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Don't undersell how well Tai played last year. Averaged 10+ in conference play last year and has been one of the better defenders on the team (in the conference?) for a couple of years now. If he can improve like he did last year, he's gonna be a huge piece of the puzzle.

I'd much rather we get on the 'postseason 15 impact freshman' rather than 'preseason 15 impact freshman' list

Well I've followed Nebraska sports for 60 years including WBB since it started and have no relatives on any N/U team. I may be senile but don't think so. As I have previously posted I was a big Connie Yori fan and hold no ill feelings towards her tenure at NU. In my estimation and others as well things just got away from her on an escalating scale the past two years. I've managed a large number of people over the years in a manufacturing environment and team chemistry is just as important there as in sports. The person leading the team is the one ultimately responsible to make sure it's there. Some times easier said then done.

Sounds like a franchise start-up by AWIII. Sorry, couldn't resist.

So . . . it looks like we are poised for another breakout year (a little levity -- but no sarcasm -- intended). Here's what our soon-to-be contributors looked like at the beginning of 2013-2014's highly-successful season: Tai Webster -- a freshman point guard David Rivers -- a 6'7 198 lb. Junior forward, who would spend lots of time in the paint with bigs Benny Parker -- a 1- or 2- star point guard sophomore Terran Petteway -- a yet-unproven sophomore wing, who would reach great heights Mike Peltz -- a no-star senior guard who would do the dirty work on defense Ray Gallegos -- a red-shirt senior guard -- a three-point specialist who shot .335 from three Leslee Smith -- a first-year, 6'8" 255 lb. junior center who would perform well-beyond expectations Shavon Shields -- a sophomore 2- or 3- star wing who would contribute beyond his years and experience Walter Pitchford -- a redshirt sophomore, who played pretty well most of that season Everyone picked this team dead-last in the Big Ten -- and deservedly so. They finished fourth and in the Dance. This season: Tai Webster -- a Senior who played well on occasion last year Anton Gill -- a redshirt junior and former four-star recruit Glynn Watson -- a sophomore point guard -- four-star -- who played very well last year Jack McVeigh -- a sophomore three-point specialist who, when playing heavy minutes, shot well over .400 last year Michael Jacobson -- a sophomore who performed well beyond expectations last year Ed Morrow -- a sophomore four-star who grew tremendously last year when healthy Jeriah Horne -- a Top 150 freshman Isaiah Roby -- a four-star freshman Jordy Tshimanga -- a Top 150 freshman big Everyone is picking this team in the bottom two or three of the league. The foregoing shows why they play the games. It will be fun to see how much these guys beat expectations this season.

I'm just surprised he remembered to put us on the list!

Here is a photo captured of Andre after lunch:

Now that we have a few votes locked in, let me touch on the key topics that Norm brought up: 1. Sewage/polluted water events? - This is a HUGE issue in Rio. Back when Rio won the Olympics, they were contracted to build 4+ water treatment facilities but they only ended up building one. You'll notice a central theme here, but part of the reason for this is the corruption issues that Brazil has been facing for decades. I can't tell you who or how much of the money of the remaining 3+ water treatment facilities flowed to people and not contracts, but I guarantee it happened. - I have personally seen locals releasing fluids and bowels in the rivers that flow out into the ocean. Their level of 'sanitary' is very different than ours. - I would not swim in the rivers or oceans if I were you. 2. Terrorism? - When I have been to Brazil, I haven't really faced this issue. The only thing I can speak to is that the favelas (slums) are a real thing. There is a very obvious divide between rich and poor. In the favelas, there are not police presence; they have things called "peace officers" which are locals who carry heavy ammo and guns and are very visible throughout the neighborhoods. - Let's not be ignorant; we know there are people out there eying this major worldwide event. 3. Construction incompletion? - As mentioned before, corruption is a huge issue. I have visited Petrobras (Brazilian Petroleum company) which was once a Top 10 world's highest revenue company. This company was involved in a $3B money laundering scandal, called Lava Jato (Operation Car Wash) which involved price-fixing and hiding money in various small expense accounts. To make matters worse, the Brazilian government owns a majority in most of the major companies in the country. - This led to many Petrobras executives, government legislators, and a former Brazilian president getting convicted for this crime. This was tremendous news for the people of Brazil, because this was the first time in its history where the big powers were actually being held accountable. - So with these construction issues, keep in mind the corruption, price-fixing, and government influence in attempting to keep most of the money with the government and high powers in corporations. It's really a shame. Brazil has had the potential in the past 2-3 decades to really become a Top 5 powerhouse world economy, but they've continued to struggle with corruption and a large social class divide. Brazil's economy is heavily dependent on petroleum, agriculture (e.g. coffee, beef, sugarcane), and forestry. With the Petrobras scandal and the current global affect on petroleum prices, Brazil's economy has been hit hard. I really hope the best for Brazil, but there are so many underlying issues with that country that need to be fixed before the country can take that next step as a key player in the global economy. The Olympics this year is their chance to show what they have to offer to the world, but I don't have much confidence in their ability to cover up the media coverage of sewage/pollution, crime/terrorism, and incomplete construction.

No one except for the biggest homer will pick us above 10th place. It is what it is and it's up to the team to either meet or exceed those expectations. We're going to be young overall, our top 2 scores are gone, a new starter at point guard, not a lot of size in the post. That isn't the formula for impressing preseason forecasters. Time to go to the "games aren't won on paper" argument to prove them wrong!

I like when we are picked to finish last or close to it. We tend to perform better when we don't have to high of expectation on us.

That's some funny stuff right there. And he got his "and one"!

Who is 'up' for a little 'Magic-in-a-Bottle!'

Even more so than that...not even in the next 10 either. Have a hard time seeing Roby or Tshimanga not a part of the top 25 freshmen in the conference

One last reply and then I'm on to other things. In the past If my memory serves me right I believe I said that we will never know all the reasons for her departure. I have faith in our athletic director that many things were taken into account. Nobody in their right mind would arrive at that decision based on the last 2 years of a near 50/50 conference record especially with a great tenure to that point. I wish it would all have worked out differently and we would be discussing other WBB news but it didn't. Unfortunately life has many disappointments. This is another example.

I do appreciate the civil discourse, but your last point about "what have you done for me lately" is precisely what I have been at odds with in your posts since Yori got canned by Eichorst. Your focus in apparently supporting the firing has seemed to be based on the conference record the last 2 years, and things that were going on in the moment, vs. the long term record of success. Perhaps I have misunderstood a multitude of posts on the subject. In any event, I didn't mean to hijack the thread, which was supposed to be about the Corn Nation article.

shouldn't that read 2016-17?

Sack attack!

Fair enough. Although it is interesting that despite some "chemistry problems", we were dong very well and were heading to the tournament after the road game at Michigan. It was only after we lost our starting back-court to injury that things went south. And even then there was plenty of "want to", despite what the author of the article said. I hope in business you had a longer lens than 2 years. This was a 14 year enterprise of superlative results.

314 with a +/- error of 40 lbs http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=204941383&DB_OEM_ID=100

All I'm saying is is there seemed to be a lot that affected the team chemistry last year. Some of it carrying over from the previous year. If we have the right head coach we will see a big improvement in that area. Time will tell it always does.

"He's got a chance to be pretty special," Wilson said of Jordy. Gotta love that!

I didn't see where Creighton offered, clearly they've been in on him before anyone else... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But you did resurrect something, by naming a specific player. There is a returning player, rather than a graduating player, who contributed mightily to team chemistry problems. Perhaps with a new coach she will make some changes, but it isn't a given. Anyway, the article was amateurish.

Some thing that obviously affected team chemistry that never has been addressed much at lest publicly was when Rachel Theriot was disciplined by coach Yori a couple of times for what Yori described as an attitude situation. I don't want to resurrect anything other then we have a great opportunity to improve team chemistry and I think we substantially will.

...are more people coming around to my line of thinking? Jordy IS going to play a lot of major minutes for us this year.

Miles = Character! (in all meanings of the word )

I really believe we got a good one in Jordy. He's still a bit raw, but the physical tools are there, and he's a competitor who likes to get physical in the paint. He doesn't view himself as a 6'10" wing like Walt Pitchford, in other words! He's also a really good kid with good character who fits in really well with the other members of this class and the guys we brought in last year.

Perhaps Coach Miles should hire a Trump 2016 campaign cast-off to assist in the recruiting? They seem to know a thing or two about "Race-baiting"

Maybe we could get the Shim Shams to show up and do a Haka.

You are way, way, way too harsh on the prior coach. You're either very young, are related to a certain player, or have little perspective on college basketball in Lincoln Nebraska.