Nebrasketballer

The difference is that in the past when Nebraska has signed guys like Hawkins, Smith, and Atewe they didn't sign guys like Tummala, Fuller, and Webster to build around them. It's not like Nebraska has never has good players/role players. The issue is that they didn't have big time playmakers/scorers/go-to guys playing around them. There have been plenty of guys that have played for Nebraska in recent years that would have done just fine on other teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio St, Minnesota, Michigan St, etc. There is no doubt in my mind that guys like Brandon Ubel, Toney McCray, Brandon Richardson, Sek Henry, Lance Jeter, Eshaunte Jones, Ryan Anderson, Ade Dagunduro, etc. could have seen playing time on some really good teams, because I think they have all been pretty good players. It's just that Nebraska didn't have big-time scorers on the floor with them, so alot of times they were forced to do more than their skills allowed, and many times they were forced to play out of position. I don't think the issue is that Nebraska can never sign any players that are the same caliber as some of the players they have had over the last few years. I think the issue is that when they sign this caliber of player, they need to sign a few playmakers/scorers/go-to guys (Sai Tummala, Nick Fuller, Tai Webster) to place around them. That way the role players can play their roles, instead of being forced to do more than what their skills allow, and instead of being forced to play out of position. Agreed 100%. But we're assuming these guys will be scorers/go-to players. Sai's best offer is BYU. Fuller was offered late by Wisconsin, I think. Webster is a big question mark - offers from Pitt and St. Mary's. It's not like we've never beat out the Pitt's and St. Mary's of the world for a recruit (although Pitt is admittedly a pretty good team to beat out). I agree with Norm that the film on Fuller (and possibly Sai) suggests that they could be good. But I will not assume they can be go-to players - especially as underclassmen - until I see them. I'm also excited about Webster, but anyone who has watched the most recent film of him (and the competition in it) knows that Webster is far from a guarantee. Sai is a 6'7", 215 lbs, he can handle the ball well, he has a good mid-range jumpshot, can stroke the 3, can finish above the rim, can play with his back to the basket and has solid post moves. Add that to the fact that he has spent a year with Michigan and the coach said that he was the most athletic player on their team aside from Trey Burke. There are not many teams in the country on which Trey Burke would not be the most athletic player. That Michigan team that he was a part of is in the sweet16 this season, so I feel confident saying that he has been around big-time basketball and will not have to spend any time getting used to the speed of the game. Bronson Schliep was the most athletic guy on our team for multiple years. Didn't say much. He has definitely been around big-time basketball, big-time players, a good coach... but he will DEFINITELY need to spend time getting used to the speed of the game. He never saw the floor at Michigan, and is currently playing JuCo. Again, I like the guy's film (albeit against weak competition), but I'm not buying that he's some stellar recruit that ONLY us and BYU are in on. He played against a sweet 16 (maybe elite 8) team everyday in practice... That's about as good of competition as a player can face...

Any his new flat out told him he was not good enough to play at that level... Ok... What do you think Larry Brown would've said about guys like Andre Almeida? Obviously, not the prototypical body type or athleticism for a basketball player, but Miles found a way to make him work in his system...

Here's the link for the Juco Junction Top 150. Like Robin Washut's tweet says, Leslee Smith is #37. http://rivals.yahoo.com/jucojunction/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-3203?

https://twitter.com/RobinWashut/status/317440502301601792">March https://twitter.com/RobinWashut/status/317442651349729280">March

Anoter thing to consider about Leslee Smith. Not sure who it was, but I think it was Robin Washut. He was talking on 93.7 The Ticket around 12:00 or so today. He said that Smith's stats are a little misleading and don't necessarily represent his potential production if he were to sign with Nebraska. He said that Smith only played about 20 minutes per game and that the offense they ran was very guard oriented, so the offense wasn't designed for him to have big numbers. They didn't pound the ball inside much. He will be a big physical player that can bang around in the post. With all of the scoring potential that Tim Miles has brought to the team at the 1,2, and 3 spots, Nebraska doesn't necessarily need to have a post players that light up the score board. They need to be able to bang and make sure that teams can't just dump the ball down low and get easy baskets all game long. Pitchford and Tummala (if he were to sign) could provide the offensive attack in the post. Atewe and Smith (If they were to sign) would be able to provide the bigger bodies that would be able to bang and play the defensive role and get rebounds.

And Smith has a year of Division I basketball experience under his belt as well. Not B1G, but still Division I experience. The learning curve should not be as rough with these two.

The difference is that in the past when Nebraska has signed guys like Hawkins, Smith, and Atewe they didn't sign guys like Tummala, Fuller, and Webster to build around them. It's not like Nebraska has never has good players/role players. The issue is that they didn't have big time playmakers/scorers/go-to guys playing around them. There have been plenty of guys that have played for Nebraska in recent years that would have done just fine on other teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio St, Minnesota, Michigan St, etc. There is no doubt in my mind that guys like Brandon Ubel, Toney McCray, Brandon Richardson, Sek Henry, Lance Jeter, Eshaunte Jones, Ryan Anderson, Ade Dagunduro, etc. could have seen playing time on some really good teams, because I think they have all been pretty good players. It's just that Nebraska didn't have big-time scorers on the floor with them, so alot of times they were forced to do more than their skills allowed, and many times they were forced to play out of position. I don't think the issue is that Nebraska can never sign any players that are the same caliber as some of the players they have had over the last few years. I think the issue is that when they sign this caliber of player, they need to sign a few playmakers/scorers/go-to guys (Sai Tummala, Nick Fuller, Tai Webster) to place around them. That way the role players can play their roles, instead of being forced to do more than what their skills allow, and instead of being forced to play out of position. Agreed 100%. But we're assuming these guys will be scorers/go-to players. Sai's best offer is BYU. Fuller was offered late by Wisconsin, I think. Webster is a big question mark - offers from Pitt and St. Mary's. It's not like we've never beat out the Pitt's and St. Mary's of the world for a recruit (although Pitt is admittedly a pretty good team to beat out). I agree with Norm that the film on Fuller (and possibly Sai) suggests that they could be good. But I will not assume they can be go-to players - especially as underclassmen - until I see them. I'm also excited about Webster, but anyone who has watched the most recent film of him (and the competition in it) knows that Webster is far from a guarantee. Sai is a 6'7", 215 lbs, he can handle the ball well, he has a good mid-range jumpshot, can stroke the 3, can finish above the rim, can play with his back to the basket and has solid post moves. Add that to the fact that he has spent a year with Michigan and the coach said that he was the most athletic player on their team aside from Trey Burke. There are not many teams in the country on which Trey Burke would not be the most athletic player. That Michigan team that he was a part of is in the sweet16 this season, so I feel confident saying that he has been around big-time basketball and will not have to spend any time getting used to the speed of the game.

The difference is that in the past when Nebraska has signed guys like Hawkins, Smith, and Atewe they didn't sign guys like Tummala, Fuller, and Webster to build around them. It's not like Nebraska has never has good players/role players. The issue is that they didn't have big time playmakers/scorers/go-to guys playing around them. There have been plenty of guys that have played for Nebraska in recent years that would have done just fine on other teams like Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio St, Minnesota, Michigan St, etc. There is no doubt in my mind that guys like Brandon Ubel, Toney McCray, Brandon Richardson, Sek Henry, Lance Jeter, Eshaunte Jones, Ryan Anderson, Ade Dagunduro, etc. could have seen playing time on some really good teams, because I think they have all been pretty good players. It's just that Nebraska didn't have big-time scorers on the floor with them, so alot of times they were forced to do more than their skills allowed, and many times they were forced to play out of position. I don't think the issue is that Nebraska can never sign any players that are the same caliber as some of the players they have had over the last few years. I think the issue is that when they sign this caliber of player, they need to sign a few playmakers/scorers/go-to guys (Sai Tummala, Nick Fuller, Tai Webster) to place around them. That way the role players can play their roles, instead of being forced to do more than what their skills allow, and instead of being forced to play out of position.

This

Matthew Atewe has offers from K-State, Marquette, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Dayton, Clemson... http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Matthew-Atewe-121524

Sai Tummala does have a BYU offer. And he has a year of experience in Michigan's program. Here's his offer list: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/player-Sai-Tummala-150220

$1 per credit hour tuition?

Smith still visited Nebraska today didn't he?

Uh dude, teen wolf can ball...

I have to think that Kamdy is right on this one. There would have been no reason for Sean Fisher to be taking up a football scholarship if an athlete can take an academic scholarship. He scored a 39 out of a possible 45 on the MCAT, which is in the top 1 percent of all who take it. He has 4.0 grade-point average in both business administration and pre-med, and he's an Academic All-American. Right now he is waiting to hear back from the University of Chicago, Stanford, Michigan, Nebraska and Johns Hopkins. If an athlete can take an academic scholarship, then there is no way that Fisher wouldn't have been able to do that.

Yeah, he had multiple tweets between himself and Nathan Hawkins and then tweeted about Tai, which I assume is Webster: https://twitter.com/MatthewAtewe41/status/316800173147815936">March

Has anyone been able to find any film on Smith? Either high school or college?

That is a great point that I hadn't even thought about

I think you may be right Norm. https://twitter.com/tfrankfo/status/316693830088941568">March https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/316696281668009984">March

https://twitter.com/tfrankfo/status/316692916363984897">March https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/316693176729616384">March

If this happened, then the Nebrasketball 2013 recruiting class would be about as good as it gets, until Nebraska is in the position to be signing multiple 4-Star caliber players in the same class.

https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/316680026672209920">March

Fresh Prince!

Yeah, I agree. I guess I didn't think about him having that extra year to redshirt if he were to transfer, so he doesn't lose a year of eligibility.

Is the limit 13? We'd have 11 not counting Smith, Tumalla and Atewe. If all 3 commit, that's 14. Someone would have to go (I'm guessing Parker or Vucetic?) Correct? That's the way I understand it. I wouldn't be surprised to see Parker and/or Vucetic move on. I think they have the skills to be successful in a mid-major conference, but I think they are both undersized to be legitimate players in the Big Ten conference. Guards are generally about 2" shorter on average in a mid-major conference, and centers are considerably less physically polished in mid-major conferences. At 7'1", 236 lbs, Vucetic is grossly underweight to play center and realistically needs to put on 30-35 lbs in order to go through the physical grind of the Big Ten conference and be effective. At 5'9", 164 lbs, Parker is just too small and is a liability on both offense and defense and even when he is in relatively decent defensive position, a 6'2"-6'4" guard can still get a shot off over him. Not to mention Parker, while quick, consistently looks like a chicken running around with his head cut off. Not hating, I just think that in a mid-major conference, their lack of size (whether height or weight) would be much less glaring and much less of a set back than it is in the Big Ten conference.