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This just in 5'7guard Micole Cayton on the list of 2016 recruits on our big board is on an official visit to Nebraska today and tomorrow. She plays for the California Storm AAU team. She plays for St Mary's high school in Sacramento, a power house program in NorCal. Her stock has really risen this past year with St Mary's and now this summer with the Cal Storm. This is one of Shimmy Gray Millers contacts that she made in California this past season and it seems like as though from all accounts Micole is very interested in NU.

Not to try to proliferate the off-topic discussion (because that never happens around here ) BUT ... I have to respond to some of this. 1. I agree. Jordan's gambling was a problem, though not as bad as Tiger's Wood's issues, which were not nearly as bad as Charlie Sheen's issues, though neither of the latter two appear to be "winning" any more. 2. Yeah, uh, no. I follow some stories like this and when I do I follow them closely. "Stand Your Ground" had nothing to do with the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman trial except in the media. It was not raised as a defense at trial. The "hoodie crowd" got it totally wrong. You don't have to take my word for it. The trial was televised and you can still watch it on line like I did. There was not a single prosecution witness -- including the experts -- who didn't end up basically testifying for the defense until you got to the very end and had Trayvon's mom on the stand. Even Rachel Genteel's testimony helped the defense. Bottom line: Witness after witness after witness testified that the tall, skinny guy with the hoodie was on top of and raining punches down on the short, heavier guy with the orange jacket and that the shorter guy in orange was yelling for help and trying to dodge blows from the tall, skinny guy in the hoodie. Trayvon's dad lived 100 yards from where the shooting took place, which was less than 100 yards from where Zimmerman parked his truck. Find out how much time elapsed from when George Zimmerman tells the 911 operator that Martin took off running and doesn't know where he went until the end of that phone call. How much more time after the Zimmerman call ended before other calls came in about a disturbance along that sidewalk? And how much more time before the shots ring out in the audio tape of the 911 call? The answer is more than enough for Trayvon to have gotten all the way back home. Where the altercation occurred is a matter of feet from where Trayvon was when Zimmerman last saw him and Zimmerman is on the phone with 911 for a couple of minutes after that. The only reasonable conclusion is that Martin hid and waited for Zimmerman to come along before confronting him and knocking him down and starting to beat on him. Just trying to clear up some misinformation. 3. Ferguson? You need to read the eye-witness accounts like I have. Available on-line. "Hands up, dont' shoot" was a lie. Once again, I could go into details, but the bottom line is independent witnesses observed an altercation at the police vehicle with Mike Brown appearing to punch the officer. His fingerprints were on the officer's weapon along with his blood from when his finger got caught in the slide mechanism when the weapon was discharged inside the officer's vehicle. Indisputable fact. And, again, witness after independent witness testified in recorded statements under oath that Mike Brown charged the officer and continued charging after he was repeatedly warned to stop. Independent witnesses. There's a good reason Eric Holder's justice department refused to bring Federal Civil Rights charges against the cop. Again, clearing up misinformation. 4. Totally agree with this. Dean, thanks for that very civil and level-headed exchange on what could be seen as an inflammatory couple of issues. We are going to have to just disagree on Martin/Zimmerman. I know Stand Your Ground was not used at that trial. I don't think it matters how close he was to home or how long the time was. Zimmerman had no business and was told by the 911 operator to not follow the kid. I don't think hiding and waiting for him is the only logical conclusion and if Zimmerman had not been following him then there is no confrontation. There are phone recording of Martin saying he was afraid because the man was following him. He quite likely could have hidden to avoid contact with Zimmerman. The bottom line is Zimmerman chose to follow the kid because he was black and wearing a hoodie which he basically said to the 911 operator. I think you might have some misinformation about Ferguson. In Ferguson there is tons of conflicting eyewitness accounts. Some, like the lady they proved was out of state at the time of the incident was clearly lying, but there are witnesses that say Brown turned around and did have his hands up. My point is they could of had a trial but the prosecutor didn't want one for whatever reason so we will never have a trial to try to find the truth. Brown according to the officer's testimony held the cigars with his right hand, and punched him with his right hand and the only marks on the officer's face was his right side which would be physically difficult. And I think you need to re-research the fingerprint thing. No one ever tested the gun for fingerprints because as the investigator testified to the grand jury, "Wilson never lost control of his gun." The fact that the gun was never tested for fingerprints is in the grand jury minutes - indisputable fact. You are correct when you say Brown's blood in car would seem to support Wilson. Again my point is there was no trial to sort through the discrepancies that came from both sides. The reason there was no civil rights violation is because that law requires proving intent and that just couldn't be done unless Wilson came out and made incriminating statements. I think the big issue in Ferguson is not Brown at all. If this was the first altercation between the police and the people that lived there you don't get any protest it is just an unfortunate event. The issue becomes not whether Wilson shot Brown as he stood there with his hands up, it is the fact that the residents based on their past experience found that story completely plausible. I also appreciate your civil tone. I'm pretty sure we are still going to disagree on a couple of these issues so lets just agree to go back to basketball.

Those other schools will just recruit over Chukwu. The only one of those schools with repeated, recent, proven success with transfers is ... us.

CIPSUX is real catchy...

Andrew White III seemingly took forever to decide last year and that worked out all right. Guess only time will tell for Nebrasketball / Paschal

These may be small contributors to the problem, but not the primary reasons. 1. It has been proven over time that the more athletic type player is more valuable. Often times they aren't the best shooters or the best at fundamentals. But they can shut down the less athletic players. This is why so many people have the absurd argument that the NBA had way better play many moons ago. Simply an incredibly idiotic take. 2. Coaching is better than ever. There is more money in it than ever before. More coaches take it more seriously than ever before. Large incentives for assistant coaches to strive to excel than ever before. Quite simply the defensive schemes and rotations are better than ever before. The advanced scouting is better than ever before. People know who they do not want to get open looks more than ever before. This is a huge reason why scoring is down. 3. The players have gotten bigger and more athletic, yet the rules have stayed the same for the most part. There needs to be rules that create more space. Like the NBA defensive 3 seconds as an example(not saying I necessarily think that rule should go into play). Wider lane also could help. 4. Three point line too close. It is impacting the game negatively in many ways IMO. Too many guys can shoot that shot. And therefore too many guys work way too hard on that shot. It is impacting the mid range shot in a very negative way, and possibly free throws as well. It is also clogging things up. If you extend it a bit you will create more driving lanes and also possibly change the importance of the elite athlete slightly, to a more skilled shooting player. Some of these reasons can be fixed. And some don't need fixing. The fact that defensive rotations and game plans are so good is not a bad thing. I enjoy watching great defense being played. This may be because I tend to identify under situations better in my career than making over plays. I think may eye has been trained to watch and appreciate great scheming on that end. OK where do I start? 1. Referring to a position you don't agree with as idiotic is probably not going to convince too many people from the other side that your position is correct. I don't think you're an idiot but I do think you are wrong because I believe the game was much better played many moons ago. If we are talking college it's no doubt the teams from earlier that kept their best players for 3 or 4 years were much better than today's college teams. The one and dones also lead to a less popular NBA. When you had your guys play for your college for 3 or 4 years you followed them and watched them in the NBA. I don't think there is too many Kentucky fans are following all their one and dones in the NBA. And the average fan doesn't even know who those guys are. You used to have the stars playing college ball for four years and people got to know them or at least know of them and stars are what attract viewers and ticket buyers. 2. You use the term "coaching" but then just talk about scouting which is part of being a coach. Scouting work is easier with every game being able to be digitally downloaded from your house but that doesn't mean the coaching is better. Your inference that people take it more seriously now as in they didn't take it so seriously in the past doesn't seem let's say very plausible to me. It was people's jobs then and its people's jobs today and their jobs depended on them taking it seriously and doing a good job. The Jordan Rules are one example of some serious scouting work being put in and then carried to the court in a systematic fashion. I believe scoring is down because you have fewer people in the scouting report that says "you can't give them an open look." Kobe just came out and said the international players are better basketball players. I don't think there is any rule that says you can't have more athletic players be fundamentally sound players as well. There has to be some good AAU coaches but there are plenty of bad ones and there are far more games than practices. If you want fundamental players (preferably fundamental athletic players) you need at least 4 practices for every game. 3. When teams know how to play basketball you can get players shots. "Don't let Steve Alford shoot" was in everyone's scouting report but Bobby Knight's motion offense taught his players how to play the game and nobody ever really stopped Steve from getting his shots. Practice rules now do shorten the time players can practice together and it takes a ton of time to learn the pure motion offense of Knight. That also leads to lower scoring. I'm sure someone tried but apparently there wasn't enough time to effectively teach TP how to move without the ball and create some easy shots for himself and his teammates. 4. I think you are right with the 3 point line being too close and the international lane might help but more people knowing how to shoot and post up would help more. I can't even remember who I was reading but someone famous just wrote about how they think AAU is also to blame for the lack of spot up shooters and post players because those two skills require someone else to pass you the ball and that is not what the AAU game is about. 5. You start by saying my thoughts on fundamentals might be small contributing factors to the reduction in scoring. Fundamentals, both physical and mental - do they know how to play the game, are the most important factors in someone being able to play the game well.

In a side note, I would really like to see us go to more token annoyance pressure. You will get a turnover once in a while. And now you get the added benefit of only allowing them about 17-20 seconds to run their sets.

I would second that. Lebron has been willing to make statements about things he thinks are important outside of basketball, such as being willing to join the "I can't breathe" T-shirt group knowing some people would disagree with that. Michael Jordan refused to do anything that could possibly upset anyone and cut into his ability to make a buck. Charles may have said they are not role models but they are and Jordan had a pretty good sized platform to try to make a difference about anything he really believed in but the only thing we ever found out he believed was that he liked making money. Now you can tell me that there is nothing wrong with making money but that does mean the williness to take a stand does make Lebron a better role model. I might second Pimp Mario, but I don't think making "statements about things he thinks are important outside of basketball" necessarily makes Lebron a good role model. Or good anything, other than being another celebrity who thinks being a celebrity makes his opinions matter. He did the "hoodie" thing when he was with the Heat and it turns out they were all wrong on what happened with that. Reminds me of the Rams players who did the "hands up, don't shoot" thing coming onto the field before one of their games. Turns out we now know "hands up, don't shoot" was a total fabrication and all reputable journalists have distanced themselves from it. He's not sticking his neck out when he joins in popular movements that already have plenty of momentum. Doesn't take any particular amount of courage to join in the crowd. Charles Barkley, on the other hand, took some heat for taking a very unpopular -- but ultimately correct -- position by saying the Ferguson Grand Jury got it right. So I'm not going to be critical of MJ for not using his platform. Let's just be thankful for the guys like Jordan who live good lives and don't get into any trouble.

Can't disagree, Dean, but from a competitive standpoint this one has been excellent since neither team is good enough to put the other one away and James and Curry are so fun to watch.

Pashcal is appropriately named since he seems to pass over each visit on his way to the next one.

Completely disagree that the game was waaay more physical in the 80s. I would compare some old 80s film and see if screens were set like they are today; I believe they were not (and for those who think the NBA has gone all soft on physicality, review some of the screening from last night's game). I do agree with Dean's comments on AAU ball and fundamentals, but believe that the body type of players is way different than it was in the 80s and the game is more physical now.

bump - and to add to Norm's story line, a lot of those AAU coaches are salesmen and not real coaches. So even if those guys had practice more often I'm not sure that would be helpful.

Close finish to NBA finals game 3. Do i think, "Boy Curry didn't step up the first half but finished strong, " or is it, "LeBron is playing out of this world"? No, I'm a grouchy old guy and I'm thinking, "boy are these two very average teams." I don't see either one of these teams making it out of the second round in the 80-00's let alone win a title. Think about how either of these two match up to Michael's Bulls or the Bad Boy Pistons or the Celtic & Laker teams of the 80's or even the 76er's team with Doc, Mose, and Toney. Dellavedova is wonderful the way he has stepped up his game to fill for the missing Kyrie Irving, but he's not good enough to make the roster of any of the before mentioned teams. Norris Cole started for a championship Heat team and couldn't be a bench warmer for any of the above teams. And I really mean I don't think either of these two finals teams make it to the finals against those teams. I don't see either team beating Drexler's Trailblazers or Stockton & Malone's Jazz or the Spurs teams with the Ice Man and Artis Gilmore. Jonny Moore had a quadruple double one night. (young guys Google him = player) If we truly want to see truly great teams again, we will have to de-expand the NBA. Rosters are too thin to match up and the AAU ball has cut back on the number of people who are able to hit the catch and shoot jump shot and the number of people who can really post up. I don't see this Cleveland team being able to compete with the 90's Cavaliers of Price, Elho, Hot Rod Williams, Brad Daugherty and from KU Darnell Valentine. Now there's a player I hadn't thought of for awhile. Which makes me think of K-State's Ronaldo Blackman and his Mavericks with Derek Harper, Mark Aguirre, Roy Tarpley, James Donaldson, and Detlef Shrempf and Sam Perkins, a young Sam Perkins was on that team. My God the NBA used to be better. That's a Dallas team that never sniffed the finals and how would any team match up with that deep line up today?

yeah but has Rosenthal tweeted it yet?...huh?... well has he?... that is when I will breathe freely. I guess wheeze rather than breathe.

I liked taking summer school. Instead of 5 or 6 different sets of deadlines to keep in mind and juggle, you basically had just one or two sets of deadlines. I found it far easier to keep on top of homework, etc., when I only had one or two classes at a time than when I had 5 or 6. Put that another way: If you're a procrastinator, it's easier to cram for 2 finals at the end of a 5 week session than to cram for 5 finals and a term paper at the end of a full semester. Not enough no-doze in the world for me to go through college again. Must be from all the NyQuil chasers you've been having during hoops season.

I liked taking summer school. Instead of 5 or 6 different sets of deadlines to keep in mind and juggle, you basically had just one or two sets of deadlines. I found it far easier to keep on top of homework, etc., when I only had one or two classes at a time than when I had 5 or 6. Put that another way: If you're a procrastinator, it's easier to cram for 2 finals at the end of a 5 week session than to cram for 5 finals and a term paper at the end of a full semester. Not enough no-doze in the world for me to go through college again.

Reducing the TO's as well as the concept of the 4-10min quarter game should have been the extent of the rule changes. The others seem to be over the top...

Two less trips to the concession stands could cause problems for some.

Time outs to the front court = NBA =Bad. Hope the amplified music doesn't turn it into a Stars hockey game. Signed, Grumpy old guy

"The committee also recommended teams be allowed to advance the ball to the front court following a timeout called after made baskets in the last 59.9 seconds of the fourth quarter and any overtime periods. Teams also would be allowed to advance the ball to the front court after securing the ball from a rebound or a change of possession and calling a timeout before any advancement of the ball (dribble or pass). In these scenarios, the ball would be inbounded at the 28-foot mark on the side of the court where the scorer’s table is located." don't like it!

My personal favorite: ALWNXYR

What about... NIT1996 PBAMGIC MORUBEL But if you're trying to keep your truck from being vandalized, I would try to avoid: B1GBALL KIDNEY BRADGRU JEANPEK

Well, since you're a big fan of basketball (but "big fan of basketball" won't fit on a license plate) you could go with "BIG BALZ." Or, being a Husker hoops fan, you probably love Shields and Miles as well. But, again, that won't fit, so you could shorten it to "LUV SNM." Or you could make reference to our always-tough, sagging, pack-line defense with an homage like "SAGGIN D." Or make reference to the BTN habit of giving us the late start times and go with "LATE TIP." If it's still available, you could try "H8 CR8TN." That would be a natural. Probably already spoken for. And a wait list. You could channel some Kent Pavelka and go with "GOT IT." Or, appropriate an old political slogan and apply it to Miles, with "GRIN WIN."