Fastbreak: Nebrasketball gearing up for crucial 2018-19 season

Nebraska held its annual team photo day on Wednesday, which also serves essentially as an unofficial preseason media day with the opportunity to talk with every player on the team.

HuskerOnline.com talked with every scholarship player on the roster during the session, and here are some of our main takeaways…

***Senior forward Isaac Copeland said one of the biggest differences for him personally going into this season compared to the last couple years was that he was actually fully healthy again. He had to play through a back injury at Georgetown two years ago, which ultimately led to him transferring at midseason. He then was still working his way back to full form to start his first season at Nebraska and didn’t feel 100 percent until later in the year.

“Oh it’s huge,” Copeland said of entering the season healthy. “I’m already seeing a difference Just seeing where I’m at now compared to where I was a year ago at this point, it’s incredible. I’m looking forward to a big year for myself.”

***Junior forward Isaiah Roby said one of the biggest messages head coach Tim Miles has been trying to get through to him this offseason was being more aggressive and assertive on offense. Roby said Miles even showed him an article on Grant Hill dealing with some of the same passive tendencies, where Hill said he came to the realization that he was actually being selfish by trying so hard not to be.

“(Miles) was basically saying that me not being aggressive was being selfish,” Roby said. “I don’t like to be selfish, and he was saying by being aggressive, you’re being selfish to our team and to what we’re trying to do. He’s been trying to instill that in me, and I think I’ve taken a big step in that.”

***Senior guard James Palmer Jr. has continued to see his national profile rise over the offseason, but he said he doesn’t pay any attention to that sort of stuff. Palmer said he could definitely tell that he was the top priority on opposing defensive scouting reports toward the end of last season and he saw constant double-teams every time he touched the ball. Palmer said he’s already preparing for that to happen again this year.

“For sure, they’re definitely going to put tough defenders on me and stuff like that,” Palmer said. “But I’m just going to try and let the game come to me and not force things. Just wait for my time.”

***Roby said he wasn’t worried at all about having three players with legit professional aspirations on the same team and the potential for guys to be more concerned with their own stats than team success.

“I think we all have a mutual understanding of, if the team does well, that’s the only way we’re going to get where we want to go,” Roby said. “We could all have good stats, but if we’re a bad team, that’s not going to do anything for us. So I think we all know that’s the way to get where we’re trying to go.”

***Senior Glynn Watson said playing alongside so many top-level players was definitely a good problem to have, and it was his job to keep the offense flowing and get everyone involved as the team’s point guard. He also realizes that an important part of NU’s offense is him looking to score as well and not always deferring to his teammates.

“I think it makes my job a lot easier,” Watson said. “I don’t need to score, but I’ve got to be able to score when we need to score. I’ve got to be able to make open shots, and I’m a guy who can create my own shot… I’m going to look for them, and if I have a shot, I’m going to take my shot.”

***Sophomore guard Thomas Allen admitted that last season didn’t go nearly the way he had planned for himself, and at times it was frustrating not to have the role on the team that he wanted.

“I got humbled last year, that’s what it was,” Allen said. “I was a little upset, but I knew this year I could help the team a lot more than I did last year… I learned a lot just sitting on the side. I learned a lot from Anton (Gill) and Evan (Taylor).”

Allen said he’s been putting up about 400 shots a day while working on his own before and after team workouts, and he thinks his shot release has gotten a lot quicker. Adding muscle was another big point for him this summer, and he’s now up to 183 pounds from the 172 he played at as a freshman.

***Maybe one of the biggest surprises of the summer has been the emergence of freshman forward Brady Heiman. Most thought the Platteview, Neb., product was bound for a redshirt year this season as he continued to put on more weight and get strong enough to play in the Big Ten.

“In my eyes, I thought it was going to happen,” Heiman said of redshirting.

However, Heiman has already added more than 15 pounds of muscle this summer and is up to 215. He’s still short of his freshman year goal of 225 pounds, but his progress has changed his view of what his role could be this year.

“At this point, I’m not redshirting,” Heiman said. “I’m just trying to do anything I can do to get better and hopefully see more minutes on the court.”

Part of Heiman’s rapid physical gains has been due to a complete change in his diet. He said he’s now required to consume at least 4,500 calories per day. Heiman’s ultimate ideal playing weight is around 240.

“Before I would just eat when I was hungry,” Heiman said. “Now it doesn’t matter if I’m hungry or not. I’m always eating.”

***There’s no question that guard Amir Harris will be another true freshman who sees immediate playing time this season. At 6-foot-6, Harris said he’s put on 10-15 pounds of muscle since arriving on campus and could be an extremely versatile piece in NU’s rotation.

Recruited as a point guard, Harris has the size, length, strength, and defensive ability to play 1-4 depending on the opposing matchups.

“It’s a mix, really,” Harris said of his role. “Our offense is so interchangeable for me because I can play multiple positions. So if I can guard the person on the wing, then I can play the wing. If I can guard the point guard, then I can play the point guard. Wherever I’m needed is where I’m going to be.”

***Last season was a bit of a disappointing debut for guards Nana Akenten and Thor Thorbjarnarson, as both chose not to redshirt the first years and ended up hardly seeing the floor.

Looking back, though, neither said they regretted their redshirt decisions and viewed last season as a valuable learning experience.

“I didn’t expect to come in and be a starter or anything crazy, but I came out here and it was just a humbling experience, for real,” Akenten said. “I sat a lot of the season, and it gave me some time to watch the guys that were on the court and just take notes and learn from them. Being around those guys that we had last year made a huge difference in how my year was going. They just kept encouraging me and I just never gave up. I think I needed that.”

Added Thorbjarnarson:

“I still don’t regret not redshirting because my plan was always to come here for four years, and that hasn’t changed. I still feel like I learned a lot about the system and how things go here. It was like an adaption year, just getting adjusted to everything. I think I’ve really grown a lot as a player.”

***The final addition to Nebraska's roster this offseason was junior college transfer forward Dedoch Chan. Based off what he's shown in limited action during summer workouts, the 6-foot-8 sophomore could see playing time early and often this year.

Chan prides himself on his offensive skill set and his rebounding, and his overall versatility was something he said NU's coaches told him they really liked about his game. He'll start out playing primarily at the 4 but could play either the 3 or the 5 depending on the matchup.

He still has work to do in bulking up and adjusting to high-major basketball, but Chan thinks he can have a role for the Huskers right away.

“I used to dream about (playing in the Big Ten),” Chan said. “That was one of my goals was to play in the Big Ten. For it happen, I was really surprised. But now that I’m here, I’m ready to take advantage of it...

“There were times when I thought it was going to be tough. I didn’t see this coming, but I knew I could do it. Deep down, I knew I could play at this level, and that was my goal.”

***The third member of Nebraska’s 2018 freshman class is forward Karrington Davis, who is still working his way back from a pretty major hip injury he suffered before his high school senior season.

Davis said he’s made a lot of progress in his recovery, especially since arriving in Lincoln and utilizing NU’s sports medicine program. No decision has been made on his redshirt status as of yet, but Davis’ goal is to be a factor right away in 2018-19.

“Right now I’m looking forward to playing,” Davis said. “That’s my approach right now. I’m just getting better every day and taking it day-by-day. We’ll see what happens.”

***Junior guard Dachon Burke won’t be on the floor for the Huskers this season as he sits out following his transfer from Robert Morris, but that doesn’t mean he won’t still have a big impact on the team.

Burke has already made his presence felt with the level of intensity he brings to each practice, particularly when he’s matched up against his roommate, Palmer.

“We’re roommates, so we always bump heads on the court, off the court,” Burke said. “He’s got his days where he’s going at me, I’ve got my days where I’m trying to go at him… I’m fouling him hard in practice all the time. I’m up in him, he’s up in me. I love it. I love the process.”