Donkey

I have a lot of respect for Randy Bennett, but I am not sure his recruiting connections are comparable to Riley or Larranga. Larranga had a lot of east coast connections which allowed him to bring good talent to Miami. Otherwise, I could see Bennett fitting the Eichorst profile. I still could see Tommy Amaker. Jeff Capel is a maybe (I am not sure the Tiny Gallon controversy may disqualify Capel). Not being realistic, but I would love Mark Few.

I would say Miles' seat is warm, but I do not foresee Miles' removal after this season unless internal happens. I don't think W/L record will decide whether Miles stays If Miles had another class like 2015 or 2016 coming in for 201), the seat would be a lot cooler. I remember reading articles about Roby, Morrow, and Watson as sophomores. We knew about Horne before his senior year (summer 2015) and had been following Jordy back in the summer of 2014. Akenten, I really don't know much about (which is a bad sign). From what little I know, Akenten strikes me as a spring signee who is a project and can help with depth. There does not seem to be any real targets to round out the 2017 class, and I have no clue who are the realistic key targets for the 2018 and 2019 classes. Heck, the 2013 and 2014 classes had more buzz than the 2017 class. In non sports fields, whenever I see a trend similar to the current direction of recruiting, it's usually a sign the market has figured out something is no longer viable (even though those involved haven't come to terms yet). Note, if Nebraska loses someone other than Tai and Fuller at the end of the season, it would make Miles position untenable. Probably the second biggest reason to keep Miles is whether a suitable replacement is available. I strongly doubt Eichorst will hire a flashy guy whose team suddenly had a deep run (ala Groce for Ohio in 2012). I could see another CEO type hire (like Riley). However, Nebraska's tradition is very limited and the new coach would have to be up for the challenge (no easy feat). I could see Eichorst going after a Tommy Amaker type. Otherwise, I don't see Miles leaving.

http://www.scout.com/player/210442-joshua-pitts/recruiting https://n.rivals.com/content/prospects/182026 I researched Pitts and found that all references to his commitment to UTSA was on a football scholarship and not basketball. However, news reports indicate he clearly backed out of his commitment in August when he started to receive basketball offers. Other than a 247sports update indicating Pitts had recommitted to UTSA football on October 22, I have found little. Kind of odd overall.

Reading the article, I do not think there is reason to worry. It seems the writer brought up the question of playing professionally, and Jack responded that he would not be thinking of making the jump until after his junior year at the earliest.

Not disputing MandRHusker, but I am trying to get some confirmation and additional info. All I know as of last Friday is that a 2017 big man was supposed to visit and a commitment was anticipated. Pitts was supposed to be the guy. From what I have been able to gather, Pitts is more of a complementary player than a starter.

I am terrible with links. This guy visited yesterday.

I hear there is a sale on enemas at Walgreens. You might also want to try some Colace or magnesium citrate.

Great points here. If Arop had played high school ball in outside of Nebraska, would this matter even be an issue? Or would the message board "experts" be criticizing Miles for giving the scholarship in the first place?

I know AWIII is taking his time; however, I forgot one thing that will probably impact his choice of schools. In terms of being a graduate transfer, NCAA rules require the transfer student to enroll in a graduate degree program. That is not as easy as enrolling as an undergraduate. Many schools still require the enrollees to meet the basic entrance requirements (which may include taking the GMAT or GRE and have taken the appropriate undergraduate courses). AWIII's degree was in sociology which may limit available programs. Further, graduate level programs have limited seats, and AWIII, supposedly, did not make the decision to leave until late June (potentially affecting his ability to apply for certain programs). Some schools, like Wisconsin, have gotten around some of these issues by offering a masters in administration which focuses on athletic departments (Russell Wilson was enrolled in this program). I know Syracuse has taken graduate transfers in the past (but I do not remember their degrees). It is possible AWIII was not aware of these issues when he suddenly left the school.

Yeah, I don't quite see this one either. White is good, but 4 is the one spot where we're loaded. McVeigh, Morrow, Horne and Jacobson already on the roster. Wouldn't he be a junior in 2017-18, along with Morrow, McVeigh and Jacobson? Maybe he's quite a bit better than those guys, when healthy (i have no idea; I've never seen the guy play). And I'm not sure that grouping would qualify as "loaded" from other teams' perspectives. Like "wow, the guys they have at that spot are crazy good, what will we do?" I mean, I like our guys, and we've upgraded the talent, but we have to keep doing that in this league. Every year. If he was quite a bit better, White would not be transferring. White is a good match for the Georgetown offense. I see him less as a PF and more as a poor man's Otto Porter (another Georgetown player). Porter parlayed his role at Georgetown into a lottery pick (granted Porter has struggled in his role at times with Washington and may be replaced by Kelly Oubre). That being said, I will defer to TheKamdyMan's analysis of White's talent. My biggest issue is that we need more depth at G and C than we need anther F. Collecting talent is nice, but bringing a sixth guy to play amongst 2 positions does not make sense. Further that would give us 5 guys in the 2019-2020 senior class.

It appears White is still not healed from his hip injury and would have to sit out this year anyway. if he had concerns about his playing time, why does he come to Nebraska where he will will have to compete with Roby, McVeigh, Morrow, and Horne (and possibly Jacobson)? If he was a guard, I could understand him wanting to come to Nebraska. This class needs a big banger inside and a combo guard for next season. A guy with Whites talents would be more valuable in 2018-2019.

Jim Larranaga is a high character guy, and I doubt he will have much tolerance for AWIII's antics. Its getting sad watching AWIII camp artificially drum up interest by "leaking" supposed visits. To my knowledge the only school which AWIII actually visited was Syracuse. Not Michigan State, not Louisville.

Ade Dagundoro played on their 2012 Olympic team, but is not on the list of invitees for 2016 (I did not find the final roster). http://teamnigeriabasketball.com/nigeria-basketball-announces-27-player-roster-for-olympic-camp/ That invitee list has some good guys who can play defense.

White wanted to go then he should have said I am looking into all options so the staff was not left like they were at a point nothing could be done. As I have said, I don't wish ill will on White, just refuse to wish him good luck. IF he picks MSU I hope he gets his wish and they change the offense to let him work on what he needs to work on to get into the NBA. I would love to see him try and dribble vs a Watson or Webster type defender. That said, I am not sure Miles is "living" on transfers. Yes we seem to get one each year but with what, 500-600 kids transferring each year that is got to be expected. Looking at roster (ok from memory which at my age is iffy) Watson, Morrow, McVeigh, Roby, Horne, Webster, Jacobson, Fuller, Tshimanga are all high school recruits and not transfers. Do not forget Gill. He should be starting this year at the 2. There are a lot of flaws in AWIII's decision-making that will leave him undesirable for the 2017 NBA draft.

We needed another guard once AWIII and Evelyn left strictly for depth. We had three eligible guards - Watson, Webster, and Gill - once AWIII left. Assuming any one of them had to sit out a game for injury or had foul trouble, Miles would have only had Laws (walk on) or McVeigh (possible starting SF now that AWIII is gone) to play the 2. If Taylor can play 5-15 minutes of solid defense a night, I think he will be a good fit.

I completely agree with rolling the dice on a grad transfer. Its a one year commitment, and he will not impact graduation rates. If he is a backup at a key position, great. Anything else is gravy. One other point I have offered in the past is the secondary benefit of rewarding walk on kids by not handing out scholarships to high schoolers just to fill out the bench. In truth, the scholarship is not left open. Instead, the 13th scholarship goes to a deserving walk on (usually an in-state kid). I have always felt such action brings goodwill within the state. Miles is able to keep a scholarship available for a real talent the next year. If the walk on loses the scholarship to a talented incoming player, everyone thanks the walk on for his sacrifice and cheers on the new player without controversy. Nebraska does not have to worry about graduation numbers or any bitter kids leaving the program after not playing enough or having a key role on the team. I think that is a win/win.

The question that is haunting us.... All hinges on this. We still have one more scholarship to fill and Miles is not done. Need to see if there is a grad transfer out there who can play ~10-15 minutes a game at the 5.

http://www.nrmedia.biz/blog/the-power-of-multimedia-rights-in-sports-marketing https://sportsbarney.wordpress.com/2015/06/19/the-future-of-multimedia-rights-in-college-athletics-outsourcing-or-in-house/ I am not sure if the above links will help. The problem is that "multimedia rights" is defined so vaguely that it is hard to completely flesh it out. Here is the easy way to think about it. IMG has the rights to the pre and post game radio shows for all Husker sporting events. KRVN in Lexington (I am assuming they still have the radio broadcasting rights) negotiated with IMG to broadcast the Husker games on the radio. When you hear "multimedia rights", just think about that kind of stuff.

http://www.nblhoops.com/#!league-overview/tvtif The website reads like a truncated Private Placement Memorandum. I wonder if the idea started in/around Nebraska and has local money invested. EDIT. I need to find the article, but, on reflection, some of the player benefits seem similar to benefits Marc Cuban was pushing for the D-League. I bet there is an anti-compete clause in all franchise agreements, so I would be surprised if Cuban was involved.

Up until this point I think we were content to not fill it if we didn't find enough freshmen/transfers. If Tarin Smith and Bakari represent end of the roster lottery tickets, do we want to use that last schollie for a JUCO? Another lottery ticket? The ability to pick up a mid-season transfer? It seems like the answer so far has been flexibility. In hindsight it seems like we should have been streaming JUCO big men for the entire Miles era. If we had a junior JUCO big man last year doing the JUCO junior year struggle to this level of play, would we have the post player we need for this year? Would that have come at the expense of developing Jacobson/Morrow? Perhaps I'm overthinking things. I'd have to timeline it a bit more but off the top of my head we end up with an empty scholarship because we're trying to fill the roster exactly the way we want and missing on some guys while everyone else is filling their musical chairs. At what point do we compromise? Lots of valid points here. Basketball recruiting is so much different than football (yes I know I sound like a broken record). AAU really changes things up. In football, most players are limited to their high school teams. If a star athlete is playing at your position, you can either wait your turn or move to another position. I always think of Quincy Enuwa in this scenario. Quincy was buried on an incredible team with 4 and 5 star talents a year ahead of him. When Quincy committed to Nebraska, the ratings services had nothing on him because there was little, if any, tape. By the time Quincy finished his senior year, Nebraska had a 3/4 star WR commit. With basketball, players can move to another AAU team (or in some cases create their own) in the event far superior athletes are keeping them off the floor. As a result, players are fairly well evaluated/slotted by their senior years. Consequently, coaches try to have their "Plan A" guys sign in November. The November signees, for the most part, are known commodities. Normally, you see a ton of high level guys sign, but a few of the really highly rated guys wait until spring for various reasons. However most of the highly rated guys who wait narrow down their list to major schools like Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, etc. The spring guys are usually a collection of JUCOs, high school guys who feel they were undervalued (and are looking for more/better opportunities), and international players (Jordy) who were not very well scouted. I look at JUCO guys like role players. They should be fully developed with a clearly defined skill set that would fit a need. While there are JUCO superstars who come in to dominate college basketball (Steve Francis), those are few and far between. I am a bit surprised that Miles has not brought in JUCOs, but I have noticed that JUCO coaches seem to be a very tight nit group and some of the best talent tends to be funneled to specific schools where there is a connection (Doc had these types of connections and used them too regularly). The undervalued high school players also seem to be role players, at best. Some of them are like Tarin Smith, who was buried behind better talent in high school. Others are like Evelyn who transferred and got lost in the shuffle. Others are late bloomers who suddenly grow 6" between their junior and senior years. After watching how players pan out, I do not put a lot of hope in this group. They are known commodities. If Nebraska was to take in one of these players, I would go with a late bloomer. Let them redshirt a year and develop. However, many of these kids want to play now (which is usually why they held out to spring for other offers). If we were to take the lottery ticket approach, I would go after the international kids like Jordy who started playing basketball in North America within the last 2-3 years. They are raw and have more of an opportunity for growth. Finally, I looked up 5 of the most discussed Center recruits under Miles who did not sign and the results were a bit of a surprise. Matthew Attwe: Spring Signee. He was essentially last big man remaining at the time. He signed with Auburn over Nebraska and then transferred. I am not sure why he did not acrue any stats in 2015-2016. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/66246/matthew-atewe Dusan Ristic. Spring Signee. If memory serve correct, he was a Nebraska lean until Arizona had scholarship opening as a result of draft departures. The guy is a backup at Arizona. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3134882/dusan-ristic Djery Baptiste. November Signee. Redshirted last year. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3911624/djery-baptiste Elbert Robinson. November Signee. Backup in two years at LSU http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3136215/elbert-robinson-iii Mike Edwards. Spring Signee. Averaged 16.4 minutes (sorry for the mistake!) in first year as a true frosh. http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/3914271/mike-edwards All of these guys except Baptiste had Nebraska in their top 2-3 (Baptiste may have, but I cannot find anything which supports that belief). Looking at those guys, none have been huge players and Robinson may be considered a bust. Mike Edwards may turn out to be the best of the bunch. It shows just how hard it can be to really evaluate players at times. All of these guys were 3 stars or better. (BTW, how is it that we have lost so many recruiting battles to the SEC?)

That's assuming that Webster doesn't beat out Glynn Watson for the point, but that makes a lot of sense. I can see Webster, Gill and Watson as the primary guys at the 1&2 with White sliding up from the 3 as needed. My biggest concern has been for some time the lack of depth at the 1&2 next year with Webster and White graduating. 2017-2018 will leave only Gill and Watson with an inexperienced Arop. I would prefer not taking a reach at guard right now and bring in an experience transfer who will sit out next year and provide experience/depth in 2017-2018. I feel like we are almost packed with 3's (McVeigh and Roby) and 4's (Jacobson, Morrow, Horne) for 2017-2018. I hope (no inside knowledge) to see a JUCO/Grad transfer big guy, a guard transfer, and Jordy all sign this spring.

I must say, the level of maturity and knowledge on this board easily eclipses another board I was just reading. Some of the reactions to Beckner leaving on the other board were simply asinine. I am glad I found this board.

Let's add some common sense to this thread. 1. Ben Johnson: Left to coach with Richard Pitino at Minnesota (e.g. Johnson's alma mater). Johnson is originally from Minneapolis. Hard to argue with a young coach going home to learn under Richard Pitino. Plus, Johnson leaving led to Kenya Hunter's hiring. 2. Craig Smith: Left to become the head coach at South Dakota St. 3. Chris Harriman: Left for New Mexico to become the Associate Head Coach (e.g. more responsibility). Still maintains strong ties with Nebraska. If Harriman wants to become a head coach some day, he needed this type of position. 4. Rashon Burno: Left to work for Bobby Hurley (well documented that Bobby Sr. was a second father to Burno). Burno's coming and going is pretty well laid out here: http://www.cornnation.com/2015/7/3/8889829/the-curious-timing-of-rashon-burnos-departure-nebraska-huskers-nebrasketball 5. Phil Beckner: last minute hire to replace Burno. The knee-jerk reaction is understandably negative. However, looking at the time lines, things are not as bad as they seem. Johnson, Smith and Harriman's departures were just the natural flow of their career evolution. Burno found himself suddenly unemployed due to Billy Dovonan's unexpected move to the NBA and took the best job available. However, another unexpected vacancy arose on Bobby Hurley's team and Burno just could not pass up the opportunity to work for a surrogate brother of sorts. Burno's sudden, short lived departure created a mad scramble which led to the unemployed Beckner to be hired. Miles has always been methodical when hiring assistants, but he was forced to go with the best guy available after Burno left. Its understandable that Miles made a mistake. The important part is that now it appears Miles is correcting the mistake. This feels like a non-issue. I cannot name one recruit who we might lose as a result of Beckner leaving.

I actually wouldn't call that lazy. I would say it is lack of strength. Everything you claim, goes back to not being strong enough. One spot I would say he showed laziness was in the classroom. Nebraska has a ridiculous academic support team at his disposal and yet 2 straight years, he got in trouble for his poor schoolwork. At a school like Nebraska, that should not happen. Laziness is a lack of desire, and, to be fair, Hammond did put forth the effort. However, Hammond backed down too easily. Instead of fighting for position, he tried to work around the player in front of him. I would characterize it as a lack of mental toughness. A lot of people focus on Hammond's lack of strength. But I doubt Hammond would show that much improvement after a year in the weight room due to his toughness issues.