ESPN: Looking ahead at Nebraska Cornhuskers

[AuroranHusker]

Now the Cornhuskers are at the uncomfortable intersection of aggravation and expectation, their season torpedoed by a woeful offense, the bad news continuing after the season ended. Petteway opted to go pro (no surprise), as did Walter Pitchford (an actual surprise). Tarin Smith transferred to Duquesne, leaving a returning roster that includes just one (Shavon Shields) of the team’s top five scorers.

 

Yet, Nebraska will welcome in a recruiting class ranked 28th in the nation. Repeat that phrase in your head: Nebraska basketball will welcome in a recruiting class ranked 28th in the nation, plus add Kansas transfer Andrew White this season.

 

So on which side of the road does Nebraska really sit? That’s the big question...

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/107342/looking-ahead-nebraska-cornhuskers

[Handy Johnson]

As surprisingly BAD as we were last season, maybe the Basketball Gods will smile on the Harvard of the Plains and this season will be a reasonable facsimile of the 13/14 season... pretty please 

[trickey]

And here is another article from this morning that focuses more on SS as the key to next year.

 

http://www.btpowerhouse.com/2015/5/19/8618171/shavon-shields-should-help-nebraska-basketball-forget-about-last-season-2015

 

In part:

 

"Shields has been the captain of Nebraska since his sophomore season in Lincoln, which speaks volume of how much he means to coach Miles and the Nebraska program. He averaged 15.4 PPG and 6.2 RPG last season, and this season he will certainly be the go-to guy for the Cornhuskers. Shields is so gifted in the paint with he great footwork and soft touch, he is also a terrific mid-range jumpshooter. Shields has also been a great defender, and usually he is always matched up with one of the opposing team's best scorer."

[Donkey]

Nebraska has been a football school and the fans are used to football style recruiting.  But basketball is a different animal.  Kids are spotted and ranked no later than their sophomore years.  The relationships start earlier making it harder to immediately build a relationship when the kids are juniors or seniors.  Miles did not come to Nebraska with a Calipari list of basketball connections.  People forget that guys like Calipari were coaching in Final Fours 19 years ago (that UMass team was even ranking #1 in the country) and have had decades to build up recruiting ties.  What Miles has done over his career is impressive, but really was not noticed until recently.   Further, he did not coach at tradition rich basketball programs and spent most of his time developing players instead of coaching players to help their draft stock.  

 

I really think Miles just needed more time.  Transfers have helped jump start the program; however, quick fixes can backfire.  Already, Miles has 2017 recruits already ranked in the top 100 looking at Nebraska.  To me that is a good sign of progress.

[Huskerpapa]

Hard not to always focus on the present, but the bottom line, Coach Miles is constructing a program.  That does take a bit of time, but more importantly it takes the jimmy's and joe's.