Fastbreak: Hoiberg takes the stage at Big Ten Media Days
Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg took the main podium at the 2022 Big Ten Basketball Media Days on Tuesday morning at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Here is a full rundown of what Hoiberg had to say as his fourth season with the Huskers draws near…
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Nebraska head coach Fred Hoiberg
***Hoiberg talked about being back in Minneapolis at the Target Center, where he played two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves and then continued with the franchise as an assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations.
“Some of my greatest basketball memories are in this building,” he said.
***Hoiberg reiterated how much he liked his 2022-23 roster, specifically its veteran leadership, toughness, and overall size and length.
“I’m really excited about our group,” Hoiberg said. “I have a team that’s got great toughness and length. I can say that’s the first time we’ve had a group with positional size across the board, which is so important in this league.”
***Hoiberg again praised Derrick Walker, Sam Griesel, NU’s two players in attendance, and Emmanuel Bandoumel, for taking the leadership reins this offseason and “setting the tone every single day.”
Hoiberg called Bandoumel “one of the greatest leaders that I’ve ever had.”
“Two guys (Walker and Griesel) that had the opportunities to start their professional careers and decided to come back because they wanted to be a part of something at Nebraska basketball that had never been done before,” Hoiberg said. “Those two every day are setting the tone for our team, as well as guys like Emmanuel Bandoumel … one of the greatest leaders that I’ve ever had.
“That goes back to my really good teams at Iowa State with Monté Morris, Naz Long, Matt Thomas; guys like that. I would put him up with any of those guys as far as being a great culture person for our program. A guy that, with Sam and Derrick, is setting the tone for our team.”
***Hoiberg stressed that Nebraska’s overall competitiveness, toughness, and fight would be characteristics that Husker fans would be drawn to this season.
“Every day these guys step on the floor, they compete,” Hoiberg said. “I do know that this is a team that our fan base will be able to rally behind just because of the makeup and the character of this group. Excited about our team.”
***Hoiberg was asked about recruiting transfers in today’s transfer portal era compared to when he somewhat started that trend while at Iowa State.
“It changed a lot, obviously, with the makeup of college basketball right now and the landscape of our sport with the transfer portal…” Hoiberg said. “Now you’re competing against everybody for transfers. Not just three schools, now everybody – Blue Bloods – are bringing in transfers to help supplement their rosters.
***Whether it was recruiting players out of high school, junior college, or the portal, Hoiberg said the key to building a winning roster was by getting old and staying old.
“You see the older teams – that’s one of the reasons I’m excited about our team this year,” Hoiberg said. “We’re old. We got really good players that have played in some high-level programs. We have players for the first time that have played in the postseason.
“Sam Griesel played in the NCAA tournament. Juwan Gary from Alabama won an SEC championship and was on a Sweet 16 team at Alabama. Emmanuel Bandoumel played in two postseasons. Derrick Walker was the only guy on our team last year when he was at Tennessee that played in the postseason.”
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***Hoiberg talked about the hype around his program going into last season and how disappointing the 2021-22 campaign ended up. He noted that the Huskers were 4-10 when it was a two-possession game in the last five minutes.
“That’s obviously not good enough,” he said.
Finding ways to win close games, especially early on, would be critical to Nebraska turning things around this season.
“If you’re confident, you find a way to win those close ones,” Hoiberg said. “By losing our close games early, that had us on the wrong side. Once we got it going at the end of the year, that’s what I envisioned that team, was hoping that team would come together…
“Our biggest message to this team is really focusing on and going out and doing the little things, finding a way to get over the hump on those games early in the season to build confidence to where you find a way to win those games.”
***On the impact that Griesel, a Lincoln native and life-long Nebraska fan, had made on the program since he arrived this summer, Hoiberg dished out significant praise.
“It’s incredible,” Hoiberg said. “I’ll just go back to when Sam came on his official visit and sat in my office, was in there with his mom and dad, a couple of our assistant coaches. All he talked about was winning. It was very refreshing.
“A lot of times when you’re sitting in those meetings, the questions are: How many shots am I going to get? How many minutes am I going to play? What role do you anticipate for me? All Sam cared about was he wanted to get this program to where it’s never been because he was a passionate Nebraska basketball fan growing up.
“The chemistry that Sam and the others have built by spending time with each other off the floor, which again is very important when you’re playing in close games, to have a trust level. These guys genuinely care for each other. Sam has been a big part of that, those other guys that I talked about with Derrick, Emmanuel, Wilhelm (Breidenbach). We got a group of guys that will go to battle with each other every night.
“Sam’s passion for the program is rubbing off on our other players because he’s been there, seen it, he grew up in it, and he wants to see this thing be successful.”
