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Husker Extra live chat: Chris Basnett, 2/2/17
Chat Husker hoops with Chris Basnett during his weekly chat, this Thursday.
3rd & 7 37yd
3rd & 7 37yd
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I just fueled up with my 3rd consecutive fast food meal. Feeling good. #Huskers twitter.com/huskerextra/st…by Chris Basnett via twitter 2/2/2017 7:02:17 PM
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The official word on Ed Morrow is that nobody knows. Tim Miles called him a game time decision earlier in the week. He's been participating a little bit in practices, but hasn't gone full out yet. If -- if -- he plays tonight, I would expect it to be in a pretty limited role.
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Roby played 29, 8, and 20 minutes in his three starts before the Purdue game, in which he only played 4. A big part of that against the Boilermakers was that Jack McVeigh and Jeriah Horne played so well, and even Jordy Tshimanga showed some good things despite fouling out. I don't think he's in the dog house or anything like that. The coaching staff wants him to be more aggressive offensively, and he's struggled on that end the last few games. That's probably the biggest reason.
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I think, with their strength of schedule, NU has to get to at least 17 wins to be in the discussion. I think 18 or more wins probably gets them in. So, With nine regular season games left plus the conference tournament, if the Huskers can find a way to win seven more, they'll be solidly on the bubble..
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I think the crowd tonight is going to be awesome. Maybe the best one of the year. It should be, with all that's going on.And I think you're right on the Purdue win. It's certainly one of the most unexpected wins in the Tim Miles era. If there was one team on the schedule I didn't think Nebraska could match up with, it was the Boilermakers. But, they found a way.
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I think that's the only way Nebraska can make a postseason run. You certainly expect some ups and downs with so many freshmen and sophomores playing, but that kind of effort is what it's going to take. Nebraska had a great gameplan that was going to take maximum effort to execute, and the players got the job done. But the key, of course, is repeating that effort every night out.
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It's been really nice to see Jack break out of his slump. He's one of the most positive, outgoing personalities on the team, and he told us last week that he's had plenty of late nights trying to figure out how to get things going again. He comes off as a little bit of a goofball when you interview him, but he's just as competitive as anyone else on the team. If he keeps it up, Nebraska becomes a much more dangerous team.
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This season, regardless if we make a postseason at all has to be HUGE for next year. All these young guys with all these close games. We have really been in every single game except for maybe Kansas. And only losing Tai is going to hurt, but not kill us with Glynn and everyone else coming back. Agree?
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Completely agree. I think we're seeing a team that's figuring out how to win consistently, and that's hard to do. That means there are going to be some tough, frustrating losses, and we've certainly seen those. But if this roster stays together, next season and the season after sure look promising.
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What I find to be strange is if Nebraska goes 5-4 in their next nine, their SOS will still be top 5, RPI will be top 50, and they could be left out of the NIT... there is only one team to get a bid with 17 wins... (2006 Bama). If this scenario does happen and Neb loses its first round game, what is your reaction as well as the fans?
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I think it depends on how they compete over these next nine games. I think we can assume that pretty much every game from here on in will be a close one. If the Huskers compete well and go 5-4 in those games, then so be it. But if there's a meltdown and they go 3-6 or 2-7 or something like that, then I think it's fair to be disappointed. This season has been so strange and unpredictable, it's impossible to tell what's going to happen.
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That's the million-dollar question. You have to assume that there will be attrition every season, just because it happens so often now in college basketball. Who that would be or how many it could be is yet to be seen, but this team seems to genuinely like being around each other and playing together. I wouldn't be shocked if everyone stayed, but I also wouldn't be surprised if a player or two left. Same with coaches. Guys are almost always looking for an opportunity to move up, but Miles has a couple veterans on the bench in Jim Molinari and Kenya Hunter who might be pretty happy where they are.I realize that's a pretty wishy-washy answer, but it's really hard to tell right now.
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Two really good athletes who will help a bunch next season. I think the coaching staff sees Palmer as a guard who can score for them. They'd like to see him be more consistent in practice, but he could be a guy that maybe slides into that Tai Webster role. Not saying he'll average 18 points a game, but he's a guy that I think they'd like to get double digits out of most nights.Copeland is really talented as well. It will be interesting to see how he looks once he's recovered from back surgery. But he's 6-9, and can guard a lot of positions, and can shoot the mid-range jumper. If he does nothing else, he'll add depth to Nebraska's front court, which as we've seen this season, is a little lacking.
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Just doing a quick skim through the NIT selection criteria, and it says the NIT committee will select "the best available teams to fill the NIT field". So, I don't think there's a set number of wins a team has to have or anything like that, but winning record would probably be a good start. I have to think 16 or 17 wins, with NU's strength of schedule, would get them in.
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I have never seen a team throw so many balls to half-court on in-bound plays from underneath the hoop as Nebraska does this year. It seems as though Miles is just happy getting the ball in play, rather than trying to capitalize on a scoring opportunity from under the basket with a set play. Any insight?
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There are a few teams that are similar. John Calipari at Kentucky rarely draws up set inbounds plays under his own hoop. I suppose the main goal is just to not turn the ball over, but you bring up a good point. I will keep an eye on that tonight and see what Nebraska does.
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He would be a guy that seems to be caught in a numbers crunch at his position. I obviously don't know what he's thinking, but he may decide he wants to go somewhere that he can get on the court a bunch for one last season. Of course, he may be really happy at Nebraska and decide he wants to stay, too. This is a situation where it would be nice to have some psychic abilities.
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Jordy will play. He has a bruised foot, but it doesn't sound like anything that's slowing him down too much. The team is keeping him in a walking boot just for that extra measure of caution, but he should be fine.Morrow is a game time decision. If he does play, I don't think he would start. He hasn't been in a game for more than three weeks now, so you have to think his conditioning is a little off. If he does play, I have to imagine his minutes would be pretty limited.
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Barring a miracle run to the NCAA tourney this year, do you believe Miles has to make the dance next year or he will be fired? That would be 6 years and 1 lightning in a bottle NCAA tourney appearance and 5 blowout losses to the blue team. I think this is the best talent that Nebraska has put on the court in probably 15 years, but there always seems to be an excuse to say 'next year'
It will be great to see Lue back in Lincoln tonight, what's the odds of him bringing #23 with him? -
Ha, I don't think LeBron will be in town tonight, but that would be amazing.As far as next season, it is definitely an important one for Miles. As you said, on paper it's as talented a roster as the Huskers have had in a while. It should be a team that contends for, and probably gets, an NCAA Tournament bid. But there's also the issue of unforseen injuries, how the schedule sets up, etc. I'm not ready to say next season is make or break, but it's probably pretty close. Another thing to keep in mind is that Shawn Eichorst didn't hire Miles. If he sees something he doesn't like next season, he could maybe make a move to bring in "his" guy.
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That's a good question. I could see them sticking with Jordy just because it worked fairly well against Purdue. Michigan State doesn't have much size, but Sparty is athletic enough to cause trouble on the boards. I see the game plan being similar to Purdue, where Nebraska protects the paint and forces MSU to make jumpers. If that's the case, we'll see a lot of Jordy as long as he can stay out of foul trouble.
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I like Jacobson at the 4 as well. That's his natural position, and he seems to rebound much better when he's not banging around with the other team's 5-man. I think a big part of Jordy getting the start against Purdue was the size issue, but I wouldn't be surprised to see NU stick with it because it was pretty effective at protecting the paint.
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I'll preface this by saying we're obviously a long way from having anything decided, but...There are certainly some tantalizing matchup possibilities there. Imagine if Nebraska and Syracuse met up in a First Four game in the NCAA Tournament with the Huskers trying for their first ever tourney win. Would have to be pretty sweet for that team to get it against the Orange.
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Thanks for the chat Chris, always fun to talk Nebrasketball. Have you heard of any reasoning why Nebraska didn't pursue Isiah Chandler out of Central? I know it's been discussed in the past, but it seems Nebraska has whiffed on decent talent locally lately...big, athletic, strong, forward that would have given instant depth next year.
Neb 71-Mich 68 -
Appreciate that. Thank you.Haven't heard much on Chandler, but I hope for Tim Miles' sake he's able to land an in-state guy or two in the next couple years just so he can keep his sanity when people ask him about in-state guys. I don't know the high school talent in the state well, but I wouldn't be shocked to see NU take a run at a guy like Ed Chang from Papillion-La Vista.On a sort-of related note, Justin Costello out of Elkhorn South announced today he was joining the team as a walk-on next season. Sounds like he's a pretty good shooter who can handle the ball. I imagine Nebrasketball fans would go nuts for a local kid who can knock down threes.