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I need to see hard statistical evidence of this.

I'll tell you what, I can get a good look at a T-bone by sticking my head up a bull's ass, but I'd rather take a butcher's word for it. --Tommy Boy

When was the last time we had this many players making plays above the rim? Dube and Roby blocking shots. Copeland and Palmer slamming home the dunks. Wow! This team is fun to watch and they are only going to get better. Get ready for the ride. GBR

Seems as legitimate a reason as any for a down arrow!

That's not an excuse because I don't know what I would need an excuse for. My point was he doesn't play that level of competition on a regular basis. He did shoot well against Duke but one game is not enough of a sample size to determine anything one way or the other. After seeing him play here, and I acknowledge some of his shooting woes was lack of confidence, I don't think it is too big a jump to say that game would be an outlier. It's my opinion but I don't think he could consistently put up those numbers against power 5 teams. But I do take exception on the 10 out of 10 times taking a time out. It depends on your personnel and your opponent. I had team that lived on the break and I'm going to let them push the ball and see what we can get out of our primary or secondary. And Miles did run a play. It was the same play that Palmer scored on during the previous possession. I suppose you could say that he could have taken a timeout and called a different play but that would seem like hindsight to me. Palmer was the first option again and the corner three was the second. I hate to see anyone fired and was not even on the "fire Doc bandwagon", but I was troubled by his teams lack of preparedness for end game situations. I don't think Miles or any of us are perfect. But having the team run the play you want with out a time out for Kansas to change defenses, or prepare to take away certain looks, set up traps or any other unexpected behaviors, that actually is a sign of good coaching, or at least good game preparation. The one game incident that I see as the best example of me ever demonstrating good coaching (you have to look hard) was a tied ballgame, just over two minutes left and I had no timeouts left. I had used them all up being down 17 at the start of the fourth. The point pushed the ball up and we went all the way through secondary, he called motion "nothing but layups." At about the one minute mark the point got them into the closest thing we ran to a delay, took the clock down to the last 15 seconds, made sure the ball was in the hands of the player we wanted and on one word they went into a play we had practice all year as an end of game play. The exact one I would have drawn up if I had a time out. We got a great look at the basket with 3 seconds left but missed the shot. I never said a word (which was unusual for me) the entire time. I just sat and watched because I had done my coaching in practice and they didn't need me at that time. btw - we won in overtime.

She doesn't tell me everything, because I get depressed hearing about the constant pain. What I understand: The knees tend to loosen up when she's playing/moving. When she comes out of the game, the knees quickly and significantly stiffen up (causing pain). So when/if she does go back in the game, the knees are very stiff and cause significant pain. I think the pain has caused her to lose a step (speed-wise). The heart is still there. She took a charge in CA. She is a better player than her knees are allowing her to be... I think that if her knees were better she could be helping out at the 4 and the 5. But, they're not... It's unfortunate. I didn't see Rachel's technical foul in CA... I think she said something like... WTF, with respect to (WRT) a foul. One thing I don't understand about these refs... They're so thin skinned WRT criticism. I don't think a player should be able to cuss directly at the ref (i.e. Ref, you're F-ing terrible), but to curse his/her call is completely acceptable, in my world. As a ref, you're in the business of being criticized. Nearly every call you make is going to be disagreed with by half of the fans... In today's PC world, the following is taboo... However, I think women refs are the worst. It seems they have something to prove... They have the... I'm in charge syndrome. Remember the game a few weeks ago (Clemson, I think) with 3 female refs...I told Lisa before the game... "This is going to be terrible." What happened??? Williams got a BS "T," the Nebraska bench got "T-ed," and Clemson got "T=ed." It was just a ref power trip... It was... I'll show you that I'm in charge.

spot on. i think this is the Maddie Simon fans have been waiting to see. remember a number of times last season where i would think "she's got it"-----------only to see her either disappear or her play would struggle. hopefully, the rest of the way we see the former rather than the latter!

There was a similar article in today's Omaha World Hearld. With Maddie playing, she does add another dimension. She just might be the most improved since Coach Amy took the reigns. Her added scoring, and rebounding really bring a more complete team to the floor. Her athleticism brings needed team speed. She helps bringing some relief to Kissenger, Cain, and Hannah. The defense's can't focus so much on the others, She helps spread out the offense capabilities...scoring. When we started this season I was wondering how Maddie and Jasmine would fit in with the team, and they have really embraced Coaches....coaching. Luckily they have another year of eligibility. Stay healthy as possible team.....we need every last one of them.

I thought about this during the course of the game and into the second half where Allen spent more time on the bench. Now this is no knock on Allen's talent and what he can and can potentially bring to the team. He's got everything to be a real special player here. But we kind of struck gold in the first half with Allen. The freshman comes in and hits some huge huge shots. Scores some big time points against a big time opponent in a big time game. Really kept us in the game with some key baskets. It's not that the coaching staff doesn't think he can do that against the best of the best it's just that maybe in this game it was a little unexpected. We weren't counting on him to step in and contribute 13. But he did. And so we feel fortunate that the freshman came in, probably that early because of Watson's early 2 fouls, and came up huge. Then the second half... The inexperienced freshman has 2 really, really bad freshman-like turnovers. Real bad ones. I think this was Allen's chance in the 2nd half to step up again and this time he didn't answer the call. Add to it the fact that Watson has now survived some time without adding to his foul trouble, and Miles rides the more experienced guys for the duration. It's a total risk reward proposition. In a game this close, 1 turnover can make the difference. I hate games like this because you can go back and second guess every little decision. Bottom line is we fell one shot short.

I could see something like “not a good program,” but the team this year is pretty danged good. Ya don’t just take CU and KU to the wire and beat Minny if you aren’t “good”

Good for her she went there. Good for us she went there.

Roy Williams “The drop step isn’t a post move. It’s a lay up. Everyone needs to be able drop step both middle and baseline.” Jordy’s move is the jump hook to the middle. There is a counter to that and that’s the double drop or some call it a Barkley Move since he did it so well. Sometimes I think he is settling for the jumphook. Instead of stepping his right foot parallel to the basket, if he tried to get his foot all the way to the front of the rim, this pushes your defender under the basket and you just laying the ball over the front of the rim - or dunk if you can.

To be more specific, he looked like an offensive lineman from a team other than Nebraska (or Kansas), because he didn't miss the block.

Is that the one where Azubuike was allowed to illegally screen the low man on the zone all the way down the lane? He looked like an offensive lineman on that play.

We didn't in 2013-14

2 things: Had no answer for the big dude. Hard to win when you're playing 5 on 8 on a regular basis. I don't care what anyone says, that was an incredibly poorly officiated game, which by the way is no surprise at all. The Eades 'brothers' are both incompetent and biased against NU, especially Tom 'Boom' Eades. Every time NU gets stuck with those clowns, it's an uphill battle. The state legislature should pass a resolution banning those two jackwagons form setting foot in the state.

We need to get Jordy going but we are not getting him the ball in his most comfortable spot. Jordy doesn't have a 'go-to' move -- let's help him. Get him the ball on the low post on the LEFT side of the lane. The first move you teach a low post is a 'drop step -- power up' shot. Jordy's body is soooo big and wide -- most teams won't have anyone much bigger. If Jordy can receive the ball on the left block, (be in control) and make a drop-step and power move to the hoop, he has a good chance for a bucket and maybe an old-fashioned 3-point play. Again, his body is so big and wide -- most centers will end up fouling him if he takes it to the hoop strong -- so they will give him this shot IF HE RECEIVES THE BALL IN THE PROPER POSITION. When Jordy receives the ball on the right block, he DOES NOT LOOK COMFORTABLE AND UNDER CONTROL. This is not his best spot on the floor. I am not confident that good things are going to happen. Its almost always a turnover or a poor shot attempt with little chance of going in. So, let's help Jordy. It seems we almost always make our entry pass to Jordy on the RIGHT block. Watson likes to go right -- one of his favorite shots is to start right off a screen and hit a pull-up jumper from 17 feet. My opinion, we need to make an intentional effort to get Jordy the ball where he has the best chance to be successful. On the LEFT block, he can power-step to the basket (best option), pivot and baby-hook with the right hand (he has shown a little 'touch' on this shot), or he can kick it back out. Let's call Jordy's number early in the game with specific plays that gets him the ball on the LEFT block, get him under control, and let him make a play. I left the Kansas game thinking if we had the Kansas center, we're a top 3 Big Ten Conference team and an easy qualifier for the NCAA tourney. We have all the other pieces of the puzzle in place. We are close. We've got Jordy -- we've got to get him going. We can not have such little production from Jordy if we want to play in the post-season. He has to start producing more or we go small with Roby at the center position.

I don't even see it as losing the tip at this point. It's more like we are deferring until the second half.

And I'm partial to these white unis:

I prefer the RED version. GBR

Geesh, UNLGrad. Don't ever start a topic title of [INSERT PLAYER HERE] Left.... You about gave me a stroke until I got to the 3rd word in the topic.

Yep, that one. Just hope to see Maddie from now on...particularly during the B1G season. She can make a difference.

You are correct in saying, "I don't particularly like him dribbling to the middle of the lane" Even better would be, "I don't particularly like him dribbling." The other thing that Jordy could do which would help him be immediately 50% more effective would be to keep the ball chest level or higher instead of dropping the ball below his waist. If he were to simply develop a go to move, a drop step and then a counter to either of those two moves, he would be good for 8 points per game. The thing is, I think he has the ability to do this, but it will take a commitment on Jordy's part to put in the work to do so.

You're right HuskerFever, Ho Ho Ho and a 10 -5 Christmas to all!

I want to win the thing. Not go 0-2

Good points. A general rule for me is when a team with greater talent on the roster loses to a team with significantly less talent at home that something is abysmally wrong with the system the coach is trying to run. That verdict is still out with Miles, in my opinion. However, now that we have legitimate B1G talent filling out basically the entire roster (and gets even better next year), I tend to think the scales are tipping in TM's favor. Suddenly, his system doesn't look so bad, and it's not because of a hot streak--this team is actually full of pretty good basketball players. When I think about Doc and, in some respects, Nee, I think they both displayed better in-game coaching than Miles has to this point. Nee was good at letting talent win games with an extremely up-tempo and improvisational system and Doc was incredible, at times, churning out .500 teams with awful talent. Do I think there are other coaches who could x and o their way to a decent seed in the NCAA tournament with this current roster? Absolutely. Do I think there are other coaches who could recruit guys this good to Nebraska? Hell no. Sometimes you gotta dance with the one who brung ya.

No worries demone. I balanced you out with an UP.

Well then, how about we just go ahead and win all three?

...and just for the record @LK1 I've been at the fire Miles tipping point personally for over a year now, but I also understand that you can't just make hire/fire decisions based on the outcome of one (or in this case, three) games.

imo, when the huskers hit the big ten season, sooooo much is going to depend on the play of Cain. she is going to run into much better competition: iowa's Gustafson, michigans Thome, the player from OSU her name slips my mind---and a number more. keeping her out of foul trouble will be paramount. hate to put pressure on a freshman, but, if she gets into EARLY foul trouble, i think it will change the dynamics of the game rather drastically.

we had lots of new parts, and the season so far looks like a talented roster of, well, new parts. this team is clearly better than last year's version, but at the same time, it still struggles to win against quality competition. My best guess is that this year's team would be NIT quality (which is better than it used to be, so that's not a backhand: harder tourney to make now). And that's what I see so far is a solid NIT caliber team that could squeak up a bit higher if its interior play gets better. I still don't see a tourney team yet because for all we know, this team might have just played its best basketball in a losing cause, and because I don't know if that's true or not, I have to see how they do about a month into the conference season. I think we'll know what team this is by about the end of the third week of full conference play.

Most fans are seeing progress.

...and to just take the "good" team comment just a little further, remember it was only about 3 weeks ago that we were coming off a pretty terrible performance against UCF...since then we've shot up about 30 spots in the KenPom rankings despite losing three more games! We are still just in the mid-80's. We the fans may be seeing signs of progress, but really there isn't much to show for it yet. We'll keep our fingers crossed though!

Does anyone else think Allen should have gotten more time? I am not saying he should have specifically taken anyone else's minutes, I think most everyone that he could have taken minutes from played pretty well. I just think when you are scoring that well you gotta ride the hot hand. Allen has consistently proven he can score.

Speaking to no one in particular...other than to own this out loud: man do I suck at this game.

boy it's just 3 point shooting practice for KU tonight.

Sometimes I am like. How is UNO 3-10. Then there are spurts where I am like... Oh my goodness if they are not making shots, this team could get the heck beat out of em.

I hope you enjoyed your stay. Hopefully you were able to get a table somewhere before the game. It was standing room only in every bar/restaurant that we tried, two hours prior to tip-off. It was a very competitive college basketball game, and a pretty fun atmosphere with all the things going on (I mean, can you ever go wrong with, "The Amazing Sladek?"). I really hope we can schedule another home and home soon. It was like old times having the Jayhawks back in town. I always looked forward to playing the Jayhawks, even though I knew we'd get slaughtered by 30 (which we usually did). They were the measuring stick. Good luck the rest of the way, and who knows, maybe we'll see each other again in the tournament.

Jordy's favorite move is the lefty hook. Jordy's problem, IMO, that's been discussed on the board here, is how he does a lefty hook. Dean Smith and I both like the hook where you're rotating your core in the direction of the hand you are going to shoot with (clockwise for a lefty hook; counter clockwise for a righty hook). That technique allows for more of a natural shooting motion and, as Dean Smith has pointed out, it also allows you to clear out the defender with your off hand in a way that typically isn't called. The other advantage of that technique, though, is that it allows you to set up a counter move. Jordy's lefty hook involves his shoulders being parallel to the line of the shot and flipping the ball over his head. Hard to defend because he has the whole width of his whole body in between himself and the defender. But there's no rotation of his core involved in the shot. So, why does that matter? Because if you post someone up, you want to be able to spin to either your left or your right depending on how the defender is playing you. If you do Jordy's kind of hook shot, there's only one option the defender has to defend. But if you can spin one way into a jumper or the other way into a hook, you can freeze the defender with a quick, almost subtle head-and-shoulders fake left while then spinning to your right or vice versa. And you can do that off the dribble or the catch, either way. There was a game earlier this season where Isaiah Roby executed this perfectly. He was coming from the baseline on the right side of the lane, took a dribble or two towards the high post, picked up his dribble, faked a pivot back toward the baseline which FREEZED the defender and in fact had him diving back toward the baseline, while Isaiah pivoted back to his left (clockwise) for a wide-open 5 foot jumper, which he swished. Either process allows the offensive player to create some space to get a shot off. In Jordy's version, he creates space using the width of his shoulders. In the version Isaiah did, he uses the threat of being able to go back to his right, sold with a head-and-shoulders fake the other way. But the advantage of Isaiah's technique is that it sets up counter moves that Jordy lacks.

At the time, I think Fuller was a good pick up. We didn't have a lot of shooters and overall player athleticism was pretty low. Fuller would have played a lot more had he been in the program a year or two before Miles got here. However, I think it goes back to the "It's my job to recruit someone better than you and it's your job to prove me wrong quote." Miles, for all of the flack that he takes, has been a much much more solid recruiter than any of his previous competition here at NU. I think that Fuller was a good pick up at the time, however we just kept getting better and better players and more athletic players and Fuller just couldn't quite keep up. Another good example of this I feel is Jack this year. Remember that Jack was a starter against Creighton last year. He hasn't even played in some of our games this year. Had Fuller stayed here another year and been here this year, he still isn't getting playing time here. Big time Kudos to him for everything that he did for us, for sticking it out, and for being an awesome teammate. That is something you don't get too often these days. However, when it came to the basketball floor, I think he just couldn't keep up with the talent that Miles was recruiting.

They've met expectations for me. Still in position to be a bubble team. Moments they exceeded expectations: Beat Minnesota, belonged on the court with CU and KU. Moments they have under preformed: I think getting 2/3 from St Johns, BC, UCF is what a tournament team needs to do.

http://www.hudl.com/profile/6928736/makenzie-helms

In principle, I don't disagree, probably should have attacked the rim. But, unfortunately, the chance of a foul being called on KU in that situation is almost nil, regardless of any contact that might have occurred. While, in general, they play better defense than NU with their foot position and staying straight up, they were able to initiate contact on NU players with impunity the entire game. Someone would have had to lose a limb for the three stooges to blow their whistles.

I plan to just appreciate the natty for a while. Cook's a great coach. These players totally bought into the 'team' aspect of volleyball. Whereas a team like PSU did not seem to be nearly as united on Thursday night. That's the difference between the two programs.

I am as enthusiastic as the next guy and we are an improved team but our schedule played this year is not up to par with who we played last year. That being said I think an overall winning season is well within reach. That means we will have to win 5 or 6 conference games which is doable if we stay healthy.

Have you looked at how the BIG 10 shakes out volleyball? the BIG 10 had 8 teams in the tournment this year, and on any given night all but two of the teams can beat you.

Could we get a John Cook statue outside of Devaney? Lets start that movement HHC.

I once saw him coach and Dick Barnett play at the NAIA tournament in the old KC Municipal auditorium. I was in high school and my dad(a high school coach) and I used to make the trip for several years and watch 8 games in one day ( think they were on Thursdays) so he must have let me skip school. Incidentally ,as most on the board know already, my dad also had lunch, or "tea" as it was called, with James Naismith.

Oh, and as those who peruse this board can attest, jimmy thrives on arcane facts. The real Johnny McLendon was born in Hiawatha, Kansas, home of the oldest Halloween parade west of the Mississippi and also home of Peyton Newell, who plays for the Cornhusker football team.

Did you see the post right before yours. They have played Duke and TCU. All other competition has not and will not be close to Big 10 level. Can’t we just be happy for someone’s success instead of using it as an excuse to bag on someone?