Nebraska Basketball: Huskers building quality frontcourt depth for 2024-25 season
By Bryan Mauro
The transfer portal has closed, and the NBA draft early entrants have made their decisions but that doesn’t mean that there are not still big commitments from the transfer portal coming for teams and helping fill massive needs. Almost every team had to deal with attrition through the transfer portal but some a lot more than others. That also means that almost every team is going to have a lot of new faces to learn in the coming months leading to the season.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are no stranger to new faces this year as they have flipped almost their entire roster following their first NCAA tournament appearance in the last 10 seasons. Head coach Fred Hoiberg has done a great job over the last two seasons of infusing the roster with a lot of talent in the transfer portal and this year should be more of the same. The one negative thing you could point to about the 2023-2024 version of the Huskers was their lack of depth in the frontcourt.
Outside of star Rienk Mast the Huskers were lacking a lot of depth at the center position. Towards the end of the season when Mast was dealing with a bad knee the Huskers could not give him a minutes restriction and still expect to win games. It was a problem towards the end of the season especially when it came to interior defense.
Heading into the season it was a priority for the Huskers to build up their depth in the interior. I have written about this before and a depth chart breakdown will be coming as the season approaches but the latest commitment for Nebraska in Berke Buyuktuncel, a transfer from UCLA, further adds to the improvement of depth in the frontcourt. The Huskers' coaching staff has made big men a priority in the offseason. Buyuktuncel joins d- everything forward Juwan Gary, North Dakota State transfer Andrew Morgan, and rim protector and defensive big man Braxton Meah who transferred from Washington.
The Turkish big man from UCLA played sparingly for Mick Cronin last season and I do not expect that trend to continue. The forward is good at things that coach Hoiberg values. He can handle the ball and bring the ball up the floor but is better off the ball. He didn’t put up great up shooting numbers last season, but he can hit threes and as he develops more will become a threat from outside. His biggest asset is his offensive ability. The sophomore did struggle to see the floor because he was not great on the defensive end of the floor which will have an effect on his minutes, at least initially.
It is hard to say what the minutes will look like in the frontcourt next year. Outside of Juwan Gary, no one is going to be a guaranteed game-one starter. Each of the big men brings different things to the Huskers. Morgan was a starter at North Dakota State and is a player who can shoot the ball well from outside, is a good passer, rebounds well, and has experience. Can he successfully transition from the Summit League to the Big Ten?
Meah is not going to shoot the ball from outside. He will be fantastic in the pick and roll and will finish the easy baskets inside the paint. He rebounds and plays defense and has never been a huge part of any offense. His asset is on the defensive end of the floor. Everyone knows what Gary brings to the Huskers and there is a zero percent chance he doesn’t start this year at one of the forward spots.
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Nebraska is in a good place heading into the offseason workouts. The depth is better this year than it was last year, but the top-end talent is not as high. The Huskers have a lot of high-ceiling guys who are looking for a fresh start and if they all pan out it will mean good things for the Huskers and could mean back-to-back NCAA tournaments for the first time since the mid-1990’s.