throwback

It showed up in my DirecTV guide today - looks like it'll be 3 parts, each 1/2 hour long, airing back to back to back. Looks like they'll be re-airing the 3 parts occasionally all week, but it won't be all 3 parts consecutively on those re-airings, so Oct. 28 is the best bet to catch it all at once.

This was his TV show - they usually have it on-demand on Huskers.com a few days after it airs, but I don't see it up there yet. Looks like there will be another one for the next NU football bye week too, so Nov. 10 air date in Lincoln. Then it begins airing weekly after NU football season ends. I'm not sure what the Sports Nightly weekly call-in radio show schedule is for Coach Hoiberg & assistants yet. I want to say Coach Miles was on Mondays the last few years, but I'm not 100% sure.

Coach Hoiberg on last night - had some highlights from Italy trip, as well as him breaking down each player who's eligible this season. Here are some quick paraphrased notes with only one semicolon: Mack – As fast anyone with ball in his hands, team speed is our advantage and he leads the way, can get downhill as a great play maker, great feel for the game, he’s key to us playing up tempo Green – Very versatile player, with Mack & Green both can play off the ball or with ball in their hands, need good spacing to allow them to play downhill and take advantage of speed, Green is good defender, strong, explosive & athletic Burke – Every time he steps on floor he leaves it all out there, plays with passion, good defender who will disrupt offenses, one thing on his mind is scoring the ball and we need that, improved his shot form, we worked a lot on his footwork stepping into his shot, also can go downhill well Curtis – Can play with ball in his hands or off the ball, one of our better shooters, fortunate to have gotten him, can really score, he has a learning curve especially on defense, but he’s constantly improving Thor – I love Thor, has as high of an IQ as anyone on our team, on our offense all spots are interchangeable and Thor can play any of those spots, great cutter, worked very hard on his shot this offseason and it’s paying off, sees the floor well, going to have a great year Cheatham – Rock solid, fits nicely with interchangeable parts of our offense, has been well coached in his career, most capable leader of the group, a lot of versatility Kavas – Can really shoot it, been one of the top 3-pt shooters in country last couple of seasons, been through a lot, so we’ll rely on him for leadership Yvan – World-class kid, very young and should be in the 2020 recruiting class, fortunate to have him, great size and strength even though never really has done strength conditioning, we’re going to need his big body in league play, going to continue to improve Cross – Great versatility, which attracted us to him, can shoot it, good pick and pop guy, great passer and it's his most impressive skill, getting in better shape with 15 pounds lost already Arop – Great kid, as good an athlete as we have on the roster, as a frosh he must adjust, but he’s making steady progress, shooting it better, improving constantly Stevenson – When you look at bodies in Big Ten ("and that’s one thing that scared me when I went to the Media Day in Chicago") we need bodies that can compete with that size and strength and physicality, Stevenson has that type of body at 6-6/245, very athletic, can knock down shots (no talk of whether they think he’ll be eligible earlier than semester; Sharpe mentioned he might be eligible early, but coach did not take the bait and just ignored the comment) Easley – Played great in Italy, can just shoot it, but also good footwork defensively, finds the open spot, always has great spacing, can make a play with the ball in his hands Piatkowski & Porter – Been great for us, just know how to play, how to fill a role No talk of Walker or Banton ITALY TRIP Liked seeing the guys get more comfortable with each other during Italy trip, getting to know each other, great benefit. So many cool experiences off the floor for these guys Whole experience was unforgettable Good learning opportunity on the court, some good moments, some teaching moments Just to have the teachable moments we did was good, was able to use the film to do some corrections once we got back Great trip from bonding side and learned a lot about our team FRIDAY EVENT A lot of fun Important for players to get in front of the fans in the building, good for fans to be able to put faces to the names Scrimmage was more like an all-star game Ross was only 1.5 hours late, but he put on a good show I had go back underneath because it was so loud, thought my pacemaker might explode Really needed to get out there and feel the energy in the building with the fans there, so that was good Closed door scrimmage coming up is a good opportunity too, as you can set your own rules, but nothing quite the same as having the fans there Our guys are tired of going against each other, so looking forward to exhibitions Season opener vs UC-Riverside, has good shooters, skilled 7-footer We know we're going to be undersized all year, even in the first game, so it'll be a good challenge out of the box

Good to know - thanks. So that means he can take multiple officials to Lincoln then.

That's big to get an official visit. He only gets 5, so him using 1 of those on NU, when he just as easily could take multiple unofficials for the short drive to Lincoln and maintain 5 officials for other schools farther away, is a good sign.

Little surprised Grant Gibbs isn't on the cover ...

Obviously, this writer has forgotten that Iowa's worst nightmare, the God of Thunder, is still on the roster.

While it stinks to lose a top in-state prospect, especially to a conference rival, things like this happen occasionally after a coaching change. Rebuilding that relationship means the new coaches are starting from scratch versus teams that have months and years of relationships in the bank. Just part of the fallout from making coaching changes. I'm confident Coach Hoiberg & Co will be able to overcome this loss. On the other hand, if your coach had been in place for several years and had made recruiting Hepburn (and Mors for that matter) an extremely high priority, and still lost the top in-state prospect (and Mors) on the same weekend, then it should be setting off alarm bells and red warning lights everywhere. I would imagine the Monday blues are pretty heavy in a certain basketball coach's office today.

https://www.kansascity.com/sports/college/big-12/university-of-kansas/article235306247.html Kansas dirty? I know, I know, I'm incredibly stunned too.

Crap. Having him stay in the B1G is a punch to the nuts.

A few weeks ago, Coach told the World-Herald that he may be a few days late for the start of classes. https://www.omaha.com/huskers/mens-basketball/fred-hoiberg-pleased-with-huskers-progress-camaraderie-from-good-but/article_57751579-5a76-55ea-b939-7ee0d0df8e08.html (paywall)

Those two December B1G games are very interesting - two really solid opponents, but we've had a ton of success lately in Bloomington. Hopefully we can split them as our team continues to gel, but I think you could make a case for 2-0 or 0-2 as well. Just from an initial glance, it looks like the back half of the B1G schedule is more challenging than the front half, so that's beneficial for a team that should improve steadily throughout the year. No home games between Nov 22 and Dec 15 is odd. B1G schedule is kind of lumpy - 4x we have back to back home games, 4x we have back to back road games. That schedule layout probably doesn't lend itself to many significant winning or losing streaks during league play. Just 74 days left till the season opener!

https://www.omaha.com/huskers/plus/fred-hoiberg-pleased-with-huskers-progress-camaraderie-from-good-but/article_57751579-5a76-55ea-b939-7ee0d0df8e08.html (behind the paywall) Hopefully whoever handled Jorge Brian Diaz's paperwork in admissions has moved on to a different school, or it might be tight getting Yvan in class by the deadline.

Husker Basketball Italy Game Schedule Day City Game Info Mon., Aug. 5 Rome vs. Stella Azzurra Academy, 11:30 a.m. (CT) Wed., Aug. 7 Florence vs. Silute BC (Lithuania), 1 p.m. (CT) Thurs., Aug. 8 Florence vs. Silute BC (Lithuania), 11 a.m. (CT) Mon., Aug. 12 Como vs. Italian Select, Noon (CT)

Doc was on with Sharp & Benning this morning: