Nebraska Basketball: Coaches “hitting the books” in effort to get better

COLLEGE PARK, MD - FEBRUARY 11: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers signals to his players in the second half during a college basketball game against the Maryland Terrapins at the Xfinity Center on February 11, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - FEBRUARY 11: Head coach Fred Hoiberg of the Nebraska Cornhuskers signals to his players in the second half during a college basketball game against the Maryland Terrapins at the Xfinity Center on February 11, 2020 in College Park, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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The Nebraska basketball coaching staff is studying hard at all this downtime.

It’s no secret that Nebraska basketball needs to work on some things after the results last season. A 7-25 record means that there is a lot of room for improvement. Granted, the basketball program was built on the fly. Even still, the coaching staff knows that they have to do better.

As the uncertainty of whether or not basketball will be played looms, the coaching staff is still working hard to try and figure out a way to stop the losing ways. . When you look at who the coaching staff is compiled of, there is little doubt that they can right the ship again. I’m interested to see how this staff will do with a brand-new roster. Granted, they are bringing in experienced players. Even still, Nebraska basketball knows that playcalling and execution will be key to success.

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It seems like the biggest thing Nebraska basketball is focusing on is cleaning up things defensively. They had a very difficult time rebounding last season. The program gave up 78.1 points per game and were outrebounded by more than nine rebounds per contest.

You could see it during the games last season. They just got manhandled on the boards. Yvan Ouedraogo certainly can be a solid rebounder, but last year was his first year in major college basketball. He needs to bulk up a bit in order to be successful. Once he does, he’ll truly be a force to be reckoned with.

I like the fact that the coaches are continuing to work hard to improve. As Hoiberg told Chris Bassnett  of the Lincoln Journal-Star, they are each working on individual projects to help the team get better. Given how successful many of these coaches were individually, I certainly like the idea of all of the coaches working during this time to improve the team. This will give them a chance to break down film, watch highlights from other games and see what they need to do to make the team better.

"“Defensively we’re doing projects right now. I’ve got all my coaches doing different things as far as studying some of the top teams not only in the NCAA, but in the NBA, and try to steal some concepts and some of the things that we can add to our group based on the skill sets of our players,” Hoiberg said.“So even though we’re not able to be together in the office, I’ve got Doc (Sadler) doing projects, I’ve got Armon Gates doing projects, I’ve got Bobby Lutz doing some things as well that he’s looking at and can give me advice on. Then Matt Holt, our film guy, is putting everything together as far as our edits and how we can improve moving forward.”"

I will certainly be intrigued to see what comes of these projects. As the program looks to get better, these coaches will certainly have different skillsets to work with once basketball resumes. Last year was a trial run for everybody. Next season is going to be one where they can ease into things a bit from a coaching perspective, and hopefully get results.