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Anyone that thought this team was going to be anything but a work in progress all year wasn't really paying much attention. Way too many new faces on the team, only one experienced scorer returning and no experienced post presence. In the preseason we were picked in the bottom 3 by EVERYONE. I frankly expected more games where we got blown out simply because relying on freshmen when you're anyone except Kentucky, Duke, etc. is a crap shoot and likely to look like the stock market lately. I think if you look at the entire body of work for the season and stop picking points in time we are nowhere near bottom. I'm not saying we are where we want to be and we certainly shouldn't allow the program to gravitate toward mediocrity, however, when you look at this team, the talent and the level of play this year it is LIGHT YEARS ahead of where we were anytime in the last decade except for the team two years ago. We are a program that isn't rebuilding, it is BUILDING. Building anything right takes time and a solid foundation. I believe what we seeing this year is that foundation being built. We can either sit here and be consistent and negative about the program and measure everything in absolute wins and losses or we can try to look at the big picture and see if the program as a whole is trending in the right direction. Myself, I see a positive trend and am excited about seeing how we finish this year, how we finish recruiting and seeing a higher level product on the floor next year. Of course for some, next year is NCAA's or bust so I guess we should just set a timer on the hitting bottom thread for this time next year and see where we are.

Our offense, especially shooting, is the best of the Miles era in a tempo free context. It's very possible it's the most efficient overall since the 2003-04 Barry Collier team that won a couple of NIT games. If anything, our defense has been the let down which one could chalk up to our younger players. I suppose we could blame Mo for that too.

Here's the deal. We go out back, you give me half your money, I'll kick you in the nuts and we'll call it even...

It's not though. Unless we lose to Northwestern it's not. Unless we lose in the B1G tournament it's not. And even then? It's still not.

NO Technical's from Miles.

I understand all of the frustration with this season. I really do. But to say we have hit rock bottom is a bit extreme. Rock bottom would be a team that quits. A team that when it gets down folds up camp and matters get worse. This team has not done that one time all season. Maybe the Samford game because we just had no energy all night long. Again, I'm not a moral victory guy. But as I have stated in a previous post, we are literally a few bounces away from having easily 3-5 more wins (NW, OSU, Maryland, Miami, PSU). Yes, it sucks. Especially when you are so close. Can these young guys next year find a way to win these close games? I sure hope so. Confidence and momentum can go a long ways with athletes. We just for whatever reason haven't been able to get over the hump. Also, Indiana and Iowa must have hit rock bottom with their losses to this awful PSU team you speak of.

Honestly, I hope this is rock bottom. It could be a hell of a lot worse. If this is as bad as it's going to get, then we're good to go.

Brilliant. Especially since Mo coaches defense. Yes. I didn't stutter. We need much more emphasis on scoring. We were good on D before Mo arrived. It's clear they struggle on offense still. Offense has improved across the country due to shorter clock and how officials are calling things. But you seem to be blaming a defensive coach for our poor offense. Perhaps recruiting some shooters would better address the situation than firing the defensive coach.

Too deep a hole to dig ourselves out of. Proud of the guys for making it close.

Dead meat attracts maggots

That Iowa game at home last season for Nebrasketball was a "rock bottom" moment. Other than that, I just don't see the angst as a reality during the Tim Miles' era. These guys lay it out there each & every game. Now, the results aren't there like we as fans would like but the effort & determination are certainly 100%. Part of this struggle appears to be understanding the game, which would greatly assist in knowing the difference between mild disappointment and major disappointment. Not every thing in hoops or life is a MAJOR issue that requires immediate attention. Life is a series of hills & valleys, which epitomizes what Nebrasketball is about. Carry on. GBR

If this is rock bottom....I'm not sure what last year was.

or being Rutgers would be pretty close to rock bottom. We have a chance every time we step on the court to win, so I don't see any rock bottom this year, Rocky Road this year yes but not rock bottom.

He's gone from a guy who was zero impact as a freshman to someone who at points was a reliable post player for portions of games. For those of us here who lust over what big dumb senior post player Creighton has on any given year he's still certainly on that trajectory. If we can keep picking up one of these guys every year eventually we have upperclassmen post players.

Yeah, yeah, we played terrible, didn't deserve to win, yadda yadda yadda. But that foul call on White was absolute bull shit. And it decided the game by giving them a new shot clock.

The biggest adjustment for freshmen is in playing defense. Of all the players we miss from last year I would put Hallie Sample at the top of the list. We just don't have that person this year. She would often guard the other teams best scoring threat whether it was a guard or fwd. Hopefully Nicea Eliely will eventually fill that role. The league has too many top caliber scorers especially at guard to not have someone that can slow them down.

Absurd topics call for absurd comparisons. At least we've moved past comparing people on the team to Taylor Martinez.

I disagree. I don't think we complain more about the refs now than we ever did. And I think when we complain about officiating, it's because officials have blown some crucial calls. Refs get called out on message boards across the country. I doubt we're any more guilty of this than any other fan base. And I don't think there's anything wrong with complaining about bad officiating or inconsistent officiating. Because players and coaches can't comment, officials get a free pass. Why is that? And we can criticize the coach or the players and no one seems to object and say that the players and coaches are off limits. But you seem to think officials should get a free pass. Why is that? If officials are never held to public scrutiny and criticism, is there any incentive for them to not repeatedly do stupid stuff like that Eades guy? I'm not down on the floor so I don't know how Miles' behavior is any different than any other coach. There was a time in the Maryland game, though, where Turgeon's assistants had to haul him back to the bench and he was being very demonstrative in showing up the official. That should have been a T, no question. But they didn't call it. I question whether the Ts are being handed out equally. It's like hanging on the rim. Sometimes it's a technical and sometimes it's obvious. But sometimes it's called in situations that are indistinguishable from thousands of other dunks where it wasn't called. Or moving screens. They don't call it 90% of the time and then, suddenly, the last minute of a close game, one of our players will get whistled for it and it's a turnover. All I'm asking for is consistency. And when I don't see it, you're damn right I'm going to complain about it. Just like we complain about Husker players who don't seem to give full effort or Husker coaches who don't seem to make adjustments. Why are you suggesting that officials should be off limits?

Or show up when things start to go south during a game. It's like clock work.

This isn't CLOSE to rock bottom. Imagine dropping the next two (certainly possible) and then getting smoked in the B1G tourney. As disheartening as that would be even THAT wouldn't be rock bottom. Does the name Maryland Baltimore Co. ring a bell?

It's not though.Unless we lose to Northwestern it's not. Unless we lose in the B1G tournament it's not. And even then? It's still not. How is the current state of the program not the current state of the program?When you can see the forest from the trees.Please enlighten me. Help unblur my perspective.The state of the program is bigger than a 2 close game skid to Ohio State and Penn State.Is the state of the program bigger than 2-6 or 6-10 or 14-15 or 27-33 or 61-63?This year has gone from having the potential to be a building year to a losing season the last 8 games. Sometimes building gets delayed a bit. I still see this as a good building year even if we end up under .500. Because we lost closer in games. Never got really blown out and pushed some good teams to the end. To me those are signs of growth and building in a positive way and direction.I generally agree. But feeling good about close games sounds like the little engine that could.I don't think miles is happy with the state of the program so I don't think the fans should. So we are the little engine that could. I think coaches tend to talk with out thinking some. We as fans also hold these guys to what they say. Tim can say we aren't the little engine that could but what is the other two engines called? The little engine that couldn't at all and the big engine that does it all. We are building towards the big engine that does it all. I guess I have too much going in my life to really worry about if this program is at rock bottom or not. I know it is a message board and all, but we tend to go away to far when we lose or win. What would everybody being say if Shavon hits that shot? Are we then at rock bottom? If we go on a mini run here and win the B1G are we at rock bottom? If we don't win another game this year are we at rock bottom? Rock bottom to me is next step is death or rehab. We as a program are not that far down. And if doesn't like me being okay with how the team looks and thinks I am settling for too little that is on him not me.

It was 4 of 6. Doesn't really seem in the grand scheme of thing that matters much. So you are saying sadler was a better coach than miles? I think I just had a mini-stroke.

Brilliant. Especially since Mo coaches defense. I hate the defense we run. They have 2 shooters that are killing us and every time, we leave them open to go down and double in the low post. Here's a thought, how about playing them straight up and see if we can handling them down low without bring the double team each time and let them just shoot wide open 3's. They were the worst 3 point shooting team and we make them look like they are the best. Coach Mo loves to just double everywhere and it's not working.

I disagree. I don't think we complain more about the refs now than we ever did. And I think when we complain about officiating, it's because officials have blown some crucial calls. Refs get called out on message boards across the country. I doubt we're any more guilty of this than any other fan base. And I don't think there's anything wrong with complaining about bad officiating or inconsistent officiating. Because players and coaches can't comment, officials get a free pass. Why is that? And we can criticize the coach or the players and no one seems to object and say that the players and coaches are off limits. But you seem to think officials should get a free pass. Why is that? If officials are never held to public scrutiny and criticism, is there any incentive for them to not repeatedly do stupid stuff like that Eades guy? I'm not down on the floor so I don't know how Miles' behavior is any different than any other coach. There was a time in the Maryland game, though, where Turgeon's assistants had to haul him back to the bench and he was being very demonstrative in showing up the official. That should have been a T, no question. But they didn't call it. I question whether the Ts are being handed out equally. It's like hanging on the rim. Sometimes it's a technical and sometimes it's obvious. But sometimes it's called in situations that are indistinguishable from thousands of other dunks where it wasn't called. Or moving screens. They don't call it 90% of the time and then, suddenly, the last minute of a close game, one of our players will get whistled for it and it's a turnover. All I'm asking for is consistency. And when I don't see it, you're damn right I'm going to complain about it. Just like we complain about Husker players who don't seem to give full effort or Husker coaches who don't seem to make adjustments. Why are you suggesting that officials should be off limits? I think if you look close you'll see I never said referees were off limits. They are human. In my experience how you handle adversity is more important to the long term success than who was at fault. I think if you start to develop a reputation for going off and/or booing officials it affects the calls you get so it's eventually doubly bad for a coach or fan base. Take Bo Pelini ... it wasn't always what he did in the moment but often the build up of petty complaints the entire time before. I wonder if that's part of why it seems to us Miles is getting picked on. There hasn't been one game this year where I felt we were screwed. We play in a league where most other teams are much longer than us at EVERY position. That puts us at a huge disadvantage. I do think we're worse than some schools when it comes to complaining about the refs. I have been to quite a lot of college hoops games in my life and I don't recall the refs getting booed off the court at half as many times as I have the past 3 years. Well, all I know is they called a little touch foul on Tai with 9 seconds left (which had nothing to do with anyone being longer than us at any position), and then ignored a timeout attempt and an arm grab on Glynn. Whether that counts as being "screwed" is the question, I guess. As for Miles, your post makes it sound like he's considerably different than other coaches in the league. The video montage posted yesterday shows that's he's tame by comparison of some. And comparing him to Bo is absurd. Our fans aren't any worse than other places, so we just disagree on that. If for some reason Miles and/or our fan base have some reputation for being a problem, that's BS. Spend 5 minutes watching Fran McCaffray, Frank Martin, Roy Williams, Coach K, and a zillion other examples. That was more than a touch foul on Tai. We couldn't stop them going to the hoop late ... period. Over and over and over. Maybe that didn't have anything to do with being longer, but it was about being stronger at a minimum. I did not compare Tim to Bo just because I mentioned them in the same sentence. I referenced Pelini as someone who is WAY over the line. My point was that I said Miles was getting CLOSE to the line where his behavior on the T's he gets are harming rather than helping. I didn't say he was over the line yet. A technical once in a great while can help you eventually get calls or when used strategically. Push the line too much too often and you do yourself harm regarding calls. We don't know what words Miles uses and like I said one outburst by another coach might not be enough to get a T while constantly complaining by another person might achieve a Technical by accumulation practically. It's amazing how overblown most on here have made this ... I'm not saying Miles is Pelini. I used that for reference's sake. People are here are hypersensitive to any criticism of anyone it seems. All I said was I was starting to get concerned that Miles is pushing the line too much and might not be doing us any favors. Do you really think we get the two calls Penn State got in the last 23 seconds if we were at home? I don't. I flat out don't. Anyway, we'll just have to disagree on what you think is a problem or very close to it. Not even close to any line. You fail to see the point but that's OK. The point is he is getting close to the line where his behavior and drawing techs does not result in helping us get calls. Not that he's close to crossing some morality line or something. Agree to disagree for sure. It isn't about seeing the point, it's that your observations are clearly wrong. There is no "behavior" issue there. I never said there was a behavior issue ... Uh, except that part where you said "he is getting close to the line where his behavior and drawing techs does not result in helping us get calls"..

Pretty much every team in the conference has hit rock bottom this year.

The lowest point of this year was obviously the loss to Samford at home but I get how it's after every game we lose for some.

The Big ten is tough on the road. Every team we play is good at home, yet we haven't done well at home this season. Penn State is 10-3 at home on the year. The only teams to beat Penn State this month are Nebraska and Iowa, but Penn State also handed a loss to each of those teams. They also beat league-leading Indiana. Most saw this game as a great opportunity to grab a win, which it was, we just couldn't finish. My point is though that most saw this as an "easier" game because it was a lower tier team in the current standings. This league ain't easy and this team is young. Gotta learn how to finish these close games. Gotta have the experience to grind when things aren't going well and master damage control to not get down by 18 in the first place. Have to win. Message boards lean to each extreme on a result. Message boards lean to each extreme based on one basket. As much as it sucks to not be able to finish, the progress of the team and its youth is pretty much the same at this point of the season whether it's a 1 point win or a 1 point loss. Us fans but especially the team need to bury these shitty games in the books, tally a chalk mark in the experience column, and have the will to rid these clunkers from the schedule. Guys need to grow mentally. Gain an edge and win some damn games. This league isn't getting any easier. Everyone else is bringing in ball players. A team like Penn State has a ridiculously good class coming in next year. Let's go. Tired of these threads.

Rock bottom? You must not be familiar with Nebraska basketball. Things could be and have been much worse. I'm really struggling picturing us dancing any time soon....but even if we do, I'm sure you will continue to be a douche.

I knew reading this would not start my day well, and it hasn't. Like the ESPN announcers, I was remote from the live game last night and appreciated the DVR. The tape ruined my night anyway, but at least I didn't have to suffer as long. Then I watched a movie I taped, World War Z, and found it to be one of Brad Pitt's crappier ones, which didn't help at all. Now we have 5 days to mull this one over at HHC. Should be as pleasant as watching 5 more Republican debates

To me, the most disappointing part was seeing no sense of urgency until we were down 18 points.

I disagree. I don't think we complain more about the refs now than we ever did. And I think when we complain about officiating, it's because officials have blown some crucial calls. Refs get called out on message boards across the country. I doubt we're any more guilty of this than any other fan base. And I don't think there's anything wrong with complaining about bad officiating or inconsistent officiating. Because players and coaches can't comment, officials get a free pass. Why is that? And we can criticize the coach or the players and no one seems to object and say that the players and coaches are off limits. But you seem to think officials should get a free pass. Why is that? If officials are never held to public scrutiny and criticism, is there any incentive for them to not repeatedly do stupid stuff like that Eades guy? I'm not down on the floor so I don't know how Miles' behavior is any different than any other coach. There was a time in the Maryland game, though, where Turgeon's assistants had to haul him back to the bench and he was being very demonstrative in showing up the official. That should have been a T, no question. But they didn't call it. I question whether the Ts are being handed out equally. It's like hanging on the rim. Sometimes it's a technical and sometimes it's obvious. But sometimes it's called in situations that are indistinguishable from thousands of other dunks where it wasn't called. Or moving screens. They don't call it 90% of the time and then, suddenly, the last minute of a close game, one of our players will get whistled for it and it's a turnover. All I'm asking for is consistency. And when I don't see it, you're damn right I'm going to complain about it. Just like we complain about Husker players who don't seem to give full effort or Husker coaches who don't seem to make adjustments. Why are you suggesting that officials should be off limits? I think if you look close you'll see I never said referees were off limits. They are human. In my experience how you handle adversity is more important to the long term success than who was at fault. I think if you start to develop a reputation for going off and/or booing officials it affects the calls you get so it's eventually doubly bad for a coach or fan base. Take Bo Pelini ... it wasn't always what he did in the moment but often the build up of petty complaints the entire time before. I wonder if that's part of why it seems to us Miles is getting picked on. There hasn't been one game this year where I felt we were screwed. We play in a league where most other teams are much longer than us at EVERY position. That puts us at a huge disadvantage. I do think we're worse than some schools when it comes to complaining about the refs. I have been to quite a lot of college hoops games in my life and I don't recall the refs getting booed off the court at half as many times as I have the past 3 years. Well, all I know is they called a little touch foul on Tai with 9 seconds left (which had nothing to do with anyone being longer than us at any position), and then ignored a timeout attempt and an arm grab on Glynn. Whether that counts as being "screwed" is the question, I guess. As for Miles, your post makes it sound like he's considerably different than other coaches in the league. The video montage posted yesterday shows that's he's tame by comparison of some. And comparing him to Bo is absurd. Our fans aren't any worse than other places, so we just disagree on that. If for some reason Miles and/or our fan base have some reputation for being a problem, that's BS. Spend 5 minutes watching Fran McCaffray, Frank Martin, Roy Williams, Coach K, and a zillion other examples. That was more than a touch foul on Tai. We couldn't stop them going to the hoop late ... period. Over and over and over. Maybe that didn't have anything to do with being longer, but it was about being stronger at a minimum. I did not compare Tim to Bo just because I mentioned them in the same sentence. I referenced Pelini as someone who is WAY over the line. My point was that I said Miles was getting CLOSE to the line where his behavior on the T's he gets are harming rather than helping. I didn't say he was over the line yet. A technical once in a great while can help you eventually get calls or when used strategically. Push the line too much too often and you do yourself harm regarding calls. We don't know what words Miles uses and like I said one outburst by another coach might not be enough to get a T while constantly complaining by another person might achieve a Technical by accumulation practically. It's amazing how overblown most on here have made this ... I'm not saying Miles is Pelini. I used that for reference's sake. People are here are hypersensitive to any criticism of anyone it seems. All I said was I was starting to get concerned that Miles is pushing the line too much and might not be doing us any favors. Do you really think we get the two calls Penn State got in the last 23 seconds if we were at home? I don't. I flat out don't. Anyway, we'll just have to disagree on what you think is a problem or very close to it. Not even close to any line.

Damn, that was one game that was pissed away in the first 5 minutes of the 2nd half yet clawed back into it late. Kudos to Nebrasketball for never giving up, but that ending sucked. Senior Night in Lincoln better be lit. Shavon & Benny deserve a dub vs those Boiled eggs. And then payback vs the eggheads at NW.

Gill is a guard instead of a forward. One way to think of this is Watson-Gill-White-McVeigh-(Post Player). All of a sudden we have an offense with at least 4 guys who can shoot and/or score. The offense this year on average is the most efficient we've run here and while we're replacing a heavy usage guy like Shields at no point has he ever been a highly efficient scorer. They're getting a lot of experience. I'd like to look at the best games for each one and expect them to put together more of those on a consistent basis. Let's hope so and let's hope they're not the only guys coming.

Hard not to dwell on the last 30 seconds of this game even though the previous 39 dictated it. Penn State really wasn't wanting to win as much as they wanted not to lose.

it's a Midwestern thing with putting r's where they don't belong. Kinda like wrash and no t wash. Or Chicago instead of Chicago. Down south in southern Kansas....Okla..... wash clothes ..... "warsh" clothes yeah I misspelled warsh, but you caught for me. I used to live down there many years ago, but still have the "r" in some words...so my kids tell me.

if you had told me shields would have 25, i probably would not have guessed we'd lose.

1 game my friend... 1 game.

I hate when my favorite team is shitty.

This is not a team I want to see in the Vegas 16.

I just have to assume Nebraska is a team filled with absolutely awful shooters. I mean Donovan Jack kind of awful.

My wife would not let out of my seat at halftime for this game. And I was not shown the door, just threatened with it by the men in black

Can someone check the tape? Did AW3 slap the floor at anytime on defense?

You recognize rock bottom only with hind sight.

Am watching Rutgers and Scared Heart that is rock bottom.

NCAA

Tulsa beat Creighton pretty handily as well. Tulsa might be a pretty good ball club.

I agree they have hit rock bottom. I do not agree with your optimistic take. The coaches are losing this team and this season. And a lost season could dramatically negatively affect recruiting. NU basketball fans have been down this road before. Collier had a couple nice seasons where the players overachieved before the bottom fell out. Same with Sadler. I know how this story typically ends. 1. Andrew White 2. Ed Morrow 3. Glyn Watson 4. Michael Jacobson

Not rock bottom becuase we haven't really been trashed yet. The games we have lost we could have won, not that they were great teams we lost to but at least we aren't getting runout of the gym by bad teams, yet... that would be rock bottom. If we loose to NW or PSU by more than 10 or get our doors blown off by Ill or Ind. That, to me would be rock bottom.

Hawaii is not awful, just mediocre (and so are we). Awful teams do not beat Pitt. But I do agree that when your expectations are to be "great" , then mediocre appears "awful".