Swan88

Nah, Norm. You were right all along! Just funnin ya.

Wow!! It's obvious why this guy has four stars: 1. Lept high to edge the smaller opponent for the opening tip 2. Fills up the middle well in a zone defense but isn't exactly "quick" with lateral movement 3. Is slow getting up and down the court but can push smaller people around when he gets set 4. Is pretty good at hitting bunnies . . . until he gets tired 5. One day, with development, he might be referred to as a rich man's Andre Almeida.

Touché again, Norm. Go get 'em, Tim!!!

But still . . . A set shot from inside the key??!! Just saying . . .

It's always intriguing when the "highlights" of a 6'10" 260-280 pound 4-star are a set shot and being blown-by on defense. Not doubting the star ranking . . . but still . . . Of course, these weren't really "highlights" of the big guy. Just some clips for the nightly sports. The "being blown-by on defense" part really goes on the wing defender who got back-doored. Interesting way to characterize as the bid dude's bad. But I thought the big dude did an "impressive" job of establishing rebounding position and, in one shot, scored more points than I've seen another big we're following score in two entire halves of hoops. Not going there . . . though sorely tempted.

It's always intriguing when the "highlights" of a 6'10" 260-280 pound 4-star are a set shot and being blown-by on defense. Not doubting the star ranking . . . but still . . .

Additionally, an outside possibility, in situations like this, is that the slow-play may be coming from Coach Miles and that we are not merely waiting for a decision from the recruit.

According to Robin Washut over on Rivals: "Nebraska picked up its ninth home win of the season, the 37th consecutive season finishing at or above .500 in the Devaney Center." So . . . the string of no-less-than-.500 record at the Bob is (and forever will remain) unbroken.

For some Monday morning levity, here's a quote from Shang Ping's Juco Coach that is preserved for posterity by an Okie St. Rivals article back in September of 2006: "Shang Ping was born to play hoops. Both his mother and father played for the Chinese national team and he's been playing the game all of his life. 'He's perhaps the most skilled big guy I've seen,' Illinois Central CC Assistant Coach Fred Dickson said. 'We play him at the four and five, but he's really a three man. But he can post up and he is very tough minded.'"

Don't know what the "other sites" might be, but here is the operative NCAA Division I Rule on the subject (Bylaw 15.5.1.2--see page 97)--it appears that the first rule governs a student's first year and the exception governs the following years: 15.5.1.2 Football or Basketball, Varsity Competition. In football or basketball, a student-athlete who was recruited (see Bylaw 15.02.8) by the awarding institution and who receives institutional financial aid (as set forth in Bylaw 15.02.4.1) granted without regard in any degree to athletics ability does not have to be counted until the student-athlete engages in varsity intercollegiate competition (as opposed to freshman, B-team, subvarsity, intramural or club competition) in those sports. For this provision to be applicable, there shall be on file in the office of the athletics director certification by the faculty athletics representative, the admissions officer and the chair of the financial aid committee that the student’s admission and financial aid were granted without regard in any degree to athletics ability. (Revised: 1/16/93 effective 8/1/93, 1/11/94, 6/20/04, 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11) 15.5.1.2.1 Exception—Receipt of Institutional Academic Aid Only. In football or basketball, student-athlete who was recruited (see Bylaw 15.02.8) by the awarding institution and whose only source of institutional financial aid is academic aid based solely on the recipient’s academic record at the certifying institution, awarded independently of athletics interests and in amounts consistent with the pattern of all such awards made by the institution, may compete without counting in the institution’s financial aid team limits, provided he or she has completed at least one academic year of full-time enrollment at the certifying institution and has achieved a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.000 (on a 4.000 scale) at the certifying institution. (Adopted: 10/27/05 effective 8/1/06, Revised: 1/15/11 effective 8/1/11)

The Regent's scholarship is based on test scores and academic qualifications. Am pretty sure that a Regent's scholarship would not count against the athletic scholarship number limitation, provided the athlete actually qualifies for the scholarship without any athletics consideration.

Here are some thoughts: 1. Getting tired of every time someone drives inside and hits Almeida a glancing blow, it's a foul on Andre. 2. As people were leaving tonight around the 2:00 minute mark, I stood near a doorway and yelled "Don't leave" at 'em. Yeah. That was kinda juvenile--but hey, it made me feel better, and some of them actually stuck around for another minute or so. Maybe next time they'll want to avoid such abuse and not leave early. 3. If only one of those four-or-so consecutive Husker threes that rimmed out during the last 1:30 had gone in . . . 4. Nice to see a good crowd that got into the game and were repaid by a great game from the team. 5. There were three-or-so threes for Ohio St. that went in when Huskers had played excellent defense for 32 seconds--and all three shots had a Husker defender in the shooter's face. Tough breaks!

Raw . . . sure. Noone's ever said he is good with the ball. And as to basketball IQ--he's no Ryan Anderson. But go back, look at every minute of those videos, and find a time on defense when he is bested by a big: there isn't one--or very many. In fact, there is precious little activity in the paint when he is on the defensive floor--but when he isn't in there, that changes. Tim Miles said he needs a big, athletic defensive presence in the paint. Matthew fits that bill. Granted, without the "Curse of Akoy," Tim Miles might have landed someone better. My belief, Norm, is that you are overly harsh on this one--but, then again, you are astute and could be correct. So . . . you can now have the last word on the subject, and I'll try to bow out of this discussion--hopefully, my resolution on this will hold.

Swan, I luv ya, buddy, but you're really reaching for something positive to report. His "impressive job of positioning." I mean, it was certainly decent. Showed some quicks. But "impressive"? He couldn't gather the ball and then, once he does get ahold of it and goes up, he gets swatted. I thought it was a clean block, too. Didn't see where the foul was. But he goes to the line and bricks his first freebie by hitting the backboard first. When he goes into the game at the 12:00 mark (8 minutes into the game) his team leads 9-7. They've been getting a lot of their offensive looks by entering the ball to the high post. Once Atewe comes in, they don't even try to enter it to Atewe. Completely changes their offense. Over the next 7+ minutes of game time, with Atewe in the game, the other team goes on an 18-6 run. By the time Atewe checks out with just under 5 minutes left in the half, his team trails 25-15. And, during that stretch, Atewe gets beaten badly twice, giving the other team 4 easy points. He also picks up at least two fouls. And he's supposed to be recruited as a defensive presence? M'kay. Ok, Norm. I give. I'm tweeting Miles tonight with a demand that he leave this loser alone and go after some other poor schmuck that is more polished and then throw in something derogatory about how he shoulda either signed Agau or gone harder after someone else instead. Oh, and then, tomorrow afternoon we'll all be throwing frustrated epithets around wondering why it is that our bigs don't have the athleticism to keep up with the Illini and Gophers and Buckeyes of this world and suggest that Miles needs to go after someone who has actual offers from the likes of UConn and Georgetown and Duke (instead of mere sniffs from them) and also suggest that if his recruits can't get better offers than the ones held by this loser, then Miles needs to find a profession he's better suited to handle. [Rant finished!]

A few interesting Atewe moments in the videos above include the following. First video: (i) around the 18:00 mark, he does an impressive job of positioning and then using his athletecism to get an offensive rebound, is stuffed/fouled going back up for the shot, then makes one of two free throws; (ii) around the 20:40 mark, he gets a block, and (iii) despite having a very tall / thick post guy, the other team rarely takes the ball inside against Matthew--instead, around 21:30, the post guy settles for a three-pointed that misses badly. Second video: (i) around 12:20 Matthew gets a lay-in, (ii) at 13:45 he gets the ball on the block and is mugged by three players--no foul called, and (iii) at 13:55 gets a block.

Ray and Benny have one thing in common: both were Rivals two-star recruits. Actually, Benny eventually became upgraded to a three-star, but Ray never did and still shows as a two-star recruit on the Rivals database.

Cum-on, Norm! You gotta give other people a chance to post this stuff first !!! Sheesh. That trigger finger of yours . . . [this is intended as a smart-aleck joke--just in case it isn't obvious]

Gaaaaaaaah! Salt-in-wound stat line for Jeter from last night: in 20 minutes, 8 points on 3 of 4 shooting, including 2 for 2 from three, 7 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul. Yep. We are better off without him.

How's this for a stat line: 30 points on 12 of 17 from the floor (71%), 6 of 9 from three (67%) and 0-fer 1 from the line (ouch), in 38 minutes with 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 foul and 2 turnovers. All that under heavy defensive pressure. Looks like Ray's extra shooting work on the practice court is paying off. Perhaps the recent sportscaster's comment during a game that Ray is NBA material, if his shot could be more reliable, is spurring him on. Here's hoping that he can replicate this performance in a game where we have a fighting chance!

Before his foot/ankle injury and then his knee injury, Benny Parker was averaging 6.1 points and shooting 51.6% from the floor on 4.5 shot attempts per game. In the five games after those injuries, Benny averaged 1.6 points per game while shooting just 2-of-ten from the field. This is according to a turn-of-the-year article in the Journal Star. Hopefully, he's doing much better now on the injury front. Perhaps, however, a bad wheel or two shouldn't be ignored in the discussions of Benny Parker!

Norm said: "I was always a big fan of Doc's." I too was/am a Doc fan. Doc started out well and showed some promise. But he then became the victim of a string of self-inflicted bad luck that did him in: from the Sallee debacle, to the Diaz TOEFL fiasco, to Diaz refusing to play his first year of eligibility, to signing the likes of Shang Ping and Alex Chapman, to an incredible and constant rash of injuries, to Cookie Miller and Jay-R Strowbridge leaving early, to signing a top-notch recruit who then doesn't show up (can't remember his name), etc., etc. etc. The bad luck seemed to snowball, especially after Sallee couldn't enroll, and kicked him out the door. That being said, the Tim Miles era is now here, and Nebrasketball is poised for greatness in a manner that Doc obviously could never produce. Tim Miles, for example, has a history of making multiple start-up projects work successfully, while Doc never had the experience of making one start-up work. Go Big Red!

Ah yes. The old nomnative case vs. objective case pronoun issue. Thanks for clearing that up, Norm.

Amen!!! What in the world is with the primacy of "me" these days! Most boomers in their younger years would have been reprimanded severely by their elders for such a self-centered comment. But it's standard form these days. Granted, every generation views such things as evidence of the deterioration of society and of the younger generation having lost all sense of what is right, while the younger ones tend to have a sense of superiority for their enlightened ways over the obvious and flagrant errors of their elders. Still . . . It's irritating as heck!

And no one spells names (or any other word, it seems) correctly either.

its pitchford bro And "its" is actually a contraction for "it is" that requires an apostrophe: "it's" -- as long as we are being picky and precise.