There isn't a whole lot of negative in Tuesday night's performance. I mean sure, we certainly didn't play perfectly. Teams rarely do, much less in an early-season contest in November, and particularly considering the immense youth of this squad.

But the end result is all that you can ask for, and the first half was even better. A 32-point lead at halftime is pretty difficult to top, regardless of just how poor the opponent shoots (12% for FGCU, in case you were wondering, in the first half) or the talent differential or any of that. It is simply impressive.

And so, these comments tend to shade on the positive side. I mean, I suppose I could go all nit-picky on y'all and try and find the negativity amongst the game, but I would have to search quite hard. If you want more critical analysis, just wait for Monday and Tuesday's recaps in the CBE Finals. Those shouldn't quite be as rosy, no matter the outcome. Unless, of course, we are winning by 32 points again at halftime. Then, my optimism will lose all bounds.

• Of all the freshmen, it is painfully obvious that one Tyshawn Taylor is the most developed of the bunch. In Game #1 against UMKC, he made plenty of freshman mistakes and seemed out-of-control at times, like it was all just too much for him to handle. And then, last night, he completely evolved into, as my dad put it, "a sophomore". He looked as if he had been doing this for awhile, making awesome pass after awesome pass and playing awesome defense. In my post breaking down the perimeter rotation, I likened him to Sherron Collins. I would like to semi-renege that statement, as I think he possesses a little bit of ol' Super Mario as well. Maybe it's just the nostalgia of the '15' on the back of the jersey, but he has that flair that Mario always seemed to have. Whichever ex-or-current Jayhawk you want to compare him to, he clearly deserves a spot in the starting lineup. Oh, and thanks should go to Tom Crean for his decision to take the job at Indiana; without that, Tyshawn Taylor is a Marquette Eagle right now.
  
• My personal favorite freshman, however, is easily Travis Releford. Absolutely love the kid. He's gritty. He 'knows how to play the game'. Put simply, he's 'a basketball player'. He's all of those stupid qualities assigned to not-so-talented baseball players who 'do the little things right'. In basketball, though, it's different. In the team atmosphere, it is crucial to have a guy like him. He plays tough defense. He takes charges. He makes the extra pass. He, as Reid Gettys said, provides a spark off the bench. And, as much as it pains me to say, that is exactly where he should stay. I would love for him to start, but he could be even more valuable coming off the pine, and, honestly, there isn't too much room for him left in the starting lineup with the emergence of Tyshawn Taylor.
  
• Because, I think the other wing starter has to be Tyrel Reed. Has to. We badly need an outside, three-pont shooting presence on this team. Really, it is the only painstakingly obvious need in the starting lineup. Sherron Collins is a fine shooter, but he shouldn't be the best pure shooter in any starting lineup. And I already think Sherron is taking too many pull-up jumpers anyways, so why encourage him to shoot some more. No, let's just slot in Reed instead of Morningstar and everyone's happy. He has an awesome three-point stroke, and I still think that he is a better all-around defensive player than current starter Brady Morningstar. Honestly. So, please, Bill, start Tyrel. We're just a better team, that way.
• Quintrell Thomas. Ouch. I expected 'Trell to come in and start piling up the rebounds and impress on the defensive side of the ball. Yet, he has looked the worst of all the freshmen, and he has continually looked lost out there on the court. I mean, with how thin our frontcourt is he will continue to get chances to impress, but he certainly has yet to look good for any consistent period of time thus far.
• The Morris Twins, however, seem to improve every time they step onto the floor. I mean, they even play better after taking a break on the bench and talking to some assistant coaches. Remember that they haven't had nearly the amount of time to work with Danny Manning that the other big guys have had, and get a little more excited. Then recall the flashes both twins are showing in greater flashes, particularly their insane rebounding abilities. First, Markieff pulled down 15 boards against UMKC. Then, last night, Marcus pulled down 10 boards. While it is probably bad to put them together like this, it is inevitable that they will be compared and contrasted against each other, given their resemblance and twinhood and all.
  
• One more quick note. Conner Teahan? Nuh-uh. I understand why he's having some problems, as he's playing the 4 when Self wants to give multiple bigs a rest, and it is quite obvious that he doesn't fit in there well. At all. But still, I figured that he would at least compete for some early playing time, and not simply be relegated to Matt Kleinmann territory. Oh, and this is probably sad, but I still never remember which 'n' in Kleinmann's name has the two consecutive 'n's'.
  

More basketball-type discussion upcoming in the next couple of days. We are in basketball season, and I have to say I'm looking forward to it after the rather disappointing football season.

When this whole story idea first got started up, I was set to make a rough comparison between last season's National Championship squad and this year's unit. Obviously, there would be significant gaps in many of the comparisons, with the incredible youth in this year's team as opposed to last year's largely veteran team. And honestly, even looking at it player-by-player, as I likely would have, there are few similarities. For one, it is entirely too early to begin comparing young freshman who have played all of one regular season game to National Championship-winning, currently-professional athletes. Way too early. 

Of course, this doesn't mean there are some early comparisons to be made. For instance, I have taken to calling Quintrell Thomas "Darnell", because their styles of play are eerily similar. Of course, and we'll get into this later, Quintrell can't hit the freebies nearly as well as D-Block did (in fact, Darnell was, at times, the best free throw shooter on the team). I also tend to liken Travis Releford to a poor man's Brandon Rush, although that is more of just a general feeling as opposed to actually closely comparing the two respective styles.

With all of that said, here is a quick breakdown of how the rotation should work itself out. There won't be a whole lot of player analysis and all of that fun jazz, I will do that as we continue to progress through the non-conference season, but merely a general semblance of how our rotation figures to break down.

I hestiate to offer a specific definition of the qualifications required to enter into the rotation, and it is largely a subjective measure. And so, merely accept the definition of being part of the rotation as merely earning enough minutes to have an impact on a game over a consistent basis.

Vague enough for you? OK, then good, let's get down to it, then.

Actual breaking down after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

I am currently in the process of writing multiple basketball-related stories, so hopefully those can be completed today and tomorrow.

Pay particularly close attention to the freshmen; each and every game, there should be noticeable improvement, at least by some of the players.

Hopefully the first half turns out better this time around.

Pay-Per-View.

A must-win game.

A win here lets us lose next week to Texas and still have a chance at winning the Big 12 North.

Let's get it on, boys.

In order to get some more information on the Nebraska Cornhuskers, who we'll be taking on this afternoon, I asked the fine folks over at Corn Nation some questions. The questions follow, and make sure and check back at CN for plenty of awesome content.

RCT: Is Bo Pelini the guy to get Nebraska back to dominance? And, on a similar note, how impressed have you with been him thus far?

CN: Only a few games in, he sure says the right things and appears to be doing the right things but that’s nothing more than a honeymoon. I feel confident that Pelini will be a good coach for Nebraska. In last week’s Oklahoma game, we were down 28-0 within the first six minutes. If Nebraska fans had previously thought Pelini would bring a quick fix, that was proof , but he has a lot of work to do.

RCT: Nebraska hasn't lost to Kansas in 40 years, but the Kansas team of the past two years is different than just about every other team that has made the trip up to Lincoln. Are Husker fans expecting a win based off history, or realizing that Kansas is a different team and merely 'hoping' for a win?

CN: So many streaks have disappeared in the last few years that anyone expecting a win off history is just awakening from a coma or a complete loonie. I don’t know if it’s hoping for a win as much as it is the realization that if we play like we’re capable of playing we will win the game.

That’s the biggest problem with the Huskers right now. They’re inconsistent. It’s like they’re schizophrenic - at times they look like world beaters, then a play or two later they revert back to last year.

RCT: Besides Joe Ganz and Marlon Lucky, who is the best player on the Nebraska offense?

CN: Nate Swift. He’s comparable to Kerry Meier. He’s not the fastest, not the most athletic guy, he just makes plays. He’s set the all-time school record for receptions and may also set it in yardage this season. http://www.cornnation.com/2008/10/27/646939/nebraska-s-nate-swift-reco

You may want to pay attention to sophomore running back Roy Helu. He’s explosive, hits the holes (when they’re there) fast and has been doing better on the ground than Lucky this season.

RCT: You played toe-to-toe with Texas Tech by holding on to the ball and dominating time of possession. Do you think that is going to be the strategy again Saturday afternoon? If not, then what will it be?

CN: Same strategy again. I’d rather not see us get into a shoot out with the Jayhawks. We have a good offense, but we don’t have an explosive, playmaking receiver. We have possession guys and we can control the clock when we’re not making mistakes. That’s the route to a win.

RCT: If Nebraska wins, it will be because of:

CN: near-perfect execution. That means eliminating stupid mistakes like personal foul penalties and turnovers. Both of those things cost us games against Virginia Tech and Texas Tech.

RCT: Prediction, please.

CN: I can see this being a mirror of the Texas Tech game. We did that on the road in Lubbock which isn't an easy place to play so we should be able to do it at home. And KU's defense is susceptible to our offense.
Nebraska 34, Kansas 31

Let's get it on.

It certainly wasn't a fantastic debut. Obviously, this season is going to be jam-packed with ups-and-downs, because of the immense youth on our team. And that was what was hyped coming into last night; the seven incoming recruits, including five freshman, who all figure to vie for playing time early. Those seven, plus the returning contributors in Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, were hyped as the players who would carry us through the tribulations of the season.

Yet, on this feaux opening night, in a game that means absolutely nothing to the vast majority of those in the stands and not much more to the players, there were two people who stood out over all others. And they were niether a returning 'contributor' from last season nor an incoming recruit. No, it was Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar who stood above all others, clearly staking out an early lead in the season's MVP race.

In the ten-or-so-minutes of game action I saw, as pixellated and hard-to-see as it was (I saw it on the internet via someone putting a webcam in front of the TV set, so you can imagine), it was clear that those two, the Kansas kids, played better than all others. And this is their shot. Hate to sound harsh or anything, but this is likely the make-or-break moment in both of their careers. Sure, both will be able to come off the bench late in blowouts and, if there's an injury or two, work themselves into a short-term rotation, but if they want to play a particularly significant role in Bill Self's rotation at any point in their collegiate careers, now is the time. When we only have nailed down two starters, neither of which have ever consistently started before in their careers, it is quite the opportune time for Morningstar or, particularly, Reed, to step up and stake a claim. We are searching for a #2/wing-style player to match up with SC in the backcourt, and if Reed keeps on playing like he did Tuesday night, he is as good-a-guy as any to end up starting. They are obviously the current favorites, given them starting on Tuesday night, and both only could have improved their stock. Reed scored 16 points on five three pointers in 29 minutes, while Morningstar scored 15 points in those same 29 minutes.

Well, I suppose they didn't deliver the two best performances. That would have to go to Mr. Sherron Collins, who showed up in a big way. Considering that he is the most important player on this team, that was kind of important. A healthy, lightweight Sherron Collins combined with some simple progress from the young players and just one-or-two recruit breaking out makes us a contender for the Big 12. No healthy, not-so-lightweight Sherron Collins and start hoping and praying. 22 points, 7 assists and a team-leading 30 minutes is a line we can hopefully get used to.

Cole Aldrich had a pretty decent game, I suppose. 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks. Nothing too special, nothing too flashy, but awfully important to a team that has, literally, no other proven post presence. He will need help eventually, but I think we can make it through the early-season slate with him alone as our post presence.

Moving beyond that, the game was all about the freshmen. Well, the freshmen and incoming JUCO recruit Tyrone Appleton. None played particularly well, although I suppose Quintrell Thomas had the best game of the bunch. He has Darnell Jackson written all over him, simply a rebounder who can play really solid defense and score when needed. 10 points and 6 rebounds is solid, and I would not be surprised to see him starting along with Cole come November 16th and the season opener.

The Morris twins, Marcus and Markieff, did not play well, combining for only 8 points on 3-9 shooting and 5 rebounds. Still, they showed up later than all of the other recruits, so hopefully they are simply still learning. And all that fun stuff.

Tomorrow, we'll get more into rotation business and stuff. For now, though, just remember this: Tyrel Reed is going to start for awhile. And I'm a big fan.