hhcdave

Great article from Matthew. Fun fact: he was my sports editor/hired me in the fall of 2000 when I briefly wrote for the DN. Great guy.

Minnesota 67 Nebraska 60

What do we remember here about Melvin Brooks? What kind of player was he/etc? My memories of him are very limited, for some reason. Norm? CWG? Lang? Hugh? Etc etc etc?

I could have sworn it was chronic feet or knee issues Doc kept talking about. But maybe I'm remembering wrong. I definitely remember him saying "we'll always have to deal with it with Dylan" and "it'll always be there." Whatever it was!

I think the most likely scenario for us getting our "impact big man" for next season will come in about two weeks when coaches start getting fired. Then, there will be a few bigs who are verbals but not yet signed for the spring period who will "re-open" recruiting, right?

I think the best chance for our impact big man for next season will be a guy who is verbally committed but hasn't yet signed for the spring at a school where the coach gets fired. There should be 5-10 good big men who "re-open" their recruitments once coaches get fired here in a couple of weeks, right?

I have been wanting to make this post for two months but didn't want to jinx him, so I waited until a point in the season where its too late to jinx! First of all, I want to say that I am very, very impressed and very, very proud of how Talley has played this season. He has stepped his game up in much the same fashion as Lance Jeter a few years back - I really feel he's a completely different player from last year and much improved. Most of that is because he's (as far as I can tell) 100% healthy this season. Afterall, he's able to play essentially 40 minutes a game and run the point, be our best perimeter rebounder, leading scorer, etc, etc. He is also the leader of this team (along with Ubel). What I want to say/ask is - how in the world is he able to be 100% healthy last year when we heard Doc say at least 3-4 times a month he had "chronically bad feet" and will "never be 100% while he's here." He seemed very limited last year and all we heard was how injury plagued he was. How have we NEVER heard even a PEEP about that this year? Did he miracously recover? Does Miles practice different? Is he training different? Or did Doc just overblow it? I just was wondering if anyone else noticed the lack of injury to Talley this year and how we haven't heard a single mention of it, when I swear it seemed like we heard it bi-weekly last season. Anyone else find this odd (in a good way)?

My gut told me to take Rey Gallegos. But I had trouble staying with him the more I thought about it. For this game, I'd go Gallegos.

OFFENSE: A Nebraska shot a solid 46% from the field, including a sizzling 50% (9-18) from downtown. Converting from long distance is what enabled the Huskers to hang around in this game, as our Co Players of the Game Ray Gallegos hit on 6-13 from downtown (en route to 23 points) while Dylan Talley finished at 2-3 (with 20 points). Both guys played all 40 minutes and Talley dished out 5 assists to go along with 5 boards. Combined, the two scored 43 of NU's 65 points, or roughly 2/3's! One thing I will say is that I didn't like how many key shots David Rivers was taking in the final five minutes of the game. This is not to hate on Rivers at all, as he played another solid ball game and gave all he had (which was quite a lot!). He had a couple of very nice offensive rebounds and put backs, as well as getting to the free throw line, and had a big block defensively in the first half. He played well. However, I would have preferred to see any of the other four players on the floor (Ubel, Shields, Talley, Gallegos) taking shots in the final few minutes of a game. Once again, Ubel was a ghost in this game, finishing with just 6 points and 4 rebounds in 40 minutes. All in all, for the way this basketball team is built, 65 points and 46% is pretty darn good - NU just couldn't get stops. DEFENSE: C+ Give Illinois credit because they hit some pretty difficult shots in this basketball game. The obvious was the big three at the end of the first half. But both Brandon Paul (14 points) and D.J. Richardson (13 points) also had end of shot clock, extremely difficult shots that were created by individual talent. Nebraska also gave up 13 points off of turnovers, so the defense wasn't quite as bad as the stats would indicate (72 points and 44% from the field allowed, while only forcing 10 turnovers). However, the Huskers could not get any stops in the final five minutes of the game, and Illinois made its free throws (15-18, 83%), making this game impossible to "steal on the road." REBOUNDING: B Illinois won "the battle of the boards" by nine (35-26) which you can definitely live with. However, you have got to see more out of Ubel than just five rebounds in forty minutes. In fact, no Huskers had more than five boards for the night. Still, the 'Skers were solid on the glass. BALL HANDLING: C- 11 turnovers and 11 assists - decent. Actually, 11 turnovers is pretty good in the grand scheme, but the manner in which NU racked these giveaways up was NOT good. Most of these were unforced, especially early on, when the Huskers had seven first half giveaways. Several were dropped balls or throw aways or the such and as noted above, led to a number of Illinois points. So this is one of those games where the stats can be deceiving - NU faced little to no defensive pressure but still gave the ball away more than it normally does and in a way that led to more points than it normally would. COACHING: A Nebraska was ready to play and looked crisp, confident and collected throughout this game. The Huskers had an answer for the majority of big Illinois baskets and Tim Miles deserves a lot of the credit. Miles rolled the dice like a River Boat Gambler in leaving Shavon Shields in their with three fouls throughout the second half. He won the bet as Shields was able to play without fouling out. Miles did a nice job massaging this game with timeouts and kept his players fresh until the final four or five minutes, when they just had nothing left and the better team pulled away. OVERALL GRADE: B+ Nebraska played a forty minute game on the road against a middle of the pack Big 10 team, which is impressive considering it did so with just six players AND just four days after getting "ripped a new one" in Madison. You have to be pleased with that fact, especially considering that Illinois played probably a "B" level game themselves in making some big time shots at the end of shot clocks and converting at the foul line time after time. Let's hope NU can send out the Bob Devaney Sports Center in style on Wednesday night with a sold out crowd and exciting win - one which would get the Huskers the 10 seed in a year it was picked at the very bottom! PLAYER OF THE GAME: RAY GALLEGOS & DYLAN TALLEY 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: RAY GALLEGOS - 10 DYLAN TALLEY - 10 BRANDON UBEL - 5 SHAVON SHIELDS - 4 DAVID RIVERS - 3 JORDAN TYRANCE - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

In regards to Gallegos, we were told he was redshirting because he wanted to "work on becoming a point guard." Wouldn't that have meant working on handles last year?

Illinois 74 Nebraska 59

I'm wondering if the quick turnaround was really as big of a deal as many (including me) are saying. In the Big 12 days, we played Saturday afternoon/Tuesday night 3-4 times a season, minimum. Is that really that unusual? We also had a week off before Iowa.

One thing I forgot to mention in report card was, for as tired as we looked, I was a bit surprised we took all of our second half timeouts home with us. Though in Miles' defense, I just wanted this damn game over with (and quickly), too.

*** NOTE *** THIS IS THE FIRST HHC REPORT CARD IN THE SEVEN YEAR HISTORY OF THE SITE THAT HASN'T INCLUDED NUMBERS FROM THE GAME. THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S NOT WORTH ANALYZING/WAITING FOR THE STATS, DUE TO THE FACTORS MENTIONED BELOW. HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND. OFFENSE: D- Nebraska looked good the first seven minutes offensively. Other than that, they were very, very bad, not being able to hit the side of a barn and having a ton of shots go in and out. The Huskers never attacked the basket to get easy baskets and get to the foul line. In fact when they did attack, they were usually rejected by Wisconsin big men. NU showed no effort for the majority of this game (and in many recent games) in getting the ball to Brandon Ubel/involving him in the offense more. This is my one gripe with Coach Miles in recent games - it's almost like Ubel is now a 4th or 5th option in the offense. Nebraska went about eight minutes in the second half with one field goal. Killer. It's hard to be too critical because: A. Nebraska had no depth tonight with Andre Almeida being out with an injury and thus, only one scholarship player in rotation. B. Wisconsin is much, much better and played well. C. Nebraska was EXHAUSTED after the game Saturday and after the first fifteen minutes tonight. It showed. Thus, hard to analyze this game much. DEFENSE: D- Nebraska gave up 44 points in the first half - Wisconsin's most all season. To put in perspective, that's almost as many as Wisconsin scored in the entire contest versus Nebraska in the Lincoln edition of this matchup back in January. The man to man didn't work. Neither did the 2-3. Bad night. REBOUNDING: D NU was slow to the boards out of the zone. Of course, that's because they're exhausted with lack of depth, mainly. BALL HANDLING: C+ This was the least of NU's problems, but it still wasn't good. I'm guessing NU had nine turnovers - not bad. COACHING: D Offensively I don't like how far away Nebraska has gotten from using Ubel, as mentioned above. Otherwise, I don't have much else to say. The man to man defense didn't work. The zone defense didn't work. And we couldn't make a shot to save our lives. This one was 99.99% Jimmy and Joes being outmatched more than anything relating to coaching. But still, when you lose by 40, you don't get anything but a "D" or lower. OVERALL GRADE: D- This game can be best summed up by using your pick of the below words: Overmatched. Tired. Outworked. Undersized. Fatigued. Underathletic (Is that even a word)? Next. PLAYER OF THE GAME: DYLAN TALLEY 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: RAY GALLEGOS - 9 DYLAN TALLEY - 9 BRANDON UBEL - 5 SHAVON SHIELDS - 4 DAVID RIVERS - 3 JORDAN TYRANCE - 1 This post has been promoted to an article

Wisconsin 67 Nebraska 55

Luckily I don't see Miles going anywhere before the end of year three, at the earliest. Doing so would be contractually virtually impossible and career suicide because no great job is going to offer him at this point. Also, no way Nebraska would ever allow him to go to a fellow Big 10 school.

If we win five games in the Big 10 this year, Miles is some sort of rainmaker. Four is already one or two more than I thought we'd win, depending on the day you asked me.

https://audioboo.fm/boos/1230035-talley-s-tally-ho-hum-huskers-hack-hawkeyes.mp3 Kent Pavelka calling Talley's game winning shot https://audioboo.fm/boos/1230055-shavon-shields-was-a-stud-huskers-64-iowa-60.mp3 Calling Shavon Shield's step back OFFENSE: B 64 points and 46% from the field on a consistent basis will allow Nebraska to creep into the middle tier of Big 10 teams - so it was nice to see the Huskers get that production today. What wasn't nice was 50% (7-14) from the foul line, including 0-5 to start the contest, but if you look for problems, you're bound to find 'em, as my old man always says. Nebraska's starting five did a remarkably good job in this game of shooting the basketball and running fluid sets, especially considering the wear and tear they all say from minutes (Gallegos, 40; Talley, 39; Ubel and Shields, 37; Rivers, 35). Our Player of the Game is the same guy who ran two God awful fast breaks and took some very questionable shots, yet delivered in the clutch, as he has started to do a lot lately. That is Dylan Talley - who finished with 18 points and one huge, huge, HUGE three point shot. Shavon Shields also continues to impress me game by game. I now think he's the best freshman we've had since Aleks Maric.DEFENSE: A How can you give Nebraska anything but an "A" for it's defense in this contest when you consider that it was down 16 points at the break, and somehow ended up winning the game while only scoring 64. That tells you NU's defense was AMAZING in the second half (holding the Hawkeyes to 28%) and for the game, only 37%. Nebraska was also able to as mentioned above, do this with virtually five players and somehow, nobody was ever in foul trouble. In fact, Talley was the only Husker with three muggings and Iowa shot only ONE more free throw than Nebraska. The 'Skers were dynamite today on the defensive end. REBOUNDING: B+ The Huskers were only out boarded by four (38 to 34) and held Iowa to virtually no second half second chances. I thought Brandon Ubel was especially effective today on the glass (and also hit some key shots). He finished with a team leading eight rebounds, including a huge one down the stretch. Aaron White was a one man wrecking crew for the Hawkeyes, grabbing THIRTEEN boards! BALL HANDLING: B The Huskers were at an "F" level in the first half, including some mind blowingly bad turnovers by Jordan Tyrance and Benny Parker, which ended both of those players' days. In the second half, NU was near flawless, outside of the aforementioned poor fast breaks run by Talley. For the game, 10 turnovers (you can definitely take that) and 7 assists (would like to see that higher). For as much as I've harped on Talley's bad fast breaks in this report card, it should also be fairly noted that he IS NOT a point guard. Not really even a two, either. More of a three. So he is playing out of position to help the team. That should be remembered. COACHING: B GREAT win for Nebraska, and I think four Big 10 wins has met or exceeded every single realistic person on this websites expectations for this season. Still, at home, with a week off, against a team that is not that much more talented than you, how do you get down 19 points in the first half? How do you have horrible defense on out of bounds plays and turn the ball over left and right? Is that Tim Miles' fault? Maybe a little. Probably not really. But if I'm going to anoit him the savior most games and mention my man crush and give him all the props in the world, I have to also point out some shortcomings. And coming out and laying an egg at home this year, on MANY occasions, is not a good look. Nice in game adjustments by Miles - letting the starting five play the last 26 minutes by using timeouts at appropriate points. Sacrificing the Wisconsin game (essentially by playing all these minutes on the starters) to get the win at home in one of your last winnable games of the year - smart. (*** NOTE *** I know the starters playing an extra 8-9 minutes more than you'd like doesn't automatically mean we'll lose to Wisconsin. But it was clear how much Coach wanted this game). OVERALL GRADE: B+ Nebraska played well, overall, but as we've so often seen this year, were a true "tale of both halves" basketball team. Luckily today, things worked out in NU's favor, in most likely the last win of the 2012-2013 season. PLAYER OF THE GAME: DYLAN TALLEY 2012-2013 PLAYER OF THE GAME RESULTS: RAY GALLEGOS - 9 DYLAN TALLEY - 8 BRANDON UBEL - 5 SHAVON SHIELDS - 4 DAVID RIVERS - 3 JORDAN TYRANCE - 1 Click here to view the article

I am really, really, really sorry to hear this. I can't imagine what you are going through. I don't know how I would get through it and I'm sure you feel the same way right now. But you will, somehow, someway, and someday, maybe this will make sense. God Bless you, sending my thoughts and strength your way, too. Let me and any of us know if we can help in any way. Dave

I voted for Gallegos because its the most likely. I hope for Shields or any of the newcomers because in order for us to have a good year next season, I feel as though Gallegos can't be our leading scorer. We need other guys to step up and need more of a "go to scorer" who can get to the rim, foul line and not have to (typically) come off of a screen to score.

At this point, I feel like Almeida's problem is more with his talent level and lack of athleticism than phantom calls.

NU 60 Iowa 57