demone

Ohio State 70 Nebraska 65

I've been either silent or critical, so it's only fair to give the appropriate kudos (with a few critiques as well): Verge overall was good last night. Made plays to set up his teammates to a large degree. The turnovers are an issue. For the record, I never expected him to be Bob Cousy or anything even close. I did expect him to make at least 1 pass to a teammate rather than none at all in order to dribble around and force a contested lay up, which happened way too often in the previous 12 games. Last night was much, much better - I hope it continues because Verge can be good. KT may not play the best defense but he gives his best effort most of the time. And he certainly enjoys playing the game. Wilcher, Kobe, Walker, et al played with good energy until the midpoint of the 2nd half. They moved themselves and the ball pretty consistently. Bryce, not so much - simply not all that impressive to me on either end of the floor. Talent, no question. Skill, way underdeveloped. I agree and it was noticeable that Fred stopped pulling guys for bad shots at some point in the 2nd half. I really hope he sticks with the threat of the bench - it seemed to make a difference in the 1st half. Good win over a team they should have beaten just like they did. Hope it leads to better things in conference play. Wishing everyone a very Happy Holiday!

I completely agree with this - never thought Ryan Anderson got near enough props. One of my all time favorites.

No analysis needed. This is simply a really bad program, top to bottom. I am about 70% off the FH bandwagon. The coaches recruited these players without doing the requisite homework or brought them in spite of the flaws that are glaringly obvious to anyone paying attention. Either way, until there are serious consequences for the lack of team play, effort, etc. these are the results to be expected. Based on the available evidence to this point, it won’t change.

Nebraska 63 Kennesaw 70 I can’t believe I just typed that…

Not to mention the quality, fundamental basketball being played that we rarely get to see anymore.

Just switched over - seeing that Big 8 logo on the court actually gave me chills. Damn.

Feel terrible for him - wishing all the best and a full recovery.

Kansas State - 79 Nebraska - 66

Well Norm - I’m there. I was out working in my shop and listening on my phone. It started buffering just after halftime. I didn’t care. It doesn’t matter to me at this point.

I appreciate your points and yes, I've watched every game to this point in the season. You see it a bit differently than I do and that's fine. For the record, I'm blaming players and coaches. Just my opinion but I believe the pattern was set in the first few games of the season and it quickly embedded in the psyche of the shooters. I do think Verge has gotten better in the past couple of games - this is not an attack on him specifically at this point. If this is the offense the coaching staff wants, it's not an offense I will invest time watching.

You have touched on something that I haven’t been able to crystallize in my mind just yet. I did not follow his ISU days closely and I didn’t watch the Bulls at all. Did his NBA experience fundamentally change the man? Not only make him robotic in how he deals with players but skew him so far toward the NBA hero ball mentality that he now actually coaches to it?

May not be all that popular, but I liked Moos. He made 2 hires that for most, were the best possible hires he could make at the time (although I was the opposite of most - hesitant on Frost and all in on Hoiberg). I don’t know details of day-to-day and to be honest, don’t really care. He was a hands off guy and I get it - if you are going to pay someone millions of dollars to do a job, there should be some accountability on those you hire to figure it out. He may not have been a great long term fit and I’m sure he made mistakes. But he won’t be the last one to do so. For what it’s worth, I am all in on Trev - he won’t be perfect but I do believe he is the right guy to bring everything together. Will that manifest in wins? Who knows? But the coaches and players will be put in the best possible position to succeed.

I won’t watch but my stubbornness also requires that I make a prediction: Nebraska 66 Auburn 84

I think they also hate the idea of winning

Someone else said it as well - worst NU basketball team I think I’ve ever seen. Zero effort and apparently, it doesn’t matter to the coaches at all. On the bright side, for those so inclined, fading NU for the balance of the year might add some value to your non-traditional retirement accounts.

I mean seriously, what the F*** was that step back 3 s**t from the 5 star? Hope someone in the NBA can get that kid to play hard because I don’t see it.

The list of issues is so long - not going to waste my time enumerating them all. This team is on the Alonzo Verge of losing me completely after 10 games.

I have not jumped off the FH bandwagon just yet - but I am much closer to doing so than I was at the beginning of the season. I've made my stance clear in other posts. I won't continue to watch teams where one or two players are going to do their very best to make sure the ball has air in it every chance they get - even if they stuff the stat sheet. Unless those players are exceptionally good, that approach leads to more losses than wins and that can't be argued. And, selfishly, it is not entertaining to watch for old, curmudgeonly traditionalists like me. The risk with continually turning over the roster has always been getting the chemistry right. It is a critical factor and difficult in the best of times. To this point in the season, the chemistry is not close to what it needs to be on this team and the evidence would suggest it won't happen soon enough (if at all). I hope I'm wrong on the last point, I truly do. I would love nothing more than to watch a good, quality basketball TEAM have success at Nebraska.

Regardless of the reason, wishing he and his family the best.

Michigan 79 Nebraska 69 5 3s 5 conference wins

Exactly what I saw and honestly have seen the entire year. I can say that if this is what our offense is supposed to be, I'll follow the team (mostly right here on HHC) and hope they win, but I won't go out of my way to watch it. Not that it matters in the grand scheme but I want to see team basketball, apparently an increasingly foreign concept in today's game.

Nebraska - 67 Indiana - 81

Alright, I slept on this and the following topics will not be covered: Officiating Up 14 with under 12 minutes to go in the 2nd half...there is no excuse for losing that game. I have a question and really need some guidance. I'm starting to wonder if my expectation for the style of basketball we would play under this staff may have been way off. From my viewpoint, the offense we now run is a dribble-heavy drive and sometimes roll, sometimes kick, sometimes hope to get fouled approach. Some version of the dribble, drive, motion that Calipari uses at UK. It is all about beating your man 1 on 1 and then see what happens. My expectation was something more free flowing, ball movement, people movement - alas, something that looked more like what that team in Omaha runs. Was I wrong? Did Hoiberg's philosophy change after going to the NBA? What I see now is not enjoyable for me to watch and in essence is not much different than what Miles ran, just with a few better shooters. Nebraska had their shots blocked 11 times! Blame the officiating (dammit, I did it) all you want - Nebraska could have and should have won this game, TV Teddy or not. But I really need to know if this is the intended offensively philosophy so I can prepare myself for what this will continue to look like going forward.

Boy do I have some questions for the postgame thread…