Hey everyone, I know we're in full football mode right now but the Basketball season starts in about three weeks and we are going to experience some history! For the first time we will be playing a B1G slate in BBALL! So how do you think the season goes? I think it all relies on who our point guard will be if we can have a succesfull season. People have been saying that even though the B1G is a great Bball conference that it's style caters more towards Doc's style of coaching, I guess we'll see. Who do you think will be the starting five on Nov. 7th?
Here's my crack at it:
C - Andre Almeida PF - Jorge Brian Diaz SF - Brandon Ubel or Toney McCray SG - Toney McCray or Caleb Walker PG - Brandon Richardson (perhaps Bo Spencer if he is eligable he could play SG too)
I for one am excited to see how Corey Hilliard and Josiah Moore will fit in, I would also like to see our 6'7" guard David Rivers matches up on the outside... if we can get some play our of him his size would be invaluable on the outside. Hears to hoping a great start to the year!
I, for one, am excited to see the basketball season start. I think they probably finish somewhere between 7th & 9th in the conference.
My guess on starting line up is:
C - Diaz PF - Ubel Wing - McCray Wing - Walker or Richardson PG - Richardson or Spencer
It looks like Gallegos & Almeida will redshirt. Gallegos because he wants to and Almeida because he knee isn't healing properly after offseason surgery. If Bo Spencer plays like he can, I wouldn't be surprised to see Richardson in the same posistion he was in last year. Start at one wing position/shooting guard and be the backup point. I think Rivers will be in the regular rotation, but I suspect that Hilliard & Moore won't get a lot of PT once they start playing B1G games. Hopefuly Neimann can get 12-15 productive minutes a game this year.
Wow no McCray huh? He was our best 3-point shooter last year, it looks like Walker had a good game as did Talley. I'll look forward to our game against USC on Monday and hope to see a more complete effort out there. Anyone go to the game that can provide any insight into how they played? Sounded like it was kind of a sloppy game 18 turnovers and allowed 10 offensive boards... let's hope we get better at playing against the zone.
From listening on the radio, it did seem like a sloppy game. Toney McCray got some good minutes in the game and played pretty well for the most part. Nebraska came out pretty slow in the second half and allowed South Dakota to control the offensive boards early on in the half. Caleb Walker played really well, going after the boards and hitting the easy shots. Dylan Talley got after the boards as well, I was impressed when he was in the game, well as impressed as I could be from listening to it. I don't think that we can play like this against USC and get the victory, but it wasn't a bad opening game. Free throw shooting wasn't particularly good and the turnovers and offensive boards need to be worked on, but in an opening game, I expected some ugliness.
I was at the game. They looked really good at times but they looked really sloppy at others. Not unusual for a first game against a team with similar size/talent, but it has to get cleaned up by tomorrow night at USC.
McCray had two turnovers where he just flat dropped the ball out of bounds.
Doc CAN NOT play Fox & Neimann at the same time. They are both really slow and having them both on the floor at the same time allowed USD to get back in the game in the first half.
Talley looked really good. His shot looks a little unusual, but it works for him.
Walker looks like he has made a HUGE improvement over last year. He just looks more confident and less "lost" after a year in the system.
Spencer looked good running the point and his shooting will come around. His defense is a work in progress.
Ubel seemed to have trouble finishing. It reminded me of two years ago when he wasn't strong enough to finish. His defense was pretty good.
Walker and Richardson look like they could be lockdown type defenders this year. Richardson looks a lot more confident in his shot this year. Hopefully it stays that way.
Diaz looked good at times. He looked good on the defensive end, but needs to learn that when he is triple teamed there are teammates open and he should pass the ball.
Neimann is a VERY big man. Once the ball is in his hands, it's his. You will NOT get the ball away from him.I was kind of disappointed to see
Rivers and Hilliard blow redshirts for three minutes combined. If they are only going to play in "mop up" situations I don't know that it's worth it.
It appears that Gallegos will be redshirting and I would be surpised to see Almeida play this season since he hasn't even started running after off season knee surgery.
Thanks for the run down, sounds like we better find the right mix soon. I like the balance of athleticism with grit but it's our shooting that i'm worried about. Last year we didn't really have a guy that could create his own shot on the perimeter, i hope that Spencer might remedy this problem and Caleb Walker should be a beast on the offensive boards once again i just hope we can get consistent play from him, if he finds a stroke this team could be dangerous. I look forward to the rest of the season I'm hoping for 16-20 wins this season if we can pull off some major upsets.
P.S. Too bad the USC game is on Prime Ticket... I don't have that channel. Looks like i'll be listening on the radio again.
Nailbiter in So Cal...didn't listen to all of it, but it sounded like where Nebraska went on one of their patented scoring droughts. Guess Toney McCray hitting those clutch free throws and sending it to a second overtime gave Nebraska the motivation to put some points up in that period..
Clutch free throws in the first and second overtime, I really can't believe it myself..
Yeah they went without a bucket for the last four minutes of the game and McCray made two free throws to send it into the first over time... then did the same thing to get into the second overtime, but McCray had some costly turnovers that caused us some headaches within the game so he redeemed himself. I was impressed by Bo Spencer, the guy is a baller and is CLUTCH. We haven't had a clutch play maker in a while. He had 22 points and closed out the game with good shooting, good defense and good ball handling.
We need out post players to rebound better and Diaz needs to find his jump hook again and it is obvious we are going to miss Almeida this year. Richardson is stroking beyond the arc right now (4/5 from 3) and hopefully he continues this hot streak confidently. This was a big win, our next big game will be against former Creighton coach Dana Altman and Oregon!
Big win today against a tough Rhode Island team that gave Texas a run for its money. Let's get to Oregon and start off 4-0, i really like this Bo Spencer kid.
They looked really good yesterday. They still need to stop giving up so many offensive rebounds, but that is about all they had trouble with yewsterday. Ubel looks a little out of sync, but hopefully he comes around. Spencer, Talley, Walker & Richardson are looking REALLY good right now. Hopefully that holds up for the entire season.
Did the Ref's look as bad on TV as they did live? It's hard to win when it's 8 on 5. I can't beleive the only two illegal screens they called were on Ubel including the game changer with the score tied and just over a minute to go. Oregon didn't set a legal screen for the first 15 minutes of the game and very few after that. Oregon's #25 traveled everytime he touched the ball and only got called twice.
Ubel looked better and the offense is looking good. Now they just need to work on defense and cut down on opposition offensive rebounds.
The team looked OK yesterday. SDSU is a difficult team to play because they don't have any true post players which caused proplems for NU''s post players.
It was nice to see Rivers play significant minutes. If he contiunues to get 10+ minutes a game it won't be a waste of a redshirt year.
Everyone looked pretty good on the offensive end.
I can't believe that Diaz only got one rebound. He just doesn't ever seem to grab the ball. It's all about tipping it with him even on the defensive boards. He goes for the block to often and doesn't get in posistion to get the rebound. If he keeps that up Ubel will have to be a monster on the boards.
Next up is Wake Forrest and the ACC/B1G Challenge. Wake has struggled this year, but they are still a quality team. Everyone who is reading this needs to get their butts to the game and cheer the Huksers on!
I only watched the last 53 seconds of tonight's game and it made me sick. Instead of going for a two-for-one at the end of the game Doc drains the clock then runs a pick and roll against a 2-3 Zone? Seriously? That's the play you came up with? How about attacking and going for a two for one, trying to get a good shot instead of draining the clock. Pathetic coaching AGAIN, just like the Oregon game, Sadler continues to put these players in position to LOSE.
And on the defense at the end of the game... why in the world does Diaz even hedge AT ALL on that play, and there is no rotation? Seriously? that's how you play defense for the win? I don't think so. This team can't close out games and it goes to the coaching. the B1G is the deepest conference in basketball this season and with this coaching staff we maybe win 4 to 5 games. We need EVERY non conference win. We are 4-2 and this team has potential but the coaching staff continues to hamstring them with poor decision making. In game management is Sadler's worst nightmare.
The turnovers seemed to be an improvement for this game, but yeah, other than that, it was pretty ugly offensively. I don't understand why you don't try and give Diaz more touches, especially when Wake Forest isn't as deep in the post as other teams are. Desrosiers isn't a strong post player and Diaz had been getting the better of him most of that game, heck, Ubel was having a decent game in the post as well. I wish Nebraska would've done a better job overall getting the ball down low against that zone...The other shots will open up.
As for the last possession, I agree footballnut...Go for the 2 for 1..or if you have to run a play, try to get Toney McCray open, who had been having a pretty good night, or find either Ubel or Diaz in the low post...
Well this team is not very good at all right now. Barely beat Florida Gulf Coast? What a joke. This could be a long year if they don't figure something out real quick. This team just feels like it doesn't have any chemistry and Jorge Brian Diaz looks like he's regressed a ton. I honestly think we are missing Almeida a ton.
I guess a win is a win and it would be even worse if we lost but this team better figure something out quick because 8-3 is the best we can do in the non conference and our conference schedule is brutal. I honestly think this team is more talented than teams of the past but we need to work together better and the coaching definitely needs improvement.
They better start turning up the defensive intensity from the opening tip or it will be a very long season.
McCray & Ubel looked good last night. Everybody else - not so much.
It seems like Talley playing @ 100% makes a huge difference to the team. If he can't go or is slowed by his injury the team looks lost.
Spencer needs to have a good shooting night or he seems to let it effect his defense and his D isn't exactly great to begin with.
Rivers is starting to look like he deserves more playing time. He looks good on defense and less lost on the offensive end.
Hopefully Moore is on the same curve, just a little behind. He doesn't do anything to stand out, but that isn't always bad. He just looks solid when he is in there. He just needs to make some of the open shots he gets.
3 & 15 may be a stretch. The B1G basketball game is unlike any in the land. It plays a D game and there are a lot on games that score in the high 50's to low 60's for the winning team. Guard play is utmost important, it will be interesting to see how season plays out for Huskers.
I know that Diaz & Talley are injured, but 40 points is ridiculous.
I don't understand why they run the weave. They clearly don't run it to score points and they run it too slow to make the defense move enough to create openings/mismatches. It seems to be a way to waste time. As poor as the offense is without Diaz & Talley, wasting time is the last thing they should do.
Looks like the only player who cares about winning this year is McCray and it only took him 4 1/2 years to figure it out.
I've said for a couple of years that Doc had until next year to get things going in the right direction or they would have a new coach to go with the new arena. If things don't pick up before the end of the season, I think he is done. I know they've had injuries, but they seem to have significant injuries EVERY year and never have anyone to come in and pick up the slack.
I don't know anyone who loves Husker hoops more than me, but I'm starting to feel about Doc the way I felt about Iba, Nee and Collier at the end of their tenures.
