nice lead going into halftime was pretty impressive to me. Kinda goes beyond the stats, score, etc...

Dare I say I was…….. encouraged… by that game? I think St John’s has a shot at being good. Mike Anderson is probably one of the most underrated coaches out there, and they’re one of the most physical teams I’ve seen play the game in a while.

I waaaaay behind on the game. In my timeline we just played the toughest, hardest, competitive version of basketball I’ve seen in the Hoiberg era. My text messages from buddies tell me I’m about to be very disappointed.

Go get ‘em doc

I predicted in a loss in our HHC Competition, but listening to a breakdown of this team, I am not so sure we aren't the perfect team to beat them. They're good at guard, but there's a high-likelihood of chemistry issues with these guys, and they kind of require to speed you up to score. I can't see a team speeding Sam up very well. I think if we keep this game slow and limit open looks from 3, we could win a game in the 60s.

Without a doubt I would have said Banton. He was drafted for a specific purpose and skillset that fits exactly what Toronto wants to do. McGowens is a project to a NBA team and would require that team to want to "feature" him in a fairly prominent role. Which, IMO - you're a pretty bad team if he's your first or second guy.

They've really improved his shot. Looks much more fluid and a higher release.

I'm not buying it until I see their name on the Golden Tee rankings at Gate 25.

Tomorrow could really rhule.

SJ - 79 NU - 68

Sam needs to take better 3pt shots, period. Kind of been annoyed by the ones he decides to pull the trigger on. He's completely capable. But the end of shot clock, one on one, step backs are not his game. I think he's a fully capable shooter if he would find a way to get better in-rhythm shots. I have actually been slightly impressed with his athleticism? He's a thick, 6'7" dude, and he moves around pretty dang well for his size.

Strick was pretty tough on our shot selection last night during the BTN+ broadcast. And rightfully so.

Confusing game. There were times where I thought we were looking really good and I liked what we were doing - but we can’t seem to keep our foot on the gas. Seemed like we were killing then, then I’d look and we were only up 11.

I hope Fidler is playing for us next year.

Oleg noticed. He will get revenge.

NU 75 UNO 68

How sure are you Walker is still not on the team?

I actually believe there is on Synergy.

I have heard.... and don't shoot the messenger here I could be wrong... That he has a hip issue that doesn't seem to be resolving itself, and the best plan of action at this point is to redshirt and not risk further injury.

That’s good to hear, I didn’t see the same thing but maybe I missed it. Thanks for your input.

First thing I'm going to say: Walking up to the stadium I heard about 4-5 little kids so f***ing excited to see Sam Griesel play. Saw so many #5 jerseys in the stadium. If you do not understand the point of taking and fostering in-state talent then I don't believe you should be a fan of this program or coaching here. No one is asking for an entire roster of Nebraska kids. But Jesus H. Christ - take 1 or 2 as actual scholarship kids every couple of years. Frankie Fidler should be playing at NU and I believe you will see that Thursday in what I think has loss potential written all over it. He's every bit of a player as SG, potentially even more polished out of high school. Some Positives: - Guys played hard. - Looks like they made some of the drive-defense adjustments to limit straight-line drives. - I liked some aspects of their match-up zone. Looks to be a good base defense. - KT hit some shots. - Sam took over when something needed to happen. That was cool to see. - Oleg did some super nice things in his limited time. He doesn't know that he's 7'1", which is frustrating, but it's coming along. - Didn't give up when Maine made a huge push, were able to put their foot down and finish it. - Crashed the boards hard. - I thought Wilhelm played a bit more "within himself." Negatives: - Oh boy where do I start with this offense... None of our actions go to the rim. There's no back-screening, no flex-screening, no shuffle screens. Guys don't know how to read screens based off of what the defender did. It's all hand-offs and weaves around the perimeter until someone decides to do something. The guys can't change gears. There's no 1st to 5th gear change, hard stop-starts. It's all floating around in 2nd-3rd gear. There's zero post presence from a slam-seal perspective (would have been unbelievably easy last night for Keita to seal on reversals for lay-ups but he didn't). So many negative passes away from the hoop for no reason (tough one for me to explain without showing). There's just no rhythm and timing, which you could say "hey it's the first game!" Yeah - that's the problem when you start with a new team every year. - 3pt Shooting is going to be an issue... again... deep sigh - I'm just not sure Keita is that good, very unfortunate. Too bad he didn't start out somewhere as a freshman and develop. - 19 Points from KT - and about 10 of the worst, most offensive basketball mistakes I've seen. Against real competition, we won't get that 19 from him, but we will get the mistakes. - Maine was like 351st in Kenpom - and I'm not 100% sure you could tell which team was the P5, millions of dollars spent on the entire operation team, and which was the effectively D2/NAIA team. There's only a couple guys out there for us who make that evident. - Hoiberg just looks lost and has zero confidence. I'm not saying it doesn't look like cares or doesn't have passion - he just looks so unsure and restrained. He's not coaching with a free mind or body. You can see he feels the crowd and whatnot behind him... it's the worst position to be in as a coach and I have felt it before. I honestly feel for the guy. Don't think in his wildest dreams he thought this would go this way. - Was not in love with the bench demeanor of our assistants outside of Nate Loesner. What are you doing guys? Every game matters, give juice, be focused, look dudes in the eyes and get them going... Idk, just a nitpick of mine. @Huskerpapamentioned the opposite, so I wanted to acknowledge that I must have not done a good enough job of paying attention to them.

There’s no one on that list I don’t feel confident to at least professionally run a program and at least get us back to respectability (contending for west and consistent bowl games).