2008 Woodie Awards
Vote Absentee
Men's basketball team makes progress despite unfamiliarity, height issues
Jonathan Crowl
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
| |
|
As it is with most things, that will come with time.
Still, the Huskers head into their second game of the season with a vastly different lineup than the year before, and a simple goal.
"To win," said NU center Aleks Maric. "Every team, the goal is to win. We've got to control teams … we're a quick team, very athletic and like to play defense up in your face."
Maric is the obvious cornerstone of this team. Selected to the Big 12 Conference's first team this preseason by the league's coaches, Nebraska's only senior provides valuable leadership at both ends of the court. His experience is sure to play a role as the season wears on, particularly into the conference season.
The team spent much of the summer acquainting the returning Huskers with the players new to town. After his sophomore year, Maric spent part of his summer in Australia trying out for the Australian Senior National Team. This past offseason, his sole time commitment was to the Huskers and improving himself for one final collegiate season.
"I worked on my all-around game, basically," Maric said. "Anywhere from inside moves to outside moves, obviously my body, trying to get my body stronger and leaner."
While Nebraska spent its summer working to improve its cohesiveness on the court, the process is difficult to rush. In two exhibition games and one regular-season game, the team has shown more struggles on the offensive end, where the Huskers have struggled to put up points.
That problem's best remedy, according to Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler, is time.
"Anytime you have as many new guys as we've got, it's going to take time," Sadler said. "They've made it a little bit easier with the work ethic and their attitudes each day in practice.
"It's a whole new team basically playing with each other, so it's not a matter of one or two guys. We're having to find a way to get everybody involved, so it's definitely a work in progress, but I do think we're making progress."
The Huskers look loaded for the future, having 13 freshmen and sophomores on the team this year. Two new additions to the team, freshman guard Cookie Miller and junior Ade Dagunduro, have already found their way into the starting lineup.
Along with Maric, returning sophomores Jay-R Strowbridge and Ryan Anderson fill out the starting five. Anderson established himself as a solid contributor for the Huskers last season, averaging 10.1 points and 4.6 rebounds per game as a freshman.
Anderson can expect his workload to increase this season. Although listed as a guard at 6-foot-4, he played most of last season at the power forward position. The team's overall height deficiency could come to hurt the Huskers more as they move into the Big 12 season against larger opponents.
The height issues don't end there, either. Both Strowbridge and Miller are shorter than six feet, and Miller is 5-foot-7. Among his fellow starters, Maric stands half a foot above the second-tallest player, Dagunduro, who is 6-foot-5.
But what the Nebraska backcourt lacks in height, it makes up for in speed.
"A lot of these guys are a lot quicker than me, and they're able to get around me sometimes," Dagunduro said of practicing with his shorter teammates.
At any rate, Nebraska's offensive troubles are more related to the players' unfamiliarity with each other than any disadvantage in height. But the most noticeable area for improvement thus far in an early season has been the Huskers' occasional lapses in intensity, which have run counter to their performance in practice.
"The thing we've got to do is carry over our intensity and the way we play in practice more into our games," Sadler said. "I don't think we've had the same intensity in games as we've had in practice.
"They're not there yet, no. But are we getting closer? No question about it."
JONATHANCROWL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM
Be the first to comment on this story