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First show of the year from Buffalo Wings and Rings. I was driving and couldn't take notes, and my memory isn't what it used to be, so I will miss a bunch. Miles is such a story teller. Stories are good, but they do limit the actual basketball talk. First story was Beckner's fender bender with Miles riding shotgun. Just abused Beckner. Then the Gabrielle Union story in the airport. Told a good story about Dwayne Wade asking the team how many rings he had. Many of them knew he had 3. Then he asked if he ever led the league in scoring. No one knew for sure. Point being, nothing matters other than winning, and team is more important than any individual honors. Team goal is to find a way to scratch and claw to the NCAA tournament. We owe that to the seniors every year. He wouldn't like to play for a guy who said "Let's go guys, let's get to .500". The approach is to schedule enough to get a resume, and develop the tough-mindedness that it takes, and play defense and rebound and play the way we want to get there. Said that rebounding and interior defense were his biggest concerns with this team. Likes his perimeter defense with Benny, Tai, Shavon and White (Said some days White play good enough D, some days he doesn't). Said Tai is strong and defends well and will see lots of minutes (glad we didn't run him off like some wanted). Didn't say much about Morrow (called him "Murrow", like Edward R., Murrow) and nothing about Watson. Really was glowing about Shavon. Said some scouts have been in to watch him practice. Said he has lost 10-15 pounds and is more mobile. Expects him to have a great year. I mean, he really pumped up Shavon. You would have thought 49r took over the mike. Said Benny was shooting it well in practice, made it sound like he is more of a true point guard than in the past, playing the best ball of his career. Said McVeigh is not the quickest guy (usually translated as "he is slow"), but is a smart player and he buys into everything about being a Husker. Expects him to be a good player with improvements in strength and agility over time. Could tell Miles likes him and thinks he's a coach-able guy. Didn't say anything about Jacobson's injury other than the obvious "he has been dealing with a foot problem". Only thing about Hammond was "he's going to have to make some plays"; I think he was talking about interior defense. Said we would be small all year, and recited his year where they finished 4th at CSU with the tallest guy being 6'6". New Mexico, UNLV and San Diego State were no slouches to finish behind. But said the difference was in that league you could recover against the lower division teams. Not in this league' no easy wins. Mentioned the Top 15 classes from Penn State Minny, and someone else. Said they would go down some as teams get late signings and move ahead of them, but the recruiters are beasts in this league. Said the star system is getting better and more reliable in evaluation recruits, as there is more opportunity to evaluate the talent against better competition. Greg asked him if coaching in the league has been even more fun than he expected, and Coach turned it straight to coaching at Nebraska has been better than he could have ever expected. Loves the fan support and resources he has. Only regret is not having an abundance of playmakers residing here. Said a coach can develop guys, but when times are tough in a game you need studs who can make plays. Finally, he talked about Terran getting signed by the Pacers and then released, so he could sign with Ft. Wayne of the developmental league. Thought that was clearly the best move for Terran. Says the general managers he has talked to like Terran and think he will eventually make a roster. Thinks he could get a couple of 10 day call ups this year. Probably missed some things but this will have to do.

Please do not speculate. It is none of our business. Let us stick to what we know for a fact which is the following:....................................................................................?????????? There, doesn't that make a more interesting thread?

I just just thinking to myself that Tai seems like one of those guys who is a senior but who actually isn't.

Some other additions but overall your memory seems to be in tip-top shape - Benefited from the games in Spain....players with experience and coaches seeing what works. - Greg brings up Harriman leaving and Beckner joining the staff...Miles says you missed our interim guy Burno. Talked about Beckner being a Type A guy and detailed oriented...contrasted that with him going completely off-topic as a Type B guy before Greg put him back on task. And yes...Miles gave Beckner the business on the radio - Made Shamus look up who the Shaq/Wade Heat beat for the championship. SPOILER ALERT: Dallas in 2006. - Want to attack the basket more but need better 3 pt shooting to do it. Looking to get to the mid-high 30 percentages

The rankings don't factor in transfers either so it can skew things a bit when you are counting on major contributions from a guy like Andrew White.

Tai can get to the rim, he has always been able to get to the rim. Finishing at the rim has always been his problem. I have always been a big, big Tai supporter and I still am a big fan of his. He has worked his butt off and stayed the course when many other players left for greener pastures (or so they thought). He is in incredible physical condition and has very good athletic ability for his size. With all that said, as much as I want to see Tai breakthrough this year, I won't believe it until I see it. I just have never seen a guy find so many ways to miss shots, especially right at the rim. I watched all 4 games in Spain and other than game 1, I continued to see this pattern with Tai on drive after drive. I would bet my bottom dollar that he closes his eyes almost every time he drives to the basket and encounters any form of opposition or contact. There are some people who simply are averse to contact, causing them to flinch, to retract, to even close their eyes in anticipation. It is genetic IMO, I don't know if it can be overcome. If Tai could teach himself to thrive on contact rather than fear it, he could possibly take a major step forward. I just haven't seen any indication of that yet. As for Benny, we heard the same reports about his shooting last year. And he actually did come out and started the year decently shooting the ball. At one point I believe he was our leading 3 point shooter. But then conference started. Everything changes in conference. Opponents are bigger, stronger and faster, but even more important, the scouting is 1000X better. Conference teams know opponents weaknesses better than the players themselves. Once conference hit, BP reverted right back to what where he always has been. Hard to imagine things will change significantly this year, but who knows. He has worked hard on his game and his shot, I guess we will have to wait and see. But even if he improves his shot, he will never be the passer and facilitator that Watson already is. We really need Watson to get his defense up to snuff so he can get extended minutes this year.

This. I'm hoping worst case if Riley doesn't work out in the end that they are able to kick tail on the recruiting trail an upgrade our talent level for the next coach That would be shocking. They didn't recruit for crap to OSU. They would have been fired at the end of the year. That team is 2-5, and we know Anderson can coach, so clearly the cupboard was bare. Eichorst screwed the pooch. This. I'm hoping worst case if Riley doesn't work out in the end that they are able to kick tail on the recruiting trail an upgrade our talent level for the next coach That would be shocking. They didn't recruit for crap to OSU. They would have been fired at the end of the year. That team is 2-5, and we know Anderson can coach, so clearly the cupboard was bare. Eichorst screwed the pooch. No doubt the staff/Riley was on the downturn at Oregon State....which should be a cause for concern. Perhaps if we hired him in 2008 the hire would have looked much better on paper. Riley had knack of finding lower rated players and developing them at OSU....I think partly their recruiting numbers at OSU has to do with the program they were coaching at. My hope is Riley him finding those talented lower rated players for NU like he did at OSU but also mix in some higher ranked players that may be more ready to contribute right away. And we need players who can contribute ASAP in the worst way as we are not 3-5 bad...but our talent in some key spots is really lacking.

I am still voting that Tai will be the most improved player by years end. I am only hoping that Jake will be.

If we see lots of Tai this year, and he doesn't end the season with a new career high for field goals in a game vs. a Big Ten opponent, it will be a very long season. Because his current career high for field goals in a game against a conference opponent is 2. I hope it's a case that offensively last year Terran Petteway more or less crowded out the fourth and fifth options on the floor, and that Benny and Tai will show a lot of offensive improvement this year - they are both very good defensively, appear to be good guys and good teammates but they are going to have to do something so that other teams at least have to guard them.

Got 'em. 22nd year of season tickets. Always good to see tickets in hand.

After we beat Villanova, you'll change your tune. I just don't want this to be my tune after Villanova:

After we beat Villanova, you'll change your tune.

Or a hundred for season pass, if they still have any.Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk