ECisGod

31 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

So, how good is St. John's supposed to be?  They are 2-0.  Last year they were not good with a 14-19 record.

ESPN & CBS Sports both had them in the mid 60's when they ranked all 351 D1 teams.  Nebraska was around 100.

There were a ton of shots that were half way down in the 2nd half.  Both inside & 3's.  If those go down the 2nd half looks a lot better.

They seem to play well the first & last four minutes of each half, but the middle 12 not so much.  Happened in both the exhibition game & this one.  That needs to be corrected before they go to St John's on Thursday.

Took my 5 year old step granddaughter to the exhibition game Tuesday night for her birthday so hopefully the tradition will continue.

38 minutes ago, spurs1990 said:

I'm really excited to get some televised games! 

 

I'm all for optimism (First year with season tickets so this would be a good time for them to start making some noise!) but I think that needs to be tempered until they prove themselves in games that count. That exhibition was ugly. I get that starters were out but still. Copeland needs to knock off that rust, Jordy needs to be able to finish more consistently in the paint and pull help win the rebounding battle, and Palmer needs to prove he can put up these numbers night in and night out against tough competition. I'm also interested to see how Allen develops as the year goes.

I'm always excited to see the team this time of year.  Sometimes that fades as the season goes, sometimes it doesn't.  My dad & I have been going to NU Hoops for 40-ish years.  I've seen coaches all the way back to Cipriano.

3 hours ago, teachercd said:

Of course they do...teams still have to finish 1-14.

Of course they have to finish 1-14, but the question is if teams 1-14  this year are better, worse or equal to previous year's 1-14 teams.  It has nothing to do with who finishes 1-14, it has to do with the quality of the teams in the order they finish not the name on the front of their jerseys.

Just because "traditional powers" are not good does not mean the conference is terrible.  Other teams have stepped up to fill the void.

Could be a sign that EIU is better than expected, Illinois is worse or it was an exhibition game that the Illini "trained" through.

If it does re-air, it will be with NU students doing the announcing.  I've seen some of those on BTN and some are good, some are horrible.

North Dakota did win their conference last year & finished 22-10 (14-4).  Yes, it was the Big Sky, but they did win it.

3 hours ago, SouthLincoln Husker said:

This was a scrimmage and I'm sure everyone played.  Just the fact that we scored 90 is amazing.

I'm not too surprised they put up 90.  Like you said it was a scrimmage & Miles has said they want to play faster this year.  They also had 48 at the half against Mississippi St then went ice cold and had a bunch of turnovers.

Need to work on defense.  ISU shot 59% for the game.  Yikes!

James Palmer listed as "under the radar" transfer

https://www.fanragsports.com/20-under-radar-transfers-for-2017-18-season/

CBS Sports put out their annual ranking of all 351 D1 schools today.  NU is ranked 104 making them 13th in the B1G between Ohio St at 97 and Rutgers at 127.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ranking-all-351-college-basketball-teams-from-duke-to-alabama-a-m/

3 hours ago, skers44 said:

he is a bit undersized for a 5 dont ya think?

Depends on what style of play Miles is going for.  If he's going to try to play "small ball" he's perfect as long as he's strong & quick enough to guard bigger post players.  Get him in the weight room & he'll put on 15-20 pounds of muscle his first year on campus.

Offered another 2018 big.

https://nebraska.247sports.com/Bolt/Nebraska-basketball-is-the-latest-offer-for-2018-center-Florent--108766106

Based on what I heard in Miles' presser earlier this week I'd go with:

Point - Watson, Allen

Wing - Taylor, Palmer

Wing - Roby, Akenten

Four - Copeland, McVeigh

Post- Tshimanga, Okeke

Gill will get a chance, but he will have to me a much more consistent outside shooter than he has in the past.  We already have an inconsistent outside shooter in Taylor that plays better defense.  Thor will probably play early, but I don't see him making much of a contribution against better competition.  Sounds like Borchardt has made a big improvement, but he's probably the third or fourth option in the post.

17 hours ago, teachercd said:

9-9 in conference would be a fantastic record

I'm not sure 9-9 is completely out of the realm of possibility.  Penn St, Ohio St, Rutgers & Illinois are all winnable road games.  Not saying they will win any of them, but all four of those teams are projected to be pretty bad this year.  If they can win a couple of those and pull a couple minor upsets at home they could finish in the .500 range in conference.

I'm not sure there is a specific number of wins, but I think they probably have to at least make the NIT.  That probably means 17-18 wins and a mid pack finish in the B1G.

Nice to see that it is a little later than previous years.  If I remember correctly they have been scheduled at 6-6:30ish the last couple of years.  I live in Omaha so getting there by then is a bit of a challenge.

Assuming Copeland is eligible to start the season my starting five would be:

Watson

Palmer

Roby

Copeland

Tshimanga

Next five:

Taylor

Gill

Akenten

McVeigh

Okeke

If he's not eligible until Mid-December I think they go with three guards & Roby at the 4 (he's up to 226 lbs):

Watson

Palmer

Taylor/Gill

Roby

Tshimanga

Next five:

Gill/Taylor (which ever one doesn't start)

Allen

Akenten

McVeigh

Okeke

I think that Gill will be the odd man out by the end of the season.  He was very streaky at Louisville, didn't hit anything last and is coming off a knee injury.  Early he will probably be ahead of Allen, but by mid-season Allen will get more playing time than Gill.  Thor should probably redshirt, but who knows.

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=211664012

Sounds like he had a pretty good tournament.

There's a couple of 2 day turnarounds and a 3 day turn around with both games on the road. 

They could very well start 0-5 with @ MSU, Minnesota, @ Northwestern, @ Purdue, Wisconson.  Ouch!

Four of last five at home so maybe a chance for a strong finish.

UCF is going to be really really good this year. Definite NCAA tournament team. No shame in dropping that one on a neutral floor (if we do)

UCF is a neutral floor like UCLA was last year. It may not be on their home court, but it is across town.

I see 9-10 wins in the NC schedule. At Creighton & Kansas are the only definite losses. At St John's is a toss up along with UCF. If they beat UCF they will probably lose to West Virginia, then play either Missouri or St John's for the 2nd time in 10 days. If they lose to UCF they beat Marist & then either Oregon St or LBSU. Either way they probably go 2-1 in the tournament.