Speed over size? Hoiberg hoping to counter low post disadvantage

CHICAGO – Fred Hoiberg only needed to look around the coach and player hospitality room during Big Ten Media Day on Wednesday to see exactly what his team’s most daunting challenge would be this season.

There, Purdue’s Matt Haarms (7-foot-3, 249 pounds), Michigan’s Jon Teske (7-1, 265), Iowa’s Luka Garza (6-11, 245), Indiana’s De’Ron Davis (6-10, 256), and Ohio State’s Kaleb Wesson (6-9, 270) all towered over the breakfast buffet set up at the Hilton O’Hare Hotel.

Knowing that his biggest player was a 17-year-old true freshman in Yvan Ouedraogo (6-9, 265) on a roster sparse with frontcourt size, the first-year Nebraska head coach’s preexisting concerns about rebounding reached a new level.

“We’re going to have to be a team that plays fast,” Hoiberg said. “Especially seeing some of these student-athletes here at the breakfast morning, we’re going to be undersized a pretty much every position. So we’re going to have to try to play fast, get out and play with great pace, and try to win games that way…

Including Ouedraogo, the Huskers only boast three players listed at 6-8 or taller and more than 200 pounds. One is fellow true freshman Kevin Cross (6-8, 240), and the other is transfer Derrick Walker (6-8, 235), who is sitting out this season.

So, as Hoiberg noted, NU is going to be at a severe disadvantage both on the boards and in defending the low post. However, what Hoiberg’s team does possess is a wealth of speed, skill, and athleticism.

Going back to his time at Iowa State, Hoiberg has always featured a fast-paced, offensive-oriented system that is capable of not only making up for any size discrepancies but also able to counter by turning it into an advantage.

“Our biggest challenge is going to be rebounding, just with the size of our team,” Hoiberg said. “But if we can get that, I’m confident that we can get out and run with anybody.”

Aside from tempo and transition offense, though, Hoiberg said it would be critical for Nebraska to develop the right kind of mindset to make up for what it lacks in stature. Hoiberg said he'd liked the workman-like mentality his group has shown in practices this offseason, especially the highly-competitive nature of most everything they’ve done.

The issue, Hoiberg said, was how well the Huskers would be able to sustain that mindset when real adversity hit for the first time this season.

“Right now, the battle that we’re having with our players, and this was whether we were playing the exhibition games over in Italy or our intra-squad scrimmage - when things are going well, we’re pretty damn good,” Hoiberg said.

“We’re going out there and we’re playing with a swagger, we’re playing fast. But when we hit a little adversity, that’s when we’ve got to find a way to break through and continue to go out there and fight. That’s human nature I think with everybody, especially when everybody is still no new and still trying to figure each other out.

“It’s how do you stay together collectively and fight through those tough times? Because we’re going to hit them every time we step on the court.”