Chuck Taylor

This is a good deal for Drake and MSU, will be a Q2 win for one of them. Plus, Drake will bring a few hundred fans. Also great for Concordia, Oklahoma Wesleyan and Queens, small schools that get to play in a big arena. Who does that leave out?

Part of being under the radar is that better programs can afford to be more picky. Sometimes we offer guys sooner because our bar is lower.

That's how I feel about it, we're hiring in August with a coach who might not last another year. Kind of like recruiting, why get excited about a kid who likely will decommit if Fred gets fired?

Not sure I approve. He was 2-18 passing against K-State in that 1968 debacle. Well, maybe he's a better coach than he was a quarterback.

Coach, I'm not seeing it.

Might as well throw Torvik in here. We're number 12!: 2023 T-Rank College Basketball Projections RK TEAM CONF ADJOE ADJDE BARTHAG PROJ. REC RET MINS RPMS TALENT EXP. TRANS. 12 Indiana B10 111.8 23 91.6 11 .9081 22-8 14-6 78.1% 81.6% 79.8 2.16 0 13 Illinois B10 112.9 14 93.1 27 .9021 21-9 13-7 16.5% 15.0% 82.8 1.41 181 22 Michigan St. B10 112.6 17 94.3 44 .8850 21-10 12-8 54.1% 55.2% 73 1.86 0 29 Purdue B10 113.5 10 95.9 68 .8736 20-11 12-8 39.5% 35.9% 57.4 1.54 36 34 Michigan B10 112.3 20 95.6 63 .8635 18-12 11-9 27.5% 30.5% 87.9 1.57 99 37 Iowa B10 113.5 9 96.7 81 .8625 21-10 11-9 54.2% 53.1% 50.8 1.73 0 50 Maryland B10 109.6 42 95.5 62 .8282 18-13 10-10 46.9% 42.5% 50.7 2.38 154 56 Rutgers B10 105.5 109 92.6 21 .8165 18-12 10-10 63.5% 59.7% 47.3 2.34 41 61 Ohio St. B10 111.2 29 98.4 111 .8026 16-13 10-10 23.0% 15.0% 54.7 2.44 185 64 Wisconsin B10 104.4 127 92.8 23 .7946 16-14 9-11 52.4% 45.2% 48.5 1.64 73 82 Penn St. B10 105.6 106 95.8 66 .7537 14-14 8-12 56.4% 53.4% 34.5 2.34 138 92 Nebraska B10 106.9 79 98.5 114 .7195 15-16 7-13 38.3% 28.8% 32.8 2.27 223 95 Northwestern B10 103.0 150 95.1 54 .7153 14-15 7-13 59.6% 57.2% 48.6 2.2 23 120 Minnesota B10 105.6 107 100.2 143 .6444 12-17 6-14 20.9% 23.6% 37.2 2.07 208

Maybe they're letting him teach a class.

Not to put words in anyone's mouth, but I think the point being made was about making judgments based on some player's comments. I don't think he was saying that we didn't have culture issues. I think everybody has seen the selfish play, lack of rebounding, lazy defense etc. since Fred's first team took the court.

Every time I've watched Johnson, he's been mostly catch and shoot. This year is key, if Bell West increases his ball handling duties, but that might be tough when they have Dotzler. I've said this before but it's worth repeating when talking about our local recruiting: the ship has sailed on the state's top-end talent. Nebraska had an extraordinary run of talent the last decade, but the next two years are sparse. There might be some late bloomers (Jacob Arop?), but Dotzler is the only high-end recruit in either class at this point. Tbh, I think our recent increased interest in local kids is a PR move. I don't mean that it's phony and we're never going recruit local kids, more that it's designed to show we're interested when the next good ones come along. My fear is if (when) Fred goes, the next guy sees the current slim pickings and doesn't lay the groundwork for future talent in the state.

Things were going to be different every year except the 2014-2015 season. Things were supposed to be the same that year, but it turned out they really were different.

Josiah Dotzler with offer from UNO.

I'm not exactly Little Miss Sunshine, but I don't see how we can't win 6: Maine, UNO, APB, one game at the ESPN, BC at home and Queens. I'd say we have a shot at K-State too.

Not sure that's the argument a Nebrasketball fan wants to put forward.

Surprised Wilcher isn't in the first 5, not a lot of shooting there. I'm OK with playing in the 50s and 60s, since we're not going to shoot anybody out of the gym.

Oh, gonna play the logic card, huh?

Minny at 118, 13th in BIG. They lost 5 of their top 6 scorers, so not sure why they'd be ahead of us. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/20742

That's more like it!

I'm not seeing a Ron Harper Jr., Geo Baker or Clifford Omoruyi on our roster.

I appreciate the sentiment that we just need to play hard and as a team, but I can't think of one Big Ten team that doesn't already have that as an expectation. That might get us to 12-14 wins, if we're good at home, but not much higher. So it comes down to talent, and I don't see one guy on the roster who can make an all-conference team. Walker, Wilcher or Kensei? Nope. The transfers? Gary and Bando weren't close to all conference level where they were, Sam was but in much lower league. The new guys? I'd be happy with any of them as a solid performer. So at this point we're pinning our hopes on "But (fill in blank) can really make a big jump!"

Depressing for basketball. Two more teams to slot in ahead of us. If this happens, it might be Rock Bottom.

Griesel, Gary and Bandoumel are most likely to start, (with Walker and Wilcher) so they're the top 3. Sam was our only ranked transfer, ranked 88th in 247's transfer rankings: https://247sports.com/LongFormArticle/College-basketball-transfer-portal-player-rankings-2022-247Sports-187173346/ 82 on Watchstadium: https://watchstadium.com/the-top-75-college-basketball-transfers-for-2022-23-04-14-2022/ Unranked in On3: https://www.on3.com/transfer-portal/top/basketball/2022/ So by default, he must be No. 1. Gary was a part-time starter for a good Alabama team. Bando was the 4th leading scorer on a decent SMU team. So tossup. I honestly don't see Blaise and Walker on the floor at the same time, but Blaise will have more impact than the freshman guards, who all will be backups and likely getting fewer minutes than Kensei. Any ranking on the frosh guards is pure speculation or wishful thinking. Oleg won't play much. Could somebody really surprise to the upside and shoot to No. 1? Sure, but those are the kind of hopes that are prevalent in summer and crushed once the season starts. (See Kensei and Keon predictions last summer.)

Top 144 countdown has begun, we're at 135, last in the BIG. Seems like we were in the 90s last year. https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/article/20721

I'm not saying there aren't any sleepers, maybe there are. But right now, the 2023 and 2024 classes are huge drop-offs from what we've been seeing. Dotzler might be the only high-major recruit in either class, and he's borderline.

His legacy: 40th pick on a 10-win team. An interesting footnote 20 years from now.

This kid's going to make a fortune on NIL!