Sai Tummala -> Arizona St.-> Hawaii

hskr4life · May 2, 2013

Win or lose on this one... I think it is great that we were in it till the end, and made it a tough decision for a kid of Sai's caliber to stay at home or come to "lowly" Nebraska. Look out everyone... the Big Red Train is getting rolling!!

See my post above

Ok........ So?

Silverbacked1 · May 2, 2013

Win or lose on this one... I think it is great that we were in it till the end, and made it a tough decision for a kid of Sai's caliber to stay at home or come to "lowly" Nebraska. Look out everyone... the Big Red Train is getting rolling!!

See my post above

Ok........ So?

Too Giddy Bro.

golfer3 · May 2, 2013

Neither surprised or disappointed by Sai non-sign. Juco big men regardless of their post season status are a project. He would have been a nice get from a roster perspective.

With the new practice facility and new arena next season I'm probably expecting too much of Miles recruiting.

Maybe we should focus our attention to the type of recruiting ast coach he can sign (and keep.)

NUdiehard · May 2, 2013

Neither surprised or disappointed by Sai non-sign. Juco big men regardless of their post season status are a project. He would have been a nice get from a roster perspective.

With the new practice facility and new arena next season I'm probably expecting too much of Miles recruiting.

Maybe we should focus our attention to the type of recruiting ast coach he can sign (and keep.)

Sai is not a "big man". He is basically the same size as Shavon Shields.

hskr4life · May 2, 2013

Win or lose on this one... I think it is great that we were in it till the end, and made it a tough decision for a kid of Sai's caliber to stay at home or come to "lowly" Nebraska. Look out everyone... the Big Red Train is getting rolling!!

See my post above

Ok........ So?

Too Giddy Bro.

Right... too "giddy" my bad...

hal9000 · May 2, 2013

This is disappointing, but when you lose to the home-state school that's 15 minutes from his old high school, where his family and friends can see him play, you just have to accept it and move on. I would have been extremely disappointed if we had lost him to Miami-Ohio or BYU, but we gave it our best shot here and just didn't get it done. The odds were certainly against us on this one.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be.

Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way.

I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting people to say. I didn't see anything in his comment that I interpreted as being happy that we lost out on Tummala. Are we all supposed to go find a private place a punch a hole in the dry wall? That's going to accomplish a lot.

Nebrasketballer · May 2, 2013

This is disappointing, but when you lose to the home-state school that's 15 minutes from his old high school, where his family and friends can see him play, you just have to accept it and move on. I would have been extremely disappointed if we had lost him to Miami-Ohio or BYU, but we gave it our best shot here and just didn't get it done. The odds were certainly against us on this one.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be.

Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way.

Sai was a major prospect and ever since the first time he popped up on Nebraska's radar I have had the opinion that he would play right away. He has a great skill set, athleticism for a player that is 6'7", 215 lbs. He was under the radar when Nebraska offered him, then his recruitment started to blow up at the end. Obviously, Nebraska will have to start landing major prospects, in order to take this program where we all want it to go, but it is naive and unrealistic to expect Nebraska to beat out the home school for a recruit at this point. (Especially when a current player on the ASU bball team has the same trainer as Sai). Tim Miles has only been here a little over a year and he already has multiple quality guys signed right now. I believe that with Miles, this program will reach the point where they can overcome these obstacles, but when you have never won an NCAA tournament game in your school's history, things don't turn around over night. It just takes time. That doesn't mean that I'm happy or giddy about it...that's just how it is. This stings, because I wanted Tummala to be a Husker just as much, if not more than anyone. But who knows? Maybe Herbert will end up being the guy...

The Polish Rifle · May 3, 2013

This is disappointing, but when you lose to the home-state school that's 15 minutes from his old high school, where his family and friends can see him play, you just have to accept it and move on. I would have been extremely disappointed if we had lost him to Miami-Ohio or BYU, but we gave it our best shot here and just didn't get it done. The odds were certainly against us on this one.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be.

Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way.

Sai was a major prospect and ever since the first time he popped up on Nebraska's radar I have had the opinion that he would play right away. He has a great skill set, athleticism for a player that is 6'7", 215 lbs. He was under the radar when Nebraska offered him, then his recruitment started to blow up at the end. Obviously, Nebraska will have to start landing major prospects, in order to take this program where we all want it to go, but it is naive and unrealistic to expect Nebraska to beat out the home school for a recruit at this point. (Especially when a current player on the ASU bball team has the same trainer as Sai). Tim Miles has only been here a little over a year and he already has multiple quality guys signed right now. I believe that with Miles, this program will reach the point where they can overcome these obstacles, but when you have never won an NCAA tournament game in your school's history, things don't turn around over night. It just takes time. That doesn't mean that I'm happy or giddy about it...that's just how it is. This stings, because I wanted Tummala to be a Husker just as much, if not more than anyone. But who knows? Maybe Herbert will end up being the guy...

To add on to this, Nick Fuller is a major recruit (top 150) and we pulled him from Wisconsin with a Marquette offer and late push from Wisconsin.

Cybrrmonky · May 3, 2013

let's just remember, Sai was a guy who was never going to get off Michigan's bench.

yes, he could have helped us, but I think we have plenty of guys that are similar to him. I would have liked to have gotten him but ASU makes complete sense. I think the kid would have come here if ASU wasn't in the mix. hard to turn down the home town school which at this point & time is much better than us.

we need to start getting some wins in recruiting. I like the staffs ability to identify talent early, we need to start landing some of these guys. Hopefully next year or the year after we really start to see improvement both on the court & in recruiting.

Miles better be targeting the open asst spot with a guy that has a few dudes over 6'7 that can play in his hip pocket.

Whoever took Chin's spot, did Miles ever fill that position or did Olsen roll into that>?

Norm Peterson · May 3, 2013

Nu this may all be true, but we do need to land somebody so that we can get better so that what you want to happen will happen.

I see it as we need to walk before we run.

And we are still kind of walking around and holding the table for balance right now.

I guess I would consider landing a recruit like Sai as "walking" not "running". Landing recruits that are a lower caliber than Sai will not allow us to "get better". Even Sai himself is a relative average recruit in comparison to what all the other B1G teams are signing as we speak.

And you base that conclusion on what?

Norm Peterson · May 3, 2013

NUdiehard might not have seen my question yet but let me go ahead and make some further points.

You don't go from the cellar to the penthouse in one step. It's a process. Eventually, to compete for titles, we'll need to recruit title-quality players. Right now, we just need to upgrade from where we were and continue to upgrade.
To me, Sai Tummala represents an upgrade. NUdiehard says that Sai isn't a "big" and that he's roughly the same size as Shavon Shields. I think that's true. And as much as I like Shavon Shields (and I really do) I have seen Sai repeatedly do things on film that I haven't ever seen Shavon do. If nothing else, he would have given us an extra deep threat and the ability to get some points in the paint area.
We didn't get him. I'm disappointed but not defeated. Inserting Sai in the lineup would have taken minutes away from other guys who I think can probably play. I think it would have been difficult to keep Sai off the floor but we do have other options and we probably have greater need for a guy who can play in the post.
But make no mistake. I think Sai would have contributed and would have upgraded our talent. He would have given us a deep-threat scoring punch that we've seen from experience can help a lesser team stay in the game. When points are hard to come by, it's nice to have a guy who can score in a variety of ways, and that was Sai.

Onward.

nebrasketball10 · May 3, 2013

NUdiehard might not have seen my question yet but let me go ahead and make some further points.

You don't go from the cellar to the penthouse in one step. It's a process. Eventually, to compete for titles, we'll need to recruit title-quality players. Right now, we just need to upgrade from where we were and continue to upgrade.

To me, Sai Tummala represents an upgrade. NUdiehard says that Sai isn't a "big" and that he's roughly the same size as Shavon Shields. I think that's true. And as much as I like Shavon Shields (and I really do) I have seen Sai repeatedly do things on film that I haven't ever seen Shavon do. If nothing else, he would have given us an extra deep threat and the ability to get some points in the paint area.

We didn't get him. I'm disappointed but not defeated. Inserting Sai in the lineup would have taken minutes away from other guys who I think can probably play. I think it would have been difficult to keep Sai off the floor but we do have other options and we probably have greater need for a guy who can play in the post.

But make no mistake. I think Sai would have contributed and would have upgraded our talent. He would have given us a deep-threat scoring punch that we've seen from experience can help a lesser team stay in the game. When points are hard to come by, it's nice to have a guy who can score in a variety of ways, and that was Sai.

Onward.

I think diehard's post agrees with you - a player of Sai's caliber would make us better. A player less than Sai's caliber would be more or less what we're used to. Sai would be a very average recruit for most B1G teams above us. That's how I understood his premise.

NUdiehard · May 3, 2013

This is disappointing, but when you lose to the home-state school that's 15 minutes from his old high school, where his family and friends can see him play, you just have to accept it and move on. I would have been extremely disappointed if we had lost him to Miami-Ohio or BYU, but we gave it our best shot here and just didn't get it done. The odds were certainly against us on this one.

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be.

Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way.

I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting people to say. I didn't see anything in his comment that I interpreted as being happy that we lost out on Tummala. Are we all supposed to go find a private place a punch a hole in the dry wall? That's going to accomplish a lot.

Maybe Hooper's post wasn't the best one to reply to. I also had in mind posts like this:

Win or lose on this one... I think it is great that we were in it till the end, and made it a tough decision for a kid of Sai's caliber to stay at home or come to "lowly" Nebraska. Look out everyone... the Big Red Train is getting rolling!!

Hooper · May 3, 2013

The main point I was trying to make was that we, as fans, have certain expectations for the program. I've seen posts specifically about this topic, and what I've concluded is that we all have expectations of elevating this program into the top-half of the B1G and becoming a regular NCAA tournament team for which an NIT bid is a disappointment. We may disagree with respect to how quickly we believe those goals could be achieved, but we seem to have the same goals in mind, more or less.

When you have goals, you then have to evaluate whether or not the program is on the path toward achieving those goals. In other words, are we coaching, developing and recruiting at a level that's commensurate with our goals?

In my mind, I have little doubt that we're coaching and developing at a level that matches our goals for the program. What I'm not convinced of, however, is that we're recruiting at a level that will allow us to achieve those goals. I'm not saying I'm disappointed in how we're recruiting, or that I don't believe we're recruiting well -- just that in my opinion the jury's still out on this particular issue, despite what I believe are superior results to what Doc Sadler achieved in his time in Lincoln.

Each individual recruiting battle represents a data point in an overall set of data which, over time, will give us an increasingly-clear picture of how these guys recruit. The bottom line is that, in order to achieve the aforementioned goals, the program will need to win the recruiting battles it should win, and also win a few that it probably shouldn't win. That's how we elevate this program into the top-half of the B1G.

The Tummala saga, for me, was neither a positive nor a negative data point. We lost to his hometown school, which is going to happen to a program like Nebraska 9 times out of 10 in a scenario like the one that played out. Duke or Michigan State could have gone in and bitch-slapped ASU for Sai Tummala, but we're not Duke or MSU.

I'm still optimistic about this coaching staff and the future of the program under Tim Miles, but we'll need to see recruiting continue to trend upward or we'll likely hit the wall with respect to how far we can climb up the B1G mountain.

nebrasketball10 · May 3, 2013

Good points, hooper. Nebraska has about a 3-year window to capitalize on the glam and glitter of the new facilities and momentum of our new coach. We've put a LOT of our trust in Miles, and he seems to be making progress. I would argue that the jury is still out on development, as well.

But, in reality, if we don't progress over the next 3 years to a point where recruits believe we can be a contender and make NCAA tournaments on a regular basis, we likely missed our window. Not saying it would impossible to progress after that, just that this little window where we have established momentum from new facilities and a new coach is a prime opportunity to make the proverbial jump a lot faster than a place like Nebraska normally could.

Creighton Fan · May 3, 2013

I think the kid would have come here if ASU wasn't in the mix. hard to turn down the home town school which at this point & time is much better than us.

Honestly, I don't know that ASu is "much better than" Nebraska at this time. In fact, I think that entering into next season, Sendek is on the hot seat. He took over in 2006 and has only taken ASU to one NCAA tourney (2009). Now, Sendek did manage to talk Jahii Carson, who is lightening quick and a real stud, into coming back for another season, so I guess they have that going for them.

Either way though, as a program, I don't think that the ASU basketball program is much better than Nebraska's right now.

Swan88 · May 3, 2013

Two observations:

1. 30+ pages on this board for a single recruit is, apparently, not a good omen.

2. Apparently, Jahii Carson at ASU and Sai Tummala are good friends.

Norm Peterson · May 3, 2013

Sai made a mistake. But it's his life and he has to live it. And we have to move on. Eventually. I'm going to sit and stew about it for a few more days, myself. Anyone want to join me? Bring some beer and we can make it a party.

Norm Peterson · August 23, 2013

Nu this may all be true, but we do need to land somebody so that we can get better so that what you want to happen will happen.

I see it as we need to walk before we run.

And we are still kind of walking around and holding the table for balance right now.

I guess I would consider landing a recruit like Sai as "walking" not "running". Landing recruits that are a lower caliber than Sai will not allow us to "get better". Even Sai himself is a relative average recruit in comparison to what all the other B1G teams are signing as we speak.

Sai's ASU team took a tour of China at the beginning of August and Sai put up double figure points in two out of three games. Started at least once from what I could find.

Just an update on a player we tried to recruit.

hhcmatt · January 30, 2015

33 pages about a guy still riding the bench in ASU. OH WHAT YOUNG FOOLS WE WERE!

Norm Peterson · January 31, 2015

Dimes, since you bring him up, let me just say I have to think the coach at ASU just messed Sai up.

Sai was the best player on one of the better juco teams in the country that year. Teammates of his went to other D1 P5 programs and have done well. So, what's happened to Sai?

Well, he's gone from being a 45% three-point shooter who averaged 18 ppg to a 28% three-point shooter who rarely sees the floor for an ASU team that frankly isn't very good.

He's a better shooter than Fuller and he's more athletic. I think he would have seen the floor here and been in our top 8 rotation. Maybe even our 6th man. But he chose instead to ride the pine at a school with crazy hot women and 80 degree winter days. Sucks to be him.

Norm Peterson · January 31, 2015

By the way, I think Herb Sendek is done at ASU after this year. He's advanced to the NCAAs once in the last 6 seasons (including this one) and they probably won't finish this year above .500. Sai made a big mistake going to ASU if basketball was his reason for leaving Michigan.

TheKamdyMan · April 22, 2015

well hes back on the market after leaving ASU today

Norm Peterson · April 22, 2015

Back on the market or hanging up the hightops? I'd take him as a walkon. They wasted him at ASU.

colhusker · April 23, 2015

As a walk-on would be good.

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Sai Tummala -> Arizona St.-> Hawaii

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