Nebraska: Italy. Result: 4-0: Fred Hoiberg has a lot of work to do, and the timing fell right for the Huskers to take a trip overseas to try to sort through things. The back-court situation feels like it will settle on four guys: true freshman Samari Curtis, Robert Morris-transfer Dachon Burke and JUCO-transfers Cam Mack and Jervay Green. Mack (a national Top 5 JUCO recruit) did not make the trip sitting out due to health related issues but appears to be a full-go for the fall. Consider that this was said over the summer, “Assistant Matt Abdelmassih told The World-Herald this summer that he believes Mack could end up being the best point guard in the country.” Hoiberg also commented that Curtis was ‘as good as anybody’ and Burke led the Huskers in scoring at 13.5PPG on the trip. The much traveled Haanif Cheatham is perhaps the most well known Huskers and will surely contend for a starting spot and the well-traveled transfer was the 2nd leading scorer on the trip. The front-court is not as easy to sort out. Derrick Walker (Tennessee) and Dalano Banton (Western Kentucky) will sit out the 2019-2020 season as transfers. For the coming season there are four options that register above 6’6 on the Huskers roster. Yvan Ouedraogo, Kevin Cross and Akol Arop are unproven freshman (Arop and Ouedraogo did not make the trip) and Seattle transfer Matej Kavas is coming off a season that was lost to injury. Kavas however must lead the Huskers up front as he was a pre-season 1st Team All WAC selection and is the most experienced option. Kavas had a strong 2017-2018 which saw him average 15.2 points and 5.1 rebounds while making 46.4% of threes on nearly 6 attempts per game. It seems plausible that Hoiberg may just employ a 5 out look (something he’s familiar with, nearly every 2014 Iowa State position was played with either Georges Niang or Melvin Ejim as the 5 man) and shift Cheatham and Kavas to the 4 and 5 positions. They’ll likely get killed on the glass and won’t be able to stop many, but those two paired with three of their guards might give them a fighting chance to put up some points.

Northwestern: France/Italy. Result: 4-0: Is there a point guard on the roster? Anthony Gaines returns to lead the offense that finished 204th nationally on KenPom and 14th (dead last) in the B10. Consider that the in-conference mark of 91.5AdjO was last by more than six points (Ohio State 13th at 97.9). Did Chris Collins believe he had answer on the roster? Is his creative choice really going to pay off? Beyond Gaines the only options had appeared to be sophomore Ryan Greer and freshman Bo Buie, both who figure to trend more towards being combo guards. Perhaps the player most likely to take over more responsibility in the back-court has not been a basketball player at all. Lacrosse-transfer Patrick Spencer from Loyola (MD) is trying his hand at a sport he hasn’t participated in since high school and Spencer debuted with 21 points and 10 assists in the trip opener. Given that Gaines and AJ Turner did not play on the trip, it gave an opportunity for other guards to showcase what they have. Collins singled out Buie as adding an element of something they haven’t had - ability to break people off the dribble (Buie is the brother of former Penn State guard Talor Battle and the well traveled and less successful Taran Buie). Making things more complicated for the Wildcats this year will be the fact that post-ups were their most efficient use of offense in 2018-2019. Per Synergy, the ‘Cats generated .967PPP on post-ups at an 11.4% clip. They posted up more than most - 41st nationally and the .967 fell into the 93rd percentile. But gone is standout post-player Derek Pardon and now the offense must shift. Perhaps the best candidate to lean on this season will be sophomore Miller Kopp. Kopp posted 14 points and 7 rebounds in the first game of the trip, went for 31 in game two and 21 more in game three. Collins commented that Kopp is a little leaner and quicker this year. Kopp has an intriguing skill-set at 6’7 and would be a personal choice to surprise and break out this season in the B10. Other notable performances came in game one from Pete Nance to the tune of 22 and 11. Freshman Robbie Beran - A top 150 recruit - started off the trip with a 15 point and 7 rebound performance. If Spencer can actually play the sport, you’re probably looking at a line-up looking like: Spencer/Gaines/Turner/Kopp/Nance. The offense will have to shift and time will tell if the Wildcats perimeter players are up to the task.

Pittsburgh: Italy. Result: 3-0: There’s likely a floor that Jeff Capel can and will hit at Pitt given his recruiting prowess (and also a ceiling) and it feels as if this year his program will inch towards more relevancy given a few talented returnees. Capel had this to say upon returning from Italy, “Certainly, I think we have more talent than we did last year. I think we’re a little bit bigger. Our length is a little bit better. Our athleticism is a little bit better. I think we’ve improved in those areas. But we still have a long way to go.” Three of the four Panthers who logged the most minutes last season return and are somewhat known quantities. Xavier Johnson and Trey McGowens had strong freshman seasons while another freshman Au’Diese Toney might have his minutes cut. The reasons being are newcomers are JUCO transfer Ryan Murphy and freshman Justin Champagnie. Murphy is likely already the best shooter on the roster and led the team with 16.1 PPG on the trip and shot 12-24 from three. Pit as a team last year shot 33.1% (237th) while Toney was 17-69 (24.6%) and desperately needs a third guard to add scoring and shooting next to the play-making Johnson. Champagnie is a 3* recruit from Brooklyn ranked in the mid-200’s by most. While he hasn’t been a full-go all summer he did play for the entirety of the trip and logged numbers of 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds. In the front-court, freshman Karim Coulibaly registered a game of 17 & 10 and graduate transfer Eric Hamilton led the Panthers in rebounding over the three games.

UCF: Spain. Result: 2-1 (no box scores available): Johnny Dawkins, of near March fame, has his work cut out of for him to replenish what he lost this spring. Nearly every player that the country was introduced to when the Knights took on Duke last March is gone. The only holdover that played more than 12 minutes per game is Collin Smith. But here are the reinforcements: TCU transfer big Yuat Alok, William & Mary transfer guard Matt Milon, redshirt freshman guard Dre Fuller, JUCO transfer big Avery Diggs, Alabama transfer guard Dazon Ingram, South Carolina transfer big Ibrahim Famouke Doumbia, and JUCO transfer big Moses Bol. That’s a lot of shuffling on a roster. Smith will be the leader and posted games of 14 & 7, 14 & 7 and scored 22 points in the final game. Two other returnees, Cesar DeJesus and Frank Bertz had productive trips. While DeJesus will take on more ball-handling responsibility this season, the point guard position should go to either freshman Tony Johnson or Ingram. Unfortunately, I can’t find any evidence that either participated on the trip but Ingram’s Instagram account can verify that he is healthy and participated in practice. A welcome addition to the back court will be the William & Mary transfer, Milon. Milon will add needed shooting and is likely to be a prominent part of the rotation. Milon had games of 9 points, a 17 & 7 rebound performance and another 12 point outing. Milon is one of the better shooters in college basketball and has hit over 40% the last two seasons with quite a bit of volume as he attempted over 7 threes per game last season. Trying to sort out a starting lineup on this roster is not easy but if I had to bet, it’d look something like: Ingram/Milon/DeJesus/Smith/Alok.

USC: Spain/France. Result: 3-0 (no box scores available): Onyeka Okongwu might be set to be the most productive freshman that nobody seems to talk about. He was a 5* recruit (247 composite ranking of 25th), an d he did play at Chino Hills (of Ball family fame). However snubs in both the McDonalds and Jordan Brand All-American games coupled with his decision to stay home and play for USC have stopped any hype train from leaving the station. His height (6’9 on a good day) also keeps him away from much NBA internet-draft fan-fare. But from my experience following the sport, the guys who are very well regarded but are a tick under NBA love due to a tape measure usually produce. A lot. That was the case on USC’s summer tour. In his first game, Okongwu registered 13 & 10, followed by 28 & 9 and closed with a 22 point outing in game three.

Okongwu will help relieve some pressure on senior Nick Rakocevic, who last year was paired with the (very) perimeter oriented Bennie Boatwright. A pairing of the two bigs could lend USC to featuring even more zone on the defensive end (44% last year), particularly considering that either 6’6 Akron transfer Daniel Utomi or freshman Isaiah Mobley (6’9) or freshman Max Agbonkpolo (6’8) could slide into their other forward spot. Where USC has its greatest concern for the coming year will be in the back court as the underwhelming Derryck Thornton has departed but with no real suitor to take his place. Jonah Matthews is a rock solid college guard but much more of a combo guard and that’s what sophomore Elijah Weaver appeared to be last year as well. However, Weaver continues to be an intriguing athlete at 6’6 and had outings of 16, 15 and 15 points on the trip. Incoming freshman Kyle Sturdivant is another back-court option and impressed on the trip topping double figures twice. Enfield had this to say about Sturdivant and fellow freshman guard Ethan Anderson this summer, “Kyle is exceptionally fast with the ball,” Enfield says. “Both those players affect winning. They guard the ball on one end and make plays for teammates at the other end. They’re both good on and off the ball.” Weaver will need to grow into the role or one of the freshman will be put on ball quite often this season. The returns last year with Weaver on the floor while Thornton sat were not pretty:

USF: Canada. Result: 3-1: The Bulls under Brian Gregory certainly don’t play an aesthetically pleasing game, but the physical nature of the roster may reap benefits this coming season. Everyone of importance returns from the 2018-2019 group that went 8-10 in the American and won the CBI title in March. The Bulls ranked 37th in AdjD via KenPom and while the offense could turn ugly, it did feature the 10th best offensive rebounding unit and the Bulls finished 1st nationally in FTA/FGA. Defend, rebound, get to the line. For a team that couldn’t shoot, and likely still can’t, it’s a good road map for competitiveness. The Bulls played man defense on 97% of possessions and pressed at just over a 20% clip. Where they really excelled was guarding P&R ball-handlers to the 96th percentile on Synergy and the 94th percentile on spot-ups. It’s a connected defense with plenty of size. The starting lineup will go: 6’1, 6’3, 6’6, 6’8 and 7’ and each player topping 200lbs. The starters are essentially set: David Collins, Laquincy Rideau (did not play on the trip), Justin Brown, Alexis Yetna and Michael Durr all started at least 29 games last season. Yet for the Bulls to raise their floor this season, they will need scoring punch and the addition of Oklahoma State-transfer Zac Dawson could be just that. A former 4* recruit, the Florida native hit double digits twice on the trip. The only loss the Bulls suffered on the trip was a 78-69 defeat to Canadian powerhouse Carleton. If you’re looking for a team with a high-floor and low-ceiling (perhaps beneficial to early season non-conference, like their opener Nov 10th vs BC) this could be one to watch.