As it should be.

[Norm Peterson]

Been thinking about this last game of the season and, rather than being depressed about it, I've taken a more circumspect approach. 

 

I think the outcome of our season was as it should be:

 

1.  We made it to the dance.  For our fan base, this was a huge shot in the arm and buoyed our confidence and enthusiasm not only for our team and our program but also for our coach.

 

2.  Winning a tourney game would have probably resulted in impossibly high expectations for next year and the failure to meet those impossibly high expectations would result in a collective swoon by the recent additions to the Husker fan base.

 

3.  Exceeding any and all reasonable and realistic expectations probably puts us in a very favorable position for recruiting, starting with the 2015 class.  (The early evidence of this probably comes in the form of all the interest potential assistant coaches have expressed for our current coaching vacancy.)

 

4.  This wasn't yet our time but it was interesting to see the reaction of people who've already been spoiled by success, who find something to complain about among our coaches and our players in our tourney loss, a tourney we had no right to expect we'd even be playing in when this season began.

 

5.  Pigs get fat; hogs get slaughtered.  We did well but perhaps not too well.  A Sweet 16 appearance and Miles gets courted by every major program with a vacancy.  A first-round exit and we probably get to keep him for another year or two.  A Sweet 16 and Terran Petteway might get lured by the prospects of being selected in the first round of the NBA draft.  One-and-done and we almost certainly get him for at least another year.

 

I'm serene about this loss and I'm ecstatic about the entirety of the season.  Would have been fun to win in San Antonio, but we're so far ahead of schedule, it's hard to complain.  And, you know, we're really not that far away from being really special.  Just a piece here and a piece there and this team is equipped to make a major run.

[roscoe]

I was wondering the same thing about Petteway had NU won a game or 2 in the tourney. Also like the pigs/hogs reference since Mark Cuban used it describing the NFL.

[Swan88]

A fourth place finish in the B1G regular season sweepstakes has got to be one of the all-time over-achievements in the history of Husker sports! 

[hhcdave]

I'm assuming you meant keeping Miles for a minimum of 1-2 more years, right Norm? Or do you think we will lose him in 1-2 more years?

 

I see no way he isn't here for 5 years. My gut says we have a BIG season next year and we lock him up to an even bigger deal. That buys us through year five - after that, anything is possible.

[CrazyforNUHOOPS]

I'm assuming you meant keeping Miles for a minimum of 1-2 more years, right Norm? Or do you think we will lose him in 1-2 more years?

I see no way he isn't here for 5 years. My gut says we have a BIG season next year and we lock him up to an even bigger deal. That buys us through year five - after that, anything is possible.

As long as we continue to be successful I truly believe that Miles is our Izzo.

[hhcmatt]

1 and 4 yes

2 and 5 no

 

3 seems like it applies whether or not we beat Baylor.

[uneblinstu]

...someone's been reading Mark Cuban's thoughts on football's future...

[trickey]

Been thinking about this last game of the season and, rather than being depressed about it, I've taken a more circumspect approach. 

 

I think the outcome of our season was as it should be:.  A Sweet 16 appearance and Miles gets courted by every major program with a vacancy.  A first-round exit and we probably get to keep him for another year or two. 

 

I will politely call this your father's NU basketball thinking. The time is ripe for my attitude adjustment spiel.

 

Coaches look for schools with better conference...Miles, check!

Coaches look for schools with better facilities...Miles, check!

Coaches look for schools with great fan bases...Miles, check!

Coaches look for schools close to their family...Miles, check!

Coaches look for schools with access to best recruits...OK, here we are challenged...but not nearly comparable to the football model that needs 25 to 30 recruits a year. Miles only needs 3 to 4 a year. Miles can do this. Lincoln is transforming itself into a relatively hip town! as the Haymarket evolves. Weather won't stop good athletes. Bo Ryan gets them to Madison. Tom Izzo to Lansing.

 

Finally, coaches look for schools with the ability and willingness to spend $$$...Miles, check! Don't worry, SE gets it.

 

I believe Miles has the ability and foresight to treat NU, not as a stepping stone, but rather a final destination. He does not need to follow another coach anywhere else...when the ultimate destination can be achieved by leading players here.

 

The new regimes in the AD department (TO forward) and the new facilities demand we (and eventually the nation) experience an attitude adjustment.

[Cookie Belcher]

This whole post seems to be grasping at straws. We had a fantastic season, but pretending that losing our NCAA tournament game was better for us than winning is silly.

I'm not saying don't take a positive outlook on the season because we absolutely should, we had a great year and the program is headed in a great direction, but it would have been even better if we had won our first NCAA tournament game ever.

[Huskerpapa]

A good year, yes.  But...my expectation is that we make it to the dance each and every year.  My expectation is that we start/keep winning the recruiting battles on the players that the coaches really want.  My expectation is that the kids that play here work their butts off and are of high character.  My expectation is that we WIN games in the NCAA tournament, that we stay a consistant top 25 program, and become known for being a basketball school.  I also WANT a national championship every once in a while.

 

This school must become a destination job, not a step stone job. 

 

Are my expectations unreasonablly high...I don't think so.  We lack one thing, that is a population base.  But so do many other basketball programs, much more so than football programs. 

 

Am I satisfied with this year.  I sure was until the last ten minutes or so of the Ohio State game and then the first half of the Baylor game.  We simply cannot have those meltdowns.  But we did take an exceptional step forward this year.  I expect that progress will continue.  That expectation is not too high. 

[jimmykc]

Nice rationalization, Norm. We humans all need this type of reasoning to make us happy where we are. I'll let the psychology majors put the proper name on it, but I think that it is avoidance-avoidance behavior which can turn a bad thing into an acceptable thing. i tend to agree with your post, but in all honesty, this line of thinking when extended would make it seem that the worst outcome for us in the long run would have been for us to win the NCAA this year and I don't think many of us would agree with that.

[tcp]

A simple way to live one's life: do the best you can at all times and let the chips fall where they may.

 

It sucked losing that game, and sucked even more the way we lost it. But it was a fabulous season.

 

Miles isn't going anywhere just because he wins a game. And you know what? If he does? We'll find another. We have a template now of what it takes to be more successful.

[Silverbacked1]

Just my thoughts, I think that Tim will stay here for a while because of a couple of things.

1) His parents seem to very important to him and I think last years "scare" with his dads health may have cut down on his moving about.

2) His has stayed at all of his jobs for a couple of years hasn't he?

3) and this might be the biggest, he has just lost the most important part of his rebuilding team. Smith getting a job was much bigger than we will ever know. They have worked together for many years and it will take Tim a year or two to learn how to coach without his most important piece gone. Smith was on all of Tim's staffs and with him gone it is going to be very hard to replace.

[Norm Peterson]

This whole post seems to be grasping at straws. We had a fantastic season, but pretending that losing our NCAA tournament game was better for us than winning is silly.

I'm not saying don't take a positive outlook on the season because we absolutely should, we had a great year and the program is headed in a great direction, but it would have been even better if we had won our first NCAA tournament game ever.

Not grasping at straws at all.  I was struck by the amount of griping and complaining some people were doing in the game thread and in many of the post-game threads. 

 

I also had some experiences at PBA during the "watch party" on Friday that just had me shaking my head and about ready to deck a couple of people.  I mean literally, I wanted to grab the collar of the guy two rows behind me and punch him right in the mouth.

 

I was pissed at the fair-weather attitude some people seemed to display.  I was pissed at the way some members of this fan base seemed to turn on the team and the coach just because of a disappointing showing in a game we had no right to even think we'd be playing in when this season was even half over, let alone when it began.

 

We have a thread dedicated to dumping on Walter Pitchford.  I'm, like, for real?  Yeah, he has his limitations, as do we all.  It's no earth-shattering revelation that he's not as good of an interior defender as we'd like.  Hell, Miles has been saying all year long that we're one big away.  And he wasn't talking about Walter being that one big.  But Walter is what he is and he does bring things to the table that add value.  When what you have is a cat, you accept the fact that it's a cat; you don't bitch that it won't bark like a dog.

 

Me?  I'm more bothered by some of the fans' reaction to the loss than I am to the loss itself.  We were never supposed to even be there so it's hard for me to complain that we didn't win when we got there (though I think the officiating had a lot more to do with that than some will allow.)

 

Finish with a loss.  Fine.  I stand by what I said.  The Johnny-come-lately fan sitting behind me at Pinnacle bank accusing Terran Petteway of being a choke artist can choke on his next Fairbury brand hotdog for all I care.  It doesn't hurt us that we lost.  I would have taken a win, but it doesn't hurt us that we lost.  And if you think that a Sweet 16 appearance in year 2 of Nebraska doesn't make Tim Miles the hottest of coaching commodities, I think you're fooling yourself.  Fortunately, it's not an issue that we really even need to worry about.

 

So, I'm good with how things turned out and I continue to be optimistic about the future.

[uneblinstu]

I don't think Miles is in any hurry to leave nor does he view this as a stepping stone and even if he does become a hot commodity, I have a hard time seeing him taking anything other than an elite job unless for some reason Eichorst decides to stop paying him. I don't think that's going to happen either. Also, I don't expect there to be any elite jobs open this year.

 

But on everything else, I'm totally with you Norm. I was sitting a sports bar with a bunch of friends and when NU scored, I think their fifth point, or maybe it was later in the game when Shields hit the first three, I dont' remember, but most of the bar erupted in the biggest bronx cheer I've ever heard. I was so angry. It abated quickly, but I was like, good god, guys, we're in the NCAA tourney. Think about that for a second. 

 

 

 

 

I mean, I know the game didn't go well, but think about where we've come in such a short period of time. Enough with this sarcastic cheering like "OMG, they actually did something right for a change". 

[colhusker]

Nice thing about Miles is while he could move on, however, he is in what is perceived as one of the 3 top basketball conferences, and he is a Midwest guy.  The big city lights could be a draw but he doesn't seem like that kind of a guy.  I think he also gets if he wins in Lincoln, he will be viewed in the same light as the bobfather is.

[#GATA]

Only way he leaves, in my opinion, is if an NBA team comes calling; otherwise, he is here to stay.  He seems like a guy that would like the spotlight of the NBA. However, I don't see that happening for some time.  Needs to prove himself before those NBA execs come calling.  

[Handy Johnson]

What was disappointing wasn't that we lost, but the WAY we lost. While we can't lay all the "Crap" of the previous Tourney losses on Miles, number 7 was like most of the others. We underperformed, when even an average effort would have given us a chance to win. I think Tim's stickin' around for awhile, because he knows this is only the beginning...  

[Cazzie22]

I may be in a minority here because I believe Miles has found his "destination" job at Nebraska.

[49r]

I may be in a minority here because I believe Miles has found his "destination" job at Nebraska.

 

I'm in that minority too.

 

But I'm not going to spend time fretting over whether or not he's here forever, either.  Coaches move around, it's part of the deal.

 

Nebraska is an infinitely more attractive job than it was just a few years ago, IMO, and that's going to make it easier to attract quality personnel.

[HB]

What was disappointing wasn't that we lost, but the WAY we lost. While we can't lay all the "Crap" of the previous Tourney losses on Miles, number 7 was like most of the others. We underperformed, when even an average effort would have given us a chance to win. I think Tim's stickin' around for awhile, because he knows this is only the beginning...  

 

Couldn't  disagree more.  Baylor is good.  Baylor had something to do with how we played.  And our weaknesses were exposed.  To make it sound like a choke job by us is absurd.  We coached our brains out to make it a 14 point loss.  We were fortunate Baylor didn't shoot like it did against Creighton, but we also may have had something to do with that. 

[hhcmatt]

 but we also may have had something to do with that. 

 

We play defense as opposed to killing time before we can shoot another 3 pointer

[ajb5856]

but we also may have had something to do with that.

We play defense as opposed to killing time before we can shoot another 3 pointer

Oh no you didn't....

We gonna go off topic here?

[Handy Johnson]

 

What was disappointing wasn't that we lost, but the WAY we lost. While we can't lay all the "Crap" of the previous Tourney losses on Miles, number 7 was like most of the others. We underperformed, when even an average effort would have given us a chance to win. I think Tim's stickin' around for awhile, because he knows this is only the beginning...  

 

Couldn't  disagree more.  Baylor is good.  Baylor had something to do with how we played.  And our weaknesses were exposed.  To make it sound like a choke job by us is absurd.  We coached our brains out to make it a 14 point loss.  We were fortunate Baylor didn't shoot like it did against Creighton, but we also may have had something to do with that. 

 

Baylor has a nice team, and I didn't use the word "choke", but you can"t think we played anywhere close to a good game for us.

We looked overwhelmed by the moment, not unlike blowing an 18 point lead to OSU. We're BETTER than that.

[uneblinstu]

The list is long of teams that couldn't handle the big stage the first time they got on it.