GhostOfJoeMcCray

FWIW: Gavin Griffiths was a top 50 national recruit with offers from UCONN, Alabama, Creighton and others. Nick Janowski was a top 130 national recruit with offers from Marquette, Wisconsin, Iowa State and others. Eli Rice was a top 300 recruit with offers from Georgetown and St. Bonaventure. Jamarques Lawrence was a top 200 recruit with offers from Wake Forest, Cal and DePaul. At least on paper, this is a serious upgrade in talent at guard over Rice and Lawrence. Now, Keisei's clutch shots and momentum changing shots will certainly be missed, don't get me wrong. At the end of the day he provided 15.1 ppg and was a 37.6% three point shooter. I think Griffiths/Janowski and the increased volume for Williams can make up all that difference, and we'll be better defensively just by not having Keisei out there.

Janowski should have been included with Griffiths to make it a more equal comparison. I think Janowski can have a better freshman year than Eli Rice did production wise. And I think Griffiths can have a much better first year here than Keisei did his first year (5.7 ppg, 33% from 3). But it's hard to see Griffiths equaling Keisei's 15.1 points per game and shooting percentages from this season. Also, none of these guys should be confused with being elite defenders. But Eli was terribly slow and Griffiths is 6-8 too and seems way more athletic, so if he even tries that should be an upgrade. And Janowski should be a better defender than Keisei even as a freshman. According to this analytics site EvanMiya.com, Eli Rice had the least defensive value on the team at 0.29. CJ was next at 0.29. Keisei was next at 0.64.

Michigan State makes the most sense given their lineup openings, and that Frankie visited there last and postponed his announcement the next day, probably to let Chucky get his stuff in order.

wonder if he got his million after all or "settled" for $750k

Would Creighton or Michigan State be worse? at least with Creighton we get it over with early in the season and don't have to watch them again. Michigan State we'll be competing with in standings all year long.

certainly feels like all 3 are going to end up at the same school, or at least Fidler/Hepburn. Fidler delaying his commitment, Kyle taking a long time and a lot of visits, Hepburn finally pulling the trigger on what's been rumored for a couple years now.

NCAA already ruled on this in November. I don't think there is any doubt that Ulis is eligible to play this upcoming season. “Effective immediately, reinstatement guidelines for student-athletes who wager on teams at their school — excluding their own team — will start at requiring one season of ineligibility and a loss of one year of eligibility…” the DI council stated in a press release. “Previous guidelines, as approved in June, prescribed permanent ineligibility for those cases. The adjusted guidelines may be applied to cases in which student-athletes are currently serving suspensions related to wagering on a different team at their own school that were reported on or after May 2, 2023.”

Well Payne seems to be out of the picture so we don't have to worry about that. Same for Hugley. And although they didn't play, guys like Kojenets, Keita and Diop were all recruited here and had no outside shooting ability. So I think Fred is comfortable having at least 1 or 2 bigs on the roster who are not a threat from outside.

Allick was 8-22 from 3. He attempted less than 1 three per game and on average made one 3 pointer every 4 games played. Rienk Mast was 42-122. Andrew Morgan was 12-33. Igor Milicic was 56-149. IMO, we need 2 of these 3 above and we'll be fine, and then Kyle will do things on the court none of our other bigs could do last year. I expect Brice to carry a much bigger shooting load with Keisei gone, and Griffiths will make a huge leap over his Rutgers production. Lost in all that is Nick Janowski, who I've been really high on and still think can have a role, especially if he comes in this summer and establishes himself as a shooter. We're also still trying to land Essiegan. Also, no one has seen Ahron Ulis shoot a basketball since having Fred Hoiberg coach him for 12 months. I do not think it's unreasonable to think he can match Jamarques' numbers (36-101, 35.6%) while doing everything else at the PG spot better. Fred Hoiberg is not going to have a roster short on shooters.

Correct, and that's why I agreed with millerhusker that I think we are. Morgan is a better athlete than Mast/Allick. Griffiths is a better athlete than CJ/Keisei. Worster and Ulis are at least equal to if not better athletes than Lawrence. Kyle is the one we really need who is next level compared to anyone on our roster.

This. And I'm glad we're not selling our soul to just go get the most athletic guys out there just to try and beat 2024 Texas A&M that shot unbelievable from 3 and would have beaten almost anyone on that night. We have to continue doing the model that has won us Big Ten games over the last 14 months, which is smart, hard-working, unselfish, experienced dudes who can shoot and will give max effort on defense. You can't win a tournament game if you can't get to the tournament. After the A&M game, some fans seem to think we should be getting athletic freaks and that those same players will also be great shooters and super effective in Fred's 5-out offense and will also have the discipline, work ethic and attitude of a Sam Griesel/Sam Hoiberg. Newsflash: if you are all of those things you are in the NBA or getting offered by UConn/North Carolina/Kansas/Duke.

Woodson can use all the NIL money he wants. Fred coached circles around him though this season.

The more I read about and watch this guy the more I think he may actually be our starter this season. But we need to get some shooters. I didn't realize CJ ended the year 50-127 (39.4%) and Brice ended at 50-129 (38.8%). Nearly identical. Would not have guessed Brice was as accurate from 3 as CJ was, but CJ did struggle quite a bit down the stretch. Keisei was only 37.6% (76-202). Milicic was 56-149 (37.6%). We need at least 1, ideally 2 shooters. I want that to be Milicic and Griffiths.

I get what you are saying, but I also don't think Boogie Coleman was coming here planning to be the #10 guy on our team...but in the end somebody had to be. Boogie accepted that ri$k because it had a good deal of benefit to him even if he ended up being the 10th/11th man. And in this era of college basketball, it's not hard to imagine some kids would rather take a big pay day and potentially not play than get a few hundred bucks and play a lot. And based on what we're seeing it would appear our NIL game is in very strong shape. Kyle visiting here a second time can't hurt, but I can't get a good read on that one. Milicic has said he wants to decide after this upcoming weekend. I guess I like the order of how it's playing out. Morgan signed first, but Milicic probably sees plenty of potential to play right now given Mast's risk of missing some/a lot of time, and also not knowing what Kyle plans to do. Then if they're both signed by the time Kyle decides in late April/early May, well you have to figure Kyle still believes he walks in and starts at the 4 on this team. And then Rienk says I'm good, I'll be ready by November :) One can dream.

I would hope not. All indications are the staff was very impressed with him during practice this season and I think Ulis should expect to be a starter. Worster is quality competition/insurance. But crazier things have happened.

Say what you will about recruiting rankings, but Griffiths was a top 40 recruit by Rivals, by ESPN, by 247 Sports and by ON3. He played one season of college basketball and has three years remaining and is a 6-8 shooter. If Fred helps this kind find his stroke (which he will)...

Robin just added an official prediction for Worster to NU too.

Gotcha. Kyle is the biggest must get for our roster, especially if Mast is done because we need bigs badly then. Milicic I want very much for his skillset though.

Kyle completes the starting 5. We need some Meh's too though.

With you on Griffiths, Worster and Kyle, and add in Milicic please. But all signs point to Hickman to Cincy or Indiana so I don't think he's realistic.

In order of likelihood to commit to us over the next few weeks I would guess: Worster, Ola Joseph, Milicic, Kyle, Hugley, Griffiths, Payne, Fidler

Long live the thread.

Yeah Milicic is an elite shooter. And 6-10. Sign me up.

HuskerOnline message board. "Rollie Worster - Utah Transfer. A little birdie told me he is on an OV here in Lincoln right now. Immediate impact pg if he is actually here."

Worster averaged 9.9 points, 5.5 assists, 4.9 rebounds this year for Utah and didn't play after January 11 due to injury. He had a 2.9 A:TO ratio last year. He's not a great 3pt shooter (29% career) but he is a 78% FT shooter. Utah was 12-4 with Worster and was 10-11 without him this season. While he is not a great shooter, it would appear his best strength is running an offense and contributes all around (some scoring, play making, rebounding). One thing to note: we played Utah in our closed scrimmage last fall so Fred and staff have obviously gotten to see Worster play against our guys.