1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - What to Expect from Nebrasketball this Year: October 10th, 11:00am

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

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It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the ticketfm.com. Here is your host, Derek Pearson, brought to by Canopy Street Market. Boom, we are here on one-on-one on 93-7, the ticket. That's a little bit of a different boom, maybe than you're used to. DP out of town this week, a little bit busy. He was going to stream.

in, but he's got some family things going on. So we don't want to tear DP away from his family. We'll just jump in and do some radio by ourselves. I'm Jake Bachman, Austin, Orman, jumping in studio with me. And we've got plenty to talk about, of course, getting ahead of that Nebraska Maryland game that everybody's looking forward to, which we can dive into a little bit further. Jeff Sims, former Husker quarterback going to start this week. Of course, the Eagles lost, so the fire Nick Siriani chance are already going on.

No, I think any time you lose two games in a row with the Eagles, they want to fire him. And Savannah bananas are heading to ligands. So a lot to really break down here. But it's a Friday, Austin. How are we feeling? People ask you, of course, all week. I don't know if it changes. Does it change throughout the week?

You feel more or less confident than you did on Monday about Nebraska's chances to get Maryland? Here's the thing. This is going to be probably the worst take everyone here is all week. But this is like the second time I've thought about Nebraska, Maryland all week. I am in college basketball mode. Sure. I have been in college basketball mode. That was Monday and Tuesday we're about,

where it was prepping for Big Ten Media Days, where, funny enough, I'm standing there listening to Dusty May at his little podium. And who walks over and stands next me for like five minutes, but Buzz Williams. Oh, nice. New Maryland had basketball cards. So Nick and I talked to Little Nebraska,

Maryland on the drive home last night, but I don't know. find more or less confident. I just haven't given this game, you know, more than a handful of thoughts. I'll tell you on the surface, it seems like a good matchup for Nebraska, a better matchup. I mean, Washington's a baller. They got some playmakers out wide, but I think it matches up pretty well with the strength of Nebraska's defense. Really, the question to me becomes, you know, does Nebraska get in its head about the elements and do they play a factor, right? The wind we heard a lot about, you know, Matt Ruhl tried to downplay. Yeah, we got to keep it in mind, but it's all right. And then, I mean,

the wind is a big deal. In fact, at how we called the game. Great. Okay, let's, let's be honest about how we're approaching this. If the rain is a factor, obviously it's a factor for both teams. I still think Nebraska should find a way to win this game. But even if they don't, if you just zoom out and look a little bit bigger picture, as long as Nebraska goes one in one over the course of the next seven days,

because a week from today, they'll be in Minneapolis to take on Minnesota. As long as Nebraska goes one and one, I still think you can say the season. on schedule. Yeah, yeah, I think so too. But it's interesting even between those two teams, because I was thinking, you know, again, there's all different ways to kind of approach it. And one is trying to figure out how good Maryland is as a team. They win a lot of non-con games. That's not been their problem under Mike Loxley. And yeah, they beat Wisconsin. But this is, there's a lot of teams that have been beating Wisconsin recently as we know. So it's tough to tell if this Maryland team is for real, have they taken a giant step forward?

Are they ready to, you know, bounce back from that four and eight season? To a degree, I already, you know, again, ahead of schedule there. And Malik Washington looks good, but they're still a young team. So even between Minnesota and Maryland, it's stuff to pick, like which one would even look better if you did lose. I don't know. Both those teams are going to be kind of, or in the middle like Nebraska is. But if you, again, like you said, take that step back and look at it as a whole, you know,

I don't know if those are their teams. maybe ceilings of or close to eight wins, maybe. So maybe Nebraska's in that same category without Rosegiller glasses. Yeah, no, I think that's fair. I've held off on giving a season prediction record-wise. I've just tried to be more. This is what Nebraska can win with. This is what Nebraska could get beat by.

But I think Nebraska has looked the way, you know, a four-in-one team would look at this point. And not an elite four-in-one team, right? a kind of schedule-based four-in-one team where let's give them credit for beating Cincinnati the way they did in week one to find a way. And no, last Saturday's game against Michigan State was not perfect. But that to me, Bach, is the difference between a six-and-sixth team last year and a team that has its sights on at least eight and four this year, is finding a way to win that game. When you start off with a bang, then you go through a really a 40-minute lull.

It is essentially what it was for Nebraska. and then you finish with a pretty solid 10 minutes there at the end of the game all things considered. So a game like that, finding a way to win a game like that, finding a way to go on the road back-to-back weeks and at least get a split in the Big 10, that's the margin between a 6-and-6 team last year and seeing if that 6-and-6 team has taken that step forward to that, yeah, we can be an 8-4 and feel pretty good about ourselves, given what we had on the team, sort of team.

Now, I do, we will jump back into Nebraska, Maryland. Obviously, plenty of to talk about there. But I do want to get your thoughts on your, on your media day trip there out to Chicago for men's and women's basketball. Mostly, I just want to know kind of what was the representation like out there. West Coast teams, you know, all together was, was there, was there a lot of media, at least, you know, in, if there was, was it from the teams that you would expect there to be? It definitely picked up on day two. I'll say that. I was pretty proud of the ticket.

I mean, we were like 40% of the Nebraska contingent out there between me and Nick. So it was really fantastic access. I want to really shout out Seamus and Jeff for getting us one-on-ones with all four players that went. We also got a one-on-one with co-Toybird all up on ticket social media, 93-7 the ticket on Twitter and Facebook. So definitely go check that out. But it wasn't packed. We had a harder time finding spots to sit yesterday than we did on Wednesday.

But more than anything, it was just. a blast, at least for me, just to walk around and listen to these coaches, both days. I mean, primarily focused on obviously Amy Williams in Nebraska on Wednesday. Heard a little bit from Jan Janssen over at Iowa. I heard a little bit from USC and UCLA bits and pieces. But really on Thursday, it worked out pretty well because Fred Hoyberg went in that two to two 30 window and obviously that's the headliner for us in Nebraska. So we were there listening to that.

But before that, got a chance to listen to it to Ben McCollum and Dary and DeVries. A couple of new guys to the conference. Got a chance to listen to Dusty May, who drew a pretty big crowd, as did Dary and DeVries, right? One of my favorite listens in college basketball is Matt Painter. I thought he was fascinating with a bunch of stuff he had to say. Caught a little bit of Tom Izzo's deal. What a fantastic experience. What a fantastic time to walk around, shake some hands and, you know, say hi,

introduce myself some people that, you know, I know of in the college basketball. ball sphere, but it was pretty good representation, I would say, from across the conference from start to finish. It's certainly not football media days, but it was, it was solid. It was a really great experience. Yeah, yeah, glad to hear that. Do you feel like you know Nebraska basketball team a little bit better because that's, I think that's a big obstacle sometimes than getting people back into basketball action is sometimes you, you don't know half your team anymore. Everybody's transferring. People are sticking around for just two years. And certainly for this Nebraska basketball team.

It's a little bit of welcome back, Rick Mass, you know, Coach Hoyberg's son still playing on the team, so people know him well, but not a whole lot of understanding of what this team is going to be. And I don't know if that's necessarily, like you can look at the roster and kind of think, you know, what their strengths and weaknesses are going to be. But we say this every year.

Sometimes it's, you know, the media trying to figure it out. Sometimes the fans, a lot of times the coach is trying to figure it out and he'll be playing with different lineups early in the season, and you'll see different guys maybe play more minutes early than they do late. Yeah. I know the names on Nebraska's roster, just as well as I did going in, but still have no idea who Nebraska is going to start. Neither does Fred Hoyberg.

He said he has a pretty good idea of who three starters will be a week from tomorrow in the scrimmage against BYU, then there's a couple starting spots up for grabs. I can tell you that I do believe this will be a much more offensive. minded team for Nebraska, which comes with its own set of worries and concerns. I am not sold on the defense being great. It's just got to be good enough. And also, for those of you who listened or are going to find time at some point to listen,

it's media days. Take it with a grain of salt. Of course, everyone's excited about their team. Of course, things are, you know, we wish we were further ahead, but I like the work that we've put in. you're going to hear the same things all the time. So I don't think that this Nebraska men's basketball team is ahead of schedule from where Fred Hoyberg would want it to be. But I think that they're in a pretty solid spot for it being, you know,

early mid-October having just a couple, few weeks of practice under their belt. I do think getting rink mask back, that's obviously the story for Nebraska Big Ten Media Days is going to be big. Lots of sort out in the back court, a lot of interesting names. They're still getting four guys reps at point guard, which I'm really curious to see how, how that shakes out.

But no, I think that, I mean, you'll see the poll come out and Nebraska's picked between 12th and 14 and get used to it, expect it. I think that's a little loan. I think that's more the bottom range of outcomes for this Nebraska team. But I do think that that's less of a slap in the face

in Nebraska than it is a testament to the strength of the league. We got this from from Gus Mohawk. Is there a clear front runner in Big Ten basketball this year? It's Purdue. Purdue brings everyone back. I mean everyone. Preseason player of the year, Braden Smith,

who's the player of the year last year. Trey Kaufman, Wren, great pick and roll partner. Fletcher lawyer ended up showing up who's a role guy. You got Harris, you got Cox, you got some actual front and court pieces. They had,

you know, their typical seven footer, right? Yeah. The tall white kid, Daniel Jacobson, who played for Team USA, broke his foot or tore something in his leg last year and then is just now making his way back.

Got one of the most productive mid-major transfers from South Dakota State, who should be a hand, and glove fit. It's Purdue. I think Michigan's pretty close. They have their own kind of fit questions. I'm not fully sold on the roster construction,

even if I like a lot of the individual pieces. Other teams in that conversation, UCLA finally got a guard and gotten Donovan Dent that's going to be really good for them. I really like Ohio State's talent. I really do not like their coach. I think that they made a little bit of a cop-out higher with Jake DeBler, who got his chance to hear from him.

He was buying middle of the road. whatever. But really Nebraska's competition, I think, is going to be New Look, Iowa, Wisconsin as it continues its evolution. I really think Michigan states in the same neighborhood as Nebraska. I mean, Tomazzo is who he is, but I just, I don't get that roster. I don't get that program. So really, I think if you're Nebraska or Nebraska fan, let me phrase, if you're a Nebraska fan, I would say your expectations or your hope should be that Nebraska is a top eight team in the And it's going to be kind of the same way as football. You know, you can probably bank on six or seven losses in conference play just by nature of going on the road in the big ten, just by nature of shots won't fall one night or he can't stop a nosebleed another night.

You can probably count on seven wins where you'll knock someone off at home. You have a couple road trips you think you can handle. And then release those middle six games in the 20 game conference schedule. If you can win three of them, okay, you're in good shots to be in the middle of the conference. if you win four of them, you're probably talking about a seven or an eight seat. Now, if you only win one or two of them, that's where you get your sights probably set on the crown again. So just like anything, I mean, you can bank a number of wins, you can bank a number of losses,

at least at this point. What do you do in that, that middle section of games, which is not just the middle six games of the schedule? Where can Nebraska make runs? Can Nebraska get hot for two, three weeks at a time offensively and maybe surprise a couple teams. There's a stretch in December that I think is going to be really crucial for this team that's going to tell us a lot. And it's definitely going to be interesting to see how this team kind of comes together, again, all these different pieces that just weren't here last year. But

you look at last year's team relied so much on Bryce Williams. I mean, there's no other way to put it. Throughout, you know, many portions, especially late in that season. Obviously, Joan Gary as well off the team for Nebraska. It's interesting because last year, I think, I think expectations were because they made the NCAA tournament the previous year at whole was to go back. You interestingly, I know we talked about all the last year, we kind of thought that was more of an NIT team than not. And it ended up being, you know, crown, NIT, whatever you want to put it. And Nebraska went out there and won the crown. So again, that was a fun time.

What would your expectations for this team being, given that you kind of put them back middle, maybe kind of middle of the Big Ten, would it still be in CAA tournament or are you still kind of in the in the crown in it realm i would okay i'll phrase it this way i think that an nca tournament birth of any sort is like a 60th to 75th percentile outcome and that's if you're talking you know can nebraska be like right on that bubble cut line and have enough good wins to to flip over to end Nebraska's 90th percentile outcome is probably seven or an eight seed if everything breaks right for them. They really capitalize. I think this team does have a relatively high floor, though.

I really do. Again, it's going to look different, but Nebraska needs to make some sort of postseason. I think there are enough good pieces on the team that whether it's the crown and getting a high seat, not that they really seat it, but kind of they do in the crown, that to me is going to be the bare minimum if Nebraska to just make the postseason again. Now back-to-back crowns instead of finding a way to make it to the NCAA tournament

be slightly disappointing with an older roster, but that's the way Fred Hoiburg is building, right? It's not a lot of, not a lot of ceiling individually. I think this is a team where the parts, if Nebraska wants to make the NCAA tournament are going to have to, or the sum is going to be, the hole is going to be greater than the sum of its parts. Let me get my word straight off the late flight last night.

there doesn't seem to be that transcendent bailout type of bucket getter like Ksay was at stretches. I don't think to Marcus Lawrence can get to that level, but maybe he can be more consistent, maybe slightly less streaky. I think ringed mast is going to be steady as she goes. I like Kendall Blue. I like Price-Sandford. We'll see what Connor Seagin gives you. They're raving about Bear Kay again and his work in the offseason.

So there are enough pieces there for Nebraska to be at least frisky. It's certainly interesting. And I think Nebraska can get any team in the conference on the right night. There will be some bad matchups for them, absolutely. But there's no reason that this team can't be in the postseason for the third straight year. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see, you know, how it all breaks down. Like you said, you know, head coach right now knows three starters.

So it's pretty hard to, they kind of predict that on our own. And it's just, it's just going to be who fights out and gets those roles. There's a lot of guys, I think, coming in competing for similar spots. And that's a good thing about this team. And Fred Hoiberg's kind of got that going over the last couple of years where there's guys that preseason, you maybe have 12 guys that you think, well, they could figure out a role.

And then you have to kind of just whittle that down. And then obviously throughout the season, maybe, you know, there are going to be opportunities there. So, I mean, fascinating stuff. I mean, with everybody coming in, you mentioned Kendall Blue, Ugi, you know, DeMarcus Lawrence coming back, all his seniors.

So it is, there's a lot of seniors in the rotation. Rick Mass more than anything, I think is going to be fun to follow to see if he can, one, A, return to his former self, B,

elevate from that because I think a lot of people would say, I mean, he's one of the best players in the, in the conference, you know, when he's playing at his best, but that has always been with Bryce Williams on the floor, at least as far as Nebraska.

Can he be the go-to, like you said, a bucket getter. I don't know if that necessarily fits his description. He's more of kind of steady throughout the throughout the game continue to add. And his numbers will pile up. But they've got to find somebody to go to when the shot clock's wanted it. Absolutely. And I think that Nebraska's team approach will be kind of that bike committee where you have

three, ideally for Nebraska four and maybe even five guys and double figures on any given night. Rinkmas does have that takeover ability. You think back to the game that Nebraska knocks off number one, Purdue. here in Pinnacle Bank Arena, Rinkmas took over that game in stretches, right? He was able to get the mismatch against Sack Eaddy, driving from the perimeter hit some shots.

That's huge. Ohio State two years ago, huge game for ringmast, took over some just ridiculous stuff that a 610 big man should not be doing on the perimeter, and he did it multiple times. He has that ability, but I don't think Nebraska would be maximizing him

or the rest of the roster if Rinkmask is in the Bryce Williams range in terms of points per game. which might sound funny to some people to hear that. But I think that even hearing from Rink yesterday, he prides himself on his ability to pass the basketball, get other people in positions to succeed. He knows he can score. He knows he can shoot it.

If Rink Mask is averaging 18 points a game for Nebraska, either something went incredibly right offensively, and they're averaging 84, 85 points per game, or something went incredibly wrong. And Nebraska's down at 64, 65, and they're putting that much on Rinkmas. I think if Nebraska's in that mid-to-upper 70s, range. I think they got to be pushing 80 for this team to hit its ceiling. But let's say

they're in that mid to upper 70s range. I think Rankin's up at, you know, 13 to 15 points per game on a pretty consistent basis. And then the other thing that that, that Coach Weberg was talking about, and it's been, you know, kind of for the preseason going in, the roster management and construction, like you said, is more than often than not, they're going to have five guys out there that can shoot the ball. So again, when you talk about maybe getting that bucket get her down the stretch. That's less of a concern when you've got shooters everywhere. So it's like, okay, we'll just rotate and eventually find a good shot.

We'll see. But where does that rotation come from? This is still the question is it's one thing to have good shooters. But Bach, you and I know this, we like to stand in the corner and wait for people to pass us the ball. That's right. The problem is it's pretty hard in college basketball just to go station to station around the perimeter and say, oh yeah, someone's going to get an open shot if all we do is make

chess passes from side to side. That might work in middle school basketball sometimes, occasionally if you're lucky. where the shooting comes into play is Nebraska needs to start the season off pretty hot to pull those help defenders away from the rim, make their first reaction out, make them be aggressive in passing lanes. And then Nebraska's drivers, you're looking at Jamarcus Lawrence, you're looking at Kendall Blue, you're looking at Sam Hoyberg, Cale Jacobson if he cracks the rotation, rank mast in the right matchup,

probably Braden Frager at this point as well, depending on how much he's in the rotation. Those guys are going to be the ones that need to put the most vertical pressure on the rim and then be able to make those kickout passes that lead to the extra passes for for those shooters. If Nebraska is only going to shoot 34, 35% from three, I don't think that's going to be enough for this team to be consistent offensively. It's got to be, I mean, I think 37 is probably the baseline for this team to be successful, just to open up those driving lanes to get those shots. But again, I still think that Nebraska has got to be,

you know, probably pushing 39, 40% as team, which is a high bar. But that's what you're trying to hang your hat on this year. You went all in in that realm. So you've got to find a way to make it work now. Yeah. Yeah. And there's, I mean, there's been teams and Huskers pass that dwindled down to the low 30s, you know, around 30. That, especially for this team, as you're saying,

the way that it's constructed, that's just not going to work. Nebraska will need to be shooting at a high percentage. And that's what I think, too, is going to be part of that, you know, what you're talking about early. If you split the season and third, there's going to be times when you rely on shooting and you don't shoot well. And they're not going to

have probably enough defensive tenacity to kind of fall back on to see if they can get the get the win that way maybe they will we'll see maybe they can find some some lineups for that as well there's also going to be nights when they're they're lighting lighting it up so hopefully uh Nebraska's got got everything that they need uh to to compete this year and we will have to see it's fun talking some Nebraska basketball with you Austin here in this first segment uh we will we will continue to talk Nebraska might shift our focus a little bit into to football, but also big night last night as the Giants beat the Eagles, big for the Giants. And like I said, the Eagles, they, they don't know how to handle losing two in a row.

And of course, the Savannah Bannana is coming to Nebraska Memorial Stadium, June 13. So we'll talk about that as well. Come next year on one-on-one on 93-7 the ticket.