ECisGod

I'd agree that Tominaga may be the best player on the team, but I don't think Allick will start. At this point I'd say the starters will be Ulis, Tominaga, Williams, Gary & Mast at the beginning of the season. Lawrence will probably be the first guy off the bench with Wilcher, Lloyd Allick & Kieta in the rotation. Hoiberg & Rice will get some minutes, but not many.

I'm cautiously optimistic that they will be better than last year. I think they have a lot of pieces to be a good team. The biggest question in my mind is how team chemistry will work out. It certainly doesn't help that Tominaga & Mast won't be on the trip to Spain and may not be back on campus at the start of the school year depending on how well their national teams do. They aren't going to be a Sweet 16 team, but they should at least be an NIT/bubble team. I agree that if they aren't better this year Hoiberg will be gone. I think the one thing he has going for him is that he changed some of his philosophy to fit the B1G instead of trying to make everyone adjust to him (unlike Frost), so as long as they show progress he will stick around.

This could be interesting for collectives... Some nonprofit NIL collectives may not qualify as tax-exempt - ESPN

With Bob Huggins retiring from West Virginia, there will probably be a few new transfers in the portal including a couple the Huskers already tried to get.

Season starts five months from today...

At this point with 2 scholarships available, I think it is time to take a couple of flyers on projects with high upside a couple of years down the line unless a true game changer comes along. I think the 11 they have on scholarship + the 3 walk-ons make up a good enough roster to have a successful season.

Not that is is a surprise to anyone, but Hunter Dickinson didn't chose Nebraska. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/37405520/michigan-center-hunter-dickinson-transfers-kansas

I hope he proves me wrong, but I don't think he is the solution at PG. Yes, his TO ratio was almost 2:1, but he only averaged an assist every 10.7 minutes on a team that scored 80 points per game. Iowa's assist to TO ratio was about 1.7:1 and if you remove Connor McCaffery who lead the country in assist to TO ratio multiple times it was 1.4:1. I think he can be a depth piece, but to expect him to be a true starting PG is not something I see.

He has to do something other than just facilitate the offense otherwise there is no reason to guard him. Most teams just ignored him on the offensive end of the floor because they knew he wasn't much of a threat for all three years at Iowa. I'm not saying he has to score 15 points per game, but he has to be some kind of threat or we will essentially be playing 4 on 5 on the offensive end of the floor.

Based on what I saw if Iowa last year, I'm not sure if he's better than the options we already had. Maybe better ball security but he doesn't seem to drive to the hoop or shoot 3's. He started, but only played 22.5 min/game. If we are only expecting 20-ish minutes/game, then OK. If we are expecting him to put in starter minutes (at least 30), then I don't see it.

Another point guard in the portal. MAC player of the year. Would be using his covid year. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/36297682/toledo-rayj-dennis-enters-college-basketball-transfer-portal

For him to have a shot at the being anything other than "instant offense" in the NBA, he will have to work on his point guard skills and get stronger. His ball handling is OK, but he doesn't really make passes that set up other players. Most of his passes are to move the ball and hopefully get it back to take a shot, not to get someone else a shot. He's listed at 6'2", 175 & Steph Curry is 6'2", 185, so I get the comparisons (the shooting is just the most obvious part). But Curry's ball handling skills are miles ahead of where Tominaga's are. As a rookie Curry averaged 4.5 rebounds & 6 assists in 36.2 minutes per game. Does anyone really see Tominaga averaging 6 assists/game if he got to play 36 minutes/game in the NBA? He's always going to be a defensive liability because of his size, but so is Curry so that's not a big deal. I think he can play in the NBA next season, but he wouldn't play much. He's much better off coming back to NU next year & working to become a point guard.

It sounded like McPherson would have been the backup point last season if he hadn't blown out his knee, so I have him penciled in as the starting PG unless they bring someone else in to play the point. I agree that they need someone with experience. Look at Purdue, they had two Freshmen starting at the 1 & 2 and it really hurt them at the end of the season - both the regular season and the NCAA's.

May not make much difference. Hugley is more of a 5 & Mast is a stretch 4 (like Breidenbach is supposed to be).

Looks like it was 13.8 & 8. Played 3 years at Bradley so might have 2 years left with a covid year. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/stats/_/id/4592677/rienk-mast

I'm not sure he has an NBA future unless he starts shooting 3's effectively. He didn't get much of a chance to shoot them at NU, but his stroke looks OK based on what I saw in warmups. He definitely can play in Europe and make a lot of money with the skills he has shown.

He's been invited to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/mens-basketball/nebraskas-derrick-walker-gets-invite-to-portsmouth-invitational-event/article_be2b0180-75cf-5ce2-a0b1-ef5a2a28e33a.html#tracking-source=home-sports

Ryan Nembhard from Creighton is entering the portal. Would be great to see him move 50 miles southwest. Would help NU and hurt Creighton (and possibly align the planets). https://omaha.com/sports/college/creighton/creightons-ryan-nembhard-enters-transfer-portal/article_553e9f12-d401-11ed-b2d6-7bcf6132f13f.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

He is at this point in his career, but he's 6'3" 185 lbs. He's going to need point guard skills to play at the next level - especially if he wants to play in the NBA.

Not sure if that's good or bad. Clearly a really good player, but maybe a little too much like Verge. Everyone says they need a point guard, but before he blew out his knee they were saying Quaran McPherson had made a huge leap over the summer and was in line to be the back up point. I know he doesn't have any experience at this level and will be coming off an injury, but he should be a viable option. Tominaga is going to have to become a point if he wants to play anywhere other than Japan as a pro (one reason he should come back) & it appeared that Jamarques Lawrence was taking over some point duties when Griesel was on the bench by the end of the season. I think they have options as it stands - they just don't have a lot of experience.

Hunter Dickenson from Michigan is in the portal. https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/36019466/michigan-center-hunter-dickinson-enters-transfer-portal

She's using her covid year

Looks like Penn State is losing their coach to Notre Dame... https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/35920114/sources-notre-dame-hire-penn-state-coach-micah-shrewsberry

Which is why he lost playing time late n the season & the solution is to put in time in the off-season working on his shot. Unless he transfers to a mid-major school, it won't change anything in his PT.

I get it from his point of view, but if he was more consistent as a three point shooter, he'd get plenty of PT as a 3 & D guy. I think he would have played 15+ minutes per game next year.