Dean Smith

I don't know if you are referencing one if my posts, but if you are - man did you miss the point. Nope...in fact I don't remember reading your post(s). Are you just as snide in your conversations with god?

I don't know if you are referencing one if my posts, but if you are - man did you miss the point.

Nice fake cursing. I have a problem with it being an ugly game because it's not a once off. That's the way we have played most of the time this year. A win doesn't mean you don't have problems and a lose doesn't mean everything is wrong. Going in doesn't "fix" a bad shot and turn it into a good shot. Winning a game doesn't "fix" all your problems either. I posted this somewhere recently (I think. Any way I was planning to): A few points, a couple of plays, a low percentage shot someplace instead of one more pass and a higher percentage shot. Such a tiny thread in 32 or 40 minutes of basketball separates championship teams from those that struggle to win even half of their games. If you have you ever wondered how some some people win consistently while others lose consistently (often only by a few points), look no further. - Dick DeVenzio As someone in a bad movie once said, "It's a game of inches." There are tiny differences between winning consistently or not. Win or not, last nights game pointed out glaringly that we need to fix those little things that will get us back on the good side of that line and we are not there yet. I'm glad we won and it also doesn't mean we can't get there again this season. I'm rooting for them. I also admit I'm sort of a basketball snob. There is a certain way I would like the game to look and I think Coach Miles does too, we just aren't there yet this season.

Not to be argumentative, but I disagree with that assessment. I think you can run motion with anyone you have because it's so flexible. 5 out, 4 out & 1 in, 3 out & 2 in, you can focus on cutting or screening or ball screens or handoffs or dribble drives. You can go from very basic to very complicated based on your personal. And we run lots of set pieces or quick hitters if you will, double low picks for the pop followed by the curl cut, the back pick someone was talking about as a secondary. There are lots of ways to be successful at basketball. I like motion. They way it looks and feels, they way it makes the defense guard all 5 players all the time, the freedom it gives the players to be creative which makes it harder to guard. You can win running the Flex (Sorry flex guys but I see it as the antithesis to the motion). You don't have to run a motion to be successful. I just wish they would. I do agree with you when you said "we seemed to have more movement and better natural flow, cutting, passing, etc last season." We don't have that now and I am wishing we could get it back.

Any problem I have with Terran has nothing to do with his emotions, it's his shot selection and careless turnovers. I and would never even use the phrase, "I have a problem" when discussing Terran. He is Nebraska's best offensive player and will need to take tougher shots than anyone else on the team. But a good shot is not determined by whether it goes in or not. A missed good shot is still a good shot and a made bad shot is still a bad shot. There are some shots he takes that should never happen and some shots he takes that would be OK in the last seconds of the shot clock but not in the first few seconds of the shot clock. As well, aggressive players will have more turnovers, I get that. But he has too many of the careless variety. Those should be easy to fix simply with better concentration and mental effort. Physical effort is a strong point for Terran, mental effort not always. I also acknowledge that no one can be 100% focused and sharp 100% of time. It is physically, mentally and emotionally impossible. He has shown that he can do it, I would just like to hold him to that higher standard for a much higher percentage of the time. I appreciate all the great things Terran brings to the team. I am thrilled to death he is a Husker. But everyone can get better and I think he can get better by holding him to some higher standards in a couple of areas and by making him more accountable for his actions involving those areas on the floor. I will now go on to acknowledge that its not easy doing all that without curtailing what makes him really good and that's the type of challenge that Miles gets the big money for.

I can understand exclamation points after a two overtime win but I couldn't muster one for whatever you call what happened tonight. Big win yes. Huge problems if we drop three in a row but I repeat myself:I'm a fan of well played basketball and a nebraskaball fan. It's too bad I can't watch the two at the same time. After the week the players, fans, and coaches had it would have been a difficult loss to take. We really needed it.I liked some things I saw. Walt being the biggest. He has a bright future if he can bring it like that every night, and start hitting his shots. This team will go as Walt goes. I agree with you completely. Huge win for the Huskers. Just saying aesthetically that may be some of the ugliest athletic contest (still can't force myself to refer to that stuff as basketball), I've seen and it's basically the way things have looked every time the Huskers have taken the floor this year. I was so excited when I heard that Coach Miles used the motion offense. I wonder if we'll ever see any of it? Dean - I get what your are saying. But when you combine Cincy's style of play with ref's blowing a slow whistle this is the kind of game you are going to get. It was a pure street fight against kids who were clearly bigger and stronger and still we came out on top. Viewed that way it was fun to watch - but I will admit really more of an MMA battle than a basketball game. Certainly Cincinnati likes refs that let them play - but in this game we needed that also as they had way more depth and foul trouble would have taken us completely out of the game. I think Miles recognized that early and thus could not get too upset with the way the game was being officiated. (FWIW I did not think the officiating was bad in the sense of being one-sided - we got away with a lot of stuff too. They just really let ALOT of contact go - which you don't see much anymore). I also understand your point about motion offense because we really don't see anything that I would call motion offense with ball movement. Everything we run is predicated on dribble-drive and betting the first guy off the dribble. Any passing game seems to come only after you get the defense to adjust based on helping off the dribble drive. Tonight we could not get anywhere with the dribble drive and when they helped off it was to trap. Shavon really struggled to get anywhere as he was trying to drive against guys who were bigger, stronger and quicker than he is - plus he was really struggling with the traps. He obviously got very frustrated that he could not get a call - but to his credit he did keep working and battling. Motion can be predicated on ball movement, player movement or both. We are getting neither. Lots of standing around dribbling in one place with a couple of handoffs every now and then. Looks like a 1970's NBA game. It's what we've done all year, not just against Cincy. I am simplifying my critique and it is an asthetic thing for me, but I'm sure right now Miles isn't too thrilled with the results either.

I can understand exclamation points after a two overtime win but I couldn't muster one for whatever you call what happened tonight. Big win yes. Huge problems if we drop three in a row but I repeat myself: I'm a fan of well played basketball and a nebraskaball fan. It's too bad I can't watch the two at the same time. After the week the players, fans, and coaches had it would have been a difficult loss to take. We really needed it. I liked some things I saw. Walt being the biggest. He has a bright future if he can bring it like that every night, and start hitting his shots. This team will go as Walt goes. I agree with you completely. Huge win for the Huskers. Just saying aesthetically that may be some of the ugliest athletic contest (still can't force myself to refer to that stuff as basketball), I've seen and it's basically the way things have looked every time the Huskers have taken the floor this year. I was so excited when I heard that Coach Miles used the motion offense. I wonder if we'll ever see any of it?

I can understand exclamation points after a two overtime win but I couldn't muster one for whatever you call what happened tonight. Big win yes. Huge problems if we drop three in a row but I repeat myself: I'm a fan of well played basketball and a nebraskaball fan. It's too bad I can't watch the two at the same time.

You don't have the BTN app? I do but I don't like watching it while out. I prefer to sit down when I can give the game my full concentration. Now that my eye's are burning from watching that I wish I would have been distracted.

I go to my son's game and dvr the Huskers. Get home and my recording ends with 10 seconds left in the first OT. I look online and don't understand why there is no final score posted anywhere. Then it hits me, the game's not over. I turn it on just in time to see Benny drop the rainbow near the end of the second OT. I have to admit my first thought was, "Crap, I'm not sure I can stand to watch anymore of whatever this two group of guys in shorts are calling whatever they are doing." It's great that we won and hopefully we can start to make strides but I have come to this conclusion: I am a fan of the game of basketball played well and a Nebraskaball fan. It's a shame that I can't watch both at the same time.

You are correct, but we put ourselves in a position where the official could make a bad call. Close out properly from the correct angle and they can't make that bad call. We can worry about a blown call(s) that we can't do anything about or we can focus on what we can control which is closing out to the ball properly. "Don't make the ridiculous mistake of thinking that your particular brand of excuse is somehow more valid than the last 20 million that have been uttered. Excuses are the domain of the mediocre." Dick Devenzio "A few points, a couple of plays, a low percentage shot someplace instead of one more pass and a higher percentage shot. Such a tiny thread in 32 or 40 minutes of basketball separates championship teams from those that struggle to win even half of their games. If you have you ever wondered how some some people win consistently while others lose consistently (often only by a few points), look no further." http://www.pgcbasketball.com/how-this-tiny-thing-separates-good-teams-from-bad-ones/ The guy had most of the answers to any problem you could think of on and off the court.

Because you can't steal the ball every time. Your man defence needs to have a focus to build around. If your goal is to steal the ball, that requires some gambling and you will give up a higher number of easy shots. If you just want to disrupt the offense, you will still give up some easy shots but less. If your goal is to not give up easy shots, (which is what the pack-line defense is designed to do) you don't create near as many turnovers but you don't give up easy shots. The goal is to force the offense to continue to work and force a bad shot out of frustration or near the end of the shot clock. As part of my philosophy on no easy shots, I think you need to double the post every time unless he is a complete stiff.

Tai needs to find his confidence and put the ball in the hoop or maybe a short-term coach imposed exile to the bench would have the same effect it had on Rivers last year. Pitchford or someone else needs to start hitting from the outside on a consistent basis. Petteway needs to be FORCED to improve his shot selection. The whole team needs to rebound better. We cannot ask our posts to defend 1-on-1 right now because we don't have anyone that can do it especially with Moses' hand right now. Incarnate Word should have been a great lesson learned from a close victory that we have some serious issues to address. Fouling a jump shooter should be a cardinal sin for basketball players and the fact that we fouled two three point attempts in a row at the end of the game - unexcusable in the basketball world. Once we inbounded it to Shields, why would he quickly give it to Tai? He didn't want it, hence the turnover. Hold the ball and make free throws. We worked very, very hard down the stretch to lose this game and deserved to lose based upon our end game play. I believe the sky fell in after the UMass game last year but we managed to right the ship if I can mix my metaphors. Just like at that time last season, we are now at a major turning point for this year. We shouldn't be in crisis mode yet, but you can get there from here. We still have the potential to be a much worse or a much better team than we were last year. I'm anxious to see how things play out from here.

I know the backscreen you're talking about (i think) and I wouldn't call that a secondary break. It seems to just be a quick hitter to me going into the motion. The secondary focuses on getting your wings to run wide and if they don't get the ball to get to the baseline to flatten out defenses. I hear the"no easy baskets" in the B1G but both wings shoot FT's at a high percentage. You make the defense focus on sprinting back all game and they will wear down and you will get easier baskets. But that's just philosophical differences on how different people think the game should be played.

Great question Dimes and thanks for the opinion Dean. My thing is there's a massive difference between running a secondary break, and just kicking it ahead more often to wide running wings who can attack the hoop. Big difference.I would imagine we have lanes to run in transition. Doesn't necessarily need to be a secondary break. You're right, but you do know the KU secondary began at UNC. Kind of a favorite of mine.

You can break under control without giving up too much in the defensive rebounding if your focus is on a secondary break. I think we have enough guys who can ball handle that we should be pretty interchangeable at who is running the wings & who is pushing it up. That sort of thing would also benefit our starting big men. Rivers would beat a lot of other bigs down the floor to the block and Pitchford is made for the trail post hitting the three. Now having said all of that, I don't think Miles wants to run a secondary break.

I would like to make my first in game post to say - We're gettin' assists!

I think this team four games into the season is much better than last years team four games into the season. I think we might be comparing this years early season version to our best memeries from last years team.For one thing, if we saw this version of Shields 4 games into last year, we would have all been dancing in the streets.

Oh I agree cwg, just wonder why Petteway's shot for as hard as the kid works still drops at the same rate. Not speaking of Petteway specifically, but if you don't shoot properly all the work in the world won't make you a great shooter. Personally, I think he starts his shot way too high which gives it very little arch. That's why I think he shoots better with a hand in his face. That forces his shoulders back which raises the arm and gives him better arch. I'll take consistency over technique any day. If we have a player on our team that shoots granny shots, but gets 20 points a game and 80% shooting, I'll take it.So would I. That's the point though. Rarely can you find a consistent shooter who doesn't have good form. I also know you were making a point, but won't get a granny shot off in a game situation. Shoulders back gives you more arch and allows you to get your shot off easier.

Oh I agree cwg, just wonder why Petteway's shot for as hard as the kid works still drops at the same rate. Not speaking of Petteway specifically, but if you don't shoot properly all the work in the world won't make you a great shooter. Personally, I think he starts his shot way too high which gives it very little arch. That's why I think he shoots better with a hand in his face. That forces his shoulders back which raises the arm and gives him better arch.

I know Tim feels that way, but I disagree. I really wasn't impressed with Rhode Island tonight. They will be a work in progress this year and will finish the year outside of the RPI top 100. Rhode Island may have some talent but they tried like hell to lose this one. The second of the "big" threes in overtime was a terrible shot. Going in does not make it a good shot. They continued to foul when ahead, including on a three point shot. They tried to give it to us but we didn't want it. They did so many not so smart things during the end game and Nebraska just didn't take advantage of them. Pettaway is good enough to go early in the NBA draft but that doesn't change the fact he needs to cut down his turnovers and have better shot selection. I HATE the forced three when you are down two possessions. Attack the basket, get the two (the defense will almost always give the layup because they are taught not to foul - but this team would have fouled. (Did I mention they were just absolutely stupid down the stretch?) and extend the game.

Technically there is no such thing as a necessary thread. This is a sports board, nothing here is necessary. People post here for entertainment or lots of other reasons (there's a thread for that). I'm not sure what point you were trying to make?

I believe the tweet says reserves not newcomers. It may just be a matter of semantics but there is a difference. It is not likely the first part of the scrimmage would be played with just the 5 starters so it is very possible that some newcomers would be in that first group. Though it is unlikely due to his lack of eligibility this season that White would not be playing with the reserves.

We are miles ahead of where we were at the start of last year. Contrary to historical revisionists, I don't think anyone said Petteway shouldn't be playing but his shot selection was hurting the team. Between his mature response to team meetings and the deletion of Biggs from the team, they worked out the kinks and developed tremendous chemistry. Its possible things could change but I think we don't have to go through those growing pains early in the season this time around. I don't think anyone would disagree that if we could avoid the end of the universe created by some space-time paradox the Huskers from the end of the year destroy the Huskers from the beginning of last year. So whether the win column shows it or not (and I think it will), this team will be starting from a much more advanced position.