Would you play for Coach Hoiberg's Huskers?

[basketballjones]

Consider me a bit skeptical at the moment. But I have to be honest - at this point - I would turn down a Husker offer. I was born and raised here, and have been going to games since 1986. I actually think I like Nebrasketball more than I like Husker Football. 

But at this point, if I was a top prep prospect, even in state, I think I would tell Coach Hoiberg, "thank you, but no thank you." For my hypothetical - I am an out-of-high school, scholarship-worthy player, not a "leave after first year as an NBA prospect," but I've certainly been recruited because I have the size/skill to play at this level. Let's call me, "Isaiah Bass," from Great Peninsula, Nebraska. 

If I were to say yes, here's the questions/concerns I would need answered/addressed before I committed:
1. Who the hell else is going to be on my team from year to year? I plan on being here 3-4 years. This is my team, my family, the people I am going to spend the most time with. Is every year going to be like Freshman Orientation at the dorm?

2. Are you committed to developing me and letting me learn/grow? Or am I going to be shown the door after year 1-2 because I did not come in completely ready-made?
3. Will I be surrounded by high character guys? Or are you going to be brining a bunch of dudes in who have been shown the door at other places? 
4. Am I going to be recruited-over every single year? I understand the job is to bring in the best players you can and build the best team you can. But I'm not feeling a lot of confidence when I notice you've contacted EVERY SINGLE KID IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL. 

What say you? You in no matter what? Are my questions unfounded? Are they legit? 

[basketballjones]

Reasons I would say yes:
1. Incredible facilities, resources, and school.

2. I really do believe Coach Hoiberg is an incredible coach. And I love his assistants.

3. Opportunity to be "the guy" (big fish, smaller pond).

4. Opportunity to be the first team to win an NCAA Tournament Game. 

[atskooc]

1. Who the hell else is going to be on my team from year to year? I plan on being here 3-4 years. This is my team, my family, the people I am going to spend the most time with. Is every year going to be like Freshman Orientation at the dorm? You say this like you feel this is exclusive to Nebraska. The turnover is everywhere. In fact, regardless of your plan to stay here for 3-4 years, odds are that you'd be transferring (or "shown the door") yourself. I suspect most of the kids in the transfer portal were planning on staying at their respective schools for the long haul. Plans change.

2. Are you committed to developing me and letting me learn/grow? Or am I going to be shown the door after year 1-2 because I did not come in completely ready-made? Are you asking Coach if he's dedicated to being a coach? Really? And I suspect if Coach wanted you on his team enough to be recruiting you that he would tell you what you wanted to hear.  Coaches do this all the time, then turn out to be different people than they are when they're recruiting kids. Austin Reaves went to Wichita State, and once he got there he realized he absolutely HATED Coach Marshall.  You think Coach Marshall gave Austin the impression he was so hate-able sitting around the kitchen table or when Reaves was on an official visit?
3. Will I be surrounded by high character guys? Or are you going to be brining a bunch of dudes in who have been shown the door at other places? Are you trying to determine the roster, or are you going to leave that up to the coach? Are you going to be calling sets and running practices as well?
4. Am I going to be recruited-over every single year? I understand the job is to bring in the best players you can and build the best team you can. But I'm not feeling a lot of confidence when I notice you've contacted EVERY SINGLE KID IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL. Every coach (well, every coach who's worth a damn) is going to try to over-recruit his roster every year. To require your coach to not try to recruit a better player than you are is misguided at best.

Edited March 24, 2021 by atskooc

[basketballjones]

3 minutes ago, atskooc said:

1. Who the hell else is going to be on my team from year to year? I plan on being here 3-4 years. This is my team, my family, the people I am going to spend the most time with. Is every year going to be like Freshman Orientation at the dorm? You say this like you feel this is exclusive to Nebraska. The turnover is everywhere. In fact, regardless of your plan to stay here for 3-4 years, odds are that you'd be transferring (or "shown the door") yourself. I suspect most of the kids in the transfer portal were planning on staying at their respective schools for the long haul. Plans change.

2. Are you committed to developing me and letting me learn/grow? Or am I going to be shown the door after year 1-2 because I did not come in completely ready-made? Are you asking Coach if he'd dedicated to being a coach? And I suspect if Coach wanted you on his team enough to be recruiting you that he would tell you what you wanted to hear.  Coaches do this all the time, then turn out to be different people than they are when they're recruiting kids. Austin Reaves went to Wichita State, and once he got there he realized he absolutely HATED Coach Marshall.  You think Coach Marshall gave Austin the impression he was so hate-able sitting around the kitchen table or when Reaves was on an official visit?
3. Will I be surrounded by high character guys? Or are you going to be brining a bunch of dudes in who have been shown the door at other places? Are you trying to determine the roster, or are you going to leave that up to the coach? Are you going to be calling sets and running practices as well?
4. Am I going to be recruited-over every single year? I understand the job is to bring in the best players you can and build the best team you can. But I'm not feeling a lot of confidence when I notice you've contacted EVERY SINGLE KID IN THE TRANSFER PORTAL. Every coach (well, every coach who's worth a damn) is going to try to over-recruit his roster every year. To require your coach to not try to recruit a better player than you are is misguided at best.

Great response. Was kind of trying to play "Devil's Advocate," and put myself into the mind of a prep-target. 

But I do disagree with your responses to #3 and #4. I think #3 is an incredibly fair question to ask. And I disagree with #4. Not every coach attempts to "over-recruit" their roster every year. A lot of the goods take what they have and figure out where they need to compliment and fill-gaps. 

Edited March 24, 2021 by basketballjones

[hugh42]

23 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Reasons I would say yes:
1. Incredible facilities, resources, and school.

2. I really do believe Coach Hoiberg is an incredible coach. And I love his assistants.

3. Opportunity to be "the guy" (big fish, smaller pond).

4. Opportunity to be the first team to win an NCAA Tournament Game. 

 

JMO, but if this is your motivation as a player then you will probably be in the portal more than once and most likely on losing teams at each stop as well. I want someone who is a team guy and cares about winning, regardless of how talented he is.

[basketballjones]

1 minute ago, hugh42 said:

 

JMO, but if this is your motivation as a player then you will probably be in the portal more than once and most likely on losing teams at each stop as well. I want someone who is a team guy and cares about winning, regardless of how talented he is.

Hmmmm.... Disagree with you there. If you don't think there's plenty of guys who go to places because they know they can be the guy eventually, I'd say you're crazy. If I was a guy who actually had a lot of skill but needed the ball in my hands to demonstrate that - I am not going to go to somewhere where they already have a ball dominant guy or they're trying to tell me I'm going to sit in the corner and be a 3 and D guy. 

[hhcmatt]

38 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Are my questions unfounded? Are they legit? 

 

Wasn't this the vibe that Hunter Sallis put out about not coming here?

[Chuck Taylor]

I think we overrate our facilities (all the top schools are first rate) and the appeal of playing for FH. There are a lot of good coaches out there, and he's put together ONE winning season in his last six of coaching in Lincoln and Chicago. A 17-year-old would have been 11 the last time he coached a good team at Iowa States. So selling a recruit to come here to win is tough.

 

So what can we sell? (1) a style of play (2) a coach with NBA contacts (3) playing time. None of those is a team-oriented appeal, and I think that's just one of the reasons the last two teams have struggled to play together.

 

I'm hopeful that with this year's holdovers, we can put together a good team that will get a big boost from a 5-star. If we can do that, then I think we can think about competing for championships. 

 

 

[hugh42]

7 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Hmmmm.... Disagree with you there. If you don't think there's plenty of guys who go to places because they know they can be the guy eventually, I'd say you're crazy. If I was a guy who actually had a lot of skill but needed the ball in my hands to demonstrate that - I am not going to go to somewhere where they already have a ball dominant guy or they're trying to tell me I'm going to sit in the corner and be a 3 and D guy. 

 

My preference is to not have a ball dominant guy. I think most would agree that Fred's offense works much better when the ball doesn't stick. Having said this, we do need guys who can beat their defender off of the dribble, especially when the offense has broken down and it's late in the shot clock/game.

[uneblinstu]

If I'm getting offers from blue bloods + Nebraska, I'm probably not coming to Lincoln.

 

If I'm getting offers from other high major schools that are semi-regular NCAA tournament teams or other teams trying to build + Nebraska, I'd likely come to Lincoln, or at least would strongly consider them.

 

I, personally, would want whichever coach I commit to to build the best team possible. I'd also want to play with people I like being around, so the character question resonates with me some,  but not totally. Coach's NBA connections and success at ISU would be factors to me as well. I don't think question #1 would be a significant one for me. That's just part of the deal in modern college basketball, no program is immune from that. Question #2, maybe, but if we're talking about NU specifically, I'd probably ask about a development plan, but they've also shown he can develop talent, so it wouldn't be my biggest concern, I'd expect it. 

[basketballjones]

5 minutes ago, hugh42 said:

 

My preference is to not have a ball dominant guy. I think most would agree that Fred's offense works much better when the ball doesn't stick. Having said this, we do need guys who can beat their defender off of the dribble, especially when the offense has broken down and it's late in the shot clock/game.

If we have Cam Mack this year instead of Teddy Allen, we aren't in the bottom 4 teams in the conference IMO. Ball Dominant doesn't have to mean selfish. 

[The Polish Rifle]

We're underselling the NBA aspect I think. I'm pretty sure we're the only team that has an ex-NBA player, Coach and Front Office guy. When pretty much every recruits goal is the NBA - it is a big sell. The one hit against us right now is Hoiberg needs to show success at Nebraska, but it's only been 2 years. If we are able to get to a tournament in the next 2 years, we will have everything any other team in the country has, outside the Duke's and Kentucky's. Top 15 attendance, Top 3 League, Great Facilities, Coach with NBA connections, NBA style. Unfortunately Hoiberg had to turn the roster over, it wasn't pretty, but it was in a bad place when he took over. If you only see the last two seasons, Nebraska isn't for you. If you can see the vision of what Fred has and will build, why not Nebraska. 

[hugh42]

7 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

If we have Cam Mack this year instead of Teddy Allen, we aren't in the bottom 4 teams in the conference IMO. Ball Dominant doesn't have to mean selfish. 

 

I would agree.

[basketballjones]

47 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Wasn't this the vibe that Hunter Sallis put out about not coming here?

Not sure. I get the vibe Hunter views himself as a National level, blue-blood, top program in the nation, type of guy. Not someone going to a rebuild. 

[Art Vandalay]

I actually think Fred’s teams were best with a defined lead ball handler. Kane, White, Morris were all studs. That is why I think we need to go find a top line PG

[colhusker]

27 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

If we have Cam Mack this year instead of Teddy Allen, we aren't in the bottom 4 teams in the conference IMO. Ball Dominant doesn't have to mean selfish. 

If Cam could have followed the rules, simple ones, I am guessing he would still have been in Lincoln.

[Art Vandalay]

And I would sign with us every day that ends in Y. I would go look at the Duke and UCLAs of the world but I’m staying home. Kids these days are not die hard red and that is not a knock on them. Once we start winning I think you will see much more local success. To bad it was not in time for the current group

[hhcmatt]

24 minutes ago, Art Vandalay said:

I actually think Fred’s teams were best with a defined lead ball handler. Kane, White, Morris were all studs. That is why I think we need to go find a top line PG

 

Not to get too much into the weeds but Royce White at PG had to be what we were thinking with Banton running it this year.

[Art Vandalay]

1 hour ago, hhcmatt said:

 

Not to get too much into the weeds but Royce White at PG had to be what we were thinking with Banton running it this year.

totally agree, just not nearly as successful. If Banton could get a lot stronger and improve his ball handling he’d have a shot

[TheKamdyMan]

I know Im a Husker homer but I'd look at the style of offense and what they run and if I fit it, I'd go in a heartbeat.  When its working its tough to stop and thats what I would need to do to get to the next level as that would be my goal. 

 

I know the struggle dealing with recruiting, getting recruited over, and the rigors of having to go at it everyday.  Granted it was in college and pro baseball but its not too different at the end of the day for what we're talking about.

[basketballjones]

2 hours ago, colhusker said:

If Cam could have followed the rules, simple ones, I am guessing he would still have been in Lincoln.

Amazing how complicated some guys make it, isn't it? 

[Swan88]

I would play for Coach Hoiberg & Co. any day, every day and always (if I were a skilled basketball player and a few years younger and with eligibility remaining, of course).

They run a first class team.  They have exceptional experience and are high character guys.  They've been through the fire and come out strong.

They run a meritocracy in which the best get to play and reasonable discipline is maintained. 

Yeah . . . I'll take that leadership--100%--over any alternative. 

 

[Navin R. Johnson]

I think Nebraska does have a reputation for roster turnover and transfer additions, but I think a lot of schools are getting that way. There are probably local kids who think that about Nebraska but there are probably Indiana kids that think that about IU, and Texas kids that think that about UT and so on. It's just the way that things are now in college athletics.

[Cazzie22]

Competition within a program makes the team better.  Alabama Football keeps rolling in great players because they know they will get better just in practice.  John Cook is constantly telling players he is recruiting their replacement.  

 

I don’t blame Hoiberg for going after transfers.  He won’t be alone.  You can never have enough talent.  

[Huskerone]

I like this most recent recruiting class, and think of it as probably the first class Hoiberg and Co. has not had to rush, or take some chances on kids.  I think we'll see better classes from here on out.  I don't think we'll have to worry about high quality basketball players saying yes to coach H. 

 

I'd show the Rutgers game as a great example to a recruit of how he wants the team to play.  Hard to say no to that style of play.  Oh, and I totally agree the NBA pedigree on this staff is an advantage for us.