Top 25 Husker Recruits in the 24/7 Era

[TourneyBound]

1 hour ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

OK, you limited your examination to "top 25." The link you provided actually goes back a lot further than that, and so I just took a quick historical look at the older data. Thank you for the link, by the way.

 

Some of the stuff was consistent with what I thought I had remembered. For instance, in the early days of Scout (which became 24/7, right?) I can remember scrolling through page after page of basketball recruits trying to find the top player we were going after. And it was Charles Richardson. And, according to your link, he was ranked the 793rd best player in his class. And that's about the way I remembered it.

 

That's not a typo. 793rd.

 

And he was our top recruit that year.

 

It's just striking how bad our recruiting was before Tim Miles got here.

 

Before Tim Miles, we couldn't even get our foot in the door with Rivals 150 guys. You'd scroll through the names of the players we'd offered or who were at least considering us, and it just flat didn't include any of the top names. At all.

 

I think prior to Miles, we'd never had a Rivals 150 kid on our roster even as a transfer. That's how bad it was. And then, all of a sudden, Tim Miles comes along and we had like six. I remember doing a thread where it was like we went from zero Rivals 150 players to having enough that at least one Rivals 150 guy would have to come off the bench. In a span of only like 2 years. My, how far we had come.

 

Sometimes, during Collier/Sadler years, we got lucky with a guy who was better than the recruiting services gave him credit for. Aleks Maric, for instance, was pretty damned good even as a true freshman. But our starting PG during a couple of the Collier years was Marcus Neal Jr. who was rated outside the top 120. OF JUNIOR COLLEGE PLAYERS. And that certainly fits with what I remember of him.

 

For comparison, Lance Jeter was the #36 juco recruit, and Ade Dagunduro was #16.

 

I remember how excited we were about Roburt Sallie, but he wasn't even in the Rivals 150. And he was supposed to be some kind of program changer.

 

So, this latest flurry of commits is significant. And the guys whose doors we are knocking on now suggests that trajectory should continue.

 

Some of this uptick in recruiting can be attributed to PBA.  The recruiting picked up quite a bit because we had a shiny new arena to impress recruits rather than the old Bob!

[basketballjones]

2 hours ago, millerhusker said:

Was this Kyle Marks? There was a good amount of hype around him and the rest of that recruiting class. We beat out Florida for Marks, if I remember correctly. I thought he had knee issues while he was here. 

Naw, Marks just wasn't good. Balham was the guy with the serious knee issues. Sort of started to get it figured out (or at least manageable) towards the end of his career but never really materialized. Absolutely great dude, though. 

[huskerbill85]

45 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

I don't think Barry Collier had a clue how tough it was going to be to recruit as Nebraska in the Big 12 and what kind of players he would need to compete at the P5 level, and he was woefully unprepared for the challenge.

 

He thought he could get by with 3rd team all-Jayhawk conference juco players when we were used to having 1st team All-American juco players.

 

It took him 3 years to realize he needed huge help with recruiting and, by that time, the die was cast and he was in big trouble.

 

Doc was at least trying to get the better juco players as well as some quality HS kids, but he still lacked the recruiting chops and it's no wonder he took a position here under Hoiberg with an understanding that he wouldn't have to take part in recruiting.

Keep sleeping on Nate Johnson

[basketballjones]

21 hours ago, HB said:

 

Nobody got rode like Toney McCray.   That guy should get a trophy, and an annuity from prominent boosters, for not transferring.  Doc was just merciless on that guy at practice.  

Nobody. Nobody. 

I don't know if Doc had something on him, or he was deep in the bag, but I do not know how he stayed around for his entire career. Just did not stop. Even if Toney was not practicing (sitting out injured or something), he was screaming at him. 

My favorite one ever: Toney was out with some sort of foot/ankle injury - and Doc was not happy with his level of effort in his rehab. 

Practice is super sloppy and not going well... Doc stops practice and goes, "SURE IS F**ING HARD TO HAVE A GREAT PRACTICE WHEN YOUR STARTERS ARE SITTING OUT."

Toney immediately puts head down.

Doc: "Ya know Toney - if you had worked as hard on your rehab as Mike (Fox) worked on his tan this summer - we'd be an NCAA tournament team!!!!"

[huskerbill85]

17 minutes ago, basketballjones said:

Naw, Marks just wasn't good. Balham was the guy with the serious knee issues. Sort of started to get it figured out (or at least manageable) towards the end of his career but never really materialized. Absolutely great dude, though. 

Knew him personally went to high school with him. He went from being 1 of the worst players I've ever played against his freshmen year of HS to playing at Nebraska. Really a remarkable transformation in just a few years.

[Navin R. Johnson]

1 hour ago, huskerbill85 said:

Keep sleeping on Nate Johnson

 

Nate could play, that's for sure but if I remember correctly he kind of fell into Collier's lap.

[millerhusker]

17 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

 

Nate could play, that's for sure but if I remember correctly he kind of fell into Collier's lap.

He wanted to come to Nebraska because his girlfriend (now wife I think?) was coming here. Initially, we didn’t have a scholarship for him so he committed to Oklahoma State. A scholarship opened up eventually and he switched his commitment to Nebraska.

Edited April 22, 2021 by millerhusker

[HB]

18 minutes ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

 

Nate could play, that's for sure but if I remember correctly he kind of fell into Collier's lap.

Correct.   Paul Sanderford recruited Nate's girlfriend/soon to be wife, Keesha Cannon.  So Nate decommitted from Oklahoma State and came here.

Edited April 22, 2021 by HB

[Silverbacked1]

5 hours ago, HB said:

Correct.   Paul Sanderford recruited Nate's girlfriend/soon to be wife, Keesha Cannon.  So Nate decommitted from Oklahoma State and came here.

 

Didn't she have to red shirt a year because she was going to have a baby with Johnson?

[lang]

Wow everybody.  Way too much to try to comment on.  But, what a fun trip down memory lane...thanks everyone.

[skerbball]

Will never forget Johnson’s layup with 10 seconds left to win at Creighton in the 2004 NIT. Our last win in Omaha. That was a fun night. Hell the whole 2004 NIT was crazy including the INSANE second half Conklin had at Hawaii. 

[huskerbill85]

8 hours ago, Navin R. Johnson said:

 

Nate could play, that's for sure but if I remember correctly he kind of fell into Collier's lap.

Funny story I was at a party a few years ago and Jeff Graves the former KU player was there. We were talking hoops he asked who my favorite team was I told him Nebraska. He jokingly gave me a little bit of flack and I was like well you know the last time they beat you guys you were playing lol and I was talking about Nate Johnson. Turns out they are really good friends dude even gave me a ride home at the end of the night.

[Silverbacked1]

8 hours ago, skerbball said:

Will never forget Johnson’s layup with 10 seconds left to win at Creighton in the 2004 NIT. Our last win in Omaha. That was a fun night. Hell the whole 2004 NIT was crazy including the INSANE second half Conklin had at Hawaii. 

 

I still get tears in my eyes when I think about that shot from Johnson...

[millerhusker]

9 hours ago, huskerbill85 said:

Funny story I was at a party a few years ago and Jeff Graves the former KU player was there. We were talking hoops he asked who my favorite team was I told him Nebraska. He jokingly gave me a little bit of flack and I was like well you know the last time they beat you guys you were playing lol and I was talking about Nate Johnson. Turns out they are really good friends dude even gave me a ride home at the end of the night.

I've talked hoops with a few former KU players over the years. The ones who played around that time really respected those Nebraska teams. They thought Jake Muhleisen was a stud (and he really was for about 1.5 years, until his injury in Lawrence). 

[cornfed24-7]

2 hours ago, millerhusker said:

I've talked hoops with a few former KU players over the years. The ones who played around that time really respected those Nebraska teams. They thought Jake Muhleisen was a stud (and he really was for about 1.5 years, until his injury in Lawrence). 

That injury just wreck him. 

[Cazzie22]

On 4/22/2021 at 12:06 PM, Norm Peterson said:

I don't think Barry Collier had a clue how tough it was going to be to recruit as Nebraska in the Big 12 and what kind of players he would need to compete at the P5 level, and he was woefully unprepared for the challenge.

 

He thought he could get by with 3rd team all-Jayhawk conference juco players when we were used to having 1st team All-American juco players.

 

It took him 3 years to realize he needed huge help with recruiting and, by that time, the die was cast and he was in big trouble.

 

Doc was at least trying to get the better juco players as well as some quality HS kids, but he still lacked the recruiting chops and it's no wonder he took a position here under Hoiberg with an understanding that he wouldn't have to take part in recruiting.

I think Eddie Sutton remarked, and this is not exact, that Collier was recruiting players that would be better fits in lower level conferences.