Tipoff in Ten

[bball_backer]

I realize that in 6 days Nebraska plays their most important football game, but I'm equally excited about basketball tipping off in 10 days. I'm curious, what are most people looking for?

 

Personally, I think the number one thing I want to see is what we are going to have for big men. I'd like to think Almeida and Niemann were going to come in and make big impacts this season but I don't think Niemann will ever see a significant minute due to injury and really have no clue what to expect from Andre... instead, what I'll be looking for is improvement from Diaz and Ubel. We've heard about them getting stronger and putting on weight, but I'm skeptical. My prediction is they'll have obvious improved skill sets (Ubel is gonna stroke 3's consistently) and finish better, but still get pushed around when it comes to boards.

 

Second thing I'm looking for is improvements/changes in leadership and coaching. With Doc handing over some control to assistants in practice, I think it'll be interesting to watch the bench during games to see if it's always Doc talking to a player that comes out, or if we see an assistant doing it once in awhile. I also want to see leadership changes on the court, specifically with Jeter and Richardson... I think these are gonna be the two guys that Nebraska can depend on to take over a game and help relax the other guys on the court.

 

Finally, I want to see what these new guys can do. Walker, Brown and McCray (I know he's not new, but after a year off I think he's going to look a little different than his freshman year) all seem to be guys that could contribute and I want to see if Doc has really brought in some players or if it's just another group of so-so guys that have flashes but ultimately do nothing to move the program forward.

 

Just thought of one more - heard a lot about Ray working on getting off a quicker jump shot - last year he was my darkhorse, I thought he'd end up being a scoring machine but all he did was look slow, young and quite honestly just not that good. Let's see if the off-season murmurs were just talk or if this kid is going to be a real threat

 

Should be fun, really can't wait til the exhibitions get passed and we can start this thing for real

[redout22]

The thing that I will be looking out for the most is our tempo. From what I hear we conditioned like crazy so I wonder if that means we will move the ball faster and try to get more fastbreaks. The team has some fairly fast players like Richardson and Jeter and if players like Diaz and Ubel added some muscle then I think we can be dangerous. Standhardinger has the intensity we need. So overall this year should be better than last year. Hopefully Doc can produce.

[Count 'Bility]

I wanna see what a year of experience for a lot of young players who played thru a lot of pressure packed situations, tho they usually lost them. And last season was full of inexpereience the what guys we had coming back got hurt. This year should be an improvement, if it's not, then there is a serious problem.

[husker_hurdler]

Give me some STANDHARDINGER!!!!!

 

Record: 22-10 (in that range)

 

Big XII Record: .500

[bball_backer]

With the season starting tomorrow, I thought I'd come back and update my expectations/predictions. I only saw the second exhibition game, but it was enough to change some of my thoughts

 

Personally, I think the number one thing I want to see is what we are going to have for big men. I'd like to think Almeida and Niemann were going to come in and make big impacts this season but I don't think Niemann will ever see a significant minute due to injury and really have 1: no clue what to expect from Andre... instead, what I'll be looking for is improvement from Diaz and Ubel. We've heard about them getting stronger and putting on weight, but I'm skeptical. 2: My prediction is they'll have obvious improved skill sets (Ubel is gonna stroke 3's consistently) and finish better, but still get pushed around when it comes to boards.

 

Second thing I'm looking for is improvements/changes in leadership and coaching. With Doc handing over some control to assistants in practice, I think 3: it'll be interesting to watch the bench during games to see if it's always Doc talking to a player that comes out, or if we see an assistant doing it once in awhile. I also want to see leadership changes on the court, specifically with Jeter and Richardson... I think these are gonna be the two guys that Nebraska can depend on to take over a game and help relax the other guys on the court.

 

Finally, 4: I want to see what these new guys can do. Walker, Brown and McCray (I know he's not new, but after a year off I think he's going to look a little different than his freshman year) all seem to be guys that could contribute and I want to see if Doc has really brought in some players or if it's just another group of so-so guys that have flashes but ultimately do nothing to move the program forward.

 

5: Just thought of one more - heard a lot about Ray working on getting off a quicker jump shot - last year he was my darkhorse, I thought he'd end up being a scoring machine but all he did was look slow, young and quite honestly just not that good. Let's see if the off-season murmurs were just talk or if this kid is going to be a real threat

Should be fun, really can't wait til the exhibitions get passed and we can start this thing for real

1. Looks like Andre will be a factor. He's fun to watch with the ball in his hands, however he will have to learn that while assists are a good thing, the point of near 7 foot 300 pound man is to rebound and score, not dish out assists.

 

2. I thought both actually did look slightly thicker than last year, although they still are nothing to drool over. They appear to be finishing better (hopefully we don't have to watch every other lay in roll out this year) but I'm afraid that once again they will get pushed around on the boards in conference play.

 

3. I didn't watch the bench extremely close, but I did notice assistants calling out to players on the floor more often than in the past.

 

4. Walker looks to be a pretty big factor. He wasn't jaw-dropping good, but he flashed some athleticism on an attempted alley-oop (yes, I did say attempted alley-oop...) and appeared to be good with the ball for the most part. Brown did nothing to impress during the game. McCray did not play, so I'm still very interested to see what he looks like. Hopefully we'll find out tomorrow night.

 

5. Disappointed. Ray's shot definitely looks better, but his shooting percentage is not good right now. He still looks slow on defense. I think I have put way too much stock in this kid, he'll be an alright player, but not the game changer I had hoped he would be when he signed.

 

The game was sloppy, twenty-some turnovers against Bellevue, terrible. This will get better. The teams athleticism on the other hand, can't really get better during a season. This team is not going to compare to the top teams in the Big XII when it comes to athleticism. The guards look slow. Granted Richardson and McCray were not playing, but the guards that did play just did not impress me. Obviously Jeter is a specimen, but Gallegos, Baranek, Walker and Brown just don't look fast enough. The big men aren't lumbering fools, but being quick and nimble doesn't matter if they are just going to get pushed out of the way.

 

I'll say this team has a shot at a 20 win season and maybe .500 in conference, but must say after only one game I think they are a ways behind where I had hoped they would be. Who knows, maybe after a few games playing together they'll start to gel and really begin to shine.