Norm Peterson

This would be pretty amazing news if true and it comes to pass.

I haven't noticed anyone saying Brady is dead in the water. I think Brady is a kid who, if he bulks up a bit and grooves that jumper, could really contribute in a Hoiberg system. And I think he has the ability to do those things. If I were Fred -- which, obviously, I'm not -- I might clear some roster space in order to make room for some transfers, assuming we can find some guys to bring in, which I imagine they can. But Brady is NOT one of the kids I would invite to leave.

crawl, walk, run. You watch, he'll be draining treys on his rec league team in 5 years.

I understand what he's saying. But when you're in the first year of a coaching transition, and you need to fill out a roster to field a team, and you have some guys who could be immediately available and the alternative is some dude who was 3rd-team All-conference in the Jayhawk juco league, I think you take the grad transfer from the high mid-major program who averaged 20 ppg.

I've heard he was kind of a drag on morale. And then he gets suspended when the team really needed him. If he's back, I hope it's because he's grown up.

Boo. We want him here.

It’s something to behold that we were among the 4 specifically mentioned.

I'm going to assume until the NCAA says otherwise that anyone who transfers who hasn't graduated is going to have to sit a year. I want that one UNLV kid in particular and I also want us to land the kid from Duquesne. Those are the sit-a-year transfers I'd love to see us land. I don't have a read on any immediately-eligible bigs that we are after who are interested in us. But get Mack and Cheatham and I'm satisfied with the status of the back court for sure. Mack, I don't know about his shot, but the kid is lightning quick and a really good passer, a real pass-first PG.

Here's another list: Players who haven't said they're going anywhere else … yet: Brady Heiman, PF Karrington Davis, G/Wing Amir Harris, PG Thor Thorbjarnarson, G/Wing Dachon Burke, G Nana Akenten, G/Wing And another list: Committed recruits: Akol Arop, F Jervay Green, G

We got Jervay. We still need the following immediately eligible players: A PG A SG/Wing 2 Bigs (one of which could be Roby) Cam Mack is the only PG I'm aware we're after; could be others but he's the only one I know about. I want Haanif Cheatham to fill out our back court. Him and Mack with Jervay and Dachon and I'd feel really good about our back court. Really good. Keep Roby and we need one more immediately eligible big; don't keep Roby and we need 2. Keep an eye on this space as I check items off the list.

A lot has happened since before the Big 10 tournament.

If we could only pick one, I'd take the freshman from UNLV, Ntambwe. Otherwise, I'd gladly take both.

OK. No excuses. We have the facilities; we have the fan support; we gave Hoiberg basically a blank check to hire a staff; he brought in (and kept) top-notch recruiters who, in his words, are the "best in the country." Time to bring in some players and win some basketball games. Where's the Final Four next year?

I watched the video from Doc's presser last night. It was very clear he has been hired to be the defensive coordinator and doesn't expect to be significantly involved in recruiting. I would assume that means he gets the defensive scout and game plan for every game. Which makes a lot of sense, because I think he did that at Nebraska, too. I don't think he relied significantly on his assistants for that. And I think that was one of Doc's downfalls. He did not delegate very well from what I could see. I watched a lot of practices under Doc, though, and I can tell you he was extremely detail-oriented in scouting opposing teams and sharing that info with his players. He knew where they got their points. He could spout out stats about how many fast break baskets the opposing team would get during a typical game. How many threes they'd take, who'd take them and who they didn't need to worry about taking them. They might spend some time practicing how to defend certain types of actions and he could tell his players exactly how many times a game the opponent would run it and what percent of their points came from running it. I can remember him telling the guys "If we can stop this, they cannot beat us." And he was generally right.

With Jervay back to committed and Dachon sticking around, we have the start of a high quality backcourt. We still need that point guard (Cam Mack?) and I'd push very hard to get a commit from Haanif Cheatham. You have a 6-5 guy with some springy athleticism who can put the ball on the floor and drive it but can also hit a respectable mid- upper-30s from 3-point range. I'll keep my fingers crossed for Roby because it sounds like the staff really wants him and think they can benefit him in the long run. We'll see what Isaiah has to say about it around the end of May, but it doesn't sound like the staff have given up on the idea of Roby being around next year. With Isaiah, we'd ideally take one more immediately-eligible big; without him we probably need two, including one who can shoot the 3-ball. At this point, all of this seems doable. Just feels like this is a staff that ought to be able to recruit and land some transfers and then coach them up when they get here. This could be the first coaching-change season I can remember where the first year wasn't considered like a throw-away "rebuild" year where expectations would be justifiably very low. If we can add Cheatham, Mack, and two decent bigs (one of which could be Roby), this could actually be a pretty competitive team next season. It is VERY helpful they have a foreign trip and can start practicing in July and get in a few games before the actual season starts.

According to the LJS this morning (hard copy) Nana is still with the program. Armon Gates was quoted in the article saying something to the effect that Nana just needs to work on some academic issues and he should be fine. Color me shocked.

What do you make of the article that came out in the Ames paper the summer Fred left for Chicago that detailed a bad relationship between Hoiberg and the AD? Just a small example I recall was that the AD wouldn't pay for an extra night in a hotel after some tournament they were in and so the team had to sleep in the airport while waiting for their flight. And "sources close to the situation" said Hoiberg felt like the AD was nickel and diming them on petty crap. You think there's any truth to that?

I'm guessing. Or the Williams kid from Duquesne.

Dre Davis taking another official to Neb this coming weekend.

Two more official visitors this coming weekend. Matt A is earning that big paycheck.

Gates gets a raise. I guess that was a million just for the assistants and not for the whole staff.

Official visit:

Just looking at the way things proceeded, it appears they legit wanted Jervay. Cannot tell if they had any interest in Mika or not.

Apparently quite a leaper. Has hang time. Too soon?

Just so there's no confusion, the guy pictured on the left is NOT me. (Could be Silver, though.)