HuskerBB

The article regarding Northwestern is interesting and informative. I can certainly understand why they (and us) would decline the CBI or the Vegas tourney. With Northwestern it sounds like the administration made the decision and took a little bit of heat from some of the fans for it - but at least they stepped up and acknowledged that it was a decision of the administration.

I think this is all about $'s.

Morrow now? That seems more like discipline sitting out a half than injury.

Tate was certainly one of the biggest whiners we have ever played against.

Thanks did not catch the post-game so had not hear that about Morrow.

Also - why in the world do you not have Watson in the game on offense at the end? I know you meant the end of the game, but I was wondering the same thing at the end of the first half. Dead ball with 30 seconds left to take the last shot on offense. And yet Glynn Watson stayed on the bench and instead Jacobson remained in the game, turned it over, and then fouled to give them 2 free throws. Awful. I was wondering the same thing at the end of the half also. No reason I can comprehend you would not put Watson in the game then. He had 2 fouls but in that situation where you have the ball going for the last shot him picking up a 3rd foul is pretty low risk vs. having his ability to break down the D on the floor.

But it is not like our posts are the ones getting their shots blocked. Tonight nearly all of the blocks came from Shavon trying to force the ball against bigger guys. Worked against MSU for him - but Maryland is bigger and longer and these refs were not giving Shavon calls that he has gotten in other games. We just did not adjust to that - even at the end of the game we kept trying to do the same thing - force the ball to the hoop against much bigger guys when the refs are letting them play. That is not a recipe for success. Why not get White a shot (I know he ended up taking the desperation three but that was not really a designed shot at all he just had the ball looking away from the basket when the clock ran out). Also - why in the world do you not have Watson in the game on offense at the end?

Well for some reason that I have not heard tonight we decided to play without Morrow. Hammond came in first and was just awful for 2 minutes in the first half (he did play a little more serviceably in the second half). So after Hammond gets 2 fouls in about a minute and a half we bring in Morrow. Shortly thereafter Stone takes the ball on the perimeter and makes a spin move to the hoop to score - pretty good move by a future NBA player I thought - but Miles just frickin exploded on Morrow. Timeout happened right after and Tim basically spent the entire timeout just screaming at Morrow. I really felt sorry for the kid - Miles does this once in a while to players but this was as long of a session directed at one players as I have ever seen from him. DId not take him out then but shortly after the timeout Ed threw the ball away after getting a rebound and got pulled then. Funny thing is when he made the bad play Miles did not really yell at him at all - but Morrow never returned to the game after that point. I do think Jacobson is ahead of Morrow at thie point - but we need Ed to play. He has certainly progressed to where he gives us way more than we get from Hammond. .

I swear to God we must be coached not to pass on breaks no matter what the numbers. This has been an issue for a long time but it was glaring tonight. Three times we had numbers on a break and the player with the ball just took it to the basket when we had guys on the wings ahead of them. Each time it looked to me like one pass (and maybe a pass back) gets you an uncontested layup - but we refused to make that pass each time and failed to score each time when we had numbers on a break. Plus it was three separate guys - Webster, White and Shields. I think we finally ran into team that has recognized this and coached the guys that if you are outnumbered on a break against us just contest the player with the ball and don't worry about the guys on the wings because they are not going to get the ball.

We did seem to come out unprepared at the start of the game and the start of the half. LIke we did not expect this to be a team that could kill you from the 3 point line. Then when we first made a comeback in the first half and got it to 19-13 we inexplicably put both Shields and White on the bench and had 3 lost offensive possessions in a row. Miles did acknowledge in the post-game that he probably should have started Webster in the second half as he seemed to be the only guy that could keep Robinson from shooting 3's. But the bottom line is we ran into a hot shooting Michigan team and it seemed like one of those games where the other team kept getting the breaks - not just in the close calls but also just in the bounces and the loose balls. Sometimes that happens when you don't give good effort - but I really thought for the most part the effort was good today. We did a great job battling back after their runs but was one of those games where you just spend so much energy trying to catch up you never quite get over the top. I think if we could have ever gotten a lead we would have pulled away and won the game - we just couldn't quite get there. I did see some good things today in ball movement offensively. Thought it was one of Watson's best games as he does seem to keep getting better and better. This was one we probably needed to win to end up .500 in the conference. Depressing to lose this one at home - but this is a team with a lot of heart so I am not going to count them out of anything.

Agree 49r. MSU has always been my favorite of the other BIG teams. Izzo whines a lot on the sidelines but overall he is a class act and a VERY good coach. Great coach by Miles after the game about how he always learns a lot just watching MSU tape to prepare to play them. Don't understand how their fans could possible bitch about the officiating last night - but one constant about college basketball is that the fans of the losing team will always complain about the refs.

Wow!!! Had to DVR the game but stayed away from knowing the outcome until I could watch it. What a great win. Obviously terrific game from Shavon but everyone contributed. Team really is playing with confidence right now. We beat a very good team on a night when their best player played well and we even had to overcome some ridiculous calls (Whites 5th WTF??). (Also were those TV announcers the Michigan St radio crew? Can't remember a game with more on-sided commentary). Anyway - this sets up Saturday as huge game. We need to avoid a letdown and protect our home court !! Hopefully we have a big enthusiastic crowd Saturday.

Hoppen, Pike and Lue are clearly the top 3 for me. My head said Jerry Fort for #4 but my heart won out and I voted for Erik Strickland.

Regarding Bakari's minutes - both Benny and Glynn were spending time with the trainers when they were on the bench. They brought out an exercise bike for Watson to help him stay loose - and he was visibly limping at one point in the second half. I don't think it is anything serious - looking like maybe a thigh bruise or something. No idea what was wrong with Benny but the trainers spent time with him at the end of the bench during the first half. Bottom line I think Bakari got in early mostly because Benny and Glynn were both limited or unavailable at times. FWIW Hammond also went to the exercise bike before he came in - so I wonder if he has some minor injury issues also. That said I think his minutes are going to be very limited when Jacobson and Morrow are not in foul trouble - and I can't say that I disagree with that approach.

Why are we playing Nick Fuller at 5? How does he airball a free throw when he is supposed to be a shooter? I actually like Nick but we seem to insist on putting him in bad positions and asking him to do things he really can't do which I think impacts his confidence all around.

Seems like the light is turning on for Morrow the last couple games.

I think the 3 clap thing is good in VB and I glady participate in it at VB games. But it would be atrocious to adopt that for men's basketball. Different atmosphere entirely. If the administration can't understand that then they don't understand college basketball at all. I actually thought the Husker Power chant was very good - somewhat intimidating but also not as cliché (or directly offensive) as the "who cares, he sucks" chants that are done most places. I really hope the students bring back the Husker Power chant with a vengeance for the next home game.

First I am looking at what Morrow is now in terms of skill set more than what he can become. Second Pardon was a pretty "effective" 5 yesterday and he is not really any bigger than Morrow. Morrow is undersized for a 5 - but there are lots of people that size who are effective in the post. He does not have to grow 4 inches or gain 40 pounds - not saying a little more weight and muscle would not help. But he is big enough to contribute at that spot if we get him playing more aggressively. I am not sure David Rivers is a great example here. I loved David's effort but he was not a great 4 man either in terms of skills. Plus Rivers was playing with Pitchford most of the time and Walt was obviously unusual as a 5 because he hated to be in the lane. In that lineup you needed a 4 to be more of an inside player. I think the prototypical 4 that Miles wants is more like McVeigh - although more athletic. Wes Wilkinson would be a better example if you go back farther in time. Maybe Morrow can develop that kind of game facing the basket. I don really see that - but not saying it could not happen. In any event I don't think he is that kind of player now is my point. Another post complained about the fact that Morrow had no rebounds yesterday. So I went back and counted and when Morrow as in the game we lost the rebound battle overall 10--11. Not great but much better than we did in the game overall 25-35. Sometimes it is not just about being the guy that gets the rebound. I am not saying Morrow played great yesterday - he has struggled this season. But I do think he is a guy that could be helping us much more than he has this year and we need to figure out how to get more out of him. That is necessary primarily because we don't have very many other options and certainly we don't have a lineup this year that would allow him to play meaningful minutes anywhere but the 5 spot.. If the Samford and NW games proved nothing else they proved that we are a really bad team when we don't have any of those post players (Jacobson, Morrow, Hammond) on the floor. Playing without them is obviously not the answer. So we need to figure out how to get the most out of them - and I think we have a lot of room to improve in that area.

The point about Molinari is a good one as I don't think he has helped us either. Does anyone really know how we handle substitutions? There was one time yesterday when I did notice Molinari send a guy in without any apparent input from Miles. Obviously most of the time Miles seems to be the one triggering the sub. But maybe Molinari is as much to blame for these crazy stupid lineups we seem to put on the floor at times.

I disagree about changing the system although I agree we need to utilize Morrow better. I really think most college 4's even in more double-post systems have more perimeter skills than Morrow has at this point. To me Jacobson would be more effective in a 4 position than Morrow because he handles the ball better and is a much better jump shooter. But we don't have the inside depth to really play them both at the same time anyway. Morrow is basically the same size as Derek Pardon. We just don't use him well - or enough. Part of that is our perimeter players are not as adept at opening things up for post players as what NW has in Demps etc. But most of it is Morrow for whatever reason just is playing very timidly. I think he has the ability to be an effective 5 at this level. We just are not doing a good job of getting that out of him.

Two quotes in the paper from Miles this morning made me mad. First he is quoted as saying he put Fuller at the 5 to get more "skill" on the floor. I like Nick Fuller for what he is and the effort he gives but I can't see how putting him in for Morrow or Jacobson puts more "skill" on the floor. If that is your goal why not bring in Watson and play with 3 guards and put Shavon at the 5. I think that would be a stupid lineup also - but at least it would be consistent with what he said he was trying to do. Would have made more sense than what we really tried at least. Second he mentioned how we tried to run set plays at the end that did not work because players "looked off" shots. I am not sure it is the same possessions but we had at least 2 long possessions in the last 5 minutes where Andrew White did not even touch the ball. White was carrying us offensively in the 2nd half. If you are going to run a set play it sure as hell should be a set play for Andrew White. Maybe the other guys "looked off" the shots because they knew Drew was the one that should be getting the shot? Again maybe those were different possessions - but I did not see White not taking any open looks at any point in the game.

Exactly - most of Pardon's points came off those pick on rolls where our post defender helped off him. Usually it was on more of a drive to the hoop than the jumper illustrated above - but the result was the same. If the perimeter defender can't fight over that screen and let the post recover back to his man that is going to happen - or you have to have somebody rotate in to cover that post player and box them out. We did neither - but one thing I am really certain about is the answer is not to play McVeigh or Fuller at the 5 position.

What we need to do is give Morrow minutes and confidence. He was better his 2nd game than he has been lately. Now he is thinking too much and is too afraid of making a mistake that he doesn't play aggressively on either end. Much of Pardon's success yesterday was caused by our perimeter players being beaten forcing the inside defenders to help off to stop a drive. The help often got the driver to miss the shot but no one rotated in quickly enough to get the rebound so Pardon would get an easy put back. Not the only way he scored but that happened a lot. FWIW Jacobson got 3 baskets for us in the 2nd half the same way. Overall NW just had some designed things that worked to get Pardon easy baskets. It was not like they were just posting him up and letting him go 1-1 very often. Just screen and rolls or dives where the guard would make a good pass or he would get a put back or other garbage bucket. One of the reasons our posts don't score much is that the guys we have driving to the hoop are just not very good at making that pass when the post defender does help off. Watson and Webster can do it a little bit - but passing is not a strength of any of our guys. Morrow did get two buckets off nice passes yesterday though. I have to say that I don't really see the argument about Morrow playing the 4. In some systems that might be the case but we really play in a fashion where our 4 has to play facing the basket and be able to make perimeter shots. Morrow does not strike me as that kind of player at all. I think we would have to drastically change the entire offensive system to have double post action if you were playing Morrow at a four. Regardless Miles seems to keep finding a way not to play either Jacobson or Morrow by themselves - really can't see him making a switch to play the two of them together.

You can complain about Jacobson and Morrow if you want but we are absolutely AWFUL when we don't have at least one of them in the game. It cost us the game against Samford when we tried to play the 2nd half without a post player and it was even worse tonight. Tried it for a stretch in the first half and then gave away the game in the last 4 minutes when we decided to play Fuller at 5 instead of bringing back Morrow. We get lost both offensively and defensively trying to play those crazy lineups. I thought Miles would have learned that lesson from the Samford game - but apparently not. I just don't understand what he was thinking with the lineups he put on the floor at times tonight. White carries us for stretches in the 2nd half and then at the end we go entire possessions where he doesn't touch the ball - but again I put that on basically putting 5 guys on the floor that should not be there. Perimeter guys were waiting for a screen but Fuller had no idea what he was supposed to do out there.

This is what I came up with: Big 10 Standings 1. Michigan State (17 - 1) 2. Purdue (15 - 3) 3. Maryland (14 - 4) 4. Indiana (12 - 6) 5. Michigan (11 - 7) 6. Iowa (10 - 8) 7. Wisconsin (9 - 9) 8. Ohio State (8 - 10) Defeated Northwestern based on record against #5 teams. 9. Northwestern (8 - 10) Lost to Ohio State based on record against #5 teams. 10. Nebraska (6 - 12) 11. Illinois (5 - 13) 12. Minnesota (4 - 14) Defeated Rutgers based on record against #4 teams. 13. Rutgers (4 - 14) Lost to Minnesota based on record against #4 teams. 14. Penn State (3 - 15)