Off Season changes

[HB]

2 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

Actually, yes. Yes I do. I do blame him for the pregame warm-ups.

 

And I'm not just saying that to attack Matt. In fact, I'm only saying it because you asked.

 

Fred only wants to coach. He's turned the responsibility of assembling a roster to Matt A. In terms of culture and discipline, Fred stays out of it and has left that to Matt A as well. None of the other assistants has any authority, really, to step in, because these are Matt's guys.

 

I will not tell you how I came by this information, and if you choose not to believe it, I don't care. Matt A is not a good dude. Off the floor, Matt A is not a good dude. The sooner he departs this program, the better for Nebrasketball.

 

And, let me just add for those who continue to want to blame Doc for this year's defense: Last year, Doc Sadler was an assistant coach with actual coaching responsibilities. There's even film of him running practices. Last year, we had a top 40 defense. This year, Doc no longer has an assistant coaching role, has zero coaching responsibilities, and our defense sucks. This is NOT a coincidence and I wish people would quit blaming Doc Sadler for our defensive woes this year.

 

It's remarkable to me that the people who want to hold Doc Sadler responsible for something he doesn't really have anything to do with are so willing to forgive Matt A's failures for things he is directly responsible for.

 

Agree with the Matt stuff.

 

What I don't get is if Doc has "zero coaching responsibilities", why he sits right next to Fred during each and every game.  

[uneblinstu]

"coaching responsibilities" is a fairly nebulous term. There are a lot of ways he can still be involved in the defensive game plan with out having practice and gameday responsibilities.

[nustudent]

I have zero issues with Matt A coming back.  But if he does, Fred can't let him run hog wild.   There needs to be more oversight and dictation as to who we are recruiting moreso than just letting him do his thing.

[aphilso1]

Doc's a former head coach who is willing to live out of a hotel room on a relatively low salary and work as an adviser.  For the job he is currently occupying, I highly doubt we find anyone else remotely as qualified.

[thrasher31]

18 hours ago, royalfan said:

I have a question as to why everyone hates Matt so much?  He has a knack of getting guys he covets.  That is a good thing.  Do we know for sure that he is the only person doing the talent evaluation regarding who to recruit?  And if so, that is absurd.   I think a guy like him can be useful IF he is used correctly.  

There's a few issues I have with this. 

 

He may be able to get whoever he wants, recruited the entire roster from scratch first year (cross was a Sadler connection though). Issue with doing that as we've been able to see is the pieces that he recruits don't seem to fit on the court. Now that falls on Fred, but Abdelmassih needs to be mindful of who he chooses and how these guys fit together. Needs to put Fred in a favorable spot to coach these guys. Another thing is every year he's taken at least 1 "questionable character" type. Cam Mack, Teddy Allen, and Alonzo verge. Verge is the least questionable of the 3, but first two had red flags attached. If it works out, great. It hasn't to this point. Look at St John's as an example of how he manages his roster. He did the same thing there as he is here, but they disappointed every year and Mullin lost his job in the process. Whatever formula he is using, isn't working for his teams. 

 

Overall, recruiting needs to a staff wide effort with collaboration. By all we've seen to this point, Abdelmassih is running the show with some help from assistants. How much help? Great question. I mean, Armon Gates was revered as a recruiter when he came here from NW. Had connections to Chicago and Brewster academy. Outside of MAW (who staff let go) who has he had a hand in recruiting? If it's just Abdelmassih like it seems to be and not using Armons connections, that's neglecting the assets you have. 

 

I don't necessarily have an issue with Abdelmassih personally. I just think the formula of what he's done to this point hasn't led to success. Fred's staying aboard and he definitely deserves some criticism for the recruiting and player fits, but that was Abdelmassih's only job as he isn't doing any on court coaching. He has failed in that department in my eyes. That coincides with losing his job and he 100% should. 

Edited March 1, 2022 by thrasher31

[hskr4life]

7 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

 

I will not tell you how I came by this information, and if you choose not to believe it, I don't care. Matt A is not a good dude. Off the floor, Matt A is not a good dude. The sooner he departs this program, the better for Nebrasketball.

 

 

 

Not saying you have to go more into depth here, but this caught my attention 100%.  

[demone]

2 minutes ago, hskr4life said:

 

Not saying you have to go more into depth here, but this caught my attention 100%.  

 

I'm not asking for more detail either but I had the same reaction. If true (and I'm not doubting you Norm), what the hell is he still doing here? Doesn't that add another to the long list of reasons to doubt/question FH going forward? It certainly does for me.

[aphilso1]

1 hour ago, hskr4life said:

 

Not saying you have to go more into depth here, but this caught my attention 100%.  

 

59 minutes ago, demone said:

 

I'm not asking for more detail either but I had the same reaction.

 

Fine, I'll bite the bullet and be that guy then.  Tell me more, tell me more!

Edited March 1, 2022 by aphilso1

[royalfan]

8 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

 

You've answered most of your own questions here. 

 

I still have them.   I don't know that he is the only one evaluating the recruits.  I just know he closed the recruits we got.  One is a good thing.  One would be an absurd thing.  

[Blackshirt83]

23 hours ago, hskr4life said:

 

 

 

He can absolutely be scrutinized. But my issue is that he's scrutinized like it's his job to do everything, recruiting and development and coaching. We have a headcoach who doesn't recruit, he only wants to focus on coaching, yet we want to run off the guy actually doing the recruiting.

 

I defend Matt because I see the talent we have. I see it was horribly managed, there was little accountability for bad effort on defense or bad shot selection, for not boxing out etc, to put it mildly. That changed and we look like a completely different team. With the same talent. As if the only one who actually did his job prior to last week was Matt.

 

If you want to say there's holes in the roster, that a second set of eyes should be overseeing his choices or that the other coaches should be helping more, I agree. Gates is a very good recruiter. Use him. Doc is a very good talent evaluator, use him. Have those guys help evaluate and prioritize targets, But you don't get rid of the guy that actually gets those guys to commit. 

 

Here's why I defend Matt. College Basketball is 95% recruiting. Expecially now  that you have to constantly recruit your own guys because they can just hit the portal if they aren't happy. 

 

So we're paying Hoiberg 3.2M a year and he isn't doing the part of the job that requires the bulk of a coaches time and effort. And that's okay because what he does do is valuable and he has Matt there to recruit for him.  But take Matt away and he's a really good NBA assistant coach with no roster to coach.

 

And again if Matt is bringing in the entire roster and is the only one any of them listen to then we're paying 2 guys around 300k each to do what? That's my issue. It's all bullshit. That isn't happening. If it was the team would have walked out not walked into Ohio State and beat them convincingly.

 

I back Matt because he's the one getting all the blame and I know the talent we have and I know how good this staff and these players can be if they dial down and do the dirty work. The talent has been here all year, the recruiting coach did his job. Where are the other two? Why are they not getting any blame? - This has perplexed me all year as on the court for much of the year the team looked utterly terrible and even possibly uncoached at times. The only good thing you could say was that they at least looked like D1 athletes, really bad D1 athletes. But Matt looked like the only one who looked like he had  actually showed up to work in the off-season. Only because there were actually guys on the court and he was the only one recruiting players. And yet Gates and Loenser were getting a free pass. Hell more people were mad at Doc than either of the guys who were making 300k and unlike Doc were actually you know. coaching.

 

But if they were I would be defending them the same way I have been defending Matt. Gates and Loenser are really good coaches and I wouldn't change either one because of this season. 

 

If Hoiberg wanted to make a change because he needs to bring in a coach with a different skill set then fine. But he's not going to just make the decision to fite his only recruiter when the roster he constructed has the talent to beat everyone on the schedule if everyone else does their job.

 

I have said multiple times that I would completely disregard this entire season and wouldn't fire anyone. There were several issues that needed addressing but they know where they screwed up and would fix them. They already have fixed several of them. Much faster than I expected in fact. 

 

But enjoy it because if they did indeed force Hoiberg to fire the best recruiter we have then it's not going to last. You don't fire people unless you think you can hire someone better to replace them, we aren't hiring anyone else who is bringing these guys in and none of our other coaches are either.

 

You want to finally have a legitimately good basketball program at Nebraska? Quit messing with shit, leave these guys alone, give them a 5 year window (including this year and last year)to try things out, fail a few times and fix their own mistakes and you will have a top 15-20 Basketball program. Not season, program.

 

Do stupid things like fire Hoiberg (luckily our AD wasn't that dumb) Fire Matt (I hope he's not this dumb) or force them to do something stupid like change their style of play and Hoiberg will be gone in 2 years and Nebraska basketball will continue to be the laughingstock of D1 Mens Athletics. 

 

 

[AuroranHusker]

8 hours ago, demone said:

 

I'm not asking for more detail either but I had the same reaction. If true (and I'm not doubting you Norm), what the hell is he still doing here? Doesn't that add another to the long list of reasons to doubt/question FH going forward? It certainly does for me.

 

Those early-season rumors perhaps had some legs. . . someone cut those legs off at that time, but the notion of impropriety is never too far away with Matt Abdelmassih, it seems.

 

 

[hhcmatt]

7 hours ago, Blackshirt83 said:

I have said multiple times that I would completely disregard this entire season and wouldn't fire anyone. There were several issues that needed addressing but they know where they screwed up and would fix them. They already have fixed several of them. Much faster than I expected in fact. 

 

7 hours ago, Blackshirt83 said:

You want to finally have a legitimately good basketball program at Nebraska? Quit messing with shit, leave these guys alone, give them a 5 year window (including this year and last year)to try things out, fail a few times and fix their own mistakes and you will have a top 15-20 Basketball program. Not season, program.

 

What specifically did they fix?  Why did they fix it?

 

[HB]

8 hours ago, Blackshirt83 said:

He can absolutely be scrutinized. But my issue is that he's scrutinized like it's his job to do everything, recruiting and development and coaching. We have a headcoach who doesn't recruit, he only wants to focus on coaching, yet we want to run off the guy actually doing the recruiting.

 

I defend Matt because I see the talent we have. I see it was horribly managed, there was little accountability for bad effort on defense or bad shot selection, for not boxing out etc, to put it mildly. That changed and we look like a completely different team. With the same talent. As if the only one who actually did his job prior to last week was Matt.

 

If you want to say there's holes in the roster, that a second set of eyes should be overseeing his choices or that the other coaches should be helping more, I agree. Gates is a very good recruiter. Use him. Doc is a very good talent evaluator, use him. Have those guys help evaluate and prioritize targets, But you don't get rid of the guy that actually gets those guys to commit. 

 

Here's why I defend Matt. College Basketball is 95% recruiting. Expecially now  that you have to constantly recruit your own guys because they can just hit the portal if they aren't happy. 

 

So we're paying Hoiberg 3.2M a year and he isn't doing the part of the job that requires the bulk of a coaches time and effort. And that's okay because what he does do is valuable and he has Matt there to recruit for him.  But take Matt away and he's a really good NBA assistant coach with no roster to coach.

 

And again if Matt is bringing in the entire roster and is the only one any of them listen to then we're paying 2 guys around 300k each to do what? That's my issue. It's all bullshit. That isn't happening. If it was the team would have walked out not walked into Ohio State and beat them convincingly.

 

I back Matt because he's the one getting all the blame and I know the talent we have and I know how good this staff and these players can be if they dial down and do the dirty work. The talent has been here all year, the recruiting coach did his job. Where are the other two? Why are they not getting any blame? - This has perplexed me all year as on the court for much of the year the team looked utterly terrible and even possibly uncoached at times. The only good thing you could say was that they at least looked like D1 athletes, really bad D1 athletes. But Matt looked like the only one who looked like he had  actually showed up to work in the off-season. Only because there were actually guys on the court and he was the only one recruiting players. And yet Gates and Loenser were getting a free pass. Hell more people were mad at Doc than either of the guys who were making 300k and unlike Doc were actually you know. coaching.

 

But if they were I would be defending them the same way I have been defending Matt. Gates and Loenser are really good coaches and I wouldn't change either one because of this season. 

 

If Hoiberg wanted to make a change because he needs to bring in a coach with a different skill set then fine. But he's not going to just make the decision to fite his only recruiter when the roster he constructed has the talent to beat everyone on the schedule if everyone else does their job.

 

I have said multiple times that I would completely disregard this entire season and wouldn't fire anyone. There were several issues that needed addressing but they know where they screwed up and would fix them. They already have fixed several of them. Much faster than I expected in fact. 

 

But enjoy it because if they did indeed force Hoiberg to fire the best recruiter we have then it's not going to last. You don't fire people unless you think you can hire someone better to replace them, we aren't hiring anyone else who is bringing these guys in and none of our other coaches are either.

 

You want to finally have a legitimately good basketball program at Nebraska? Quit messing with shit, leave these guys alone, give them a 5 year window (including this year and last year)to try things out, fail a few times and fix their own mistakes and you will have a top 15-20 Basketball program. Not season, program.

 

Do stupid things like fire Hoiberg (luckily our AD wasn't that dumb) Fire Matt (I hope he's not this dumb) or force them to do something stupid like change their style of play and Hoiberg will be gone in 2 years and Nebraska basketball will continue to be the laughingstock of D1 Mens Athletics. 

 

 

 

Where does one even begin to dissemble this unfortunate novel?

[Ron Mexico]

9 hours ago, Blackshirt83 said:

Here's why I defend Matt. College Basketball is 95% recruiting. Expecially now  that you have to constantly recruit your own guys because they can just hit the portal if they aren't happy. 

I disagree. Coaching is way more important in College than recruiting. In college basketball the dispersion of good/great players is not hugely concentrated.

It is hugely important for coaches to develop mediocre/good players.

I do agree that recruiting your own players is becoming more important for continuity.

[Blackshirt83]

1 hour ago, HB said:

 

Where does one even begin to dissemble this unfortunate novel?

Really easy. I defend Matt because he's the one getting all the blame. Unless you count Doc getting some of it. Which should tell you everything you need to know. 

If the other assistants were getting the blame I would be defending those guys. Maybe not as staunchly, because I think Matt is the most important assistant we have and aren't going to get anywhere close to being better going without him bringing in the talent he has. You could replace either of the others, and it would have to be a big upgrade downgrade to make a huge difference. And I don't expect it would be either. But I would be against making any staff changes. 

 

If you want Nebraska to be a legitimately good basketball program, we need to be quiet, ignore the media and let these guys have 5 years of freedom to make and fix mistakes. This will be a top 20 program at the end of it.

 

If we don't ignore the media and the bad parts of this process, and continue to call on the athletic department to make stupid decisions that handicap or flat out chop the legs out of the coaches (like forcing the firings of key assistants and forced schematic changes) Then Nebraska will continue to be a terrible athletic program.

 

* The term we isn't necessarily us here it's colloquially the ones who have a role in affecting the decisions being made in the athletic department.

 

Edited March 2, 2022 by Blackshirt83

[Cookie Crumbs]

42 minutes ago, Blackshirt83 said:

If you want Nebraska to be a legitimately good basketball program, we need to be quiet, ignore the media and let these guys have 5 years of freedom to make and fix mistakes. This will be a top 20 program at the end of it.

 

If we don't ignore the media and the bad parts of this process, and continue to call on the athletic department to make stupid decisions that handicap or flat out chop the legs out of the coaches (like forcing the firings of key assistants and forced schematic changes) Then Nebraska will continue to be a terrible athletic program.

 

I always get annoyed at comments like this because it appears to be blaming the fan base for the absolutely atrocious basketball I've watched over the last 3 years.

 

We've already been 'quiet' for 3 years and we still have a crappy basketball team. If we become quieter I cannot see how that makes this program better, and in fact I think a sense of apathy could set in even more.

 

It's hard to believe that if we just keep our mouths shut for another two years, don't even request any basic changes or have simple expectations, that its going to magically turn into one of the best basketball programs in the country...

 

[Shawn Eichorst's Toupee]

42 minutes ago, Blackshirt83 said:

Really easy. I defend Matt because he's the one getting all the blame. Unless you count Doc getting some of it. Which should tell you everything you need to know. 

If the other assistants were getting the blame I would be defending those guys. Maybe not as staunchly, because I think Matt is the most important assistant we have and aren't going to get anywhere close to being better going without him bringing in the talent he has. You could replace either of the others, and it would have to be a big upgrade downgrade to make a huge difference. And I don't expect it would be either. But I would be against making any staff changes. 

 

If you want Nebraska to be a legitimately good basketball program, we need to be quiet, ignore the media and let these guys have 5 years of freedom to make and fix mistakes. This will be a top 20 program at the end of it.

 

If we don't ignore the media and the bad parts of this process, and continue to call on the athletic department to make stupid decisions that handicap or flat out chop the legs out of the coaches (like forcing the firings of key assistants and forced schematic changes) Then Nebraska will continue to be a terrible athletic program.

 

* The term we isn't necessarily us here it's colloquially the ones who have a role in affecting the decisions being made in the athletic department.

 

 

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where did the media come into all this??

 

Also, I don't really see where anyone was forced to do anything here. Fred has a choice to retain or remove any coaches, and retain or change any part of his scheme/approach. And if Fred doesn't want to make any changes, he doesn't have to. Just like Trev and the athletic department aren't forced to fire, retain, or restructure Fred's contract. Everyone in the process is an adult with critical thinking skills, who made decisions based on (IMO) what they think the best path forward is. 

[Blackshirt83]

3 hours ago, hhcmatt said:

 

 

What specifically did they fix?  Why did they fix it?

 

They started making 3's and tweaked spacing a little to open up some lane space. As far as the schematic changes I couldn't tell you. 

 

But they started cleaning up the locker room. They started being held accountable for bad shot selection first, it didn't matter how well you were playing or what else was going on, if you took a quick or out of rhythm shot instead of making the extra pass you got pulled. As a result you got more flow, less hesitation to pass to certain people and led to more assists, better shots, less turnovers and less black holes dribbling all over nowhere.

 

You also saw a more focused and structured atmosphere from the second They left the locker room, significantly better defensive effort and intensity on the boards. All of which combined led to the ball going through the hoop and confidence and trust getting strong. 

 

I know they made a few changes to some of the offense but I don't know what they are specifically. 

 

 

[NUdiehard]

1 hour ago, Ron Mexico said:

I disagree. Coaching is way more important in College than recruiting. In college basketball the dispersion of good/great players is not hugely concentrated.

It is hugely important for coaches to develop mediocre/good players.

I do agree that recruiting your own players is becoming more important for continuity.

 

Don't even know where to start with this.  Even the coaches themselves will tell you it all starts with recruiting.  You can't make a great meal if you don't start with the right ingredients. 

 

If coaching is "way more important" than recruiting, and if development and improvement was all that matters, then hard-working walk-ons should be able to come in and dominate by their 2nd or 3rd year.  Just coach 'em up.  No problem.  Sure, he's only 5'10" with a 15" vertical, but that doesn't matter, just develop them.  How about Ivan, sure, he shoots like a shot put off the palm of his hand and can't catch a ball cleanly to save his life, but hey, just coach him up, develop him. 

 

We have been doing this for 50 years now.  I have seen hundreds of student=athletes come through the program and bust their tail and do everything possible and still not win.  Why?  Because they weren't talented enough.  Doc's six year tenure is proof of that.  Or do we need John Wooden reincarnated to make a savory meal out of mediocre ingredients? 

 

Coaching is absolutely important. Development is absolutely important.  But even the best coach in the world can't win consistently without talent. 

 

Here is the record for the Golden State Warriors the past  5 seasons, who have a great coach in Steve Kerr:

 

2016–17	82	67	15	.817	1st, Pacific	NBA champions, 4–1 (Cavaliers)
2017–18	82	58	24	.707	1st, Pacific	NBA champions, 4–0 (Cavaliers)
2018–19	82	57	25	.695	1st, Pacific	Lost in NBA Finals, 2–4 (Raptors)
2019–20	65	15	50	.231	5th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2020–21	72	39	33	.542	4th, Pacific	Did not qualify

 

Why did the only win 23% of their games in 2019-20 (finishing with the worst record in the entire league)?  Oh ya, it was because Curry and Thompson were hurt.  Talent.

 

[hhcmatt]

One thing to consider that when MA isn't back here next year is that MA, not Trev, made FH not bring him back.

[hskr4life]

1 hour ago, Blackshirt83 said:

Really easy. I defend Matt because he's the one getting all the blame.

 

 

Sorry, but this is just false.  There isn't a "Hot Seat" thread for Matt.  There isn't a "Next Nebrasketball Assistant Coach" thread where people are talking about who we could/should hire as a new assistant.

 

Fred has taken a lot of heat as the head man.  He's gotten a ton of blame on this board.  Sure, Matt's taken some heat.  However, don't act like Matt has been the only target.

[Huskerpapa]

To Blackshirt83 and any other critics of the husker fans...stop.  every football and basketball coach that came through this program have appreciated the fans.  This includes Bo and Billy C.  Yes, at times passion and unfair expectations are over the top; but nonetheless, fans by tickets, husker paraphernalia and hype to an extraordinarily high level. 

But most of us have reasonable expectations.   They have been outlined thousands of times; but to refresh, we want to win the right way.  Representing the community respectfully, hustle, work ethic are of utmost importance. 

Those of us passionate about husker basketball understood that moving to the upper echelon of college basketball would take time.  We also recognized that the level of talent, schematic adjustments and effort seemed to be lacking.  For fans not to react to that would be counter intuitive.   

If you or any fan critic participated in a sport at this wonderful University, you know that even the best coaching staffs spent time on the fan hot seats.  This forum is a very healthy site to vent with others that share the passion of husker hoops.  Some of us have been here from the start up of the site.  It is sometimes ugly, sometimes sad, but always entertaining

Edited March 2, 2022 by Huskerpapa

[Ron Mexico]

2 hours ago, NUdiehard said:

 

Don't even know where to start with this.  Even the coaches themselves will tell you it all starts with recruiting.  You can't make a great meal if you don't start with the right ingredients. 

 

If coaching is "way more important" than recruiting, and if development and improvement was all that matters, then hard-working walk-ons should be able to come in and dominate by their 2nd or 3rd year.  Just coach 'em up.  No problem.  Sure, he's only 5'10" with a 15" vertical, but that doesn't matter, just develop them.  How about Ivan, sure, he shoots like a shot put off the palm of his hand and can't catch a ball cleanly to save his life, but hey, just coach him up, develop him. 

 

We have been doing this for 50 years now.  I have seen hundreds of student=athletes come through the program and bust their tail and do everything possible and still not win.  Why?  Because they weren't talented enough.  Doc's six year tenure is proof of that.  Or do we need John Wooden reincarnated to make a savory meal out of mediocre ingredients? 

 

Coaching is absolutely important. Development is absolutely important.  But even the best coach in the world can't win consistently without talent. 

 

Here is the record for the Golden State Warriors the past  5 seasons, who have a great coach in Steve Kerr:

 

2016–17	82	67	15	.817	1st, Pacific	NBA champions, 4–1 (Cavaliers)
2017–18	82	58	24	.707	1st, Pacific	NBA champions, 4–0 (Cavaliers)
2018–19	82	57	25	.695	1st, Pacific	Lost in NBA Finals, 2–4 (Raptors)
2019–20	65	15	50	.231	5th, Pacific	Did not qualify
2020–21	72	39	33	.542	4th, Pacific	Did not qualify

 

Why did the only win 23% of their games in 2019-20 (finishing with the worst record in the entire league)?  Oh ya, it was because Curry and Thompson were hurt.  Talent.

 

 

I was talking about college and not pro. 

I'm a Spurs fan and thus I'm well aware of how important talent is.

College is not the NBA. It is not a comparison I've ever or will make.

I never once discounted the importance of recruiting. You created a strawman of things I didn't say and knocked it down with "coach 'em up". 

As fans of Nebraska we need to embrace a reality that we are never going to be a destination school for 5* prospects and very few 4* prospects. Bryce is an outlier as the only reason he ended up here was so he could play with his brother. We recruited Trey because we wanted Bryce. Consistently finishing anywhere in the Top50 should always be considered a success. 

We can't be Maryland. They were in the top 10 for 2018. I think we all know where they are currently sitting in the B1G. There are many more like them.

 

What matters more than players is coaching and consistency. This is why I was torn on firing FH. Before we can ever think about recruiting we need to think about stability.

Coaching comes before players in college. It is way more important because with coaching and constituency comes players. When you have a revolving door of coaches that our fan base wants to have fired ever 5-7yrs you get what has happened this season. We have had a couple of really nice wins but at the end of the day we will not be playing in the post season. Many in our fan base want to furnish our house with top end furniture and appliances and the house isn't even built yet.

I have lots of problems with recruitniks. They can understand recruiting because there is a nice ordered list of rated players. They understand that because it is simple. 

 

Over the next couple of weeks I'll gather the raw data  of recruiting rankings and where teams finished up and will present it here.

 

 

 

 

 

[49r]

31 minutes ago, Ron Mexico said:

 

I was talking about college and not pro. 

I'm a Spurs fan and thus I'm well aware of how important talent is.

College is not the NBA. It is not a comparison I've ever or will make.

I never once discounted the importance of recruiting. You created a strawman of things I didn't say and knocked it down with "coach 'em up". 

As fans of Nebraska we need to embrace a reality that we are never going to be a destination school for 5* prospects and very few 4* prospects. Bryce is an outlier as the only reason he ended up here was so he could play with his brother. We recruited Trey because we wanted Bryce. Consistently finishing anywhere in the Top50 should always be considered a success. 

We can't be Maryland. They were in the top 10 for 2018. I think we all know where they are currently sitting in the B1G. There are many more like them.

 

What matters more than players is coaching and consistency. This is why I was torn on firing FH. Before we can ever think about recruiting we need to think about stability.

Coaching comes before players in college. It is way more important because with coaching and constituency comes players. When you have a revolving door of coaches that our fan base wants to have fired ever 5-7yrs you get what has happened this season. We have had a couple of really nice wins but at the end of the day we will not be playing in the post season. Many in our fan base want to furnish our house with top end furniture and appliances and the house isn't even built yet.

I have lots of problems with recruitniks. They can understand recruiting because there is a nice ordered list of rated players. They understand that because it is simple. 

 

Over the next couple of weeks I'll gather the raw data  of recruiting rankings and where teams finished up and will present it here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I always hate using terms like "never" and "can't" when discussing sports though.  I've seen lots of crap I never thought would happen in sports.

 

Why not us?

[royalfan]

On 3/1/2022 at 8:14 AM, Norm Peterson said:

 

Actually, yes. Yes I do. I do blame him for the pregame warm-ups.

 

And I'm not just saying that to attack Matt. In fact, I'm only saying it because you asked.

 

Fred only wants to coach. He's turned the responsibility of assembling a roster to Matt A. In terms of culture and discipline, Fred stays out of it and has left that to Matt A as well. None of the other assistants has any authority, really, to step in, because these are Matt's guys.

 

I will not tell you how I came by this information, and if you choose not to believe it, I don't care. Matt A is not a good dude. Off the floor, Matt A is not a good dude. The sooner he departs this program, the better for Nebrasketball.

 

And, let me just add for those who continue to want to blame Doc for this year's defense: Last year, Doc Sadler was an assistant coach with actual coaching responsibilities. There's even film of him running practices. Last year, we had a top 40 defense. This year, Doc no longer has an assistant coaching role, has zero coaching responsibilities, and our defense sucks. This is NOT a coincidence and I wish people would quit blaming Doc Sadler for our defensive woes this year.

 

It's remarkable to me that the people who want to hold Doc Sadler responsible for something he doesn't really have anything to do with are so willing to forgive Matt A's failures for things he is directly responsible for.

What do you think Doc does if he has no role in coordinating the defense like the husker website says he does? Well compensated sleepwalker?  Who is absolving Matt of not having any blame?  I haven’t heard anyone suggest this?  If the entirety of roster assembly etc falls on his shoulders that is on Fred but obviously would indicate that Matt is expendable.  If he was simply closing the staffs targets I would be not so quick to assassinate him.  I honestly don’t know.  I assume what Norm is saying about Matt character must be true if it is so important to get out there for recruits to see that our lead recruiter has character issues.  Would like to know more.