[personal] [Husker] Nebraska 76, North Texas 57
Skylar Dodds
Sklarbodds at cox.net
Thu Nov 30 10:20:26 CST 2006
Hello Husker Fans,
Great post Dave, I think you said exactly what I was thinking. I
really want to get excited, but we've been let down so many times
before by the Husker basketball team. We certainly couldn't ask for a
better start.
A good OWH article on the team:
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=38&u_sid=2288700
A few points to add to your post:
1) Maric topped 17 points only 3 times last season. This year, he's
scored 17 or more 4 out of 5 games and averages 20.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and
2 blocks.
2) Ryan Anderson is playing like a young kid with loads of talent.
He's second on the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and is hitting 64% of
his shots, but he's leading the team in TO (18)
3) Last year's team shot 41% from the floor. This year's team is
shooting 55% from the floor. Quite possibly due to what you said,
"Take the first good shot" strategy.
4) The team is shooting 42% from 3-point land vs 35% last year also
5) NU has turned the ball over 85 times in 5 games (17 avg), but 30 of
those (35.3%) are from our two freshman Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry
and they should improve. BTW, NU has forced 95 turnovers (19 avg).
6) One area for concern is that NU has been getting cleaned up a
little bit on the offensive boards. NU has 35 on the year vs Opp's
60. Some of that could be, however, because NU is shooting 55% vs Opp
35%. NU is winning the def glass 122-91
7) Marcus Perry has been hasn't been able to play much, just 2 games
for a total of 42 minutes, but has been shooting well when he's in.
He's 6-11 for a 54.5% 3-point shooting.
8) Charles Richardson has truly been the team leader. He has the 2nd
highest turnovers (12), but that's because he handles the ball
significantly more. He leads the team in assists with 28. He's
averaging 8.6 ppg, 5.6 APG, and 3 RPG.
9) Jamel White has played well also. He's third on the team in
scoring, just behind Ryan Anderson, with 11 PPG. He's been a little
cold from behind the 3 point line (just 36%), but has shot well
everywhere else (48% non-3s).
10) Jamel and Sek have been going towards the basket a lot, shooting
drastically more free throws than anyone else not named Maric. Jamel
is 17-21 (81%) on the year and Henry is 13-21 (62%) while Maric is
23-31 (74%). As a team, we're shooting 69.4% from the stripe, which
is not terrible. Nobody else on the team has attempted more than 10.
Overall it's really not hard to get excited about this team. I'm
probably not going to come to any conclusion about this team until
about half way throw the Big XII play.
There are probably 2 things we can say about this team, for sure:
1) They will run and play hard with Doc at the helm. This definitely
will not be a ball-control-low-scoring-all-defense team.
2) They look better so far.
Really, what more can we ask for at this point in the season?
--
Go Skers,
Skylar mailto:Sklarbodds at cox.net
Nac> I’m trying to contain my enthusiasm for Nebraska’s new basketball coach and
Nac> the somewhat surprising five and oh start to Doc Sadler’s initial season in
Nac> Lincoln.
Nac>
Nac> It’s not easy.
Nac>
Nac> The Cornhuskers took out a decent North Texas team tonight at the Devaney
Nac> Center, 76-57. NU was smokin’ out of the chute, jumping off to a 12-0 then a
Nac> 26-4 lead. North Texas was 4 and 1 coming into the game with wins over
Nac> Charlotte, Rice and Tulsa. They were NOT a bunch of stiffs (now, Arkansas-Pine
Nac> Bluff … THAT was a bad team).
Nac>
Nac> What’s not to like about the Huskers first year coach? I could tell as
Nac> early as the hard-to-watch exhibitions, just how hard, focused and passionate
Nac> Sadler wanted his teams to play. The stories of his brutal ball-busting
Nac> practices are legendary. The players seem to have embraced it. He wants them to
Nac> display an aggressive, intense, fast-paced,
Nac> motivated-by-a-sense-of-urgency
Nac> type of play … yet disciplined at all times. Not that easy to accomplish, but
Nac> how can you NOT like what they’ve shown so far? Some teams that play
Nac> up-and-down the court will tolerate turnovers. Sadler won’t. It’s early … but so
Nac> far it’s very impressive.
Nac>
Nac> Doc made some friends early in taking out the favored team from up the
Nac> interstate in his second game. But the win over the Jays wasn’t a fluke. The
Nac> early exhibition games were hard to watch because NU was playing without
Nac> 6-foot-11 inch, 270-pound junior center Aleks Maric. Jamel White was playing for
Nac> the first time since he broke his collarbone in pre-season practice.
Nac> Three-point sharpshooter Marcus Perry (great release on his jump shot) just returned
Nac> from a knee scope and he was busted up a bit prior to that. NU’s point guard,
Nac> 5-foot-8 inch (if that) senior Charles Richardson Jr. has shown things I’d
Nac> never seen from him before.
Nac>
Nac> I’ve seen Maric play a lot since he’s been here. I’d heard that he’d
Nac> developed some inside moves and had improved during the off-season. What I couldn
Nac> ’t believe was, well … first off that he came back from an appendectomy in
Nac> about 11 days. But even after his surgery, he was still in NOTICEABLY better
Nac> shape than I’d ever seen him … by a long ways! I couldn’t believe it.
Nac>
Nac> There’s a new sheriff in town, and it’s Doc’s way or the highway. And I
Nac> love it. He’s got an old school approach (Joe McCray could NEVER have played
Nac> for this guy) that we don’t see enough of now-a-days, in my opinion.
Nac>
Nac> Maric had (far from official here) 26 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks
Nac> tonight. Sadler said a few weeks back that Aleks had to be “the guy” for the
Nac> Huskers this year. NU looks for him and goes to him with regularity. The
Nac> way they move the ball, move with a purpose away from the ball, pass-then-pick
Nac> away from the ball, look for each other and especially their big man -- it’s
Nac> something I’m not used to seeing from Nebraska basketball. I know … it’s
Nac> early. But it’s also great to see. One thing this team has to do is stay
Nac> healthy. Not a lot of depth. Maric, White and Richardson are vital to this team.
Nac>
Nac> There was an article a week or so ago about Nebraska’s very good field goal
Nac> shooting this year. You’ve got to love Sadler’s philosophy. It makes
Nac> sense. They want to “look for and take the first good shot” that becomes
Nac> available. Think about it. How many times do you see a team “work the shot clock,”
Nac> only to have the clock end up working them? Get it down to ten seconds,
Nac> then have somebody dribble one-on-one and more often-than-not, end up taking a
Nac> forced shot against a defense that knows they only have to play D for another
Nac> ten seconds, then go rebound. With Sadler’s philosophy, you’re always
Nac> going to be taking good shots. Take better shots and you’ll make more. So far,
Nac> the shot selection has been good.
Nac>
Nac> Freshman Ryan Anderson didn’t impress me with his athletic ability the first
Nac> couple of games. But this kid has definitely been the recipient of some
Nac> coaching at some point in his life and he’s listened to it. Instincts and savvy
Nac> that contradict his age. It’s only five games, but the kid is “not afraid
Nac> of anything,” as Sadler says, and has really displayed a balanced overall
Nac> game. He had 18 points tonight. Only 6-foot-4 … he’s actually playing a
Nac> forward position on defense. Very aggressive rebounder. Hard to believe he’s a
Nac> true freshman. Sek Henry is another true freshman with a ton of athletic
Nac> ability. He struggled tonight, but you can see he’s got a chance to improve and
Nac> be a player. He's a lefty who can put it on the floor and get to the hole.
Nac> He'll improve a lot with experience.
Nac>
Nac> It’ll be interesting to see what happens here over the next two games -- the
Nac> season’s first two on the road. Saturday prior to the NU-OU championship
Nac> tilt at 3 p.m. against Rutgers, then next Saturday against Oregon (who beat Top
Nac> 25 Georgetown tonight, if I saw correctly).
Nac>
Nac> Sorry for the length, but I’m totally “down with Doc.” I encourage others
Nac> to follow suit.
Nac>
Nac> Dave Norris
Nac> _______________________________________________
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