busticket

We all process our Husker basketball depression/angst in different ways….

Marquette has a better pedigree but since Creighton joined the Big East 9 years ago Marquette has only finished ahead of them in the standings one time. I am surprised how well they have competed in the Big East being a former mid major in Omaha. I still believe we can be a very solid Big Ten program but the coaching and culture has to be strong for us to do it.

NBA and college are just different games. Garza would have started anywhere in the country regardless of system…he was the college POY. Kofi Cockburn would have too. In wouldn’t say either guy overachieved at the college level at all. But their games don’t translate to the modern NBA. Banton, on the other hand, has tools that do translate.

In fairness great college players don’t translate into great pros at times. For instance, I would take Luka Garza over all three of those players 100 out of 100 times. Who wouldn’t? I would also take Marcus Zigarowski (or however you spell it) over all three of those guys. NBA talent can be overrated when you are talking college basketball. I want great college basketball players.

All that said, I will not disagree with Keisei’s shot selection issues last year. Definitely an area that needs improvement. I believe it will with the change in personnel around him.

He did hit 33% which is okay but not great. Bryce shot close to 150 at a 27% clip. Lat shot about as many as Keisei and hit just under 30%. Some guys had longer leashes.

Summer league stats for Bryce: 5 games, 14.6 ppg on 33.8% shooting. Basically what he did here. He is well ahead of Teddy’s blistering 14% shooting at least.

I hope Fred gives him more leash than last year so he can get comfortable out there. The kid is ridiculous when he is on.

Well, one thing to consider is that when Chris Crutchfield took the Omaha job, Oregon lost their only black assistant coach. Kind of like us now.

Got my answer on what Oregon would say about Gates’ time at Nebraska: “Gates has been instrumental at Nebraska with all facets of coaching, scouting, and recruiting. While Nebraska basketball is not a basketball powerhouse in any respect, that’s not necessarily an indication of Gates’ abilities as a coach.”

Agreed. Coach Howard was brought in for defense. Doc would not be a good fit as that is his forte.

The universe makes sense again…

I’d love to see what they put in his bio on Oregon’s athletic site. “At Nebraska he helped coach Hoiberg……”

i was wondering if he took Crutchfield’s spot as well

Or he was afraid he would never see the ball again with Bryce and Verge on the floor. I remember games he’d be wide open on the wing and they wouldn’t even look his way. He was definitely rushing his shots. Hopefully that changes this year.

Japan had a Nebraska-style drought there…

In general it helps to have elite talent, especially to finish in the upper third of the league, but we have enough talent to have a Rutgers type season. That’s likely our glass ceiling, and last year they were the outlier when you look at the upper half of the Big 10 standings. If (big if) we play like we did the last couple of weeks of the season, we’ll be at a minimum competitive. One of the biggest hurdles is our schedule…we don’t get to pencil in 10 non con cupcakes to pad our win total / build confidence. If Fred has a winning record this year he will have earned it.

If everything breaks right (which NEVER happens here) we are a bubble team at worst. Keita would be the centerpiece. Remember as he was leading his team to the JUCO national title, he said Keita is more advanced than Reggie Evans at this stage. The same Reggie Evans at Iowa who led the country in double doubles, free throws attempted and free throws made. And Keita blocks shots as well. Yeah, having a force like that would help a ton. That would lead to Walker being our 6th man. Griesel just needs to be the steady hand running the show, getting other players involved and maintaining a positive assist to turnover ratio. Gary would be the rebounding, defending junk yard dog getting second chance points and driving the other team nuts. Bando would be a plus defender and double figure scorer. Likely our best slasher along with solid three point shooting. Wilcher would start and possibly Tominaga being the sharpshooter off the bench. With a little improvement over last year both can be double figure scorers. And that is not taking account any of the young kids breaking out. Everything breaks right and that group can very possible dance. But it won’t…

After reading the article…I think we would all be thrilled if he came off the bench and hit 5 threes a game. Heck, three a game would be huge just to open up the paint next season. Hopefully some of this translates to next season.

Don’t you guys love watching our players light it up when they are not wearing their Husker uniforms?

I suspect Keisei will do a lot better if he had a role on a team with Griesel running point than playing with Bryce and Verge. The chemistry was bad and he ended up forcing a lot of shots.

He is a walking nightmare after all! I hope the smart people you know are spot on. I’d love for him to be an animal in the paint.

If all those things happen we will be in serious contention for the big dance. Keisei could also be a factor, but him being in Japan (while great for him) concerns me as far as clicking with the team, especially the new players. As far as point #1, I think Griesel is the straw that stirs the drink as well, but if he gets hurt I wouldn’t automatically assume we are done. Creighton lost both their point guards last year and had to have their freshman shooting guard take over. They still took KU to the wire. If we lost Griesel we have McPherson, then possibly Lloyd. There is a chance one of those would take the opportunity and run with it. We have so many questions on this team because of all of the changes I can see where things could break right for us or go totally wrong in each instance. With how the last 3 seasons have gone I can see where many people lean towards the negative outcome. I am HOPING at least half of the question marks come out on the positive side, like Griesel being the steadying influence on offense and Keita is the rim protector and rebounder we need, versus Griesel being overwhelmed with the step up in competition and Keita is not the same after injury. Man I wish the season was starting next week.

Exactly how I see it. So it’s probably wrong.

Phillips 66 if I remember correctly