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Fact or fiction: When Craig Smith was on our bench, man, we had a great offense and it's totally gone down the shitter since he left. Now, we have middle-school, clear-out, hero ball; before, we actually ran an offensive system. Smith was the offensive genius behind Miles' first NCAA tourney run and we've never been as good since he left. I don't have a subscription to KenPom so I don't know how to read his data. But I keep reading comments by people essentially claiming the above. But the above doesn't really square with my recollection. My recollection was we had Terran Petteway getting isos and taking a crap-ton of ill-advised shots, a bunch of which happened to fall. Can any of you data/metrics types answer the question of whether our offense is materially different since Craig Smith left? P.S. I'm not saying Smith isn't a good coach. He's clearly turned things around at SDSU and now Utah State. The guy can obviously coach. But was he the offensive mastermind he's being credited as being, the departure of whom has left us in our current lurch?

Funny you bring this up Norm! I found myself browsing YouTube last night watching some old games, and I came across the 2014 B1G tourney when we should've beat OSU. We had lots of moments where it was Iso for TP and SS. We also had poor spacing and some very ugly possessions. I can honestly say it doesn't look much different from what we have seen since Smith left. That's not saying he isn't good, but the ridiculous thought that him leaving was our downfall is ludicrous. Michael Lewis does as good of a job with the offense. Our offense has had moments where it looks phenomenal. I think it's easy to forget how different we became once Copeland went down. Totally changes what we can do offensively and defensively.

So, last March, we felt we were more the team that finished the season going into places like Wisconsin and coming away with Ws than the team that lost early on to St. John's and UCF. But the committee basically said we're going to judge you on your whole body of work, including the early loss to a St. John's team that ended up tanking later on. So, sorry Huskers, but you don't get in. Then, if I'm to understand what people are saying now, we again feel we're probably more the team we've been over the last 2 months than the team we were before Copeland got hurt. Yet, this time … we're not to be judged on our whole body of work but rather just the games since we've gone into the crapper in the last half of the season. I mean, either you judge a team by its whole body of work or you judge a team by what they looked like the last half of the season. But quit changing the standards depending on what keeps us out of post-season.

Purdue was the hungrier team. We waited til the 4th Q to play like the season was on the line. We got killed by many of the same things that plagued us all year tonight.

"Hey, Kenya, I know this seems like a good career move, but we have decided to take a new approach with Husker basketball. We are "all in", like we are in football. Here's what that means to you.. Coach Miles is getting a 3 year extension. We want recruits to know he is our coach and we believe in him (and you). His assistants will be getting significant raises with extra term guaranteed We will make recruiting travel easier for the assistants, like we are for the football coaches Did I mention we are giving you a raise? We understand you want a career path, and we are on board with that. Tell us how we can help. We think you and Coach are going to be successful and we want to give you whatever support we can." I guess I am making the assumption that this would have kept Hunter here. Maybe not. But if Moos (or whomever is making the call at the University) wants to tell us fans that they care about basketball and are dedicated to make us relevant, this discussion should've happened then and, more importantly, should happen with whomever comes in next.

I’d need to go back and watch some games from back then, but I’d say that Ray Gallegos was constantly moving when he was off the ball a lot of the time - something we’ve been missing?

Maybe help is on the way with the turnover problem.

IMO our hot shooting covers up our deficiencies! We didn’t play all that great in the 4th quarter, we just got hot. Purdue got too many easy baskets off of our poor play on offense and bad transition defense. We are mediocre, that’s what our season record tells us. I think we will get better, but I wouldn’t look to challenge the top of this league.

Rebounding and turnovers killed us this year. Hope we can get that corrected next year.

Nevada is 1 - 1 against tier 1 teams this year. Both games were against Utah State, who are 30th in NET. Tier 1 for home games is 1 - 30. If that is all you could say for keeping a team out, Nevada should be out, yet they are projected as a 6 seed. My guess is that Xavier has a freshmen season like Watson. 8.6 points a game. 1.9 rebounds. 2.4 assists per game. This narrative that our players have sucked since Miles got here gets old. Players have improved under Miles. Maybe not as much as we all hoped.

They got the cash.....

Rankings by average finish since we joined the Big Ten (Using ESPN and I just went off display order, not tie-breakers/seeds): Michigan St 2.89 Wisconsin 4.1 Maryland 4 Michigan 4.4 Purdue 4.8 Ohio State 5.6 Indiana 6.6 Iowa 6.9 Minnesota 8.9 Illinois 9.4 Northwestern 9.8 Nebraska 9.9 Penn State 10.9 Rutgers 13.2 I think you can split this into 4 Tiers: Tier 1: Michigan St Tier 2: Wisconsin, Maryland, Michigan, Purdue, Ohio State Tier 3: Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois Tier 4: Nebraska, Penn State, Northwestern, Rutgers I would like to clearly separate ourselves from Tier 4 into Tier 3. If we can regularly hang out in Tier 3, I think that should at least put us close to the bubble most years. Move to the top of Tier 3, you're probably in with a decent non-con. Then you'll have some years where you get a chance to move to Tier 2 when other teams are down.

Oh Dear Lord I hope that Alford is not one of them. What a disaster of a hire that would be. He's failed horribly at Iowa and UCLA, and let a rapist stay on his team at Iowa. Hard pass on this buffoon.

And yet apparently it requires cheating to achieve even that...

#2 has been an issue all season. seemed like it would get fixed for a game or two, then opps back to the ole watch em get a rebound.

*thin ?

Is this what they call deja vu all over again?

Correct, they've never been to the Sweet 16. Third round means second round. That's how Wikipedia lists it. Stupidest thing ever. Should be "Play-in games" followed by "First Round", but I digress. Point is, even Creighton's level of success isn't asking for a whole lot.

Yeah...gonna say that's pretty solidly just rumor.

For all the Miles' haters, as well as the people who think Miles didn't deserve an extension AND didn't think we should have been in the tourney last year, let me ask you this: Do you think Moos extends Miles had the committee selected us? Same exact team, same exact resume. I guarantee he does, which makes it all the more frustrating he didn't. We were 22 and freaking 9 in the regular season. That was our best since, what, 1991?!

Fred Hoiberg March 22

30 games in, and same fatal flaws. Coaches need to up their game. They seem to be recruiting OK, but verdict is out in a lot of areas. Hats off to ladies. No one can say they don't compete.

BOX THE $%%& OUT!! it's not hard!

Are Harris and this announcer dating? Geez I don't fawn over my own family that hard.

Really need a couple of bad ass rebounders.

Not a terrible path to make a run though.

Creighton fans have the best of both worlds - they can cheat like crazy in basketball and it won't get any investigators looking into their football program.

I've thought a lot about this but I just can't come up with a different answer - NU should be top half of the B1G every year and in contention for the NCAA tourney every year. In contention doesn't always mean we make it, but we should at least be in the conversation. If you are a big-time athletic department, I don't see accepting anything less.

If you read the article it sounds like grades maybe? Said he will be at the "study table"

It may be/probably be/most certainly be false. I trust who told me and they are related to a coach on staff but I realize sometimes people exaggerate information. Oh, and you can't have more than 100%. It's a math thing.

Maybe we could hire a bag man as an assistant coach. ?

I think he has shown the ability to shoot in spurts. Shot selection was a bit questionable at times but I think under different circumstances, he'd fare quite a bit better

Yep, I agree with this. The whole reason this debate was brought up, is the fact that I hate that the AD is used as a crutch and dismiss the actual on court results. I've admitted multiple times that the Administration seemed to drop the ball on certain things, but the same thing can be said about the administration for Mike Riley - doesn't mean he was the right guy for NU. I'm at the point where, yes, the AD has gotten some things wrong (he's been here a year, lets give him a chance to right some wrongs), Coach Miles has had 7 years, and the things he can control on the court, are not up to standards - it is time to move in a new direction.

Safe to say this fire has jumped the break. Man, what an epic meltdown.

I think Miles not getting an extension more or less sold him on his decision, but it wasn't the deciding factor. I think a Miles extension and raise could have gotten him to stay, but you can play the what if game for everything. The only thing that truly matters is the "what happened" game.

My guess is that we won't see Nana suited up in red again. Just my guess.

Again, I'm sorry my attempt at humor offended you. I wasn't trying to step on any toes; I'm genuinely surprised at your reaction. I thought the reference to the fire swamp from "The Princess Bride" was quite apropos. And I thought the unicorn would bring some levity to the discussion. I was obviously wrong. These periods of adversity bring out the worst in us. People aren't as interested in laughing about things. It's one of the reasons I started an off-topic thread about barbecue sauce: I wanted us to have something to connect with that wasn't controversial. I think we're nearing the end of an era for Husker hoops. To me, that's always a sad thing. I don't see much chance that Miles will be our coach next year. I think I've been pretty clear about that for a very long time. Since before the season, I predicted he'd either leave of his own accord or get shown the door. I think we're looking at the latter of those two situations. I don't know that I ever "went on an island for Miles." I've always wanted all the coaches we've had to do well here. I'll want the next one to do well. I won't apologize for defending coaches from criticism that I think is unfair. And I'm not going to go out of my way to attack the coach, either. If that makes people think I'm "on an island" for a coach, so be it. Not going to lose sleep over that characterization. But let me be clear: I recognize Miles ain't perfect. There are holes in his game, so to speak. But he checks as many of the boxes as any coach we've had here in awhile and his wittiness and charm at media days and social media savvy brought Husker hoops some favorable attention. He's not going to be the subject of insulting memes like Francis "Psycho" McCaffrey. And he wasn't bland like Barry Collier. This is a guy you had to hope would do well here. And if you didn't hope for that, then you're kind of effed up in my opinion. And I think picking coaches is a crapshoot and while the next guy might be really good at things Miles wasn't so good at, it's also highly probable he won't check off all the boxes either. But, whoever it is, you can know right now that as long as he's officially the head coach of the Huskers, I'll have his back. Unapologetically.

Why is Jamie Dixon on your naughty list and Mark Turgeon not? They're basically in the same 'assistant did something but did the head coach know about it' boat.

If that’s the tweet he was referring too, I don’t think it’s weird at all. An honor for Cope to have his name and number out there on Sr day.

Coaches obviously saw it...Mershon has improved a lot and it showed yesterday. Her defense and apparent comfort zone with what's expected. led to more playing time. Has lot's to learn and improve on..but she's a freshmen that got lots of playing time, and will benefit hugely next year...(as will EVERYONE on the squad.) There's dozens of things that need lots of attention as mentioned in the other posts above. All deserve some merit. In general overall terms.... NEED FIXES...CONSISTENCY for rebounding, full court pressure, boxing out, turnovers...the list goes on ...as it does to most teams. A constant battle for every team to improve. Coach will continue to recruit and improve the team...she is not working with a full team she has recruited.... for 4 or 5 cycle years. (takes that long to develop a team of the coaches choosing) After that we'll see where we stand, and if we have the team we want/need. Connie had years to develop her team (which she did well)...and depending on your perspective....may be a different time in the women's game since Connie started here. Talented players are more in demand than ever with more schools putting more emphasis on women's basketball. I submit it might be more difficult to recruit a full talented squad. Cable TV, ESPN, etc etc have all put the women's game on the map. We're short of talent. (see above) That alone could be a endless discussion, and debate about what we need. But it's got to be pretty obvious to Coach. We got "out talented" last night. Debatable why...but we never really seem to jell completely. . Because of all the influx of new talent? Trying to get it to mesh took many games. Next year....will have more good new talent. Could have a little of the newbie issues we had this year, but the team AND staff has gone through it this year. Last night our freshmen looked like freshmen at times. Get used to freshmen folks, even if they are good players. Really looking forward to next year as sophomores, and watching their development over the winter. All and all..a tough year. Looked great at times, not so great at other times, We were close to the sweet spot. Just had issues getting there sometimes. Many things we did great. Kids (they are young kids) ... worked hard, and they really seemed to enjoy playing together and pulled for one another. As a biased fan, still enjoyed the bumpy ride.

I'm adding the year onto the title for the sake of sanity

I should mention now that I look forward to better things from this program next year and beyond. Of course it's encapsulated in player development and recruiting. ? ?

With that 3, it’s almost time for, “Turn Out The Lights, the Party’s Over!” 20 more points given up. Our base line inbounds play is good offense for Purdue.

This an interesting take from one of our ex-players. Read it if you wish... https://www.theindependent.com/sports/huskers_hq/miles-needs-more-time-as-husker-coach/article_ada35184-4085-11e9-b465-a38e10db510c.html

Program expectations: What Creighton is doing, no more is expected, but no less. If a school 45 minutes up the road in a less prestigious conference can accomplish this, then you damn well better believe we should be able to. 2018 - NCAA First Round 2017 - NCAA First Round 2016 - NIT Quarterfinals 2015 - no postseason 2014 - NCAA Third Round 2013 - NCAA Third Round 2012 - NCAA Third Round 2011 - CBI runner-up 2010 - CIT Semifinals

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that island was a fully functional and booming trade port only two months ago. Its population was increasing at record pace before a god damned monsoon hit it. Weirdest season ever.

You are beating a dead horse. My goodness. Give it a rest. We get it, you 100% don't like Miles, you 100% think we'll be playing HoiBall in 9 months, and you 100% don't think that any outside factor has had an effect on this program. Did I get it all?