uneblinstu's postgame chatter: vol 11; ed 9 - @ Minnesota

Woke up this morning and wasn’t as disappointed.  A few of my thoughts.

1.  I know a lot of people say that we cannot blame referees for losses.  A few items I guess for me on this topic... if it directly affects points than it directly affects the game.  Goaltend and shotclock issues is 5 points.  Copeland gets bodied up and should of had an And-1 and no foul called which would be 6.  The crap tech meant 8.  I get that we probably blew it.  Didn’t get to watch but the last 8 minutes.  However, referees played an outcome on the game last night.  Was it us or the refs? Probably a combination of both.  But that is too much.  Refs shouldn’t ever even play a “combination” in whether a team wins or loses.  We need to open up review for egregious mistakes the ENTIRE game and not just the last two minutes or whatever.  The goaltend and shot clock violation were egregious.  The other two calls were subjective I guess.

2.  I get Minnesota isn’t just the cream of the crop, but they aren’t bad.  Top to bottom, this league will battle each night.  I said it already... there is no shame in losing a road game, but it’s how we lost it. There is still everything in front of us.  

3.  This win doesn’t move the needle in whether we are a tournament team or not. Sure it may, for the short term, move the needle on whether we are a Top 25 team or what seed we are.  However, we have 22  games to go.  Twenty-Two!!!!  Take a step back from the ledge and realize that we are 7-2.

4.  Biggest thing this loss does is take away the possibility of reaching 30 regular season wins.  That’s it.

I came in thinking this game was basically a coin flip, so losing isn't suprising or disappointing on its own

But, the fact that we pretty well controlled the game for 30 or so minutes is what made this loss hard to take.

Crap people, the game is over, move on.  The loss does not mean we are horrible, but it was a bad loss in my mind.  You have to overcome obstacles in games like that, and with our senior leadership, I thought we would of, could of and should of.  But we didn't, so I consider it a bad loss.  That said, it was a tier one game and we have to learn from it and move on.  Hard to do, I know it, but we play again this weekend, and we need to come out and smoke a pretty decent team. 

By the way, Minnesota IS NOT a bad team.  They have beaten Okie State, Utah, Washington and Texas A & M and their losses were to Ohio State and Boston College on the road.  

So again, we should have found a way to win, but we didn't...we have to move on. 

15 minutes ago, Huskerpapa said:

By the way, Minnesota IS NOT a bad team.  They have beaten Okie State, Utah, Washington and Texas A & M and their losses were to Ohio State and Boston College on the road. 

Here are the current rankings for #82 Minnesota:

Oklahoma State #58 (win)

Utah #157 (win)

Washington #61 (win)

Texas A&M #143 (win)

Ohio State #19 (loss)

Boston College #106 (loss)

The audio if you're a sadist

It’s a great sign that the sky is falling after an early road loss to a formidable conference opponent who was playing for infinitely more than a simple home win.  

Say whatever you want about the loss, but this panicky nature is solid evidence program expectations have been raised to a hell of a lot higher level than they were before TM got here.  

I’ve actually seen enough good play last year AND this year to give TM my full support moving forward.  Give the guy a chance to coach what he’s built.  We’re going to win a lot of games.  

I wouldn’t dare change things considering what the expectations as a fan had been for, what, two decades now?  

Like it or not, your TM tears after THIS game indicate program success.  The loss was an anomaly compared to the rest of the season so far.  

4 hours ago, nustudent said:

 

Bottom 4/5

 

1.  Michigan

2.  Michigan St

3.  Maryland

4.  Ohio St

5.  Wisconsin

6.  Nebraska

7.  Purdue

8.  Iowa

9.  Indiana

 

10/11/12:   Minnesota/Penn State/Northwestern (Take your pic on order)

 

13.  Rutgers

14.  Illinois

Northwestern took Michigan to the buzzer at Northwestern.  We need to learn from this and figure out how to finish games on the road.

30 minutes ago, brfrad said:

Northwestern took Michigan to the buzzer at Northwestern.  We need to learn from this and figure out how to finish games on the road.

They did that at home though

They did that at home though

There was talk yesterday in the OWH about bringing in Hoiberg or Lue, WTF? We have a Coach of a Top 25 program last time I checked.

13 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

There was talk yesterday in the OWH about bringing in Hoiberg or Lue, WTF? We have a Coach of a Top 25 program last time I checked.

Sure. But we're a football school. Miles has been around for 6.25 seasons, yet Frost was able to get 1 more football win than Miles did in a fraction of that time.

29 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

Sure. But we're a football school. Miles has been around for 6.25 seasons, yet Frost was able to get 1 more football win than Miles did in a fraction of that time.

I have no clue what the latter half of your post means.  What does that have to do with the cost of eggs in China?

I usually hesitate to post right after a game, especially a loss.  I've also learned to avoid the game thread all together, I've said some pretty silly stuff in the heat of the moment.  So, this day after, and more thinking, I'm not as devastated as I was last night.  A few things go differently (the questionable tech on Cope, the missed goal tend) and this game goes our way, even with Coffey getting 30.  Would have liked it if we played better when we were up 7 or 12,  and made it 15 or 20, but maybe the team learned something about that yesterday.  We're nine games into a long season, the big ten will be tough this year, we wont be the only team to lose a game we thought we should win.  I just hope the team can learn some lessons from this game and put those lessons in practice and get better from it.  Now lets beat Creighton!

37 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

 

I have no clue what the latter half of your post means.  What does that have to do with the cost of eggs in China?

Exactly. 

1 hour ago, Handy Johnson said:

There was talk yesterday in the OWH about bringing in Hoiberg or Lue, WTF? We have a Coach of a Top 25 program last time I checked.

Miles seat is warm. People in the media speculate as do fans - this isn’t a new fad. Coach Miles future was always going to be decided how this season ends, it’ll probably be a fat extension or walking papers. I think it’s safe to say both are on the table at this point.

1 minute ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Miles seat is warm. People in the media speculate as do fans - this isn’t a new fad. Coach Miles future was always going to be decided how this season ends, it’ll probably be a fat extension or walking papers. I think it’s safe to say both are on the table at this point.

I really don't want to bite on this at this point in time. But...

It's this situation I don't understand. At this point, you (AD) either think he's your guy or he's not. The final outcome of this season shouldn't make a difference.

Moos’s actions clearly states that Tim is not “His Guy” and I think that is misguided.

2 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

I really don't want to bite on this at this point in time. But...

 

It's this situation I don't understand. At this point, you (AD) either think he's your guy or he's not. The final outcome of this season shouldn't make a difference.

That’s how it works in any sport (and in most people’s careers) - at some point the people in charge need goals reached, something achieved. It’s year 7 and at the end of the year if we have 0 wins against CU and 1 tournament appearance , thats not a lot in terms of goals reached. At the same time if TM shows he’s capable of beating our rival and building a tournament caliber team - well that’s substance. I think it’s fair to judge TM on the level of success he’s able to accomplish with a veteran, very talented squad that’s been in his system for a long time. 

2 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

That’s how it works in any sport (and in most people’s careers) - at some point the people in charge need goals reached, something achieved. It’s year 7 and at the end of the year if we have 0 wins against CU and 1 tournament appearance , thats not a lot in terms of goals reached. At the same time if TM shows he’s capable of beating our rival and building a tournament caliber team - well that’s substance. I think it’s fair to judge TM on the level of success he’s able to accomplish with a veteran, very talented squad that’s been in his system for a long time. 

Don't you think he has built a tournament caliber team?

Just now, Bugeaters1 said:

Do you think he has a tournament caliber team?

Quite possibly sweet 16 caliber team. That’s why how this team performs is so important to everyone. I’m scared if the flurry of downvotes I’m about to get - but if we can’t do it with this group, when in god’s name will we?

1 minute ago, The Polish Rifle said:

Quite possibly sweet 16 caliber team. That’s why how this team performs is so important to everyone. I’m scared if the flurry of down votes I’m about to get - but if we can’t do it with this group, when in god’s name will we?

Understand, I'll give you an up vote. Miles has some pieces in place. and next year year looks like it will be a serviceable squad.

10 minutes ago, The Polish Rifle said:

That’s how it works in any sport (and in most people’s careers) - at some point the people in charge need goals reached, something achieved. It’s year 7 and at the end of the year if we have 0 wins against CU and 1 tournament appearance , thats not a lot in terms of goals reached. At the same time if TM shows he’s capable of beating our rival and building a tournament caliber team - well that’s substance. I think it’s fair to judge TM on the level of success he’s able to accomplish with a veteran, very talented squad that’s been in his system for a long time. 

But wouldn't 0-6 to Creighton and 1 tournament appearance in that time frame already qualify as "not his guy"? I'm just not sure how 1-6 and 2 appearances changes that decision if that's the logic.

My point being that not much should change an AD's decision based on the outcome of this season.

Well it's tough to fire Miles after last season.  The team far exceeded expectations and had essentially the whole roster eligible to return.  So even if Moos didn't think Miles was "his guy," he really couldn't do much about it especially considering how much $$ was tied up in paying football coaches not to coach.  So he punted on the decision for a year, which is exactly what I would've done in his shoes.  He gets another year to observe Miles and decide whether Tim's got the ability to take us to the proverbial promised land, and he gets another year of Pelini & Riley's contracts off the books before having to make another potentially expensive decision.  It was the right business decision.

Now fast forward a year.  If this team underperforms and fails to make the NCAA Tournament, there really is no logical argument to believe that this team can make it anytime soon.  With 3 pro-level talents exhausting their eligibility in March, and with Nebraska's bench depth woefully thin, it's tough to see us competing at a high level in each of the next two winters unless Miles can parlay a Tournament run into some instant recruiting wins.  So if DONU is in the NIT bracket again and you're Moos, the only thing you can do to give the hoops program a shot in the arm is to get a new coaching staff in place and start from scratch.  Because if Miles hasn't performed after 7 years, and has a returning roster with far less talent, then why would you expect him to perform in years 8 and 9?

9 minutes ago, aphilso1 said:

So even if Moos didn't think Miles was "his guy," he really couldn't do much about it especially considering how much $$ was tied up in paying football coaches not to coach. 

Quick side note. Riley and Eichorst are both paid off in full. Pelini is done I think sometime around February 2019.

So it is possible that the books might be open again around March. Maybe that's what they have been preparing for?