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It's not about denying as much as downplaying. At this time the sort of 5 star kids who are going to be steered by shoe companies are not the kids we're recruiting/in the hunt for. As far as the kids who are willing to pick a school based on their shoe alliance....is a program with our basketball tradition and the "excitement" of Lincoln going to land someone so vapid anyway?

Yes it's a real factor for an extremely small percentage of players. The players that this affects is probably less than 5% in reality. There are plenty of guys that were on Nike AAU teams that chose adidas and vica versa. Kansas, Indiana, UCLA, Louisville, Michigan before the Nike switch, etc all have tremendous basketball teams and were able to pull in talent. Many of which were stars in the Nike EYBL. Yes it will influence some but there's so much talent out there that it shouldn't make or break you otherwise you weren't that good to begin with. One of Adidas' top NBA designers was at my daughters birthday party yesterday and asked him about this issue. He said he knows it happens and has dealt with the slimy AAU guys before. He said the only players at the end of the day it gets are the insecure ones that are letting people guide them instead of deciding for themselves. He said he recently spent a couple days with Andrew Wiggins. He was saying how so many people tried getting involved between coaches, agents, etc even in high school and how many were upset with his decision to choose Kansas after being a Nike AAU guy and Nike Canada representative. He said at the end of the day he knew no matter what that the decisions he himself made would be good enough and that if he played the way he knew could that he would be just fine. Now will this factor in at nebraska? Maybe once in awhile but it shouldn't be often. Plus look at recent history and we will see that Glynn Watson (under armour), Ed Morrow (Nike) both highly ranked guys chose nebraska and should continue getting guys of that nature going forward as long as they win.

I know we've had a lot of discussions on 2 for 1s in the past so some of these articles might interest you. In fact, I'll even hide the conclusions if you want to be surprised. How much are Two for Ones worth? Deciding whether to foul when tied Deciding whether to foul up 3

Andrew White will play in the exhibition game? I don't recall either Petteway or Pitchford playing in the exhibition game the year they sat out. The 29th is the open scrimmage.. Exhibition is early November. Idk if white will play in nov, but he will in scrimmage on the 29th. PROPERLY HYPED

Andrew White will play in the exhibition game? I don't recall either Petteway or Pitchford playing in the exhibition game the year they sat out. The 29th is the open scrimmage.. Exhibition is early November. Idk if white will play in nov, but he will in scrimmage on the 29th.

Those were my favorite shoes. I wore Penny 2's in high school. They have since fallen apart but there are still in my closet. I can't bring myself to toss them out. And those Penny commercials were sweet w/ "half-Penny"! Its honestly one of the few shoe commercials that really stick out to me in my lifetime. Great marketing campaign around them. I couldnt tell you a thing about Kobe, Durant, or Lebrons, but Chris Rock as Lil Penny, a lot.

Anyone else hyped up to see Andrew White play on Oct 29th? Just over 2 weeks away!

Tuco Salamanca? Tight!

That adidas got from Nike? Yes adidas recently stole three highly acclaimed shoe designers from Nike. One basketball, one soccer, and one running designer are coming over next year after a 6 month no compete clause is completed.

Although shoes seem to be the focus...the issues are more about those individuals that are affliated with the brands. This is a pretty decent book on the subject: Sole Influence: Basketball, Corporate Greed, and the Corruption of America’s Youth. The shoes, the gear, the pomp all are orchastrated by adults who oftentime provides ugly influence on talented young kids.

Who did we beat out for Glynn Watson? Creighton - Nike Purdue - Nike Tennessee - Nike Iowa - Nike West Virginia - Nike Who did we beat out for Ed Morrow? Creighton - Nike Iowa - Nike Minnesota - Nike Florida St - Nike SMU - Nike Who did we beat out for Andrew White III? Maryland - Under Armour Richmond - no sponsorship deal as far as I can tell but they wear Nike uniforms Notre Dame - Adidas Wake Forest - Nike Miami - Nike Florida St - Nike It has more to do with coincidence than anything, seeing as how there are many more schools with shoe contracts with Nike than Adidas, we're going to lose out to/beat out mostly Nike schools. FWIW, Baylor is an Adidas school for hoops: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Adidas_sponsorships#Colleges_and_Universities Wow! The prevalence of Nike on that list is overwhelming. And of the three or four non-Nike schools on the list (excluding Nebraska), two are there because of proximity to the recruit's home. Having no personal knowledge about the issue, that list is the strongest argument I've ever seen in support of the proposition that shoe identification matters in recruiting . . . and matters a lot! And it shows the recruiting success of Tim Miles & Co. to be even more impressive than previously thought. I made a mistake about Notre Dame, they switched to Under Armour this year. But I think you missed my point. There is a reason why Nike is so prevalent on that list, and that is because the vast majority of schools, especially in the Power Five conferences have shoe contracts with Nike. My point was to counter the argument that we lose recruits to Nike schools just because of their associations with that shoe company. While that may play a small factor into some recruiting battles, I don't believe it's as much of a factor that some choose to believe it is. We lose recruits and we beat out other schools for recruits. Owing to the fact that Nike sponsorships outnumber Adidas sponsorships by about 5 to 1 at the major conference level, we're almost always going to beat out Nike schools for kids (and we're almost always going to lose out to those schools, just due to the sheer numbers alone) but the contracts themselves don't change things in the big picture, IMO. There have been discussions about this very article on message boards all over the web, and I have even seen fans of Nike schools worry about how much influence these shoe companies have on kids at the AAU level and how it is a detriment to the game. Everybody knows recruiting is at least a cut throat business and can be at times out right dirty, and events like this only go to show just how dirty of a game it can be. But to say that Nebraska is at such a disadvantage just because of the shoes they wear? I'm not buying it. So, to take the very long way around, what I'm really trying to say is that I think it is sour grapes / convenient excuse. I misspoke earlier when I said "coincidence". I really meant to say it is not coincidence.

I think a lot of hype deserved for this team. Afterall, we return 90% of everything basically from a team that reached the tournament last year. So, the rational expectation is to think we should be even better this year. I get that. I am, however, a tiny little bit worried that the hype might be growing a bit too much. Elite eight? Hey, I'd take it, buuuuut ... Let's just get there and win our first round game for starters. And then NEXT YEAR we can talk about elite eights.

Somehow...I do not think David is going to let the following happen again this year... After starting six of the season’s first seven games, Rivers played only nine minutes in the next nine games. Following about three weeks of pine time, Rivers still hadn’t asked Miles for an explanation. So in a team meeting, Miles wanted to know why. “He said, ‘Because I know why you benched me,’ ” Miles said. “And I said, ‘Why is that?’ And he said, ‘Because I’m not rebounding.’ ” Rivers winced at the memory.

Can you imagine...our defense is going to be even better than last year!!! ...and oh yeah, our offense will likely be better as well.

Uh, Smith?

That is one articulate, mature guy.

Yes it's a real factor for an extremely small percentage of players. The players that this affects is probably less than 5% in reality. There are plenty of guys that were on Nike AAU teams that chose adidas and vica versa. Kansas, Indiana, UCLA, Louisville, Michigan before the Nike switch, etc all have tremendous basketball teams and were able to pull in talent. Many of which were stars in the Nike EYBL. Yes it will influence some but there's so much talent out there that it shouldn't make or break you otherwise you weren't that good to begin with. One of Adidas' top NBA designers was at my daughters birthday party yesterday and asked him about this issue. He said he knows it happens and has dealt with the slimy AAU guys before. He said the only players at the end of the day it gets are the insecure ones that are letting people guide them instead of deciding for themselves. He said he recently spent a couple days with Andrew Wiggins. He was saying how so many people tried getting involved between coaches, agents, etc even in high school and how many were upset with his decision to choose Kansas after being a Nike AAU guy and Nike Canada representative. He said at the end of the day he knew no matter what that the decisions he himself made would be good enough and that if he played the way he knew could that he would be just fine. Now will this factor in at nebraska? Maybe once in awhile but it shouldn't be often. Plus look at recent history and we will see that Glynn Watson (under armour), Ed Morrow (Nike) both highly ranked guys chose nebraska and should continue getting guys of that nature going forward as long as they win. Always love your insight! Awesome post kamdy

OK, I should have said, "If you were 30 years younger and met Kaylee Page, she'd be all like, hey, introduce me to your cute friend Norm over there." But what would Vera think? And then I would have been all, like, hey, sorry, honey, but I'm TAKEN!

Looks like we will have to wait for Freshman BJ day for another year. Sorry student body.

Or stand;) Loud & proud! GBR

Pitino then ironically cashed his $1 mil/year check from Adidas.

Rick Pitino also notes 'our gene pool shrinks' by being a Kentucky school.

Come on, Norm, you know me well enough to know that of course I'm joking. A good rule of thumb when it comes to stuff I post is if you aren't sure if serious, then always assume it's a joke. And even if you're pretty sure it's serious, it's still probably just a joke that wasn't very good.

Actually he was very far from getting it done at Iowa State. Doc Sadler was just about the only coach he could win against. Also that Big East player of the year transferred from Iowa St because of Mcdermott's treatment towards him. His mismanagement of the ISU roster was one of his major downfalls.

Just a little heads up on Jessica's kid sister. Not even having played a high school game yet and maybe a little bit for now anyway, riding the coattails of big sister. Sam Shepard 18' begins her freshman year at Fremont. She's already receiving interest from Creighton, Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska. So in taking a page from Creighton and Iowa fans who like to let you know on their school being the first to notice new talent, not this one. "Nebraska was in on her first! "