NUdiehard

All of the UNO players are super skinny. Keita either needs to dominate on the block or sit on the bench for this one. And if their 4/5 can shoot 3s, then I go with WB and JG exclusively at the 5.

It's possible Wilhelm will only be junior if he gets a medical RS for last season.

Uh sure. Of course you will be the one complaining all year about our lack of offense and scoring and how Fred needs to be fired.

Fred had the exact player we need on campus and ready to commit until compliance/medical blew it up in his face. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/34977032/keyontae-johnson-starts-kansas-state-2-years-collapsing-court

Left the arena a bit confused by this game. On the one hand, I felt the team played hard, under control and as a team, and even shot decently well (46% overall and 32% from 3). YET, the game was much tighter than it should have been, and was down to 2 points in the second half--thank goodness #1 is a horrible free throw shooter (0-6 Ouch!). Of course, Maine's unconscious start to the 2nd half played a big part in that, BUT Nebraska's defense allowed that to happen--and defense is supposed to be this team's calling card. However, it seemed a big part of the defensive struggle was Keita being completely unable to guard their stretch 5. Once Fred replaced Keita with WB, and started hedging and switching at the top of the key, #22 and #11 had much more difficulty getting off a good shot. Maine only had two guys who could shoot the 3, and we allowed them way too many open looks before making the adjustment. It is nice to see adjustments, but it is frustrating that it takes the staff so long to figure these things out. These things should be scouted before the game even begins, not waiting until it's a 2 point game in the second half. As many have pointed out, this team is more fun to watch that last year. They play hard and seem to care. But the loss of Walker is looming large and will set us back if he does not come back soon. If Walker was playing, I don't think this game would have been close. He would have been able to score on the block and he would have been able to guard the perimeter much better than Keita. Based on what I have seen so far, I don't see the point of playing Keita against these lower level teams who usually have smaller but better shooting 4s and 5s. He simply cannot guard the perimeter well enough, and he doesn't seem to be able use his size advantage on the offensive end, so what is the point of playing him if there is no big man to body up down low? Sam is not flashy, but is the key to this team. Finished with 22/9/3. Would like to see that assist number go up, but guys also have to make shots. He also played 37 minutes, which is too much, especially in a buy-in game. He will wear down if he has to play that much all year, but this team clearly has no true backup PG. Fun to watch Keisei get it going. Someone said earlier that Keisei can't do anything but shoot the 3. I think we all saw tonight that is not true. He actually is crafty around the rim and has a good touch. He also had a couple nice cuts to the basket. Keisei's problem is not his skill level, it's just the reality that he is short and not very athletic (at least not B1G level athlete). Remains to be seen if he can be a contributor against better talent. Gary has taken more shots than any other player in the 2 exhibitions and and this game. I am not sure that is the recipe for success. He brings a TON to the table in rebounding, defense and energy, but shooting is not his thing. Granted, some of those are simply put-backs on his own misses, but still, he is not MJ, he needs to know his role a bit better IMO. Wilcher has not found his groove in any of the 3 games so far, and even got benched in favor of KT last night. We are going to need him to come around quickly. Dawson played 23 minutes and had 0 points on 0-0 shooting and 1 rebound, 1 assist and 2 turnovers. Obviously brought a ton of energy and athleticism to the defensive end, but he remains a complete zero on offense teams are going to scout this and simply not guard him, causing difficulty for his teammates. UNO played Kansas tough until late in the game. Arkansas Pine Bluff lost to #14 TCU by 1 point. There are no gimme's for this team, especially without Walker. They need to figure some things out and continue to improve each game.

If Walker is out, who would you start at center? 1. Keita 2. Oleg 3. Wilcher If Walker is out, who do you think Fred will start at center?

Agree 100%. Huskers can probably survive if Walker is out for 4 games or less. If Nebraska can manage 3-1 in their first 4 (playing 3 buy-in games), then it would probably be the same record of 3-1 with or without Walker after 4 (going to be very difficult to beat St. John's on the road with or without Walker). But anything more than that may end this thing before it evens get started. The 5th, 6th and 7th games are the ESPN Invitational, all against high quality opponents. If Walker plays, Huskers would have a chance to secure at least one upset and gain a little mojo for the rest of the season. Without Walker, any chance at a upset is highly unlikely and a few blowouts are possible, killing morale and momentum for the season. After that tourney, Huskers play Boston College, Creighton, Indiana, Purdue and K.St. Brutal. Even if Walker comes back after the Invitational, he would have to integrate into the team with all the new players on-the-fly against 5 straight power 5 schools. PLUS, Fred has said that late last year he changed the entire offense to focus more on Walker. Not just dumping it into the post, but running the offense through him on the high post, along with a good dose of pick-and-roll. Fred recently said they continued this emphasis of running the offense through Walker this year. Walker is a good passer, and is mobile enough to roll to the basket, and has decent hands. Keita and Oleg are taller, but are less athletic, are more traditional centers, are not as skilled and do not have the experience or ability to be the focus of the entire offense. If Walker is out for 7 or more games, not only do the Huskers likely lose 3-4 of those games, but the new players do not get any game experience playing with Walker and running the true offense that Fred wants to run. They would have to re-learn the entire offense one-third of the way through the season, with new players on a new team, etc.

Oleg has some potential. He is more polished and skilled on the offensive end that Keita. Biggest problem with Oleg is that he is still so skinny and not strong enough, he really struggles to box out and hold his position. Against Chadron St., he would initially have good rebounding position, but then a small 6'4" Chadron St. player would simply put a hip on him and easily move him off his spot. Chadron St. got a lot of offensive rebounds, and Oleg was a part of the issue because he simply can't hold his ground. If Walker is out for an extended time, it is going to be interesting to see how Fred handles it. He will either have to give Oleg rotation minutes, or put Wilhelm at the 5. Personally, I have not loved what I've seen from Wilhelm at the 4, so maybe time to try him at the 5 with Gary or Dawson at the 4.

Getting our "shooters" like Wilcher, Keisei, Bando and Lawrence good shots is going to be the key to having offensive success. But with that said, there is a reason it consistently appears as though guys appear to be "forcing" shots-- opposing teams are guarding them tough on the 3-point line. This is in contrast to guys like Gary and Dawson, Walker, etc, which teams are going to play soft when guarding them on the perimeter. In fact, Chadron St. completely ignored Gary when he was at the 3-point line, played 10 feet off him and simply sat in the paint. The question is which would you rather have? Wilcher or Keisei shooting a slightly off-balance or contested 3, or Gary, Dawson or Walker shooting a wide-open 3? Based on their history and what I have seen so far, I would rather Wilcher, Keisei and Lawrence keep firing away even if off-balance or contested than Gary or Dawson or Walker wide open. Gary is simply not a good shooter at all. I know that Fred says he has been working on his balance and leaning to the side, etc, but the odds of that translating to game speed are low. I do hope he can improve things, but if we have to live-or-die with Gary shooting 3s it could be a very long season. He shot 11% his freshman year and 22% his sophomore year. He is also a career 55% free throw shooter, and missed 3 of 4 FTs in the exhibition against CU. Griesel looks like a guy who can hit 35%+ when he is wide open on 3s, but will struggle when contested or off-balance. Wilhelm has not given any indication he can shoot consistently at this level. Maybe if wide open, but he has not even established that. This leaves just 3 guys (not including Lawrence who is not in the rotation) who can consistently make the 3, and other teams know it. It is going to be very difficult to get those 3 guys wide open 3s, so they are going to have to take some difficult ones. Although Lawrence missed all three of his 3-point attempts, I really liked what I saw from him on the offensive end. He seemed to have good movement, spacing and confidence to shoot. He is a good shooter and those shots will start falling if he get more opportunities. Question is whether his defense will prevent him from getting minutes. But if Keisei struggles, I have to believe Lawrence could play defense close to Keisei's level, so maybe those two can fight for playing time. Reality is we need at least one of them to be on the court and firing away, because this team lacks so much shooting in its other rotation players.

Getting out rebounded 26-19 at half

Gary is going to be a very valuable player for this team but he can’t be are primary shooter/scorer. Have to find ways to get Wilcher, Griesel, Brando, Keisei good open shots.

The starting lineup has gotten off to a terrible start on all 3 halves of this preseason. Something is going to have to change in starting lineup and I think Wilhelm may have to go to the bench. He may just be too slow to play the 4, at least against starters.

https://www.kansas.com/sports/college/big-12/kansas-state/article267542717.html Appears that Keyonte is cleared, practicing and 100% prepared to play for KSU this season. Appears once again NU's compliance/medical staff exists solely to make things more difficult for this program to succeed.

Wasn't sure where to put this, but found it interesting (humorous?) enough to share. On a recent Pick Six Pocast, Sam McKewon asked Tom Shatel how many players do you have to go down Creighton's roster before you get to Nebraska's best player (in other words, how many Creighton players are better than Nebaska's best player). Shatel said . . . . 10

It was an exhibition game with NU running vanilla offense, so we shouldn't try to read too much into things. But it was a bit concerning that the team got off to slow starts in both the first half and second half. Seemed like things turned around, and the team went on runs, when the backups came in. Obviously, Gary's big day played a role in this, but it just seemed the first team offense struggled to find it footing and the first team defense definitely is not as electric as the backups. It will be interesting to see if Fred continues to start Wilhelm over Gary. Another factor was Wilcher had an off day shooting just 1-8 (1-4 on 3s), but he has proven himself enough that I don't think we need to worry about a systemic problem with him and/or his shooting. Going into this season I was worried how we would handle "quick" guards who are able to drive past our taller/slower defenders and Chadron St. proved this could continue to be an issue. Also, did anyone else notice that the weak side shooter always seemed to be wide open and NU was susceptible to a skip pass for a wide open 3? Regarding rotation, no huge surprises. Keisei and Dawson were 8th and 9th in the rotation while Lloyd and Lawrence are currently on the outside looking in. Those battles will continue and Keisei will have to start hitting some shots to keep his spot. I still believe he can be an asset and he can hit those shots in games, and just being on the court helps stretch the defense, but no doubt he is on the clock. Oh, and Denim Dawsom has some hops.

Most likely answer is we don't have that guy. With that said, if I had to choose one, I would go with Wilcher. Last year, Wilcher got off to slow start and still managed to shoot over 40% from 3. Fred recently said he shot around 50% from 3 during the last two months of the season. I don't expect that pace to continue, but if he could shoot around 40% on a high volume of 3s, that could boost his point total, especially now that he will probably be playing more minutes (averaged 24.6 per game last year). CJ can knock down open shots, question is whether this team will be able to get him enough open shots. He would have to shoot 6-10 threes per game to really boost his point average into the middle double digits, and that is a lot of shots for one guy who can't really create his own shot and may struggle to get open. There is solid chance Griesel could end up being Nebraska's "best" or "most important" player, but he is a pass first type player and it is unlikely he is going to shoot enough to put up enough points to be considered a "star". Now, those who really follow the team and understand his value to the team may consider him the true "star" even if he is only averaging 10 points per game, but it is unlikely he would be recognized in any form of B1G all-conference award or anything like that IMO. Bando is a player I think fans are going like because of his defense, energy and occasional hot shooting but I sense he is also going to be a source of frustration at times. Last year he shot a respectable 35% on 3s on high volume, but he shot just 3-of-25 on pull up jumpers and shot just 7-23 around the basket with 15 turnovers (credit to Jacob Padilla for his excellent scouting writeup). He is not a true PG and though not his fault, he is going to be thrust into the backup PG role and it could be rough for portions of the season.

Its impossible to defend the past 3 seasons which have been very poor. But this is another statistic that could use some context. No other coach in NU history has been required to play a 20 conference game schedule, and especially not during a period of such comprehensive strength as in the Big 10. For instance, in Fred's 2nd season (2020-21), the team finished 7-20, but it's final KenPom ranking was #109. Certainly not good, but not historically the worst ever. For instance, in 2006, Collier's record was 19-14 which sounds great, but his KenPom year-end KenPom ranking was #111. Miles first year record was 15-18, but his year-end KenPom was #136. Obviously, Miles had some very good seasons mixed in his tenure, and the point is not to compare the coaches record or performance, but just to show that judging solely by overall record can be a bit misleading as to the state of the program because it doesn't factor in level of competition. This season is going to be a prime example of this. Based on preseason KenPom, Huskers may play 22 games against teams ranked #56 or better and possibly only 4 teams ranked lower than #109.

Fred has some decisions to make on the rotation. How does the fact that Bando is the backup PG affect his rotation and timing? For instance, one would assume the first sub out is Bando so that he can get some rest before he is inserted back in at PG when Sam comes out. This would suggest that the first sub must come in as a replacement 2-guard, unless Wilcher slides down to the SG spot. If Bando is replaced with a 2-guard, then it could be any of Keisei, Lloyd or Lawrence. If Wilcher slides down to SG, then Gary could come in, but that is not an ideal lineup with Gary, Wilhelm and Walker all in at the same time. So much of this depends on how much Fred trusts Keisei and thinks he has improved. If Keisei has improved, then he would be a nice compliment to sub in at the SG spot. This would give 3-4 shooters on the floor with PG-Bando, SG-Keisei, SF-Wilcher, PF-Wilhelm. But, that is not a great defensive or rebounding lineup, so there are tradeoffs. It would be nice to see Keisei get some minutes in the rotation early in the season to see if he can find a role and take better shots and shoot a better percentage. If he could get his confidence he could be an electric shooter off the bench. Eventually we all hope it is Lloyd filling that spot because he has more length, is more versatile, and can play the SG but can also help run PG if Bando is struggling. But as others have mentioned, there has been very little talk about Lloyd this preseason, so does this indicate he is not ready for rotation minutes yet? Fred could also do an initial 2-person sub, taking out Bando and Wilhelm, and inserting Gary and either Lloyd or Keisei. The decision between Wilhelm and Gary is probably close, so this would allow Gary to get in quick and bring some energy. If Dawson is in the rotation, then it seems he would sub in for Wilcher at SF, but it is going to be essential that he is on the court with other shooters or the offense could really stall and the paint would be clogged. Still seems like Keita's minutes will be relatively limited, because it is hard to imagine him playing any position other than the 5, and that would only be minutes that Walker is off the floor because I don't see any reason to play Walker at the 4 when you have other options in Gary and WB unless those 2 really disappoint.

Admittedly, Hoiberg has never been known as a defensive first coach. But this statistic is absurdly misleading. Anyone who doesn't understand the necessity of using tempo-adjusted statistics for basketball is not qualified to write about basketball. In Fred' second season at Nebraska (2020-21), NU finished 40th in Kenpom adjusted defensive efficiency. As a comparison, Miles' teams finished: 79, 44, 77, 113, 31, 36, 107.

Ultimately Fred is responsible for everyone and everything that happens in his program. But if someone wants to cut him some slack (as I do), it could be viewed as follows: Fred should get a bit of a break on the Matt A situation because Matt A was with Fred at Iowa St. and it worked out splendidly, so how could he know that it would be a disaster here--nonetheless, after seeing the problem, he addressed it by letting him go and bringing in new assistants and a new type of player/attitude. I understand many don't see it this way and feel Fred has burned up all his goodwill and now it is 100% prove it with wins or move on.

RoyalFan just made an excellent point in another thread. It is very difficult to push the tempo in transition when you are a poor defensive team because you are always taking the ball out of the hoop. If this team's strength is defense, and if they can consistently get stops, then why not push the pace and try to get some easy buckets? Especially considering they are offensively challenged. Getting quick easy points in transition could offset their difficulty in getting points in the half-court.

I agree Wilhelm has not proven he is a reliable 3-point shooter in his very limited playing time. I am going more off of what Fred says and seems to think about Wilhelm as a shooter. Wilhelm competed in the 3-point contest both last year and this year (and for what little it is worth he did make 13, which was 3 more than Bando, who will most likely be our most prolific 3-point shooter this year). Fred has repeatedly talked about Wilhelm's ability to step out and shoot the ball, and in a recent interview, when he talked about players he wants to shoot when they are open, he mentioned Wilhelm along with guys like Wilcher and Keisei. I just get the strong sense that Fred thinks of Wilhelm as a stretch player, and we know he likes players that can shoot and spread the floor. With that said, I agree with your thought that Wilhelm is a better pair with Keita since he is a better passer, so maybe that is the tradeoff. We will see.

No Keita or Lloyd.

Random Questions/Thoughts on this upcoming season/team: 1. We are a tall lineup, but a bit slow at some positions. A bit worried about guarding teams with multiple really quick guards/wings. If an opponent has a smaller, but ultra-quick PG, I suspect Bando will guard that PG. But what if they have another ultra-quick SG or wing? Can Griesel guard that type of quickness? Wilcher can't. If Wilhelm is at the 4, he obviously can't. If Gary is at the 4, may have to put Gary on the SG. Then who would guard the opponent PF. Would Wilcher (at a generous listed 6'5") or could Sam slide all the way over and guard the opposing PF. Sam is a big kid. He is listed as taller and the same weight as Gary, so seems to make sense. Strange bedfellows. 2. Sam is such a unique aspect as a 6'7" 216 lb. PG. If the other team has smaller guards, and puts one of those smaller guards on Sam, can Fred run a clear out and simply allow Sam to back down the guard under the hoop and simply bully his way to the basket? Or can Fred post up Sam and exploit the mismatch. For so many years it seems other teams have exploited us with mismatches, especially with our smaller players. Can Fred now do the reverse, and use our size at PG to exploit our opponent's lack of comparable size? Does Sam have a back-down or post-up game in his arsenal? 3. This is not a great shooting team and it will struggle to put the ball in the hoop. But we have some shooters. Question: Can the offense get them open shots? Shooters on this team are: (1) Wilcher (2) Bando (3) Keisei (4) Griesel (but low volume) and maybe (5) Wilhelm (but he shot about 10% last year, so ????). Other than Bando, none of the shooters are particularly quick or fast. Can they get open? Can the system get them open shots? Last year Keisei really struggled because teams simply did not leave him and he couldn't get open. Wilcher is now a known shooter, teams will try to take away his 3-point shot. None of the shooters are great at breaking down a close-out off the dribble, so teams will press up on them at the 3-point line. And do we have a PG or other player that that penetrate the lane to drive, draw and dish to the open shooter? 4. Will this team play sound, fundamental basketball. It seems like each year everything sounds good in the media and pre-season pressers . . . and then the season starts and we all see a bit of a mess. Will this team be different? Once again there are a lot of new players, including 3 transfers who will see significant playing time. Can they gel quickly? Are they "fundamental" type players? It should be noted, if the transfers are not good at fundamentals, it can't all be blamed on Fred. Each of them has played multiple years with different teams under different coaches. If they don't box out by now, they simply don't have it in their blood, and can't get blood out of a turnip. Fred said Gary is a very aggressive rebounder, especially on the offensive end. But also said he needs to do a better job boxing out on the defensive end. Sometimes guys like that just want to ball-hawk, and don't do the fundamentals like boxing out. 5. Do we have enough shooting? As mentioned above, we have 4 or 5 guys who purported can shoot, but Wilcher is probably the only true dead-eye shooter. Keisei can definitely shoot, but can he get his shot off? Will he even be in the rotation? Based on his past, it appears Bando will shoot the ball. Question is can he make a high enough percentage to win help win some games? His career percentage is not terrible, but not great either, just average. Griesel shot 38% from 3 last year, but on very low volume and against inferior competition. Can he make 1 or 2 a game to keep the opposing defense honest? Fred continues to refer to Wilhelm as a shooter, but he sure didn't make many last year (and many weren't even close), can he make the leap to at least an average 3-point shooter? Will Lawrence get some minutes, can he play at this level and shoot a decent percentage at this level? That may be a bit much to ask as a true freshman. 6. Can this team survive starting Gary along with Walker? That is two players who absolutely cannot shoot. Will team sag off Gary and double Walker? Will the defense clog the lane? This is why I think Wilhelm starts, because he at least shoots enough to keep the defense honest, but admittedly Gary has much more experience and is a much better defender (and probably rebounder). 7. Can Keita defend opposing B1G centers without help? Is Keita big enough, strong enough and defensively sound enough to man up against another 7-footer without needing regular help defense? If so, this could be a big bonus. But it is a tall ask, and not sure he is ready for that. . . yet. 8. Does Keisei have a role on this team? We all saw him struggle last year, but he did have a strong summer on the national team, including 33 points vs a very, very good Australian team. Last year he got off to a terrible start, that probably hurt his confidence. He also struggled figuring out what is a good shot. Can his year under his belt help him this year become a reliable rotational player? Can he play decent minutes and shoot well enough to at least force the defender to never leave him, thereby opening up the middle for entry passes or drives? 9. Can this team get off to a better start? Last year the team got off to a miserable start. And it seemed like no one could hit the broad side of a barn. At one point I think the team was shooting under 25% from 3. It was brutal. Even supposed shooters like Keisei, Bryce and Wilhelm were shooting miserably from 3 during the first 10 games or so. Fred tried playing Keon Edwards and he never made a single shot. Even Wilcher got off to a bit of a slow start. Surely it can't start off that bad, can it? Reversion to the mean requires a better shooting start, right? Hopefully the significant experience of all the transfers, plus Wilcher and Keisei in second year, will help them feel more comfortable and shoot better to start the season. 10. How different will the offense look? This team has some returning players, but is a totally different makeup. Bryce and Verge absolutely dominated the ball last year. Both could score the ball, but the ball stuck in their hands. Fred said the emphasis this season is on a lot of passing and less dribbling. This makes sense since hardly anyone on this team is a good ball-handler. But will it work? Can they simply pass their way to open shots? or entry passes? Will the players stick with the plan, or will hero ball resurface when the going gets tough? Is there a point where there is too much passing--at some point, a shooter needs to take the open shot. So many questions. . . .

Completely agree this team is going to struggle to score. With that said, Bando averaged 10.6 pts per game last year shooting six 3s per game (making 2.1 per game) at 35% clip. Not great percentage, but he clearly is not afraid to shoot and there a solid chance he will be one of the top scorers on the team. He averaged 10.2 pts per game the previous season so have to believe he will average at least 10 on a team in which he will be a primary scorer. For comparison, CJ averaged 8.1 pts on four 3s per game last year (but shot a much better percentage at 40.6%). Sam Griesel averaged 14.3 pts per game, shooting 38% from 3, but at a much lower rate of just 2.2 attempts per game. Question is how well this will translate to the much higher level of competition. Seems there is a chance NU could have 4 players average 10 pts (or at least close) next season, but unlikely anybody averages more than 12-14 points. It will have to be a balanced scoring attack.