Norm Peterson

Sorry to those who don't want to revisit this. Feel free to skip this thread if that's the case. For all his faults, and he had plenty, one of them that was somewhat concealed was his bad recruiting. And it isn't that he brought in terrible players. No, in fact some of the players he brought in were very good. The problem was hidden kinda until this year. And now that we have a non-Matt recruit running the point, we can clearly see what this offense was supposed to look like. The *problem* was that the good players Matt was bringing in were players who were terribly ill-suited to this offensive scheme. For this system to be successful, the ball has to keep moving from player to player. It has to move from side to side. Players have to move well without the ball. We're getting that this year. In a thread last year, though, I catalogued some of the possessions that began and ended with the ball basically in one or two player's hands. Two years ago, Teddy Allen was a gifted scorer, but everyone here knows we criticized his "hero ball" approach the whole season when he was here. He could not or would not adapt his game to Hoiberg's system. And when he was basically demoted, he quit. And blame Fred too for failing to hold players accountable. Verge and Bryce should have taken a seat on the bench in game 1 last year when they decided the game was about how many shots they each were going to take. Now, my understanding is that Matt sheltered them and protected them from some of those consequences, and therefore blame Fred for not parting ways with Matt sooner. We might very well have less overall talent now than we did in any other season under Fred. But we're having the best season we've had and it's because of the buy-in and players who are willing to subordinate themselves to the greater success of the team. And for the first time in his coaching tenure at Nebraska, you're getting a sense of what this thing is supposed to look like. And I gotta be honest: I like what I see. This style of basketball is pleasing to watch. If Fred is given more time (not advocating one way or the other in this thread, just saying if it happens) I hope he's successful in finding some pieces in the portal that will complement what we have returning and upgrade our overall talent. Because I can see some potential for success with this.

Me three. Still salty about that one. But I keep it mostly to myself nowadays.

And how many of you knew that Keisei Tominaga leads the Big Ten in made 3s per game? Edited to add: I was wrong. The announcers were talking about a different player. The clip was edited in a way to sound like they were talking about Keisei, hence the confusion.

Who knew that "Walker to Tominaga" was going to be this year's Husker hoops version of "Stockton to Malone"?

I'm going to miss Derrick Walker.

He’s figured out how to use their overplaying of him to his advantage. His back cuts tend to work and he times them very well.

I like this version of the shim shams by the way.

I wonder if it’s supposed to represent Kinte cloth in honor of Black History Month.

I was expecting things to fall apart and the guys to sort of phone it in after Gary and Bandoumel went down. Instead, they keep on fighting. It feels like finally, for the first time in the Hoiberg era, the players have bought in.

I don’t care what anyone else says this is an enjoyable style of basketball to watch on both offense and defense. Eight minutes into this Penn State game.

I don’t care what anyone else says this is an enjoyable style of basketball to watch on both offense and defense. Eight minutes into this Penn State game.

Seems like we had an assoc. AD for hoops. But then people who had no idea what he actually did assumed he wasn't doing a very good job of it, insisted he get fired, and, well, we no longer have an assoc. AD for hoops.

I think people bring it up as a cautionary tale that the next coach you hire isn't automatically going to be better than the one you just fired. That, and to rub some a-holes' noses in comments like "I knew he couldn't coach; I just figured it out before you did." Oh, didja? Well, howdya like them apples?

Well, when you put it that way ...

So, how good would we have been if the "medical staff" hadn't "dropped the ball"?

I think he has 2 more years.

Wake Forest is #72 in Kenpom, which is in the ballpark of where we were before we lost 40% of our starting lineup to season-ending injuries. Why would this guy be considered an improvement over what we have? Because his players don't get hurt?

Turnarounds can happen pretty quickly if the right stars align. 2012–13 Trent Johnson Big 12 Conference 11–21 2–16 10th Big 12 tournament (0–1) 2013–14 Trent Johnson Big 12 Conference 9–22 0–18 10th Big 12 tournament (0–1) 2014–15 Trent Johnson Big 12 Conference 18–15 4–14 9th Big 12tournament (1–1) 2015–16 Trent Johnson Big 12 Conference 12–21 2–16 10th Big 12 tournament (1–1) 2016–17 Jamie Dixon Big 12 Conference 24–15 6–12 T-7th Big 12 tournament (2–1) National Invitation Tournament Champions (5–0) 2017–18 Jamie Dixon Big 12 Conference 21–12 9–9 5th Big 12 tournament (0-1) NCAA tournament (0-1) 2018–19 Jamie Dixon Big 12 Conference 23–14 7–11 T-7th Big 12 tournament (1-1) National Invitation Tournament (3-1)

Remember when we used to talk about Jamie Dixon, and then we had an opening and someone was like Jamie Dixon, man, he's past his prime, on the way down, and Pittsburgh probably gonna fire him? Good times, good times.

They'll put 1 second back on the clock and let Texas attempt another FG.

I think we kinda decided we need a PG, a Big and a wing in that order. My question in this thread was whatta we gotta do to sell the kids we want to get?

First call I'm making ...

Big Ten ref watching the Nebraska game on tape reacting to his own calls be like ...

It's easy peasy. Just get a better recruiter. Better than Fred, obviously. Which, of course, that person was NOT Doc Sadler and NOT Barry Collier. Clearly, they were not the kind of "better recruiter" we'd need. Arguably, Tim Miles was a better recruiter, but that's only arguably, because many on here say Tim's recruiting shtick wore out and that's why the cupboard was bare when Fred got here. And others on here say that Fred's brought in *great* recruits. That for whatever reason those great recruits haven't coalesced into a great team. So, it sounds like the answer is pretty simple: We just need a coach who can recruit better than any other coach we've had this century AND who can also coach up his great recruits once they get here. I'm down. Let's go! Let's do it! I'm in! Where do we start?

Does the above pitch sell? Well, legend has it Ernest Shackleton posted the following want-ad for a south pole expedition that ultimately failed. It's said he was inundated with 5,000 applicants. The idea of being important and being part of something significant motivates people.