Fullbacksympathy

We're going to be tied for 6th in the conference with at least one other team heading into Saturday's game.

Lue, PIke, Strick, and B12 POTY Hamilton!

75-71 good guys, 6

Glynn needs the rock in his hands.

That was a crap call on Michael. Straight up. Dude jumped right into him.

Whole lotta heart so far tonight.

Individuals: AWIII is an NBA player. I think he's a 3 and D guy, especially with his strength, toughness, attitude, and willingness to rebound. He's better than Petteway (not a dig--I love TP)--more efficient, better attitude, better rebounder. Shields was clutch today helping to end a couple of Illinois runs. He's playing much more under control and being super intelligent when he drives. He's so crafty when he's in the flow of the game. Morrow is a stud. I knew he'd find his way. He has way too much talent and work ethic not to be out there. The confidence of our team is high when he's on the court being a difference maker. HUGE block in transition. Watson is phenomenal. His physical gifts are obvious, but what stands out to me is how many plays he makes while taking care of the ball. He has a great assist:turnover, and the kid is clutch. Tai deserves to be a great player. He's worked his ass off for this school. He's the most improved defender I think I've ever seen at UNL. I'm thrilled for the kid. Benny, Jacobson, and McVeigh all did some good things in reserve roles, where they should be. Other thoughts: We were looking to push the whole game after every defensive rebound. With our lack of size and great speed, I'm truly surprised we didn't do this earlier in the season. We're 3-0 with this mentality. I liked the switch up in defensive pressure. Those subtleties help keep the other team's offense out of rhythm. Hopefully we keep doing this. We had pretty solid transition defense, which is one area where Miles should take a note or two from Doc. I thought they were really intent on getting back and matching up tonight, which was huge. Molinari has gotten a bad rap, in my opinion. Last season, we didn't have a single three point shooter on the roster. Think about how much of a difference AWIII makes just in that area alone. That has nothing to do with Molinari. If you want to critique Molinari, look no further than the individual defensive improvements of Tai, Watson, Morrow, McVeigh, and Jacobson. The on-ball defense of these guys is light years from where they started. That's technique and coaching. I see much less of a need to land a traditional 6'10" 250lb center if we're going to continue pushing the tempo like this. I would still love to have one, but I'm certainly not panicking as much if we continue to play fast and attack. With our lineup of Watson, Tai, White, Shields, and Morrow, we were easily more athletic than any lineup Illinois could put on the court. That's a testament to Miles' recruiting. Great win. Welcome back to the bubble outskirts, kids. I don't think we need to think of any game moving forward as a "miracle win" scenario. We're a decent team, minimum. We just need to continue playing well and we'll get some wins.

75-70 bad guys but I say that with very little confidence.

Yes please. This kid is doing a lot of high difficulty things with ease. Good build too. Looks strong and confident.

Agree. We're currently at 105.

Yep. This kid is a very talented passer, and has good enough handles to be a true point guard to go along with great PG length. I'm really intrigued by his future. I think he and GW are going to be excellent compliments to one another moving forward. I like the way this staff is grooming him as a true freshman. Watson/Evelyn Gill/Webster White/Roby McVeigh/Morrow/Horne Jacobson/Hammond That's a pretty mean looking squad next season. He better dramatically improve his outside shot if he's ever going to be a factor. Not much of a sample size. I'd look at his hs film for evidence of catching fire outside. I see this kid getting a lot of minutes down the road.

Yep. This kid is a very talented passer, and has good enough handles to be a true point guard to go along with great PG length. I'm really intrigued by his future. I think he and GW are going to be excellent compliments to one another moving forward. I like the way this staff is grooming him as a true freshman. Watson/Evelyn Gill/Webster White/Roby McVeigh/Morrow/Horne Jacobson/Hammond That's a pretty mean looking squad next season.

75-72 good guys

You'd have to be insane to not be impressed with the young developing talent. The upperclassmen and coaches need to learn to trust these freshmen offensively. I thought Shields had a really solid game. He was unselfish, played great defense, and played within himself. When he does that, we get a lot more open looks and contributions from other players. That's how he played in the first half against IU and we were the better team that half. Our young guys (Mcveigh, Watson, Morrow at the rim) are capable of scoring the ball. They need to start thinking of themselves as weapons and stop playing like sidekicks. Shields is a much better utility guy within the offense than straight up scorer. AW3 is a phenomenal scorer within the offense because he's such an incredible shooter. He's going to be much more efficient if we're all sharing the ball and moving because he's nothing special off the dribble. I'm really encouraged with what I saw. It was good to see multiple contributions for the duration of the game instead of just one half.

72-66 good guys

Don't settle. Please blow this awful team out. Also, Ed Morrow was solid--very active beyond 6pts, 2rb.

70-64 good guys

75-63 bad guys

Also, Northwestern is a good team. I wasn't all that disappointed with the last game's effort from players. I just hated that we didn't see Hammond. I thought Miles coached away that W.

Way better substitutions today. Hammond's length really makes a difference on defense. He looks fine out there. The Morrow at the 5 experiment needs to die forever. It's nice to see we're starting to trust the freshmen to contribute offensively because they're capable.

72-66 bad guys

I think Jacobson is a tweener, but I agree that he's a more natural 4 at this point. I could see him swinging 4-5 down the road. Morrow, McVeigh, and Fuller should be playing the 4 100% of the time, however.

What I can't figure out is why on earth we can't field a true front court with a 4 and 5 at the same time during the game. It looks like this: Watson/Parker = 1 Webster/White/Shields = 2-3 Morrow/McVeigh/Fuller = 4 Jacobson/Hammond = 5 One of the things I was excited about this year was fielding an actual full roster (depleted or not). Why play guys out of position when they could potentially dominate their natural spot? Weird.

Great analysis. This guy has gotten us to a top 4 conference talent level. We just need to let the underclassmen ferment and keep filling in talented rosters behind them. It's reasonable to wait given what Miles done in recruiting has basically never happened before at Nebraska (Nee was close).

68-66 good guys 7 conference wins