millerhusker

Could be wrong, but I don't think that's what anyone is talking about. I don't want Brice to show more emotion. The even keeled nature of Griesel and Walker were ideal imo, especially for a player's coach who isn't real strict about reigning personalities in on the court. Brice could definitely be more "violent" with his movement, though. Again last night he watched a ball bounce and waited for it to come to him rather than just grabbing it with authority. He sometimes moves without purpose when the ball isn't in his hands. This is nitpicking, but there's nothing wrong with pointing it out. I sure hope the coaches are on film, because these are fixable things. Brice is very talented and smooth on the court. He just needs to be more "solid" and disciplined at all times. Overall he's a big net positive for us.

You cannot have Coleman, CJ and Brice on the court as your 1-2-3. That's three laterally slow players who just got torched for 10 points in less than 2 minutes.

Yeah Gary took more of Brice's minutes than anyone else's in that half.

We have some shooters and we have some non-shooters and we don't need our non-shooters shooting more than our shooters...

Here's to hoping he gets disgruntled with his lack of playing time on an underachieving team with a washed up coach. I believe Simeon will be an NBA point guard in a few years.

I like when people have a different opinion than everyone else, especially when it is thoughtful. That said, I respectfully couldn't disagree more with you. Keisei's gravity can be a very useful tool to help others get going early, even if Keisei doesn't come out hot. A player who moves without the ball like Keisei strikes more fear into opposing coaches than any 7 footer does. It's a nightmare to try to get college kids to chase a guy like that around all game and stay disciplined.

I can't figure Williams out either. I don't think he's lazy. But he sure looks like it at times on both ends of the court. Sometimes he'll wait for a loose ball to bounce to him instead of going to get it. Other times he'll be fighting and scrapping for a rebound. He's just not locked in all the time. Maybe that's why he was voluntold to come off the bench at Charlotte. Not being locked in is why Eli now has an uphill battle to get a significant minutes. Too many missed blockouts and assignments on defense. Sam didn't play within himself at times in this game. Fred has been talking about instilling confidence in Sam and trying to get him to hunt some shots. However, I think he played with the right amount of confidence last year. Lawrence played a good game, I thought. Won't show up in the box score. The pace of play is so much better with him on the court. So much better. He's willing to make the simple play and the ball doesn't stick with him. He'll continue to figure things out in his new role. I don't like when he's off the court for an extended amount of time like these past two games. The offense really gets stagnant. His 22mpg will bump up significantly as the year goes on. He had the highest +/- on the team last night (+18). Boogie had the only negative +/- on the team (-4). Outside of the missed open looks I thought Keisei looked sharp and in good shape. He'll be just fine. Mast is legit and the only one who's consistently strong with the ball right now. Everyone else fumbles it too much. We need to finish in the lane. Even if there's a little contact. No excuses there. I'm wondering about Gary in the first group with Allick coming off the bench. Right now there are 4 players on the team who are adept at moving without the ball - Lawrence, CJ, Keisei and Gary. It'd be nice to have two of them playing off the ball in that starting lineup. Gary gives you a bit more defensive versatility and offensive spacing also. The competition will continue to get better. Hopefully we will too.

10-25 2FG is more worrisome to me right now. We played so well at the end of last year because we put the ball in the hoop inside the arc.

33% from the field is alarming. Gotta figure some things out or Duquesne will come in here and roll us next week.

When we start a possession with a Boogie backdown, no points come of that possession.

Brice does some good things but he plays with no urgency or purpose when the ball isn't in his hands. Coleman is the same way. That hurts the team when you're trying to run an offense like this.

That was Brice Williams who missed the layup.

Solid squad we're playing tonight. I like their transfer from UMASS. He can play. Will be a good test for JL. His brother is pretty active too. Oh, and they have the preseason conference player of the year.

18 turnovers and 40% from the field against a really bad team. Yikes. Keisei is healthy and Gary has learned his lesson. Let’s play em.

54% on close 2s last year. Probably below average right? But it was on relatively low volume (Griesel took 4x as many close 2s and was 57.8%). JL was shooting 28.5% from the field prior to entering the rotation. In conference play, I was pretty impressed with his ability, as a true freshman, to finish through contact in the lane. 54% on close 2s was where Glynn Watson was at as a senior.

This is awesome. Kid is physically college ready right now. Might as well get him here and get started.

When he was in junior college Nate came to my hometown as part of the Triple Threat basketball camp circuit with Don Bechard. Don called him Nate the Great. Good people.

Same style of play as last year. They just happened to have two of the top 10-15 players in the country to give the ball to. They'll be a mess this year.

A lot of obvious positives. The first half was a thing of beauty in almost all aspects. Some causes for conern: It's just game 1, but the overall demeanor doesn't seem as business-like as last year's group. Not sure if that's necessarily a concern. But on a few occasions we had players complaining to the refs rather than getting back on defense, reminiscent of Fred's first three teams. That stuff didn't happen last year. Eli got bullied on both ends. Not close to being ready for the Big Ten. He plays very hunched over, similar to Breidenbach. Rare for a basketball player to have that posture on the court. They tend to play smaller than they are and short-arm shots in the paint. Eli airballed a layup - fortunately a foul was called, but there was no contact. After his three point attempt was blocked, he gave no effort getting back to contest the layup. Freshmen. Coleman's body language was poor when things didn't go his way. Not a fan of Brice in a ball handling/creating role. It didn't get him into much trouble today, but he doesn't appear to have that ability and it will show against better teams. He can help us a lot in other ways. The offense was much more stagnant without JL or SH on the floor to keep the ball moving. Getting Keisei back will help keep things flowing. Once Keisei and Gary are back, we have a clear top 9. If we end up with an 8 man rotation, right now I'd say Coleman will be the odd man out. He'll have to play differently against Big Ten teams to keep that spot. Regardless, there were many more positives than negatives in this game. Expectations and hype are real high right now and I'm trying to stay grounded.

Mast is going to look very good against all these non-con teams. Very intrigued to see how he does against Big Ten bigs. He's skilled, smart and strong.

It feels like we're coming at them in droves, yet 2 of our top 7 guys aren't even playing tonight. Wild.

JL has the yips. Hope that doesn't continue.

Fred says Josiah starting at the 4 and Mast at the 5. I like it.

Hunter had 27 points in an exhibition game against Alabama. Gonna have a big year. Other starters in that game included Parker Friedrichsen, Grant Nelson and Latrell Wrightsell.

Exactly. We often advance the ball with a pass anyway. It doesn't matter who initiates the offense. Once in the halfcourt, Hoiberg's system is what generates looks for players, as opposed to individual guards trying to create. This is why Coleman is stuck towards the end of the rotation right now. He appears to be more of a Miles guard than a Hoiberg guard. The ball sticks in his hands and he dribbles without a purpose at times. Might be hard to break these habits, seeing how he's played this way for 4 years. He'll look like a mini-Palmer against Doane and some non-con teams, but it is not sustainable in this system against Big Ten teams. Can't have it.