Husker/Longwood review

Well, the first half was a little nerve racking. Longwood was ahead by 3 with about four minutes left thanks to us being pretty bad on offense and this little guy draining two or three 28 footers to guide the Lancers to eight first half three pointers. However, the Huskers opened up a nine point half time lead and went on to push the ball much more in the second and open up a lead of over twenty points at one time and ending with an 80-65 win.

A couple observations:

-Longwood's coach was one of those coaches I hate b/c he whines after every call and is really vocal and seems to think that he's coaching Duke b/c he wanted most every call. This is somewhat ironic being as I guarantee I would be the exact same way if I was a coach. So I guess that means I'm annoying, too.

-This Husker team has a lot of young talent, but a long way to go as well. I didn't get the impression that this team is good enough to play with the big dogs in conference, but hopefully they have enought time to polish up a lot of shortcomings.

-Charles Richardson is working hard to pick up where Marcus Walker left off last year with attire on the bench. He went from wearing red pants and shoes in the exhibition game to a checkered type vest tonight.

Here's a little breakdown of every player that got some minutes for us tonight and my impression to what they will contribute this year:

Aleks Maric- Easily our most important player. He won't necessarily be our leading scorer but he is essential as our only legit inside presence. Since rebounding is supposed to be a strength this season, it is imperative that Maric stays out of foul trouble that he was prone to last year. If Soda is as good as advertised, this will be a top notch post duo.

Jason Dourisseau- One of the most dangerous players on the court....for both teams. JD would appear to be our best "playmaker" in terms of being able to drive the ball to the hoop, and I certainly don't doubt his effort. However, he's the kind of guy that scares you when he has the ball b/c he's just as likely to be out of control and commit mind-numbingly dumb turnovers.

Joe McCray- He's cocky, he appears to be lazy, and he's a little out of shape. Having said that, he's a necessity b/c of his ability to score points quickly.

Marcus Walker- Already taken over as my favorite Husker on the team, mostly b/c he looks like Eddie Griffin with a receding hairline. Besides that, he looks like a steady point guard that does what a point guard should do: bring the ball up the court and push the ball to distribute to others. He also has some shooting ability which is a plus.

Jamel White- He had flashes of brilliance and ineptitude tonight. Fortunately, the brilliance came in the second half. He made a lot of poor passing decisions and doesn't look to be as smooth of a ball handler as Walker, but he can shoot and made a sweet reverse layup in the second half. Very athletic.

B.J. Walker- This guy appears to be the definition of raw. He's stout and hustles, which are good attributes for a post player. He has some decent offensive moves, but I'm betting he gets most of his points from the free throw line or second chance putbacks. A rich man's Andy Markowski.

Bronsen Schliep- Schliep Diesel (TM) had our first dunk of the year and I think he's a very capable player. He's not going to blow anyone away, but he can jump and doesn't seem like the kind of guy that will hurt us. He can only help as a decent role player.

Marcus Perry- Only played ten minutes and did nothing to impress or agitate. Who knows. Haven't seen enough of him.

Wes Wilkinson- Got a few early fouls (shocking isn't it), but he is certainly more muscular than last year and was 5th in the Big 12 in blocks last year. Wes will do some things to piss you off, but as long as he's not counted on to be the mvp of the team, he should continue his improvement to be a very solid contributor.

Jim Ledsome- Didn't get a ton of action and I certainly don't think he'll be scoring many points, but appears to be valuable as a guy who can get some boards and provide a body down low if Maric gets into foul trouble.

Tony Wilbrand- Animal was brilliant as usual. If we see him play more than at the end of a big blowout win or loss, this team will not be going to the dance.

Kyle Marks- Didn't play a lot and barely noticed he was out on the floo.....holy shit, did you see that alley-oop dunk?!? I can see that the jump out of the gym rep he has is true. He hung in the air and threw it down with authority. Other than that, nothing, but it was the most explosive play of the night near the end of the game and was pretty awesome.

So there you have it. If I had to predict, I think we're still a year away from the dance. Hopefully it takes less than a year for this group to gel as a team and we can transition from a deplorable non-conference (for the most part) schedule into the Big 12. Although, it looks like several team in the league have a ways to go.

Lookout you Yale eggheads, we're coming for you tomorrow!

J.H. Naners