Swan88

At the risk of jinxing things (with May 11's portal deadline still a week away), here's a good thing for the Huskers about this year's portal season: Nebraska has yet to lose a major returning player to the portal. Other teams haven't been so lucky with disgruntled players.

Here is information on the idea that Ulis played well last season but would sometimes "disappear": only four times last season was Ulis held scoreless--two of those were against the Huskers; using <4 points as a standard for "disappearing," that happened eight times--again, 25% of those eight times were against the Huskers; he scored in double digits 5 times (against Ohio St. twice, Rutgers, Michigan St. and TCU); he had 0 or only 1 turnover in 26 games, he had 2 turnovers in 2 games, but he had 4 turnovers in 2 games (Ohio St. and Rutgers) and 6 turnovers in 2 games (Michigan St. and Iowa St.); he shot 69 three-pointers and was below 33.3% in only one game (1 for 5 against Wisconsin); his worst games from the floor were Auburn (1-5), Purdue (1-6), Rutgers (2-8), Penn St. (1-6), Nebraska (0-4), EIU (2-10) and Georgia Tech (0-4); and he played >20 minutes in all but 7 games, until his 1-5 from three performance against Wisconsin on February 22--after that his minutes went to 15, 19, 13, 17 and 16.

In last year's pre-season, NU is projected at the bottom of the B1G. After the exhibition games, I'm thinking: "We're in trouble." Then, we have some success in the pre-B1G season, and I'm thinking: "Huh. Maybe we're better than projected." Then, we lose two starters, and the season is going in the tank. Then, Keisei and Derrick emerge as an incredible tandem, with Blaise coming along--and we beat some teams that end up dancing, and we aren't in the B1G cellar. Then, we are on the NIT bubble--but Blaise is out, Keisei is cramping, and things go south (as always with NU, it seems). The point: Hoiberg and Co. are fighting hard. They showed last season a perseverance and resilience through adversity--with some success. Can't wait to see what roster they are able to compile for next year. And can't wait to see what another season of perseverance and resilience (hopefully, with less adversity) will produce.

Two assists against one turnover per game isn’t shabby. Sallis, by contrast, is at 1 assist against .7 turnover per game.

The first comment says (according to Google Translate): “I think he has a lot of potential, but if he stays at the university, he should be thoroughly marked from the beginning of the next term. Under such circumstances, if he can stably perform as close to the end of the season as possible, he will be evaluated as an unquestionable ability, and we can expect more success in the NBA. For now, you should become the number one college player in the United States. It's not too late for the NBA.”

Presumably, if Sallis didn’t commit while in Lincoln, it’s not likely to happen? As to recruiting battles with Wake Forest, we lost that curly-haired kid, Carter Whitt, who got 12.4 minutes per game last season at Furman.

Robin is promising that something is set to happen “this afternoon.” When asked to blink once if it’s X or twice if it’s Y, he puts of a gif of a guy that blinks constantly.

Here’s from Hugley’s official Pitt bio: 2021-22 Earned Honorable Mention All-ACC honors Appeared in all 32 games, starting in all but one and averaged 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game … His points per game ranked T-15th in the ACC while his rebounds per contest were fourth Second in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (2.69) … Had seven games with five or more offensive rebounds Ranked sixth in the ACC in total rebounds with 253 Totaled 23 double-figure scoring games with eight games with 20+ points Tallied nine double-doubles Made and attempted more free throws than any other player in the ACC, going 157-of-221 (71.0 percent) from the line … made free throws ranked 26th in the NCAA while his attempts finished seventh in the country Finished the season with seven-straight games in double figures, averaging 17.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in that span Scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds against Boston College in the ACC Tournament First Round (3/8) Had a 20-point, seven rebound performance at home versus Miami (2/22) Secured 10 rebounds – including five offensive – and scored 21 points while dishing out six assists in a win over NC State (2/12) … made 13-of-15 from the free throw line Recorded a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards at Wake Forest (2/2) Grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds (eight offensive) and scored 11 points in a win over Syracuse (1/25) Went 8-of-9 from the charity stripe and 7-of-14 from the floor with seven rebounds and 23 points in a win over Louisville (1/15) Scored a career-best 32 points with 13 rebounds, two steals and a block while making a career-high 15-of-20 free throws against Boston College (1/8) … became the 14th Panther (29th performance) in program history to record over 30 points and 10 rebounds, joining Justin Champagnie, Sam Young and DeJuan Blair as players to achieve this feat since 2009 Tallied 14 points and 13 rebounds at home versus Monmouth (12/12) In just 22 minutes of action, scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds with two blocks and two steals against Colgate (12/9) In the Big Ten/ACC Challenge versus Minnesota (11/30), recorded 25 points and 14 rebounds Scored 21 points with seven rebounds on 8-of-10 shooting from the field against UMBC (11/27) In 24 minutes, finished with 17 points and six rebounds on 7-of-10 shooting at West Virginia (11/12) Opened the season with a double-double, scoring 27 points and notching 10 rebounds while adding a block and a steal versus The Citadel (11/9) … became the first player since the 1986-87 season to post 25 or more points and 10 or more rebounds in the season opener

Ha!! So . . . what was the feigned indecision all about?! Trying to negotiate a higher NIL? If so, hope it worked for him.

He likely already know what he wants to do. Any back-and-forth indecision publicity looks like an act—maybe to dispel any appearance of improper contacts before entering the portal.

A player with lots of assists can't be all bad--and then there are other positive things too. Check this out from his official bio on Arizona's website: 2021-22 (Sophomore Season). . . he went for a career-high 21 points (7-10 3FG), 10 rebounds and 10 assists at Utah (2/24) … in the first half of the game at Utah, he was 7 of 7 from the 3-point line, capped off by making a half-court shot as the halftime buzzer went off … ranked second in the Pac-12 in assists per game (4.7) … ranked third in the Pac-12 in 3FG made per game (2.42) … ranked fourth in the Pac-12 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.15) … his 155 assists helped Arizona set a new team single-season record for assists (726) … made 80 3FG on the year, the ninth-most in a season in Arizona history … played in 33 games, making 31 starts … averaged 9.7 points, 4.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds … scored in double figures 15 times … was 24 of 26 from the free throw line in Pac-12 play. He also shot .336 from the three point line that season.

Amazing highlights—very Walker-esque with assists, bullying inside, etc., But he hits a few threes too.

It will be interesting to see how the viewing numbers pan out for this tournament as a whole . . . and particularly for the Final 4. Will two five seeds, with a four seed and a nine seed, (all having limited notoriety in basketball) bring in more or fewer viewers to the Final Four--or about the same?

Yeah. I watched about five minutes of the game. During that time, Sallis made an impact on both ends of the floor with an athletic spin and drive for a layup and getting a rebound and forcing a turnover on the other end. Was surprised to see this morning a limited stat line for him: 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 5 points--but with 5 rebounds-- in 21 minutes.

Notre Dame photos from a basement?

Yikes. Not a good look for the University. They tried to fire the Coach "for cause" so they don't have to pay the $11 million buyout. Here are the main parts of the firing letter, according to ESPN: "Anderson was fired for 'failure to create and support an environment that strongly encourages student-athletes who are in the men’s basketball program to meet all university academic requirements,' 'failure to perform your duties and responsibilities in a manner that reflected positively on St. John’s University … in actions [that] brought serious discredit' to the school and 'failure to appropriately supervise and communicate with your assistant coaches.' – via ESPN" The University had better have some strong evidence to back up those conclusory statements--or the University is going to lose.

Altman has an interesting situation: 2019-20 Season: Covid -- no post-season tournament but a .772 Conference record 2020-21 Season: one win in NCAA and a .778 Conference record 2021-22 Season: one win in NIT and a .550 Conference record 2022-23 Season: two wins in NIT (lost at home) and a .600 Conference record. It's all a matter of perspective. At a place like Oregon, those results will raise concerns in the fanbase . . . and perhaps the administration. A 3,300 home attendance will amplify those concerns. Altman's reaction in the tweet above suggests some pressure--similar to Hoiberg's description of this year's final game as a "crushing" loss. Here's guessing that the temperature on Altman's coaching seat isn't any cooler than Fred Hoiberg's. At least Hoiberg showed a progression this season in the right direction, while Altman's progression over the last two is otherwise.

Here's a fun fact: two basketball teams the Huskers beat this season (both by double digits; and one on the road) are still dancing--one in the NIT and one in the NCAA. Here's another fun fact: Nebrasketball's attendance is very strong, notwithstanding adversity. While watching a bit of the game at Oregon last night, by contrast, cheers for the home team seemed feeble. Turns out, they had only 3,300 people in attendance . . . and that included Wisconsin fans.

Yikes! 550+ names and counting. Why would anyone want to jump into that pool of names, unless expected to be in high demand or having a destination in hand? And for high school players out of the top 100 rankings, that list of names must be disheartening in the extreme!

Here's why we are much closer than may appear: we have an active and effective Athletic Director in charge. Before Trev Alberts stepped into that position, I saw an interview with Bob Stoops talking about Nebraska's football travails. He said the problem is at the top of the athletic department--that no team and coach can do it on their own. Such observation seems particularly apt for Husker basketball: --Remember the non-support (if not active undermining) from the top for Tim Miles? --It may be that Fred Hoiberg was not undermined--but there was no active support or direction either. When Trev Alberts arrived, he began providing direction for both programs from day one: resulting in the firing of one coach but active support for the other. Early returns on Trev Alberts's leadership are this: both programs are heading in the right direction and building steam.