6-12 In the Big 10

[huskerbaseball13]

Would you take that record this year?  That's what RPI Forcast has us projected at.  At this point...I'd take that record and would hope Miles gets the team in the CBI or CIT for added experience and practice time.  Unfortunatly it's looking like the rebuilding process is going to take much longer than I anticipated.....do we make the "jump" next year? If not next year then when?  At his previous stops it took Miles about four years to make that next step......I hope that's the case here but I have my doubts.  I'm having a hard time imagining this team winning six league games this year.  If we are going to get there and beyond we need someone else to step up their game along side Petteway......

[Norm Peterson]

It's that "One Big Man Away" thing rearing its ugly head.  Much as I hate to say it, what we lack most is a consistent inside presence who can produce points in the paint and defend the other team's big men.  Smith gives us about 18 minutes a game.  I suppose he's probably fighting through some knee issues just to give us that much.  But we need that inside force.  We also need one more guy who can reliably stroke it from deep.  A guy better than 40% from beyond the arc who can spread the D would create some driving lanes the other guys could take advantage of.

[HB]

It's early in the rebuilding process.  Certainly not taking longer than I expected.  It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster.   We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility.  The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign.  And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November.  Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability.  It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results.  Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff.  I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

[REDZONEDAN]

It's early in the rebuilding process.  Certainly not taking longer than I expected.  It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster.   We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility.  The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign.  And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November.  Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability.  It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results.  Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff.  I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans.

I agree 100%

[HuskerFever]

It's early in the rebuilding process.  Certainly not taking longer than I expected.  It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster.   We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility.  The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign.  And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November.  Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability.  It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results.  Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff.  I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

 

I was going to write a novel, but then I read your post and it summed it up.

 

There are very few legal things you can do to turn a program around so quickly. I'll let Miles do his magic, wait a few years, and enjoy the journey. That sounds better than having to deal with sanctions, getting tournament wins revoked, and a bad reputation for the university.

[hal9000]

Am I okay with 6-12?  I had hoped for a little better at the start of the season, but I really had nothing to base that hope/expectation on.  Even though all evidence suggested we had upgraded our talent, I had no idea how our team would perform.  I've had to adjust my expectations slightly since the start of the season, but at least I now have some hard evidence to base it off of.

 

Will we make the "jump" next year?  Honestly, while I think experience helps, I still don't see that we have the necessary talent to get us to the upper half of the league.  We need to bring in even better players than what we have so far.  We lose one player to graduation, and we have (correct me if I'm wrong) a scholarship available.  We've picked up Jacob Hammond, and we might have another transfer.  If Hammond can come in and be a difference maker next year, and if we can pick up maybe one more, then possibly, but I don't really see it happening next year either.

 

So, 2015?  Pinder will be here, and Petteway will be an experienced senior.  Webster should be a lot better by then, and hopefully Pitch, Hammond and Shields will be a lot more consistent.  Of course we'll have lost Biggs and Smith, and that hurts, but I'm really hoping we'll get a couple solid recruits to replace them. Maybe top 150's? 

 

2015 is when I really hope (expect)  it happens for us.

[huskerbaseball13]

It's early in the rebuilding process.  Certainly not taking longer than I expected.  It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster.   We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility.  The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign.  And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November.  Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability.  It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results.  Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff.  I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

 

 

It's very hard to remain patient when the program has been a cellar dwellar for so long and you see other rebuilding projects around the region and nation happen very quickly.  Does history and tradition really make THAT much of a difference to where a NU rebuilding project must take 4-5 years?  The NU football haters tell us history and tradition doesn't mean anything now...of course, when discussing basketball the roles get reversed.  I by no means was expecting a NCAA team by now...I realize what Miles was handed and that he only has one recruiting class on campus.  But, I'm just having a hard to picturing this group of players leading us to where we want to be.  Will Hammond be the difference maker we need down low? Possibly....but will he be ready by next year? Probably not.  And at this point in the game....with all the talk about needing another big man...what are the chances of us landing a difference maker this late in the game?  Like Miles said...I like alot of the players we have, we have some nice pieces...but we need more.  My issue is....I'm finding it hard to believe we will find that talent this late in the game.  I initially thought this would be a 4 year project...I'm just worried it may take longer.     

[ajb5856]

It's early in the rebuilding process. Certainly not taking longer than I expected. It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster. We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility. The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign. And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November. Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability. It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results. Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff. I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans.

Exactly. Miles game himself a head start by bringing in the transfers but this is the first year we are seeing his four-year guys enter the system (Hawkins/Fuller). Fuller is redshirting and we've seen a limited amount of Hawkins to date, but those guys were both brought in on a short cycle (April-November 2012) when a lot of his recruitment was relying on connections and relationships he had while recruiting players to Colorado State. It's going to take a couple years minimum to establish connections. We also had the Ben Johnson-Kenya Hunter trade. Despite all of this, as we all know, we've had looks from multiple higher profile players. But the relationships and direction of the program were not established enough for any of these guys to pull the trigger. Our coaches are out there getting it done but they need more time. We've got a good group of young players, give that group time to mature and give the coaches time to recruit to fill a couple holes. I still think this years team gets rolling and gets those 6 or maybe 7 league wins with the more winnable games coming in the latter portion of B1G play.

[huskerbaseball13]

 

It's early in the rebuilding process. Certainly not taking longer than I expected. It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster. We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility. The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign. And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November. Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability. It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results. Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff. I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans.

Exactly. Miles game himself a head start by bringing in the transfers but this is the first year we are seeing his four-year guys enter the system (Hawkins/Fuller). Fuller is redshirting and we've seen a limited amount of Hawkins to date, but those guys were both brought in on a short cycle (April-November 2012) when a lot of his recruitment was relying on connections and relationships he had while recruiting players to Colorado State. It's going to take a couple years minimum to establish connections. We also had the Ben Johnson-Kenya Hunter trade. Despite all of this, as we all know, we've had looks from multiple higher profile players. But the relationships and direction of the program were not established enough for any of these guys to pull the trigger. Our coaches are out there getting it done but they need more time. We've got a good group of young players, give that group time to mature and give the coaches time to recruit to fill a couple holes. I still think this years team gets rolling and gets those 6 or maybe 7 league wins with the more winnable games coming in the latter portion of B1G play.

 

 

Perhaps I am being pessemistic but what are the chances those young players are still around 2-3 years from now?  There is already rumors ciculating Hawkins is speaking of transferring and........will Webster be a Husker for all 4 years?  I should probably stop thinking long term and just continue to hope for the baby steps improvements but...If we fail to reach the big dance with Petteway and this group...does the rebuilding start over?  This offseason will be an interesting one to see what kind of roster turnover we have.  I can think of a few players that probably should move on....and a few I'm hoping that stays.  I hope you're right on the 6-7 wins this conference season....a possibility if we can play well at home.  We have a game Thursday that is winnable for us....hopefully the team plays well.   

[ajb5856]

It's early in the rebuilding process. Certainly not taking longer than I expected. It's hard to fathom how anyone could have realistically expected it to happen faster. We finished last 2 out of 3 years in conference, after more than 10 years of futility. The new staff wasn't in place until April, so other than transfers, there wasn't anything out there to sign. And April is a late start in this day and age for the next class, most of whom sign in November. Unless we were going to go with a Huggins-type approach, it was going to be a long, slow climb to respectability. It's actually ahead of where I thought it would be, and I think next year we will see better results. Experience is important at this level and we didn't have any, through no fault of this staff. I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans.

Exactly. Miles game himself a head start by bringing in the transfers but this is the first year we are seeing his four-year guys enter the system (Hawkins/Fuller). Fuller is redshirting and we've seen a limited amount of Hawkins to date, but those guys were both brought in on a short cycle (April-November 2012) when a lot of his recruitment was relying on connections and relationships he had while recruiting players to Colorado State. It's going to take a couple years minimum to establish connections. We also had the Ben Johnson-Kenya Hunter trade. Despite all of this, as we all know, we've had looks from multiple higher profile players. But the relationships and direction of the program were not established enough for any of these guys to pull the trigger. Our coaches are out there getting it done but they need more time. We've got a good group of young players, give that group time to mature and give the coaches time to recruit to fill a couple holes. I still think this years team gets rolling and gets those 6 or maybe 7 league wins with the more winnable games coming in the latter portion of B1G play.

Perhaps I am being pessemistic but what are the chances those young players are still around 2-3 years from now? There is already rumors ciculating Hawkins is speaking of transferring and........will Webster be a Husker for all 4 years? I should probably stop thinking long term and just continue to hope for the baby steps improvements but...If we fail to reach the big dance with Petteway and this group...does the rebuilding start over? This offseason will be an interesting one to see what kind of roster turnover we have. I can think of a few players that probably should move on....and a few I'm hoping that stays. I hope you're right on the 6-7 wins this conference season....a possibility if we can play well at home. We have a game Thursday that is winnable for us....hopefully the team plays well.

I don't think it's being pessimistic really, but that's why you keep recruiting. Every team deals with it. You're gonna lose a guy or two here and there and sometimes it's unexpected.

If Petteway's group doesn't dance (I think there's at least a better than average chance that they will), we won't be starting the rebuilding process all over because hopefully we've brought in enough talent in the other classes to maintain what Miles has built.

Maybe part of the problem here was Miles giving himself the head start and bringing in all of those talented transfers. All it did was give a bunch of hope because it was talent like we hadn't seen for a few years but it was young, inexperienced talent being brought into a dead program. Had Miles just come in and said 'well, it's already April, better go see if I can get some incoming freshman', then maybe the fanbase just faces reality and says, 'welp, there's nothing here, it's gonna take at least 3 years just to get the engine started'.

[bigred4]

If by year 4, when Petteway, Shields, Pitchford are seniors, and Webster is a jr. and we don't dance, I have a hard time thinking we would be better in year 5, losing those 3 guys, to make the NCAA tourney, and if after 5 years Miles doesn't make the Big Dance when the new arena and practice facility, would he get a year 6?  I like Miles, I think he does a good job building programs which is evident in his previous stops, has good assistants who seem to be able to recruit.  I think there are some legitimate concerns with his coaching, but I think he will be the guy to take us to the tourney.

[49r]

Jeez.  Alright, who has been going around and peeing in everyone's cheerios?

 

Man, if you ask me, this team is ahead of what I expected them to be at this point.  We have a lot of pieces put together and going by where we came from...I feel like we're probably just a little ahead of schedule.

 

Also, in watching other B1G hoops games this afternoon, I don't see a whole lot of separation between us and the rest of the bottom 6 or 7 teams in the league.

 

(FYI, RealTime has us going 8-10, which would put us pretty much at an NIT lock...so there is that.)

[Silverbacked1]

Cold makes you stay at home and think too much.

[ajb5856]

For everyone assuming that this Shields-Pitchford-Petteway-Webster combo is THE group and whether they make the tournament is the end all to determining Miles' success need to remember that the goal of recruiting is to replace these guys with players who may be equal or even better to sustain the program. For example, I hope Hammond is the player we need to 'upgrade' Pitchford. But we have a long ways to go before we will know this. It is a process. We have a long ways to go before we even know if Webster will grow into the hype he came with or if Shields is even the player we thought he was after watching him on last years talentless team. We have a long ways to go to see how much Pitchford can improve and develop into the type of player we need him to be. We have a ways to go to see if Petteway continues down his current path. It is a nice group of young, imperfect, undeveloped talent with some potential. But for everyone anointing this group as THE group (to get us to the tournament or make Miles a failure if they don't) need to step back and realize its a process. This group may not all be together down the line. Someone could leave the program. Injury could happen. Or Miles could bring in players who are an instant upgrade over the current players. For me, there's just as much reason to believe that this could happen as anything else. He did assemble this group fairly quickly, an upgrade in talent, in short time. Enough of an upgrade in talent to make a lot of us have these expectations or beliefs that they should make the tournament. Time will tell. I'm still confident good things are on the horizon. Or maybe we just need to win Thursday to fire up the optimism and launch all of the "what would it take to make the NCAA tournament this year?" threads.

[huskerbaseball13]

I will actually be disappointed if we don't win Thursday. At home...I think this is a game this group can win. I don't think we have any shot at making the dance this year but I'm still barely holding out hopes for an NIT run. Like I said preseason. Make the NIT and it would be a nice step forwar.

[bigred4]

I agree... I really think Thursday's game is winnable and would be disappointed if we loss ( like last year's Illinois and Purdue home games).   The way are RPI is right now, I would think if we are over .500 we would make the NIT.

[hskr4life]

I agree... I really think Thursday's game is winnable and would be disappointed if we loss ( like last year's Illinois and Purdue home games).   The way are RPI is right now, I would think if we are over .500 we would make the NIT.

 

That is almost a certain... I mean our RPI will be high enough, and our SOS is outstanding (over previous years)...

[tcp]

i'd take 6 wins and be glad about it. really, the focus for us will probably be on the next two recruiting classes. that will largely determine how successful Miles' attempt will be. if he strikes out the next two classes, or comes in with modest 3 stars, it's probably over for him. the difference between the B1G and the MWC is that veteran 3 star players won't get you to the top of the league. you need talent, because the top programs are also getting good coaching, veteran quality, and solid team play, but they're doing it with 4 star athletes.

[hskr4life]

I see Jacob Hammond is a high 3*... Pinder is not a star at all as of yet... who else do we have that is looking at us?

[bball23]

Here is what I  keep telling myself.  We have 6 losses right now.  5 of them are to teams that come Monday may all be ranked.  4 on the road and 1 at a neutral site.  I still see this team winning its fair share of games.  For the first time in what seems like forever, we should have a home court advantage.  I think we can win a fair amount of games at home still.  Then what we HAVE to do is get a few wins over teams like PSU, NW and maybe a Purdue on the road.  

 

I REALLY hope we can get a win on Thursday.  Partly because we need it from the psychological standpoint.  Plus, the other thing that gives me hope is that I thought by the end of last year we were light years better than when we started the year.  I'm hoping for the same this year.  And if you look at our last 8 games, several are "winnable".  

 

vs Illinois (winnable at home)

@MSU (not likely obviously)

vs Penn State (winnable obviously)

vs Purdue (winnable)

@Illinois (not likely)

vs Northwestern (winnable obviously)

@Indiana (not likely)

vs Wisconsin (can we get that one really big home upset?)

 

You look at that, and if we could somehow take care of home court, we can go 5-3 to end the season.  Our schedule to start is simply a nightmare, no matter what team is playing it.

[Ron Mexico]

I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

I'm not. This is what our fan base has become. Fire 'em now and let God sort them out seems to be the moto of our fan base.

[Stiltz Guy]

I would like to see 6 wins. That would be a decent feat I think. Maybe a win over one of the heavyweights too.

It's doable.

[jimmykc]

It took Nee five years for his "break out" team. Unless we're growing another Rich King in Nebraska, it might take at least that long for MIles too.

[huskerbaseball13]

 

I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

I'm not. This is what our fan base has become. Fire 'em now and let God sort them out seems to be the moto of our fan base.

 

 

Yeah......I don't see one person in this thread saying anything remotely close to that. 

[atskooc]

 

 

I'm shocked with the lack of patience expressed by many of our fans. 

I'm not. This is what our fan base has become. Fire 'em now and let God sort them out seems to be the moto of our fan base.

 

 

Yeah......I don't see one person in this thread saying anything remotely close to that. 

 

I think he's talking about football fans.