Nevada from a Nevada fan

Watching some Nevada games this morning, starting with the part of the UNM game where they got down 25 (before the comeback).

some observations:

players:
- Caroline is listed at 6'7" 235#, but watching him he doesn't look that big, he looks "Weiler-babb size". Oliver is listed at 6'8" 225# (same as Holden) and looks every bit of it or more. He's a physical specimen.
- In the games I watched, Marshall didn't impress me. No, Jay Bilas, he's not a "NBA point guard". He doesn't even usually play the point! He's more like a Tyrus McGee type.
- IMO Caroline is their best player, at least as a collegiate player, although I can see why they'd like Oliver's potential. But Caroline is 6'7" and can drive, shoot and post.
- When Oliver goes out, Caroline plays the 5. Even with Oliver in, I think they are a team we can go small against, but with Oliver out, playing 5 guards is a real option.

Offense:
- On offense, Nevada is really dangerous when they play like ISU did 2 years ago with Hogue and Niang as the "bigs". At their best they space the floor and drive - kick, drive -kick, etc until they get a layup or a 3.
- Everyone can really really shoot the ball. That's the scariest part.
- Like we've seen from ISU teams over the years, when they get out of a flow there's lots of stagnation and bad shots
- Caroline really attacks off the dribble and draws a lot of contact. he gets to the line a ton.
- They don't run much pick-and-roll. It's mostly movement and action away from the ball. Although they do go high pick and roll with Marshall and Oliver later in games, from what I saw it wasn't terribly effective.

Defense:
- On defense they give up a lot of good looks from 3. In the games I've watched they don't rotate and close out well. They haven't given up a real high % on 3s, but I think that's opponent quality more than defense.
- they like to go under ball screens, sometimes with a hard hedge. My advice - don't go under ball screens against Monte Morris.
- Oliver blocks a couple a game, but they don't really play good help-side defense. Gotta attack the rim
- They play mostly man-to-man, but do mix in a zone or 1/2 court trap occasionally.
 
Watching a bit of Nevada vs. Larry from 3/4.

Oliver's thick and athletic, and Caroline is maybe the scariest of the bunch...seems to be the utility guy and can score from multiple places, and there's a few guys that can do the same.

Looks like the kind of team that will take ISU a while to get adjusted to their 'game speed' and if they're smart with the ball and is rebounds like they did Saturday, ISU has a chance to find their groove and pull it off.

Always tough to tell with a new team that's so unfamiliar.


Caroline is definitely our engine and plays like a football player....probably because Simeon Rice is his dad.
 
Watching some Nevada games this morning, starting with the part of the UNM game where they got down 25 (before the comeback).

some observations:

players:
- Caroline is listed at 6'7" 235#, but watching him he doesn't look that big, he looks "Weiler-babb size". Oliver is listed at 6'8" 225# (same as Holden) and looks every bit of it or more. He's a physical specimen.
- In the games I watched, Marshall didn't impress me. No, Jay Bilas, he's not a "NBA point guard". He doesn't even usually play the point! He's more like a Tyrus McGee type.
- IMO Caroline is their best player, at least as a collegiate player, although I can see why they'd like Oliver's potential. But Caroline is 6'7" and can drive, shoot and post.
- When Oliver goes out, Caroline plays the 5. Even with Oliver in, I think they are a team we can go small against, but with Oliver out, playing 5 guards is a real option.

Offense:
- On offense, Nevada is really dangerous when they play like ISU did 2 years ago with Hogue and Niang as the "bigs". At their best they space the floor and drive - kick, drive -kick, etc until they get a layup or a 3.
- Everyone can really really shoot the ball. That's the scariest part.
- Like we've seen from ISU teams over the years, when they get out of a flow there's lots of stagnation and bad shots
- Caroline really attacks off the dribble and draws a lot of contact. he gets to the line a ton.
- They don't run much pick-and-roll. It's mostly movement and action away from the ball. Although they do go high pick and roll with Marshall and Oliver later in games, from what I saw it wasn't terribly effective.

Defense:
- On defense they give up a lot of good looks from 3. In the games I've watched they don't rotate and close out well. They haven't given up a real high % on 3s, but I think that's opponent quality more than defense.
- they like to go under ball screens, sometimes with a hard hedge. My advice - don't go under ball screens against Monte Morris.
- Oliver blocks a couple a game, but they don't really play good help-side defense. Gotta attack the rim
- They play mostly man-to-man, but do mix in a zone or 1/2 court trap occasionally.


Nice summary but were did you see the zone? If we were in zone more than 1% of our defensive minutes I'd be shocked. Muss runs straight NBA type packages and, like most NBA coaches, hates zoning.
 
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Nice summary but were did you see the zone? If we were in zone more than 1% of our defensive minutes I'd be shocked. Muss runs straight NBA type packages and, like most NBA coaches, hates zoning.

I think it was when they were down 20+ to UNM, but I could be wrong. I thought maybe they were trapping out of a zone as well, but that was hard to tell.

Just finished the UW game, Marshall put on quite the show including a very tough game winner.
 
And I feel you on your second point. Last year at this time, I wasn't sure we'd have Monte or Naz. But I still feel so sad that those 4 are seniors.
.

I just had no doubt that Monte's wonderful mother, who raised him right, would make sure he got his degree. Also, at that point, I never considered Naz leaving, he had become the heart of the team and would not leave his bros.
 
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I think it was when they were down 20+ to UNM, but I could be wrong. I thought maybe they were trapping out of a zone as well, but that was hard to tell.

Just finished the UW game, Marshall put on quite the show including a very tough game winner.


You rewatched that game I don't doubt you. I watched it live, of course, and we were playing sooooo bad Muss threw everything out the window. Hell he put our walk-ons in the game because he was so pissed.
 
Reno gets a lot of grief (Reno 911), but it's pretty close to a lot of cool stuff. Lake Tahoe (see picture at left) is about 30-45 minutes away. More than a dozen ski resorts that have a ton of snow right now are easily accessible. Reno might be a poor man's Vegas, but still an interesting place.

Reno has an elite suicide rate, too. I've always said it's better to be real good at one thing than just be above average at a few things.
 
You like to shoot threes we like to shoot threes you play defense we play defense you like to dunk we like to dunk you have a good coach we have a good coach you want to advance we want to advance you don't have super tall guys we don't have super tall guys.
 
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I would have taken Nevada over any other 5 seed. Should be an exciting game.