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I say this with 100% confidence that the NU staff DOES want TP back at NU. Any other rumors are complete nonsense. And I have heard this from the horse's mouth. I don't want to be that "message board rumor guy" but let's just say I have some very good information to this and I will leave it at that.

I like this coach's profile...Most impressive is that he must have influence since they kept his team in the tournament one year until they could lose 2 games!

Bingo. The worms are escaping out of the can. Do we need to shut down the thread now or is everyone on board with 'going there'? I don't feel it is appropriate to go there at this point. Things can be taken out of context from time to time.

To my knowlwdge he hasn't attached to anyone yet. It appears Tulsa, Rutgers, Tennessee, ASU and Eastern Carolina offered him with Western Kentucky, Rhode Island, Auburn and VA Tech looking at him.

And, next season Isaiah Roby could make that list as well... the Nebraska Illini connection continues.

I do not recall the exact requirements, but at the chosen sites, each team has to have a different hotel that has a minimum # of rooms and has a full service restaurant that is open a certain # of hours, etc. With the first sites having 8 teams that means they demand 8 of these hotels that are convenient to the venue. I think this hotel requirement is what holds Lincoln back.

Correct. I know for sure the coaches do want him back. He is going to discuss all options with his family and then make a decision. I for one really hope that decision is one more year at NU. I know for a fact that the coaches are hoping he comes back for his senior season.

Not to be a negative Nellie, but I don't think Bball said TP was coming back, just that the staff wants him back

Was there, they won then got beat in the next round. My friend called me and said I have tickets do I want to go? We get there and we are on the floor and up like 6 rows. It was the best thing I have even been at. Was in college at the time and it was amazing.

That would be awesome if he comes back. Up to Miles and the staff to use the ingredients properly, even if it is a rather potent ingredient.

Which year would that be? Ray Meyer's last team (1984) won their only game in Lincoln & went to the Sweet Sixteen. Five of RM's last 7 teams lost either 2 or 3 games a year...

Unless memory fails me, Mark Aguirre and Ray Meyer were knocked out of the NCAA tourney at BDSC.

Spacing, spacing, spacing. Just got done watching Michigan State and their spacing is tremendous and with a purpose. I remember at halftime of the Virginia game, Izzo said we need to slip more. That always bothered me about our season, that we used the slip screen so seldomly when teams are sending their posts flying out to hedge on Petteway. I know Pitch liked the pick and pop but he wasn't hitting and there needs to be a plan B. I think I can count the number of times they hit that post cutting to the basket the entire season on my fingers without getting to my toes. Some of it also had to do with the other players were stationary allowing their men to sag and take that cut away. They killed Virginia (a very successful packline defensive team) with the slip. Most teams help on the slip with the other post and Mich. St. usually had them busy some place else. The would run double pin downs so the defender would have step up to hedge the curl cuts and they would hit the curl and immediately drop to the pinner as they slipped to the basket. The other post was hedging on the other curl cut on the other side of the court. I remember out of a time out, Izzo had both post at the elbows. A perimeter ran through them as double flare screens or an Iverson cut if you use that term. Then the ballside post picked the opposite post. The picked post then went to screen the ball/wing on his baseline side. So the other defensive post is helping on the post to post screen and is up high so he can't help when the post (the one that just received the post to post screen) heads to the ball showing ball screen and then slips hard to the basket. No one in position to help and a dunk. Some of that was them just knowing how to play the game and I'm sure a lot of it was in the game plane and in sets Izzo ran knowing they would cause VA some problems. That's why he is in the Elite 8 again. The man can coach.

The key to the pick has a lot to do with the cutter. You want to set a fat screen meaning make the D get past you shoulder to shoulder where you are wide instead of front to back where you're skinny. That means the screener's butt needs to be pointed to where you want to receive the ball and that means one of the four corners of the 1/2 court. That allows the cutter to go the wrong way first and then bring the defender back into the fat screen. It is the cutters job to set up their man and use the pick. If you don't get tight to the pick then you might as well not have one. If the screen "headhunts" like my high school coach tried to teach me then you get so tight to the D and they can easily slip past you front to back (skinny pick). Cutter goes the wrong way first and then actually grab your teammate's jersey and pull yourself hip to hip to the pick. Then you have to read the D of course, but that's a different skill. As an accountability piece I had the team anonymously vote right before the first game for "4 guys I want on the floor with me," "hardest worker," "Laziest," "best attitude," "worst attitude," "best shooter," etc. Sometimes it surprised me what they thought and if nothing else I always had at least one negative vote on any player whose father wanted to talk to me about his son's playing time. It seems there was a correlation between bad attitude and obnoxious parent many times. Some seasons the whole team voted after every practice for the player that worked the hardest to make the team better that day and they would get to wear a special practice jersey the next day. End of the year the guy who wore it the most that season got to take one home. I had more than one player tell me earning that jersey was much more important than any all conference honors.

I heard he is coming back. doesn't want to end his college career on a sour note and that the timing isn't right to go pro.

1. I think we have to be tough. Offensively, defensively, our approach to rebounding, to going after loose balls, even grabbing the opening tip. We give no quarter. We don't back down. We don't EVER give up. No quit. Have to be tough. 2. I think we have to be fundamentally sound. If you set a screen, then dammit set a screen. A solid one. Not somewhere in the vicinity of the opposing team, but at a spot where the screen really accomplishes something. If it's a ball screen, then the ballhandler needs to run his defender into the screener. The cuts needs to be crisp and precise. The opposing team should never be able to cross the lane without getting bumped off their line of travel. Until the refs start calling it, throw hips at opposing defensive players trying to chase your teammate around your screen. Get him open. That's how. 3. Commit to doing the little things right. Don't cut corners. Don't half-ass closing out on shooters. Sprint in transition even if the ball is ahead of you. The little things make a difference between a 1 point win and a 1 point loss. If a team has a lot of close games, the little things can make a difference between a lot of those being wins or a lot of those being losses. 4. Accountability to your teammates. I think the players should grade each other. And the results of the grading should be posted in the locker room for all the players and coaches to see. Score effort, score attitude, score mental focus or whatever else you want. But have the team score the other players and make the scoring (not necessarily the votes themselves but certainly the results of the voting) public within the team. The guy who grades low on attitude and effort needs to see that his teammates notice that he half-asses it down the floor. Accountability means you don't let your teammates down. But it also means it's made known and there is a consequence if you do. 5. I think you have to find athletes who can score. I want to out-athlete the teams we play. But you can't just sell out to athleticism without regard to skill. If you have to choose between the two, I'd rather have a guy who's a better athlete, because the skilled guy doesn't see the floor. JMOO.

My expectation is not provided in your profiles Sam. I am all about building a program, not just a team. I believe once the program is built, then even greater expectations are available. So in short, my expectation would look more like this (and this factors in the last two years: Profile Huskercwg 6 seasons 138-62 5 NCAA Tournaments - 5-6 record 1 Conference Tournament title; 1 regular season titles After six years, the number of NCAA tournament wins should grow and a few additional conference tournament and regular season titles should materialize

It's really no small wonder that Nebraska made the tourney last year, and 2 main contributors as "role players" were Scoreless Wonders like Dave & Benny. Not a big shock this season that opponents figured out to leave them open & rabidly guarded the other 3....