Concrete

talley is good.  he shoots too much, but a lot of that is due to nobody else on the team being able to get open.  it's not a coincidence that talley's best games come when someone else is knocking down their shots.  based off his shooting percentage you'd think he's a selfish player, but he's more than willing to pass the ball to someone if they have a good look.  i wish we had him for another year, i think he'd be a hell of a PG on a talented team

huh?  you don't think gallegos redshirting helped his game?  he looks like a completely different player now than he did as a sophomore and freshman.  he's not great, but he is much better than i thought he'd be

the refs had some $ on PSU and officiated the final minute accordingly

Ryan had a better supporting cast his freshman year than Shavon does this year, I think.

yea, i don' think you can put ryan in this discussion unless you're talking purely stats.  Not discrediting Anderson, but Shields makes it look easier and has way more potential

mccray was good, but if these last two games are indicative of what Shields is then they aren't even in the same category.  Pretty sure McCray shot less than 40% his freshman season.  Shavon is just way more efficient.  He is also miles ahead of McCray on defense

FWIW, purdue is only a 1 point favorite tomorrow 

Well, whatever it was, Miles was doing the talking and he wasn't letting it go when Izzo was appearing to try to break contact and move onto shaking the next guy's hand.  Was clear that Miles wasn't done talking and wasn't going to let Izzo go until he was.  And with Miles pointing to the court, he was talking about something particular and wanted Izzo to hear it.  That's my perception.

 

We'll never know what was said and I doubt Miles will publicly contradict how Izzo characterized the exchange, but the way Izzo characterized it does not seem to be consistent with the video of the exchange.  (So, who am I to believe?  Izzo or my lying eyes?)

there were multiple media outlets/twitter guys that said that the exchange was completely professional and friendly well before Izzo did

Not UConn again.  Calhoun screwed us out of Will Harris a few years back and then kicked Harris to the curb when he decided he could get a better player.  Meanwhile, we get shat on.  I hate Calhoun.  UConn, you stay away from our recruit.

calhoun doesn't coach at UCONN anymore

When do we get our first Big 10 win?  Hopefully at the latest our next home game against Purdue (game #5).

probably january of 2014

Petteway, Webster, Shields

Keep hearing that Petteway is by far the best of the transfers (which is saying something, because they're all solid)

"

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE FRIGGIN MAN SKORTS THAT THEY WEAR IN BASKETBALL....DAMN YOU MICHAEL JORDAN!"

Are those kid off your yard yet? ;-) I have to say I agree. Nebraska has a brand already and all the novelty uniforms just scream MERCHANDISING (in Mel Brooks' voice)

No black unis. No one game only unis. Red white and let's leave the other guys black and blue.

Go Big RED.

we have a brand in football, but not basketball.  Recruits think alternate uniforms are cool, so we should go that route more often (in bball, not necessarily football).  IMO

He'll blow up later this year and this summer once he's out of the shadows of Agau and the other guys on his AAU team.

no need to make excuses. Ed Morrow is a sophomore at Simeon making headlines coming off the bench on a team with the #3 player in the country, two players committed to Illinois in a 4* and 3*, and a 2014 star in DJ Williams. If youre good enough people take notice regardless of whats around you.

...just like Doug McDermott did...oh wait...

i hope gallegos is the last player we'll ever redshirt after he's already been in the program for 2 years. That is a clear indication of roster mismanagement

well Webster is the darkhorse. If he's as good as the hype suggests, guys like Rivers, Shields, and Petteway (along with everybody else) will look that much better. We definitely aren't going to be a powerhouse next year, but we're building a competitive foundation. Baby steps. No use in wasting a scholarship to reach on a big this year, that's not how programs are built. If Atewe goes elsewhere, switch the focus to the following class. If that falls through, open up the check book and start asking guys "How much?"

will brandon ubel's free throw with 10 seconds left will be our last made shot of the season?

i think if Miles was truly concerned about this you'd see a much more aggressive effort towards getting a big. Right now it seems like we're targeting Atewe and that's it. I'm guessing we'll be going with a 4 out 1 in next year. If Vucetic can just be serviceable and Atewe commits we'll be sitting alright with Pitchford/Atewe/Vucetic at the 4/5 and Petteway/Shields/Rivers/Fuller at the 3/4. It seems like Miles is already going away from the Almeida/Ubel look now that Shields is healthy

It would be ill advised for us to cut down on Petteway, Shields, and Rivers minutes just for the sake of getting another true 4 or 5 on the court. Those are three of our best/most complete players going into next season and you do what it takes to get them in the mix, even if it means going with a "smaller" line up (Although 6'6/6'7 isn't exactly "small" in college basketball).

It won't be anything like the small line up we had to use with Doc a few years back.

I'm pretty confident in saying there is no way Rivers transfers unless he's completely homesick or unhappy here. He's going to get quite a bit of minutes at the 4 next year.. We're going to run a 4 out 1 in with him and Shields splitting time at the 4. Possibly Fuller, too, but I can't see him being strong enough as a true freshman to be effective on the defensive side at 4.

That said, I can't see Rivers being unhappy here after the improvement he's shown under Miles. He has to be pretty happy with this staff and will want to continue to let them develop him

i'll go on a limb and predict a 68-52 UTEP win

Benny may not have the skill to be a starting point guard in the big ten, but he is going to be incredibly valuable off the bench next year. He won't be forced to do so much thinking next year, he can just play. The guy can score.

I think that Groce said thanks but no thanks when we called to see if we could even talk to him.

He wanted a ridiculous amount of money ($3M IIRC) and we wouldn't do it.

we need all these guys far more in the future than we do this year. if there's a chance of chronic injury by continuing to play them this year, it is in our best interest to shut them down (not too worried about that being the case with Parker, but definitely am with Shields)

we've looked better than expected but anyone who thinks this is an NCAA tourny team seriously needs to take a step back and look at things objectively. You're not doing the program any favors by having that type of expectation

too bad there isn't an eligible juco all american point guard on the bench...

if there were ever a year where attending practice would be totally worth it, this is the year with all of the guys redshirting. I'd love to see Biggs/Pitchford/Petteway and 2 others against our starting 5. However, due to the uniqueness of the situation i totally understand why practices are closed.

cutting fahro was probably a mistake, but hindsight is 20/20. i don't think anyone was disappointed when the decision was made

isn't he from canada? Maybe he doesn't know the difference between Duke and Nebraska