Jacob Padilla

Spot on. They don't expect him to be a knock-down shooter, but mid-30s like he was as a freshman is good enough that teams have to respect it. He's good with the ball in his hands.

Someone I recently talked to inside the program told me Palmer "should start at the 2" FWIW.

I'll bite. I was born and raised in Omaha during the '90s. Thus, I watched Husker football games. As I grew older, my family started going to Creighton games, and I became a fan of them as well. Then I attended Creighton and grew into a fan of all of their sports. I have no allegiance to the University of Nebraska. Bu I enjoy watching football and the Huskers are the football team I grew up watching. I don't understand why it's so hard for some to understand or why cheering for both is so hated. If Creighton had a football team, the phenomenon may not exist to this degree. But Nebraska as a state loves its football, and that includes Omaha. Would you prefer Omaha residents cheered for some random team they have no connection or proximity to? Why does it matter to you so much? (For the record, that goes for Creighton fans that hate "Jayskers" too) I don't understand why people care so much about what sports teams other people enjoy watching.

Do I need to be a fan of a team to cover it? Is that what fans want in terms of coverage of their teams, just total homer writing? I don't feel strongly about Nebraska either way. At this point of my life, covering the Huskers is a job and I try to do that as best I can.

Hello, all. I'm glad to read that some of you enjoy my work. I can't remember saying anything particularly bad about Akenten. Something I've said probably more than once is that even if Nana doesn't turn into an all-conference player his floor seems pretty high as a long, athletic shooter, and teams can always use that type of player. He didn't crack the Rivals150 until their final update and I wasn't fortunate enough to have gotten the chance to see him play much if at all outside of highlight reels which are nothing to go buy. I was relying on how he was perceived by the scouting services and something I was told by someone I know who had seen him play. I actually like the fit quite a bit and he seems to have had a terrific senior season. I did indeed have that column 80% written before the Thomas Allen commitment. That certainly made for a more positive conclusion to the piece. It's starting to look more and more like Miles will have the pieces to form that identity I was talking about. And I know it's not ground-breaking stuff, but my editors wanted me to start writing a weekly column with the offseason closing in and I thought I'd start with my read of where the program sits at this point. hhcdimes nailed the most important part. It doesn't matter if he has an idea in his head of what he wants his team's identity to be it doesn't play out on the court, and it won't if he doesn't have the right kind of players to run that system. I certainly am a Creighton fan. I'm an alumnus who has lived in Omaha my whole life. But hard as it may be for some to believe, I've never hated Nebraska basketball like most Creighton fans seem to. I'm definitely not a fan, but I'm not out to get the program with anything I write. And as someone who has to watch these games, I'd much rather see the Huskers play good basketball than the alternative. Writing about winning is more enjoyable than losing. At the end of the day, I write about what I see. I appreciate the kind words thebasketballjones, Nebrasketball Jake and dimes. I checked out the other discussion about my column, and dimes, you have a good point about assists. You're right that ball movement is the kind of basketball I was raised on (Steve Nash is my favorite player of all time). But looking at last year's team, it seems like a lot of the players on the roster are guys who needed offense created for them in order to be effective. I's fine if ball movement isn't something Nebraska prioritizes, but for the dribble-drive offense to work Miles needs better floor spacing and more guys that can actually convert those opportunities into points.