Tldr on last post: Good college division 1 teams and you will go, ‘damn they are tall and how do they do that?!?’ any nba team, even the shitty ones in person and especially close: ‘holy fucking shit these are actually Aliens and the Pentagon is hiding shit.’
Yeah in college there are definitely players/teams you’ll be ok with shooting a ton of 3s. Not that there aren’t some in the NBA but there’s a ton of college big men that will get the ball on the perimeter and have a ton of space and either brick it or pass it up. Also why even having a dude like Mast is a huge plus, because they have to at least pay attention to him and have a guy follow him.
I could give a shit if our opponent takes nothing but threes as long as they're mostly contested, off the dribble, at the end of the shot clock etc. There's a big difference subjectively between the quality of 3s our opponents get this year compared to earlier Hoiberg years where it seemed like teams could get 30 open, rhythm 3 attempts a game against us. Underrated factor in all this is Brice Williams has turned into one of the best all around players in the Big Ten. Early in the season he was p lazy/sloppy but he seems to have a fire under his ass now and is playing fantastic defense and rebounding, in addition to giving us 15 a night and being a primary ball handler. Really impressed by his play.
Also, if you give the actual ‘shitty’ shooters of the nba any room and it’s a dunk or the easiest layup ever. It’s an incredible combination of athleticism, actual size, and skill. It’s why women’s volleyball is so amazing & their best sport to watch. Unless you know one personally you don’t **know** one that could be because they lack one of the above or they would eventually be.
48th highest? 41.8% seems like a lot. I'm sure college has way more guys you're willing to let shoot as a part of your game plan so in that sense there's more control over opponent percentages. But for the most part people only shoot 3s when they're open so the idea is that your defense doesn't have a huge impact on the make %
I think what you mentioned about being lazy is what chapped our ass so much. It became apparent early he had really good defense in him, just needed him to embrace that. I want to think his hatred of Allick (it’s there folks, you and I both know it) is his way of telling him to eat shit while Allick is like, ‘this is what I wanted all along!’ Team is good, yo.
The last 1.5 years it seems like we’ve switched to this “no middle”/double the post type defense, which overall has been much improved. When a team has a big man who can dish it, or guys who can make the extra pass or two we’re going to give up some open bombs which is where it gets frustrating but I guess you will live with it as long as it’s not every game. Also helps that overall the guys appear to want to play defense. And the last couple years we finally got some guys with length. Sam G was 6’7, Williams is 6’7, Gary is 6’6 but his arms look long. Mast is 6’10 and can move good enough, Allick 6’8 and will at least get in the way if he’s not on the ground. First few years we had just a few guys over 6’6 and they were either terrible, couldn’t move, or both.
This is also an important factor. NBA has player tracking data that could give you an idea of how this looks for a team but in college it's pure eye test. I am a filthy casual at best Nebrasketball fan so if this is true it's definitely encouraging
I’d venting we’re approaching being a top 12-15 squad in the country, with the stipulation it’s played at PBA. On the road it’s getting better but not great Bob and who knows how it’ll translate to neutral tourney site
It’s kind of a log jam in the top 50ish. The most is 48%, Top 10 starts at 45.6% and Top20 starts at 43.5%
I think it went against what Fred wanted, but he also is a smart basketball person so embraced any and all factors for them to win games. Also, Mast. He embraced the ugly and work but still was willing to forego a true ‘athlete’ at center unless they can pass and open up the offense. If he can find a unicorn that comes here that does both you don’t think winning 1-2 games you thinking of winning the whole damn thing.
Are the teams at the top good or bad? Mostly just curious about defensive philosophy in college bball. I could see it being true that some teams force a lot of junk end of shot clock desperation 3s and therefore have good defenses. But also the 3 ball is a huge weapon so bad defenses likely give up a lot of open ones. Maybe there's no pattern
At quick glance it seems like the majority of teams that allow a ton of 3s are in the bottom 100 of Defensive Eff. The only teams with Top 100 defensive efficiency is Iowa State 45.8% (3rd DE), Nova 43.6% (19th DE), TAM 43.5% (73rd DE), UCLA 42.7% (28th DE).
I also think, & I’m sure the smartest teams are doing this, is you have to break analytics down based on power 5 teams, teams that are good and teams that are shit. That’s why I said so random. You could encounter a team with no player over 6’7” and you dunk all game long and Allick is dominate. Those stats won’t correlate, accurately, over a season. You also might see some small, non-power team that knows how to move the ball and shoots you out of the gym while having 1 athlete in the big department at 6’8”
Indiana is a perfect example of the above of random on a lot of examples. Edit: ware being a stud but can’t shoot and an entire team of athletes that can’t shoot but also beat the small guys and are absolutely worse than any good team with small guys
So more or less aligns with my understanding and possibly a bad indicator for our Husks. You'd like to see them give up fewer threes but also not horrendous.
It’s also a harder comparison in CBB imo because with 363 teams a lot are going to be bad. Also some teams just don’t care about playing D and would rather get the ball back and push tempo. The Ds that give up a ton of 3s are mostly non-power 5s so you’re probably facing a lot of bad teams that can’t shoot. Out of the 20 teams that allow the most 3PA, only 3 of them are P5 and most of the others I wouldn’t even consider mid-major. For example McNeese gives up the most at 48% but teams “only” convert 33% of the 3s. Coastal Carolina is next at 47.6% but teams hit 33.5% of those.
Now I’m in the rabbit hole checking out offenses that just Chuck 3s. North Florida is #1 at 55.1% of their FGAs being 3s but they only make 35.6%. I see people on the Indiana State bandwagon because they have a player who looks like Wilhelm. They also shoot 3s 49.8% of the time and drain 37.9% (18th). They could be a classic March Madness team for a game or two based on that alone.
For the month of February, Nebraska had the #1 most efficient defense and would have been rated #10ish in KenPom for the month. Man, if they can keep this going…
The two bracket forecasts I've seen recently have us playing either 7 Florida or 8 Colorado State. Would love to play someone limping into the tournament somehow but alas
Would be nice if you could “clinch” a spot in the tourney before the season ends lol Still a small piece of my Nebrasketbrain that is thinking I hope we don’t lose out…
If you can find tickets, let me know. I will fly in to go to the game. I told my parents the same in hopes that they'd pay a ton for tickets, but they said they can't find any....or they really don't love me that much.
Seems like there are some upper bowl ones available on Ticketmaster still. Then some on SeatGeek type sites. I haven’t purchased yet, but am still thinking about doing it and if we play in another venue I’d sell them. I have talked myself into flying to the game, even if it’s 24 hour trip lol
watching the Colorado State game, someone would have to explain why they're projected as a 7 or 8 seed over us. Theyre 8-7 in the MWC, only really good win is over Creighton. I would love to face these guys, Neb would roll them.
The MWC has a few teams that are Top 50 and they played a few more in the non-con so their SOS probably keeps them afloat. 4-6 in Q1 and 4-1 in Q2. They might be limping into the tourney too if they even make it. Lost 4 of last 5.
Kozeal from Millard South went 4/4 with 5 RBI’s for Vandy (I think we know why - Custer County bloodlines.)
Seems about right considering how they’ve been playing and how poopy we’ve been on the road outside of 30 minutes in Bloomington imo
Agree. They’ve been hot lately. Was hoping it was just a one game spark after booting their coach but it appears not. Let’s hope we finally get the “defense travels” mantra to come true.
According to bracketmatrix.com (liberal media) we are solidly a 9 seed. in my America we are a 6 seed
Probably sums up the NET rankings but tonight is actually a Quad 1 game for us since OSU is currently #66. Guess that’s a slight positive if we get run out of Columbus.
Have zero clue what to expect because we’re hot and so are they even though they fired their coach. Could see every scenario playing out.