Time to eat a little crow

[tcp]

2 hours ago, jayschool said:

We need @huskerbaseball13's take as much as we need anyone else's. It's important to hear from a broad range of opinions, and his is often sharp but necessary. Here's to the eternal optimists, here's to the eternal pessimists, and here's to everyone in between. We all care about Nebrasketball more than anyone probably should.

 

Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya
Oh Lord, kumbaya

 

What an awesome post. I just made a peace sign with my Lucky Charms.

 

I agree, though. All opinions are welcome--except Kidneys. Actually, his is welcome, too, because it's usually pretty funny. 

 

If you're taking the time to post and express even a singular emotion about Nebraska basketball, you are, by definition, a good fan. 

[bball23]

I have been and always will be a Miles supporter.  As long as he is coaching the team I have been rooting for over the past 30 years, he's my guy!  If he would do something to break the rules or get us into NCAA violations then I would have a hard time supporting him.

 

I just don't understand why people piss and moan all the time about coaches.  Leave that to the A.D. and let him make the decision.  Yes, we pay to go see them pay, but you don't have too.  We all get frustrated at times, but I can guarantee you it isn't from a lack of effort on our coaches part.  They put in a TON of time.  We show up on game days and think they should do this, or do that.  NONE of us know what has gone on all week in the training room, practice, film study, grades, classroom issues, etc....We watch a game a few times a week and all of a sudden think we are experts. 

[FredsSlacks]

38 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Before Palmer Benching: 12-6 (.666 Winning percentage), Palmer performing like a Big 10 Honorable Mention guard.

 

After Benching: 5-1... 5-2 if you want to throw the PSU game in there.  (.714 winning percentage).  Palmer performing like a Big 10 First Team guard.

 

I'd take the benching any day of the week.

copeland was never benched but is playing far better now than he was earlier this year. i don't think there's any evidence that palmer's benching is why he's playing better.

[hskr4life]

Just now, TimSmiles said:

copeland was never benched but is playing far better now than he was earlier this year. i don't think there's any evidence that palmer's benching is why he's playing better.

 

Copeland is a player that will play better when the players around him are playing better.  James is a leader.  James is who other players look to score when they are having an off night.  James is whose hands we want the ball in during crunch time.  James is the person we all expect to step up when no one else will.

 

We also do not know each individual player.  Some players take to benchings more than others.  Some see it as a positive thing and some as a negative thing.  

 

If you are looking for evidence, go back and check out the interview with Palmer after the Illinois game.  He basically stated that "the Penn State game was on him."  That tells me all I need to know about his mentality and how he took the benching.  Sure... there is no concrete way to measure someone as playing better because of a benching, but you can make a really good inference.  We can make a good inference in this situation I feel.

[hhcmatt]

16 minutes ago, PimpMario said:

He said It's not about playing high rpi teams but avoiding 300+ teams.

I remember being really excited about that.

Yet we scheduled Stetson, D St, and another terrible team.

If we need to open up the paycheck to get some 100s rpi MAC teams let's go that.

 

It's essentially the same schedule as our last tourney team except we played in a tournament that had lesser loser bracket opponents and the conference is down.  Miles' strategy is to try and schedule teams that will have winning records in their conference; As basketball is unpredictable this sometimes doesn't pan out.  At some point it's about having to get teams on the schedule that have open dates when you need them. I doubt Delaware St was a first choice.

 

100 RPI MAC teams at home might have boosted a our RPI a bit but that wouldn't be a Quadrant 1 game.  Lose a home game to any non-Power 5 team? BURN CITY.  Couple that with as daunting at the B1G originally looked and goodbye job because you over-scheduled again and it broke your team.

[Huskerpapa]

19 minutes ago, TimSmiles said:

copeland was never benched but is playing far better now than he was earlier this year. i don't think there's any evidence that palmer's benching is why he's playing better.

Although, James' quote after the Illinois game seemed to reinforce that he didn't show up to play at Penn State and that was his wake up call.  Who knows!

[PimpMario]

 
It's essentially the same schedule as our last tourney team except we played in a tournament that had lesser loser bracket opponents and the conference is down.  Miles' strategy is to try and schedule teams that will have winning records in their conference; As basketball is unpredictable this sometimes doesn't pan out.  At some point it's about having to get teams on the schedule that have open dates when you need them. I doubt Delaware St was a first choice.
 
100 RPI MAC teams at home might have boosted a our RPI a bit but that wouldn't be a Quadrant 1 game.  Lose a home game to any non-Power 5 team? BURN CITY.  Couple that with as daunting at the B1G originally looked and goodbye job because you over-scheduled again and it broke your team.

I mean we could also just beat 100+ rpi teams

There is no rule that says Nebrasketball must lose to an interior team every year

[MandRHusker]

6 hours ago, uneblinstu said:

If you fire him after making it to the Sweet 16, you better be bringing in Bill Self.

If we bring in Bill Self then we need to be prepared to have Adidas pay our players. It is what Self does. At least that is what Doc told me before he was fired.

[cipsucks]

4 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Eichorst decided to keep Miles around another year and, if he hadn't, I'm quite confident we'd not be looking at being on the front side of any bubble discussion. So, it's a good thing fans weren't in control of the process. Heaven help us where we'd be now if they were.

I've heard Eichorst's decision to keep Miles came down from above.  So, maybe heaven is helping us. 

[Norm Peterson]

2 minutes ago, cipsucks said:

I've heard Eichorst's decision to keep Miles came down from above.  So, maybe heaven is helping us. 

 

There's a Standhardinger joke in there somewhere, I just know it. 

[MichHusker]

4 hours ago, MandRHusker said:

If we bring in Bill Self then we need to be prepared to have Adidas pay our players. It is what Self does. At least that is what Doc told me before he was fired.

At the coaches convention down at the final four last year i was told by a certain coach in the state of Nebraska that every coach in college basketball cheats in some way or another 

[KZRider]

13 hours ago, colhusker said:

Damn it Norm now I have to find my Thesaurus

 

Thought those became extinct when that meteor hit.

[Norm Peterson]

20 hours ago, Hooper said:

As for me, I was a consistent and vocal Miles supporter until the skid at the end of last season and subsequent transfer of three key players, with Glynn also mulling over his options. The program was really at rock bottom at that point, and the mood was very down among the coaches, players and fans. I was really ready for a change and was disappointed when Eichorst retained Miles. If Miles Corp. were a stock, that would have been its bottom, and I was ready to sell and cut my losses.

 

Then things started to turn around. Glynn announced he was staying, Miles and his staff won a huge recruiting battle for Thomas Allen, and then added an athletic center prospect in Okeke. I started to feel better about Tim and his program.

 

I’m now back in Miles’ corner and am currently in favor of an extension. Last year was miserable, and I don’t feel guilty for wanting to go in another direction. Miles has admitted that he too was miserable on a personal level last year, and that probably permeated the entire mood of the program itself. It wasn't just about wins and losses for me. I felt the culture was broken too. I give Miles a ton of credit for righting the ship. I hope he continues to grow and evolve as a coach, because that's probably the best scenario for Nebraska basketball right now.

 

The program was nowhere near rock bottom at that point.

 

Rock bottom is when your primary recruiting assistant abandons your program and jets off to a safe landing spot and the head coach (who stunningly managed not to get fired at the end of the season ONLY because the AD was fresh out of political clout and your head coach managed to win a couple games in the conference tournament) can't find anyone willing to come take his place and eventually settles for the uncle of one of your current players who coaches an AAU program somewhere outside your primary geographic recruiting zone and, meanwhile, your star sophomore center has thrown his name in the hat for early entry in the NBA draft and has flown home to Australia and isn't sure he's ever coming back and your star freshman point guard has asked for his scholarship release.

 

That is rock bottom.

 

What happened at the end of last season is that a couple of guys who had been starters in the past looked at the roster for this year and realized they probably wouldn't be starting anymore for the rest of their careers because they see you have a couple of studs sitting out as transfers who will join them in the junior class and relegate them to the roles of bench warmers going forward.

 

That is not rock bottom.

 

Just for the sake of clarification.  I have seen what rock bottom looks like and end of last year wasn't it.

[Hooper]

19 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

The program was nowhere near rock bottom at that point.

 

Rock bottom is when your primary recruiting assistant abandons your program and jets off to a safe landing spot and the head coach (who stunningly managed not to get fired at the end of the season ONLY because the AD was fresh out of political clout and your head coach managed to win a couple games in the conference tournament) can't find anyone willing to come take his place and eventually settles for the uncle of one of your current players who coaches an AAU program somewhere outside your primary geographic recruiting zone and, meanwhile, your star sophomore center has thrown his name in the hat for early entry in the NBA draft and has flown home to Australia and isn't sure he's ever coming back and your star freshman point guard has asked for his scholarship release.

 

That is rock bottom.

 

What happened at the end of last season is that a couple of guys who had been starters in the past looked at the roster for this year and realized they probably wouldn't be starting anymore for the rest of their careers because they see you have a couple of studs sitting out as transfers who will join them in the junior class and relegate them to the roles of bench warmers going forward.

 

That is not rock bottom.

 

Just for the sake of clarification.  I have seen what rock bottom looks like and end of last year wasn't it.

 

I knew someone was going to come back with this angle. Of course the program has seen lower lows than it has under Miles. In fact, I'm certain it's seen lower lows than anything we could cite from the Miles, Collier or Sadler eras. 1898 was a hell of a rough season for our Husker hoopsters. After all, they lost not once, but TWICE, to the Lincoln YMCA! Oh, the horror! :-)

 

The context of my post was confined to the Miles era, and, quite honestly, expectations have risen with the move to the Big Ten. It also does not follow logically that what happened last year is acceptable or doesn't represent grounds for termination simply because the program has had lower low points in its history. I mean, would a jury let a guy off on a murder case simply because they've seen worse? "Your honor, we feel he shouldn't go to jail after killing that man because, to be honest, we've seen much worse. We tried a case last year where the defendant ate his victims after killing them, so this guy isn't so bad in comparison."

 

Also, for those praising Eichorst for not firing Miles last year, from what I've heard, that was not his decision. Eichorst had intended to fire Miles but was cut off at the knees by the Board of Regents. This was not because they didn't agree with the decision but because they didn't trust Eichorst to make another major hire and had already started to plan his demise at that point. Knowing Shawn lacked the political capital to fire Miles, he backed down. If you're pleased that Tim was retained, credit the BOR.

[Norm Peterson]

<<STRAWMAN ALERT>>

 

I don't want to get off in the weeds about things here.  Last year wasn't rock bottom.  It might have been murder but it wasn't the worst murder ever.  In your earlier post, you said it was the worst murder ever and now your saying it was just a run-of-the-mill murder.  

 

Saying now that it was just a run-of-the-mill murder doesn't really address my point that it still wasn't the worst murder ever.  That's the strawman.  I never said we shouldn't do anything about murder because there've been other murders that were worse.

 

Rock bottom for any Husker sport I've ever seen occurred in men's basketball the summer after Collier's last season, which occurred within the lifetimes of everyone now posting on this board.  Everything else pales in comparison.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Norm Peterson

[49r]

Wow, it's going to be a LOOOOONG time until Tuesday, isn't it?

[AuroranHusker]

Just now, 49r said:

Wow, it's going to be a LOOOOONG time until Tuesday, isn't it?

 

Haha, yes, I greatly preferred the NBA-type scheduling of last week.  

[Norm Peterson]

By the way, I will never forget the feeling of complete despair I felt toward Nebraska basketball that summer after Collier's last season, before he took the AD job at Butler.

 

Think about the circumstances we were facing.  No Aleks Maric; no Marcus Walker.  The only reason for any optimism at all had been the recruiting of Scott Spinelli, but he left.  So, we're heading into a season with Collier as our coach and a roster that potentially doesn't have Maric and would have consisted of Charles Richardson as a senior, Marcus Perry as a senior, Sophomores Kyle Marks and Jamel White, and freshmen Ryan Anderson, JR Strowbridge, Mike Smith, and Chris Balham.  And some walkons.

 

And with a skeleton crew of coaches that includes Jamel White's uncle who, as far as I understand, sat in his office half days while picking up a paycheck.

 

Let that sink in.  Who would that team beat?

 

That there's rock bottom.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Norm Peterson

[TourneyBound]

21 hours ago, ZAYWHAT! said:

Do you think Copeland will be back?  He turns 23 this summer.    Do you think Palmer will be back?   He will turn 22 this summer?     They both have another year of eligibility ,but will they use it or will they try to make some money somewhere playing basketball and start life after college. 

 

It could be scary next year  if they both departed after this semester.    This team could be really amazing next year if they returned.

Man the thought of losing both those guys after this year and missing out on NCAA berth is super depressing!!

[hhcmatt]

52 minutes ago, Hooper said:

Also, for those praising Eichorst for not firing Miles last year,

 

We're talking 'praising your kid for not eating Tide Pods' level of praise about SE.

[AuroranHusker]

Just now, hhcdimes said:

 

We're talking 'praising your kid for not eating Tide Pods' level of praise about SE.

 

#RollTide

[Hooper]

Norm, I see your point, but my point is that if we have a certain standard for what constitutes an acceptable performance level (let's assign a hypothetical number value to it for simplicity's sake of 75), then if a coach turns in a 68, which still falls in the realm of "unacceptable," the fact that the program has been at 54 or 63 or 49 or whatever, over certain periods in its history, doesn't make the 68 acceptable, as it still falls within the realm of unacceptable.

 

The funny thing about this is that I was the guy passionately arguing against the anti-Miles crowd during most of last season (mostly on other boards). However, at some point toward the end of last year, once the transfers were known, and after everything that had transpired, Tim pushed me over the edge as a fan, and I began to consider the situation unacceptable. That's where subjectivity enters the picture, as many of you did not deem the situation as unacceptable.

 

I'm glad that my wishes and my perspective on the situation did not prevail, as he put an outstanding team on the court this year, and I don't feel the transfers had a substantially-negative impact on the program once the dust settled. At some point, however, coach Miles has got to bring more roster stability to this program in terms of keeping major contributors in the fold.

[hhcmatt]

20 minutes ago, 49r said:

Wow, it's going to be a LOOOOONG time until Tuesday, isn't it?

 

[Huskerpapa]

I tend to drift towards Norm on this argument Hooper.  As a LONG time fan, I felt frustrated at the end of the year, but we had young talent and a couple transfers that created a beacon of light.  The year Norm references was a blow to the gut.  There was no light, not even a glimmer.  When Doc took over, he at least provided that glimmer. 

[hskr4life]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

Wow, it's going to be a LOOOOONG time until Tuesday, isn't it?

 

Fricking Big 10 scheduling.  Too bad we don't have games like every other day.