basketballjones

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).

I mean there's, what, at least 10 guys who would get a, "sounds good, not bad," reaction or above - right? I'd only be disappointed if he hired the NC State guy, the Army guy, or Gary Patterson (dude is old and TCU is like instantly back in the mix after canning him, c'mon now). Petersen Rhule O'Brien Stoops Kiffin Leipold Aranda Kleiman Campbell Mickey I mean, all those guys would make the majority of people pretty happy, I would think?

I feel like it's kind of hard to say your first paragraph and then think he all of the sudden grew a pair and stood up to them firing 3 games in. I believe he wasn't fired at the end of last year because it wasn't obviously "clear" he should be. Even though behind the scenes it was quite evident. But what we did last year was one of the most fluky, strange, statistically impossible things ever. I think it's pretty fair to say he deserved a chance to figure it out. Trev risked losing serious fan and booster support by firing last year. That being said - it does seem pretty clear that Trev handcuffed him (purposefully and masterfully) this year. If he wanted to allow Frost a true "prove it or lose it" year this year, he wouldn't have forced some of the staff changes that he did, such as removing OC title and hiring who he did. I believe Frost would have made some staff changes - but he would have gone down with the ship as captain doing it his way. Trev either forced him or Jedi-mind-tricked him into thinking he needed to do the CEO thing and make certain changes. But allowing Frost to go down with the ship his way would have potentially created another scenario for Trev where Frost gets "close," and he can't rally support behind his decisions. Once it was "clearly evident," losing to Georgia Southern, Trev stuck like a skilled boxer. Just needed his moment. IMO - Trev Alberts has handled this near perfectly and set the next coach up with a super clean slate, and the highest percentage of acceptance of the new coach/boosters.

I had Sam at a ton of basketball camps when he was a little kid and him playing, as a senior in college, makes me feel very, very old. He was a super intense little kid. Zero surprise he turned out good.

Tbh 100% honest… I have to be one of the very few Matt Campbell-ites when Riley was fired. I saw all the good stuff frost could be for sure, but I was pretty squarely in the Damon Benning camp of “this savior complex stuff is not good and could backfire very easily.”

When this happens - the split of who is happy about this hire and who is mad about it is going to be very interesting. Not your typical split that happens when these things go down.

I honestly have no idea, and have heard nothing. But the cryptic nature of it, and how he said Derrick would say more on it when he's ready, does not sound good.

Actually…. Funny story. Wife and I have been having a ton of trouble with our infant and sleeping. She’s been sick for like 2 months with a myriad of daycare illnesses. It’s been common for one of us to wake up, reach over to the other side of the bed to see if the other is there, to find an empty bed because the other one got up and is sleeping with the infant in the recliner or something. Last night, the baby miraculously slept through the entire night. My wife, in a pure daze and out of habit, frantically reached over to see if I was there and smacked me right in the crotch then the chin. Beautiful way to wake up! Who needs an alarm clock?

NU 80 ME 60 6 12

They say that the first coach you ever work for leaves quite the imprint on you, and you're probably never going to shake some of the fundamental rules that you learned from them, so you better pick good ones to work with. The first two I worked for have taken Class A and B boys and girls to the state tournament multiple times, with multiple state titles, and plenty of wins to boot - so hopefully some good stuff was imprinted on me (yet to successfully be put into practice, of course). But the first rule that BOTH of them told me about coaching, going into every game, you have to ask yourself one question, "Is my team better than the team we are playing?" Because the Law of Averages states that, "the principle that supposes most future events are likely to balance any past deviation from a presumed average." And most quality coaches take that to mean - the more opportunities I give an opponent the more likely they are to do "what they do." So what does that mean? That means that if you are not the better team, and you play fast, you have created more possessions. More possessions equals more opportunities for that better team to do what they do well. On the flipside - if are you are the better team - more possessions equals more opportunities for them to "F up" and you to score off of that. Both of the coaches I started out with would also challenge me on another rule: (because I think they both saw a glaring weakness of mine unfolding) "Are you trying to win the game or are you trying to see how cool your sh** is?" Maybe my frustration with Husker Football is overflowing too much into Nebrasketball... But I am so tired of hearing about "schemes," "play design," "offensive philosophy," "fast tempo," etc... Quality coaches do not win because of their scheme. Quality coaches win because of quality players and their ability to do what needs to be done from game to game to win the game. Husker Football for instance: If I was the head coach before the Illinois game I would ask myself one thing, "are we better than these guys overall?" The answer would be, "no, but there's no reason we can't win." And that answer would inform literally everything we are doing that week and how the game was called. And I'll tell you what - that ball would not be snapped with more than 2-3 seconds left on the play clock after any play we didn't get what we wanted out of it. Bad run where you only get 1-2 yards (or lose yards)? We're huddling up, and that thing aint getting snapped until near :01 so that we at least win something. You slowly build up wins and eventually the levee breaks. Not build up a ton of losses through quick plays and then hope for a 50 yard chunk play. Husker Basketball? Probably not shooting 25 3's! Especially early ones! Probably my main point here... Whoever the next coaches for Husker Football and Nebrasketball are - the last thing I want to hear about is "what they run." I simply do not care, because it simply does not matter. I want to know if they are the adult in the room, manage their staff, hold people directly accountable, and are psychotically focused on bringing in DUDES. After that - can you philosophically match up what needs to be done to win with your X's and O's knowledge compared to the teams that you will play? Night in, night out. The next coaches should not have "fast tempo offenses!!!" because that's what they stubbornly believe in. They should be flexible and not stubborn, and able to play all tempos based off of what needs to be done TO WIN. Players over Plays Winning Mentality over X's and O's Mental Mastrubation Mentality /end rant. Sorry

This team desperately needs someone who can get to the paint off the bounce. AND FRED HOIBERG DESPERATELY NEEDS TO GET HIS DAMN POSTS OUT OF THE HIGH POST WHILE PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO DRIVE OMG IT'S SO ANNOYING I COULDN'T IMAGINE PLAYING ON THIS TEAM - YIKES - GET OUT OF THE WAY.

Insurance issues?

Hey - I'd rather lose this game somewhat "respectfully" and then maybe have a decent season... versus destroying them in an exhibition then only have a 10 win season!

"Live by the 3, die by the 3." -Fred Hoiberg

This is a huge problem I am seeing. We're all being such prisoners of the moment, as fans, with this coaching search. Hope Trev isn't.

I've been trying to keep quiet about it... but let's just say the wife and I have been vetting Lincoln realtors. But with what they're offering we might only be able to afford to live in T Town.

I actually have some decent football "insider" connections and what I have heard is basically this: Mickey does not want the job and the team and everyone knows that. It was made known in the first meeting, right off the bat, by both Trev and Mickey. Mickey loves recruiting and coaching his guys, does not want the pressure and schedule of the Head Coach. So he was the perfect guy to put in the Interim role - everyone loves him - can handle it professionally so that people treat him like the HC and stay competing. HOWEVER - a bit of a wrench has been thrown into it - Mickey has kinda liked it. And the players love him as the Head Coach - as do all the support/intern staff. Things are getting done more professionally and organized than they ever have before and it's so much less toxic and stressful up at Memorial Stadium.

Where would Hoiberg's teams he's had here finish in the Mountain West?

This is from like their second or third possession - We gave up essentially this look the entire first half. Middle driver has options to drop down, kick to corner, hit his crackback, or hit the top of the key.

I heard that too. That's such a difficult question to answer. Especially when you consider an actual "rotation" or positions. Not to mention that Sam Griesel went toe to toe multiple times with Baylor.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM IN KC!

Wouldn’t be eligible for this year, right?

Great post but I need to push back on this part if you don't mind. We weren't running a "vanilla" offense - we were running the basic motion offense that we have run every year under Hoiberg. And the first team dudes had absolutely zero rhythm and flow in it. Matter of fact, the newcomers at the end of the game ran the shell motion offense significantly better. By vanilla, he means he didn't run many specific set plays or quick hitters outside of our basic motion, or anything "new" from a motion perspective that better aligns with our personnel/strengths.