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I also posted this in the "I post here because..." thread but since that topic is several days old, and perhaps missed by some, I thought I'd post it in a brand new thread, too. A little background on the site to add to many who never knew this or have long ago forgotten. I was living in Charlotte, NC. from 2004-2006 for my radio career and had just graduated from UNL. I had a ton of connections within the program at that point - both current players who were friends, and connections to the coaching staff - and I had a huge passion for Husker Hoops, with a journalism and radio background. I went through a particularly tough breakup in the spring of 05 and needed something to throw myself into. I've always been passion and work oriented. In my one bedroom apartment in Charlotte, depressed as all being, missing home and not knowing a soul because my ex was my ENTIRE social life, I somehow decided to start a Husker basketball blog. My love of the program had kept growing in the months since I left Nebraska - absence always makes the heart grow fonder. Heck, I took that same ex to Knoxville, TN (3.5 hours away) and spent New Years Eve there just a few months earlier to see NU pull off the road win after Marcus Neal knocked down free throws at the end of regulation. Anyway, within 3 days or so of starting that blog, maybe a week, I found out I could (with the help of HHCGarrett/AKA Garrett Wright) launch an actual website by using Microsoft Front Page. We bought the "Front Page For Dummies" book at Barnes & Nobel and I bought the software and mailed it all to Garrett. He was working with Husker Vision at the time so he completely separated himself from any articles. He published, I wrote and researched. And wrote. And researched. (Anyone remember when Garrett took video of EVERY SINGLE DUNK from the slam dunk contest and had them ALL on-line after 6 hours of overnight work?). Anyway, content - articles - that's right - HHC once had DAILY ARTICLES YEAR 'ROUND. Maybe some of the real old posters remember that or Dimes or someone who knows how can go back and pull off screen shots from years passed. I interviewed, for this site (just a few): Jay Bilas Paul Splittorff Fred White Danny Nee Barry Collier Stu Lantz Doc Sadler Eric Piatkowski Erick Strickland Greg Doyel Ricardo Patton Mike Anderson Quin Snyder Paul Millsap Scott Drew Richard Roby And around 100 other players and coaches. Articles were done for three seasons. We had weekly "Then & Now" features with former Huskers. I once found a guy who was homeless living in New York (Gerard Myrhtill). I once single handedly found Jose Ramos for the 90-91 Reunion. Nobody else could find him from the basketball offices. I called him on the phone and he was blown away I located him. Kind of cold at first but soon opened up. He went to the Rebounders Club banquet that night and publicly complained that I wasn't given an invite to attend the banquet since I had been the one to get him to come to Lincoln. Beau Reid once wrote for this site. John Turek. Cary Cochran. Randy Lee. Andrew Drevo. Bruce Chubick. Matt Coatney. This site was MY LIFE for 3 years. Literally. 20-30 hours a week. Thousands of dollars of debt for lots of stuff I later found out I didn't need. I should also give a shout out in the early days to Jerry Trickie of NU SID for working with us and giving us media access, as well as to Scott Cunningham for moderating and the graphics work. By 2008, maybe 2009, the site went from interviews and features and post game STORIES (with quotes and interviews) to just report cards. Then by 2010 or so, to just a message board with report cards. So at one point, this was a full service site - message board was secondary. I eventually couldn't afford to keep buying every media guide known to man to research interviews, as many road trips to see games, as much hosting space and paying photographers, but more than that, I was both jaded by a few incidents from the university that I won't ever publicly mention (because that's not my style) and I just flat out ran out of time. My career has taken over further and not allowed me to do what I once did. Nowadays, Dimes is the one who runs this site. Its essentially 100% his. He does EVERYTHING. He has SAVED THIS SITE. SINGLE HANDEDLY. Scott and I help occasionally but anymore, its Dimes (as you know) and several others who have stepped up and kept this site going. I hope that no matter what happens to me in the future, or Dimes, that you posters will ALWAYS promise to keep the site going. I don't want to see this site ever go away. It's nothing I can take credit for anymore - the last 3 years are all Matt (Dimes). He occasionally asks my opinion but I defer to him 9 times out of 10. But it's sure cool to read all of your memories of HHC, how you found it, etc. Hard to believe a heartbreak in Charlotte nearly ten years ago, in a small one bedroom apartment, and a random 1 AM idea to start a blog, led to a site that once broke three steps of the Barry Collier leaving for Butler process, once got quoted in the KC Star, Lawrence Journal World and The Sporting News, and now is going on ten years strong. I love you all, even if I am a "has been" in the world of HHC. Go Huskers, Dave

I don't post often because A. I tend to overreact (I know of one particular time here that is still very embarrassing) B. I'm not that informative C. I'm not that funny. However, I absolutely love this sight and the program though. I have not been to many games. I have listened to most of them on the radio. And for some reason, I think that has made me such a huge fan. I do know the biggest fans are here and it is not even close. Generally someone always sees something I don't and offers perspective of why something is working or not. That is what I appreciate the most.

A little background on the site to add to many who never knew this or have long ago forgotten. I was living in Charlotte, NC. from 2004-2006 for my radio career and had just graduated from UNL. I had a ton of connections within the program at that point - both current players who were friends, and connections to the coaching staff - and I had a huge passion for Husker Hoops, with a journalism and radio background. I went through a particularly tough breakup in the spring of 05 and needed something to throw myself into. I've always been passion and work oriented. In my one bedroom apartment in Charlotte, depressed as all being, missing home and not knowing a soul because my ex was my ENTIRE social life, I somehow decided to start a Husker basketball blog. My love of the program had kept growing in the months since I left Nebraska - absence always makes the heart grow fonder. Heck, I took that same ex to Knoxville, TN (3.5 hours away) and spent New Years Eve there just a few months earlier to see NU pull off the road win after Marcus Neal knocked down free throws at the end of regulation. Anyway, within 3 days or so of starting that blog, maybe a week, I found out I could (with the help of HHCGarrett/AKA Garrett Wright) launch an actual website by using Microsoft Front Page. We bought the "Front Page For Dummies" book at Barnes & Nobel and I bought the software and mailed it all to Garrett. He was working with Husker Vision at the time so he completely separated himself from any articles. He published, I wrote and researched. And wrote. And researched. (Anyone remember when Garrett took video of EVERY SINGLE DUNK from the slam dunk contest and had them ALL on-line after 6 hours of overnight work?). Anyway, content - articles - that's right - HHC once had DAILY ARTICLES YEAR 'ROUND. Maybe some of the real old posters remember that or Dimes or someone who knows how can go back and pull off screen shots from years passed. I interviewed, for this site (just a few): Jay Bilas Paul Splittorff Fred White Danny Nee Barry Collier Stu Lantz Doc Sadler Eric Piatkowski Erick Strickland Greg Doyel Ricardo Patton Mike Anderson Quin Snyder Paul Millsap Scott Drew Richard Roby And around 100 other players and coaches. Articles were done for three seasons. We had weekly "Then & Now" features with former Huskers. I once found a guy who was homeless living in New York (Gerard Myrhtill). I once single handedly found Jose Ramos for the 90-91 Reunion. Nobody else could find him from the basketball offices. I called him on the phone and he was blown away I located him. Kind of cold at first but soon opened up. He went to the Rebounders Club banquet that night and publicly complained that I wasn't given an invite to attend the banquet since I had been the one to get him to come to Lincoln. Beau Reid once wrote for this site. John Turek. Cary Cochran. Randy Lee. Andrew Drevo. Bruce Chubick. Matt Coatney. This site was MY LIFE for 3 years. Literally. 20-30 hours a week. Thousands of dollars of debt for lots of stuff I later found out I didn't need. I should also give a shout out in the early days to Jerry Trickie of NU SID for working with us and giving us media access, as well as to Scott Cunningham for moderating and the graphics work. By 2008, maybe 2009, the site went from interviews and features and post game STORIES (with quotes and interviews) to just report cards. Then by 2010 or so, to just a message board with report cards. So at one point, this was a full service site - message board was secondary. I eventually couldn't afford to keep buying every media guide known to man to research interviews, as many road trips to see games, as much hosting space and paying photographers, but more than that, I was both jaded by a few incidents from the university that I won't ever publicly mention (because that's not my style) and I just flat out ran out of time. My career has taken over further and not allowed me to do what I once did. Nowadays, Dimes is the one who runs this site. Its essentially 100% his. He does EVERYTHING. He has SAVED THIS SITE. SINGLE HANDEDLY. Scott and I help occasionally but anymore, its Dimes (as you know) and several others who have stepped up and kept this site going. I hope that no matter what happens to me in the future, or Dimes, that you posters will ALWAYS promise to keep the site going. I don't want to see this site ever go away. It's nothing I can take credit for anymore - the last 3 years are all Matt (Dimes). He occasionally asks my opinion but I defer to him 9 times out of 10. But it's sure cool to read all of your memories of HHC, how you found it, etc. Hard to believe a heartbreak in Charlotte nearly ten years ago, in a small one bedroom apartment, and a random 1 AM idea to start a blog, led to a site that once broke three steps of the Barry Collier leaving for Butler process, once got quoted in the KC Star, Lawrence Journal World and The Sporting News, and now is going on ten years strong. I love you all, even if I am a "has been" in the world of HHC. Go Huskers, Dave

Maybe you're the poster you were thinking of. I agree with myself all the time.

We don't see UConn until the final!

I'm hoping that Tarin is better than the 7th best player on the roster because that would mean we have a really good player.

Dave, also remember to thank your ex for us.

If the season were to end today the Huskers will have made the NCAA tourney as a 4 seed! Charlie Creme's ESPN Bracketology put out his first bracketology prediction this morning and the Huskers made the cut as a 4 seed and will be hosting the first and second rounds in Pinnacle Bank Arena. They've got us playing the 13 seed Chattanooga in what would be a first round rematch of a couple years ago. Keep in mind we still have 5 days before we start the season! http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/bracketology

Re Sanderford: It was obviously over toward the end. The wheels were off, and the future was bleak. No players left, due to recruiting issues and the transfers mentioned by Norm. The best assistants had left. As Connie found out, the cupboard was bare. After several years on the job,, it is difficult to have to start over and rebuild. Paul was out of time. If he had not resigned, he would have been fired. Could it have been different? One would think. Sanderford was left with decent talent from Beck. We did well early. We had Jeff Walz on staff, who now has had a national runner-up team as HC at Louisville. Michelle Gibson. WE were an eyelash from getting Kendra Wecker. If we get her and Robinette pans out, who knows. But ultimately, it wasn't to be. Good guy; knew his hoops. Interesting that his record of success in the early years of women's basketball wasn't duplicated here.

Guys gotta feed his family, and when your "THE MAN" in picking the field it must become a year around gig.

This is kinda like having Christmas lights etc. out before halloween. Intesrting that he doesn't have either Rutgers or PSU in the mix. Or maybe having Christmas decorations out before the 4th of July. To each his own (and Row 6, you are just the messenger and this is not directed at you), but bracketology before one game is played is an utter waste of time, and one of the more absurd things I have ever seen. As you know, even predicting where a team might end up before the season starts is a crap shoot from year to year (See, Husker men's basketball predictions last year), but to try to pick opponents and locations in the tournament takes it to a new level.

Couple things, re: Tai, as my high school band director was wont to say, "Congrats, you finally got it right. Now do it again and prove it wasn't a mistake." Also, Rivers is the guy who would sit if Benny were to start, which he won't with the roster the way it is right now. I think the energy you'd gain would out weight the match-ups. But a couple coaching friends I've talked to a bout this says you want Benny's energy coming off the bench, not in the starting lineup unless he's heads and shoulders more talented above the other guys, which he's not. 6th man is the right role, I believe, and I was one espousing for Benny to get starter consideration.

I think to a certain extent they can make some of their own luck, but I think even Miles has benefited from just plain old good fortune. For example, I think PBA coming on line about the time he arrives was a big boost for him. And he has really exploited that and the Hendricks Center with recruits. I think Miles also benefited from Terran Petteway being waaaaay better than people would have expected based on his numbers as a freshman at Texas Tech and who had offered him coming out of HS. He's an All-American. Did you expect Terran Petteway to be an All-American when it was announced he was transferring here? Other luck for Miles includes the fact that Shavon Shields happened to be tons better than he was ranked as a recruit. Those two were the big difference makers for us last year. I think Miles has been able to leverage (or take advantage of) the good fortune he's had. But some of these things are just plain lucky breaks. For Miles, it's been Terran, Shavon and the PBA. For Connie, she's a great coach who took advantage of some extreme good fortune of her own. In the case of Kelsey Griffin, I think she spotted talent that others missed. In the case of Kiera Hardy, I think she just plain lucked out.

I agree with what Connie said in the article that it took some luck. You get that one player that turns out to be something a lot more special than people realized and it can do wonders for a program. I think Connie's actually had that happen a few times now. I think the first one was Kiera Hardy. I remember Connie saying back at the time that I don't think she recruited her while at Creighton and was surprised that Paul Sanderford did here. Didn't think she'd probably play much. Didn't expect her to have a significant role. Then, boom, Kiera turns into a great scoring guard who ended up being much better than people expected. Certainly better than Connie expected. Then, you get Kelsey Griffin. I can remember going to the combined men's/women's hoops scrimmage Kelsey's true freshman year. On the men's side, the newcomers were supposed to be Collier's best class ever with 3-star recruits like Jamel White and Kyle Marks. There was so much hype surrounding that class of men's players but, ironically, in my mind, it was Kelsey who stole the show. Very under-the-radar as a recruit, she was a whole hell of a lot better than anyone really anticipated when she was first offered. I think the third sort of lucked-into-a-better-player-than-expected candidate was zeros. I don't remember what she was ranked when she was signed. She was fairly highly regarded, IIRC, but I don't recall that anyone would have pegged her as being one of the pre-eminent point guards in the country at the time she was recruited. And she certainly was that by the time she graduated. The fourth -- and I've had arguments with HB about this one -- is Jordan Hooper. I think people had a sense that she was a very good, home-grown type of talent. I don't think anyone saw her being a Kelsey Griffin kind of talent, though. I'm one of those weird hoops junkies who pays attention to girls high school hoops in the state. And I would have figured Jordan Hooper would probably have a pretty decent career at Nebraska. Maybe, by the time she was a junior or senior, she might even be a starter on a decent team. No way did I expect Jordan Hooper would eventually have her jersey hanging in the rafters at PBA. And I think it eventually will hang there. Wildly better than I think most people, in their heart of hearts, would have expected. And then the fifth is Rachel Theriot. Yeah, Rachel was highly regarded coming out of HS. But, at best I think she was just a top 20 PG in her recruiting class. (I checked it and she was ranked #18 at her position coming out of HS.) I defy you to find 5 better PGs in the entire nation, regardless of recruiting class. She's a UConn quality of recruit. Sometimes, you just luck out in recruiting and a player comes in who wildly exceeds your expectations and moves your program forward at a faster rate than you could have hoped. I don't want to take anything away from Connie, because you don't win as many games as she has without the ability to coach. And maybe these players became the players they became because of her coaching. But you cannot argue that Connie has had about half a dozen kids come in and perform at a level far higher than where they were ranked as recruits. And those players have enabled this program to now draw the kinds of players whom you would expect to be great players. Connie built this program out of nothing. She did it the right way. She refused to try to poach players or recruits from her former school. She drew the line on behavior right off the bat and cut some players who didn't toe the line. That had to have been a tough call for Connie because it left her having to have open tryouts for walk-on spots just to fill out the roster. (The fact they won a game in conference and beat a ranked Cinci team that year is still a wonder.) And to be where she is now from where she was is a real triumph for Connie Yori. But there's no question she benefited from a little luck along the way. And maybe that's just a little bit of positive karma for making tough calls that put her at a disadvantage when she first took the job.

AW but isn't practice where you earn your minutes ? Most if not all coaches will tell you that player B got minutes on the floor ahead of player A due to his work in practice. Or am I all wet on this. :wacko:

A few years ago, I would probably have agreed with you, but anymore I don't think that's a blessing, actually. I think in order to have a successful coaching stint when you take over a struggling program, evidence of a turnaround needs to happen right away. Yeah, the administration might have more patience and that might buy you an extra year, but that only helps if you expect to get fired eventually and need to another year of steady income. I don't think Doc or any other major college coach wants a situation where the administration is patient. In order to win in the long term, you have to attract recruits. In order to attract recruits, you have to generate positive excitement surrounding the program. In order to generate positive excitement surrounding the program, you have to win more than expected and sooner than expected. And, in order to win more than expected and sooner than expected, you have to NOT have problems like what Doc is potentially facing in Hattiesburg. All patience means is that you get an extra year or two before you get fired.

Good topic and post. You bring up a good point in each possessing a different skill set. The bottom line with Miles, as we've seen, is that you absolutely have to be able to play on the defensive end to see meaningful minutes. That, right now, is what's separating the "six that (Miles) will play against anyone" vs. the others. We know what we're going to get with Benny. He's an absolute game changer on the defensive end. One area of improvement that I'd like to see out of him is his ability to push transition and create 2-on-1s and 3-on-2s. in most cases, Benny is going to be the fastest player on the floor. He also comes up with a lot of steals. Watch Ty Lawson come up with a steal and turn it into an easy two. We need to see plays like this out of Benny: To me, Tai is the most intriguing player (out of the three). Last year he showed us glimpses of being a really good player, but it was apparent that he wasn't 100% comfortable playing to the speed of the American game. Playing in the World Cup in addition to having a year acclimating to life half-way around the globe is going to pay big dividends. Remember Tai leading the team in free throw attempts in the early portion of non-con last year? He was getting to the line because he was getting to the rack with confidence. I guess what I'm trying to say is that with him, lack of ability was never an issue. I think he's poised for a big year. Tarin will give us minutes just as long as he can guard his position in the Big Ten. To me, he appears to be the most natural point guard on the roster. Those in the know have clamored about both his basketball IQ and his ability to create for teammates. It doesn't sound like much, but if he can come in and contribute 2 assists per game at that position, that will be great contribution.

Thank you Dave for your passion and dedication to this website! This site has been my homepage since it started! I remember posting back on the old ESPN Big 12 basketball message boards. I vividly remember Sockers, nustudent, and some others posting there as well and some arguments about Joe McCray. I can't remember if you were there too to break the news that HHC was starting?? But thanks to everyone for making this site possible! Although I'm mostly a lurker....the discussions are incredible!

Huskers win 78-46. Concordia is a good team just a little out-manned this afternoon. I thought Concordia was a better team than Wayne St. As a team the Huskers looked alot better than a week ago. Hope we continue to see improvement as we get into the season. The difference is like night and day the way Brandi Jeffery is playing from last season. Good to have her playing at a high level going into the season. Very impressed with what we're seeing out of her!! Emily finishes with a double double and steady as always. Hailie S with some good hustle plays and some fantastic rebounds. She's got her work cut out for her this year guarding the opposing post. But she's holding her own and doing a great job. So glad we got a player with her caliber of defense to do that for us. Rachel T finished with 19 which led the team, but you could tell she wasn't happy with the way she played. She missed some shots that she usually makes and it looked liked she knew she could do better. Still she played a good game. Freshmen have improved in just one week. If you have yet to make a game Natalie Romeo is a must see. Great hustle out the young one today. Couple of great passes for assists and good job on the defensive end. She's going to be a good one for us. Just needs more experience. Allie Havers looked ten times better than a week ago. The kid put up two count-em two hook shots and made both of them and came away with some good looking rebounds. Anya showed some flashes of what she might be able to become. Think it might help to get her out of that mask. Kaylee Page got into foul trouble but looks to be getting more comfortable being out there. She's having to guard smaller players which will take a little time to get used to. Really like what Jasmine Cincore did by putting the ball on the floor and taking it to the bucket. She made good work of her time on the court. Little Emily Wood got to see some action also. Gotta pull for that kid she's like the little engine that could. Hope she gets some playing time as we go forward! Chandler Smith still on the sidelines with her foot in a boot. 4467 was the attendance. And it was announced that the Pepperdine game next Saturday will tip-off at 11:00 am.

Thanks, Dave, for the background. Great story of initiative and perseverance and working through adversity! And thanks for creating a place like this with lots of fun people (in an electronic-ink / don't-actually-know-who-they-might-be sort of way).

Great to hear from you Dave. That 90-91 reunion at P.O.Pears was undoubtedly one of the all time highlights of NU basketball history for those of us fortunate enough to be there. Where are you hanging out now, if you care to share that. Best wishes and thanks for providing the history for both us oldtimers and the newbies who have no inkling of the early days. And ,by the way, who was your favorite interview of all time?

I think he reposted it over on Rivals, so it's not gone forever, but, when you have two threads on one topic, just let the mods merge. That's what happens when we have two threads on one topic. Just merge them. Don't have to delete one of them.

I'd like to see a birth certificate on this kid. I think he's much older. In fact I think he's wearing headband so high on his head much like Lebron did before he got hair plugs or Rogaine or whatever he did to get hair back. Seriously this kid is really good at the sport of basketball.

Notre Dame, I believe. And that's without looking. You would be correct. I met Bill Walton at a meet and greet two years ago and he was talking with the guy in front of us about that game since he had the Sports Illustrated with it. Speaking of I went and found the old photo. A couple months before The Kamdy Man himself joined our world.