NDSU vs Nevada 11/25

[El_Chapo]

no covid shake line... but they sweat and hang and bang for 40 minutes

NCAA VIRTUE SIGNALERS!

hahaha.

lets beat Nebraska or Crieghton. that'd be fun this weekend

[slips]

We were spoiled with Vinnie and Ward. Unless Carter is Vinnie x2 the Bison are going to have a rough year. We just got boat raced by the #7 team in the MWC and Nebraska the #12 team in the big 10 will likely boat race us by 20 plus.

[bisonfan08]

Bison under Richman always start slow. NOBODY stepped up today. Rockey and/or Griesel have to step up on this team on O. Neither came close! MHH made horrible decisions all day and Nelson could not finish, pass or dribble at this level yet. Skunk looks like he belongs and can contribute early and often. I hope I'm wrong but early signs point to a rebuilding year!....uggg

Literally every season under Richman starts like this and then by time Summit League tournament starts we are playing for championships. Getting Knotek on the floor will help a lot on offense, eventually getting DCIII will also push us in the right direction. Nelson and Witz going 1-8 when only 2 of those came from more than 3 feet from the basket hurt big time.

Positives were I thought we defended well in the half court, just struggled in transition and in the 2nd half I thought we did a good job of getting good shots we just couldn't finish them. I think we have the talent and definitely have great size but going to take a few weeks for everybody to figure out their roles. You'd prefer to have that better defined in practice but seems as though Dave's teams always need a few weeks of regular season play to get dialed in. Even last years team looked bad out of the gate against 3 not very good opponents that we still beat and then lost 2 games to Stony Brook and Utah Valley that we had no business losing and were sitting at 4-3 before they settled in and played well the rest of the way.

[Big Bird]

Pretty rough game to watch, but it was still a game that NDSU could have, maybe even should have, won. My opinion:

Eady- Had some big buckets when nobody was getting buckets. That being said, he was invisible for huge chunks of the game (almost the entire second half). He also struggled to fight through screens, leading to some easy looks.
Griesel- He's fine, but he's stretched thin as your initiator on offense. Problem is, he was the primary ballhandler late in the 2nd. Need him to develop into a better shooter too. Sub 30% 3 point shooter his first two years and didn't look comfortable or fluid from deep today.
Cook- I liked what I saw. He's fast, had a nice stroke and wasn't afraid to put it on the floor. He was solid on D too.
MHH- Probably the most athletic guy on the court today. Needs to finish much better around the rim and tighten his handle. A better outside stroke would be a huge development too. Very active and switchable on D.
Kreuser- Bad game offensively. He was ok on D and pretty good on the glass, but it feels like they're going to need 14ish a game from him on offense and he was nowhere near that today.

Nelson- Really bad game on offense, but he was at least playable on defense. He had a really nice contest at the rim that led to Griesel's big dunk. He needs to add a bunch of weight, really tighten his handle, and probably speed up his release a bit.
Skunberg- I think he is going to score a ton of points in his career. For it being his first game, he looked pretty comfortable taking shots.
Witz- I don't have anything good to say. He did have 7 boards, but Nevada also cleaned the offensive glass in the second when he was in. He was a big negative on offense too.
McKinney- Pretty invisible except for his negative plays. Needs to play a lot better going forward or he'll be out of the rotation.

The question of who is going to get buckets is still the biggest unanswered question for this team. Eady, Skunberg, and Griesel all had moments, but they were far too infrequent. Going forward, have to hope Knotek comes back and provides some juice and Kresuer gives you more inside.

[NDSU92]

Nevada finished #2 in the MW last year correct? Are they a good team?

[fbmind]

In an effort for better conversations on this board, here are some general and what I hope are level-headed observations after seeing this team for the first time (I watched the whole game):

-Regardless of the outcome, it was fun to finally watch some college basketball again.

-Coach Richman and his staff have recruited for "position-less" basketball and that has created a team with a lot of length and athleticism. Time will tell (I will say that a lot), but this team has the pieces to be very good at rebounding and playing defense (was on display for stretches today).

-With the loss of Vinnie, Tyson and Jared and the huge roles they played, a lot of guys have new roles on this team...it will take some time for them to figure out those new roles.

-The biggest role to figure out is who will be the guy or two who take over late in the shot-clock or game when they need a bucket. We all knew that would be the biggest thing to figure out with the loss of Vinnie and Tyson and again, over time, they will need to figure that out.

-Was pleasantly surprised that the lack of a true point guard did not hurt them in terms of getting into and running their offense. That said, still remains to be seen how Sam and Tyree handling a lot of the dribbling duties works when they place a team that pressures more on the defensive end.

INDIVIDUAL PLAY

-With this, I mostly want to focus on the young/new players. Griesel, Eady and Krueser will be the leaders for this team and as expected they had good and bad stretches with their new roles...again it will take time but no reason to believe that they can't grow into those roles.

-Jarius Cook: Cook has really remade his body and his shot. He also competes really hard and is really bought in to the NDSU brand of basketball. Showed some nice flashes today. To be honest, over time could turn into a more athletic version of Samuelson.

-Maleeck Harden-Hayes: Like we saw last year, his length and athleticism are special and were on display a few times today. That being said, he has to learn to finish through contact...he will have a lot of opportunities around the rim this year and he has to complete more of those plays. Over time, Will also need to show that he can knock down an occasional shot or two from the outside.

-Boden Skunberg: I admit I am biased...I think he has a chance to be a really good player (even this year)...very similar to Freidel from SDSU. Has similar traits/game to him and it really showed in the second half. Made a 3 and then came down a trip or two later and wanted the shot and made a tough pull-up...has that mentality where he wants the ball and plays with no fear. Also likes to mix it up on the boards. Nothing about this game dampened my expectations for what he could be this year and beyond.

-Desmond McKinney: Only "true" PG right now (probably more of a combo at this point) without Carter, so he needs to get some minutes in case they need him. Right now, not sure he can do much more than provide a ball-handler at this point. Not very big and limited offensively at this point. But again, will need to get him some minutes early in the year and over time hope that he can settle in and find a role where they can count on him for 8-12 minutes a game.

-Grant Nelson: Saved Nelson for last because honestly he was the biggest surprise to me. His stat line isn't very impressive (0 pts, 3TO), but he showed some really good things that don't show up in the stat line. His length and athleticism are really legit and made me do a double-take a few times. He really affected some shots on the defensive end, kept rebounds alive and showed an ability to not only handle the ball, but make moves while doing it (even though a couple of them turned out bad). Yes he didn't finish and yes some of them resulted in ugly TOs, but the potential for this guy to turn into a big-time player in the Summit is there. He still needs to add 15-20 pounds and adjust to the speed of the game...but this is a guy that over time could be a really solid contributor at some point this season. Overall, really impressed by the two ND kids and what the future holds.

That's it...will try to give a similar take after the Nebraska game.

[ByeSonBusiness]

Give the keys to Skunberg lmao lets go pump it up Richman

[JohnnyExtacy]

Team did ok I thought without it's starting backcourt. Both Carter and Knotek are going to be needed on offense for this team to score. I think the next couple games will be ugly but I like the length of the team and they all play hard.

I really think Skunkberg and Nelson are going to be really good players. NDSU has 4 really good and promising underclassmen in Nelson, Skunkberg, Cook, and Harden-Hayes. I'm not really sure if Odell Wilson is going to have a role in this program moving forward.

[HoopsBison]

Going to be some growing pains with this young group but what an opportunity these young guys have to get game minutes and not lose a year. I think this team will need to hunt shots faster this year. Not sure there is a guy on the roster that really excels late in the shot clock. It will help when we can move Sam off the ball and get him back to his normal spot. Knotek injury is nothing serious and will likely have him back this weekend.

Exciting to think about some of these young guys down the road if they can devolop, not to mention you throw Morgan into this group next year.

As for the game, losing sucks. Certainly dont think Nevada is near as strong as they have been these last few years. Gonna be hard for us to win when Rocky only scores 6.

[slips]

In an effort for better conversations on this board, here are some general and what I hope are level-headed observations after seeing this team for the first time (I watched the whole game):

-Regardless of the outcome, it was fun to finally watch some college basketball again.

-Coach Richman and his staff have recruited for "position-less" basketball and that has created a team with a lot of length and athleticism. Time will tell (I will say that a lot), but this team has the pieces to be very good at rebounding and playing defense (was on display for stretches today).

-With the loss of Vinnie, Tyson and Jared and the huge roles they played, a lot of guys have new roles on this team...it will take some time for them to figure out those new roles.

-The biggest role to figure out is who will be the guy or two who take over late in the shot-clock or game when they need a bucket. We all knew that would be the biggest thing to figure out with the loss of Vinnie and Tyson and again, over time, they will need to figure that out.

-Was pleasantly surprised that the lack of a true point guard did not hurt them in terms of getting into and running their offense. That said, still remains to be seen how Sam and Tyree handling a lot of the dribbling duties works when they place a team that pressures more on the defensive end.

INDIVIDUAL PLAY

-With this, I mostly want to focus on the young/new players. Griesel, Eady and Krueser will be the leaders for this team and as expected they had good and bad stretches with their new roles...again it will take time but no reason to believe that they can't grow into those roles.

-Jarius Cook: Cook has really remade his body and his shot. He also competes really hard and is really bought in to the NDSU brand of basketball. Showed some nice flashes today. To be honest, over time could turn into a more athletic version of Samuelson.

-Maleeck Harden-Hayes: Like we saw last year, his length and athleticism are special and were on display a few times today. That being said, he has to learn to finish through contact...he will have a lot of opportunities around the rim this year and he has to complete more of those plays. Over time, Will also need to show that he can knock down an occasional shot or two from the outside.

-Boden Skunberg: I admit I am biased...I think he has a chance to be a really good player (even this year)...very similar to Freidel from SDSU. Has similar traits/game to him and it really showed in the second half. Made a 3 and then came down a trip or two later and wanted the shot and made a tough pull-up...has that mentality where he wants the ball and plays with no fear. Also likes to mix it up on the boards. Nothing about this game dampened my expectations for what he could be this year and beyond.

-Desmond McKinney: Only "true" PG right now (probably more of a combo at this point) without Carter, so he needs to get some minutes in case they need him. Right now, not sure he can do much more than provide a ball-handler at this point. Not very big and limited offensively at this point. But again, will need to get him some minutes early in the year and over time hope that he can settle in and find a role where they can count on him for 8-12 minutes a game.

-Grant Nelson: Saved Nelson for last because honestly he was the biggest surprise to me. His stat line isn't very impressive (0 pts, 3TO), but he showed some really good things that don't show up in the stat line. His length and athleticism are really legit and made me do a double-take a few times. He really affected some shots on the defensive end, kept rebounds alive and showed an ability to not only handle the ball, but make moves while doing it (even though a couple of them turned out bad). Yes he didn't finish and yes some of them resulted in ugly TOs, but the potential for this guy to turn into a big-time player in the Summit is there. He still needs to add 15-20 pounds and adjust to the speed of the game...but this is a guy that over time could be a really solid contributor at some point this season. Overall, really impressed by the two ND kids and what the future holds.

That's it...will try to give a similar take after the Nebraska game.

Pretty good analysis for the most part. I disagree with MHH and Nelson however. Nelson was totally out of his league. Only positive thing he did all game was snag a few rebounds from Kreuser. His shot selection sucked, his defense sucked, he had multiple opportunities to finish around the rim and finished 0. Kid has potential and will likely be an integral part of the team a few years down the road but he is going to take his lumps now. MHH was also very disappointing around the rim. He starred the set defender in the eye, took two dribbles and barreled straight Into him. It was the most head scratching play I have seen at any level of basketball EVER. Richman coached teams generally start slow and pick it up as the season goes on. I hope this season is no different but they have a lot of work to do.