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Still the most wins in a season for this program since before many of you were born. I'm disappointed. Demoralized. It was embarrassing. The aTm fans were jerks. All of those things. But the sun came up this morning. I have a tee time. And my guys were still the best team we've put out there in close to 3 decades. So, I'm keeping my season tickets and I'll see you all at the vault next fall. Best regards, Norm

Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg is the recipient of the 2023-24 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award. The award is presented annually to the top head coach in division I college basketball. Hoiberg led the Cornhuskers to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2014. Nebraska finished with 23 victories - the program’s most since 1991. Nebraska was top-40 nationally in adjusted offensive and defensive efficiency, holding opponents to a top-20 defensive field goal percentage. The Cornhuskers finished third in the Big 10, posting a winning record for only the third time since they joined the league for the 2011-12 season. Hoiberg is the second Husker men’s basketball coach to earn the honor, as Tim Miles was the 2014 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year. The Jim Phelan Award is named in honor of a legendary bow-tied coach who spent his entire head coaching career at Mount Saint Mary’s University. Phelan graduated from La Salle University in 1951 and played one season in the NBA with the Philadelphia Warriors. After a brief professional career, Phelan went to Mount St. Mary’s as an assistant in 1953. One year later he began his historical career as a head coach. He led the Mountaineers to 16 Division II NCAA tournaments. Five times they advanced to the Final Four and he led them to the DII National Championship in 1962. When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he had amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830-524) in all divisions. In those 49 years, 19 of his teams amassed 20 or more wins in a season. In 2008 he was inducted into National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. The recipient of the annual award is determined by a 10-member voting committee, which consists of current and former head coaches, as well as two senior staff members of collegeinsider.com. Here is Fred finding out about the award from his family View full article

Chills.. LET'S DO THIS TODAY!

Happy to announce that despite various openings and opportunities out there that Husker Hoops Central will remain at Nebraska for its 20th season. Just got this puppy today.

I'm glad that CJ stuck it out the last three years. He won us a couple games this year especially the Wisconsin game. He is a guy we should all be rooting for in his final collegiate season.

Late Monday morning I plan to let you know if I think Fidler is under or over rated

I know a lot of our fanbase thinks the sky is falling and that Fred somehow hasn't earned his extension (yes, there are people saying this). But on April 1, 2023, our Nebraska Basketball scholarship roster for 2023-24 looked like this: Keisei Tominaga (did not announce his return until June 1) Blaise Keita Juwan Gary C.J. Wilcher Jamarques Lawrence Ramel Lloyd Wilhelm Breidenbach (would enter portal in May) Quaran McPherson (would enter portal in late April) Eli Rice Rienk Mast committed April 12 Brice Williams committed April 12 Josiah Allick committed May 2 Matar Diop committed July 23 Deep breaths everyone, it will be OK. We are in a much better spot than we were at this time last year.

Why are we collectively so afraid to call it a great season? Yeah, we got boat raced in the tourney. One and done, I get it it. But the YEAR is on the Mount Rushmore of Husker Hoops seasons. And beyond the wins and losses, this team was a joy to cheer for. The year was fun and exciting and full of far more ups than downs. Don't be afraid to call it what it truly was: great.

Tonight hurts. But I refuse to say this season was a failure. So many good memories from this season. Let's do it again next year.

Hopefully, but these kinds of decisions are made every day at portal time. How far to go on NIL with each player/agent, figuring out what's real, drawing a line knowing that's effectively letting a guy go. I'm probably stating the obvious, but this is so much about money now, rather than a better fit at a new program, etc. And on the program end, there comes a point where the price is higher than the player is good, and you have to keep some dry powder. The good news is in the play for pay era, our new AD is totally committed to that, and will overtly support 1890 until the system changes and allows direct institutional participation or changes to an employee model. Fred is very pleased with Dannen so far. Fred has almost double what he had to work with on the pay players budget from a year ago. We're all in on the current system. We're really trying to get a visit from Payne, but the NIL demands are very, very high. We're getting a visit from Essigian, assuming he doesn't commit to Indiana on his visit there. Kyle supposed to come next weekend but concerned about Wake giving him a huge number, like they did Sallis.

J-Law quickly vaulted up my list with how genuine he greeted my bro and I after such a painful defeat in Memphis. He was so kind and gracious with his time (while his own 'bro' waited...) that I leaned in for a hug. He wished us well on our journey home. Wow, that's an impressive young man. He could have been surly and sulked, he chose to be a great human being. And that means a lot to a big NU fan, I'll sing his praises as long as I live. That's a good dude, J-Law. GBR Always.

Ulis if he has to battle Perkins again at PG for minutes

Need to bring William Kyle home. He's gonna have a lot of offers. He is turning into an absolute monster. Same dawg mentality as Allick, but a bit taller, more explosive and a lot longer. 6'9" with a 7'3" wingspan and 40+ inch vertical. I heard that he led the country in dunks this year. Can't figure out how to verify if that's true. Summit League DPOY, first team all-conference, conference tournament MVP. Shoots 62% from the field and is a real rim protector. Humble kid, academic all-conference. I'd take him over Omoruyi or any other big in the portal and not because he's from Omaha.

Another poster who was there (and had a picture to prove it) and talked to Mast says Mast told him he’ll be back and that Fred’s got a plan in the works.

Not close to equivalent to the Tiger Woods shot where the ball stops and slowly turns over, the camera pans in, and Nike gets free advertising from its logo blasted all around the world. But I'd like to think this was Tominaga giving us one last knod. Captivating the in-house crowd with his shooting, then captivating the TV crowd with his charisma, and then finally captivating the internet crowd with his pause, shot, no look, and then the camera captures it... "Nebraska" on the jersey. Thank you, Keisei. You did it for the game. But you mean so much more to this program. 私たちはあなたを愛してます。

I have to wonder who we have lined up to come here for JL to leave

Yikes. Why do you say the Houston players are thugs in sneakers? Shead is by all accounts one of the good guys in college basketball. Great player too. They have a tough, blue collar culture in place there. Duke typically has at least a few players who behave like entitled, whiny little brats on the court.

Add Wilhelm Briedenbach and baby, you got a stew goin'!

Hearing he might have left because the coach was sleeping with him mom

My only destination today are Mt. Everest or Death Valley.

Nebraska lands former Rutgers transfer Gavin Griffiths from the transfer portal. The 4 star 6'8" sharpshooter was a big commit for the Scarlet Knights but struggled during his freshman year until the end of the season. Despite the size look for Griffiths to slot at either the 2 or 3. Griffiths will have 3 years of eligibility left and is the 3rd known commitment for 2024-25. Nebraska currently has 4 scholarships remaining. View full article

I wouldn’t give up on high schoolers entirely, but I know what I would do… only recruit them if they’re from around the area. Like 500 mile radius max. The probability of someone like Lawrence from the east coast staying more than a year or two are so much lower than a kid who is within reasonable driving distance of home.

For at least an hour or two (hopefully!), I think we still have enough on the roster to field a starting five next year. Williams Gary Mast Hoiberg Jacobsen Grace as our sixth man Burt to fill out the rotation We're fine guys - this lineup could beat a Juwan Howard led Michigan team any day of the week.

Dalton Knecht transferred from Northern Colorato and became a first team AP All American at Tennessee. Knecht at Northern Colorado, 2023: 20.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.6 bpg, 38.1 3P%, 47.9 FG%, 77.1 FT% Thomas at Northern Colorado, 2024:19.7 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 4.2 apg, 1.7 spg, 0.9 bpg, 33.0 3P%, 47.2 FG%, 86.8 FT%

I would add Jamarques Lawrence to that list.

I have said this over and over again; talent is highly overrated IF high character and work ethic doesn't come with it. Nebraskans insist on the latter two. Alonzo Verge was much more athletic than Sam Griesel. Who would you rather have on our team? So I am definitely not discounting the need to become stronger, longer and more athletic. But it has to be the right fit in order to make sure this program continues to move forward.

Really? I thought the A&M coach was awful. They had an athletic and physical team; but schematicaly did nothing to leverage them. The ex-A&M player turned announcer kept referencing their injuries without referencing our injury. Amy never panicked and despite an underwhelming 4th quarter, pulled out the win. This Nebraska coach, who many bash, now has a team, that leverages the entire roster, in the top 32 in the entire country. A team that is now in the top 10% in the country. A team that had, arguably, it's best player in foul trouble within the first 3 minutes, yet prevailed. I'm really, really unsure what people want or see when the see this Husker team compete. But for me, I see a few exceptional players typically perform at a high level, and I see role players who work hard plugging gaps and oftentimes excel when asked.

Gotta get more athletic. Last 2 games hammered that point home.

All I have to say is: Fuck Trev Alberts Fuck Johnny Manziel Thank you Keisei

Morgan is really good. He’s about the same player as Allick defensively but will give you twice as many points on the other end. Physical in the paint, great hops at 6’10”, 250lbs, skilled off the dribble in iso, and serviceable (36%) from 3 and ft (70%). He’s easily athletic enough to play the 4 next to Mast or the 5 next to Gary. This is an extremely smart priority for Fred. Morgan is one of the best transfers available period imo and he’ll get overlooked by a lot of programs.

That's a lot of money to finish middle of the pack in the Big 12 and then flame out in the NCAA tourney.

I just have this weird feeling that Fred has a plan that we are gonna really like.

We are in a significantly better place in terms of landing guys out of the transfer portal than we were last season. Hopefully that means we are able to land an even better group.

Brad Davison: Man I wish I could play college ball forever. Too bad it finally had to come to an end. Grant Gibbs: Yeah man, those were the days. Keisei: Hold my sake.

Asking for a friend: Can we hold off with the 2024-2025 lineups for a week or so until everything settles out?

That Rock Bottom thread is burried deep, deep, into the interwebs right now. Let's not resurface that any time soon. There were times we thought we hit rock bottom, when in reality there was more rock to dig. I'm going with the same theory here. We haven't reached Cloud Nine. But we're at a state of cloud nine that will soon get us to a grander state of cloud nine. Yesterday, Fred won the national coach of the year award. Then Brice Williams and Juwan Gary publicly announced their commitment to the program. Then Keisei Tominaga won the internet and the 3-point shooting competition. What a day for Nebraska basketball. What a day. Let this be your Cloud Nine safe space for those moments that just make you smile inside and outside about Nebraska basketball. I hope this thread gets resurfaced more than the rival one that's gotten a lot of miles of use over the years. Go Big Red!

Best possible deal for us. He leaves the Big 10 and he doesn't fit our system

Amazing, amazing turnaround this year. Let’s sustain it because it’s much more fun to be in the dumps after a March Madness loss than a 1st round B1G tourney loss. congrats coach! Well earned!

I think Purdue has that guy locked up.

I said this in the other thread but you have to wonder either what we have lined up or what we think we have lined up for guys out of the portal because we're a school that all of a sudden has added winning to everything else we have to offer. As much as JL would have a role on this team next season we absolutely have to be recruiting over him. Seems like a guy after his first couple of years here who would look at a smaller school and less NIL in exchange for a situation where he's the priority.

I feel like a I’ve said this every year the past few years, but with college athletes basically being free agents every year, my interest level continues to wane. I’m all for athletes getting paid to their max potential, but the current system is just such a mess.

To me the big picture is we built an identity two years ago, we added on to it last season successfully, and we need to continue to build with with the best guys we can find who fit that identity

It's game day! This team is going to need every single one of us to support them, whether in the arena or sitting at home. Where are you planning to watch the win today? Inside FedExForum? Couch fisting your living room furniture? At a local bar? Too terrified to watch so you just listen to Kent on the radio? For those who want to be at the came but can, just know you're right there with each and every one of us. For those who are at the game, make 10x the noise for each and everyone who couldn't be there. LET'S GET A WIN TODAY!

Great season and great progress for this program. I’m really proud of them, even if we didn’t get to see our best offensive games this weekend. Jaz is a Husker legend and more than that, she is an amazing person and role model for future generations. She will be missed, but she laid a solid foundation to continue to build on.

This is how I feel right now “Don’t cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.

He saw Breidenbach playing for UW and started looking for a change of scenery.

Someone sent me this— appears KT is engaged!

Probably looking for a coaching staff that could develop him

And that's where we are in this rebuild. In Fred's first three years, we had a smidgen of inexperienced basketball talent and low- to mid-level athleticism. Last year and this, we added experience and basketball talent. For next year, we need to add more athleticism without sacrificing basketball IQ and experience. That's a tough needle to thread at a place like Nebraska.