NUdiehard

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.

What is your projected starting lineup and who will be the 8-10 rotational players? My projected starting lineup: PG - Griesel SG - Bando SF - Wilcher PF - Wilhelm C - Walker Other rotational players: Keita - C Gary - PF LLoyd - PG/SG/SF Keisei - SG Dawson and Lawrence will be battling for for playing time. If Keisei struggles again early this year, Lawrence may get some of his minutes. After listening to the press conference (and the Sam Hoiberg show on 93.7), it was surprising how many times Fred brought up Dawson's name unsolicited. Based on what I saw of Dawson in warm-ups last year, and what limited amount Fred has said about him, it appears clear that Dawson has a ways to go on his shot, but he must be impressing on the defensive end. Fred said he is leading the team in deflections in practice, and even commented that he considered pulling his RS last year (but concluded that would not be fair to him since he didn't arrive until after semester). I had not planned on anything from Dawson this year, but if he can give 4-8 minutes of intense defense and hustle, and just not screw up on offense, he might be able to find a small role. McPherson is out for the season with his injury and I don't see Oleg getting any meaningful minutes this year. Although I think Bando will start at SG, I think he will also be the backup PG, so Fred will have to stagger his minutes. Maybe Bando gets pulled early to get a breather, and then inserted back in at PG when Griesel comes out for a break, and so forth. Question is whether this will throw off the continuity of Griesel and Bando playing together strong starter minutes. I am not expecting a lot of Keita this year. But it sounds like he is a quick learner and is picking up the defense well. Fred said he is leading the team in taking charges (which I am not sure i want from my big man, but oh well). But if Keita can come in and be a tall and strong backup and play solid fundamental defense, that could be quite valuable for this team, especially against some of the giant centers in the B1G. I don't see him being much of a scorer, so others will have to pick up the slack on the offensive end. I don't see Keita and Walker playing together, and frankly think that would be a disaster. So Keita's minutes are going to be somewhat limited unless he could really impress enough to take some of Walkers minutes. But at this point, I just don't see him starting any games as long as Walker is healthy. If I am wrong on this, that would be great, because that would mean he is even more impactful that Walker, but that is a lot to ask of a first year juco. Wildcard: If Huskers have an injury or foul trouble, it is possible Cale Jacobson could be inserted for a few minutes to run the PG. But if it gets to this point, probably means something has gone wrong or not as expected.

The failure to secure a verbal from either Green or Friedrichson is disappointing to say the least. It does seem that Fred's status as a "hot seat" coach has caught up to him to the point that it is going to be very difficult to land quality freshmen recruits for the 2023 class. He is in the unfavorable position of needing to win to prove to recruits he is a winner and won't be fired-- but it is very difficult to get the recruits needed to win because he is on the hot seat. It is a spiral that is hard to get out of. This year's class with 3 freshmen and 1 sophomore (juco) is probably the best he could have hoped for considering his tenuous status going into his 4th year. Hopefully that core 4 will be a solid foundation for the year's ahead and make up for some of the lack of quality youth in the 2023 class. But transfers often are not as concerned about his long-term status because they are already upperclassman and only have 1 or 2 years or eligibility remaining. So unless Fred can pull a rabbit out of his hat, he is going to have to rely on transfers. He has to hope the 2022 transfers are good enough to earn him another year, then secure quality transfers for 2023 to try and get this program on track. If he can successfully do that, then maybe he can start landing quality freshmen in future classes. With that said, although this team has 3 seniors, it is not an "old" team. If some of these players can develop, they could be a foundation for a few more years: 5 Freshmen (3 RS Freshmen) 3 Sophomores 2 Juniors 3 Seniors *This does not include the 4 freshmen walk-ons

Ramel Lloyd’s dad posted a 10 second clip from Saturday’s practice. It was far away and grainy, but it looked like the red (starters?) were Griesel, Brando, Wilcher, Wilhelm and Walker. Lloyd was running PG for the whites.

Fred's recruiting classes appear to have improved each season. As we all know, his first class was a disaster. But we also know that he took over in April and had to completely revamp the entire roster. He was left with bare cupboards and could not fill them in such short time. Seems that should be somewhat a pass. Next year's recruiting class was not much better. But it was also during covid madness and coaches weren't even allowed to travel or bring in recruits. And the actual covid season was also a mess with canceled games, etc. His third recruiting class (last year's class) was much improved. The (short) McGowens era certainly did not work out well, but in addition to the 5 star, that class also included Wilcher (4 star-top 150) and Wilhelm (4 star-top 150). But as we know, Wilhelm got hurt in just his 5th game so we couldn't see him develop last year. Also had young but potential role players in Keisei, Dawson, Oleg and McPherson. This year's recruiting class looks even better. Sure, we don't know anything until they play on the court. But Lloyd (top 100 in 247sports composite), Keita (Rivals 4 star, top 5 juco) and Lawrence (top 200 recruit), to go along with the 3 transfers who all seem to be team-oriented hustle guys. If Fred could land Parker and/or Green, that would be another step up. We also see that Fred is scouting and offering high level recruits. There are also a lot of reports of Fred himself being very active on the recruiting trail. Even this seems a step up from the first few years. Does Fred now have to actually start to show improvement on the court. Absolutely. But rigid win/loss requirements may not tell the whole picture. What is the young recruits--Wilcher, Lloyd, Keita, Lawrence, Wilhelm, etc., are all playing hard, together and showing a lot of promise. Is it worth blowing everything up and starting even if the entire team is playing hard, together and as a unit, but coming up just short? Also, it seems important to remember that a possible cancer coach was removed last year. Maybe this is like starting over, giving this new coaching staff a chance to show what they can do.

13-15 wins would be a pretty high achievement all things considered. According to the bartorvic projections posted by 49r, NU is projected to be the #90 team in the country, and yet still is only favored to win 10 games all season. Bartorvic averages that out to a 13-17 record. Finishing #90 overall would mean NU should be an NIT team or at worst a bubble NIT team. Considering the past 3 years, this would be massive progress. As for 15 wins, I challenge you to list out any combination of 15 wins this season that doesn't look impressive, or are least a massive step up from the past 3 years. If NU were to get 15 wins, with only 4 cupcakes on the schedule, this would mean 10-11 wins over power 5 schools, and probably a few nice road wins. If they get 15 wins with this schedule, I imagine their Kenpom would be in the top 60, or close thereto. Of course, some of this depends on how the other B1G teams shake out this year, but based on previous years and this year's projections that seems about right. Heck, as said above, just 16 wins might even put NU on the bubble. If this team can get at least 12 wins, I think the fans will stick with them because that will mean they beat at least 8 power 5 teams with effort and scrappy play. That is a significant step up from the last 3 years and should be more than enough for Fred to return.

That is a very high bar. Considering NU's extremely difficult schedule, if NU finishes above .500 they almost certainly are an NCAA bubble team and possibly even in the tourney.

Nebraska has a brutal non-conference schedule, and it is compounded by the 20 game conference schedule. Doc used to have 13 non-conf games which included 12 cupcakes and one middling power 5 school. This year's year's schedule only has 4 cupcakes (and that includes UNO). Interesting you have NU winning the 2nd round game of the Invitational Tourney. If Nebraska loses to OK in the first round, they will play the loser of Memphis/Seton Hall. Last year Seton Hall was an 8-seed in the tourney and Memphis was a 9-seed. Oklahoma last year was in the first 4 out. The irony of the K State game is Nebraska may have a chance, but after NU compliance/medical rejected Keyontae Johnson, he committed to K State and there is a good chance he will be playing for the purple and be the difference maker in that game. It is also a road game being played in Kansas City. Indiana is projected by most to win the B1G this year, and Purdue is projected top 4 in conference by most. Creighton is projected to be at or near the top of the Big East and the game is in Omaha this year. St. John's isn't a powerhouse, but is a power 5 school projected to be in the middle of the Big East and it is a road game All things considered, unless there are losses to the cupcakes or some other massive letdown, determining Hoiberg's fate after the first 13 games seems ludicrous.

After last year's abysmal 3-9 record, Trev was lauded for renegotiating Frost's contract and conditioning Frost's return upon an agreed upon 50% reduction in his buyout. Seemingly everybody said this was the best, if not only, recourse under the circumstances. For some reason, they made the "effective" date of October 1, 2022. I am not sure if that specific "effective" date was published at the time or whether everyone just overlooked it as irrelevant. And it should be irrelevant as it is just 6 games into the season. I have no idea if a booster agreed to pay the additional $7.5M to fire frost early. Whether that is or is not the case, it still begs the question of whether that $7.5M could be put to better use, by both the AD and the booster, especially in today's college athletics environment. Does anyone really believe firing Frost now is going to dramatically change the course of this season? If not, what is the advantage gained by firing now that is greater than the alternate use case for that $7.5M? We are now in the age of NIL. Whether people (or this AD) like it or not, it is the current reality and its only going to become more and more prominent as time goes on. If this program wants to give itself the best chance to win, it must embrace the NIL aspect and figure out how to maximize its impact on both recruiting and maintaining its athletes. If a booster donated that $7.5M just to get rid of Frost 3 weeks earlier, as AD, Trev should have implored him to wait out the 3 weeks, and then donate the $7.5M to a local NIL collective. Simple math says that if NU FB has a 25 person recruiting class next season, that $7.5M could pay $300,000 to EACH and EVERY recruit next year. Or it could be distributed in other ways, with as much as $1M going to the best QB or other recruit. Or it could be spread out over the next 2-4 years for the next coach to distribute. The very small and marginal value of firing frost 3 weeks early (if there is any at all) is far outweighed by the other NIL use cases of that money. Rich people can do whatever they want with their money. But I sure hope the AD is at least strongly encouraging boosters to use those funds in a more productive manner, that is a big part of the job. And if the funds came solely out of the AD budget, then what is the rationale? For every AD dollar spent on the buyout, that is one more dollar of booster money that must replace those funds. It is not a zero sum game. For instance, if a booster later donates $7M, those $7M may have to go towards the cost of the new practice facility, but if the AD had simply waited 3 weeks and saved that $7M, then the AD could have paid for the $7M for the athletic facility and then the booster money could be used for NIL or some other purpose.

They have to make everyone taller so that Walker’s listed height of 6’9” doesn’t seem so out of place. Lol. As someone mentioned, Griesel is probably close to same height and weight, which is crazy.

i was trying to match them up where I felt it could go either way and different people would have different projections. It wouldn’t be much of of a discussion if it was Griesel vs Oleg. But I also realize some may feel completely different and they aren’t equally matched. We could just rank the players 1 to 10 in projected impact, just seemed like this might be a different twist on it. That is all. And to be clear, I am certainly not trying to denigrate any players, just projecting impact for this coming season.

Husker Hoops practice officially starts in 3 weeks. So we may as well start some completely speculative and most likely incorrect projections for players and their expected performance in the 2022-23 season. Rather that simply ranking players, let's compare how much "impact" certain players may have this season. Everyone is free to define "impact" in their own way, but the general idea of "impact" is how much that player will contribute to giving Nebraska the best chance to win IMO. So, who do you think will have the most impact this season: Griesel or Walker Wilcher or Bando Gary or Wilhelm Lloyd or Keita Keisei or Lawrence Dawson or Oleg Sam Hoiberg or Cale Jacobson Feel free to share your rationale for any of your picks

PG depth is now woefully thin. I know some think Lloyd can play some PG, but I just don't see it, especially not as a freshman. Who is next in line? Have to wonder if Keisei will get some run at PG. If not him, we may be looking at Sam Hoiberg or Cale Jacobsen getting some meaningful playing time this season.

Curious what everyone thinks on this. Hypothetically, if Johnson were to commit, and if he was cleared to play this year (health and academics, etc), and if he proves to actually be healthy and able to play, how much would that change everyone's outlook for this season? Would this actually get some of you excited about this season? How much would this increase your projections for this team? top 10 in conference? Top 7? I realize this is all a bunch of "ifs" that most likely won't happen, just curious on how much you think one really quality player could change the trajectory for this team.

One possible bonus with this hire. If Ziegler has been unemployed since March, then he essentially was not subject to any recruiting restrictions. A lot of times these assistant coaches use the time off to really develop relationships with potential future recruits and their families without any restrictions. Or maybe he just went to the the Bahamas for five months. Ha!

Well, there's also this one . . . https://saturdaytradition.com/big-ten-football/way-too-early-2022-23-big-ten-basketball-power-rankings/ 14. Nebraska (10-22, 4-16) What I like: I liked the fight the Huskers showed the last couple weeks of last season. Nebraska unexpectedly finished with 3 straight wins before falling to Northwestern by 2 at the Big Ten Tourney. And I wondered why we didn’t see it sooner. What I don’t like: None of the players most responsible for that late surge — Alonzo Verge, Trey McGowens and Bryce McGowens — are back this year. This team is going to stink so badly that it’ll come with clouds, like Pig-Pen from Peanuts.

You might be right. But context does matter. Comparing records from past years is precarious at best. For instance, the B1G how has 20 conference games. During Miles years it was 18, which meant 2 extra cupcakes on the schedule each year. During Doc's tenure, it was only 16 conference games, and Doc certainly knew how to load up on cupcakes. In Mile's first year, 9 of his 15 wins were non-conference (and he also lost by 16 to UTEP). His conference record was 5-13, and 3 of those 5 wins were against hapless Penn St and NW. The upcoming 2022-23 schedule is brutal. 20 conference games. Of the 11 non-conference games, 7 are against power 5 teams and only 1 of the 7 are home games. I would challenge anyone to find a more difficult non-conference schedule in the history of Husker Hoops, and then tack on the 20 conference games in the deepest conference in the nation. I'm not sure why Hoiberg basically dug his own grave with this non-conference schedule, but no doubt at the end of the season everybody will be comparing his end of year record to those of Doc and Collier when they aren't even remotely similar in difficulty.

It is going to be interesting to see how fans (including many on this board) react if this team plays hard, with grit, effort and cohesion, and yet still loses a lot of games because they simply do not have enough (scoring?) talent. I am curious to see if all those who repeatedly say all they want is a team to play hard and together regardless of the record really mean it. One other thought. If a team lacks talent, sometimes things may appear like "selfish" play even if it is not. For instance, if the team lacks scoring talent, at some point someone has to be the one to take the shot. It may not be a great shot or open shot because nobody has the talent to break down the defense and either get an open shot or force a double and kick to the open man, and so-forth, which results in a player having to simply "take the shot" that no one else can/will take. It may look like a bad shot and therefore a "selfish" shot, but what is the alternative, no one take a shot?

Well if it makes you feel any better in his 2nd game he shot 2-14 with 3 TOs

To have a successful season this year will require, at a minimum: 1. No major injuries. And Griesel absolutely cannot miss more than 1 or 2 games or its season over. There is no replacement at PG. Honestly am already worried about the 10+ minutes he is on the bench each game getting rest, not sure how that hole is going to be filled. 2. Good team chemistry with great effort and no (or very little) selfish play. This is a big ask in today's landscape. 3. Wilhelm must be a very solid player. We know he has potential, but the limited minutes he got last year were rough. He needs to not only "not be rough", he needs to be good/solid, and it would help if he could hit an occasional three at a decent percentage. 4. Wilcher must take a step-up, preferably a significant step up. He is the best shooter/scorer on a team that is going to have trouble scoring. A good season from his is critical. 5. It would really help if one of the true freshmen could be a solid contributor. Most likely candidates are Lloyd or Lawrence. Lawrence continues to be my dark horse, but question is whether his strong and athletic enough to play in the B1G as a freshman. 6. Keita must be a very solid player, at a minimum. To make a jump into top 10 or Top 7, he must be a beast, or at least as close to a beast as we can expect at Nebraska. Unfortunately this is probably too much to expect from as a raw prospect coming straight from juco off an injury.

Are we ranking them for how they will play this year, or over their career? Obviously, the transfers have a huge advantage over the freshmen for this coming season, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are the better "career" players or have the highest "ceiling" in their college career. Based on this upcoming season only: 1. Griesel - How could it be anyone but Griesel? He is our only legit PG. He is so valuable, if he gets hurt for any period of time, the season is pretty much over. There is no reliable backup PG 2. Gary - this was a toss-up between Gary and Bando, but I will go with Gary because he brings defense and rebounding which is desperately needed. 3. Bando - Basically a Trey replacement. Good defender, decent 3-point shooter. 4. Keita - The top 3 were easy, this is where it starts getting tougher, but I will go with Keita over Lloyd, Lawrence and McPherson just because he is almost guaranteed to have a role, even tho I don't think he will start. 5. Lloyd - This really is a complete toss-up. I want to put Lawrence because he is my darkhorse. And Q is an option because he will likely be in the rotation due to being the backup PG. But I will go with the safe pick in Lloyd based on this length and HS pedigree. For those who have Keita 1st or 2nd, what is your thinking on this. Don't we all agree that Walker will start? And if yes, then Keita is a backup center at best. And he will have competition for minutes from Wilhelm. Or do you think he will start and beat out Walker? Because if he is limited to backup minutes, there is no way he will have a greater impact than Griesel who will probably play 30+ minutes every game, or Bando and Gary who will either start or play 20-25 minutes per game. Just not seeing the logic on that call. With that said, if he is a dominant force that could beat out Walker for the starting center spot, that would be something. Walker was probably our third best player last year, and now he would be coming off the bench because the new guy is better, that would definitely be a step in the right direction, but I just don't see it happening. Regarding McPherson, I struggle with where to put him. He will most likely be in rotation next year because he is the only backup PG. But that fact he couldn't see the floor last year on a terrible team with so many holes and injuries just indicates he isn't a B1G level player, but man I hope that RS year helped him develop and now he shows he is ready for B1G play. If we are basing it on career (or at least the highest ceiling reached during their career), then: 1. Lloyd 2. Lawrence 3. Griesel 4. Keita 5. Bando