Fullbacksympathy

Yeah, once OSU realized they weren't playing demigods they started winning individual matchups. That was an interesting one to watch. Duke-Wisky should be a great one. Badgers look amazing this year. They have a fun brand to watch.

Hammond has a motor. We shouldn't take that for granted. He's also pretty skilled and coordinated. He's had some good coaching. His only flaw is strength, but he seems pretty tough. I'd like to see him log more minutes. He could be another hustle/spark guy of the Benny/Rivers mold if he settles in. I think he'll be a pain for post defenders because of his ability to run. Down the road, I think he's going to be the best post player we've had in a while. If he has Ubel's work ethic, he'll end up a lot better than Ubel. Ubel willed his way to being serviceably athletic (an awesome accomplishment). Hammond has that gift already.

I think Hammond is going to contribute more soon. I really liked how he looked out there--much quicker and more intense than I expected, and a great assist to start things off. He's obviously not where he needs to be from an upper body standpoint, but the kid is pretty physical and looked athletic contesting a couple of shots. At the very least, he's the caliber of athlete the other 4 spots are, and he's had some good coaching. I'm relieved. I think he's going to be a good one, and I think it happens this year. Tarin appears to have the clutch gene. I think he ends up being our third perimeter scoring option. I don't mind him and Benny being in at the same time. I think you can put Tarin at the 1 or 2 and he's fine. Tai is being force-fed this scoring role, but I don't think he's ready for it. I think Miles needs to be honest about Tai's performance and give him more bench time. Tarin has been much more consistent, heady, and confident. Play of the game was, once again, from David Rivers hustling. His offensive rebound (1 of 4) led to that great assist from Tarin. I was really glad to see the role players (Rivers, Benny, Tarin) step it up when we needed them late. We can't rely on TP and Shields to play a perfect 40 minutes every night. Those two were tremendous in building our huge lead, but both fell off in the second half. This was a great test to build some confidence in other contributors.

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I really like the idea of Tai as a 2 off the bench for Terran. I think giving him a scorer's mentality will take the pressure off him. He's not a point guard. He's looking more and more like a serviceable 2, which is a relief. That was a pretty jumper on the baseline (good elevation, too), a nice looking corner 3, and he's made some great finishes in transition this year. Hell of a defensive job overall this year so far in every game. I think we're going to love the new coach more and more. Even when we have trouble with intensity, we are doing a nice job with help defense and perimeter position. The ability to switch on the perimeter with our personnel is huge. Offense will come. See Walt. Not sure how the next two games will go, but I'm excited to see notable improvement from the beginning of the year already. We'll be in every game if we continue to play defense this well.

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Pitch with a couple of really nice plays. Glad to see it. Someone needs to get him angry or something. Kid is so talented at that size.

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Really like the lineup of Smith, Shields, Parker, Rivers, Pitchford.. pretty balanced bunch, good execution. That's a very coachable lineup, and really solid defensively.

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Wonderful news. Keep fighting kiddo.

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I think he's a tweener due to his lack of perimeter quickness. I'm hoping he can bulk up some more and become a stretch 4. He's a good rebounder, but probably not quick enough to guard the perimeter at this point, and Miles wants versatile defenders who can guard 1-3 if need be. I think Fuller could help us if we play zone or need a zone buster. Not sure beyond that at this point. The kid has a great looking shot though.

I expect us to have one of the best home court advantages in the country again. We'll get a lot (like, a ridiculously high percentage) of wins at home and steal a few on the road. That'll keep us in good position to succeed every year really.

He won't help us at all this year. http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/10/09/nebraska-loses-freshman-forward-to-season-ending-knee-injury/ That's not referring to Hammond.

Looks like a ranked team to me. Pitchford looked the most NBA ready of the bunch to me (and he's not ready). He's doing things at his size that only a couple of players in college can do offensively. Petteway is fine. He's still doing jaw dropping things with the ball and playing fantastic defense. Shields looks great on both ends. Benny looks majorly improved offensively, both as a facilitator and shooter. It'll be interesting to see how that plays out because his defense is still remarkable. Fuller has nearly flawless form on his jumper, and it goes in. I hope he can figure out how to get open when game time comes though. He was getting eaten alive on the perimeter. I like his willingness to rebound. Could be a great zone buster. Moses is a good defender. He'll help us. He got worked a couple of times by WP but those shots were contested. He's a lot calmer defensively than I anticipated, and that's a good thing. I like what he brings to the table, though it'll be entirely on the defensive end. Tarin is a hell of an addition. You can see his IQ all over the court. He's going to be a great facilitator and help balance our scoring. He's a good enough shooter too. He's not the defender Benny is (who is?), but it's obvious he's been coached well (duh) and will be effective at both ends. Very athletic. Tai should be lauded for his conditioning. He looks a full step faster and stronger than last year. I still don't know what to do with him though. He doesn't look like a 1 or a 2 to me. He looks like a 1.5. That can be good and bad. Defensively though, I think he can guard 1-3 now (he couldn't really guard the 1 last year), which is fantastic. I'm just not sure where he fits in offensively. I'm excited to see how the coaches use him. He kind of reminds me of Cookie Belcher right now. Rivers looked like Rivers, which is a compliment. I still think he starts. I really wish I could see Hammond. I think he'll play this year. So much depth. So many options with lineups. Very exciting times.

If I had to roll out a starting lineup now (based on speculation for a couple players), I'd say: Starters/Bench T. Smith/Parker Petteway/Webster Shields/Fuller Rivers/Hammond Pitchford/Abraham Nice looking squad, regardless of how it shakes out.

Interesting post with regard to Miles involvement with Rivers' improved productivity. There was a lot of criticism on here of Miles at the time he cut Rivers' minutes, particularly from one certain poster. This is certainly a different perspective. I was definitely one of those critics. That said, he went from 1rpg to 7rpg in the same minutes once he cracked the starting lineup again. I really believe he was the difference and, in hindsight, I think Miles did an amazing job motivating him. It was perfect timing.

Rivers should start, or at least get a 25+ min a game. Benching him as a wakeup call before starting him @ MSU was the best personnel move TM made all season. DR is a very underrated player. Good rebounder, great defender, nice midrange jumper, and our toughest player.

^^^That jumped out to me as well. Super developed post game with both hands. He actually seems pretty athletic from a coordination standpoint. Let the S&C get a hold of him and a lot of those layups will be dunks. Tons of upside here from an already skilled player. He's been coached well.

So there are exceptions, but teams like Iowa are generally the rule.

SMU beat UConn twice, Memphis, and Cincinnati. 16-1 record at home. 27-10 overall. They should've gotten in.

Iowa was ranked going into March 8 and lost 6 of their last 7. They were .500 in conference with a 1-5 record against ranked teams. No way should they have gotten in. Their "potential" got them in.

We started off with some tough losses last year: Umass, UAB, Creighton, Cinci. I think at least split those sort of games this year. That should give us more momentum heading into conference play. Additionally, I think we'll be much likelier to be ranked or almost ranked throughout the season. It makes a big difference when you're hovering around the Top 25 come Selection Sunday. Remember how bad everyone seemed to want Iowa in last year? They had absolutely no reason to be in consideration based on performance. I think we'll be better than last year, regardless.