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Nebraska basketball will face the same potentially tricky situation as most teams in the NIL transfer portal.
It isnt whether the new guys can play, but can they compete in the head-knocking Big Ten.
Sam Orme, a 6-foot-10, 220-pound redshirt junior, is a transfer from mid-major Belmont.
He has a shooters touch and with a shooters mindset.
He looks for his shot but also looks for teammates.
He has bought into the Huskers' ball-movement style.
Orme has created a buzz around Lincoln about his abilities.
Some see him as stepping in as another weapon in an offense that emphasizes ball movement and securing high-quality shots.
Orme had 28 starts in Belmonts 26-6 season in 2025-26.
Orme spent three seasons at Belmont.
Last year, he averaged 12.7 points per game on 56 percent shooting along with five rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
He shot .397 from distance last season, and .375 from distance in 2024-25.
Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg expressed confidence in Orme at a news conference Monday.
Hes great, Hoiberg said after a team workout Monday.
Again, coming from a great system and hes playing, hes growing, getting better every week.
He shot the heck out of it last week and I think he hit five threes in our scrimmage that we had.
So that was good to see.
We talked about his pop and his athleticism.
I think hes a little sneaky in that regard and a guy that moves his feet.
I think is a versatile defender.
So yeah, we love Sam.
Hoiberg's optimism is understandable in July, months away from the passion and fire of the Big Ten season.
Orme acknowledged there will be a transition from the Missouri Valley Conference to one of the best conferences in the nation.
Yeah, just going from a mid-major to a high major, Orme said as a news conference Monday.
Theres obviously going to be size difference, speed, kind of physicality, like you said.
Its just been a pretty good transition.
I feel like Ive adapted pretty well.
Roster turnover Nebraska has four players via the portal this season, as the Huskers are coming off a historic, 28-7NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 run.
Such roster turnover isnt unusual not anymore.
Such is life in the new-look world of college basketball.
But after last season, Hoiberg is trying to build what he established last season.
With so many roster changes, maintaining excellence can be a challenge.
Hoibergs style of play was one factor that attracted Orme.
Definitely just the openness of the offense ..
just the spacing of it, Orme said.
No ones ever really in the lane and kind of just swinging it around, ball movement, player movement, coming off screens, just kind of all that kind of appeals to the three-point shot.
Getting out in transition obviously.
Nebraska flourished last season with aggressive defense and an offense geared to three-point shooting.
Yeah, thats been kind of ..
a good part of it is just like we have shooters all around us and thats going to be extremely difficult to guard like Pryce [Sandfort], Braden [Frager], me, Boden [Kapke], just kind of really emphasizing spacing, Orme said.
Thats just going to be huge for our offense.
Yeah, its pretty similar [to the offense he was in at Belmont] in the fact that the offense is pretty spread out and it can play through the five at any given time, the five can step out and kind of direct traffic, make decisions.
Id say thats the main similarity and just kind of like I said the openness of the offense spacing, getting out in transition as well.
Along with so much of the nation, Orme kept track of Nebraskas compelling season and brand of basketball in 2025-26.
Nebraska fan I grew up in Indiana so I grew up watching Indiana basketball and just kind of Big Ten basketball, Orme said.
And thats kind of carried out through like my entire college career.
So I would just always watch Big Ten basketball whenever I could.
And that was definitely one of the teams that kind of stuck out to me just the way they play just so together." Playing in Big Ten? Thats going to be awesome.
Just kind of traveling around the Midwest [playing] basketball.
Its the best spot to be for you coming to Nebraska.
Orme soon will compete against his coach at Belmont, Casey Alexander, the new coach at Kansas State.
Nebraska announced Monday it will play K-State in its third exhibition game this fall on Oct.
26 at Grand Island, Neb.
Nebraska first will play host to Saint Louis on Friday, Oct.
9, and travel to BYU on Friday, Oct.
16.
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Chuck Bausman is a writer for Nebraska on SI.
Chuck formerly was the Executive Sports Editor of the Philadelphia Daily News, Executive Sports Editor of the Courier-Post in South Jersey and Sports Copy Editor for the Detroit Free Press.
He has been a Big Ten enthusiast for nearly forever.
He learned how to cuss by watching Philly sports.
You can reach Chuck at: [email protected].