Husker Corner
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Nebraska Basketball has filled some holes, now it’s time to upgrade the roster

By Oliver Vandervoort

Brice Williams #3 of the Charlotte 49ers takes a foul shot during the first round game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational college basketball game against the Boise State Broncos (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
Brice Williams #3 of the Charlotte 49ers takes a foul shot during the first round game of the Myrtle Beach Invitational college basketball game against the Boise State Broncos (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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Nebraska basketball filled a couple of holes in its roster, but the team doesn’t actually look better than it did this past season just yet.

Wednesday was a pretty good day for Nebraska basketball in no small part because the Huskers finally started really building its 2023-24 roster. With the announcements of both Brice Williams and Rienk Mast that they were coming to Lincoln, it appears that, at the very least, Fred Hoiberg has found guys to take on the roles of Derrick Walker and Sam Griesel.

However, if we’re being honest here, the Huskers’ roster is still not as good as it was this past season. And however more competitive the Nebraska basketball team was compared to previous Hoiberg seasons, the 2022-2023 roster was not a world-beater. Or a tournament team.

Based on what we know now, there’s an argument to be made that Williams is actually a slight upgrade to Griesel. At least on the court. Griesel showed leadership skills that are going to be hard to beat.

But Williams averaged more points, shot better and was definitely more of a dead eye from beyond the three-point arc. Williams shot 40 percent from deep compared to Griesel’s 32 percent. The former Charlotte star is also much better at the line (84 percent) than Griesel was (68 percent).

On the flip side, Rienk Mast is likely going to be a bit of a downgrade from Derrick Walker if for no other reason than Walker spent several seasons with the Nebraska basketball team and was able to adjust his game to the Big Ten. Mast will be coming over straight away from Bradley, and it seems more than a little likely that he’ll need some time to grow into a power conference player.

Overall, it seems as if the two replacements for the departing seniors could turn out to be a wash. If everything goes right, the Huskers might have basically reset their starting five (assuming Keisei comes back), But if this is achieving the status quo from last season, that’s not quite enough.

Nebraska basketball has room to grow

The good news is that the Huskers’ roster can add two more transfer players. Those players could indeed end up making it rather evident that Hoiberg’s Heroes have taken another step forward.

Considering the dominos that fell on Wednesday, it feels like Nebraska basketball could make those upgrades soon. If everything goes right.

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