Nebraska Basketball Blog June 2009

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Posted by: Jerry Trickie
June 24, 2009 at 10:34 a.m.

Summer Thoughts from the Voice of the Huskers

When I first started this blog a couple months ago, I said that the goal was to get a little more fan interaction and bring you some different things that you haven’t seen on Huskers.com before. While it’s still summer and everyone’s mind is outdoors (well, if you can stand the heat, that is), we’ve had some good feedback and started to get some interaction. Keep the emails coming with questions about the team. We’ll try to get to a couple of them in the next blog.

But this blog is about that second part ? different views. To that end, we’ve enlisted a great friend of the program to help us sift through what went on on the Big 12 coaches summer teleconference last week. The Voice of Nebraska Basketball Kent Pavelka took some time out of his busy work schedule to help the NU Hoops Blog by putting down some news he picked up from the coaches last week and even gives us his thoughts on how the league may shape up this year.

(Sidenote: While you haven’t even read a single word of what he’s written, trust me; the Nebraska Basketball Hall of Famer is on the money when he says the Big 12 Conference will be better from top to bottom. I know Doc feels that the league will be the best it’s EVER been. That’s a strong statement, but the facts are there to support it.)

Anyway, a big thank you goes to Kent for his work here. We’ll have more tidbits from Kent throughout the offseason and hopefully into the year. As a formality, however, I should say that these are Kent’s predictions, thoughts and ideas; in no way should they be seen as the official thoughts of the Nebraska basketball program, the athletic department or this blog.

So with that out of the way, let’s hear what Kent has to say:

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Think of the 2009-10 Big 12 men’s basketball race as a beauty contest.  The winner, runner-up, etc., will be just a little prettier and more talented than those who don’t make the pageant finals.  Although they don’t award a 12^th place finish in the Miss America contest, I’m sure if they did, we would all agree she’s awfully attractive.  

I thought it was hype, all this talk about the Big 12 being the best league in the country this coming winter. Smugly, I thought ?Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.  This is just the conference trying to promote itself, trying to secure more national media respect.’ 

But after listening to the coaches summer teleconference, I’m all over the proposition that the Big 12 will be the best if we’re talking about quality, top to bottom. 

Most fans probably won’t buy it.  At season’s end, teams in the lower third of the conference standings will have lost a good number of league games.  Teams that win just a few can’t be any good, can they?  You bet they can.  The only thing that means is that the Big 12 will have cannibalized itself.  This season, the teams that finish at the bottom won’t be as far behind the leaders as the final standings suggest.  They’re all really good, some just a little better than others.  The problem is the company they keep.

Based on how they finished in the standings last year, let’s peek at what I see to be the possibilities for each team this coming season.  As you’ll note, I think eight teams will be as good as or better than last year.

Colorado won one league game last year.  But the Buffs lost 11 conference games by an average of only 4.5 points per game. And they took Texas into overtime.  Coach Jeff Bzdelik’s team will be better because it will be deeper and stronger inside.  JC transfer Marcus Relphorde and incoming frosh Alec Burks (being compared to Richard Roby when he was a freshman) are two of five newcomers who will help.  Colorado should be able to finish some games this year that it could not a year ago.   Kent’s Prediction:  Better but in the bottom three.

Texas Tech won only three games in the conference last season.  But late in the year, the Raiders showed signs of understanding what coach Pat Knight expects. They beat both A&M and Kansas and nearly won at both Texas and Iowa State. They have seven of their top eight scorers returning.  Mike Singletary went off late last season and could be an all-conference type. John Roberson is a nice Big 12 guard. Knight says he’ll be stressing better man-to-man defense this year.  Kent’s Prediction:  Better but still in the bottom three.

Iowa State has four starters back, including Craig Brackins and Lucca Staiger.  Add JC All-American Marquis Gilstrap (who has only one year of eligibility), some key returnees coming off the bench, and two players who sat out last year, and the Cyclones look like a team that could make a significant jump up the league ladder. The main thing for coach Greg McDermott is that his team will be much more athletic. They’ll also be significantly deeper. Like Colorado, this should allow Iowa State to finish some games that it could not last season. Kent’s Prediction:  Much better. I could see a finish anywhere from third to ninth.

Baylor will regroup after losing seniors Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells, Kevin Rogers and Mamadou Diene.  The Bears will build around returnees Tweety Carter, LaceDarius Dunn and Quincy Acey.  The big addition (literally) is Ekpe Udoh, the 6-10 transfer from Michigan who sat out last year. Coach Scott Drew’s teleconference comments hinted that Udoh has some work to do offensively. Baylor’s top recruit is Nolan Dennis who originally signed with Memphis.  Baylor is hard to figure for the season ahead. They won only five league games last year but rallied to get into the NIT Final Four in New York City.  Kent’s Prediction:  Maybe not quite as good.  I could see a bottom three finish, but with a shot to do better than that.

Nebraska will be inexperienced but considerably bigger and deeper. And the talent appears to be better. While size, numbers and talent are closer to what is needed, the hurdle will be youth. NU will have eight scholarship players who have never played a D-1 game. But coach Doc Sadler had bigger issues with his first three teams at NU. He manages to accomplish more with less so there’s no reason to think his fourth team won’t come together just as well as his other teams have. Under Sadler, it’s about playing harder and, often, smarter than your opponents.  Adding more and better talent to that formula should result in improvement this coming season.  Kent’s Prediction: Better.  I could see a finish anywhere from third to ninth but probably toward the middle of that group.

Oklahoma State has James Anderson returning.  That does more to buoy the Cowboys’ hopes for 2009-10 than anything.  Anderson decided late in the summer to delay his NBA aspirations and return to Stillwater for his junior season. Byron Eaton and Terrel Harris are gone and that hurts. But coach Travis Ford pulled in seven highly ranked freshmen recruits, ranked as the 11^th best class in the country by Rivals.com. Post players Teeng Akol and Torin Walker will give the Cowboys needed size. Obi Muonelo returning on the perimeter will be big. The primary question for OSU will be at point guard as Eaton was a huge reason they reached the NCAA Tournament round of 32.  Kent’s Prediction:  Not quite as good.  They could finish anywhere from third to ninth.

Texas A&M will have three starters back. Bryan Davis, Donald Sloan and Derrick Roland are an awfully nice group of players around which to build. Josh Carter and Chinemelu Elonu are gone. Elonu would have made the Aggies much stronger inside but decided to forgo his last year of college ball and try his luck in the NBA. And A&M will miss Carter and Elonu and their combined 23.6 points per game. But as usual, A&M did well recruiting. Coach Mark Turgeon picked up a Rivals.com Top 25 recruiting class with Ray Turner, Kourtney Roberson and Khris Middleton the mostly likely contributors as freshmen. Several of the coaches seemed to like A&M a lot in the teleconference. Kent’s Prediction:  As good.  They could finish anywhere from third to ninth but probably toward the top of that group.

Texas is a probable preseason top-five team. If Rick Barnes gets his point guard issues resolved, the Longhorns should deliver on that lofty projection. Florida transfer Jai Lucas is the likely candidate at that spot. Lucas and fellow top-10 recruits Jordan Hamilton and Avery Bradley will give Texas more depth than it has had recently. Veterans back are Dexter Pittman, Damion James, Gary Johnson, Dogus Balbay and Justin Mason. Besides point guard, the only question about the Longhorns is whether Barnes can play as fast as he wants to with Pittman on the floor. Other coaches in the league should have such problems! Asked about his concerns in the teleconference, Barnes couldn’t name one. Kent’s Prediction:  Better. I think they should finish second.

Kansas State also scored a consensus Top-25 recruiting class to go with four returning starters from last season. Coach Frank Martin calls it the best mix of experience and new players he’s had in Manhattan. The starters coming back are Denis Clemente, Luis Colon, Jacob Pullen and Dominique Sutton. Jamar Samuels is a key bench contributor returning. The new guys include McDonald’s All-American Wally Judge, shooting guard Rodney McGruder and point guard Nick Russell.  Martin says Judge “has great hands and runs like the wind.” Connecticut transfer Curtis Kelly will also be eligible after sitting out last season. Unlike the Michael Beasley and Bill Walker days, Martin says the first year guys won’t feel the pressure to carry the team this season. In fact, they’ll all have significant competition for playing time.   Kent’s Prediction: Better. I could see a finish anywhere from third to ninth but probably toward the middle to top of that group.

Missouri will obviously miss the inside presence of DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons.  Even more so if 6-10 forward recruit Keith DeWitt is definitively deemed ineligible by the NCAA, which was an earlier ruling and is the case as of this writing.  Carroll, Lyons and Matt Lawrence have used up their college eligibility after combining to score more than 40 points per game last year. But J.T. Tiller and Zaire Taylor returning in the backcourt will help. Second-year players Kim English, Marcus Denmon, Keith Ramsey and Miguel Paul will need to step up. Missouri will be hard pressed to win 12 league games again this year. Kent’s Prediction:  Not as good.  It could be a finish anywhere from third to ninth, probably toward the middle or bottom of that group.

Oklahoma lost college basketball’s Player of the Year, not to mention Taylor Griffin and Austin Johnson.  I appreciate the special talents of Willie Warren, Tony Crocker, Keith Gallon and Tommy Mason-Griffin. But Blake Griffin is gone! Kent’s Prediction:  Not as good.  They could finish anywhere from third to ninth, but probably toward the middle of that group.

Kansas has everybody back but the end of the bench.  They add three five-star recruits.  This one is easy! Kent’s Prediction:  Better. Kansas should win the league.

So there you have it, bottom to top. I see eight Big 12 teams could be as good as or better than last year when the league sent a record nine teams to postseason play.  KU and Texas will finish at the top. I think Colorado, Tech and Baylor at the bottom. Everybody else will be somewhere in between that.

Just remember what I said when it’s all over in March... some beauty contests are better than others.  And this one ? the Big 12 Conference -- will be the best in the nation.

KP

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Thanks again Kent. Great job breaking it down.

If you have any questions for the coaches, players or even for Kent, you can always email them to me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered.

And don’t forget to follow the coaches and this blog on Twitter (start with Doc at www.twitter.com/Coach_Sadler and follow the blog at www.twitter.com/NUhoopsblog). And we’ll give a plug for Kent as well (www.twitter.com/Kent_Pavelka). Tell your friends to start Tweeting too.

 

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Posted by: Jerry Trickie
June 17, 2009 at 3:52 p.m.

Schedule Notes and Tidbits
Well, if you’re reading this blog today (June 17), there’s a good chance you just saw the 2009-10 schedule for the first time. I think it’s a pretty good slate of games considering how young the team will be this winter. And I know the coaches like how it’s setting up.

Now, let’s dive into some of the little things that either don’t fit into a regular news release or are just nuggets that don’t have a place altogether (isn’t that why we have a blog? Why yes, yes it is). 

 

?     First and foremost, everyone should give a big pat on the back to Chris Croft, the Huskers’ Director of Basketball Operations. He’s Doc’s right-hand man and the driving force for being able to get the schedule done so early. In my nine years here, we’ve never had the schedule before the last week of July. So getting it in June is a big bonus, especially for those of you looking to make plans to head to Vegas to catch the Huskers at Christmas (more on that below).

?     The schedule gets underway with an exhibition game against Arkansas-Fort Smith on Nov. 6, the night before the Nebraska-Oklahoma football game in Lincoln. Hopefully that will give a few of you out in the western part of the state or from Kansas or Iowa a chance to come into town and see the Huskers early in the season. It’d probably make Doc happy to see a large crowd considering that’s his old stomping grounds. He was the head basketball coach and Athletic Director there, and helped them build (from what I’ve heard from others who have been there) a terrific little 3,000-seat arena. Doc was also an assistant there for five seasons. Current Nebraska assistant coach David Anwar was an assistant for Doc at Arkansas-Fort Smith as well. Doc won 120 games in five seasons at the school as head coach, including two years finishing in the top eight nationally. UAFS is moving to Division II this year and the Huskers will be their first-ever Division I opponent, from what I was told. Current coach Josh Newman is also a good friend of Sadler and Anwar's.

?     The second exhibition game likely holds a special meaning for our Athletic Director, as Hastings College is Tom Osborne’s alma mater. This is the fourth straight year under Doc that the Huskers are playing at least one of their exhibition games against an in-state Division II or III school.

?     In case some of you were wondering, USC Upstate is actually the University of South Carolina Upstate, located in Spartanburg, S.C. The Spartans are in their second year transitioning to Division I.

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     Two games early in the season don’t have times listed yet because they are on football game days -- Nov. 14 vs. USC Upstate and Nov. 21 vs. TCU. The Husker football team is at Kansas for the first game and at home against Kansas State on Senior Day for the second game (that'll be a lot of purple the fans will have to see in Lincoln that weekend, eh?). The football television schedule does not have to be decided until 12 days ahead of the game (in some cases it could even be six days), so we won’t know when the basketball team is playing until at least early November. Check back to Huskers.com as we get closer for game times for both football and basketball. And then plan to make it a double-header for the KSU game.

?     Chicago State and Jackson State are playing at the Devaney Center, but they are not one-time, ?buy’ games set up by the Huskers. They are games that were assigned by the promoters for the Las Vegas Classic. Four teams (including CSU and JSU) were paired with either Nebraska, Tusla, BYU or Nevada and are playing at those school’s home sites for two games. My understanding is that then those four teams will play in Vegas while NU, Tulsa, BYU and Nevada play each other. Stay tuned to Huskers.com for ticket information on the Las Vegas Classic.

?     Other tidbits about the teams involved in the Las Vegas Classic: The games at the Las Vegas Classic are scheduled to be played again at the Orleans Arena. Ticket and schedule information should be available in the next few weeks (or at least in August), according to the tournament promoter ... Nebraska is 6-6 against teams in the field, including 2-0 vs. Chicago State, 0-2 vs. Tulsa, 1-3 vs. BYU and 3-1 vs. Nevada. It will be the first meeting between the Huskers and Jackson State ... Chicago State is another of the coaching stops Doc has made in his career, staying there as an assistant under Tommy Suitts in 1987-88 ... Tulsa is a likely top-25 preseason squad and serious contender for the Conference USA title this year with center Jerome Johnson returning. ESPN.com’s Andy Katz had Tulsa at No. 21 in his poll this week after the NBA Draft deadline ... BYU could also be in the mix for a national ranking after coming off a 25-8 campaign and an NCAA Tournament appearance last year ... Nevada is one of five possible non-conference opponents this year that won at least 21 games last season, with the Wolfpack going 21-13.

?     Road game notes: Nebraska will play two true road games in the month of November for the first time since 1989-90, and only the second time in school history. That year, NU played at Miami (Ohio) on Nov. 27 and at Michigan State on Nov. 29, losing both games ...  Nebraska has actually played a total of just five true road games in the month of November since the start of Big 12 play in 1997-98, including each of the past two years under Doc ... the Nov. 18 contest at Saint Louis this season will match the earliest true road game in school history, as it takes place the same date NU played at Oral Roberts to open the 2000-01 campaign.

?     The TCU game is the second of a four-game series between the schools. Nebraska opened on the road and now will host the Horned Frogs in two straight seasons before making the final return game in the 2011-12 season.

?     UMKC returns to the Huskers’ schedule for the first time since 2000. That year, UMKC won the matchup with NU in the Husker Classic, its only victory in 11 all-time contests with the Huskers.

?     If you look at the PDF of the schedule on the news release page, you can see that over an eight-game span in non-conference play, the Huskers will face seven teams that won at least 18 contests last year.

On a non-schedule related note, I was texting back and forth with Ade Dagunduro last night. He’s doing great and said he’s getting a lot of interest from teams in Europe. He hasn’t put his NBA dream on hold, however, as he said he’s got a workout with the LA Lakers -- yes, Sek, the World Champion LA Lakers -- on Thursday this week. He’s looking to try to get on an NBA Summer League team as well, and said the Lakers are not the only team talking with his agent about that. Otherwise, Europe is a great option. We’ll wish him luck and hope it works out either way for a long time.

Next week we’ll try to get a little different perspective as we hope to have the voice of Husker basketball, Kent Pavelka, as a guest blogger. Check back to see what he has to say.

And if you have any questions about the hoops program, you can always email me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered. And make sure to follow the coaches and this blog on Twitter (start with Doc at www.twitter.com/Coach_Sadler and follow the blog at www.twitter.com/NUhoopsblog). Tell your friends to start Tweeting too.

 

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Posted by: Jerry Trickie
June 12, 2009 at 9:44 a.m.

Capping a Quiet Week

As you might expect, June and July are pretty quiet months around the athletic department. Sure, there's almost always a couple sports that are just wrapping up in June (congrats yesterday to Gary Peppin's two All-Americans at the NCAA outdoor track meet), but overall it's a little slower pace than when things are ramped up from August to March with football and hoops, and about 10 other sports.

With that slowdown, there's also a slowdown in the amount of new things to be written on a blog, so hopefully if anyone is out there reading about college basketball in June, you can send me an email with a question you want answered by the players. Always wanted to know how many socks the team goes through in a season? Or any superstitions players may have? Drop me a line at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and I'll see if I can track down some players and ask them your questions.

?      Obviously if you're here, you've seen the redesign of Huskers.com. What do you think? What else would you like to see on here? Send me an email if you have ideas or suggestions. All feedback is welcome but please put your full name if you would like a reply or to see it posted here.

 

?      Speaking of emailing me, I had previously asked for people's responses to the question "What's your favorite game you've ever seen at the Devaney Center?" and here was an interesting response:

Feb. 15, 2004 vs. Kansas --- Standing-room only crowd as the Huskers got a huge win over the Jayhawks. Nate Johnson hit big 3-pointers during runs in both halves and the Devaney Center was on fire. John Turek was good inside against Wayne Simien and David Padgett also, and by the end of the game, even Charles Richardson and the bench players were scoring points on KU.   Brandon in Lincoln.

 

        Thanks for sharing, and if anyone else is interested, here's this month's question: Who was the most talented player you've seen play in the Devaney Center? If you name someone from another team, I'm going to ask that you also give a Husker response too.

 

?      I could have sworn last night that Orlando was going to tie it up, but somehow the Lakers pulled out another one. I know they're good, and they'll likely win, but I hoped it would at least go 6-7 games, which now seems highly unlikely. Most of our players seemed to think LA was the easy choice, and it looks like they may be right.

 

?      One Husker who predicted LA would win but who was actually pulling for the Magic (or maybe it's just rooting against LA?) was newcomer Brandon Ubel. I had the chance to talk with him for a few minutes Thursday before he did an interview with a local newspaper and Brandon said LA had Kobe and he thought that'd be enough even though he might wish it were another way.

      

      Brandon said this past week since he's been here has been fun and "it's really a great way to get used to college. You can get used to your classes in the summer a lot easier and get to know your teammates. I think playing now will make us better too because we'll be more prepared on how each other does things on the court. It's been fun so far all around."

 

?      Brandon's roommate, Rayes Gallegos, also took a few minutes for a news interview yesterday. After he was done, I asked his prediction and, again, it was the Lakers. Seems that Rayes has always been an LA fan. "It's always been my team. Kobe is the reason. I used to be a Chicago fan too, along with LA." That made me pose the obvious question: Who was better, MJ or Kobe? His answer: "MJ. It's not even close." Nice call.

 

?      While the players are working out in the weight room and getting in some pretty serious pickup games (man, Ubel and Gallegos really have some hops, and Gallegos is lightning quick), the coaches had one camp this past weekend and will resume the rest at the end of the month. The coaches can get back on the road to watch recruits play in July. That month will also be the World University Games, where assistant coach Walter Roese will be the head coach for the Brazilian team. Check it out here when Brazil starts against Israel on July 2 or follow Roese on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Coach_Roese.

 

?      We had a couple good meetings this week to start getting ready for the basketball season. It's exciting when looking ahead to 2009-10 considering the talent and now the size the team will have. The only thing it won't have a ton of is experience, as it could see 10 players who have never played in a Division I game get action, and one other (Eshaunte Jones) who has only four career games played. That seems, if I remember right, kind of like two years ago in Doc's second year when the team won 20 games. Good sign? I like to think so. Either way, I can't wait for Oct. 16 to get here so we can get started talking about the team and what it's doing more frequently. 

 

And again, if you have any questions, you can always email me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered. And follow the coaches and this blog on Twitter (start with Doc at www.twitter.com/Coach_Sadler and follow the blog at www.twitter.com/NUhoopsblog). Tell your friends to start Tweeting too.

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Posted by: Jerry Trickie
June 3, 2009 at 10:24 a.m.

Back in Action

Well, after a couple weeks away (and a little vacation time), it’s back in the saddle again. So let’s get caught up.

?      With the NBA Finals getting started this week (man these playoffs have been awesome, by the way), it seems a perfect time to hear from a few former Huskers on the topic. There was a good story with comments from Husker greats Erick Strickland and Eric Piatkowski today in the Journal Star.

 

One note that I still find amazing: Tyronn Lue is going for his third NBA championship ring (this time with Orlando; his first two were with, who else? The Lakers). No other basketball player who competed in the Big 12 era has more than one title ring. In fact, Lue is one of only seven players to play in the Big 12 era to win a championship ring, along with Chauncey Billups (2004 Detriot Pistons), Wayne Simien (2006 Miami Heat), Jacque Vaughn (2007 San Antonio Spurs), Tony Allen (2008 Boston Celtics), Paul Pierce (2008 Boston Celtics) and Scot Pollard (2008 Boston Celtics).

 

?      Along with the Magic’s Lue, there are a couple other players in the finals with a little more distant connection to the Nebraska basketball program. Playing alongside Lue, Tony Battie played for and was recruited to Texas Tech by Doc Sadler while Rafer Alston played for Nebraska assistant coach Philip Mathews when he was the head coach at Ventura (Calif.) College. Mathews said Tuesday that Alston was the real deal even back then, when he helped the team to a 37-1 record and a California junior college state title.

 

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      In other championship news, former Husker John Turek helped his team (PGE Turow Zgorzelec) to the Polish finals before it fell in five games, 4-1. On the year, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.4 rebounds for the squad. Turek said he hopes to be back in Lincoln later this month for coach Sadler’s golf tournament (see below for more info), which he, Jason Dourisseau and Jake Muhleisen seemed to especially enjoy being a part of last year. Then again, everyone there had a great time last year with the beautiful weather.

 

?      In Spain, Aleks Maric completed his first professional season by averaging 4.6 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while hitting 54.3 percent from the field. He was second on the squad in rebounding, behind the team’s starting center Curtis Borchardt, a former first-round NBA selection by Orlando who played two years in the NBA before heading overseas. 

 

?      Back here in Lincoln, several players are finishing up the pre-session for summer school this week and the first full session begins next Monday. The guys here in town (which is most of the returning players) are still lifting with Rusty Ruffcorn, our strength coach, and getting in some good court time. Can’t wait for Oct. 16 to get here, and I’m not even a coach or player. How about you? Are you ready for the season to start? Email me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com with comments about what you can’t wait to see this season for the Huskers.

 

?      Also this weekend will be the start of the camp season around the Devaney Center. Several Husker basketball camps later in June still have openings. Check here at Huskers.com for information on dates and prices for the camp that would best suit your youngster.

 

?      I got the good word from Rebounders Club president Paul Garnett that just about all the groupings for the Third Annual Doc Sadler Golf Classic are full. Check Huskers.com either Thursday or Friday for a story about the event, including who will be returning. For those of you who are not Rebounders Club members and were not able to register for the event, you can still go and mingle with the former players at the dinner afterward. For $45, you get a steak dinner and can join in during the auction (there’s always some great items) while hob-nobbing with past stars including this year’s special guest, Nebraska Basketball Hall of Famer Stu Lantz.

 

?      UPDATE (2:58 p.m.) --- I just talked with Sek Henry and the lifelong LA Lakers fan had the following to say about the NBA Finals: “I definitely think there will be some good games but Kobe will be the MVP and the Lakers will win it all in either four or five games. Dwight Howard is great. People even say I kind of look like him. But the Lakers will win. I feel kind of sorry for LeBron and the Cavs. It would have been good to see LeBron vs. Kobe, especially with all those puppet commercials. But either way LA will not lose.”

 

Henry was working out on his own at the Devaney Center when I talked with him and he said he was pushing himself. He added he was "going to keep working like Kobe and not going to give up and play as hard as I can every day.” Great attitude to have, espeically for a senior leader.

 

 

And again, if you have any questions, you can always email me at nuhoopsblog@hotmail.com and we’ll see what we can do to get them answered. And follow the coaches and this blog on Twitter (start with Doc at www.twitter.com/Coach_Sadler and follow the blog at www.twitter.com/NUhoopsblog).

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