Was shooting the breeze with some other husker fans and the topic of the 08-09 basketball team, or itty bitty committee came up. We noticed some startling similarities between that squad and the 2015-16 squad as of right now.
For one we are going into a season after losing one of the best huskers to ever play basketball for us (08: Aleks Maric, this year: Terran). We also have no proven post threats, but a bunch of options in the backcourt. Even some of the players are strikingly similar...
Ade Dagunduro & Shavon Shields: the best player on their teams, jack of all trades type of players who are good at just about everything but not great at anything.
Ryan Anderson & Andrew White: the #2 option on their teams, long range bombers with sweet shooting strokes. Good but not great defenders
Cookie Miller & Benny Parker: Undersized spark plugs, Cookie was a bit better as a facilitator than Benny, but Benny is a better defender. Neither are big time scorers
That's just a few similarities, you could add Sek Henry & Tai Webster to that mix, or Nick Fuller & Paul Velander and so on.
That team was able to go 18-13 in a Big 12 conference that sported 3 top 10 teams (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri). I think that Tim Miles is a bit better in the X's and O's department than Doc Sadler, and with the exception of Michigan State and Maryland, no one really sticks out in the Big 10 next year. We might just have a sleeper on our hands
For one we are going into a season after losing one of the best huskers to ever play basketball for us (08: Aleks Maric, this year: Terran). We also have no proven post threats, but a bunch of options in the backcourt. Even some of the players are strikingly similar...
Ade Dagunduro & Shavon Shields: the best player on their teams, jack of all trades type of players who are good at just about everything but not great at anything.
Ryan Anderson & Andrew White: the #2 option on their teams, long range bombers with sweet shooting strokes. Good but not great defenders
Cookie Miller & Benny Parker: Undersized spark plugs, Cookie was a bit better as a facilitator than Benny, but Benny is a better defender. Neither are big time scorers
That's just a few similarities, you could add Sek Henry & Tai Webster to that mix, or Nick Fuller & Paul Velander and so on.
That team was able to go 18-13 in a Big 12 conference that sported 3 top 10 teams (Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri). I think that Tim Miles is a bit better in the X's and O's department than Doc Sadler, and with the exception of Michigan State and Maryland, no one really sticks out in the Big 10 next year. We might just have a sleeper on our hands