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This Year Wasn't All That Bad


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All great points.  I'd add that until Morrow got hurt, we were really in the thick of things in the conference.  Not bad for a team projected last, or second to last, respectively.  I don't think the impact of that Morrow injury can be overstated.  

 

We also outscored UCLA in the second half of that game.  Not a huge accomplishment, but I think it supplements the overall theme of your post.  

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@ladyhusker here is the KenPom info for that season.  #326 (out of 345) non con SOS:

 

2011 Schedule help.gif

Date Rk Opponent Result     Location Record Conf  
Fri Nov 12 76 288 South Dakota W, 76-68 74   Home 1-0    
Mon Nov 15 81 338 Arkansas Pine Bluff W, 83-40 64   Home 2-0    
Thu Nov 18 67 33 Vanderbilt L, 59-49 67   Neutral 2-1   a.gif
Fri Nov 19 71 146 Davidson L, 70-67 71   Neutral 2-2    
Sun Nov 21 75 135 Hofstra W, 62-47 57   Neutral 3-2    
Sat Nov 27 73 56 USC W, 60-58 61   Home 4-2   b.gif
Wed Dec 1 72 281 Jackson St. W, 76-57 57   Home 5-2    
Sun Dec 5 64 98 Creighton W, 59-54 64   Home 6-2    
Wed Dec 8 61 341 Alcorn St. W, 78-57 79   Home 7-2    
Sat Dec 11 66 170 TCU W, 70-56 65   Home 8-2    
Sat Dec 18 64 261 Eastern Washington W, 72-42 67   Home 9-2    
Tue Dec 21 58 329 Grambling St. W, 79-39 75   Home 10-2    
Mon Jan 3 42 299 North Dakota W, 77-46 64   Home 11-2    
Wed Jan 5 38 263 Savannah St. W, 68-48 61   Home 12-2    
Sat Jan 8 38 81 Iowa St. W, 63-62 66   Home 13-2 1-0  
Wed Jan 12 37 43 Missouri L, 77-69 71   Away 13-3 1-1 a.gif
Sat Jan 15 38 2 Kansas L, 63-60 66   Away 13-4 1-2 a.gif
Tue Jan 18 36 54 Colorado W, 79-67 67   Home 14-4 2-2 b.gif
Sat Jan 22 34 121 Texas Tech L, 72-71 67   Away 14-5 2-3 b.gif
Sat Jan 29 41 49 Texas A&M W, 57-48 56   Home 15-5 3-3 b.gif
Wed Feb 2 39 32 Kansas St. L, 69-53 65   Away 15-6 3-4 a.gif
Sat Feb 5 44 2 Kansas L, 86-66 70   Home 15-7 3-5 a.gif
Wed Feb 9 44 80 Baylor L, 74-70 67   Away 15-8 3-6 a.gif
Sat Feb 12 45 73 Oklahoma St. W, 65-54 61   Home 16-8 4-6  
Wed Feb 16 48 144 Oklahoma W, 59-58 60   Away 17-8 5-6 b.gif
Sat Feb 19 47 5 Texas W, 70-67 62   Home 18-8 6-6 a.gif
Wed Feb 23 42 32 Kansas St. L, 61-57 65   Home 18-9 6-7 b.gif
Sat Feb 26 44 81 Iowa St. L, 83-82 68 OT Away 18-10 6-8 a.gif
Tue Mar 1 43 43 Missouri W, 69-58 66   Home 19-10 7-8 b.gif
Sat Mar 5 41 54 Colorado L, 67-57 64   Away 19-11 7-9 a.gif
Big 12 Conference Tournament
Wed Mar 9 46 73 Oklahoma St. L, 53-52 59   Neutral 19-12   b.gif
Postseason
Wed Mar 16 48 27 Wichita St. L, 76-49 60   Away 19-13   a.gif
Home games played at Devaney Sports Center (13,595, 45th largest in D-I)

 

 

Strength of Schedule
Components: 103.0 68 97.4 76 101.3
Overall: +5.62 68 0.00
Non-conference: -6.66 326 0.00
Edited by 49r
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Biggest thing for me was the improvement by the young players.  Watson, Jacobson, Morrow, and McVeigh all improved from last year.  Jordy was a different player from the start to the finish of the season.  Roby and Horne both flashed signs of being able to compete at this level.  Clearly none of them are a finished product but if they can improve as much as Tai did from his first year to this year things will be bright in Lincoln.

Second would be outside the last two weeks of the regular season, we were competitive with anyone we played.  Hopefully these guys figure out how to get over the hump in all those close loss games next year.

 

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1 hour ago, jayschool said:

Texas is 11-21 and finished last in the Big XII. Yeah, they won yesterday, but loss #22 is right around the corner. Might be worth a drive to KC just to root for West Virginia.

 

OU had 20 losses this year, only a season after making the Final Four. Sooners had never had a 20-loss season 'til now. A distinction that still befalls NU, never lost 20.

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1 minute ago, hhcdimes said:

 

Doc and Barry were scheduling to win games. Miles is scheduling to make the NCAA tournament. There is a difference. 

 

Which is exactly the point...if the goal is to have a good win-loss record, let's schedule every team in the Summit League and feast away (sorry, couldn't resist). But if the goal is to make the NCAA tournament, wins and losses just as numbers can't be a gauge for whether a season was good or not, and how the team plays must be considered as criteria. The last two weeks certainly don't sit well with me either, and the way we played was a pretty big shock -- which, I'd posit, was an anomaly to the rest of the year (which would seem to indicate something significant happening to affect it...which others have discussed extensively in other threads, and I probably don't want to wade into that again here). I'd just submit that purely pointing at our record and using that to define the last three years under Miles (as it stacks up to his predecessors) doesn't seem to be a good way to determine if someone is or isn't a good coach, or if a season is or isn't bad; the point of this thread, then, seems to be to find the positivity we can take from a numerically poor season, and I appreciate that kind of holistic approach. There's a lot to be encouraged by in this season, even if it didn't end well -- and that, at least in my eyes, actually includes the aggressiveness in scheduling and prioritizing a path to the NCAA tournament over the chance to pick up 22 (largely empty) wins.

 

(Before anyone points out the obvious: no, no one is arguing against all that yet; this something of a pre-emptive commentary. And yes, I fully know you need to actually win games to make the NCAA tournament, and we didn't do enough of that, I'd say probably for a myriad of reasons, some of which are under Miles' control and some of which are not. I'm just pointing out that, unless wins -- any wins -- are the ONLY goal, they also can't be the only criteria -- and in that sense, hanging our hat on some moral victories isn't entirely inappropriate.)

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I loved this schedule. And a contending team should love it, too. Competitive players love to play other good teams--I did when I was young, and that mind set that the whole season is just one big tournament seems to be what separates the Dukes and MSUs of the world from the UNLs.

 

We had the chance to have a good season even with that non conf schedule. Really, because of that schedule. We did well for the most part. Has anyone been higher (rhetorical, don't answer that) on this program than they were after game 3 in the B1G?

 

We were such a different team in the back third of the season.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, ladyhusker said:

(Before anyone points out the obvious: no, no one is arguing against all that yet; this something of a pre-emptive commentary. And yes, I fully know you need to actually win games to make the NCAA tournament, and we didn't do enough of that, I'd say probably for a myriad of reasons, some of which are under Miles' control and some of which are not. I'm just pointing out that, unless wins -- any wins -- are the ONLY goal, they also can't be the only criteria -- and in that sense, hanging our hat on some moral victories isn't entirely inappropriate.)

 

It's the opposite for me; Makes me wonder if Doc or Barry's best teams would have made the tourney if they would have scheduled a couple of mid-majors instead of a couple of SWAC teams. 

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4 hours ago, 49r said:

@ladyhusker here is the KenPom info for that season.  #326 (out of 345) non con SOS:

 

2011 Schedule help.gif

Date Rk Opponent Result     Location Record Conf  
Fri Nov 12 76 288 South Dakota W, 76-68 74   Home 1-0    
Mon Nov 15 81 338 Arkansas Pine Bluff W, 83-40 64   Home 2-0    
Thu Nov 18 67 33 Vanderbilt L, 59-49 67   Neutral 2-1   a.gif
Fri Nov 19 71 146 Davidson L, 70-67 71   Neutral 2-2    
Sun Nov 21 75 135 Hofstra W, 62-47 57   Neutral 3-2    
Sat Nov 27 73 56 USC W, 60-58 61   Home 4-2   b.gif
Wed Dec 1 72 281 Jackson St. W, 76-57 57   Home 5-2    
Sun Dec 5 64 98 Creighton W, 59-54 64   Home 6-2    
Wed Dec 8 61 341 Alcorn St. W, 78-57 79   Home 7-2    
Sat Dec 11 66 170 TCU W, 70-56 65   Home 8-2    
Sat Dec 18 64 261 Eastern Washington W, 72-42 67   Home 9-2    
Tue Dec 21 58 329 Grambling St. W, 79-39 75   Home 10-2    
Mon Jan 3 42 299 North Dakota W, 77-46 64   Home 11-2    
Wed Jan 5 38 263 Savannah St. W, 68-48 61   Home 12-2    
Sat Jan 8 38 81 Iowa St. W, 63-62 66   Home 13-2 1-0  
Wed Jan 12 37 43 Missouri L, 77-69 71   Away 13-3 1-1 a.gif
Sat Jan 15 38 2 Kansas L, 63-60 66   Away 13-4 1-2 a.gif
Tue Jan 18 36 54 Colorado W, 79-67 67   Home 14-4 2-2 b.gif
Sat Jan 22 34 121 Texas Tech L, 72-71 67   Away 14-5 2-3 b.gif
Sat Jan 29 41 49 Texas A&M W, 57-48 56   Home 15-5 3-3 b.gif
Wed Feb 2 39 32 Kansas St. L, 69-53 65   Away 15-6 3-4 a.gif
Sat Feb 5 44 2 Kansas L, 86-66 70   Home 15-7 3-5 a.gif
Wed Feb 9 44 80 Baylor L, 74-70 67   Away 15-8 3-6 a.gif
Sat Feb 12 45 73 Oklahoma St. W, 65-54 61   Home 16-8 4-6  
Wed Feb 16 48 144 Oklahoma W, 59-58 60   Away 17-8 5-6 b.gif
Sat Feb 19 47 5 Texas W, 70-67 62   Home 18-8 6-6 a.gif
Wed Feb 23 42 32 Kansas St. L, 61-57 65   Home 18-9 6-7 b.gif
Sat Feb 26 44 81 Iowa St. L, 83-82 68 OT Away 18-10 6-8 a.gif
Tue Mar 1 43 43 Missouri W, 69-58 66   Home 19-10 7-8 b.gif
Sat Mar 5 41 54 Colorado L, 67-57 64   Away 19-11 7-9 a.gif
Big 12 Conference Tournament
Wed Mar 9 46 73 Oklahoma St. L, 53-52 59   Neutral 19-12   b.gif
Postseason
Wed Mar 16 48 27 Wichita St. L, 76-49 60   Away 19-13   a.gif
Home games played at Devaney Sports Center (13,595, 45th largest in D-I)

 

 

Strength of Schedule
Components: 103.0 68 97.4 76 101.3
Overall: +5.62 68 0.00
Non-conference: -6.66 326 0.00

7 losses by 4 points or less on the road/neutral.  If you win 3 of those, you are 22 and 9 and probably in the NCAA even with a not great non con schedule.

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40 minutes ago, ladyhusker said:

 

Which is exactly the point...if the goal is to have a good win-loss record, let's schedule every team in the Summit League and feast away (sorry, couldn't resist). But if the goal is to make the NCAA tournament, wins and losses just as numbers can't be a gauge for whether a season was good or not, and how the team plays must be considered as criteria. The last two weeks certainly don't sit well with me either, and the way we played was a pretty big shock -- which, I'd posit, was an anomaly to the rest of the year (which would seem to indicate something significant happening to affect it...which others have discussed extensively in other threads, and I probably don't want to wade into that again here). I'd just submit that purely pointing at our record and using that to define the last three years under Miles (as it stacks up to his predecessors) doesn't seem to be a good way to determine if someone is or isn't a good coach, or if a season is or isn't bad; the point of this thread, then, seems to be to find the positivity we can take from a numerically poor season, and I appreciate that kind of holistic approach. There's a lot to be encouraged by in this season, even if it didn't end well -- and that, at least in my eyes, actually includes the aggressiveness in scheduling and prioritizing a path to the NCAA tournament over the chance to pick up 22 (largely empty) wins.

 

(Before anyone points out the obvious: no, no one is arguing against all that yet; this something of a pre-emptive commentary. And yes, I fully know you need to actually win games to make the NCAA tournament, and we didn't do enough of that, I'd say probably for a myriad of reasons, some of which are under Miles' control and some of which are not. I'm just pointing out that, unless wins -- any wins -- are the ONLY goal, they also can't be the only criteria -- and in that sense, hanging our hat on some moral victories isn't entirely inappropriate.)

 

Throw out the non con schedule...what we do within the conference in large part will determine if we are dancing at years end.  And in the Big 10 we have gone 19-40 over the last three years and 9 of those wins were against teams with +100 RPI.  Until we find a way to start winning in the Big 10 again it won't matter what our non-con schedule looks like.   

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It's almost mind boggling how many ups and downs we had this season. Good start with wins over LA Tech and Dayton. Played elite teams like Kansas, UCLA, and Creighton for over a half. Then we lose to Gardner-Webb. Then Gill goes down. Then out of nowhere we start off 3-0 and all of sudden everything is okay. Then Morrow gets hurt. After that we lose a bunch of games a lot of them close. Somehow we upset Purdue in the middle of all those losses and for a short period of time everything is okay. Morrow finally comes back and we win a couple games and have a lot to play for. But finish the season with 5 straight losses, 4 of them blowouts, 1 the biggest home loss ever.

 

I wonder which one of those teams we are closer to.

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Im guessing where he is going with that is that Miles was the one who lined it up and not that he was dealt a bad hand by it, because it was his responsibility.

 

While it was admirable we took on that slate, it shouldn't be used as the scape goat in lieu of wins either.

 

Exactly. Going 12-19 and then putting forth the excuse that our schedule was hard doesn't make sense because Miles made the non-confidence schedule. And the big 10 was down.

 

And Gardner-Webb.

 

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34 minutes ago, PimpMario said:

 

Exactly. Going 12-19 and then putting forth the excuse that our schedule was hard doesn't make sense because Miles made the non-confidence schedule. And the big 10 was down.

 

And Gardner-Webb.

 

 

The schedule was hard... that isn't an excuse, it is a fact.  Yes we also made the non-conference schedule keeping in mind that we thought we had another Senior leader to compliment Tai.  Not an excuse, that is a fact.

 

I would not necessarily say the Big 10 was "down."  There was no dominate, top 10 type team this year.  There also was less of a "bottom feeder" this year.  The Big 10 certainly was not "down," but it also was not "up."  It was a dogfight every night.  I would say there were actually more teams that were "up" individually than "down" overall.

 

Gardner-Webb was inexcusable.  No if's, and's, or but's about it.  However, I do not get what you are trying to say with this ONE game.  So if we go 13-18 with a win over GW, do you feel differently?

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On 3/9/2017 at 2:51 PM, hhcdimes said:

 

It's the opposite for me; Makes me wonder if Doc or Barry's best teams would have made the tourney if they would have scheduled a couple of mid-majors instead of a couple of SWAC teams. 

Bingo. I think 2008 Nebraska would have made it. That team was 19-12 entering the tournament with the #323 non-conference strength of schedule. It ended the season #39 on KenPom (far better than any Miles team).

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On 3/9/2017 at 2:44 PM, tcp said:

I loved this schedule. And a contending team should love it, too. Competitive players love to play other good teams--I did when I was young, and that mind set that the whole season is just one big tournament seems to be what separates the Dukes and MSUs of the world from the UNLs.

 

We had the chance to have a good season even with that non conf schedule. Really, because of that schedule. We did well for the most part. Has anyone been higher (rhetorical, don't answer that) on this program than they were after game 3 in the B1G?

 

We were such a different team in the back third of the season.

 

 

 

Makes teams better later on too.  Case and point:  GACC is in the D1 State Finals, as the 8 seed, with a 14-13 record with all but 1 of their losses coming from C1 or C2 schools.  

 

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Gardner-Webb was inexcusable.  No if's, and's, or but's about it.  However, I do not get what you are trying to say with this ONE game.  So if we go 13-18 with a win over GW, do you feel differently?


Honestly? A little. Kinda like you knew Bo Pelini was going to lose an easy game every year Miles has adopted the reputation.

And going 9-7 at home is better than 8-8, at least psychologically at home.

As someone who drives from Omaha to all the home games knowing that there is a good chance we will lose to No Name St and not fair well at home isn't fun.
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