[Husker] Nebraska 76, North Texas 57

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

I’m trying to contain my enthusiasm for Nebraska’s new basketball coach and  
the somewhat surprising five and oh start to Doc Sadler’s initial season in  
Lincoln.
 
It’s not easy.
 
The Cornhuskers took out a decent North Texas team tonight at the Devaney  
Center, 76-57.  NU was smokin’ out of the chute, jumping off to a 12-0 then  a 
26-4 lead.  North Texas was 4 and 1 coming into the game with wins over  
Charlotte, Rice and Tulsa.  They were NOT a bunch of stiffs (now,  Arkansas-Pine 
Bluff … THAT was a bad team).  
 
What’s not to like about the Huskers first year coach?  I could tell  as 
early as the hard-to-watch exhibitions, just how hard, focused and passionate  
Sadler wanted his teams to play.  The stories of his brutal ball-busting  
practices are legendary.  The players seem to have embraced it.  He  wants them to 
display an aggressive, intense, fast-paced,  motivated-by-a-sense-of-urgency 
type of play … yet disciplined at all  times.  Not that easy to accomplish, but 
how can you NOT like what they’ve  shown so far?  Some teams that play 
up-and-down the court will tolerate  turnovers.  Sadler won’t.  It’s early … but so 
far it’s very  impressive.  
 
Doc made some friends early in taking out the favored team from up the  
interstate in his second game.  But the win over the Jays wasn’t a  fluke.  The 
early exhibition games were hard to watch because NU was  playing without 
6-foot-11 inch, 270-pound junior center Aleks Maric.  Jamel  White was playing for 
the first time since he broke his collarbone in pre-season  practice.  
Three-point sharpshooter Marcus Perry (great release on his jump  shot) just returned 
from a knee scope and he was busted up a bit prior to  that.  NU’s point guard, 
5-foot-8 inch (if that) senior Charles Richardson  Jr. has shown things I’d 
never seen from him before.
 
I’ve seen Maric play a lot since he’s been here.  I’d heard that he’d  
developed some inside moves and had improved during the off-season.  What I  couldn
’t believe was, well … first off that he came back from an appendectomy in  
about 11 days.  But even after his surgery, he was still in NOTICEABLY  better 
shape than I’d ever seen him … by a long ways!  I couldn’t believe  it.  
 
There’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s Doc’s way or the highway.  And  I 
love it.  He’s got an old school approach (Joe McCray could NEVER have  played 
for this guy) that we don’t see enough of now-a-days, in my  opinion.
 
Maric had (far from official here) 26 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks  
tonight.  Sadler said a few weeks back that Aleks had to be “the guy” for  the 
Huskers this year.  NU looks for him and goes to him with  regularity.  The 
way they move the ball, move with a purpose away from the  ball, pass-then-pick 
away from the ball, look for each other and especially  their big man -- it’s 
something I’m not used to seeing from Nebraska  basketball.  I know … it’s 
early.  But it’s also great to see.   One thing this team has to do is stay 
healthy.  Not a lot of depth.   Maric, White and Richardson are vital to this team.
 
There was an article a week or so ago about Nebraska’s very good field goal  
shooting this year.  You’ve got to love Sadler’s philosophy.  It makes  
sense.  They want to “look for and take the first good shot” that becomes  
available.  Think about it.  How many times do you see a team “work  the shot clock,”
 only to have the clock end up working them?  Get it down  to ten seconds, 
then have somebody dribble one-on-one and more often-than-not,  end up taking a 
forced shot against a defense that knows they only have to play  D for another 
ten seconds, then go rebound.  With Sadler’s philosophy,  you’re always 
going to be taking good shots.  Take better shots and you’ll  make more.  So far, 
the shot selection has been good.
 
Freshman Ryan Anderson didn’t impress me with his athletic ability the  first 
couple of games.  But this kid has definitely been the recipient of  some 
coaching at some point in his life and he’s listened to it.  Instincts  and savvy 
that contradict his age.  It’s only five games, but the kid is  “not afraid 
of anything,” as Sadler says, and has really displayed a balanced  overall 
game.  He had 18 points tonight.  Only 6-foot-4 … he’s  actually playing a 
forward position on defense.  Very aggressive  rebounder.  Hard to believe he’s a 
true freshman.  Sek Henry is  another true freshman with a ton of athletic 
ability.  He struggled  tonight, but you can see he’s got a chance to improve and 
be a player.   He's a lefty who can put it on the floor and get to the hole.  
He'll  improve a lot with experience.
 
It’ll be interesting to see what happens here over the next two games --  the 
season’s first two on the road.  Saturday prior to the NU-OU  championship 
tilt at 3 p.m. against Rutgers, then next Saturday against Oregon  (who beat Top 
25 Georgetown tonight, if I saw correctly).
 
Sorry for the length, but I’m totally “down with Doc.”  I encourage  others 
to follow suit.
 
Dave Norris