Fullbacksympathy

Yeah. Robin was way off on his “widely believed” Gates was leaving speculation. He’s staying. Glad it worked out. I expect a much improved product on the court once Hoiberg brings in Matt’s replacement. The most important thing is to have coachable kids. Fred doesn’t know what to do with premadonnas, but he’s very good with kids who have pride and work hard. Fred/Armon/Nate all know how to spot those kids. They’re big fans of Griesel.

HUGE. I’m guessing we have a full roster which is why we aren’t going ape again for transfers.

Loved that game. Both teams were tough as nails and deserved to win. That's rare. And Mathurin is an absolute Jordan-esque athletic prototype. He's going to dominate the league down the road.

I believe that with the players but there was a post today that irked me. Like I said, he seems likeable regardless and I've gotten good info from him in the past as well, to be fair.

Great pickup. High IQ and bully on offense. His size and shooting create a lot of problems for defenses. He'll post up guards and go right by bigs. I'm guessing he'll guard the 3 on the other end.

I'm starting to see why Robin gets dogged on here so much. He's not in the know at all with certain things he speculates about, including another post he made today. Seems likable, but he really needs to sharpen up his sources or tell the truth that he doesn't have any.

I'd try and get Scott Spinelli back here to take MA's spot.

Hate losing this kid if we do.

Sam would be a huge get. Even if he isn't a pure PG, he has the skill, size, and athleticism to create mismatches. He would go great with the incoming wings we have as well.

Last night he was hurt. I think that affected him a lot, but I was specifically thinking of PSU/OSU as well. It wasn't just Bryce, though. The entire team played better defense. Something happened.

Trey was a dog at Pitt before he arrived, and is by far the most athletic kid on the roster pound for pound. He didn't need much coaching to be able to stay in front of his man. Anyone with a basketball background can see Trey and Bryce are on different planets in terms of their ability to guard the perimeter. My issue with the coaching this season wasn't the philosophy at all but the execution and effort exuded by the players. Something changed since the meeting with Trev. I don't know what it was, but defense was pretty solid for the last 5 games, and elite for 3 of them. Bryce was much better. Do you agree? And wasn't it based almost exclusively on effort? I don't have inside information about this change. I still think Fred is a high IQ basketball coach. I like the makeup of his staff more than many on the board (I understand where they're coming from). I hope the motivation the players found continues moving forward, and I'm hoping it was the result of a coaching adjustment as many have postulated. I'm not against Fred or anyone else on the staff returning given the buyout, but that comes with the caveat that not all players show up to campus motivated. Getting maximum effort is a central part of good coaching.

If he leaves, he should be remembered as one of the best true freshmen to ever play here. He improved quite a bit as the season went on, especially once he became more reliable on the defensive end. He stayed out of trouble, played hard, and put a lot of minutes on his legs. Then he played hurt when he didn’t have to. I, for one, have thoroughly enjoyed seeing his talent. The underwhelming part was the defensive coaching he received and lack of accountability he was given.

We're going to have several guys who can handle it as well as Trey or Bryce next year, but no true PG as of yet. We'll need a transfer or guarantee Trey the spot so he'll return and work on nothing but handles in the offseason. I think we'll take a step back from where we are now offensively but take a step forward with our defense.

I think he's a D1 player. Not sure if he's a PG. His HS tape had a pretty high dribble, but he's a good athlete and very physical. I think he'll end up more like Trey. We'll have a lot of versatile, athletic guards getting looks at the rotation next year. I think our defense will improve significantly given the help in the front court as well. I'd be shocked if we don't end up with a PG transfer. Otherwise, I think it's gotta be Trey at PG, which wouldn't bother me all that much since he's such a dog on defense. He can at least be a westbrook type that puts a lot of pressure on defenses with his athleticism.

Complete insanity. And he DID get fouled. This was also after BS calls on the other end. And no way should Trey have been thrown out. The overturned charge was bad too. I actually thought the rest of the game was officiated pretty well. Refs tend to miss a few calls each game, but those three were colossally biased, unfortunately. Proud of the team for out-toughing Wiscy. Verge has gone from bane to baller... kid may very well play in the league.

It looked to me like the order of bench coaches changed in the Penn State game in terms of who was nearest to Fred.

Scheme isn’t just offense. Defense is the central problem. Defense creates offense. Our offense is run 5x better than our defense, which is the worst I’ve ever seen at Nebraska. There aren’t a ton of genius half-court offensive minds in basketball, period. Fran is up there with the absolute best of them. Fred isn’t a bad half court coach, but his system is so predicated on transition that you HAVE to get stops/steals/defensive rebounds in order to make true transition basketball possible. As a tempo offense, this system can absolutely work, but my god… you have to play some semblance of defense or it implodes on itself. Hopefully the wing players and bigs we’ve recruited (and please, a functional true PG) can help.

The exact opposite is the problem with Fred's entire approach. He's either gotta get kids in here that do it automatically like he would've as a player, or coach them up to do it. He should be desperately in the face of ANY kid who wouldn't hit the deck for a loose ball. His comment was a major indictment. Imagine if Izzo said something similar. He never would. Why? Because any kid knows damned well before they walk into practice that they'll have hell to pay if they don't play hard. We all know that about Izzo. It's obvious and inherent. I honestly can't even fathom typing that a formerly celebrated coach like Fred can't get kids to play hard. That's like saying we have no coach at all. Just baffling.

I'm not. I watched him shed all that weight on his own before the first season started, play with zero fear against every opponent, flash some skill here and there, play physical to the best of his ability, and get cut. I knew when he shed the weight he was a keeper because it meant it he was motivated to do the work and get better on his own. Completely horrible decision to turn him loose.

This, although MA seems to have brought in another decent class for next season. This is on Fred for a lack of discipline, IMO. I don't think he knows how to motivate entitled players, which means he needs to step in and recruit guys like him--high character kids who don't need motivation in the same sense because they love the game too much not to have pride in how they play every possession. That's how he was. That's who he needs. With regard to the above problem of motivation, Gates is the absolute last person on staff we should let go.

I share this optimism. I don’t share it for Hoiberg’s coaching at this point, but I very much like the kids being brought in as they should all be D1 athletes on the perimeter defensively. Athletic 6’4”-6’7” guards are sorely lacking on this roster. Instead, we have Bryce, Kobe, Keisei, and CJ, none of whom can stay in front of a B1G guard. I’m guessing Fred gets one more year with those recruits. Assuming things fall apart, at least you’d give the next coach a chance re recruit them to keep them here after next season.

Not sure if he has the handles, but he'd be starting right now regardless. If he does have the handles, he could be a similar PG to the Harris twins that played for Kentucky awhile back. It would be nice for us defensively to roll out 6'6" - 6'7" PG and wings next season. I almost wonder if we could groom Keisei to try it at PG. He just doesn't have the size to guard/get his shot off at any other position and he's a decent passer. He might make a better reserve p&r PG.

Holy shit lol.

Give me a coach who has his teams playing with their hair on fire 40min a game. That has to be the baseline--a profound motivator whose players match his personality. I want to see defense again. Dennis Gates would be awesome. A Shaka Smart disciple would be welcome. Just give me someone who, under no circumstances, puts a product on the floor that gets outworked by an opponent. As a fan, I can always work with and be proud of great effort.

My #1 will always be the 90s NIT champs with three NBA starters on the court. That team should’ve been a title contender.