Hello Husker community. I'm sure you all with me wondering when, exactly, I'm actually gonna have a team to get behind in the tourney again. Frustrating, but as is life.
I've watched college basketball and attended Husker men's games for the better part of 30 years. When you really boil down to what makes or breaks a consistent NCAA tourney-level team, the most common denomenator is the coach. I don't necessarily mean the teams at the top (although the example works). More so, I mean Xavier, Michigan, Wisconsin, Creighton, St. Mary's, Wichita St., Iowa St.
All of these are teams that we can become. The problem as I see it, is that all of them have better coaching and subsequently, an identity. They don't screw around with multitudes of lineups and rotations year over year. They know who they are, and they consistently are in the tournament as a tough out.
Watching what Beilein did at Michigan this year is nothing short of remarkable. Michigan could have tanked as we did, but they found their identity (check out the minutes of the Michigan rotation over the past 10 games..6-7 rotation max, starters 30+ minutes for all).
My good buddy is a loyal Husker fan, goes to games, and drums up the tired excuses of location, youth, this guys coming in, that guys coming, in, year over year it seems. It's time we give that up. Our location is good enough. Our facilities are better than anyone in our mid-tier. Our talent is OK. A great coach finds a way. Winning cures all, and let's be honest, Miles has over promised and under delivered. We deserve better results.