Nebraska Game Thread

[jays911]

I can’t figure the Kalk plan, either. He was fine against Purdue’s dual big men, one of whom was 7-4. The Huskers big guy was just a thug. I agree that Mac and staff should have had a better plan. The refs were awful, but our execution was the real problem.

[Jaysfan100]

This was a strange game and I don’t understand it. Nebraska is well Nebraska. They are average but shouldn’t be beating us by 11 at home. 2 years ago we had kalk playing with mono so it makes sense he didn’t score that much. But tonight I don’t understand at all. Last year we beat this team with their Star 3 point shooter in their building by 30.

Tonight we had pop with 25, Ash with 16, Neal with 10 and Andrews with 8. That seems like enough from what probably is are starting line up minus kalk. But kalk scores 4? One a 3. He’s a 5th year preseason big East player of the year. He scored near 50 in the opening game. There is no way he wasn’t getting touches and only scoring 4 points against a team that will at the most make the NIT.

I’m just shocked. My best guess is maybe kalk is sick again or got hurt in practice . Just idk something . But beyond that, I think it’s best Issac T take over the back up 5. I haven’t been impressed with him these 2 seasons and the only time he seemed to help in a big game was at the 5 last year vs S Hall. We need to get green back at the 4. That’s where he’s good, he’s not a 3. Sadly Mason has remained the same, I guess he is who he is.

[jaysfor3]

I wasn't at all shocked about the Corn winning...why?
1. Creighton is still figuring a lot out about their transfer and freshman players.
2. The Corn has more of a veteran team, despite a mix of some transfer players.
3. The UTRGV game (the best team prior to the Corn that CU played, gulp), Kalk had to score 49 for us to win.
4. The Corn needed this win more than Creighton at this point in time as it's a Q1 non-con win for them, their last chance I believe before conf play.
5. Obviously, and rightfully so, they have more of a "chip on their shoulder" having been dominated by CU for the last 2 decades, and they played like it.
6. The #15 ranking was out of respect for what CU achieved over recent years, w. Kalk returning, not about any achievements this team achieved.

I could go on, but I'll finish up by saying that...

Although I am not at all shocked by the Corn winning this year, I am surprised that Mac and the coaches didn't have a better game plan to win against the Corn. Surely he knows all of the points I made above, so why didn't he and the coaches have a solid counter plan developed should the Corn (or any team for that matter) bottle up Kalk?

Based upon the small sample prior to the Corn, the UTRGV game should have been "Exhibit 1A" that if you take away #11, Creighton could be doomed as there aren't 2 future NBA players (Baylor and Trey) to take over at this point.

I am a huge fan of Mac and our coaches on several levels, but this wasn't an example of one of their better pieces of work for game plan preparation and player readiness knowing the kind of punches the Corn would likely throw and in particular planning against the possibility of taking #11 out of the game. Creighton's coaches must develop and extensively practice a counter plan for that possibility going forward as other teams are going to try to replicate what the Corn did.

IMHO, turning this around and achieving similar, recent year's type of success, will be one of Mac's biggest challenges during his tenure here, and even more so now that Ashworth is out for awhile it appears. Buckle up as it could be really bumpy and Go Jays!

[Duke1Agn]

With Ashworth out, it’s going to be a long season.

At this point, McAndrew is clearly our best option at the 4 and has a huge future. Start him and get him as many minutes as possible before conference play begins. Miller is almost unplayable and Traudt is okay but one dimensional on offense.

I’m not sure Davis is ready to be the primary ball handler yet but I wouldn’t mind if they decide to go that route to keep Pop off ball at the 2.

I wonder if they consider hiring LJ’s redshirt now. We are going to struggle mightily to create any dribble penetration.

[Chicagojayfan]

ugly game all around - poor shooting night, poor ball movement, didn't like the game plans or the rotations either

only panic button item is Ashworth getting hurt in a game that will be meaningless by the time the Conference season starts. Hopefully he's back by then. Hopefully Fedor is allowed to play as we need another shooter/playmaker

[wildjays]

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[drbluejay]

My standout player of the game goes to Pop by default as no one else showed up except Jackson. I feel like crap right now with the way we played and even worst with Ash out for more than just a few games. Our guard position was thin and it just got a lot thinner.

[drbluejay]

Jackson is now our starting 4 man or possibly even starting at the 3 spot depending on how Mac wants to go. We also need good minutes from Ty on both ends of the court with him backing up both Pop and Neal. I can't even guess who plays between Miller, Traudt and Green or what positions they will play. I feel for Ash and hopefully he recovers quickly.

[omajay]

I think our expectation were way too high. We replaced Trey and Baylor with Pop and Neal. Who really thought that was an equal trade? Pop may score as much as Trey, but he can't replace Trey's defense or finishing ability. Neal is a nice role player, but who really expected him to replace Baylor's scoring and rebounding? We downgraded at both positions, and it is not even close to a fair trade. Fans thought Kalk could single handedly lead us to wins. Against good teams, he can't. And, he barely did vs. TRGV. We clearly missed on a few transfers. I am not sure how serious Fidler was on going here. But, he is starting at Michigan State and averaging 12 points in 20 minutes of play. At this point, we clearly should have gone after Tonje a lot harder (not sure if we tried or not). Tonje averages 21 PPG at Wisconsin. Big miss! And who thought having four players who play the 4 is a good idea? I guess you take who you can get.

[NYC-bluejay]

I think our expectation were way too high. We replaced Trey and Baylor with Pop and Neal. Who really thought that was an equal trade? Pop may score as much as Trey, but he can't replace Trey's defense or finishing ability. Neal is a nice role player, but who really expected him to replace Baylor's scoring and rebounding? We downgraded at both positions, and it is not even close to a fair trade. Fans thought Kalk could single handedly lead us to wins. Against good teams, he can't. And, he barely did vs. TRGV. We clearly missed on a few transfers. I am not sure how serious Fidler was on going here. But, he is starting at Michigan State and averaging 12 points in 20 minutes of play. At this point, we clearly should have gone after Tonje a lot harder (not sure if we tried or not). Tonje averages 21 PPG at Wisconsin. Big miss! And who thought having four players who play the 4 is a good idea? I guess you take who you can get.

We don’t have the money to get star players in the transfer portal.