Posted by: Jerry Trickie
July 24, 2009 at 2:24 p.m.
They Said It
Obviously there's been a lot of talk this week about the Huskers' Big 12 Conference schedule being released and the new ticket packages that were announced. I hope everyone takes a look at the ticket packages as there is plenty there for everyone to choose from. I know first-hand from talking with the players how much they love having a full house to play in front of and how much harder it makes them play (yes, it's difficult to imagine them playing harder than last year, but if we get a full house on a regular basis, well, you never know).
So, I thought about this week's blog being some kind of breakdown of the schedule and how the Huskers will stack up. It's fun and I know everyone who looks at the schedule does the same thing in their head: This game's a 'W,' that game's an 'L,' etc. Well, instead of that, I decided to put something on here that you'd rather see: the players.
We've had pretty good coverage of Nebraska basketball this summer from the local media, but I'm sure you will always want to hear more from the players. So while Lance and Quincy were doing interviews with the student newspaper on Thursday, I pulled Brandon and Ray aside and did a quick little Q and A for this blog. You're welcome. :)
What areas of your game do you think you’ll be able to help the team the most with this year?
Ray: Just point guard skills. I like to get my team involved. I can hit open shots, and create plays for myself and others. I want to get more people involved.
Brandon: I think we’ll be able to matchup a lot better with Big 12 teams than last year. Everyone is bigger, and you have guys who are not only stronger, but Chris (Niemann), Diaz, Quincy and me, we’re all taller and can help rebound and do a lot of different things to help.
Is that going to be a transition for you, working as a point guard with such taller players than in high school?
Ray: At my high school, we didn’t have any size, so it was really a guard game. Now, here, we work the post (in pickup games). That’s going to be a change, a big change. I’m not used to feeding the post; I’m used to creating and kicking or dishing, but now with the big post guys it’s totally different. As I get stronger more of my game will progress so it’s exciting (to have big guys to work with).
What areas do you need to work on the most?
Brandon: Getting stronger, maybe more athletic so I can play as well as I know I can in the Big 12. I feel I’m pretty athletic, but I still need to improve my core strength and upper body.
Ray: Biggest thing is getting stronger and working on my defense. I want to be more physical, take it to the hoop more and work on my jump shot more. Being physical, I haven’t had to do that much until now and that’s why I need to work on it now. So far it’s been good in the weight room. I’ve put on about seven pounds already this summer, so that’s good.
What have you seen from the team during pickup games?
Brandon: We’re really starting to get used to each other, playing well together. We know what can and can’t do and it’s starting to flow together in games. You can tell a difference even with it being the summer. It’s getting more intense.
Take a minute and break down some of the other new guys.
Brandon: Ray, he’s really super quick, super athletic, he can really shoot the ball, and not only 3s but he has good pull up midrange. Lance, he’s just a big point guard. He can overpower people but he’s still pretty athletic and can shoot the ball. A good player. Quincy is a big guy. He’s strong and can rebound, and he has a nice touch. Diaz, he’s really skilled in the post. He has a lot of different moves he can get inside with, and has a nice touch even out to 3-point range. He’s a really well-rounded player.
Ray: Brandon seems like a shooter. He’s physical and has a good inside game, and can step outside. Lance is a strong ball-handler and is a good shooter for the most part. He’s physical and has heart. Quincy, he’s really physical. I haven’t seen him shoot too much, but he seems to like to go inside and is strong there, someone who can physically play with big guys. Diaz has really good post moves. He scores a lot and is physical and seems like he can get a lot of rebounds.
What are your expectations heading into your first season at Nebraska?
Brandon: I don’t know honestly. There’s a lot that can happen and we have some talent. We’ll see what happens with me personally, but with the team, with the players we have, I can see this being a really good team.
Ray: Work hard and hopefully play. That’s everyone’s goal, so right now I just want to contribute however I can as a freshman. I’d like to be a factor, or a key part to winning games. That’s my goal anyway.
So there you have it. Right from their mouths. We'll add some more in next couple weeks from Quincy and Lance.
Before we go, I wanted to take a minute to say congrats to the team of Andrew Drevo, Charles Richardson Jr., Jason Dourisseau and Paul Velander, who won gold at the recent Cornhusker State Games. All four of those guys are class acts and represent the University and basketball program well. Nice job guys.
Thanks to all who played our trivia contest (and to the winners of the t-shirts) on Wednesday on Twitter. Sign up, follow @NUhoopsblog and next week maybe you could win. During the season we'll have more contests with prizes like media guides, signed posters and who knows, maybe even tickets to a game or two. So sign up and follow us and Doc (@Coach_Sadler).
And as always, if you have any questions for the coaches or players, you can always email them to me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered.
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Posted by: Jerry Trickie
July 16, 2009 at 12:34 p.m.
Odds and Ends and a Size 17 Shoe
I was sitting there last week thinking about what I could write for the blog and how everything I put down seemed to be all the info that I might find for the next week or two. And if that was going to be the case, then it might make it tough to do a weekly blog. But luckily a couple of things have come up that are worthwhile mentioning here, and I found a way to recruit a little help as well.
· First up, camps. The staff had its overnight camp this week and it sounded like things went well. Lot of competition among the younger players, and when I stopped by to snap a few pictures, it seemed like they were all having a great time (granted I was only there about 10 minutes). If you want to see a few pics from Tuesday, here you go.
· I had an email from someone last week asking about the uniforms and if they would change this year. I checked with the Devaney Center equipment managers, who sent along some general comments regarding questions I asked:
o How will the uniforms look different than last year? - The logos and fonts used are consistent from year to year (the “Nebraska” and “N” logos), but a unique look/style is created with each new version. We’ll see you at the Devaney Center on Nov. 6 to see what the new style looks like.
o How often do you try to make a new ‘look’ to uniforms? – The uniform design changes every two years, so the plan is to have the new uniform designs for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons.
o Do you include players’ or coach’s input in the uniform designs? – Yes, definitely. adidas sends some initial designs (2-3 versions of the uniforms and shooting gear), but input from the coaches, players (usually some upperclassmen) and equipment staff is included in the process. Not only do they provide feedback on the look of the uniforms, but also they can decide what fabric they are made of, what kind of fit they want, etc. Based on the designs sent from adidas, the team will provide feedback on what they liked and what they would like changed. Based on this feedback several rounds of artwork will go back and forth until the team approves the design. Once the design is approved, adidas will send samples for the team to look at to approve the look, fabric and fit, and finally after this is approved, the actual uniforms will be produced and sent.
Wow. How’s that for some insight? Well, they didn't say much about the actual look, but that's to be expected as it's supposed to be a nice surprise at the start of the season.
· While I was thinking about it, it made me wonder what else fans may not know about our equipment and the behind-the-scenes things the equipment guys do. Like our team managers, the equipment staff is not seen often in the spotlight, but they’re there all the time for practices (early morning or late at night) and for games, and at times, hours after games. They have a tough job in keeping everyone happy, but they do a great job.
Pat Norris is the equipment manager for the men’s basketball team, and Blake Lange is the women’s basketball equipment manager. Pat took a little time to answer my question of “What’s the craziest thing(s) about your job that people might get a kick hearing about?” Pretty broad question, I know. But he did a great job with this run-down.
Socks – We go through around 400 pairs of socks from the beginning of the school year in August until the end in May. We would definitely go through more, but I get pretty stingy with the socks about mid-January.
Shoes – We’ll get in around 300-325 pairs of shoes, and from August to March about 250-275 will be used. The remaining shoes get used during player-led games/workouts in the summer. We’ll get in around six or seven different styles of basketball shoes throughout the season. You hear complaints about our guys not all wearing the same style of shoes. But we’re lucky enough to have adidas provide us with a wide variety of shoes to make sure each one of our athletes is wearing a basketball shoe that feels good on their foot while they’re out on the court.
Largest shoe this year is a size 17 on Christopher Niemann. I have him listed as a 16, but he does wear 17 in some shoes. He’s got a really wide foot, so we have to order extra wide shoes for him. The smallest shoe is probably in the 10.5-11 range, which is pretty average.
I’ll have to do four loads of laundry after every game. One load is jerseys and shorts, another is warm up tops and the other two are practice gear from shoot-around and their laundry loops that contain undershirts, tights, socks, jocks or whatever additional items they’ve worked out/played in during the course of the day. Those first two loads are always hanged dry; the only way jerseys/shorts/warm-ups touch the dryers is in a situation that calls for immediate drying or when washed on the road. I never trust the dryer setting when doing wash on the road. So, basically, doing laundry on the road scares me.
Other than this I can’t think of many fun facts from the equipment stand point. We’re pretty boring over here in 143 Devaney.
I don’t really think that’s boring actually. I hate doing laundry so having to do four loads a night more than 30 times a year (home and away... Pat says he typically does road game laundry after they get back to Devaney Center) would not please me. And that doesn’t count practices during the week. Keep up the good work Pat, et al.
· I wanted to say congrats to the Tweeters who joined our first two trivia contests. Sign up and follow @NUhoopsblog and the next two Wednesdays during summer camps, we’ll have trivia questions and the winners will get t-shirts. We’ve done it twice and given away three shirts each time. And we have some great fans from afar, as the six winners have consisted of two from Omaha, one from Missouri, one from Illinois, one from Pennsylvania and one from Texas. Now tell me that this isn’t a Husker Nation!
· Now that the Big Monday schedule has been released, I’ve also heard that there’s a good chance the whole conference schedule could be out in the next two weeks. Nothing’s guaranteed at this point, but if you’re following the Big 12 blog, you already know it could come soon.
· Next week I also expect that we’ll have the Nebraska men's basketball ticket prices announced for season packages and the mini-packages that I mentioned last week. Ticket packages will go on sale on Monday, July 27.
· Spent a little time with Quincy Hankins-Cole and Lance Jeter over last couple days and they seem like they’re ready to roll. They should be cleared (after normal regulations are met with the athletic training and strength staff) to start lifting with team Thursday and they’re already hanging around the basketball offices and playing pickup. Lance looks a little thinner to me, but is still a big point guard, which should be a huge plus for this season. And Quincy is just solid. Big and solid. I think there are some really good parts to this team, new and returning, that could turn a few heads this year. Just my unsolicited two cents.
Time slipped away from me this week as I had hoped to get a blog feature from one of the newcomers posted here. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, but I’ve talked with Brandon Ubel and Ray Gallegos and we’re set to get a couple done for next week. I’ll try to do it separate from the notes on Thursday, so maybe check back here on Monday or Tuesday. Or follow us on Twitter and I’ll tweet when it’s posted (www.twitter.com/NUhoopsblog).
And If you have any questions for the coaches or players, you can always email them to me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered.
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