Coaches kid

Have not been able to see any practices or workouts. Covering hoops is my side job so I haven’t been able to make it to any of the summer media availabilities either unfortunately. 
 
Right now I’m buying any and all Nick Janowski stock that I can buy.
 
On paper, I’m far more intrigued by this team on paper than I was by this past season’s group before the year. All the vibes have been good, but it’s also July. 

One thing that we need to remind ourselves is that part of coaching is just that, actually coaching basketball skills. We seem to get lost in thinking that Player A did this at his last school so that is exactly what he is and he can't be a different or better player for Nebraska and for Fred Hoiberg. 
 
Brice Williams was a 6th man. At Charlotte. He averaged 13.8 / 5.3 / 1.2 playing against AAC competition. He averaged 13.4 / 5.5 / 2.5 at Nebraska starting every game and playing in the Big Ten. Essentially you could say a guy whose role was Charlotte's 6th man in 2022-23 was arguably Nebraska's best and most important player in 2023-24 on the the best team we've had in a longggg time. He had more assists this season than he did in 3 years at Charlotte. No one last year would have been saying this guy would be doing all that. 
 
Rienk Mast shot 122 treys for us last year when his previous season totals were 92, 95, 68. Mast had 95 assists when his previous season totals were 37, 44, 70. He was more of an outside threat and distributor at Nebraska than he ever was at Bradley. 
 
Keisei Tominaga was not really a very good player for the first 1.5 years of his Nebraska career. Until Fred unlocked him and then he transformed his game into being a scorer both inside and out and getting to the free throw line. If you remember to 2021-22, he was not that whatsoever. 
 
Fred Hoiberg is our basketball coach. The Big Ten Coach of the Year and National Coach of the Year. He is by all accounts an offensive genius. Our system and sets immediately put our players in a better situation than they have probably ever been in in their lives. The difference between last year and previous years is he stopped just taking the highest rated player they could get or biggest name they could get and instead actually found skillsets that would complement each other and make for a tough, good team. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that the players he is bringing in is because he sees something in them that he can bring out. 

Nowhere close to soft. Kindness rivals few, if any, other characteristics a human being can possess. 

Agreed 💯

Great points, Norm. Missing those layups had a substantial effect on the game. I'd have to go back and look, but I was at the game and it seemed like every time we missed those easy shots, A&M came back and scored on the next possession. The misses were demoralizing and caused us to press on the offensive end. Allick played and fought so hard, but his missed layups hurt us. 
 
As for the pieces we need to add next year, we need to have an athletic shot altering forward to play alongside Mast (if he returns). While he was able to be a facilitator on the offensive end, it was evident that A&M didn't fear getting their shots blocked once they got in the lane. Not every team we play will have Relaford/Obaseki type guys, but when we do have that type of match up, it would be nice to have a guy who could put some fear in them at the rim. Kyle would the type of guy to be helpful in that area. 
 
We also need a big guard/wing who can stay in front of the basketball at an elite level. Juwan is a good defensive player, but I don't think his lateral movement is elite. He was matched up on those A&M guys many times, and he did not do a great job of keeping them out of the lane. From what I remember from Ulis, he may help us there. Having a true point guard will also allow Williams to play off the ball, and I think he could see a leap in his game if given that chance.   
 
 

Great points, Norm. Missing those layups had a substantial effect on the game. I'd have to go back and look, but I was at the game and it seemed like every time we missed those easy shots, A&M came back and scored on the next possession. The misses were demoralizing and caused us to press on the offensive end. Allick played and fought so hard, but his missed layups hurt us. 
 
As for the pieces we need to add next year, we need to have an athletic shot altering forward to play alongside Mast (if he returns). While he was able to be a facilitator on the offensive end, it was evident that A&M didn't fear getting their shots blocked once they got in the lane. Not every team we play will have Relaford/Obaseki type guys, but when we do have that type of match up, it would be nice to have a guy who could put some fear in them at the rim. Kyle would the type of guy to be helpful in that area. 
 
We also need a big guard/wing who can stay in front of the basketball at an elite level. Juwan is a good defensive player, but I don't think his lateral movement is elite. He was matched up on those A&M guys many times, and he did not do a great job of keeping them out of the lane. From what I remember from Ulis, he may help us there. Having a true point guard will also allow Williams to play off the ball, and I think he could see a leap in his game if given that chance.   
 
 

111

We need PBA to be completely rocking these next two home games.  Playing 2 very dangerous teams and can easily lose to either of them.  The average fan might not realize it.  We have to help bringh these guys home.  

Two years ago, we were coming off the worst three-year run in the modern history of the program. Maybe ever, but I'm not going to go back to the beginning to verify. Twenty-four wins combined in his first three seasons here and I'm of the understanding Fred thought he was done, which was why he didn't schedule a youth basketball camp that summer after his third season.
 
The only thing that probably saved his job was a potential need to keep our powder dry in order to fire Scott Frost at the helm of the flagship football program.
 
That spring, we picked up a portal commit from a Lincoln kid who wanted to come home and play his last season of college basketball in front of the hometown crowd. Turns out, that pickup was transformational, as Fred recently acknowledged in comments about Sam coming back to watch our game against Penn State. Sam Griesel, according to Fred, changed the culture of the team. It was unselfish ball, and it allowed people (including potential recruits) to see what the finished product was supposed to look like when we ran our system instead of running hero-ball.
 
There was another Summit League standout who was looking for a new home that same spring. A kid who grew up just west of here. We tried to get him to Lincoln. And he was gracious in turning us down. He observed that, while we're starting to build a culture here at Nebraska (which was a nice way of saying we didn't have one), another team just east of us already had one established. Hard to hold that against him. After three of the worst years in program history, it would have been a tall ask to get anyone to believe we were on the cusp of turning things around. You could get a local Lincoln kid to spend his last season of college ball here because it's literally his home. But drawing a kid with more extended eligibility was obviously not as easy.
 
Last season, though, we, as fans, could get a better glimpse of how the pieces fit together when the system was run the way it was intended. And so could recruits. Big men and backcourt players alike could watch our film and envision what their role would be in a Husker uniform. We have a system. We have a culture. We finally have an identity.
 
So, a little more than a year ago, I suggested the following:
 
 
Fred has said the way things played out last year and the success on the floor that we had at the end put us in position to land guys like Rienk Mast and Brice Williams. And, frankly, Ahron Ulis, but that's a different matter. We got everything from the portal that we needed -- a skilled post to replace Walker, a solid point guard to replace Griesel, and an athletic wing to provide some scoring punch -- we just didn't plan on the extracurriculars that would keep Ulis from participating this year.
 
And now, this year, it's hard to argue the trajectory of the program. And, again, potential recruits can watch our film and -- IMPORTANTLY -- they can easily see how they would fit within our system. I think that's huge when it comes to recruiting. It's like sales. You want the buyer to envision driving that car or drinking that beer. And I think kids will be able to imagine how they would fit in our program and how they could contribute.
 
And the doors we're unlocking with the way this season is playing out ... the NET might not factor in the story lines, but kids hitting the portal sure will.
 
All of this is just to say I think we'll enjoy our portal experience this spring. We have a FAR better chance of landing the kinds of players we were just missing out on a year or two ago.

Just rewatched the game. Not saying CJ won it for us because it was clearly Mast's night. But CJ's play for about 5 to 10 minutes in the 1st half got our ship righted and set us on a path to victory. So proud of his play last night.

I just want to say that I was pretty happy with the officials last night.  Game went fast and thought they called a pretty good game both ways.  Sure they missed a few but it was one of the better officiated games we have had.

Watching the game today, it seemed to be much less stressful than listening to it sporadically last night. We were obviously the better team and they seemed to have no defensive clue as to how to stop us. The turning point to me was in the first half when we fouled a three-point shooter and he managed to miss all three free throws, then we hit a three-point shot. Kudos to C.J. and Mast, but it was a total team victory.   

Agree we need to move on and that all of our goals are still attainable. A few thoughts:
 
1) For the first 12 minutes, we did have a great crowd. It was really loud when we took the 23-22 lead. 
2) CJ cost us 8 points during a 2 or 3 minute span  - 6 points because he went under the screen when Scheierman was on his hot streak. The other was on a drive where CJ couldn't stay in front of Alexander.  I like the kid and pull for him, but those mistakes were really crucial and were part of the reason they went on a run. 
3) We missed a number of chip shots in the paint in the first half. Gary missed a few on some nice backdown iso plays, as did Mast. I don't believe those were shots that Kalkbrenner affected. We make those shots and CJ doesn't go under those screens, it's likely less than a 10 point game at half. Officiating in the first half was simply attrocious as well. 
4) Inexplicably, we usually didn't make Creighton play defense for more than 15-20 seconds a possession. The ball didn't go from side to side like it had been in our first 7 games, and we didn't make the extra passes to get Creighton into scrambling situations. We had to get Kalkbrenner either out of the lane or out of position. We didn't do that.   
 
I still like this team and hope we can bounce back this week.  

Agree we need to move on and that all of our goals are still attainable. A few thoughts:
 
1) For the first 12 minutes, we did have a great crowd. It was really loud when we took the 23-22 lead. 
2) CJ cost us 8 points during a 2 or 3 minute span  - 6 points because he went under the screen when Scheierman was on his hot streak. The other was on a drive where CJ couldn't stay in front of Alexander.  I like the kid and pull for him, but those mistakes were really crucial and were part of the reason they went on a run. 
3) We missed a number of chip shots in the paint in the first half. Gary missed a few on some nice backdown iso plays, as did Mast. I don't believe those were shots that Kalkbrenner affected. We make those shots and CJ doesn't go under those screens, it's likely less than a 10 point game at half. Officiating in the first half was simply attrocious as well. 
4) Inexplicably, we usually didn't make Creighton play defense for more than 15-20 seconds a possession. The ball didn't go from side to side like it had been in our first 7 games, and we didn't make the extra passes to get Creighton into scrambling situations. We had to get Kalkbrenner either out of the lane or out of position. We didn't do that.   
 
I still like this team and hope we can bounce back this week.  

Agree we need to move on and that all of our goals are still attainable. A few thoughts:
 
1) For the first 12 minutes, we did have a great crowd. It was really loud when we took the 23-22 lead. 
2) CJ cost us 8 points during a 2 or 3 minute span  - 6 points because he went under the screen when Scheierman was on his hot streak. The other was on a drive where CJ couldn't stay in front of Alexander.  I like the kid and pull for him, but those mistakes were really crucial and were part of the reason they went on a run. 
3) We missed a number of chip shots in the paint in the first half. Gary missed a few on some nice backdown iso plays, as did Mast. I don't believe those were shots that Kalkbrenner affected. We make those shots and CJ doesn't go under those screens, it's likely less than a 10 point game at half. Officiating in the first half was simply attrocious as well. 
4) Inexplicably, we usually didn't make Creighton play defense for more than 15-20 seconds a possession. The ball didn't go from side to side like it had been in our first 7 games, and we didn't make the extra passes to get Creighton into scrambling situations. We had to get Kalkbrenner either out of the lane or out of position. We didn't do that.   
 
I still like this team and hope we can bounce back this week.  

Agree we need to move on and that all of our goals are still attainable. A few thoughts:
 
1) For the first 12 minutes, we did have a great crowd. It was really loud when we took the 23-22 lead. 
2) CJ cost us 8 points during a 2 or 3 minute span  - 6 points because he went under the screen when Scheierman was on his hot streak. The other was on a drive where CJ couldn't stay in front of Alexander.  I like the kid and pull for him, but those mistakes were really crucial and were part of the reason they went on a run. 
3) We missed a number of chip shots in the paint in the first half. Gary missed a few on some nice backdown iso plays, as did Mast. I don't believe those were shots that Kalkbrenner affected. We make those shots and CJ doesn't go under those screens, it's likely less than a 10 point game at half. Officiating in the first half was simply attrocious as well. 
4) Inexplicably, we usually didn't make Creighton play defense for more than 15-20 seconds a possession. The ball didn't go from side to side like it had been in our first 7 games, and we didn't make the extra passes to get Creighton into scrambling situations. We had to get Kalkbrenner either out of the lane or out of position. We didn't do that.   
 
I still like this team and hope we can bounce back this week.  

I'm not going to say that Stonybrook was dirty, but they were very aggressive on defense with very quick, active hands, slapping at the ball on drives and getting away with what I thought was much more contact than we were allowed on the other end.
 
The Brice Williams PG experiment needs to come to an end. Other guys start calling their own number when one guy starts doing it. It's like @basketballjones said above, more eloquently than I've been saying it: We have to run our sh!t. That weave action gets the defense moving, shifting, switching, adjusting. It gets them off balance. That doesn't happen if you waive off your teammate and decide to take matters into your own hands.
 
Rotating Gary, Mast and Allick through the frontline, with the occasional Brice Williams, is a solid rotation up front.
 
I hope Gary can continue to shoot FG the way he did tonight. I hope he improves his FT shooting, though. And I'm confident Keisei is going to settle in and get back into the flow of things. It's just a matter of time.
 
That stretch where we pulled out to 16 and they cut it to 7 was a surreal stretch where they were hitting crazy shots that they might not make in any game again this season. They were just hoisting shit up and getting it to drop. If they're that good when they get into their conference play, they'll roll to a championship.

What encouraged me during the Lindenwood game is the way in which we quickly got into our offensive sets. In years past, especially in the early season games, the team often looked confused and disjointed when attempting to initiate the offense. Not so Monday night. 

OK, so he's a MUCH better perimeter shooter than Sallis. He's not a volume guy, so that's good. Won't mess with our chemistry in terms of guys being uptight about who's going to get the shots.
 
He's not quite as good at the stripe as Sallis, but he's certainly respectable.  His assist:turnover ratio is much better.
 
He started on an Iowa team that danced. He knows the Big Ten. Him vs. Sallis is a coinflip if you ask me.
 
I'm comfortable with this.

Amazing highlights—very Walker-esque with assists, bullying inside, etc.,  But he hits a few threes too.

Have loved what I've seen from Lawrence. He could be a very good 4 year player for this program. He does many things well. Same for Dawson, who does a lot of little things well which do not show up on the stat sheet but nonetheless help the team win. My son was at the game with me and we were impressed with how those guys flew around on defensive rotations. They were technically very sound on closeouts - balanced, choppy feet, hands up. This team is very well coached on the defensive end. 

Have loved what I've seen from Lawrence. He could be a very good 4 year player for this program. He does many things well. Same for Dawson, who does a lot of little things well which do not show up on the stat sheet but nonetheless help the team win. My son was at the game with me and we were impressed with how those guys flew around on defensive rotations. They were technically very sound on closeouts - balanced, choppy feet, hands up. This team is very well coached on the defensive end. 

Have loved what I've seen from Lawrence. He could be a very good 4 year player for this program. He does many things well. Same for Dawson, who does a lot of little things well which do not show up on the stat sheet but nonetheless help the team win. My son was at the game with me and we were impressed with how those guys flew around on defensive rotations. They were technically very sound on closeouts - balanced, choppy feet, hands up. This team is very well coached on the defensive end. 

I’d say it’s easier to get 3 Starters/Impact Players from the portal with Fred here, than scrapping everything with a New Hire.