Rylan Murry

A little recap of the bumps and bruises along the way in the last year of transition

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So the season is over for the UNO men’s basketball team, as well as this long transition period, so how would you rate the transition and the 2014-2015 season?

As for the entire transition, it was obviously a learning process.  Not just for the players, but for the coaching staff as well.  In the first year of transition, yes they won 11 games, but only one game against a division one opponent (Northern Illinois).  In the second season, the team still won 11 games, but even after a few players transferred out, and the team graduated their stop scorer, Mitch Albers, they were able to win 9 games against division one opponents.  In year 3, the Mavs were able to win 15 games against division one opponents.  That team had a solid core of talent, and everyone knew each other.  Karhoff, Hagerbaumer, Simmons, Carter, Steffensmeier, and Phillips had established what they could do, then you got to add incredibly tough and competitive Rostampour and Patterson to that team.  You have to figure 15 wins over division one teams and a post season win in the CIT was a tremendous success, considering the transition and that most of the roster was not recruited for the division one level.

From a wins perspective and conference standings point of view, you would probably want to give this season a D-, but was it really that bad?  Okay, I will admit that I am a homer, but consider a few things.  The Mavericks lost 5 conference games by one possession.  The Mavericks were able to beat Marquette in Milwaukee without Jake White (who before the start of the season was thought to be the best player on the team).  The Mavericks were affected by significant injuries to key players Devin Patterson, Marcus Tyus, and Jake White (who I already mentioned), not only to mention that a few other players got sidelined by a sickness or two throughout the season.  I am still a firm believer that if the Mavs had White and Patterson against Chicago State that they would have won that game.  The Mavericks were also playing with 8 guys that had never played a game as a Maverick.  So with these factors thrown at you, do you upgrade that D- to a C maybe?

We knew that Jake White suffered an injury last season while he was sitting out due to transfer rules, so you had to wonder about how much he got to actually practice and get ready for his first season as a Mav.  It seemed like he was a little out of funk for much of the season, partially because of injuries to his foot, and I assume just about every body part you can name in 30 seconds.  Can that be a game at the new arena next year?  Name more muscles than Jake White in 30 seconds, and go… We were a little teased with White at first.  Not including Koang Dulouny, who only played 7 games at UNO, he was the first transfer that the Mavericks were able to pick up that came from a bigger program.  So there was some excitement to see how much he could help.  His first game he nearly had a double-double until he had to leave the game with a foot injury.  The newspaper said it should not affect him for too long, but he missed the first road game at Seattle, then at Marquette, then at Nebraska, and so on.  We were teased with this Well He Is Pretty Likely Next Game thing for a string of games.  The Mavericks even had him suiting up, like the Boston Celtics did in 2008-2009 in the playoffs with Kevin Garnett who was suffering an abdomen injury, which just had you wondering as a fan WHY ARE YOU NOT PUTTING HIM IN THE DAMN GAME, DO YOU NOT RESPECT THE OTHER TEAM?!?!?!?!?!?!

Then White came back, then sat down for a few more games, and we found ourselves wondering if this was a bust.  A bust in the terms of, did not live up to the hype because of injuries, not because of lack of talent.  It turns out, it was NOT a bust!  Admit it, a healthy Jake White versus Mike Rostampour, you have a hard time figuring out which one is the better rebounder.  There was not a ton of consistency to Jake White this season, but how could anyone be with that many injuries?  There were many missed “bunnies” by White, but with a constant string of injuries are you going to get mad at him for that?  Did you see how extremely pissed off he was after each of those misses?  He knows that is not a normal thing and that those easy shots will drop next season after he has had more time to work on things with the Mavs.  There were a few plays throughout the year, where he would get bumped the wrong way, and he could not get down the court and back on defense, which was unfortunate, but that is not something that will last.  Not the guy we saw grab 10 rebounds in a half, nope, that healthy guy, will be up and down the court.  The (barely) less than 40% shooting for a post player, that will not be forever.  If White can stay healthy, bring that shooting percentage up to the high 40s/lower 50s, and run the floor better next season, the Mavs will win more games with that.

Then the injuries to Devin Patterson and Marcus Tyus.  The team runs on Patterson, he is the floor general, he gets shit done.  Without him, the team’s flow is completely off.  You could tell that there were a few games that he was affected by his feet and ankles, he just did not run the same.  This is no diss to Kyler Erickson or Devin Newsome, but the team is just entirely different with either of them playing the point, the team does not get out and run as much, the team do noes not do all of the things that the Mavs like to do.  The team does need those stretches though where they are not running nearly as much, this is not Oregon football, where the offense can score in a minute and then go sit down for 10-15 minutes of actual time, nope, this is constant back and forth stuff here.  The team needs Erickson or Newsome to come in and slow it down for a stretch of time, the players do not play like a video game where it has a mathematical formula to determine how tired they are, although that would be pretty awesome.  Patterson is right up there to be the best point guard in the Summit League, the best point guard is too big of a piece to have go down in order for your team to keep their rhythm and success.  But this is athletics, players have to play through injuries, and teams have to figure out how to play around those injuries.  I think Chip Kelly said that.  Two Oregon football mentions in one paragraph?  Oh man, I really have married into Oregon fanhood.  I really need to check myself in somewhere, like a bar.

Then a loss of Marcus Tyus, so you end the season without your best shooter for 6 games.  An awful person may say that the Mavericks were a better team without Tyus since they went 4-2 without him, but screw that person.  You are never a better team when you take away your most consistent player and best three point shooter.  The team’s three point shooting fell without Tyus at first.  5-18 versus South Dakota (loss), 4-19 versus Western Illinois (win), 4-19 versus Oral Roberts (loss), 3-14 versus IPFW (win), then they needed Tim Smallwood to basically do a Marcus Tyus impersonation and hit a season high 5 threes against IUPUI.  If Smallwood did not have that type of game, the Mavericks more than likely do not win that game.  I sometimes think that when a key scorer gets injured mid or late season, it can turn out better for a team’s win percentage.

Why?  When a key scorer on the team have to think about things more and process out game as a team, and be more creative to find baskets, not just throw the ball to one player for a certain percentage of the time.  Not that I think Tyus was a ball hog, not at all, not saying that.  The Mavs were just forced to figure it out, after already once trying to figure it out without Jake White and/or Devin Patterson.  When the Mavs lost White, the entire team was pretty new as it was, so they had to figure out playing together already, when they lost Patterson, they lost their flow.  Tyus going out created a different situation, but this time it was after the mix of returners and newer players got a chance to ball and gel together already for most of the season.  As a point guard, Patterson only really plays one position, so his injury basically only created more minutes for Kyler Erickson and Devin Newsome.  As a post player, Jake White’s injury basically created more minutes and opportunities for Tre’Shawn Thurman and Rylan Murry.  By the way, I am still going with Thurman and Murry sounds like the worst cop buddy show on USA or TNT.  Tyus’ injury creates a little more opportunity, playing two positions, it created more minutes for Randy Reed, Tim Smallwood, and Kyler Erickson, as well as creating more situations for Derrin Hansen to try a bunch of different lineups.  The Reed, Smallwood, Erickson combo also knew they had to bring some more energy with Tyus out, they hopefully knew and understood this was a big chance for them.  With Tyus out, they all played key moments and came up huge to help the success of the Mavericks.  It created a learning situation late in the year, and the players had to develop and work it out.  PLEASE DO NOT TAKE ANY OF THIS AS ME BEING HAPPY AS MARCUS TYUS BEING INJURED, INJURIES ARE NEVER GOOD, ESPECIALLY FOR ANYTHING IN THE KNEES.

Playing with 8 new faces is kind of fun, but also pretty frustrating.  The first job I ever had was in a restaurant.  There was this kid that worked with me, and we were both new at about the same time, the restaurant closed at 11pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the two of us pretty much closed every single Friday.  At first, it would take us 45 minutes to get all of the closing duties done, but after a while we both figured out what the other was better at, we both knew what the other was going to do before even doing it.  After a while, we could get out of that shit hole in about 15 minutes after closing.  The same thing kind of works in sports.  Yes, by this time Patterson, Carter, Tyus, and Rostampour should of had that same functioning relationship on the court, but it is not like they all play every single minute of every single game.  White, Reed, Smallwood, Murry, Meyer, Erickson, Newsome, and Thurman do not all have that same relationship with each other or the returning 4, and hopefully they can all return for next season to develop those on the court relationships.  They will know what everyone else is doing before they even start doing it.  Once the Mavs get on this trip to Europe and play together more, have a summer of working out together, all get together and practice, they are going to get better at that closing shift. So you have to be feeling good about the start of full fledged D-1 life, right?  You also have to think, there is not (as of right now at least) no division one team in Nebraska with a winning record.  Tim Miles has stated that his team has not improved as the season as gone on, it does not look like Creighton has improved toward the end of the year, but the Mavs did get better toward the end of rht year.

So is this similar to when the Mavs had the returning core from 2012-2013 and got to add Rostampour and Patterson to the mix?   Several Summit League teams have a good deal of players returning players, as there are not many graduating seniors in men’s basketball, so we will have to wait and see if the growing chemistry is a factor for the team’s success.  That is kind of obvious, right?  That we would have to wait…I mean the schedule has not even come out yet.  How dumb was it of me to say that?

Aside from the record that did not live up to expectations, we did see some great things this year.  Okay, we won a game yesterday.  If we win today it’s called “two in a row”.  And if we win again tomorrow that’s called “a winning streak.”  It has happened before.  That is a Major League reference.  If you have not seen Major League, you probably need to reevaluate your entire life.  The Mavs were able to finish on a 3 game winning streak on the road.  You have to be optimistic with that if the Mavs were able to make the Summit League tournament this year, that they would at least be hot going into the tournament, even as an 8 seed.  A team on a 3 game road winning streak, and 4 of their last 6 overall. with the 2 losses by a total of 4 points in the final possessions, is not your typical 8 seed.  But an 8 seed still has to play the 1 seed, and the Mavs did not have a good time this season against South Dakota State.  Okay, I went back and looked, that is actually a Major League 2 reference.  It is okay if you have not seen Major League 2, that is cool.

We also saw the ending of two fine careers, and the beginning of a few more.  CJ Carter finished his career with just a couple more than 1500 points, the 5th most in school history, Mike Rostampour finished his two year career teaching the Mavericks about rebounding and toughness.  The Mavs got to show off the beginning of freshman Tre’Shawn Thurman who showed a tremendous freaking upside, and Murry, Meyer, and Newsome showed glimpses of what they will be capable of.  Murry a three point specialist and good ball handler for his size, Meyer a good rebounder and defender, even showed some post moves when given the chance, and Newsome showed his ability to be a floor general.

Mav fans who paid attention this year, they know that this season was more than just the season that the Mavs beat a Big East team.  The Creighton Bluejays had a similar season a little while back, yes I know they were not in transition, but the last few years of Dana Altman the Jays would get ahead and build decent leads.  They would lose those leads on getting tired, missing shots, and not playing quality defensive possessions down the stretch.  Those teams (with Kenny Lawson, P’Allen Stinnett, Kaleb Korver, Booker Woodfox, Cavel Witter, and others) were supposed to be “the most athletic teams Creighton had in a while and supposed to run and shoot teams out of the gym, even with a bunch of new faces on the roster.  Sound a little familiar?  Creighton moved on from that, got better, made the NIT (almost beat Kentucky), eventually climbed the conference standings, found a stroke of accidental luck with Doug McDermott, had famous battles with Wichita State and Northern Iowa.  UNO will continue to grow just like Creighton did.

Another great success was how supportive the student section became this season.  This is partly because of the Pike fraternity growing a collective man crush on Derrin Hansen, and trust me, I get it.  The first three years of transition, you wondered where the students were and you really just hoped that they were not at a Nebraska or Creighton game.  Now they are taking notice, they knew how important it was to show guys like Carter and Rostampour their support.  The energy of the crowd in college basketball is an extremely valued variable.  Think of those moments the players are just exhausted and they need that reminder of who they are playing for (other than themselves, their teammates, coaches, and families).  They get that extra needed jolt and ride it.  The crowds at UNO hockey are extremely important, and not it is time that the other sports are getting the support.  I know during division 2, UNO would invite potential new hires to UNO athletics and the candidates would ask Where are the Students?  You have no idea how much of a ripple effect the student can create.  It is also extremely satisfying to go to a UNO game and see that the students are into the game the entire time, it is not like when they go to that other Omaha school and the students are sitting down, drinking a beer, checking their phones constantly, and not caring about their team.  They are just there for the hopes of a free t-shirt.

This reminds me.  Next post on how we schedule those Creighton guys?

 

 

Meet future Maverick J.T. Gibson

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With just a few weeks left in the basketball season, and with an 8-15 record, Mav fans may begin looking to UNO’s first full fledged season as a Division 1 institution.  It’s okay to admit it, we have been looking forward to the 2015-2016 season for quite some time now.

Let’s add some more hype to next season by taking a minute to discuss future guard J.T. Gibson.  I have stated before that it seems somewhat pointless to talk about recruiting, you do not really know what you have in a player until he is actually in a uniform on the court in a game.  But hey, let’s try it.

Just looking at a few things, the commitment of Gibson already seems like a win for the Mavericks.  The Mavs have wanted to recruit out of the state of Minnesota for a while now, even before transition, it was a great place to go on recruiting trips.  With only one division one basketball team in the state of Minnesota, which is a Power 5 team that can recruit nationally, it leaves a lot of room open for “the other guy” to come and try and sell brake pads.  That’s a Tommy Boy reference, a poor one, but still a Tommy Boy reference.

studentathletes
J.T. Gibson signed with the University of Nebraska at Omaha for basketball.

 

If you look at Gibson’s Yahoo profile, he held offers from Illinois State, La Salle, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, South Dakota, Western Kentucky, and the top dogs of the Summit League North Dakota State and South Dakota State.  He also visited NDSU and SDSU.  UNO has not gotten a commitment out of a guy yet that has had that many offers.  A goal of the basketball program was to grow into the next North Dakota State and South Dakota State, so to pick up a commitment from a guy that visited those two schools, shows us that UNO picked up a win.

Let’s not get crazy though, he still has to get on campus and play.  By that I mean, please don’t jinx it and go get in a fight with a Bison or Jackrabbit fan about how we’re better than them now, don’t be that dude.  Players have committed to UNO and vanished before, so let’s just appreciate what it’s worth for now.  The Minnesota High School Basketball bloggers and writers have referred to UNO picking up JT Gibson as a “steal”.  Some of them seem to think he could be at a bigger school, maybe not as an immediate impact like he would be in the Summit League, but an impact for sure at some point down the road.

Assuming and praying that Gibson is in uniform next season for UNO, he has the chance to contribute right away. UNO still has room for one more commitment and current players could still potentially transfer out, so there is still time for a lot of things to happen.  I have seen Gibson listed anywhere between 6’2″ and 6’4″, and he’s been scouted as being able to play the point guard or shooting guard.  So on paper it sounds like we have a special wing player that can do a lot.

One thing I would like to put a random disclaimer on.  I mention this kid’s height like it is an awesome thing, but height and athletic frame do not automatically equate to success.  I never want to refer to a player as “a kid with a great body.”  I was watching a Creighton game with some friends one time.  It was P’Allen Stinnett’ s first game at Creighton, also the first game for Kaleb Korver and Casey Harriman (among several others).  Biggest Douche in the Universe Nominee Travis Justice, that’s a South Park reference, kept referring to Casey Harriman as having a great body to the point that it became creepy.  It created four years of my friends and I passing jokes on Casey “the body” Harriman.  “The Body” faced many injuries over his career, and he was a classy dude, it was tough to watch him not turn into much at Creighton by his senior year.  I do not think we should ever tout someone as a great player because their body looks awesome.  The last thing I want to hear Gary Sharp say is “look at the body on Daniel Meyer.”  Just say it out loud, it’s seriously creepy.  The one take away you should take away from this is that Travis Justice is a freakin’ loser.  I met the guy once when I was in high school, I tried to be nice to him because hey, it was Mr. Channel 10.  Now I would just be a jerk to him.  Hey Travis, I am really sorry you lost out to John Edward.  The committee should have really given the award to you.  That’s back to the South Park reference.

Gibson’s high school team is undefeated (as of the 7th) and he has the most points in school history.  He is even up for Mr. Basketball in the state of Minnesota.  You are thinking of him on the floor with Tre’Shawn Thurman right now, aren’t you?  Gibson also comes from the same AAU team that some guy named Doug McDermott spent time on.

Here is a little video of him:

It looks as if he can shoot, and shoot well.  He also appears to be a good ball handler and passer, but I believe those skills get a little harder to showcase in the next level when you are facing tougher defenses, so we have to obviously wait and see if those skills will translate.  Would you compare him to any current and former Mavs?  Maybe the height of Justin Simmons, the shooting and ball handling of Marcus Tyus, the speed and penetration of CJ Carter?  Mavenstein!

Looking at the Mavs future, there will be J.T. Gibson along with (assuming these guys do not leave) Daniel Meyer, Tre’Shawn Thurman, Rylan Murry, and Devin Newsome as well as other signees C Zach Pirog and G Zach Jackson.  A decent crew it seems.  It certainly does seem attractive to think of those guys as a seniors with J.T. Gibson in the mix as a junior (along with the Zachs).

North Dakota State is a young team this year, they only lose Lawrence Alexander, who is the best player in the conference in my opinion.  They also have four decent commitments coming in, which includes a JuCo player named Malik Clements who once held a scholarship offer from UNO and they also have native Nebraskan Spencer Eliason, brother of Minnesota Gopher Elliott Eliason.

Oh, look who wanted this kid...
Oh, look who wanted this kid…

The other head honcho in the conference, South Dakota State, does not have any commitments yet, but they are also a somewhat young team that only loses two players to graduation.  South Dakota State could also land a transfer from a bigger school, or a juco player, they just have the power to do that.  They also have Nebraskan native Michael Daum, who also held a scholarship offer from UNO at one point, redshirting this season.

That’s not to say no one else in the conference has anything else sitting there for future purposes.  South Dakota picked up a commitment from Norfolk’s Tyler Hagedorn, another player UNO offered a scholarship.  You are also just sitting there thinking that Craig Smith is going to do something.  He’s waiting, he’s a sleeping giant that has already made South Dakota better, and will continue to make them better, until he probably gets a bigger and better job.  Denver picked up a commitment from a 6’5″ McDonald’s All American nominee (Rylan Murry was also a nominee, just sayin’).

On paper, it seems that the Mavs are inching closer to being comparable to North Dakota State and South Dakota State, and Gibson is one of the puzzle pieces to hopefully get us there.

All I want for my birthday is for the Mavs to end this losing streak

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Thursday morning I will leave for a wedding in Mexico, the wedding happens to be on my birthday, so it will probably be the coolest place that I have ever spent my birthday.  I am a big sports fan, but I am also not such a crazed sports fan to where I will have my phone out the entire time checking college basketball scores.  Mostly because of signal on my cell, but also out of respect for the people getting married…  I just hope to come back to find out that the UNO Mavericks have picked up a win.  I am sure the room I am in will have wireless and I can check the score there, but who knows.

I do not ever want to be negative with any of this, but it is hard to find many positives for a team that is on a five game losing streak and just lost to the preseason last place team with UNO having a historic scoring performance from their senior captain.  So here are some positives…

Denver is also struggling.  A team picked second in the preseason rankings (see how preseason rankings are worthless) finds themselves at 6th in the conference at 2-3 with losses to South Dakota State, also IUPUI, and they are responsible for IPFW’s only win.  IPFW was the voted as the preseason champion.

Another positive, CJ Carter and Marcus Tyus are playing awesome right now.  CJ Carter scored 45 points on only 25 field goal attempts in his last game.  How many NBA players have you seen that needed to take 39 shots in order to get to 45?  Tyus, also went 7 of 10 in the Mavs last game.  He is also rebounding and passing the ball better this season, he really has become a more consistent player this season.  UNO did shoot 50% plus in their two losses, so naturally you want to blame defense, rebounding, turnovers, all the good stuff.  Before Oral Roberts and IUPUI, UNO was 6-0 when shooting above 44% and 0-9 when shooting under 44%, not counting Iowa Wesleyan. #themoreuno

UNO has no games this work week.  Denver plays Oral Roberts on Wednesday night, so UNO has more time to prepare for this game.  That can not be a negative.  Okay, now I do not know where to go from here.

If you were listening to the broadcast on the radio, Gary Sharp mentioned that teams are playing the Mavs to get better, it seems like some players are having out of body experiences and shooting much better against Omaha.  Ouch, considering Denver already shoots 49% on the year as a team and leads the Summit, so are you telling me they are going to be better than that?

Denver runs a Princeton offense, similar to Air Force, ehhhh, and is led by their two senior wings Brett Olson (shoots 51%) and Cam Griffin (shoots 54%).  Let me throw something at you.  Brett Olson stands at 6’5″ and Cam Griffin is 6’3″.  Denver is not really that big of a team, they do not have a talented big guy like Air Force did with Marek Olesinksi.  Marcus Byrd is probably their most talented guy that is 6’7″ or taller who averages 9 and 4 and shoots 52% from the field and 49% on threes.  So three of their top players shoot higher than 50%, well this already sounds fun.

Why mention this?  The perimeter defense that I have spoken of as being a big issue for UNO.  In 2012-2013, I thought the Mavs biggest weakness was in the post, and then it got better in 2013-2014 with the addition to Mike Rostampour to the lineup, but now it is a strength of the team with Jake White and Tre’Shawn Thurman also in the post.  Now the Mavs are having trouble guarding wing players.  Opposing teams’ starters that are 6’7″ or taller are shooting 46% from the field against the Mavs, guards that are 6’2″ or shorter are also shooting 46% from the field against the Mavs, and players that are 6’3″ to 6’6″ (and I will throw in Nebraska’s Terran Petteway and Shavon Shields into this category, just because) are shooting 50% from the field.

Maybe that does not sound like a significant thing, but when you are in a league filled with 6’3″ to 6’6″ wing players that can shoot the ball, it is a problem.  There are not a lot of great talented big guys in the league.  Hell, UNO is in last place and after IPFW’s Steve Forbes and South Dakota State’s Cody Larson, UNO probably has the next best 3 big men in the league of Mike Rostampour, Jake White, and Tre’Shawn Thurman.  Korey Billbury and Obi Emegano combined for 20-32 from the field against the Mavs, and statistically they are not quite as good as shooters as Cam Griffin and Brett Olson.  I do not even want to get into IUPUI.

I am pretty interested to see what Mike Rostampour will do in this game against Denver.  In no way do I think 5 rebounds in two games is okay with Mike Rostampour.  The last time he only had 3 rebounds in one game, he came back the next game with 11 points and 11 rebounds against Marquette.  The only time he had less rebounds over a two game stretch, he had 4 combined rebounds in 2 games against South Carolina State and Drake last season, he came back with a performance of 19 points, 9 rebounds, on 7-11 shooting with 2 threes at South Carolina State.  I would be incredibly surprised if Rostampour has three bad rebounding games in a row.

I love Carter and Tyus, but at 6’1″, I wish one of them could play the point guard position for the stretches of the game that Devin Patterson is on the bench.  You are never quite sure what is going to happen when the Mavs go to the bench.  It is like you are putting in a new Weezer CD, you know there will be part of a song that is pretty good, but the rest of the CD, you are not entirely sure what you are getting yourself into.  I thought of this, I used to be a big Weezer fan, but I have not given that band one dollar since that Maladroit album.

When Matt Hagerbaumer, Alex Phillips, and Caleb Steffensmeier came off the bench last season, you knew exactly what you were getting.  Defense and rebounding from Hagerbaumer, and some sweet dunks when he got the opportunity.  Defense and shooting from Alex Phillips, maybe one poor decision from time to time, but nothing too extreme.  Defense, ball control, and if you needed a comeback or a dagger three from Steffensmeier, he would give it to you.  All three of those guys would get you high percentage shots.

We know we are going to get a boat load of offensive rebounds from Jake White, but offensively he has been hard to figure out so far.  You are not really sure what you are going to get out of the bench on a consistent basis from anyone else on the bench.  He is only shooting 37% from the field, but that is with some nagging injuries.  Maybe Randy Reed can get us 10 and 7 this game, but then 2 and 1 the other game.  Tim Smallwood and Rylan Murry can get us a couple threes this game, but then both seem to be too shy from deep the next game.  This is why I wish Carter or Tyus could play the point, I think they are both capable of it, it just does not seem to happen often.  With one of them at the point, the Mavs could have 3 starters on the court with 2 bench players at any given time as opposed to 1 starter with 4 bench players, which seems to be leading to problems lately.

A general perception that I have right now is that the team loses a lot of defensive intensity when Mike Rostampour is on the bench.  Which it would probably be impossible to have the intensity go up with him on the bench, but it is quite noticeable how much the team is affected when Rostampour is on the bench resting or is in foul trouble.  Might I recommend a little more Daniel Meyer when Rostampour is in foul trouble?  Tre’Shawn Thurman is awesome, but he is not the definition down low banger like Rostampour, Jake White is also not exactly in that category either, but Meyer is really the only player that would fall into that category after Rostampour.  I do not see what is wrong with a Meyer-White-Thurman front court for a small stretch.  Maybe it is not the ideal lineup against Denver, but against a slightly bigger South Dakota State or IPFW, it seems pretty reasonable.

I do think we need to stop looking at this season as We Beat Marquette and we need to start look at it as We Lost to Seattle, UMKC, Chicago State, and IUPUI.

A little bit of preview for UNO versus Oral Roberts and IUPUI

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After playing the two teams in the Summit League with the best defensive field goal percentage, the Mavs will now have to play Oral Roberts, who has the 4th best defensive field goal percentage (Western Illinois is 3rd).  Then they have to play wildcard IUPUI.

The Mavs came close to North Dakota State and not so close to South Dakota State last week.  They know they need to move on, but now they have a road test against, historically, one of the best teams in the Summit League.  The coaches and players know and feel that they were a couple plays away from starting out conference play at 3-0, and Mike Rostampour is just pissed, and the senior leader should be.  Nothing comes easy in any conference and after starting league play at 1-3, now is the time to make those plays that would have put the Mavs at 3-1 now.  It is not the time to press the panic button.  NO BODY PANIC!  Actually, I’m not really sure if there is a panic button.  Other than possible CBI and CIT seedings and births, there is not really much of a difference if the the Mavs finish this year in the Summit between placing 2nd and 9th in the standings.  If the Mavs win the regular season, they do get some hardware, but it is not like they are going to get a participation medal for coming in 9th in the conference.  Mom, this is literally a medal for sucking.  But morally, we want to prove ourselves, that we know we belong here.  We’re not quite at the point of trading away all of the assets and tanking for the draft.  I am sorry, I am a Celtics fan, so I am bitter about some NBA things at the moment…  

Oral Roberts

Okay, I am going to throw something at you here.  The Mavs are going to have to go deep into the bench in this game.  Why would the Mavs have to go deep into the bench on a team that has the worst field goal percentage in the entire Summit League?  The Golden Eagles get to the line more than any other team in the Summit League, they shoot nearly 26 free throws a game.  They have the second worst three point field goal percentage in the league at 32.5%, so they are a team that needs to get to the basket, and with two of the best wings in the Summit League, they get to the basket.  Mike Rostampour will pick up a foul in this game, maybe even two, or maybe even five…  So the Mavs may have to get Daniel Meyer, Rylan Murry, and Randy Reed on the court more than they usually get out there.  In case you are curious, when the Mavs win Murry shoots 57% from the field, 55% from downtown and in their losses he shoots 35% from the field and 25% from long range.  So he might actually be a little more of an X-Factor than you might think.  Just saying.

RPI wise, Oral Roberts had the best win of the season against Tulsa to open up their season.  Maybe similar to the Mavs, they realize this was a long time ago, and now that they are 8-8, they have something to prove themselves.  Maybe the Mavs should not run the typical Mavs pace in this one.  The Golden Eagles average 65 points per game (not including their win over Haskell).  When Oral Roberts gets above 65 points they are 7-1.  Maybe UNO does not need to slow down the pace, but clearly, they need to play strong defense for all 40 minutes.

Obviously the Mavs need to shoot better coming off their two worst shooting performances of the season.  Oral Roberts may be in the top half of the league as far as defensive field goal percentage goes, but they have had a few poor shooting nights themselves so far, so here is an incredibly generic thing to say.  The Mavs need to play better on offense and defense.  That’s simple.  Well we are done here.

Here are some other random Mav numbers for you (not counting Iowa Wesleyan):

  • The Mavs are 5-1 when they hit more threes than their opponent, only loss to North Dakota State
  • The Mavs are 1-6 when they hit less threes than their opponent, only win to South Dakota
  • The Mavs are 0-3 when they hit the same amount of threes than their opponent

Hey, remember how Oral Roberts has the 2nd worst three point field goal percentage in the League?  They have also made the 2nd least amount of threes in the Summit League.  But again, they get to the line, A LOT.

  • The Mavs are 0-4 when 40% or more of their field goals taken are three point field goals

So it’s not exactly like they should just start jacking up threes, especially after a 1 of 16 performance, but they need to hit the open shots that they found against South Dakota State but could not convert on.  Seriously, how generic sports talk can this get?

With the talent they have, I am not even sure if they could beat Kentucky right now.  Crap, I am thinking about the Celtics again.

The Mavs do need to contain the wings for Oral Roberts.  Obi Emegano in his last five games has averaged 23 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists,  3.6 steals, and he has shot 50% (36-72) from the field.  He has also made 10 threes overall in the last 5 games after going 9 games in a row without a three.  Korey Billbury in the last five games has averaged 17 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and shot 39% from the field.  Billburry also made a total of 9 threes in the last 5 games, after only hitting a total of 5 in the Golden Eagles’ first 11 games.

This game is a homecoming for Tim Smallwood, a Tulsa native, so maybe he will play better.  Is that dumb to think that?  Seems like guys play better in situations like that, or on their birthday.  Seriously, you should see my career averages on my birthdays.  I was a quadruple 2 guy my whole life, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals per game.  On my birthday, I averaged about 14 points and 5 rebounds a game.  Not to brag, okay I am bragging, but in intramurals at UNO, I had to guard a guy that had played at Midland University and he was about 5 inches taller than me, but I had 17 points with 5 threes that game.  It was literally my birthday.

Like Opponents?

Lost 72-66 to North Dakota State in Fargo.

Won 66-57 at Western Illinois

IUPUI 

Seriously everyone was sleeping on the IUPUI Jaguars before the start of the season, and many still are trying to wipe the morning fog out of their eyes.  They lost 6 in a row at one point, but now have gone on a win a game, lose a game pattern for their last 7 games.  If they continue the pattern, they would lose to South Dakota State and win at UNO.  That is how stats work, right?  They are 2-1 in the Summit with a wins over preseason league favorites IPFW and Denver, so this should have caught the attention of people…who pay attention.  They also took that team I was just talking about, Oral Roberts, to overtime.

There is not much size to the Jaguars, nor is there much experience, and their best players are currently sitting out due to transfer rules.  They do not make many threes, they have made the least amount of total threes in the conference, and they have the worst three point field goal percentage in the league.  They are just a little better than UNO at free throw percentage at 70% to UNO’s 69% but they do not get to the line nearly as much, UNO shoots 27 free throws a game, while IUPUI shoots 18 per game.  They average the second least amount of rebounds per game, after Denver who they defeated, but IUPUI has picked up more rebounds as of late.  The Jaguars also average the most turnovers in the league, so UNO who averages the most steals in the conference should be licking their chops.  Is licking chops still a saying?  What are chops?

None of their wins have been a beat down.  Of their 6 wins, the biggest amount of points they won by was 6 points to South Alabama.  One thing I have noticed about the Jaguars as compared to other Summit League teams, they have not played an opponent that was not division one.  So that whole thought process of In Order to Get Better You Have to Play the Best Competition might be coming together for IUPUI, as they are finally starting to pick up some wins.

One thing I notice while looking at all 6 of their wins, a low amount of threes taken.  Their three point attempts on wins, 10.6 attempts per game.  Their three point attempts on losses, 17.2.  Clearly, with the poor percentage and total number of made three point field goals, it is an area they struggle in, so they desperately need to get to the basket.  The Mavs need to keep them on the outside, just let them take threes.

UNO has yet to lose to IUPUI as Summit League opponents, and if the Jaguars pick up a win against the Mavericks this year, given how bad their roster is, I may just lose it.  They defeated IUPUI by 28 and 22 points last season.  CJ Carter has averaged 15.6 points, 4 assists, 2.3 steals, and has shot 19-30 in 3 career games against IUPUI.  In his sophomore season, Marcus Tyus averaged 15 points, 3.5 rebounds, and shot 12-22 against the Jaguars.  Mike Rostmapour has 18 and 9 in his first meeting against IUPUI and 9 and 8 in his second match up with IUPUI, and he also shot 9-13 on those two games.  Devin Patterson averaged 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot 9-18 versus IUPUI last season.

For real, why do they think tanking for the draft is a good idea?  Has it ever worked out for them before? Drafting players is not their thing, draft day trades is their specialty!  Aw crap, sorry, the Celtics, they are getting to me.

A suggestion from a guy that has no business giving suggestions to a college athletics program:

Bring Marcus Tyus off the bench.

Okay, I hate the idea of it too.  I think Marcus Tyus has been the Mavs most efficient player this season, and has been huge.  It is nothing personal against Marcus Tyus, in fact, I hope this is a compliment.  Really, it should not matter to a player if you start the game or come off the bench, as long as you are on the court at the end, or your team has won.  This team does need a high energy guard off the bench, and Marcus Tyus is definitely a high energy player who can bring a spark off the bench.

You can not really put Patterson on the bench because of his ball handling ability, and for his control of the offense.  No one wants to put Carter on the bench, who has started all but three games in his career, and is the teams’ top scorer.  So unfortunately, Tyus is the nomination.

The 2013-2014 season, the best season for the Mavs so far in division one, Marcus Tyus came off the bench for half of the season.  With injuries to Justin Simmons, Tyus got the nod to start, and he played great, there is no question of that.  Last season, UNO was 8-8 with Tyus coming off the bench and 7-7 with Tyus starting, so it’s not like any of this makes sense with that in mind.  Four of the losses that he came off the bench though:  @ Iowa by 8, @ UNLV by 3, @ IPFW by 4, vs. IPFW by 1.

Whether Jake White gets back into the starting line up or not, the Mavs will have either he or Tre’Shawn Thurman coming off the bench in the post for a key role, but the Mavs do not really have a guard to come off the bench that has produced enough for that second wave of energy and activity.  If Justin Simmons was starting last season, Tyus and Phillips were both coming off the bench.  If Simmons was hurt and Tyus was starting, Phillips was still providing some energy off the bench.  Matt Hagerbaumer was always providing defensive energy in the post off the bench.  Reed and Smallwood have not produced as advertised, Rylan Murry has slipped in the last month, and walk on/great guy Kyler Erickson has been the guy to step up off the bench.  I am not sure who to start between Reed, Smallwood, and Murry.  Reed or Murry would provide more height, and the Mavs could start the game contesting the shots other teams’ 6’4″ – 6’6″ wings a little better, then BAM, Marcus Tyus off the bench for 8 quick points.  I am not saying this is a big time solution to anything, it is just a thought.

Some milestone notes:

  • Marcus Tyus is 11 points away from 700 career points
  • Mike Rostampour is 18 rebounds away from having the 2nd most rebounds since transition
    1. Matt Hagerbaumer – 401
    2. John Karhoff – 384
    3. Mike Rostampour – 366
  • Marcus Tyus is 4 steals away from having the 3rd most steals since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 128
    2. Devin Patterson – 90
    3. Caleb Steffensmeier – 73
    4. Marcus Tyus – 69
    5. Justin Simmons – 69
  • Tre’Shawn Thurman is 22 points away from having the 2nd most points in a season by a freshman since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 303
    2. Marcus Tyus – 185
    3. Tre’Shawn Thurman – 163
  • Tre’Shawn Thurman is 3 rebounds away from having the most in a season by a freshman since transition
    1. CJ Carter – 105
    2. Tre’Shawn Thurman – 102

 

My undeniable man crush on Rylan Murry

acroth86 College Basketball , , ,

Don’t make it weird…I just hope to not get a restraining order…

Growing up in Omaha, I grew up on Creighton basketball, but the love for Creighton has died…don’t worry I’m going to get to the reasons on this another day.  Let it be known, I still respect the Creighton basketball program itself…

Anyway, Kyle Korver was my favorite.  Something about players from Iowa always got me.  Both of my parents are Iowa born, so maybe it’s just something I’m genetically predisposed to.  Honestly, I hope that’s the only thing I’ve inherited through Iowan genes.  Korver wasn’t just a shooter with great hair, he was a leader, and he was clutch.  He wasn’t someone to just hang out behind the arch and wait for the pass to come to him, he moved (and still moves) so well without the ball.  In 2003, the Bluejays won the Missouri Valley Conference championship game behind Korver who had 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  So yeah, he wasn’t just a shooter.

Sure there was Terrell Taylor and Rodney Buford as big names for the Bluejays in the late 90s and early 2000s, but no one stuck out like Korver.  He got the ball rolling for the Bluejays to get national attention. His ridiculously good shooting got the Jays on the ESPN highlight reels, posters still hang of him in the CenturyLink Center, an arena he never even played in.  His Creighton team his junior year, literally had no seniors, they won the Missouri Valley, and Korver (and Taylor) led the Bluejays to a double overtime win over freaking Florida.

I met Kyle Korver once.  My wife and I moved to Ogden, Utah and shortly after we heard about a dodgeball tournament put on by former Jazz players Deron Williams, Korver, Wesley Matthews, and someone else I do not recall.  My wife and I showed up just in time for the autograph line.  We got in line, and I was like, we’re actually going to get to meet Kyle Korver?  I thought we were just going to watch them play dodgeball, not actually meet these guys.  So we’re in line for like 20-30 minutes.  I see Korver’s wife, his brother Klayton, who people joke looks like Tom Brady, and also I think I was the only one in the entire place who knew Klayton Korver was a former Drake Bulldog.  Anyway, my wife and I pass Wesley Matthews and Deron Williams, who cares about them?  Korver is last, he sees my Creighton shirt, and I am speechless.  It’s Kyle freaking Korver.  He tries to make small talk, but I’m too weird.  I just stand there like Garth Algar meeting Alice Cooper.  After a minute, Korver is pretty weirded out I think and just pulls out a photograph of himself and autographs it.  My wife asks if we could get a picture, that picture doesn’t happen without my wife there, if she wasn’t there I probably would’ve just walked off in shock.  I have that autographed photo framed, with the dodgeball bracelet to show off that I was there.  I think my wife is worried sometimes about how much I like Kyle Korver.  Like when the Hawks are on, which is basically never, and she tries to talk to me and I can barely hold a conversation.  Kyle Korver is on tv, he’s going to do something, everyone shut up.

Anyway, my wife and I move back from Utah after a while, we moved back in March.  I’m checking up on the Mavericks recruiting, there was very little out there on what they were doing.  Many of the recruiting sites still didn’t recognize them as a division one team yet.  At first, I thought maybe Mitchell Farr might turn out to be a good player, but he leaves after his freshman year.  I don’t remember fully what all the stats were, but I remember looking at his stats and compared what he did against UNO’s D-1 opponents versus non-D-1 opponents.  He shot like 25% from the floor against D-1 opponents and even worse from behind the arch.  CJ Carter had pretty decent stats as a freshman, so I was feeling alright about him, but still overall I wasn’t too sure what the Mavericks were doing for recruiting.  I was worried that they may never get anyone good, and especially no one decent with some height.  I think I was living in fear that in 2015-2016 the Mavs center would be 6’2″.  They’d be one hella good Intramurals team.

There wasn’t much out there on their first full recruiting class as far as highlight reels or news articles.  When one of my friends asked what I thought the Mavericks would do, if they would ever be good, I was like – well hopefully we can pick up some transfers from Missouri Valley schools, bigger conferences, and maybe we’ll start getting all those deadly three point shooters from Iowa that not a lot of people recruit too heavily.  They’ll be okay in a few years I think.

I actually don’t pay that much attention to recruiting sites, I think they’re pretty dumb.  Seems most of it is based on athleticism and, per Tom Osborne, who these players’ parents can get to write articles about them.  Five stars, 3 stars, who gives a crap?  Was Doug McDermott really a 3 star athlete?  How about Damien Lillard, was he only worth 2 stars?  Blake Griffin was the 6th rated power forward coming out of high school.  I think the top 10 players are pretty accurate, but then after that it becomes a bit of a guessing game.  I was watching an old Big East game a few years ago between Syracuse and Georgetown, everyone on the court was a 4 or 5 star athlete and the game was nothing but banked threes, missed dunks, and turnovers.  Great game.

So in August of 2012, I’m checking the Omaha World Herald and there is an article on UNO’s newest basketball recruit named Rylan Murry.  The article lists him as a 6’8″ stretch four from some place called West Branch, Iowa…which I assume is a made up place.  He is compared to Alex Welhouse, who at the time was believed to be UNO’s best returning player.  I watch his highlight reels, yeah he can totally hit the 3.  I think to myself is he UNO’s version of Korver, is this the stretch 4 from small town Iowa I was thinking UNO could finally get some day, someone to bring attention to UNO?  I’ve learned not to compare players like that.  Everyone in Omaha wanted to compare Kaleb Korver to his older brother, they weren’t the same player, not even the same position, but everyone hoped for Kyle 2.0.  I went to the UNO-UMKC game in Kansas City in 2013 when the youngest Korver, Kirk, played for UMKC.  Kirk made a free throw and an Omaha fan shouts out “you’re still not as good as your brother.”  Kirk Korver’s facial expression changed instantly, you could tell he was negatively affected by it, he wanted to jack up threes after that to show that fan wrong, but he couldn’t do it.

I don’t want to claim that Rylan Murry will be the UNO Korver, but I admit I was hopeful for it at first.  Let me just throw this out there:

Kyle Korver’s first 9 games played at Creighton-

52 points (5.8 ppg), 21 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals, 38% from the field, 11 threes, 31% on threes

Rylan Murry’s first 9 games played at UNO-

65 points (7.2 ppg), 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 54% from the field, 11 threes, 46% on threes

So let’s just say there is a chance to build on the resume….Also in a stats class at UNO I learned how to compare athletes at different levels and see what their comparable worth was.  I thought to myself, I’d never need that to work in Marketing, no sense in keeping this skill in my head.

Anyway, I started looking at Murry’s highlight reels, and I’m thinking this guy can play, this could be UNO’s first legitimate D-1 recruit, but what does that mean?  Keep in mind, at this time, I didn’t know if we should classify CJ Carter as a D-1 recruit because he didn’t have any other D-1 offers (though I’ve heard many rumors that he had an offer to Wichita State), Marcus Tyus had yet to play a game and didn’t have any other D-1 offers reported on the interwebs, Justin Simmons and Alex Phillips had also yet to play a game, but they were only going to be at UNO for 2 seasons.  Murry picked UNO over Central Michigan and South Dakota, so it was like, someone actually picked UNO over someone else.  It was a new feeling for sure.

Then it turns out he is selected All-State in Iowa.  I think there is more merit being all-state in Iowa in basketball as compared to Nebraska.  It’s a bigger talent pool in Iowa for basketball.  Not saying that guys like Josh Dotzler, Antoine Young, Akoy Agau, Tre’Shawn Thurman, or Khyri Thomas would never be able to be All State in Iowa, they certainly would be.  Historically Iowa’s high school talent pool is filled with:  Kirk Hinrich, Nick Collison, Doug McDermott, Harrison Barnes, Kyle Korver, Ricky Davis, Fred Hoiberg, and Raef LaFrentz.  Nebraska’s is basically just Erick Strickl and Bob Boozer.  Boozer, Omaha named a street after Bob Boozer, the most worthless street in the entire city.  My wife was a D-1 softball player at Belmont, she is from the Pacific Northwest, basically a mecca for softball recruiting.  Some of the girls on Belmont’s roster were All State in softball in Tennessee and she claimed that those girls wouldn’t have been on the JV team at her high school.  I don’t really know where I was going with this, I think I just wanted to brag about my wife.  Something about states having bigger talent pools…

At this point, I started following all of UNO’s potential recruits on twitter to see if they would say anything about where they would go to college.  I quickly learned to not do that.  Aside from it being slightly creepy, do you you know what high school dudes talk about?  They talk about stuff that a guy in his mid-20s doesn’t care about.  Math is stupid, girls don’t get you, we get that you go to the gym, and yes Kevin Durant is freaking sweet but thanks for filling us in.  Rylan Murry is tweeting sarcastic insults at people he knows, how good at golf he is, pokemon is cool (haha), constant video gaming, and claiming he is a hipster.  A hipster basketball player?  Is this the world’s first?  I don’t know how true of a hipster you can be AND be a division one athlete, but it kind of makes sense for Murry I suppose.  When he’s on the court the other Mavs are playing to the rhythm of Eminem’s “The Way I am,” and Murry is asking if they can turn it to “Skinny Love” by Bon Iver, or any one of the 25 different artists that have done that song.  Is The Way I am still cool?  I’m not into rap.  

Part of me is surprised that Murry didn’t try and stay in Seattle when the Mavs played there.  The Pacific Northwest is a hipster’s paradise.  My work has an office in downtown Portland, and I was walking to work while I was there and I walked by a camp gear shop in which ALL the camp gear was designed in plaid.  If that’s not hipster, I’m not sure if I have the correct definition of hipster.  I have hipster friends, so I wouldn’t be too surprised to run into Murry at Legend’s comic book/coffee shop near UNO’s campus trading pokemon cards and trying to get in on the next Dungeons and Dragons contest.  This may sound like I’m making fun of Rylan Murry, but I’m not, I think it’s bad ass.

When the 2013-2014 season started, I see that Murry wasn’t going to be playing.  Okay, makes sense, lets have him for three years of eligibility instead of just two years, I was thinking.  We’ve got Karhoff, Hagerbaumer, Rostampour, and Krych to weather this storm of ineligibility.  I’d watch his shots in warm ups and could see he could clearly shoot, handle the ball a little even.  We’ll have that 6’7″ kid from Iowa next year who can shoot the three, that should help.

At the start of the 2014-2015 season, I see Rylan Murry sitting toward the end of the bench.  I felt like I was shot down, like, oh maybe he is a bust.  I’m wrong, what the hell do I know about anything in this crazy world…I went all hipster.  I’ve realized it too, I’ve paid so much attention to Rylan Murry that I’ve become the world’s worst uncle.  Murry finally gets on the court and my friend instantly says, “who is this kid, he looks goofy.”  Yeah, he kind of sticks out, like maybe he’s the team’s accountant, cashier, or they picked him up from the mail room.  I become defensive, like I am actually this kid’s relative, just watch man, he’ll do something cool, like that little Asian guy sitting in the corner of the mafia brawl.  That’s a Simpsons reference.  When Tre’Shawn Thurman committed to UNO, I instantly wondered if he and Rylan Murry would get along, that’s how odd I’ve become.

By the way, have you ever seen that old SNL sketch with Martin Lawrence as the 12th man for the New Jersey Nets?  I think I’m one of six people that have seen it and remember it.  He’s at the end of the bench and he’s talking about how he never gets in, he has a portable television that he watches other games on, eats a bucket of fried chicken, and tries to talk to the new 11th man on how to deal with the end of the bench.  I was hoping that’s not what Murry would become, like we’d look and see him in his Rivers Cuomo glasses trying to trade pokemon cards, bragging about how he just won some new pogs with his freaking sweet slammer, playing a game on his Nintendo DS, and eating a burrito.  Actually when I think about it, being the 12th man doesn’t sound all that bad.

Murry picks up a few fouls, hey man, you’re making me look like a fool.  A few plays later, he gets the ball and just drains a three.   My friend begins to pay attention.  Time goes buy, and we’re also sitting with this guy who is huge into Nebraska high school basketball and he’s talking about how there are some kids from Nebraska that should be on UNO instead of “number eleven.”  About ten seconds later, Murry knocks down another three.  Was he listening?  Let’s just keep talking crap about Rylan Murry, he’ll hit like five threes a game.

So what do we have here?  A 6’7″ guy that shoot threes, not every team has that, but they exist.  We’ll just stuff him in the corner, and a driving Carter or Patterson will kick it out to him for an open three.  That’s worth six points a game.  I was kind of thinking that’s what Murry was going to be as a freshman, just someone who was going to take 95% of his shots as threes, kind of a bigger version of Kaleb Korver.  Then I’m watching Omaha play Nebraska, and Murry is about 15 feet away from the basket and recognizes he has space to the lane, and puts the ball to the court and gets a running floater over Shavon Shields (if memory serves me correctly).  Wait, what did he just do?  Then against Nevada, he puts the ball to the floor a few times and goes to the basket, makes some unexpected passes.  Can this guy do a little bit of everything offensively?  Do we really have two 6’7″ freshmen that can shoot the three and drive to the basket?  More offensive moves will come (for him, Thurman, Meyer, and Newsome), more rebounding will come, and the threes will continue.  He has claimed to be “cash” from three.  Is that new lingo?  Is “The Cashier” an appropriate nick name?

Hoping that Rylan Murry is going to be the UNO Korver, the Iowan shooter that will take us to the next level may be much, and I certainly don’t want to put that pressure on a person.  I do hope he continues to work, make big time threes, and has a successful career as a UNO Maverick.  Along with the Thurman, Meyer, and Newsome, he’s a smart player.  None of them are the guys you see on television missing dunks, dribbling the ball out of bounds off their knee, they’ll all be playing within themselves and not trying to do too freaking much to look cool.

Mavericks win could start something here

acroth86 Uncategorized , , ,

I’ve never been so bummed from a UNO basketball win.  Why am I so bummed?  I’m glad I asked myself.

I’m currently working a seasonal job at Omaha Steaks for a little extra money to help pay for all the traveling my wife and I did this past year.  The only schedule I could choose that would work out with my full time job is going to force me to miss out on a few UNO games.  I may or may not get off from Omaha Steaks early enough on Tuesday to catch the game on ESPN 3, which I’m clearly hoping for getting off work early.

Anyway, Tuesday night my friend calls me when I’m done at Omaha Steaks and offers me two free tickets to go to the Nebraska football game.  I’ve been living in Nebraska for 27 out of 28 years of my life and I have never been to a Nebraska football game, so I say hell yes without even thinking.  I quickly remember that UNO basketball is on television on Saturday.  I come up with this plan to check the UNO stats on my phone during the Husker game and then head to a bar to watch the second half of UNO-Marquette.

I’m standing there watching the Minnesota Gophers come back on Nebraska, there was a play in the 2nd half when the Huskers are 2nd and 1 and they call a 7 step drop back pass for Tommie Armstrong who gets sacked and it’s now 3rd and 9, they don’t convert the 4th and right there I figured to myself that Minnesota had enough momentum to win this game.  So that’s when I start looking up the UNO stats and I see UNO is up by 5 with a little to go in the first half.  I’m just standing there thinking to myself – Shit, I’m missing what could come out to be the biggest win in UNO’s short D1 history.  All so I could be standing at this embarrassment of a Nebraska football game and wonder if I should ever come back as there could now be a slight possibility that I am the Nebraska football bad luck guy.  You don’t want to be that guy.

So the Nebraska  game ends and my friends and I head out of Memorial Stadium, which is the quietest I have ever seen 90,000 people.  It was like walking out of a funeral, a funeral that no one had respect for the dead since they dressed in red Husker jackets and one guy was even dressed as a pirate, but still the quiet feel of a funeral.  We get to a bar, we ask for them to turn to the UNO game, the hipster bartender asks “Who?”  The Marquette game is what we have to claim.  The bartender searches the television and the bar doesn’t have the channel.  So yes, instead of getting to watch UNO’s win over Marquette I had to sit in a bar and watch the stats go by.  That is why I am bummed.

Before the start of the season I didn’t really think Marquette would be that good of a team.  They have no size, a first year coach, not much depth, and not a great deal of experience.  So early on I thought that UNO had a chance, even if they were picked as a 17 point underdog.  When I saw Jake White was going to be out, I thought the chances for a UNO win dropped.  I thought it took away a lot of UNO’s experience and size.  But freshmen forwards Tre’Shawn Thurman and Rylan Murry stepped up in his absence.  At Seattle, Thurman got his first start and had 10 points and 8 rebounds, Murry came off the bench for 10 points and three rebounds.  At Marquette, Thurman had 12 and 7 while Murry had 10 and 2.  Two freshmen came in played big in when UNO really needed it.  They combined for 9-11 from the floor in an environment they had ever reason to combine for 3-11.  These two guys are going to be sick in a few years.  I hear sick is a good thing now.

Marquette isn’t at their best right now, but it’s still Marquette and it was in Milwaukee.  Marquette is a big name, they consistently play in the tournament, and Dwayne Freaking Wade played at Marquette.  I hope Gabrielle Union gave him crap for it.  Also UNO’s older cousin down the street plays in the same conference, so it makes a statement that maybe UNO could hang with Creighton finally.  Also, with UNO topping a big name it makes the upcoming UNO-Nebraska matchup far more interesting to people around Nebraska.  Early on the locals thought Nebraska would just steam roll the Mavericks, that thought isn’t on people’s minds right now.  The Huskers slow starts in an exhibition game and then against Central Arkansas has taken away some confidence Nebrasketball fans.  Also, with a little momentum behind the Mavericks, they’re not looking to top their program’s biggest win just a few days later for an even bigger win.

I don’t think there was much excitement about UNO-Nebraska a few years ago when the teams met up in Lincoln.  UNO was pretty fresh into D1 and Nebraskans didn’t know how good Tim Miles was really was at that point, nor did they have high expectations in his first season.  Nebraska also has Terrran Petteway and Walter Pitchford redshirting.  This game, Petteway could be playing on a bad ankle and the Huskers tallest player, Pitchford, has no desire to play in the paint.  Mike Rostampour is going to eat that up.  UNO also just shot 57% on the road against a Big East team and Nebraska is coming off 36% shooting against an Atlantic 10 team, ad they also shot 15% from downtown.  UNO also has an experienced back court that each had 22+ points in each of their wins.

This stretch of games could be some of the most important stretch UNO has ever had as far as marketing their program.  A win at Marquette, an exciting match up at Nebraska, a home game against a somewhat big name Nevada, and an away game at Kansas State – who compares pretty well to Marquette in terms of size and experience.  If UNO can get a couple more wins in this stretch, the seats are going to get a little more full in Ralston.  I may not be able to buy 9 dollar seats and then sit wherever the hell I want due to an empty arena.  The Mavericks are making some noise, it’s starting to getting louder in Omaha.