Wisconsin guard appears a lock for Nebraska Basketball commit

The Nebraska Basketball team might be nearing the end of their roster rebuild. And if things continue going the way they have so far, it appears that Fred Hoiberg will once again need to get a little more credit from the fanbase that he knows what he’s doing.

And by the fanbase, I am including myself.

There was plenty of confusion and worry by Nebraska Basketball fans when the Huskers lost six players to the transfer portal. However, Hoiberg has done a good job of adding pieces that could be upgrades to most of those losses. The latest installment of the rebuild could be a former Wisconsin Badger. Just not the one Cornhuskers fans really want.

Still, should Hoiberg’s Heroes add Connor Essegian, it would mean adding another talented guard from a program that knows how to win. Essegian currently appears to be a near lock for the Nebraska Basketball team, with On3 giving NU a 97 percent chance of landing him.

Nebraska Basketball looks like lock for Wisconsin guard

Essegian is a former Big 10 Freshman of the year. He’ll have two years of eligibility remaining and it looks like he’s got some room to grow in his game. In his freshman campaign he averaged 11.7 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. He also shot 35 percent from beyond the arc.

Last season, the former Badger’s minutes dropped precipitously. While he played in 33 games, he averaged just over seven minutes a game. That saw his scoring and other contributions take a big drop as well.

The hope of course is that a change of scenery can help the young player turn back into the threat he was his first season in the Big Ten. 

Should he commit, he’d be the second guard the Nebraska Basketball team managed to pull away from a Big 10 rival, with Gavin Griffiths coming over from Rutgers. Eli Rice’s jump to Penn State means there’s likely going to be a lot of faceoffs with old squads in the 2024-25 season.