Dean Smith

I obviously was rooting for NC, but the whole crew and Higgins especially killed the flow of that game with the touch and then inconsistent foul calls. He also tried to stare down kids after he would make a bad call against them, like he was looking the T someone up. Officials and their egos.

I probably had a tendency to wait too long to take the time out. I felt they were twice as valuable at end of game situations and I wanted the players to find a way to right the ship by themselves. We talked about the fact that there are always going to be runs in a game and you need to learn how to deal with them. One of my best teams took it upon themselves to compete to be the run killer. We discussed in practice once that when a team goes on a run, especially at their home, someone needs to step up and make a play that silences the crowd. In the middle of one run on the road, on a dead ball I asked a senior in front of the bench, "Do we need a time out?" He responded, "No, I'm going to be one." Clueless, I asked, "The one?" "The one to silence this crowd." He immediately proceeded to hit a three on that possession. He turns to the bench and tells me, "Save the timeout. I got that one for you coach." That was a fun year. For the rest of the year I had players after making run killing plays, tap themselves on the chest and say things like, "I got that one." Like I said, that was a fun year.

Seems a lot more mental. He shot all of 2 three pointers and shot 55% from the FT line. Not to be cruel but Nick won't get much better IMO. And without an outside shot he is relegated to hustle duty in the lane. He can play a few minutes but doubt he contributes anything but mop up duty with Roby & Horne coming in. I really don't want to speculate because I don't know the kid.... But the dude used to be lights out from 3pt, holds many records in Wisconsin. Line only moved back a foot, you have to place some blame on the staff for whatever has happened to his game. Right? No - his confidence which could or could not be connected to the staff. The game I watched he was lights out from behind the line in warm ups and then airballed the only one he took in the game.

Why? He looks like he can actually handle the ball and score baskets. Tarin Smith did not have the freshman season Watson did, but he showed he could play at the Big10 level, We'll see on Evelyn.

Why?

I think Altman is a very good coach, but if you remember he left Creighton after an 18-16 year with a lot of grumbling going on from lots of the blue vests with the big checks.

Not really. Have you seen the sunshine pumpin' going on around here with the "next year" crowd? Between this thread and the In the next 8 months thread.... I hope you are finding away to blow off steam and release that built up anger and stress. Your posts should be good for your health.

I don't think anyone would be surprised if VA beat UNC. Those teams are a step up from the Indiana's of the world. Just like if KU and OU get to play one more time, it wouldn't be shocking to anyone if OU got the win that time. Now if Notre Dame beats the Tarheels a lot of people would be surprised. Obviously the Irish have proven they can beat them, but a lot has changed since their first victory. That includes a 30 point spanking in the conference tourney by the heels. I don't think it will be anywhere close to 30 this time, but if the Irish win it will be an upset. VA over UNC would not be an upset. That's a 50/50 game. If it happens, it will interesting to see where the line starts.

Those things were factors but the biggest factor was NC is in another class than IU

So High C1 and low B No the numbers say high B middle A

They run the game clock, they keep stats, they run businesses, they raise children,,,honestly, why couldn't you train and trust them to run a shot clock? Shot clock operator doesn't think ball hits the rim, refs think it does but none of them see shot clock get reset so now comes the delay in deciding how much time to put on shot clock. Now do the refs put more time on the game clock since there was violation? What if player picks up foul in those few seconds that there should've been violation? Does foul not count? This is just like adding more government regulation. The more you add the more issues that will arise. You are just adding more things for the officials to watch when they should be reffing the game. All that and it would lead to more bad basketball. The better you are, the faster you can play. If you're not at that level, playing faster just leads to more mistakes. And the vast majority of high school players I've seen in this state are not ready to play at a faster tempo. they need to do whatever they can to get teams from stalling for an entire quarter. nobody wants to watch that. I'm not saying they need a 30 second shot clock, but 45 seconds would make sense. High school basketball is a different animal all together. I'm sure not everyone will agree with me but high school basketball is about giving kids an opportunity to play the great game of basketball. It's not supposed to be a money maker for the school and it's not supposed to be for anyone's viewing pleasure. I like high tempo basketball and tried to coach teams to play that way and sometimes I was successful and sometimes... But they weren't playing so I could coach and they're not playing so you can watch. The game should have rules and be officiated in such a way that it best benefits the student-athletes. I don't think a shot clock is is their best interest. I've seen coaches and referees who think the game is about them and I'm sure most of us have seen parents/fans that certainly act like they are owed something. Paying your entry fee to a high school game is not like paying to go to a professional sporting activity. The game should be designed around how can we provide more opportunities for players to play and not what will be the most entertaining for fans. I feel we should just be happy that they allow us in to watch the games. I don't think anybody is saying that the kids have to play fast, but the dribble around and hold the ball simply because you can do so isn't necessarily teaching them much either. I would buy the idea that teams were incapable of playing quicker if they were constantly playing school with higher levels of athleticism. However, as you noted, most of the state is rural in nature, so that means that the smaller schools are playing against other smaller, rural schools. I find it hard to believe, with a straight face, that the kids from rural areas are incapable of running their offense against other kids from rural areas in 40 seconds or less. It isn't that they can't do so, it is that they CHOOSE not to do so, especially when they get a lead. It is this same sort of stall ball at the college level that led to the introduction of the shot clock. Incidentally, the real Dean Smith did just fine even after he was no longer allowed to run his patented 4 corners offense. You may have missed my point entirely. And I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything about dribbling around around and holding the ball. So what if they choose to not shoot the ball as quickly as you like? My point is they shouldn't care a rat's ass what you want them to do. If your best chance to win games is to play slow, then play slow. Just like its not my team's fault if you can't stop mine from fast breaking, if your team isn't good enough to speed mine up, then you need to get better. High school basketball is not for you or me but for high school athletes. If you give me any possible way a shot clock makes things better for the high school athlete and I might reconsider my position.

They run the game clock, they keep stats, they run businesses, they raise children,,,honestly, why couldn't you train and trust them to run a shot clock?Shot clock operator doesn't think ball hits the rim, refs think it does but none of them see shot clock get reset so now comes the delay in deciding how much time to put on shot clock. Now do the refs put more time on the game clock since there was violation? What if player picks up foul in those few seconds that there should've been violation? Does foul not count? This is just like adding more government regulation. The more you add the more issues that will arise. You are just adding more things for the officials to watch when they should be reffing the game.All that and it would lead to more bad basketball. The better you are, the faster you can play. If you're not at that level, playing faster just leads to more mistakes. And the vast majority of high school players I've seen in this state are not ready to play at a faster tempo.What a better way to get them to that level then... Simply making players play faster will never make them better players. It takes more than that. High school basketball is a different animal than college and pro and it should be enjoyed for what it is. Trying to make it what it is not will just make it a bad version of what it is not. Nebraska is a rural state meaning most basketball teams are from small schools and you just are never going to get the majority of schools at that level to a place where they can play at the speed necessary to be successful with a shot clock. And it may not seem like it it Nebraska, but Class B is small school basketball.

They run the game clock, they keep stats, they run businesses, they raise children,,,honestly, why couldn't you train and trust them to run a shot clock? Shot clock operator doesn't think ball hits the rim, refs think it does but none of them see shot clock get reset so now comes the delay in deciding how much time to put on shot clock. Now do the refs put more time on the game clock since there was violation? What if player picks up foul in those few seconds that there should've been violation? Does foul not count? This is just like adding more government regulation. The more you add the more issues that will arise. You are just adding more things for the officials to watch when they should be reffing the game. All that and it would lead to more bad basketball. The better you are, the faster you can play. If you're not at that level, playing faster just leads to more mistakes. And the vast majority of high school players I've seen in this state are not ready to play at a faster tempo.

What makes you think that? Did you see Miles glance down the bench whimsically at Borchardt during games?He said it on his radio show. Said he told Borchardt to be ready to go. I believe it was before the first Purdue game. And like I said it was bc of out lack of a center. If we get one he probably has no chance of playing. Well I'll give you, Miles saying it out loud is better evidence than whimsical looks.

What makes you think that? Did you see Miles glance down the bench whimsically at Borchardt during games?

While watching the Wisconsin game my 11 year old says, "that guy says a lot of stuff I've heard you say." So I got to say I like the guy.

That's a good point. I would still watch the games. However, the more people talk about a 24 second clock, and now maybe quarters, the more, just IMO, it would lessen the college game. The Euro-step, traveling, palming, continuation have crept into the college game the last several years and yes it has affected the number of college basketball games I watch. My sons call me old school because I point out officials are lazy and don't call the game as it is written in the rulebook. For the record I am okay being labeled old school as I am NOT a fan of street ball. The difference between the Eurostep and traveling and palming is the first one is legal and the second two are violations. The only difference between a Eurostep and an old-school layup is the directions of the steps. Old-school is a straight line to the basket and the euro adds lateral movement to avoid a defender.

I don't think Molinari's arrival or Smith's departure is the cause of anything. Just because things happened at the same time is not always or even usually significant. We are talking about different teams with different chemistry and different pieces. Correlation does not equal causation.

I haven't watched them this year but the OSU team in Lincoln today was poor at best. They aren't overly gifted offensively, but they are well coached and have one of the best defensive teams in the nation. When you have that, you are certainly not a poor team. I wasn't talking big picture but this one night. OSU seemed disinterested and unmotivated. Offensively they shot poorly, were disjointed most of the night and had way too many turnovers, many unforced. Defensively you don't get to be one of the nations best defensive teams and give up that many offensive rebounds. They gave up many straight drives to the hoop and lack of effort was part of the reason they had players foul out. The floor slapping incident sums up their defensive effort perfectly. They might be a pretty good team and they might be one of the nations best defensive teams this season, but yesterday they were poor at best.

I'm sure the recruits were thinking, "At least I could get playing time here." I would never want a recruit to see tape of that game. Since they were at the game, I'd imagine the atmosphere of Big Ten hoops might impress them enough. The brand of ball is tough. I hope they're interested in making Nebraska basketball better. That's the 'positive' of the night in my book.I was just speaking to how badly played a basketball game they saw, from both teams. We're better than that even with out Shavon, but yesterday was just .... Wow, that was bad.

I haven't watched them this year but the OSU team in Lincoln today was poor at best.

Two (at least for today) bad teams working really hard to let the other team win. Under no circumstance should anyone wearing a cream uniform today talk about the officiating of that game as bad as they played, but I'll say Watson should have had two free throws to win the game in regulation.

I'm sure the recruits were thinking, "At least I could get playing time here." I would never want a recruit to see tape of that game.

He's a tight end playing basketball right now. IMO pretty good class B player but not close to a big 10 basketball player.

So I can watch the game on a real tv? I guess we did, and not a very enjoyable experience. But for me, it beats the alternative if not getting to watch them play.