basketballjones

Tai had, and still has, major flaws in his shooting stroke. He has a major timing/fluidity issue that I've seen in a lot of guys as athletic as he is that tend to be better jump shooters, but struggle from 3pt. Him making as many as he is right now is simply a credit to how hard he has worked on it and compensating for some of those flaws. Everytime Jacobsen releases the ball I think it's going in... and it just doesn't. He has to keep shooting.

Haven't seen Tupper play this year. Will soon, hopefully. In comparison to Chandler - Chandler has better control of his body from a coordination standpoint. More touch and a bit more functionally athletic. From seeing Tupper in the past, I've been more impressed with Chandler's on court work ethic, body language, and engagement with his coaches/teammates, etc... Just my opinions - hate to be overly critical of 16-18 year old kids. Especially local ones. Those who would like to see the two compete against each other will get their chance on January 10th at 7:30pm @ Central

Hey, good to know guys with combined 1800 wins read this board!

If he was looking to have me tweak his shot (I'll just assume he reads this board and has me followed ?) - I'd try to get him to create said lean, and I'd like to get his entire body a bit more turned. I've never agreed with 10 toes to the rim. The greats have their body turned with their shooting shoulder/side ahead of their weak side. Getting toes, hips, shoulders "square to the rim," would imply that you'd have to either 1. Stand slightly off-centered or 2. Have to release the ball from the middle of your head. Great shooters aren't square, they're slightly turned.

Let the prophecy be told: a day will come when we'll be very happy that Michael Jacobson did not give up on shooting 3's and that he stuck with it. Young man has a seriously pure shot. It's just not going in right now. I don't understand it, and I'm sure he's very frustrated.

I would work as hard as I could to "Khyri Thomas" him. But, then again, this board would lose their minds and say we'll never be able to recruit a rez kid again

Went to the game last night.... My initial thought - recruiting evaluation is really hard. Check that - it's really easy at the B1G/ACC/Big East/Pac10/B12 level. Those obvious guys speak for themselves. However, that next group right under them can make or break you as a program. There's guys down in that next tier that have potential to be special and real steals. Those same guys could also end up at an NAIA or a D2 and just be average. Isaiah Chandler -- My god that young man has improved dramatically since I first started watching him a couple years ago. What a steal by New Mexico. As I watched him run the floor and leap like a gazelle, I found myself asking, "what exactly does Jordy T. do better than this guy outside of just being a couple inches taller?" As far as I can tell, he's a true 6'9", still has baby fat on him, and has dramatically improved his work ethic and toughness. He catches lobs like a pro, has fantastic touch with both hands, good face-up moves from the mid-post, and I was very impressed with his willingness and ability to run out ahead in transition. That's a very tough spot for big dudes - often times they are willing, but not coordinated enough to catch and score when it's kicked ahead to them. Personally, I think UNO/Creighton/Nebraska missed here. This guy is a far better basketball player from a skill perspective than Jordy T. He may not have the same wing span or standing height, but he's far more coordinated, has much better touch, and jumps much, much better. Just my opinion. Hope I am wrong about the Jordy T./Chandler comparison (for NU's sake, anyways). David Wingett -- Quietly had 40 points last night. Haven't heard anything recently about his grades/transcripts/eligibility/recruiting. Can't make up my mind on this kid. Part of me wants to go all in and say that people should throw their hand in and gamble on him, but who knows. He reminds me so much of Connor Beranek from Ravenna/UNK. Game wise anyways - what I don't know is if the intangibles match with Connor. And that is not an indictment on David, I just literally do not know how they compare from a mental make-up standpoint. But he's got a nice game, and is all of 6'7" with room to grow and add onto his frame. Has tools to use from the rim to the NBA 3pt line. Lefty, too. He doesn't look like he's ever touched a weight in his life - which I do not like, because it really worries me what happens when he's got S&C coaches breathing down his neck all off-season (makes or breaks a lot of kids at the high D1 level). Roman Behrens -- This is the exact type of kid who I talk about in my opening. You could find a way to make Roman Behrens a part of a big time team. He could also just be an NAIA player. There's really that much variance in what he could be depending on what type of team you have and the needs you have. He is a true point guard. Pass first, great in transition, has the ball on a string, great court vision, fancy finisher, crafty footwork, etc... However, he's also small/skinny, not athletic in a traditional sense (does not play at or above the rim), and I have no idea if he could guard a Big 5 conference guard. He also does not seem overly confident in his 3pt shot (which is not what you want to see from a guy that is limited physically). But I've only seen a couple of games from him. He has serious game - and at some point you have to stop looking at the things he can't do, and really appreciate the things that he can do. Because there are plenty. If you had a really athletic team with a couple other scorers, and needed a dude who could push you in transition and deliver the ball on point and on time, while managing the game - he's your guy. But you'd be taking quite the chance on him from a physical standpoint. I do, however, think he has better skills, basketball IQ, and point guard awareness than a guy like Jalen Bradley from a few years ago - who's doing great at Oral Roberts.

Correct

http://ev2.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetEventList?groupCode=CHSB1222&linkID=global-ralston&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode= Looks like tomorrow not today.

As far as I can tell (Max Preps schedule anyways), this game in on 12/22, not 12/21... Can someone confirm this?

I'm not seeing what a lot of you seem to be seeing in Jordy. Not saying he doesn't have potential or isn't a promising player - just not seeing what you all are seeing to warrant much more minutes (let alone starting). Gill, Horne, and Roby need to have some of McVeigh's minutes distributed to them. Just my opinion.

I did not get to watch the game last night - what was the pace like? Did we look good in transition? Because we certainly did not shoot all that great, but 81 points is nice. I saw they turned it over 16 times, but we had 13... So pace and early looks must have been decent, right?

Remember when I thought Nick Fuller was the exact type of player that I felt we had been missing all this time......? Something must never have clicked with him. He can't be that bad.

I'm in a text group that bitches/complains/whines/sometimes mockingly celebrates about Nebrasketball all day (it's what we do, leave us a lone). Someone brought up that the first guy that should "go" before anyone else is Marc Boehm. This is purely a question - What is some people's obsession with MB? I've literally never met the guy, never heard him speak, and couldn't pick him out of a line-up if someone was paying me to. Is this just a, "he's the only linking factor behind all of Nebrasketball's failures between failed coach and current failing coach," sort of issue? Do people think there's a culture issue? Is that something MB would have an impact/influence over? I've "been around" the program since Miles has been here plenty (not much in the past couple years, admittedly) - and I've never seen issues with "culture" and certainly never seen Boehm's finger prints all over things. Again, couldn't even tell you who the guy is if I had to. Thoughts?

I'd called DeVries at Creighton... Big time future ahead of him.

I went to a Kansas/Missouri big Monday game a few years ago... I'm pretty sure I still have hearing loss from that game.

Coach Miles needs to tread very carefully and intelligently with managing the mindset of this team during this non-conference slate. To me, for the first time in a while, we are truly playing for next year. We don't need another piece, we're not glaringly missing something (arguable, I know). We're just young and inexperienced. Biggest issue I've seen with this team is hesitation and lack of confidence. To me, that's it. There's some X's and O's, philosophical differences I have with Coach Miles - but that's not important (nor does is it bother him too much, lol...) - what's important is that those things can be easily corrected with time and success. If coach Miles can manage this teams psyche and keep everyone together - next year could be special in my opinion. And playing with a lot of these really good teams will pay major dividends.

What I hate about this thread - from my experience following sports, once the "fire somebody" talk starts, it seems like it rarely stops...

I would almost start Gill at this point and just roll with it. Let him figure it out. McVeigh is worthless if he's not hitting wide open kick outs.

I hope we come out in one of those fancy new 3-3-5 defenses, or an old school 5-2 w/ a monster linebacker.

I would walk the ball up the court make or miss, personally. But we also can't run the shot clock down and shoot a crap shot at the buzzer. Question - how do we match up? Who does McVeigh guard? Foster? Hell no. Watson? Obviously not. Just sag off KT and hope he's not hitting? Guess so... Tai and Glenn should be fine. Jacobsen and Morrow will be fine, but McVeigh worries me. Might be a better game for Gill and Taylor, defensively anyways. Good game for Roby to get to guard "up" a position, and not be too overwhelmed.

Creighton runs ridiculously hard in transition. They then are very good at maintaining that pace and spacing into their initial actions of their motion offense. It's the key to everything they do, and must be stopped if you want to beat them. Both wings sprint to the corners as hard as they can. A rim running big gets his head on the rim and tries to seal for a post touch or to seal his guy out of the way for Watson or other point guards to attack the rim. If all goes well - the idea is fot Watson to never have to pass in transition until he's created havoc in a draw and kick situation, or laid it in. If Watson doesn't get what he wants from a driving perspective, he's immediately looking to bounce back to the corner running wings and hand the ball off. They follow those hand offs with ball screens from the trailing big - or - the trailing big down screens away while the hand off is happening, creating a spacing nightmare for the defense. Often, Watson never hands it off and keeps the wing in the corner, getting a ball screen for himself. They also work through their trailer really well. Often, they will just swing it through to him and give him a shoot/drive/draw and kick option. What they're really good at, is having that post who ran opposite in transition to the rim, seal the hell out of his guy, and receive a trailer to post high/low look. When their bigs receive reversal passes in transition in the half court, they are instructed to dribble hand off, or continue swinging it immediately into a ball screen. If both bigs get caught on the same side of the hoop, they do a great job of rolling and replacing on ball screens. This creates nightmares for the defense if the big who replaced on the role can shoot the 3pt shot. It's a motion offense with rules, basically. Guards don't ball screen, but they pass and pick away, and they can dribble hand off. 4's and 5's are constantly looking to reverse the ball and sprint hard into ball screens, or move the ball with dribble hand offs. They're instructed to roll hard, to the rim most of the time. Guys like Huff and Wegner pop on ball screens a lot. They don't run a ton of full sets. More quick hitters to enter the ball or to get quicker shots. But they do have some high quality sets with an outside and inside option. Defensively, Creighton is a pack-line, gap defense. They don't like to rotate off of helps - instead they show and go back to their man. How you beat Creighton - either get a ton of offensive boards to make the timid running in transition - or don't offensive rebound AT ALL, and sprint your rear end back. In my opinion, you also have to switch the crap out of everything to hopefully stop them from getting driving lanes. Also, I would play behind their posts and force their bigs to beat us 1on1 - NOT helping. 2's are less than 3's. And allowing CU to string together a few possessions of 3's, especially inside out 3's, is a good way to end your night quickly.

Unfortunately, maybe fortunately, I don't think it's a personnel problem. Or at least, not in the sense that we physically do not have a player or two who we can expect to hit from a good clip behind the arc. It's mental, experience based, and lack of rhythm offensively that are creating our shooting woes. I personally believe that between McVeigh, Watson, Webster, Gill, and MJ that there's enough guys with good strokes who need to be knocking these down. I'm just going to remain positive and enjoy watching these guys grow up before our eyes.

Ugh just saw the stats... McVeigh can't play 23 minutes and not score. He doesn't do enough other things to warrant that PT if he's not hitting. Road trip for him to forget, for sure. He'll be fine.

Love this team. Giving everything they have. This will pay off eventually if they stay together. In the meantime, we desperately need to figure something out offensively from a spacing, rhythm, and offensive transition perspective. It's all about offense guys. Your offensive tempo and rhythm dictates everything. Everyone guards well anymore. They're all athletes, and the fundamentals are barely different from team to team.