The Columbus Dispatch released its annual Big Ten media preseason poll ahead of Thursday Big Ten Men’s Basketball Media Day. One year after finishing tied for third with a 12-8 record and earning the No. 3 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Nebraska came in tied for 12th in the projections for the expanded 18-team league.
“It’s called preseason for a reason,” Juwan Gary said. “Last year we were predicted 12 and finished third. A lot of people said it was luck, a lot of people said it was a fluke. I don’t think Nebraska basketball is a fluke at all. We grinded to that position, we went through adversity, we went through a lot of challenges, stuff like that. We proved we were a top-three, top-five team in the Big Ten. I don’t feel like we should be No. 12, but it is what it is. At the end of the day, we’re an underdog team. We love being that, we love proving people wrong.”
The 2023-24 Cornhuskers earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time during the Fred Hoiberg era, but the only two starters who return are the seniors who accompanied Hoiberg to Big Ten Media Days: Brice Williams and Gary. Leading scorer Keisei Tominaga is gone, as are sharp-shooters C.J. Wilcher, Jamarques Lawrence and Eli Rice. Frontcourt starters Rienk Mast and Josiah Allick are still around, but Mast will miss the season with an injury and Allick is now a grad assistant.
Hoiberg and his staff brought in nine newcomers — six D-I transfers, two freshmen and one walk-on junior college transfer — but Gary doesn’t see the team’s approach changing, even if the skill sets on the roster might be a bit different.
“A lot of people left, a lot of people graduated, a lot of people transferred, but at the end of the day that doesn’t stop us from being Nebraska basketball,” Gary said. “We’re still going to be that underdog team, we’re still going to go out there and give 110% and we’re still going to show why we should be a top competitor in the Big Ten.”
The word “underdog” came up repeatedly from Gary during the players’ 25-minute breakout session with the media. He wants to make the Big Ten All-Defense Team this season and he’s still dwelling on missing out last year, using it for motivation.
“I’m always going to be the underdog, Nebraska’s always going to be an underdog team, which is always fun for me,” Gary said.
There are six seniors on this year’s roster, half of which are new to the team, and Gary said those around the program can see the sense of urgency in everything they do knowing this is their last go at accomplishing their goals in college basketball.
“We saw the benefit last year of having an older team,” Hoiberg said. “We had the oldest team in the Big Ten a year ago and we wanted to replace Josiah. We knew Rienk, pretty early, was going to be out this year. Keisei played a lot for us in three years and had five years of college experience. Having an opportunity to build the roster with experience, that was a big objective for us and a challenge to our staff. We feel good about what we added. The two bigs in Andrew Morgan and Braxton Meah are both in their fifth year of college; bringing in Rollie Worster, who is in his fifth year of college basketball.
“So we have a lot of guys that have played a lot of minutes, but they haven’t played together. The benefit you have in today’s era is you get so much time together … We’ve got high-IQ players, smart guys that have picked things up relatively quickly, and a lot of that speaks to the experience that our guys have.”
Mast was a key part of the team’s success a year ago, leading the Huskers in assists and rebounds while finishing third in scoring. Despite being sidelined, he’s still taking an active role this season, helping the frontcourt additions integrate into Hoiberg’s offense.
“Rienk’s over there standing next to Jo and he’ll see sometimes maybe where we’ll get a really nice cut to the basket and we’ll miss him, and you’ll just see him over there put his hands over his face,” Hoiberg said. “Those are plays that he makes. So then he may go talk to Andrew and go talk to Braxton about ‘Hey, this is the first read; you have to exhaust this side before you go to the next side.’ So he’s going to be a huge benefit for us because he fits the system so well, and again, even though he’s not going to be on the court he can still have a big impact on this team.”
The impact of Mast (6-foot-10) and Allick (6-foot-8, 231 pounds) will be tough to replace, but the additions of Meah (7-foot-1, 264 pounds) and Morgan (6-foot-10, 242 pounds) certainly give Hoiberg and his staff more size to work with at the five, and that extended to the rest of the roster as well. Utah point guard transfer Rollie Worster, Rutgers wing transfer Gavin Griffiths and UCLA forward transfer Berke Buyüktüncel all bring plus positional size as well.
“This team has a lot of size,” Hoiberg said. “You look at Braxton at 7-1; you’ve got Berke at 6-10; Juwan plays bigger than his 6-6, 6-7; Brice at 6-7; Rollie’s 6-5 at the point; then you’ve got Andrew Morgan at 6-9, so you’ve got a lot of size. Gavin’s got size and length; he’s got a 7-foot-plus wingspan. From a size and versatility standpoint — Berke’s taller than Rienk, he’s got good instincts on the glass. Then Juwan’s a good rebounder, Brice is a good rebounder, Rollie’s an exceptional rebounder for his position, Sam [Hoiberg] gets in there and fights and scrums it out.
“So you’ve got some smaller lineups we might be able to play with some more skill out there, and then you could plays some bigger lineups as well. So as far as versatility is concerned, this is probably the most versatile group that I’ve had, certainly at Nebraska.”
With four new teams and an influx of talent across the league via the transfer portal and high school ranks, the Big Ten is bigger and better than a year ago, and a top-five finish looks to be an even bigger challenge. However, the underdog role is one the 2024-25 Huskers are happy to embrace.
