aphilso1

I watched the second half of Indiana v. Wisconsin tonight. For a team with as much talent as Indiana has, they had a LOT of terrible offensive possessions.

The coaches and players can't look past the next game. Us fans can look toward any game we want to and speculate to our hearts' content (which I plan to do in excess until we finally lose a conference game).

Huskers 75 Hawks 70 2 bench scorers

If I were to design the perfect conference schedule for a B1G bubble team to go dancing, it would be the following combination: 1. Play the best teams in conference only once, and play them at home. You're probably not going to beat the elites twice in the same year, so don't play them twice. Maximize your chance at pulling the upset by playing the game in front of your own fans. 2. Play the worst teams only once, and play them on the road. It's not like beating them twice will help your resume or RPI. And if you're a tourney caliber team, you should beat the 1-17 and 2-16 B1G doormats anywhere. No sense in wasting home games on them. 3. Play the other middle of the road/bubble teams both at home and on the road. That means more opportunities to prove yourself against other potential tourney teams; also, these teams are still very beatable. So of your 13 conference opponents, you will play 5 in a home-and-home, 4 only on the road, and 4 only at home. Using the current KenPom rankings and the principles listed above, an ideal conference schedule is not that much different from our actual remaining conference schedule this year-- Ideal: play the top 4 teams (Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, & Michigan) once each at home Reality: Play top 2 teams (Wisc & Pur) once at home. Already beat Indiana on the road. Have to play Michigan twice, but the home game could be No Sit Sunday Part II as it's the regular season finale; they also don't look as good as their rating indicates. Ideal: Play 5 middle-of-the-pack teams (OSU, Northwestern, Minny, Sparty, Maryland) twice Reality: Play 3 twice (OSU/N'western/MSU). Already beat Terps on the road. Have to play Gophers on the road with no return trip to Lincoln, which is probably the worst remaining break on our schedule. Ideal: Play bottom 4 teams (Illinois, Iowa, PSU, Rutgers) once on the road. Reality: Play 3 out of 4 only once, with a home-and-home against Iowa. We also don't waste a home game on the ultimate cellar dweller, as the Rutgers match-up will be in Jersey. So for all the talk about how the schedulers "did us no favors," I believe they actually did. We got two of our toughest road games during Christmas break while the students were away, and the final 16 conference games lineup favorably for a run. Obviously it's an uphill battle and the boys still have to execute, but at least we have a schedule that gives us a chance.

I also thought the refs were very consistant. Disagree a little on the announcers, though. I remember the announcers ignoring when Webster picked up his 3rd and 4th fouls. I kept waiting for the announcers to confirm who the fouls were on and what # of fouls Tai had.

Up vote for using "kit" in lieu of "jersey."

The generator now has us projected at 5-13 in conference. Appears that computers are more cautious than optimistic.

Those alt Black unis were pretty sweet today. Add that to the alt home jerseys with the script Huskers logo, and Adidas has done a nice job giving Nebraska some classy one-of-a-kind looks. Can we make both of those our primaries?

Honestly, I think Maryland just wasn't prepared to attack the zone. They could have tried attacking the corners, because it wasn't clear which of our players was responsible for the corners. It clearly wasn't Ed, and he was playing the position that would usually have that responsibility. I don't recall Maryland passing into the corners much, but if they did I would think that our ball-side wing would shift down to the ballhandler, and the center (Jacobson) would temporarily come up and out to the area vacated by the on-ball defender. But our opposite-side wing didn't really help inside much, so that would leave a giant hole in the middle. That forces the warrior/rover (Ed) to step up, leaving a huge gap for Princeton-style backdoor cuts. I think the game tape will show that the way to beat our zone is to work the offense through the corners, and make the player in the center of our zone decide whether to stay home or cover the wing. Kind of like how we destroyed Indiana's 2-3 by running the offense through the high post.

'Cuse can have him. I prefer the extra development that Roby and Horne are getting with White's minutes.

Well it worked, therefore it was great coaching. In seriousness, there were some things that looked odd to me, too. We didn't jump as many passing lanes as I'd expect to see in a 1-3-1. Also, particularly when Maryland passed out on the wings, I felt like our opposite wing didn't pinch inside enough. That left the center with a lot of real estate to cover. Placing Ed in the "warrior"/man-under-the hoop role was interesting. He didn't cover nearly as much ground as I've seen that defensive position traditionally cover in a 1-3-1. Instead, he kinda stayed home more, which kept him as a shot blocking and rebounding threat. So there were definitely some principles that were different than what I was taught in a 1-3-1. But who knows, that may have been what confounded the Terps so much, since it was likely different than anything they'd ever seen before.

I guess that depends on your definition of "all the time" then. I see that sort of play at least once every 5 games. And by that sort of play, I mean a player whose personal trajectory is going up is forcibly pulled down by an outside force. Happens in almost every NBA playoff game, more so in games involving a physically overwhelming offensive player (LeBron, for example). The key difference here is that usually you don't see the fouled player writhe in pain on the court for 10 minutes. Had the play not resulted in a re-aggravated injury, it would have been no different than any number of other common/non-flagrant fouls.

Turtles 80 Huskers 65

I think you may be misinterpreting the data--it clearly is based only off of results in conference play, as evidenced by OSU and Michigan having zeros across the board. So yes, Indiana is fourth in offensive efficiency, but based off only one game of data...and that game was against us. IU being fourth could just as easily imply that our defense is a "pushover." Reality is that we won a high scoring, offense-focused game.

Don't know if anyone else noticed, but one of his assists out of the high post was actually a left-handed pass. Most players would switch to their dominant hand, but Roby recognized that space was only available if he threw it in lefty. The kid has great vision and ball-handling for someone with his youth and size.

Hope this doesn't get in Jordy's head. No intent to injure. Don't let that injury and the fans' boos get to you, kid.

I now understand why Horne's nickname is 'Buckets.' I don't understand why it took so long for Miles to play him

Hoosiers 85 Huskers 63 6 conference wins

Oh, the guy from the debates who looked like a "Guess Who" character. I only could palate the first hour of the first debate, so (un)fortunately I missed his 15 seconds of fame.

Ken Bone? As in former Washington State head coach Ken Bone? I don't get the tie-in with Anwar...

**Disclaimer: I’m ignoring Nick Fuller in my rotation for reasons that I feel are too obvious to require explanation.** We have three guys who are too valuable to take off the court: Watson, Webster, and Morrow. If I’m Tim Miles, I pencil in Glynn/Tai/Ed for a combined 100 minutes, and then I laminate the paper so I can’t change my mind. That leaves Jacobson, McVeigh, Roby, Chimichanga, Horne, Taylor, and Gill, who all bring something to the table, but also all have glaring weaknesses. Jordy: When he’s locked in mentally, he’s been a beast for us. When he’s not, he fumbles every pass thrown his way, loses his man on defense, and collects fouls like their pokemon. Should Jordy get 20 minutes? On some nights yes. Should he only get spot duty in the 5-10 minute range? On some nights yes. Jordy’s youth and inconsistency make it impossible for the coaches to know how much to rely on him on any given night. But if one thing is clear to me, you know within his first few minutes on the floor whether he will be on or off. Verdict: play him early but with a short leash. Jacobson: Steady player on D and the boards, but with no outside shot he’s been ineffective as a stretch 4. He also doesn’t seem to play particularly well next to Jordy or Ed, so it’s tough to play him in a 3-out/2-in or high/low post look. Verdict: lots of minutes when we want to go big or Jordy isn’t locked in; otherwise, nope. Jack/Anton/Jeriah: I’d treat all 3 of these guys the same, since all are super streaky on offense and average to below average on D/rebounding. Each gets the full-confidence green light to shoot while they’re in the game, and each gets a solid 4-6 minute stretch in the first half. Whoever’s hot gets as many minutes as they can physically handle in the second half. Whoever’s not finds the end of the bench. The tough part here is keeping their collective confidence up to shoot when open, while simultaneously keeping them all on a short leash. Taylor: I’ll admit when I’m wrong-- I said early in the season that Taylor had no serious role on this team. But with so many talented/inconsistent players, it’s nice to have a 6’5” guy to put in the game that you know will play D and won’t turn it over. VERDICT: On nights when no one can score and we’re trying to win ugly, give me an extra helping of Evan. Roby: Other than our top 3 guys, Zay is the one player who I feel like needs consistent minutes on a nightly basis. Even when he’s not having a great night, he still doesn’t make a ton of mistakes. On a roster filled with high potential/low consistency (Jordy/Jack/Anton/Jeriah) and low potential/high consistency (Michael/Evan) players, we have to find a way to give Roby solid time in both halves. Conclusion: of the 200 minutes per game, I give 100 to my top 3, 20 to Roby, and divide up the remaining 80 among the other 6 players differently each game.

So if I give you 14-1 odds on Nebraska winning the B1G, you'd take that?

The odds of me defending my HHCC title are now about equal to the Huskers' odds of winning the B1G outright.

Huskers 77 Jags 65

Nebraska 77 Webbed Feet 55