NU vs. Southeastern Louisiana

[Skerfan]

:) Really looking forward to tonight's game. It's been a long week (the last seven days) and I sure could use a good dose of basketball.

Nice article about Danielle Page posted on the front page of Hoop Scoop. She's a real crowd favorite at Bob D. I like the line up that will be starting tonight: JJ, Hardy, Aubry, Gerhart and Diaz.

I'm really looking forward to the McGowen (SELU guard) - Hardy matchup. McGowen, a guard out of Dallas, is averaging 5.0 steals a game on a team that forced 46 turnovers in it's first two contests (againt NAIA opponents). McGowen also averages 18.0 ppg. I'm assuming Diaz will match up against Nakeya Downing, 12.9 points and 9.2 rebounds a game.

Let's hope Jelena regains her confidence and form :(. When she's on, she's really a heady basketball player with Katie Robinette like skills (good ball handler, great spin move :eek:, and can slash to the bucket). Where's Jack Stark when you need him (for those of you who don't know who that is - he was a sports psychologist :cool: who got a lot out of some football players in the 90s)?

[Skerfan]

I really enjoyed the game tonight. Obviously SELU is not one of the better teams we'll face this season, but I like the way we played against their zone defense.

Chipper -- I really have to disagree with you on JJ. She is among the best points in the Big 12. What a solid performance tonight - dishing out assists, shooting well and rebounding, playing steller defense -- all good things. But, she's the glue that holds this team together.

Jess Gerhart gets 11 rebounds. Jelena Spiric looked better than she has all season and you can see that Bojana is starting to get it. She played very hard and got 6 boards and 3 blocked shots. Chelsea continues her tough as nails approach even though she's moved to the 3.

Finally -- great defensive play tonight. SELU was trying to back door all night and the Husker just kept shutting it down. Everyone played good defense, including Jess!

[ChipperF1]

C'mon Skerfan, I like Jina, too, but among the best points in the league? At this point I'm just not convinced.

She will have the chance to prove it in the games ahead, especially in league games.

I think you misunderstand me. I don't think Jina's a bad player. Maybe somewhat limited, but I like how she gets after it. I'll take a Jina Johansen with her flaws over the Richardses, Robertses, Joneses, Robinettes and Suttons of the past anyday. Jina is to guards what Charlie Rogers was to forwards, and that is high compliment.

However, putting Jina in a league with players like Dionnah Jackson, Erin Grant or the Norman-Carey Team is an oversell. Mainly because those players have come through and won games that were in the balance and they've done it a great deal against high-end competition. Jina doesn't have that track record yet, just like this team as whole doesn't have that track record yet.

But she's gotten better every year, and this year she's a quantum leap ahead of where she's been. This year in league play, you may yet be proven right and I'll admit it when it comes to pass. All it takes is wins, and not wins against SE Louisiana. All last night proved is the same things Nebraska's proven since the Angela Beck era. The Huskers will beat the jabronis, and that team we played last night was a serious tomato can. But when it comes to meaty games against ranked teams, tournament teams. The Huskers don't reach above their capability and win them.

Remember last season. With the exception of Ohio State and Kansas State, whenever we met a team that was better than we were, Big Red was uncompetitive. This year, the team can turn that around and Jina will be a major part of that.

What I did like last night? Jina and Kiera together. I like this. Lets see more of it, especially with Ohio State and the State Championship Game with Creighton looming ahead. I also like Spiric last night. I think I was wrong in saying she's loafing in an earlier post. Spiric wants to play, but I think her body still isn't letting her do what she wants to do and its frustrating for her I'm sure. The whole team got after last night and they didn't let up. That I did like and I hope they carry that forward to those games ahead.

[Skerfan]

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one . . . half empty . . . half full? I just look back over JJ's career at Nebraska. Toward the end of her freshman season, she gets the nod to start at point, which frees up Keasha to play 2 or 3. Together, they lead the Huskers to a victory over Kansas State at Mahatten. In that game, Keasha doesn't do what she does without JJ in the line up. (Big game 1).

The next season, if you can call it that, the Huskers are blanked without JJ in the line up. JJ starts to solidfy her role as a leader and spends nearly 40 minutes a game on the court (so did most of the scholarship players though).

JJ's junior season -- still a little shaky given the supporting cast. Keasha's back, which helps. JJ's importance to the team shows when Kiera (who in your own words is a better ball handler than JJ) fails to unseat JJ at the one and JJ continues to play nearly 40 minutes a contest. JJ starts to really control the flow of the game. That keys a victory over Ohio State (Big Game 2). JJ's improved shooting and willingness to shoot leads to a key victory over Iowa State (Big Game 3) at home and her improved defense shuts down one of the best shooters in the league against Kansas State (Big Game 4).

In the off season, even I was talking about LaToya Howell unseating JJ as the starting point. But JJ comes back new and improved -- faster, quicker, stronger, a sharper passer, a better shooter and a stronger leader. She makes every player on the team a better player by getting them in the right sets and either pushing the tempo or slowing it down.

True comparisons are difficult. If Jamie Carey plays for Nebraska instead of JJ, is Nebraska a better team? Maybe -- maybe not. It depends on a lot of factors. But no one is going to convince me that JJ is not among the top 4 or 5 point guards in the Big 12 Conference.

[ChipperF1]

J.J.'s coming out party against Kansas State her freshman year was in Lincoln. Nonetheless she was great that day. A simple, smart game plan executed brilliant from the one spot. Keasha Cannon has an 27-point, 16-rebound day, sparked by Jina.

Unfortunately Jina never duplicated that for the rest of the season. The following game against Kansas was shaky, and the rest of the schedule was a complete disaster. Still she had 79 assists against 45 turnovers, not shabby, but her best work wasn't in the thick of the battles.

SOPHOMORE YEAR (2002-2003): Jina was the starter and she was solid against the weaker teams on the schedule. But she had a number of rough outings. Throughly outplayed against Creighton and Drake. A turnover/brick machine against Oklahoma. Lost her confidence at both ends of the floor throughout an 0-7 start in conference play where the entire team followed her "lead"
She did get her confidence back late in the season, but I will disagree with her solifying herself as a leader and the performance of herself and the team confirmed that.

JUNIOR YEAR (2003-2004). Won the job in camp and kept it! 30 games, 30 starts, 31.7 minutes per. On those issues, I have no contrary opinion. Jina earned her spot and had some solid outings. The Ohio State game was a gem, and you give her a lot of credit for that. But she was also the prime victim in the loss to Mississippi, and defensively useless in the Big 12 opener against Oklahoma.

You cite her 15-point effort to beat Iowa State, but also note her defensive intensity and offensive effeciency lagged in the next two games with Iowa State. Both Nebraska losses, both damaging to Nebraska's NCAA hopes. Also note the stellar effort Kiera Hardy put in in that lone win vs. Iowa State. Granted overall Jina was better than Kiera in terms of the running the offense, but that's a far cry from being among the best of the quarterback class in the league.
You cite her "controlling the flow" against Kansas State. But she was completely under opposition control in the three straight losses after that win, and the loss to Texas Tech before that win. 5 games against prime-time opponents and J.J. lost confrontation after confrontation in the four losses.

After that stretch, it seemed the whole team went into a funk. A shaky win against Kansas. A solid win against Oklahoma State. Then two road losses in a row, where our backcourt, led by Jina, was uncompetitive, and the debacle against Missouri where the team coughed up a 17 point lead (including a pair of Johansen turnovers late in the game that crippled the squad.)

SENIOR YEAR (2004-2005): This is the best we've seen of Jina Johansen and she looks really to make the move into the power elite of the 1-spot in the league. So far, she's played well against the weaker teams, been fair-to-middlin' against the next level up. But we have a long season ahead and some key games ahead.

I don't see our difference of opinion as "half-empty, half-full". We both see #20 as a dang good player and a vital cog in the Big Red Machine. I think you are coming from the point-of-view of evaluating Jina when she's on, and when she's on the trains run on time.
My point-of-view comes from both ends of the spectrum, good and bad. Last season there was both. Jina took another step up. She earned her spot and played into some wins. She truly did "earn those shots in the preseason" that beat Iowa State. But also consider that when you look at the final ledger it showed too many uncompetitive results in the money games, a late season swoon, and a weak effort with a tournament bid in the balance.

Now comparison is a tricky thing, I'll agree, but I would be more inclined to believe that Jamie Carey, Dionnah Jackson, Nina Norman, Erin Grant...and even A Medders or a Billingsley in the lineup for Nebraska would give the team a little more than Jina does based on what I saw last year.

Skerfan, If Jina does put in consistent performances in the games ahead that are of the elite caliber I'm going to find you at the Fastbreakers' pre-game meal, shake you hand and say "You were right. I was wrong.".

I am fully prepared to do that, because I think you may end up being proven right before all over, and that would mean that Nebraska's in the hunt for the Field of 64. :)

[Skerfan]

Hey Chipper --

I was reading the Husker pre-game release and noticed that Jina Johnasen was named to the pre-season All Big 12 Team as an honorable mention. The points listed:

Jamie Carey (First Team)
Erin Grant, Dionnah Jackson, Chelsea Dominico and Jina Johansen (honorable mention)

Guess the media agrees with me

Hope we're right!

PS: Go Big Red!

[ChipperF1]

Hey Skerfan,

The only all-conference teams that count are those chosen at the end of the year. ;)

P.S. Husker! Power!

[Skerfan]

We are a couple of stubborn old mules aren't we. :D

[ChipperF1]

We do agree on one thing.

We enjoy Nebraska Womens Basketball, and we're looking for two wins this week.

Beat UT-Martin! Beat Ohio State!