Nebraska Basketball: 2018 Cornhuskers Christmas wishlist

Rebound the Basketball

Entering the season one of the main concerns, aside from the depth problem for Nebraska was going to be rebounding the basketball. After one full month of the season the Huskers still have zero answers to either question. Nebraska has shown that they are not a great rebounding team, but can hold their own against the bigger teams in the country.

Against teams that are built to grind teams down, which the Big Ten does have a few of those, Nebraska will get dominated underneath if they do not clean up the defensive glass and rebound the misses. The Huskers are great at getting stops on the first possession. Lately they have been getting beat to 50-50 balls and giving up a ton of offensive rebounds. With the uptick in competition expected when Big Ten play resumes this could spell doom for the Huskers.

Nebraska has had ways around this with their efficiency on the offensive end, and their ability to quick baskets in transition. Coach Miles, and any coach will tell you that rebounding is mostly effort and positioning. When Nebraska faces the step up in competition they have shown they can be competitive on the rebounding edge. However, the positioning is the part that is concerning.

The huskers do not seem to have great positioning to box out for the rebound. It is hard to tell if it due to lack of effort and toughness or they are not being coached to good rebounding positioning. Nebraska plays a style in which they can overcome poor rebounding to beat teams. They like to limit the possessions with steals and zone defenses to get shot clock violations. Rebounding is a key part of the game, but teams can overcome it most times.

If Nebraska shows a better effort and gets better box out positioning they could be a team who piles up the rebounds. The talent is there for them to be a great rebounding team. Coach Miles is hoping for a little better effort every time they touch the floor.