Swan88

Well that's not really saying much... Ha! But I'd take Ryan Anderson again any time.

I found this tweet by a college basketball head coach to be interesting. The message is this: Don't believe all the "offer" reports we see on message boards.

So . . . it looks like we are poised for another breakout year (a little levity -- but no sarcasm -- intended). Here's what our soon-to-be contributors looked like at the beginning of 2013-2014's highly-successful season: Tai Webster -- a freshman point guard David Rivers -- a 6'7 198 lb. Junior forward, who would spend lots of time in the paint with bigs Benny Parker -- a 1- or 2- star point guard sophomore Terran Petteway -- a yet-unproven sophomore wing, who would reach great heights Mike Peltz -- a no-star senior guard who would do the dirty work on defense Ray Gallegos -- a red-shirt senior guard -- a three-point specialist who shot .335 from three Leslee Smith -- a first-year, 6'8" 255 lb. junior center who would perform well-beyond expectations Shavon Shields -- a sophomore 2- or 3- star wing who would contribute beyond his years and experience Walter Pitchford -- a redshirt sophomore, who played pretty well most of that season Everyone picked this team dead-last in the Big Ten -- and deservedly so. They finished fourth and in the Dance. This season: Tai Webster -- a Senior who played well on occasion last year Anton Gill -- a redshirt junior and former four-star recruit Glynn Watson -- a sophomore point guard -- four-star -- who played very well last year Jack McVeigh -- a sophomore three-point specialist who, when playing heavy minutes, shot well over .400 last year Michael Jacobson -- a sophomore who performed well beyond expectations last year Ed Morrow -- a sophomore four-star who grew tremendously last year when healthy Jeriah Horne -- a Top 150 freshman Isaiah Roby -- a four-star freshman Jordy Tshimanga -- a Top 150 freshman big Everyone is picking this team in the bottom two or three of the league. The foregoing shows why they play the games. It will be fun to see how much these guys beat expectations this season.

"He's got a chance to be pretty special," Wilson said of Jordy. Gotta love that!

Wow, Norm! Great job on research and analysis. Gotta' love your conclusions!

All I know is what I saw in one exhibition game/scrimmage at the beginning of last season. What I saw there is a guy who could pull up and shoot and score from anywhere, even under heavy pressure. He could create his own shot. He could also defend well. He looked to me like the best player on the floor that night.

I like Miles and I think everyone here remembers my feelings on Sadler and Collier. But I don't think it is unfair to compare the three after 4 years. I think it needs to account for several factors when it's done...but I think the comparison is fair. Miles has built up a lot of good will with the NCAA run and the increase of talent on paper. He inherited a mess from Sadler, has attempted to actually play some teams in the non-con, and has been in the Big 10 full time (unlike the others). But has also had the new arena and practice facility as well. At some point in time...it does come down to wins and losses. I don't think we are at that point yet....but it's getting close. That talent has to translate. NUStudent -- great to hear from you again! Have you been hanging around this board of late? Don't recall reading many of your posts. You and I have disagreed a lot over the years -- great to see your posts again!

So . . . Barfknecht has a new Nebrasketball article (it's linked above). I scanned the article and read the headlines -- they seem to be pretty spot-on. But I didn't read much of it. Here's why: every time I see someone compare Miles to Sadler and Collier as a genuine (i.e., not a joke) observation, I immediately shut down on the article. And that's how Barfknecht starts out. It looks like the article might contain some unique insights and creative observations and energetic analysis. But when the old-and-tired comparison to former coaches is trotted out as the opening observation of an article, I'm done--not gonna' waste my time. Sure, there may be some record similarities among all three: but did either of the prior coaches even sniff the possibility of national coach of the year, did either have the types of recruiting successes that Miles has seen, did either get to the Tournament, etc.? Miles is so far ahead of those guys, it's not even close. That opening of Barfknecht's article seems . . . well, it seems lazy. It's neither clever nor insightful nor original--it's the oldest "dig" in the book. And it seems like pandering to the anti-Husker crowd who always want every Husker coach in every sport fired.

So . . . both Ed Morrow and Isaiah Roby show up at Nebraska with a significant injury that's been bothering them from their high school playing days. Each requires substantial down-time. Both lose valuable learning time during the earliest times of their college days. Here's Isaiah's injury info from the article: "The injury, Miles said, is the result of wear and tear on Roby's body, not from a recent particular incident. "He's been feeling it for several months, back to his high school days," Miles said. "He's been complaining about his hip, and we looked at his hips and tested everything out, and his hips were good. So then we did the MRI and X-Ray and found it." The only cure, Miles said, is rest and no contact.

Evan Flood ‏@Evan_Flood 14h14 hours agoMequon, WI Nebraska is two deep for Nana Akenten. Head coach Tim Miles included. #Huskers @michaelbruntz

Ha! My thoughts, exactly. Here's guessing this goes up to the very end -- whenever that might be.

What's with the animosity toward Molinari? He's a fine person and coach and recruiter (e.g., Roby). As shown above, defensive stats for Molinari's first year are better than the defensive stats for the Tournament team, across the board.

Here are some season stats comparing 2012-13 with 2014-15 from Huskers.com (hopefully I have the details correct): FG% by other team: .434 in 12-13; .404 in 14-15 3 Pt. % by other team: .334 in 12-13; .334 in 14-15 FTA by other team: 659 in12-13; 627 in 14-15 Av. RB by other team: 35.2 in 12-13; 35.0 in 14-15 Assists by other team: 366 in 12-13; 324 in 14-15 TO by other team: 368 in 12-13; 415 in 14-15 Blocks by other team: 136 in 12-13; 96 in 14-15 Steals by NU: 167 in 12-13; 192 in 14-15 Av. Pts. By other team: 63.5 in 12-13; 63.1 in 14-15

Looks like Nana Akenten is a typical Tim Miles recruit: a high-character and strong-academics person. Here is a quote from his coach at the end of the last season: “Nana is one of the most talented kids we have had in our program and is only going to get better,” Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost said. “He is an outstanding student-athlete who represents everything that is good about BHS.”

Gotta love the mobility!

Now is the time we can officially say we wouldn't actually want a guard whose stat line from last year is this: 25% from three (ok, it was only 1 of 4) 41% from the line (14 of 34) 13 assists to 19 turnovers (but with 15 steels). I'm only kidding, of course.

Here's the full report on Arop (including some good stuff): Aguek Arop, F (Omaha South): The Nebraska pledge was up and down this weekend, finishing with two points in one game and zero in another. But he showed up big-time in the championship game. Arop was efficient offensively, scoring 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting. But on defense, he was an absolute force. At 6-feet-5, he is capable of guarding basically every position at the AAU level. He moves his feet incredibly well and his length makes him nearly impossible to complete a pass against when he’s engaged in denial. Like his teammate Wingett, Arop also threw down one of the biggest dunks of the weekend, catching the ball on the wing, attacking the basket and throwing down with both hands over a defender who rotated over to contest.

Here is information on Thomas Allen from a USA Today article published last Saturday: HAMPTON, Va. – Back in December, we dubbed Thomas Allen “the best junior point guard you’ve never heard of.” That much, at least from a national perspective, hasn’t changed. Allen still remains unranked by every major national scouting service; good thing for Allen that college coaches could care less about rankings. “Since the summer season started, Xavier, Ohio State, Butler, Cincinnati have all reached out,” said Allen, who scored 21 points and dished out five assists in Garner Road West’s (N.C.) 67-49 win against National Phenoms Gold (Washington, D.C.) Saturday at the Southern Jam Fest. Allen’s 22-point, five-assist per game averages will be hard to ignore, despite any pause college coaches have in recruiting him. “I think the biggest thing I’ve heard is about my size (6-foot-1),” Allen said. “That’s not something I can control. I just try to go out and play as hard as I can and do everything I can to get the win. That’s been working so far.”

Yeah. In the highlights they go in. But when they don't go in, he's either there for the tip or at the line--or both (rarely is it neither when he's near the basket). But I know what you are saying--it's a little reminiscent of Ed with the ball in his hands at the beginning of last season.

Thanks, Chuck for posting this video link. Jordy Tshimanga does some pretty exciting things in this game. Here are some observations from the video: He's mobile--2:25, 10:08, 15:00, 26:05, 37:05 He assists--3:50, 29:50 He scores--4:10, 5:00--but is not their go-to guy on offense. He gets hacked . . . a lot, especially on his way to the bucket. He needs to improve his free throw shooting percentage. He doesn't do anything fancy with the dribble.

That's very apparent...any team tells him they're picking him and he's gone. The question is whether or not he's going to do so without a guarantee of being picked. Terran left without a guaranty of getting picked, and he didn't get picked. He took a risk, and things still turned out well for him. The question is whether Andrew is willing to take a similar risk. Looks to me like the answer to such a question is, "Yes." You may end up being right....but Terran Petteway on 4/16/15 announced he would not be returning. The draft game is different now, but if Andrew White was so gung ho on going the Petteway route no matter what....why has he not hired an agent already? Good points.

That's very apparent...any team tells him they're picking him and he's gone. The question is whether or not he's going to do so without a guarantee of being picked. Terran left without a guaranty of getting picked, and he didn't get picked. He took a risk, and things still turned out well for him. The question is whether Andrew is willing to take a similar risk. Looks to me like the answer to such a question is, "Yes."

Andrew wants to get a job and start earning a living.

In the category of, "you can't believe everything you read on the internet," check out these salary and net worth numbers for Terran Petteway: