Okay, the title doesn’t necessarily fit… but it was a play on words that was too clever to avoid. Even if it makes no sense.
Jorge Brian Diaz took part in his first Husker practice on Monday. Despite needing a little extra instruction on his first day, Diaz seemed fairly sure of himself on the court. The guy is every bit of 6’11″, but could use a few more lbs on that 235 pound frame. That being said, he looked fairly fluid.
I asked Doc Sadler when he hopes to make a decision about whether or not Diaz will play this season. “When I think he can help us,” he said. “It’s not fair to him or more importantly fair to these guys to put somebody out there right away. These guys have busted their tails everyday and they’ve been pretty successful. If we think he can help us… we’ll play him. Until that day comes he’ll be like the rest of them.”
From listening to Doc, it seems like he wants to play him this season. I understand that you can’t just throw a guy into the fire, but the Big 12 season is only three games old. You learn more from playing than watching, and the guy has international experience. It’s not like he’s coming straight out of high school. Diaz played on the Puerto Rican junior national team, competing in the 2007 Global Games. You may think it would be a wasted season to play him now. Why? How is getting this guy at least a dozen games of experience a wasted season? You need to know what you have, and what better way to know than to play him?
Sadler said it would be “unfair” to the rest of the team to put a guy out there right away. Ade Dagunduro doesn’t think so. “Not at all,” he said. “We wanna win. I’m a senior, Velander and Harley are seniors, we wanna win… Any addition will be key for us.”
Sadler said on Monday that when he was first recruiting Diaz, he heard that Diaz was planning on playing professionally instead of collegiately. But an ankle injury altered some of those plans. Who’s to say Diaz would want to stay five years anyway?
Put the guy on the court and see what you have. Who knows? Maybe Nebraska just nabbed some lightning in a bottle.
At the very least, they’ll get a much-needed young post player some experience for the future.
Doc said he could play against Oklahoma (which he didn’t) or Saturday against Oklahoma State at home. Could it just be that Sadler is trying to drum up some interest and increase home attendance?
Not sure about that, but one thing is for sure after watching NU vs Oklahoma, if he is going to play, he better be able to hustle. It was sure fun watching NU grind and grind and grind.