jimmychitwood

So late to this. I was sitting in a structural engineering class when our professor’s pager went off. He was part of the national search and rescue squad and said a plane hit the first tower but thought it was a test. About 30 minutes later, the state patrol walked into class to escort him to Whiteman for a flight to NYC. He left and the Dean of Engineering came in and told us to all go home. We still had no idea of what had actually occurred until we heard the radio driving home. Completely surreal. Professor was gone for around 7 weeks and was too traumatized to talk about what he saw when he came back. Two years later to the date, I leave the US to go live with my future wife in Australia. Mixed feelings about 9/11

The on court problems and results are on Fred, but can you imagine where this program would be without incompetence from the admin and outside sources? The Diaz English proficiency test, Robert Sallie, and two guys going to the tourney this year not on this roster due to the OWH and lawyers. Can you imagine this team with Keyontae Johnson and Adana Sanogo on it? Sanogo takes Oleg’s spot and although I love him, KT is playing in Japan this year to get Johnson. That is easily a tourney team. I know this is a post full of what-ifs, but that’s a reason why judging Fred’s success here isn’t as cut and dry as looking at the record.

I think Baundo is going to eventually be the man on this team. It seemed every time the team needed a bucket, he got one. He plays within himself and just appears to be an on-court leader.

First, to address the original topic, I’m tired of Sipple going in the radio and saying “wins matter” with regards to Fred when he spent football season on his knees for a coach that won 3 games (1 power 5 team in there). I’m fine with Fred getting next year. He’s going to finally have a legitimate amount of bigs to complete instead of managing time between Walker and Andre. He should also have ball handlers on the team. If things don’t improve next year, it’s time for him to go but with the incoming core, another year is needed.

Verge cannot be on the floor at the end of a close game. His hero ball completely kills any semblance of offensive cohesion and he thinks every off-balance prayer is a foul which leads to him pouting/complaining for half of the next defensive possession. Hopefully Trey’s return fixes that. The constant switching up top on defense needs to stop as well. Too often there is confusion on who’s guarding who or we are left in serious mismatches which give open driving lanes that just compound the problem.

Last season really dispersed that idea. After the Covid stoppage and Teddy dismissal, that team played exactly how he would have wanted it, even if it was every other day. Trey getting hurt completely destroyed this team. He was the only leader that can be there on and off the court. I’m actually encouraged that we are trending towards having up to 4 bigs that can play with shooters around them for the next couple of years. An inside threat will really help 3 point percentages.

My biggest issue is how poorly Verge attacks the pick and roll. If the lane isn’t completely wide open, he doesn’t go hard to the rim and seems to wait for the pocket pass to Walker. That doesn’t pull defenders to allow the quick swing passes to open 3’s.

I really didn’t feel like rebounding was an issue outside of the final 5 minutes. Up to that point, I only remember 2 or 3 possessions where we gave up big offensive rebounds. One thing that needs to be considered with rebounding stats is the number of turnovers we cause. That cuts down rebound opportunities. If we win points off of turnovers against second chance points, then it equals an overall stats win in my book.

I can’t imagine it was very enjoyable for the team. Fred’s body language during the game and during the media session looked like he was extremely pissed. On Monday he mentioned how hard they worked on rebounding and the lack of defensive discipline to find a body, not over rotate on drives, and protecting the weak side board went against almost everything he said. I won’t even mention the offense. It wouldn’t surprise me if the team has heard “I taught you how to play my way and you decided to do it yours. Look where that got us” a hundred times.

This falls solely at the feet of the Athletic Department for continuing to schedule teams from Illinois for the opener. I’m not wasting my time in Ireland next August.

Where was her letter about the football team? If I remember correctly, 96 of the 149 players currently on the team were brought in by Frost. That's pretty close to the 2 to 3 leftovers after Hoiberg's hire.

A large part of me wants the movie ending where Nebraska wins the NIT with 6 players and Miles quits during the post game interview. It would be the most Nebrasketball thing ever. Coach quits before being fired for tying the most wins in a season and best post season performance in school history.

Fine, if coach stays I’ll play.

If Miles is gone, that’s the biggest issue. What decent candidate is going to look at the external optics of how the administration has handled the last year and think this is a good place to coach or build their career? It’s a bad look all around. If what everyone outside the program sees is this bad, I can only imagine what is said in private conversations between any candidates and Miles and his staff is worse.

Two numbers to explain why we are at a "plateau"....17 ppg & 4.5 apg. Those are Xavier Johnson's numbers at Pitt this year. If this Administration really cared about basketball and didn't drag out the laughable 1 year extension after the most conference wins of all time, he could be on this roster. If they really wanted to win, give Miles a few more years for security (we only make 52 million a year from tv now) and give Kenya whatever was necessary to keep him and Johnson here. A player of his caliber completely changes this roster.