HuskerBB

I just saw the second half of this game - which is sounds like is a good thing. I am hopeful it is an indication that we are learning how to play with Walker and improvement in that aspect will continue. Another good thing is we overcame a really off performance by Emmanuel who has easily been our most consistent player to this point. If he had been playing like he did the other night this really would have been a blowout I think. Hopefull gives us some positive momentum going into the Boston College game which is an important one to win.

We really can't afford to have Walker off the floor. I like Keita better than Wilhelm - but Wilhelm is now getting his minutes mostly at the 4 position. If we play the 5 out offense there really is no place for Keita to play.

Lack of quickness on the perimeter is a real problem. Sam just not holding up well. How many times did they force us to have Walker or Gary bring the ball up the court? Great effort by Derrick - but you could see the rust and lack of experience playing with these guys in the 9 turnovers. I think these last 2 games would have been very different if Walker had been playing the last few weeks (like he should have been IMO).

Memphis gameplan is clearly to harass Greisel all over the court. Teams have realized our offense does not handle pressure defense well.

Complain about CJ's lack of quickness but Wilhelm is just absolutely the opposite of quick.

Kesei and CJ get open 3's - have to knock those down.

Teams seem to have definitely decided to play us aggressively defensively - which seems smart. We don't shoot free throws well and we don't really handle the pressure well. Even if it is not creating turnovers we just have a tough time running offense when teams are hand checking and pressuring on D. Final part of that is I think Fred is simply to nice to the officials I think - doesn't like to complain as much as other coaches do - which should not be effective but it is, particularly in games with teams playing aggressive D. If you foul constantly and then still complain about every call - refs just start to get reluctant to make calls.

CJ certainly should not be passing up open 3's. Problem is even though he slimmed down his body he did not get more athletic. Lack of speed makes it difficult for him on both ends.

Disappointed but not as disappointed as most of you. We held off the pressure for awhile but ultimately it overwhelmed us. Real problem is that our bigs play incredibly soft St John's figured that out and we had no answer. Getting Walker will make a big difference with that part - but Wilhelm just seems lost at this level - and Keita has just as clearly not adjusted to D1 yet at a minimum. Did not expect to win this game and was really surprised to be ahead at half - particularly as poorly as we shot the ball (I know St Johns shot it worse in the first half). But we needed a quicker whistle to take them out of their pressure game and give us a chance to keep our composure - and the opposite happened especially in the 2nd half. I do like that this team plays hard on D - even when things are going poorly and I still think they are much more fun to watch than what we saw the last couple years even if they are not as skilled in some ways as those teams.

After an extremely physical first half the refs just gave up and decided that absolutely anything goes in the 2nd half - and St. John's is handling that much better than we are.

SG finally getting flustered by the aggressive D

How was that not a flop on WB? Way worse than the one they called on St. Johns

Have watched the whole game but just checking in. Refs lost control of this one early - but that is what St John's creates. I like games with tough defense but when they allow so much hand checking and body contact that is gets almost impossible to run offense then the game gets really ugly.

Really enjoyed this game. There were some bumps and some things I wish we could do better - but love the way this team plays hard and pays attention to defense. Such a change from last season. Keita had BY FAR his best game. Was really a force and showed flashes of what we expected from his JUCO reputation. Obviously he had a significant size advantage - but hoping this is a sign of things to come and builds some confidence for him at this level. Also loved the way CJ seemed to come out of his scoring slump and hit some key 3's - and the way the team again responded when the opponent made a little bit of a run. I actually thought UNO looked pretty good - and in particular thought the way they played made it a good learning game for us. They were very aggressive on defense and played physical which is what we will see in conference. UNO plays alot of guys so I think they can afford to give some fouls (although it hurts them if Fiddler is in foul trouble). I do think they will do very well in the Summit league this year. The fact that we seem to have different guys come up with big games in different games is also a positive IMO. Obviously you want consistency (and FWIW Greisel and Bandoumel have been consistently good) but it makes it harder to game plan for us when Gary has 20 one night, Wilcher 20 another night, Walker 20 another (future) night :) - and even Keisei goes off for 13 in a half like he did against Maine. Finally - mentioned above - but I love the way Denim Dawson plays D - and we saw a flash of offense from him tonight as well. Maybe made him get a little too aggressive on the offensive end after he got the 3 and the dunk - but as long as he has some flashes of offense it will force teams to at least play him honestly when he is in the game. REALLY am anxious to get Walker back on the court. We will learn alot when the team has to go on the road to St. John's but I thought tonight was at least another step in a positive direction.

This team does not have anyone with the natural talent of Bryce McGowens - BUT we have kids that play much harder and are fun to watch. As talented as they were it was hard for me to enjoy watching Bryce M. and Alonzo V. play last year. But it is really fun to watch Juwan Gary, Emmanuel Badoumel, Sam Greisel and Denim Dawson play basketball. I agree that with our schedule and this group a 500 record would be a success - but this are certainly players that you want to root for at least.