Most Improved? Place your bets.

[Norm Peterson]

No particular order.  These are all the returning scholarship players who got minutes last year and are expected to be available to play this year.

 

Responses are public just so we know who voted.

[TheKamdyMan]

my gai Tai

[GATA]

It pretty much has to be Tai, no? The rest of the players are relatively close to being finished products.

Pitchford would be my runner-up, for what it's worth.

[AuroranHusker]

my gai Tai

 

Pretty much only 1 way for Webster to go... even with that logic, it's no guarantee Tai improves. With the international experience and intense off-season workouts with T.P., I feel he is ready to better take on the challenge of the B1G much more this year after barely getting acclimated to this country & struggling mightily at times last season.

[Norm Peterson]

Well, there are reasonable arguments for each player.

 

Tai seems to be the easy choice because of how out-of-sorts he was in conference games last year and how much work and effort he's put in during the off-season as well as what we think we see in how he's doing playing for New Zealand.

 

HOWEVER ... the reason he put in so much work during the off-season was because he was going to the gym with and being pushed by Terran Petteway, who has put in, by all accounts, a TON of work over the summer as well and used the NBA draft analysis as a checklist of things to spend time working on.  Yeah, he has a high bar to climb over to improve significantly over where he was last year, but I expect Terran will be improved and the question is going to be whether anyone has improved more.

 

For the same reason that people think Tai is the odds-on favorite here, Benny Parker could wind up with the "award" for most-improved.  Certainly he brought great defense every time he saw the floor last year.  But he wouldn't need to improve much on the offensive end for his improvement to be very noticeable.  Extend his range just a bit and improve his accuracy even marginally, and he could challenge for a starting role.  If we're looking for someone to play tough D, that's Benny.  What held him back was not being a threat on the offensive end and that's why he didn't see the floor as much.  If he were more of a threat, you'd see a lot more Benny Parker, I do believe.

 

Don't count out David Rivers.  Or Walt Pitchford.  Or Shavon Shields.  They all had areas of weakness where, if they improve, the gains would be very noticeable.  And the dynamics of the way the roster shapes out, you almost think that the bigs are going to have the most opportunity to reveal the gains they made during the off-season.  Tai might have improved a ton, but his touches are going to have to be shared with guys like Terran and Tarin.  Meanwhile, with Leslee Smith's injury, there are fewer players to spread minutes among down low.  If Walt, for example, has picked up a new move or two, has learned to drive to the basket for example, then his gains might have the best chance of being noticed.

 

Tai might be the guy.  And I expect we'll see improvement out of him.  But I still think there's a chance that one of the other guys might wind up improving even more.

[Norm Peterson]

Having said all of that, I still voted for Tai. 

[berlinblackshirts]

Tai. Easy call. I still think he is going to be very very good in the next couple of years

[HuskerFever]

I'm going with the sleeper. Pitchford might surprise us all.

[49r]

Rivers.  He's a senior now and I still have hope for him to make big things happen.

[huskerbaseball13]

I choose TP. I've heard thru the grapevine that Miles would be shocked if TP doesn't enter the draft this year. Not because TP wants our after this year....but because he has lived in the gym all summer and has become a physical monster. If TP becomes automatic with his jumper and doesn't let his emotions get the best of him it's scary to think how good he can be for us.

[HB]

Close call between Walt, Tai, and Terran.  Went with Tai because he has the most distance to go based on last year, but he still has to go out and do it.  Good poll; will be interesting to see what happens.

[Huskerpapa]

Tai...lots of talent that wasn't displayed last year.  I think the others will improve, but Tai will go from 0 to 60 so to speak.

[NeHoops]

I choose TP. I've heard thru the grapevine that Miles would be shocked if TP doesn't enter the draft this year. Not because TP wants our after this year....but because he has lived in the gym all summer and has become a physical monster. If TP becomes automatic with his jumper and doesn't let his emotions get the best of him it's scary to think how good he can be for us.

Exactly why I picked TP. In the highlights from the Addidas camp he just seemed so much more confident in his midrange jumper. Also I noticed him attacking both sides of the basket with equal ease and aggressiveness. Last year it seemed like he always favored the right side. Plus is passionate and determined to improve his game where the NBA report listed some weaknesses that I just see him taking his game to a whole new level despite the great year he had last year.

[kleitus]

if petteway is the winner of this particular one we're going to make some serious noise...

 

heck, if two people on this list take big steps forward (extremely possible) we're going to make some major noise (5-6 more wins type major noise... and if you think about how good a team like that is in our league that's pretty amazing)

[tuxino]

I agree with Norm mostly. Still I believe Terran will be the most improved. How can you measure step up ability? His stats could be down and he still would be the most improved. What I can envision is Terran doing the step up early in the season with loads of support from Shavon. As the season progresses other support players will step up because they will have the opportunity. By the B1G season it will be Bennie and Tai providing improved ball handling that will matter. Defensively the Huskers will absolutely rule. Hard to believe a good defensive team will not win most of their games. tux

[1sdpad2]

Shavon has gone from 8 to 12 pts the last two years. He was hot at the end of last season. I think 16 pts/ game is coming this year. I hope tai can find his way, but it is hard being the 4th option at best. I hope I am wrong with tai but he didn't find his role last year. Maybe this year he will learn to drive and dish and play d.

[TomEadesSucks]

I have a feeling Shavon is going to up his game this year (barring injuries). 

[Ron Mexico]

I voted for Tai. He has a lot of room left to reach his ceiling. David Rivers could also be a surprise. Benny is about at his ceiling. I also believe that TP could even be more dominating.

[Handy Johnson]

Tai is the easy answer because we all WANT Tai to be better. I think the Big Pitch starts playing with his back to the basket more, and makes people guard him on the block.This is wishful thinking too, but I believe more likely and realistic.

[Norm Peterson]

I honestly expected the voting to be a lot closer than this.

 

Tai's performance playing for New Zealand has undoubtedly convinced many fans that he is really going to step it up this year.

 

I don't think the results are any knock on any other player but definitely a huge vote of confidence for Tai.

 

Nevertheless, I figured Petteway would garner a bigger share of the votes just because of all the news about his summer workouts and his trip to adidas nation (or whatever it was called.)  We know Terran had a checklist of things he needed to improve on provided through his NBA draft analysis thing.  I think it's a virtual certainty he'll be a better all-around player this coming season.

 

But I think what a lot of us are seeing as reflected in the votes in this poll is that the biggest thing holding Tai back last year was confidence, not ability.  And, if nothing else, his play over the summer will boost his confidence.  If that pans out, there could be a night and day difference between the Tai of last year and the Tai of this year.  Which is why he currently has more than twice the votes of everyone else combined.

[GATA]

I honestly expected the voting to be a lot closer than this.

 

Tai's performance playing for New Zealand has undoubtedly convinced many fans that he is really going to step it up this year.

 

I don't think the results are any knock on any other player but definitely a huge vote of confidence for Tai.

 

Nevertheless, I figured Petteway would garner a bigger share of the votes just because of all the news about his summer workouts and his trip to adidas nation (or whatever it was called.)  We know Terran had a checklist of things he needed to improve on provided through his NBA draft analysis thing.  I think it's a virtual certainty he'll be a better all-around player this coming season.

 

But I think what a lot of us are seeing as reflected in the votes in this poll is that the biggest thing holding Tai back last year was confidence, not ability.  And, if nothing else, his play over the summer will boost his confidence.  If that pans out, there could be a night and day difference between the Tai of last year and the Tai of this year.  Which is why he currently has more than twice the votes of everyone else combined.

I don't think it should be any surprise. Petteway was a first-team all-B1G player last year. He's likely close to his ceiling (and it's a damn high ceiling). Tai, on the other hand, was a black hole offensively last year, so it should be quite easy for him to show significant improvement.

[AuroranHusker]

I see that someone finally gave Benny Parker some love... Tai's got this one wrapped up on here.  Hopefully ALL of them improve! GBR

[HuskerFever]

I honestly expected the voting to be a lot closer than this.

 

And yet again, just another example of Nebraskans pulling out a large victory on online polls.