Swan88

As to getting into the Dance this year, here is the Committee (spoiler alert, Barry Collier is still there, but no one from Omaha is on or Chairing the Committee any more): NCAA Tournament Selection Committee The 2023-2024 Selection Committee (the year the term is up is in parenthesis): CHARLES MCCLELLAND (2024) – SWAC Commissioner (Chairperson) JAMIE POLLARD (2024) – Iowa State Athletic Director BUBBA CUNNINGHAM (2025) – North Carolina Athletic Director (Vice-Chairperson) MARK COYLE (2026) – Minnesota Athletic Director DAVE HEEKE (2026) – Arizona Athletic Director GREG BYRNE (2026) – Alabama Athletic Director KEITH GILL (2026) – Sun Belt Commissioner BARRY COLLIER (2026) – Butler Athletic Director MARTIN NEWTON (2027) – Samford Athletic Director TOM WISTRCILL (2027) – Big Sky Commissioner ARTHUR JOHNSON (2028) – Temple Athletic Director RACHELLE PAUL (2028) – Miami Deputy Athletic Director

Has anyone see the Omaha World-Herald's Sports section this morning? It has a photo of the Creighton women's game against UCONN covering the entire top half of the front page and bleeding over the fold, followed by the beginnings of two separate articles on that game--two of them--that also cover a third of the second page. Then, the entire back page of the Sports section is a photo from that same game with a small write-up. The Husker men's game coverage, by contrast, gets a small right corner at the bottom of the front page and a third of the second page, with a small photo of CJ Wilcher on the second page. You'd think that the women won big (they were blown out 94-50--a 44 points loss) and that the men lost (they actually defeated Indiana by 16--86-70). Presumably, the late start left the World-Herald editorial staff guessing on what would happen, and they guessed wrong . . . big time!!

Careful. Doc was 50-50 against that guy who now coaches at Oregon.

Enjoy this video:

Yeah. Hope the week-to-heal helps. And that it's not the beginning of a continual problem. Juwan Gary made a huge contribution in the Michigan St. win. The improvement in his three point shot at Nebraska is remarkable, according to ESPN: 34.6% in 2023-2024; 26.3 in 2022-2023; 22.0% in 2021-2022; and 11.1% in 2020-2021. His improvements at the line are similar: 70.0% in 2023-2024; 62.1% in 2022-2023; 61.1% in 2021-2022; and 52.9% in 2020-2021. The same is true for rebounds: 5.1/game in 2023-2024; 6.5/game in 2022-2023; 3.4/game in 2021-2022; and 2.8/game in 2020-2021. And look at these assist stats: 1.1/game in 2023-2024; 0.8game in 2022-2023; 0.3/game in 2021-2022; and 0.2/game in 2020-2021. It appears that a healthy Juwan Gary is one of those essential elements to a successful 2023-2024 Husker season.

Saw about 5 minutes of the the game in second half--that's all. Observation: Allick is not a threat to score, so they ignore him beyond layup/dunk range and use his defender to assist elsewhere--where that assistance can have a significant effect.

Speaking of C.J. Wilcher, here's how his brother Simeon is doing at St. John's in the early phase of this season. St. John's has four games: (i) beat Rutgers in an exhibition 89-78, (ii) lost to Pace in an exhibition 59-63, (iii) beat Stoney Brook 90-74, and (iv) lost to Michigan 73-89. Against Rutgers, Simeon played 17 minutes, scored 3 points on 1-2 from three, with 2 rebounds, 5 fouls, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 1 block. Against Pace, Simeon played 17 minutes, scored 4 points on 2-6 from the floor and 0-3 from three, with 0 rebounds, 3 fouls, 0 assists, 1 turnover, 1 block and 1 steal. Against Stoney Brook, Simeon played 9 minutes, scored 3 points on 1-1 from the floor and 1-2 from the line, with 1 foul, 1 turnover and 1 block. Against Michigan, Simeon played 9 minutes, scored 2 points on 1-2 from the floor, with 2 rebounds, 3 fouls, 1 assist, 2 turnovers and 1 block.

Every Husker sports program has improved under Trev's leadership. Every one.

Here's C.J. Wilcher's line from last night--not too shabby, except for the 3 turnovers: 22:51 minutes; 13 points on 4-8 (50%) from the field, 3-5 (60%) from three, and 2-2 (100%) from the line; 5 rebounds; 2 fouls; 1 assist; 3 turnovers; and +/- +13.

Juan Gary will add a spark of quickness between getting the ball in the paint and scoring. He doesn't get bottled up while gathering the ball and getting set to leap, as defenders close in around him. That should help.

Latrell had a good game for Alabama: 28 minutes, 3-5 shooting (2-2 from 3), 0-1 from the line, for 8 points; 4 rebounds, 3 fouls, 4 assists, 1 turnover and 2 steals. Grant: 28 minutes, 4-11 shooting (2-5 from 3), 1-1 from the line, for 11 points; 3 rebounds, 5 fouls, 1 assist, 3 turnovers. And he finished with a +/- of -16. Also, Wake Forest had 4 players with >30 minutes, while Alabama had none: other than Latrell and Grant at 28 minutes each, only one other Alabama player had >25 minutes.

Hunter was 11 of 20 (3 of 8 from three) and 2 of 4 from the line, in 39 minutes, with 4 fouls, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 4 rebounds. The other volume scorer had 18 shots. Frederickson was 2 of 7–all from three, 1 assist, 2 turnovers, in 31 minutes.

Maybe in years to come we’ll all be amazed at this season, with the injuries and youngsters stepping up:

WHAT ARE EXHIBIT 9 AND EXHIBIT 10 CONTRACTS? Exhibit 9 and Exhibit 10 contracts are commonly referred to as “summer contracts” or “training camp contracts”. These players are being brought in to provide competition in training camp, to give coaches some extra bodies for drills and scrimmages, and sometimes to prove they are worthy of a regular season roster spot. Both Exhibit 9 and Exhibit 10 contracts are one-year, fully non-guaranteed contracts. (A team could technically sign a player who was from another team, or from outside of the NBA, to a four-year, maximum contract on a summer contract (not an Exhibit 9 or Exhibit 10 deal), but that’s never happened and will likely never happen for many reasons.) In addition, they do not count against the salary cap or the luxury tax. They are very much “make good” deals in every sense of the word. If a player proves worthy of sticking around, teams have a few options. We’ll cover the uniqueness of an Exhibit 10 contract in a moment, because it has some different parameters around it. . . . WHAT IS SPECIFIC ABOUT AN EXHIBIT 10 CONTRACT? An Exhibit 10 contract is unique in that it has ties to the G League. Everything works the same as laid out above, with a few key differences.

What’s an Exhibit 10 Contract!

Sheesh. Here's the problem with social media: I intended my measurements post about Okeke to be lighthearted banter about a guy being not as tall as suggested (according to one publication) with a slightly different wingspan from what others had (what's an inch or two once we're beyond 7 feet?)--in a context where measurables are always fluid and mostly ballpark ranges. And then posters are clarifying and apologizing--and making me feel like a jerk when no clarification or apology is needed or expected. So . . . my bad.

You are correct: “The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Nigeria native with the 7-4 wingspan holds the Winthrop record for career blocked shots with 165 in three seasons.” From Ómaha World-Herald, April 23, 2017. Apr 23, 2017 Apr 23, 2017