Fwd: [Husker] Husker's Win

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/20/2005 8:46:21 PM Central Standard Time,  
jonlists at cbsol.com writes:

I'd be  interested to hear about anyone's assessment of the freshmen players 
we  
have - anyone who's seen them play in person. 



I felt better about what I saw at the Devaney Center this weekend after I  
saw some of the narrow escapes and some of the big time upsets in college hoops, 
 Jon.  Michigan State getting hammered by Hawaii and Stanford losing to  
Cal-Irvine?  But when you consider how infrequently these teams have  practiced 
this year, let alone how many games they’ve played, head-scratching  upsets in 
mid-to-late November are not THAT uncommon.
 
There are a lot of teams that will improve greatly over the remaining  months 
of the season and there will be those that won’t.  We WILL see what  kind of 
a coach Collier is this year.  NU is very young.  But they DO  have some 
players.
 
I saw all three games this weekend and Nebraska’s performance was  
pedestrian.  Their effort, however, was good.  They need to get in  better shape.  I’m 
sure they will.  It looked to me like they’ve got  guys, vying for playing time 
and suffering from inexperience-based anxiety, that  are -- as Coach Collier 
puts it -- “tight as two coats of paint.”
 
The competition wasn’t top shelf by any stretch of the imagination, but the  
Huskers ARE 3 and 0.  They are a work-in-progress but most teams are at  this 
point.
 
I’ll be shocked if NU doesn’t end up being a better shooting team than we  
showed this weekend.  Especially in yesterday’s game, they were missing a  lot 
of good shots.  
 
The term “experienced sophomores” is not an oxymoron in college basketball  
anymore.  The best of ‘em don’t stick around for their junior and/or senior  
year.  Aleks Maric and Joe McCray were NU’s two best players last year (as  
freshmen) and they are being looked to for production and leadership.   Maric is 
the one guy on this team we cannot lost to an injury (and he turned an  ankle 
on Saturday which caused a lot of us to skip a beat …).  He played  his worst 
game as a Husker on Saturday against Yale then responded with 22  points and 
14 boards against Louisiana Tech on Sunday.  Looks like he’s  rushing it on 
offense.  He can really run the floor for a big guy.   Good passer too.  NU 
showed, at least this early in the  season, that they want the offense to go 
through him.
 
I hope Joe McCray doesn’t have any head problems this year.  He’s off  to a 
slow start and he’s made some mental errors in the early going.  Joe  is very 
talented.  He’s put on some weight and hasn’t been sharp in the  first five 
games (including exhibitions).  I’m hoping that he’ll get in  better shape and 
the jumpers will start falling accordingly.
 
Jason Dourisseau played better this weekend than I’ve ever seen him  play.  
Jury is still out on his free throw shooting, but he played well  overall.  Wes 
Wilkinson has looked out-of-synch (exhibition games included)  with the 
exception of Saturday against Yale when we probably lose if not for  him.  He 
suffered a leg injury in the latter stages of the Yale game and  didn’t play Sunday 
against LA Tech.
 
Heralded Juco transfer B.J. Walker has a Big XII body (6-foot-9 and wide …  ) 
and he showed good defensive and rebounding skills this weekend.  Didn’t  
catch the ball real well and was off offensively, but supposedly has good  
intermediate jump shot range and back-to-the-basket post-up scoring  ability.  
Bronson Schlliep is a senior from Fairfield, NE who has really  improved.  6-foot-8 
and aggressive.  Started at big forward in game  one.  Good rebounder. It’s 
apparent that he’s worked really hard in  the weight room and at improving his 
game -- to the point that he’ll  contribute.
 
I’ve never understood why Barry likes to - not only play so many players in  
his rotation - but play so many players so early.  Ten minutes into the  game 
he’s into the 10th and 11th guy on his bench.  Oh well, he’s got  mega-more 
coaching experience than I do.
 
Charles Richardson is injured right now.  He played the point with  Marcus 
Neal last year.  Marcus Perry is a red shirt Juco transfer with a  reputation of 
being a good shooter.  You can see he’s got a good release,  but he’s off a 
bit early on.  He CAN shoot free throws.  
 
The freshman tandem of Jamel White and Marcus Walker looks, to me, to be as  
good as advertised … if not better.  Walker averaged over 30 a game in high  
school last year (broke all of Peeler’s K.C.-area scoring records) but really  
looks to have adopted a distribute-first, get-everyone-involved  disposition.  
He’ll be a better scorer with each passing year.  Jamel  White has been 
terribly impressive early on.  Sheesh, this kid looks like  someone who could (and 
did) lead the nation’s best prep school team in New York  to a 40-0 record 
last year (or whatever it was).  Reminds me a bit of  former Husker Cliff Scales, 
but I think he’s got more potential than Scales  did.  I had heard that Jamel 
White was more of a point guard -- and he is a  good point guard -- but he 
sure looked comfortable playing the 2-guard (the  program lists him as 6’ 3”).  
Shot well and led the break like a vet.   Pushing the ball and was looking up 
to hit players filling the lane.   Rewarded Maric for the effort on more than 
one occurrence.  A very  impressive debut for Jamel White.  Marcus Walker is 
the fastest player I’ve  ever seen with the ball in hand at NU with the 
possible exception of Tyronn  Lue.  Both White and Walker (with the exception of 
Marcus’ two late misses  against LA Tech) look to be good free throw shooters.  
Inexperienced  freshman, but talented as advertised.
 
NU should be a better rebounding team than they showed.  I think they  were 
out-rebounded in both the Saturday and Sunday games.  Unacceptable ...  Collier 
would agree.
 
No predictions here but I’m looking forward to watching it unfold.   Horrible 
crowds at the Devaney Center.  Very soft non-conference  schedule.  An 
opportunity for a lot of non-conference W’s heading into Big  XII action but they’
ve got to practice well and improve first.  I can  imagine that practices are 
much more competitive than they used to be under  Collier.
 
It’s up to Collier to make ‘em mesh.  This team will be better next  year 
than this, but no talk about next year yet.
 
Sorry for the length.  I’m glad basketball season is here.
 
Dave Norris