Archive for 'Player Updates'
Adrien Coleman leaving team
December 28, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Freshman Adrien Coleman notified Doc Sadler and the Husker staff that he would be transferring from Nebraska at the semester break.
Coleman was a late addition to the NU squad after his enrollment to UAB fell through. He had played sparingly so far this season appearing in 6 games and averaging 2.5 points per game.
His departure is not a big loss though you hate to see any capable players leave. My guess is that he saw the opportunities for playing time were slim this year and next. The roster is full of underclassmen – 11 to be exact. And 7 of those are listed as freshmen or redshirt freshmen. With Christian Standhardinger becoming eligible for the first Big 12 Conference game against Texas A&M, Coleman would likely have been squeezed out of any meaningful minutes this season.
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2 Huskers bothered by injuries
December 9, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Quincy Hankins-Cole will sit out Nebraska’s game against Chicago State tomorrow night. Hankins-Cole has a sprained MCL which happened in practice on Monday. He has not practiced since. Coach Sadler doesn’t believe to be serious.
Also, Eshaunte Jones has been slowed by a sore tendon in his foot. The injury limited him to only 7 minutes of action against Creighton. His status for tomorrow’s game is uncertain.
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Ryan Anderson withdraws from NBA Draft
June 5, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Ryan Anderson has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and will return to Nebraska for his senior season. According to Doc Sadler he had planned to come back to the Huskers all along.
I was thinking about Ryan Anderson today and his decision to enter the NBA draft. At that time, he stated that he has full intentions to return to Nebraska for his senior season and he simply wanted some feedback from NBA scouts. Since he declared for the draft in late April, all had been quiet in regards to his status.
I’ve been noticing other early entrants withdrawing from the draft over the past week and kept wondering when Anderson would do the same. I can’t blame him for testing the waters and pursuing his dream, but his experienced presence amid all the newcomers should hopefully help guide us to the 2010 NCAA tournament. I’m sure Coach Sadler is happy he’ll be back too.
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Playing catch-up: Harley gets arrested and Cookie picks a new school
June 5, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Last weekend Steve Harley, who finished his career with the Huskers this past season, was arrested by Lincoln police under the suspicion of driving under the influence. Harley apparently tried to run from police but was caught. It’s too bad this happened, but hopefully Steve will learn from this mistake and be a better man for it.
Nebraska has been pretty fortunate over the years not having players getting into too much trouble with the law. It’s always a concern though, as you never know how a kid away from his family and home for possibly the first time in his life will react to his new surroundings.
Next up…Cookie Miller has chosen to transfer to Miami of Ohio and become a RedHawk. Miami, 17-13 last year, plays in the Mid-American Conference and is coached by Charlie Coles. Miller, chose to transfer from Nebraska after the season in order to be closer to his family in Charleston, WV.
Miller will sit out this upcoming season and then have 2 years of eligibility remaining.
Alonzo Edwards, who also chose to transfer, has signed with Lon Morris (TX) Junior College. Edwards is a Houston, TX native and will be eligible to play immediately.
Good luck to both Cookie and Alonzo.
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Anderson declares for the NBA draft
April 30, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
In probably the most shocking move of this off-season, Ryan Anderson has declared himself eligible for the NBA draft. I was surprised when I heard that Cookie Miller would transfer but this announcement has me stunned. No offense to Ryan, I never really considered him an NBA prospect.
According to Doc Sadler, Anderson has no intentions of leaving Nebraska but was looking for some feedback from NBA people. He has not signed with an agent and has until June 15 to withdraw from the draft. This move is similar to Aleks Maric after his sophomore season. Perhaps he’ll use the feedback to help him improve his game and pursue professional basketball after college.
Anderson, a 6-4 guard who has primarily played the 4 spot in his career with the Huskers, averaged 7.1 points per game and 3.8 rebounds per game while starting 12 games this past season.
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Christopher Niemann injures knee
March 5, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Nebraska’s 6-11 big man, Christopher Niemann injured his knee in practice on Wednesday. He tore his ACL after coming down wrong in a no-contact situation.
Niemann, who was sitting out this season due to a ruling by the NCAA about a club team he played on in his native Germany, will have surgery next week to repair the knee. He’ll be out 6-9 months which would run right into the start of next season.
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So long Chapman, we hardly knew ya
December 17, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under News, Player Updates.
Doc Sadler announced today that Alex Chapman has decided to transfer from Nebraska. Apparently the frustration over his ongoing knee injuries was too much for Alex to take.
Chapman transferred from Sheridan (Wyoming) College to NU last season. He suffered a knee injury prior to the start of the season forcing him to redshirt last year. Another knee injury just before the start of this season prevented him playing in any of the Husker’s games. He will leave Nebraska having never played in a game.
It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Chapman and the 6-2 Husker basketball team. As the tallest member of the roster, many expected him to have a significant role in the team’s plans (including me).
The Huskers are now left with Chris Balham, Alonzo Edwards, and Ben Nelson to shore up the team’s inside presence. Another player, Jorge Diaz could be included in that group but his eligibility status is still uncertain. It seems that NU is allergic to big men this year.
This appears to be a pretty big loss for a team that has been struggling to generate a consistent offense which Coach Sadler has mentioned lately needs to have some inside presence to get it going. Unfortunately Balham has been saddled with his own injury situation, Edwards doesn’t seem to have earned the staff’s trust for more minutes, and Nelson is a situation sub at best. Diaz, if he is allowed to join the team could be thrust into playing out of necessity, which I would caution not to expect too much from him.
On the bright side, this is a situation where we don’t really know what we lost. Chapman never played in a game. Now we move forward with the guys who are committed to this team and figure out a way to be winners with the guys we’ve got.
Good luck Coach Sadler. A challenging season just got more interesting.
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Huskers dominate Alabama State to improve to 6-0
December 3, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under Husker Basketball Game Recaps, News, Player Updates.
Doc Sadler preaches the “one game at a time” mantra to his Nebraska basketball team and his players heard him loud and clear tonight. In what could have been a game where the Huskers could have looked past Alabama State in anticipation of their upcoming road game at Arizona State, NU rolled to a 80-51 win.
This was a game that the Huskers took control of early. The first half was the best half of basketball the team has played up to this point. They shot extremely well from behind the 3 point line, dropping 9 bombs in the first 20 minutes. This combined with holding the Hornets to 30% shooting, allowed Nebraska to take a 50-25 lead at the half.
Shooting wasn’t as strong in the second half, but NU still finished with an impressive 14-25 or 56% from behind the arc for the game and 51% from the floor overall. Steve Harley led the team in scoring for the 3rd time this season with 16 points and was part of 4 players in double figures (McCray 12, Anderson 11, Henry 11). The Huskers picked up a season-high 23 assists led by Ryan Anderson’s 7.
Rebounding was good tonight with the Huskers out-rebounding the Hornets 35-28. This was very good to see as the Hornets had a height advantage and also shot poorly (36%) creating many rebounding opportunities. Paul Velander and Anderson led the way with 5 rebounds apiece.
Items to be encouraged by in this game:
- Offensive rhythym. The Huskers had good spacing in their half court sets, this setup many drive and dish scoring opportunities which the Huskers converted into a great shooting night from behind the arc. It’s starting to look like the team is beginning understand their roles offensively and where the shots are going to come from.
- Defensive remained strong forcing the Hornets into bad shots and holding them to 51 points. They’ve now held 6 straight opponents under 60 points for the first time since 1943-44. Before tonight’s game Nebraska ranked 6th nationally in scoring defense allowing a mere 51.6 points per game.
- Steve Harley continues to play well. This was his 4th consecutive game scoring double figures.
- Balanced scoring also continues for this team with 4 players in double figures for the first time this season.
- Doc Sadler was able to experiment with some different lineups tonight. In fact Alonzo Edwards got his first career start in place of Chris Balham.
- Nebraska has now won 9 consecutive games at home dating back to last season’s overtime loss to Missouri.
Not much to be concerned about tonight. The Huskers dominated an opponent that you hoped they would. The maintained their focus despite a big game against Arizona State coming up this Sunday.
One big concern however was the fact that Chris Balham did not play and was wearing some type of brace on the lower portion of his right leg. With Alex Chapman out due to injury and the lack of size on this team already, we cannot afford to lose any of our bigger players. Also Coach Sadler confirmed that Eshaunte Jones’s season is over. Apparently his foot injury is too much to overcome this year. He will likely take a medical redshirt this year and still have 4 years to play for the Huskers.
Up next: Arizona State at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe, AZ on Sunday. The #19 ranked Sun Devils (5-1) are coached by Herb Sendek and led by James Harden who averages 30 points/game who was a McDonald’s High School All-American. Their only loss is to Baylor in the 76 Classic tournament in Anaheim, CA. Last season the Huskers beat the Sun Devils 62-47 in Lincoln. Surely, Coach Sendek will remind his troops of that game. ASU finished at 21-13 last season and lost in the third round of the NIT but return all 5 starters from that team.
Interesting note: Doc Sadler was an assistant coach at ASU from 1994-97 was a member of Bill Frieder’s staff when they advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in 1995.
This is going to be a tough game for Nebraska and is one of the key non-conference matchups this season. A win over a ranked Pac-10 opponent on the road would be a huge feather in the cap when at-large teams are being selected for the NCAA tournament. The Huskers will need to play strong defense, rebound well, control the ball, shoot well, and not get overwhelmed by the opposing crowd. Unfortunately I think it’s asking too much of this team at this stage of the season. I think Sadler’s group will keep the game close but not be able to push through and grab the lead late. Nebraska will pick up their first loss to a good Arizona State team that will be playing in the NCAA tournament in March.
