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Episode 54 | Nebraska Basketball Preview · Return to Glory - Nebraska

0:04
Speaker 1: Go Big Red! The takes, the numbers, the chaos. Hunter
0:09
Speaker 1: Austin Dack. Talking Cornhusker football, basketball, and everything Nebraska sports.
0:16
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Return to Glory Podcast! Return to Glory Podcast.
0:31
Speaker 1: Hunter Zabernicki here. bi-week for the football team, but that
0:36
Speaker 1: means we're able to switch to Nebraska basketball and preview
0:42
Speaker 1: what this team has to offer. No Dak, no Austin
0:47
Speaker 1: with me this morning. Not yet anyways. I guess they
0:52
Speaker 1: don't enjoy the basketball team anymore. They got enough last
0:54
Speaker 1: year and don't want any more. So just me for now.
1:00
Speaker 1: We'll get their thoughts later, but The best thing I
1:04
Speaker 1: would say about this Nebraska basketball upcoming season is we
1:10
Speaker 1: don't have to sell this breakout year again because we
1:14
Speaker 1: just watched it happen. So now the question is whether
1:18
Speaker 1: we can make that a sustainable success here moving forward.
1:25
Speaker 1: And it's very exciting. I think this has been the
1:27
Speaker 1: most excited I've been heading into a Nebraska basketball season
1:31
Speaker 1: in In quite some time, coming off a school record
1:34
Speaker 1: 28 wins and a Sweet 16 berth. Obviously losing to Iowa,
1:41
Speaker 1: we won't mention that. But we're trying to get back
1:44
Speaker 1: to the NCAA tournament for the first time since the
1:48
Speaker 1: four-year run ending in 1994. And that's the historical opportunity
1:54
Speaker 1: here is turning this breakthrough year last year into a
1:59
Speaker 1: future standard. This team, I've had a chance to watch
2:04
Speaker 1: them here in a couple of exhibition games so far,
2:08
Speaker 1: and it's not the exact same team, but you can
2:12
Speaker 1: tell that we are trying to build upon what we
2:15
Speaker 1: had last year. There's major new roles here with some
2:20
Speaker 1: new players, with the transfer portal, which is also the
2:23
Speaker 1: new standard here in all of college athletics. The optimistic
2:29
Speaker 1: argument is that we retained some of our key players
2:33
Speaker 1: who know how to score. And we added some more
2:35
Speaker 1: complimentary skills around them. Unfortunately, some of these guys that
2:40
Speaker 1: we are replacing, including Jamarcus Lawrence, Rank Mass, Sam Hoiberg,
2:45
Speaker 1: it's going to be harder than just filling a roster spot.
2:48
Speaker 1: But I will say there's pieces there from what I've
2:51
Speaker 1: seen so far. And it's enough to get you excited
2:55
Speaker 1: here about what we can do here beginning in November. So,
3:01
Speaker 1: Today we're going to go through player by player and
3:04
Speaker 1: preview some of these guys and then walk through some
3:08
Speaker 1: of the schedule pieces here that we have coming up,
3:12
Speaker 1: especially in the non-conference here for this team. So, key change,
3:21
Speaker 1: we had to reconstruct our group around Price Sanford, which
3:27
Speaker 1: was still our key piece from last year. He's back,
3:29
Speaker 1: which is great, but we had to basically figure out
3:33
Speaker 1: who is going to fill these spots and what is
3:35
Speaker 1: this going to look like. I mentioned the guys that left.
3:39
Speaker 1: Jared Garcia, Kendall Blue, two of the other guys that
3:41
Speaker 1: are also gone. So I think the things that we
3:46
Speaker 1: are looking for as a staff and as a program
3:48
Speaker 1: right now are, one, we need big men, a big
3:54
Speaker 1: man or multiple big men, which we'll talk about the
3:57
Speaker 1: guys that we brought in here in a second. You
4:00
Speaker 1: need someone to replace Sam Hoiberg. I mean, the guy
4:03
Speaker 1: was the glue guy, the hustle guy. We'll talk about
4:07
Speaker 1: who maybe is filling that role there. And then finding
4:10
Speaker 1: a point guard, right? Demarcus Lawrence had the capability to
4:17
Speaker 1: be the leading scorer of this team, but for the
4:19
Speaker 1: most part, he was the guy that came in and
4:22
Speaker 1: came back to Nebraska to be our facilitator, our guy
4:27
Speaker 1: that gets in our offense. and do a lot of
4:29
Speaker 1: the things from the point guard position. So, that being said,
4:36
Speaker 1: before I get into the players here, I'll mention the
4:42
Speaker 1: exhibition games, and I'm mentioning these briefly simply because of
4:45
Speaker 1: the fact they are exhibition games, but I do think
4:51
Speaker 1: there's meaning to them. You know, it's hard to go
4:56
Speaker 1: over the top and say, what it means. But last year,
5:02
Speaker 1: you know, we beat BYU in the exhibition game, and
5:05
Speaker 1: maybe that was a little precursor to what was to come.
5:10
Speaker 1: This year, we didn't beat BYU in Provo. In our
5:13
Speaker 1: first game, we lost against St. Louis at home. And
5:20
Speaker 1: Hoiberg's most useful line after that St. Louis game was,
5:24
Speaker 1: I thought they out-tupped us. And that maybe is... not
5:31
Speaker 1: the thing you want to be hearing after an exhibition game.
5:33
Speaker 1: You know, obviously personnel, you're not playing all your guys
5:36
Speaker 1: the full time. You're still trying to win the game,
5:39
Speaker 1: but it's obviously not the number one most important thing
5:43
Speaker 1: in these exhibition games, especially for our coaching staff. You're
5:46
Speaker 1: looking to see these pieces and who can maybe fit
5:52
Speaker 1: into the rotation moving forward. So both these games I
5:57
Speaker 1: thought went kind of similar. You know, we were back
6:01
Speaker 1: and forth with them early on, and then both BYU
6:05
Speaker 1: and St. Louis took the lead in the second half
6:08
Speaker 1: and got up a little bit, and we just couldn't
6:10
Speaker 1: quite chip back in. So I think that, yeah, these
6:15
Speaker 1: games are important. The one notice I had against St.
6:18
Speaker 1: Louis specifically was that maybe we weren't like, I don't know,
6:21
Speaker 1: it looked like we weren't coaching very hard. It looked
6:24
Speaker 1: like St. Louis wanted to win a lot more, which
6:26
Speaker 1: they did, and they did. Got it done. That was
6:31
Speaker 1: us last year against BYU when you watched us play.
6:35
Speaker 1: So I guess maybe a little concerning there in the
6:38
Speaker 1: exhibition game that it felt like the roles reversed a
6:44
Speaker 1: little bit with who wanted to win an exhibition game more. Again,
6:48
Speaker 1: what does that matter? I don't know. That's up to
6:50
Speaker 1: you to decide. But I just thought we looked a
6:53
Speaker 1: little flat. And the BYU game, I think, again, good.
6:57
Speaker 1: Good challenge. I'm glad we're playing these games because you do.
7:00
Speaker 1: You get to put yourself up against good, challenging opponents.
7:03
Speaker 1: It's a lot better than playing, you know, NAIA schools,
7:07
Speaker 1: which is what we've done in the past. So I'm
7:11
Speaker 1: going to go through each player quickly here on our
7:15
Speaker 1: roster and give my quick take on it. Price Sanford, 6'7,
7:21
Speaker 1: senior forward, back averaging 18 points a game last year.
7:25
Speaker 1: He's preseasoned. Big Ten, all-conference. He's going to get a
7:32
Speaker 1: lot of national hype and love. The dude's legit, right?
7:36
Speaker 1: He's going to put all of his cards out there,
7:39
Speaker 1: and everybody's going to have to know where he's at.
7:43
Speaker 1: They are going to chase him a lot. They're going
7:44
Speaker 1: to try to beat him up. That's what was most
7:47
Speaker 1: effective against him last year, but it's going to be
7:52
Speaker 1: around him as to what our offense can do. But
7:55
Speaker 1: the thing is, the Seeker's not going to be out
7:57
Speaker 1: on him. The Seeker is out on him. He's going
8:02
Speaker 1: to get a lot of attention. Braden Frager. He's going
8:08
Speaker 1: to jump into a lot larger role this year. Last year,
8:11
Speaker 1: he was a Big Ten sixth man of the year.
8:14
Speaker 1: He had the big driving basket late to beat Vanderbilt.
8:17
Speaker 1: He's going to play a lot. He... had some off
8:23
Speaker 1: season like questions. Is he returning? Is he not? And
8:25
Speaker 1: ultimately decided to come back, uh, obviously out of Lincoln
8:30
Speaker 1: from high school. And last year I think was very
8:33
Speaker 1: surprising for a lot of people. One, how much he
8:36
Speaker 1: played within two, like he was a big contributor to
8:39
Speaker 1: last year's team, averaging 11.8 points per game. So I
8:46
Speaker 1: think the question for him is, can he step into
8:48
Speaker 1: that next big scoring role here? And, I think he's
8:52
Speaker 1: going to have to fill some of what rank mass
8:55
Speaker 1: scoring is, along with Jamarcus Lawrence's scoring. I'm not saying
9:00
Speaker 1: he has to average 20 points, because he did average
9:03
Speaker 1: 12 last year, but he's going to have to be
9:04
Speaker 1: that next go-to guy when Price is not able to
9:09
Speaker 1: do much because teams are so focused on him. He
9:12
Speaker 1: has the capability to do it. Can he do it
9:14
Speaker 1: consistently enough for this team to have success? The next
9:20
Speaker 1: guard here on our list is number 10, Trevin Lenhart.
9:24
Speaker 1: He is a fifth-year guard from Utah Valley, earning first-team
9:30
Speaker 1: all-WAC and all-defensive recognition, averaging 12 points a game, 6 assists,
9:37
Speaker 1: and 5.5 rebounds. He's the guy that is going to
9:43
Speaker 1: get us into our stuff without a turnover. Um, he's,
9:46
Speaker 1: he's not, from what I've seen so far, going to
9:48
Speaker 1: be able to go out and score 12 points a
9:50
Speaker 1: game like he did at Utah Valley. He's not a
9:53
Speaker 1: very big build as far as thick wise, but he's long.
9:59
Speaker 1: and that's going to help him a lot on one
10:02
Speaker 1: defense you know getting a lot of deflections and and
10:05
Speaker 1: kind of being the point of that Nate Lesnar defensive
10:10
Speaker 1: group but two his length is going to help him
10:13
Speaker 1: make passes and do different things that typical point guards
10:17
Speaker 1: can't do when they're not 6'7. So he is one
10:22
Speaker 1: of these guys that I don't expect him to do
10:25
Speaker 1: what Jamarcus Lawrence did at Illinois last year. That's not
10:29
Speaker 1: something Trevin Lenhardt is going to be capable of doing
10:32
Speaker 1: with his skill set. But he is going to be
10:34
Speaker 1: a solid guy that I think we can rely upon
10:37
Speaker 1: a lot in this offense. And defensively, he's going to
10:40
Speaker 1: get a lot of stuff done as far as deflections
10:44
Speaker 1: go and hopefully help fill a little bit of that
10:46
Speaker 1: role that Sam Hoiberg did with being that defensive maniac
10:52
Speaker 1: out there. And speaking of that, the guy that's really
10:55
Speaker 1: stepping into that role that I think is going to
10:57
Speaker 1: be key to this is Cale Jacobson, the fifth-year guard
11:00
Speaker 1: out of Ashland Greenwood. He played in all 35 games
11:03
Speaker 1: last year, averaged four and a half points and three rebounds.
11:10
Speaker 1: I can tell they're grooming him into the Sam Hoiberg role.
11:13
Speaker 1: They're trying to get him to be that guy on defense, especially.
11:17
Speaker 1: And then offensively, He's not going to go out and
11:20
Speaker 1: score a bunch of points, but he's got to be
11:22
Speaker 1: able to make an open shot when he's open and
11:25
Speaker 1: be able to drive and finish. And he did that
11:27
Speaker 1: a few times last year. And in these exhibition games,
11:31
Speaker 1: I don't know if teams didn't know he didn't have
11:33
Speaker 1: a left hand, but he got there a lot. So
11:37
Speaker 1: that's going to be Cale's role this year. I think
11:40
Speaker 1: he potentially will start. If not, he's going to play
11:43
Speaker 1: a lot of minutes again. And I think he's got
11:46
Speaker 1: to be that glue guy. He's got to be that
11:48
Speaker 1: hustle guy. especially on the defensive end for the Huskers.
11:54
Speaker 1: Next guard, Connor Cezan. He is back after his ankle
11:58
Speaker 1: injury ended last year, the first seven games, a year
12:03
Speaker 1: before he averaged 11 points per game and shot 38%
12:08
Speaker 1: from three. He's going to need to be a shooter
12:11
Speaker 1: and he's going to need to make shots and he's
12:13
Speaker 1: going to need to find a way to get open.
12:15
Speaker 1: And if you can get him on the floor with
12:16
Speaker 1: a couple of our other shooters, especially Sanford, It makes
12:20
Speaker 1: it tough to guard if he's making shots. The biggest
12:23
Speaker 1: thing for me, just kind of like Frager, is going
12:25
Speaker 1: to be his consistency. And then secondly, his defense. You know,
12:31
Speaker 1: I think two years ago, we saw it was harder
12:35
Speaker 1: for him to play sometimes because he was not the
12:38
Speaker 1: best defender in our rotation. Now, it was new form
12:41
Speaker 1: at that time. And he's also not the most physical
12:45
Speaker 1: guy out there. But one, obviously, he has to stay healthy.
12:49
Speaker 1: And two, can he be a consistent scorer, three-point shooter specifically,
12:55
Speaker 1: on offense? Again, you have these guys that can knock
12:57
Speaker 1: down shots. It really opens up what you can do
13:00
Speaker 1: on offense. Next guard here to discuss that I think
13:06
Speaker 1: is going to probably get some time on the court here.
13:11
Speaker 1: In the first couple exhibition games, he's been the early
13:15
Speaker 1: breakout candidate for me. And that's the Freshman guard Jacob Lanier, 6'6,
13:21
Speaker 1: out of Arkansas. He was Arkansas high school coach's player
13:25
Speaker 1: of the year, where he averaged 28 points last year
13:27
Speaker 1: in high school, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, which is
13:30
Speaker 1: a pretty impressive stat line. And you know what? Watching
13:34
Speaker 1: him in these exhibition games, I think he's one of
13:37
Speaker 1: the guys that can go get a bucket. He can
13:39
Speaker 1: go score when he needs to. I think he also
13:43
Speaker 1: has to weigh his shot selection and what his actual
13:46
Speaker 1: role is on this team, which is to be determined.
13:49
Speaker 1: I think there's potential for him to play a lot
13:51
Speaker 1: of minutes. There's also, you know, as a freshman, we'll
13:55
Speaker 1: see what his role plays out to. Again, maybe he
13:59
Speaker 1: can fill in some of that Jamarcus Lawrence spot where
14:03
Speaker 1: he has the capability to maybe score, you know, 20
14:06
Speaker 1: points in a couple of games here to help us win.
14:09
Speaker 1: So I think... I don't think we want to go
14:12
Speaker 1: over the top on him yet, but make his minutes earnable,
14:16
Speaker 1: let his role grow, and let's see if his confidence
14:20
Speaker 1: is too much at times here in these early games.
14:25
Speaker 1: Another guard that's played some minutes here is Taj DeGorville, 6'6,
14:30
Speaker 1: junior guard. As you can notice, 6'6, 6'7, 6'5, these guys,
14:33
Speaker 1: that's a theme here for this recruiting season. on this
14:40
Speaker 1: coaching staff. Uh, this, this guy's from San Diego state.
14:45
Speaker 1: He averaged just five and a half points, but his
14:49
Speaker 1: defensive versatility and his ability to get into the paint
14:52
Speaker 1: and create shots for others has been what he's really
14:55
Speaker 1: good at. Uh, again, role player, defensive specialist. You can
15:02
Speaker 1: see that he's a tough, tough guy out there. Uh,
15:06
Speaker 1: and I think he's going to get minutes because of it.
15:08
Speaker 1: I think Nate Lesnar, um, Has a lot of say, too,
15:12
Speaker 1: with his coaching staff, and as he should, as his
15:16
Speaker 1: defense has been a big staple of this team. And
15:20
Speaker 1: Taj DeGorville is one of those guys that's really going
15:23
Speaker 1: to help us improve on that end of the floor.
15:25
Speaker 1: You know, on offense, can he at least be a
15:27
Speaker 1: threat to score? You know, can he make an open shot?
15:31
Speaker 1: Not saying he has to score 12 points a game again,
15:33
Speaker 1: but can he make an open shot if he's there? Me,
15:36
Speaker 1: I'm thinking him more kind of like a kill roll
15:38
Speaker 1: last year. Can he step in when needed and play
15:42
Speaker 1: some minutes and not be a liability on the offensive end?
15:49
Speaker 1: Going to the big men here. Number 14, Sam Orme. 6'10,
15:55
Speaker 1: senior forward from Belmont. Averaged 13 points a game last year.
16:00
Speaker 1: He has not played yet. I have not seen any
16:02
Speaker 1: meaningful minutes from him outside a couple of highlights. He's
16:07
Speaker 1: dealing with a hamstring issue right now But this guy
16:11
Speaker 1: can shoot it, and I think that's going to be
16:14
Speaker 1: big when you're talking about replacing Grank Mast and stretching
16:17
Speaker 1: the floor as a big man. That's been a big,
16:21
Speaker 1: big key here in Fred Hoiberg's offense. The one thing
16:27
Speaker 1: right now that we've seen maybe a lack of is
16:30
Speaker 1: rebounding so far through these first two games against St.
16:32
Speaker 1: Louis and BYU, and I think Sam Orme is going
16:36
Speaker 1: to help with that. I think he's an expected starter.
16:39
Speaker 1: As of right now, we'll have to see how the
16:41
Speaker 1: health plays out as we head into the regular season.
16:46
Speaker 1: But you can expect to see Ormy out there a lot.
16:50
Speaker 1: Number 33, Bowden Kapke, is a 7-foot senior forward from
16:55
Speaker 1: Boston College and was at Butler previously. Averaged 11 points
17:00
Speaker 1: a game last year at Boston College and actually shot
17:04
Speaker 1: 33% from three. So again, a guy that can stretch
17:07
Speaker 1: the floor. I Looking at his shot, he's not going
17:09
Speaker 1: to be rank masked. But again, targeting guys that can
17:14
Speaker 1: shoot to three is going to be a thing, I think,
17:17
Speaker 1: moving forward for Fred Hoiberg and the staff. He's got length, obviously,
17:25
Speaker 1: and I think he's got a good mindset of being
17:28
Speaker 1: kind of physical. But his body, to me, so far is,
17:32
Speaker 1: I don't know, a little bit, I'm not going to
17:34
Speaker 1: call him uncoordinated, but just clunky. at times. And I
17:40
Speaker 1: hope that, you know, getting more comfortable into this Fred
17:44
Speaker 1: Hoiberg offense and system kind of puts that away a
17:49
Speaker 1: little bit. Defensively, he's a long, lanky guy. He's going to,
17:53
Speaker 1: I think, get a lot done there. He reminds me, like,
17:56
Speaker 1: looks-wise and physically-wise of Braxton Mia from a couple of
18:00
Speaker 1: years ago. But I do think he's got a higher
18:03
Speaker 1: ceiling than what Mia had. And The last, I guess
18:10
Speaker 1: there's two more posts here that we should mention. Number 34,
18:13
Speaker 1: Damon Wilkinson, 6'11, senior forward from South Dakota State. Averaged
18:19
Speaker 1: 14 points a game last year. He was All-Summit League
18:23
Speaker 1: Honorable Mention last year. This guy had a really good
18:26
Speaker 1: game against BYU. He's, to me, going to be one
18:29
Speaker 1: of the solid post players that I think gets a
18:32
Speaker 1: lot of minutes. He reminds me of just a men's
18:34
Speaker 1: league guy. Typical big man that can just go out
18:39
Speaker 1: and physically hold his own. He's got a broader, thicker build.
18:46
Speaker 1: He can finish through contact. He can do a lot
18:48
Speaker 1: of those things. I think that he's going to get minutes.
18:52
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure he's going to start. Maybe he
18:55
Speaker 1: will find his way there at some point through the year.
19:00
Speaker 1: But the guy's got the look part to a post player,
19:03
Speaker 1: I guess is what I'm saying. And can he handle pressure?
19:07
Speaker 1: Can he handle some guys that might come in and
19:13
Speaker 1: guard him? I think he's our best option to score
19:16
Speaker 1: inside one-on-one. I will say that. So I think keep
19:20
Speaker 1: that in mind if that's something that we're looking to do,
19:23
Speaker 1: which I'm not saying we are. He's probably our best
19:25
Speaker 1: option for that. And then lastly, the last guy I
19:31
Speaker 1: want to mention here that's going to get potentially some minutes,
19:35
Speaker 1: is Leo Curtis, who got in a couple times last year.
19:39
Speaker 1: He played 17 games, the 7-2 sophomore forward from Iceland. And,
19:44
Speaker 1: I mean, he's the developmental upside piece that that I
19:49
Speaker 1: think people are curious to see after last year, having
19:52
Speaker 1: some moments, what his role is on this year's team.
19:57
Speaker 1: And I think that, you know, his size being seven,
20:01
Speaker 1: two is going to be a big opportunity there. But
20:03
Speaker 1: I think the biggest thing is, can he, can he
20:05
Speaker 1: hold his ground physically? He's still, Even though he did
20:08
Speaker 1: put on a little bit of beef to him, he's
20:12
Speaker 1: still a very lean guy. And can he move enough
20:16
Speaker 1: defensively to get himself in the right spots with his length?
20:19
Speaker 1: And then offensively, you know, can he be a guy
20:24
Speaker 1: on the offensive glass that gets us some shots? He's
20:26
Speaker 1: done that a couple of times already this year in
20:29
Speaker 1: these exhibition games. He's not going to be a guy
20:32
Speaker 1: that necessarily shoots threes. But he is going to have
20:35
Speaker 1: some length and some capabilities there that's going to get
20:38
Speaker 1: him on the floor. So we do have, I think,
20:40
Speaker 1: four big men options that I don't know that anybody
20:45
Speaker 1: separated themselves or going to separate themselves much early on.
20:50
Speaker 1: But hopefully we find a way of what fits and
20:52
Speaker 1: what works best with Kepke, Ormey, Wilkinson, and Curtis and
20:59
Speaker 1: see what fits best with these guards that I mentioned earlier.
21:05
Speaker 1: Colin Rice, freshman guard, Iowa Gatorade Player of the Year,
21:09
Speaker 1: Caden Betts, the fifth-year transfer from Minnesota and then Montana,
21:15
Speaker 1: Will Cooper's back, junior forward, and Henry Burt, the fifth-year forward,
21:20
Speaker 1: walk-on from Elkhorn South. Other guys to mention, these are
21:24
Speaker 1: guys I don't expect to see in the game much
21:27
Speaker 1: this year, but are going to be playing and helping
21:31
Speaker 1: significantly on the scout team. and as well. So again,
21:37
Speaker 1: key roles is pushing these guys. And I do think
21:40
Speaker 1: all these guys are good pushers, good guys that are
21:44
Speaker 1: going to make our top group better throughout the year,
21:47
Speaker 1: which is very invaluable. You don't hear talked about a
21:50
Speaker 1: lot because they're the behind-the-scenes guy doing a lot of
21:53
Speaker 1: that work. So good news is with all these players,
21:58
Speaker 1: I think you have some different lineups you can build
22:02
Speaker 1: and play with depending on what you need. And I
22:06
Speaker 1: guess I'm just curious as we head into regular season
22:09
Speaker 1: what those lineups are. And you know what? I'm sure
22:11
Speaker 1: the coaching staff is curious too. They have in their
22:13
Speaker 1: minds what they think probably meshes well together in different scenarios.
22:20
Speaker 1: But I do think you're going to see probably, I
22:25
Speaker 1: don't know, eight or nine different guys to start here,
22:28
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. big man game to see who
22:32
Speaker 1: pieces together well. My lean is that you're going to
22:36
Speaker 1: see a lot of Ormy and Kapke with Wilkinson coming
22:40
Speaker 1: in and Curtis with some minutes there. I think defensively,
22:45
Speaker 1: if you need a defensive specialist, you're throwing in DeGorville.
22:49
Speaker 1: If you need some guy that's going to come in
22:50
Speaker 1: and potentially give you a burst and some scoring, that's
22:53
Speaker 1: going to be Jacob Lanier playing. But I think you're
22:55
Speaker 1: going to see a lot of Price Sanford. You're going
22:58
Speaker 1: to see a lot of Trevin Lenhardt. As a point guard,
23:00
Speaker 1: you're going to see a lot of Frager. You're going
23:02
Speaker 1: to see a lot of Jacobson. You're going to see
23:04
Speaker 1: a Cijan in there if you need someone to come
23:05
Speaker 1: in and just shoot the ball well. I mean, if
23:08
Speaker 1: you put Lenhart, a Cijan, Sanford, Frager, Kapke out there,
23:12
Speaker 1: I mean, Kapke slash Orme, you're going to have five
23:16
Speaker 1: guys out there that can shoot the ball and that
23:18
Speaker 1: can make it tough to guard. So we'll keep just
23:21
Speaker 1: evaluating these lineups, what works, what doesn't, as his coaching
23:25
Speaker 1: staff will as we head into the season. Looking at
23:30
Speaker 1: this schedule here, Nebraska has one more exhibition game on
23:37
Speaker 1: October 26th, next Monday, against Kansas State at the Big
23:41
Speaker 1: Iron Event Center in Grand Island. Before then, we open
23:47
Speaker 1: on November 2nd against LeMoyne. Might be a new school
23:53
Speaker 1: for a lot of you, but LeMoyne is on November 2nd,
23:55
Speaker 1: our first game of the year, before our second game.
23:58
Speaker 1: Second game's a big one already. where we play Providence
24:01
Speaker 1: at a neutral site on November 7th. So we're jumping
24:07
Speaker 1: right into our season. I think that Providence will be
24:09
Speaker 1: a good opponent. I don't know. I'm guessing we might
24:12
Speaker 1: be favored, but it's not going to be my much.
24:15
Speaker 1: And then Lindenwood is our next game. November, we have
24:19
Speaker 1: a few different games here. We have, you know, the
24:21
Speaker 1: big one is the Boise State game in Sioux Falls
24:26
Speaker 1: in the Pentagon. Excited for that. And then November 22nd,
24:31
Speaker 1: playing against Butler in Chicago, another neutral site game against
24:36
Speaker 1: a pretty solid opponent there. Our other non-conference opponents, South Dakota, Southern.
24:45
Speaker 1: We got Mount St. Mary's, Fairleigh Dickinson, New Haven. So
24:50
Speaker 1: some games that you should win, right? And we have won,
24:56
Speaker 1: so I'm going to say we should win because we've
24:57
Speaker 1: won these games the last couple of years, finally. And
25:01
Speaker 1: then Missouri on December 12th, we play them in Kansas City.
25:05
Speaker 1: And then the annual Creighton game is in Omaha this
25:10
Speaker 1: year on December 5th. Conference play starts early this year.
25:17
Speaker 1: December 2nd is our first conference game. Yeah, December 2nd
25:21
Speaker 1: against Ohio State at home. And then December 8th, we
25:24
Speaker 1: travel to Penn State to kick off conference play before
25:28
Speaker 1: January 2nd is when we really get into it with
25:32
Speaker 1: the Michigan State game at home. So, I mean, I
25:37
Speaker 1: think conference schedule here, overall, I think it's somewhat favorable.
25:45
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say it's like the best, but it's also not.
25:48
Speaker 1: We got screwed with the scheduling here. As we get
25:51
Speaker 1: some of the better teams at home, we still have
25:53
Speaker 1: to go on the road and face a couple of
25:55
Speaker 1: good opponents going at Illinois, at Purdue, at Iowa. But
25:59
Speaker 1: we do get Michigan State at home. We get Michigan
26:01
Speaker 1: at home. We get Indiana at home. So, again, I
26:06
Speaker 1: think a pretty balanced schedule overall. I'm excited to see
26:13
Speaker 1: what this team looks like in the Big Ten and
26:14
Speaker 1: what the coaches' media poll is saying. We're fifth in
26:20
Speaker 1: the Big Ten coming into this year behind Illinois, Michigan State, Michigan,
26:24
Speaker 1: and UCLA. So, yeah, it's still just, sorry, there's no
26:29
Speaker 1: such thing as a coaches media poll. This is the
26:32
Speaker 1: conference media poll. So not the coaches, but it's the
26:35
Speaker 1: conference media voting on this, and we're sitting at fifth.
26:41
Speaker 1: I don't know that I would necessarily maybe even put
26:43
Speaker 1: us that high yet. I think there's a lot to
26:45
Speaker 1: prove still. coming off of last year and things to
26:49
Speaker 1: figure out. But I do think that, you know, I
26:53
Speaker 1: think we should be in the top half of the
26:55
Speaker 1: Big Ten. You know, I have us probably going about
26:59
Speaker 1: 12-8 in the conference, I think, with some of these teams.
27:02
Speaker 1: And do I think we're going to start 20-0 again? No,
27:05
Speaker 1: I don't think so. But I do think that we
27:10
Speaker 1: should and expect to compete against anybody in the Big
27:13
Speaker 1: Ten and I think that's going to put us at
27:18
Speaker 1: a good spot by the end of the year of
27:20
Speaker 1: making an NCAA tournament push and hopefully get ourselves another
27:26
Speaker 1: win there in the NCAA tournament. So, I mean, I
27:30
Speaker 1: think I have my ceiling this year at 26 and six,
27:34
Speaker 1: most likely 25, seven, 26 and six. I think, you know,
27:37
Speaker 1: if everything pieces together as we, as we hope and expect,
27:41
Speaker 1: I think it could be another really good year and,
27:43
Speaker 1: you know, getting as high as that three, four line
27:45
Speaker 1: again in the, In the NCAA tournament. My. Worst case scenario.
27:52
Speaker 1: I think that could be scary. Is if we just physically.
27:55
Speaker 1: Can't hold our own. You know really. Missing the rank mast.
28:02
Speaker 1: Factor there at the big man spot. And we don't really.
28:06
Speaker 1: Feel the Sam Hoiberg. Glue guy role. We can't really
28:10
Speaker 1: get a point guard. That you know Lenhart's not able.
28:13
Speaker 1: To get a lot accomplished. and pressure disrupts what we're
28:16
Speaker 1: able to do on offense, so I think in that scenario,
28:20
Speaker 1: you know, I think we'll still be above 500, I do,
28:24
Speaker 1: I don't know how much, maybe 17-15 type range, you know,
28:28
Speaker 1: maybe 500 or a little below that in the Big Ten,
28:30
Speaker 1: that to me is like kind of the floor, and
28:32
Speaker 1: I think where we're going to land at is about 22-10,
28:34
Speaker 1: and I think about 12-8 in the conference, that's where
28:38
Speaker 1: my head's at, I think we'll make the tournament, I
28:41
Speaker 1: think we'll make the tournament as a 7-10 seed. I
28:44
Speaker 1: don't think it's last year's breakout, but I do think
28:49
Speaker 1: we have some momentum, and I think we have the
28:50
Speaker 1: right pieces and the right scheme, the right identity. Yeah,
28:54
Speaker 1: I'll throw that word in here again. I think this
28:57
Speaker 1: basketball team has found their identity. Go back two years
29:01
Speaker 1: ago to the way that season ended into last year,
29:04
Speaker 1: and then now I think we have found what works
29:07
Speaker 1: for us at Nebraska. I did see an interesting NIL
29:14
Speaker 1: study that was just posted yesterday that went through and
29:21
Speaker 1: had everybody's expected roster budget, NIL budget, or not even budget,
29:26
Speaker 1: but how much they're expected to pay all their players.
29:29
Speaker 1: And when you go through that, I guess I was
29:32
Speaker 1: a little surprised how low we were compared to I mean,
29:38
Speaker 1: some of the other Big Ten schools, obviously nationally, were
29:41
Speaker 1: not with some of the big blue bloods. But, you know,
29:44
Speaker 1: I think we were right around that 7 to 10
29:46
Speaker 1: million mark as far as what we're paying our players,
29:49
Speaker 1: where there were, I think, probably 50 to 70 schools
29:53
Speaker 1: that were above the 10 million mark all the way
29:55
Speaker 1: up to 20 to 25 million for these basketball rosters. And, yeah,
29:58
Speaker 1: they're your typical basketball. basketball schools that are paying that.
30:04
Speaker 1: But I do think, you know, having continued success here
30:08
Speaker 1: and keeping to build on what we did last year
30:10
Speaker 1: is only going to add to that NIL bucket, hopefully.
30:17
Speaker 1: And we can even get transfers, you know, obviously recruits too,
30:23
Speaker 1: but transfer guys that are worth a little bit more
30:27
Speaker 1: and that really help our team here. So, Um, that's
30:35
Speaker 1: all I really have for Nebraska basketball preview. Like I mentioned,
30:39
Speaker 1: Monday's our last exhibition game against Kansas State out in
30:43
Speaker 1: Grand Island. I would like to go. Maybe I will
30:46
Speaker 1: still make the last minute trip, but that's our last
30:49
Speaker 1: exhibition game before the November 2nd opening game against Le Moyne.
30:55
Speaker 1: Should be an exciting season. Excited for basketball season. Football
31:00
Speaker 1: hasn't quite shut everybody out the door yet, and I
31:04
Speaker 1: hope it doesn't. In the past, we've shut the door
31:07
Speaker 1: on that pretty early and moved into basketball. I think
31:11
Speaker 1: we're going to be balancing both sports here come November,
31:16
Speaker 1: which is something we haven't been able to say in
31:19
Speaker 1: a long time. Go Big Red, and we'll see you
31:24
Speaker 1: next week. The headlines change, but the mission stays. From
31:29
Speaker 1: Memorial Stadium to PBA days. Football Saturdays, basketball nights. Every
31:35
Speaker 1: story chasing red and white. Recruiting buzz, big time commits.
31:39
Speaker 1: Camp battles, coaching hits. Transfer moves and rising stars. The
31:44
Speaker 1: road to glory's never far. This is Return to Glory,
31:50
Speaker 1: where every headline tells the story. Go Big Red! See
31:55
Speaker 1: you next episode!