nebrasketball10

DJ Byrd, the resident Team Bro (every team has one, I think...). You know the type...buys Jaeger bombs by the boatload at the bar, wears a lot of Affliction, listens solely to gangsta rap and likely has a penis the size of my travel lipstick. You never leave That Guy open on the perimeter, though, because basically his one purpose on the team is to shoot 3s. The only time the other guys on the team are willing to act like they know him socially is when he makes them. So he does. And I would dearly love one more opportunity for one of our seniors to straight-up own him. Haha sort of like Jake Sullivan from Iowa St a while back? Who else... This might deserve its own thread.

Probably, but 6-8 three-point shooters (he played shooting guard last year which means he can also ball handle) don't come around these parts very often. They don't come around anywhere very often. If he has a big summer on an AAU team...you never know. Playing shooting guard for a class D1 school doesn't mean you can ball handle.

Me neither... But my ticket to the last ever game at The Bob will probably go in a frame with a picture of my family in attendance. ...Then again, I suppose I could frame the Runza wrapper...

Hasn't Runza changed the promotional requirements a couple of times? I wonder if they'll change it next year, based on the results this year.

Agreed

I'm not trying to suggest he won't be an important member. I simply said he is best suited to be a role player due to his one-dimensionalness (not sure what word I should use there...). His defense is much improved this year, but I'm not sure I'd consider him a plus defender yet. I'm not sure what else he brings, other than that he attracts the attention of the opponent's defense (but only because we don't have many scoring options). Admittedly, I haven't seen much of practice this year, but from what I've seen in teh past, Ray isn't much of a vocal leader. Although he does set a decent example for others to follow in terms of effort.

Oh, and I'm the lone vote for Biggs. I don't see anyone averaging much over 12-14 points a game next year, so I think it's a tossup and I thought I'd be different. From what I've heard of Biggs, he can get to the basket and create a shot for himself. Hopefully he has been working/will continue to work on his shooting before next season. If he can knock down open looks, he could be solid for us. I don't think it's very likely that a freshman comes in an performs as the leading scorer over the course of the year. None of our recruits appear to be good enough to come in from day one and be a go-to guy. Hopefully a couple of them can develop into legitimate options by conference play, at which point their will be another adjustment period for them.

I somewhat agree with Tex and Handy in that Ray SHOULD BE a role player (i.e. not a top option) on a good team. He cannot create his own shot, does not have the ability to drive, and is not a good enough shooter to run an offense around (a la a JJ Reddick). That being said, I think we will be a better team next year, but not a good team. Therefore, Ray will still be a top option. Hopefully some of our freshman and transfers play at a level that will allow us to create more open set shots for him within the offense so he doesn't have to "jack up" ugly threes. If defense can't focus primarily on Ray, it should greatly improve his percentages, and us as a team.

I could see us having a pretty balanced scorebook next season.

I'm not disappointed because the coaches know how glaring of a need we have for bigs. If they choose note to pursue him, obviously there's a reason.

What did he say they've proven? And over what long haul?

Generally speaking, over the past 5 years, people blamed Doc for premature attrition, not player choice. That may be accurate and it might not be. I don't know. But anytime the subject of player turnover came up, there were plenty of people who said that Doc kept pushing people out rather than developing them. That he'd miss on a recruit and push them out the door. That kind of thing. My perception of this staff, from what was said at that meet and greet, is that they don't have the luxury of doing that even if they wanted to. Now, between now and the 2014 recruiting class early signing period (this coming November) there just aren't a lot of guys who might transfer of their own volition. Where's Ray Gallegos going? Anywhere? Not likely. Nor Shields, nor Rivers, nor any of the three guys sitting out right now as transfers. That leaves Benny and Sergej. ACAG said very clearly the coaches are behind Sergej, like his upside, and think he'll develop. Sergej isn't getting pushed out any doors. Will Benny depart on his own? Maybe if he thinks that there will be too much competition for minutes at point guard. But, again, he won't get pushed out the door. I might have thought Sergej would be a guy that they might tell to look for places where he'd be a better fit. But the ACAG said the APR puts us in a position where we really can't have much turnover, if at all. From my experience with Doc, he didn't "push players out." Some weren't getting the PT they wanted, Doc told them they had to get better and play better in practice or they would continue riding pine. If they'd rather transfer than work to earn the position, Doc would help them pack. There might be a couple of exceptions, but the majority thought they should be playing more and Doc thought otherwise.

I understand - and that's good info that clears the Sergej redshirt question up. But it's not always up to the coaches if a player wants to transfer. I would be very surprised if we didn't have SOME attrition before the 2014 class. I'd have to go back and look to remember the last time we didn't have any...

Why force us to assume no attrition? When was the last time we didn't have ANY attrition? I don't think assuming no attrition is a very likely scenario.

Big time players create for themselves. Ray is a very solid role player - especially with his seemingly improved defense. He is an inconsistent shooter that can either light it up or go 2-12.

When a referee anticipates a call. On any call. It sucks.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="MilesDavis" data-cid="12891" data-time="1358627041"><p> Shields is an entirely better all-around player than Anderson and McCray. Shields is athletic. He can play defense against players his own size. And he can create his own shot. McCray couldn't get his own shot unless it was 25-feet away and he didn't play D. Anderson couldn't drive and he could only guard 4s. Shields is just a really good basketball player, and he looks so young. He is only going to get better and better.</p></blockquote> McCray was more gifted athlete than Shields... He was just extremely lazy and got overweight/outta shape. He was also very capable of creating his own shot, but he definitely preferred to sit on the 3 point line and catch and shoot. McCray was more gifted, but from what I've seen of Shields, I'd take him any day.

Good foresight. I like Shields - seems to has a nose for the ball. Gets his shot blocked a lot - could stand to benefit from working on driving and finishing.

I wonder what would happen if we "reset" the polls now that we're in conference play... I would imagine the number of votes for Gallegos would take a dive. Maybe not... but those people who think Gallegos will be one of our best players must be thinking either 1) he will improve drastically over the offseason, or 2) we're not going to be very good again. I'm not sure I'd call Rey one of the best 3 players on the current team.

Shatel used RealTime RPI in his article the other day to demonstrate that there's no such thing as a "mid-major" in basketball anymore (there was a high number of mid-majors in the top 25). RPI is a joke this time of year. Or any time of year until the end. Even then...

Someone said Michigan has scored 80 in 5 straight games, and 100 in 3 of them. We will score more than our usual 40 because we will get more possessions, but I say Michigan -22 (the last I saw it at) is a good bet.

In my experience, they never have. Exception being summer visits (usually unofficial) when "practices" are informal, led by players, and not monitored by the NCAA. Not sure if that's related at all. In season, practice time is limited. Recruits would sit on the sidelines and watch practice, and maybe shoot around afterwards. Not sure if it would make much sense when we are trying to prepare for a game to say, "hey come suit up and run with us for a bit." We never did... but no clue if it's the NCAA rule or just coach's preference.

By no means am I trying to say that Attewe would be another Balham at Nebraska. I'm saying Attewe isn't a type of player that we haven't been able to land in a decade. He reminds me of Balham coming out of high school... great body, very athletic, but extremely raw (both had only played organized ball for a few years). Not a bad thing by any means... maybe Balham is a better player with better coaching and less injuries during his time here. I'm simply saying - at this point - he's not anything TOO out of the ordinary. I certainly trust *any* coaching staff in evaluating talent over myself. I do not claim to be a talent evaluator. But remember, at this point Miles is well past "Plan A", and probably somewhere near "Plan M"... I'd be willing to be Miles wouldn't compare this guy to Derrick Chandler or Venson Hamilton or say that he's a type of guy that Nebraska hasn't had in 10 years.

Balham's injuries weren't known out of high school. They're both extremely athletic with good bodies, but very raw. Both had/have only played ball for a limited time. I'm not saying identical... Just that I don't see how he's the type of recruit we haven't had in a decade. I would definitely compare him to Balham more than Hamilton or Chandler.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="nustudent" data-cid="9933" data-time="1357511206"><p> Atewe is the exact type of player that we need and havent been able to land in a decade+</p></blockquote> Coming out of high school, how is he any different than Chris Balham?? Same type of player to me. Not saying Atewe can't/won't be better... Just not sure how he's the type of player we haven't been able to land in 10 years.