Chuck Taylor

The A.D. apparently agrees with this.

Well, I'm willing to poke the bear here, but I find a lot more objectivity from Jacob and the World-Herald people than I find at LJS. There's a reason Sipple is know as Steve Suckup. I don't always agree with Sam, Lee and the rest, but they're experienced journalists and I respect their (sometimes negative) opinions. Pleasing HHC isn't the sign of good journalism.

I hadn't seen this posted elsewhere, interesting look at the state of the program: https://hailvarsity.com/s/1387/padding-the-stats-finding-an-identity

I was going to give you an up arrow on this, but the whole arrow thing is starting to feel like junior high again. Oooh, he likes me! So instead, "That makes sense to me too, huskercwg. Congratulations on your well-reason thought, because it mirrors those of mine, which are always well-reasoned."

According to 247, No. 169 rated with an earlier offer from us. I'm getting old, don't remember his name at all.

Man, don't rain on the parade today! Enjoy!

Yeah, I think what is he's saying is that he (1) doesn't want to play center at 6-7 and (2) wants to expand his game by working on his ball handling and outside shooting. The simplified version is that he wants to be a wing, which makes it easier to ridicule. It doesn't seem like NCAA caliber teams would be looking at him if he marched into the coach's office and said "I'm going to play wing."

Not sure how they're measuring crime, but Omaha isn't exactly Chicago. Lincoln gets a D for crime on that site. http://www.areavibes.com/lincoln-ne/livability/?ll=40.81047+-96.68034 Maybe they're being compared to Ceresco.

Not to pile on, but his name was MacFarlane, not MacFarland. But he was 7 foot!

I haven't been that impressed watching him in high school, but he's tall and can move. Everybody needs bigs who can move their feet with so much high screen and roll these days. He also can shoot. I'm not sure how he fits into what we run. We seem to play a more traditional 5 both on offense and defense. Heiman might be more effective for a team that pressures out on the floor and likes to run, which might be why MInnesota's looking at him. He's already passed the threshold for Summit teams to offer.

Maybe the more relevant Kenpom numbers are the team's. These are the Miles years, are offensive rankings out of 350+ teams: 2012-13: 181 2013-14: 112 2014-15: 264 2015-16: 87 2016-17: 157 We can play the "he'll score more this year" game or look at the facts: We're losing 3 or our top 5 scorers, so it's not realistic to think this offense his going to make a jump to a quality level when it's coming off such a low base to begin with. Can it be better than 157? Sure, but it's not going to be a strength. I'm basing my hope on the defense. Maybe Copeland's length and Jordy's improvement tighten up the inside, and our youngsters figure out how to defend ball screens and close out on shooters. That is realistic.

I don't disagree with that. But at some point, he needed to take a look at the big picture: A lot of guys playing the same position, with no shooters, no backup guard and one guy who wants to play center.

The fact that all four played essentially played the same position at 4 (too slow to play 3, not wanting to play 5) raised these questions. The bigger question is why Miles kept recruiting guys to play the same spot when he had holes at point and (earlier) at 5. I mean it was season 5 before we had a center and I'd argue Glynn is a terrific combo guard but we still don't have a true point guard as we head into season 6 of the Miles era. That to me is the problem here. As much as people like to speculate about personality issues, I think it was, and has been, a problem of Miles not building a functional roster in 5 years. And that, to me, is the reason we didn't jell at the end of the season as we all expected. So now that 4 guys have left, I guess we're not overstocked at the 4 any more.

Doc and Alecs was an exception. Most new coaches are fine with guys leaving, they get a free pass while they redo the roster. I don't think Eichorst is going to do anything anyway. He'd look like an idiot if he fired Miles now, since it would make it obvious that he failed to check the pulse of the team at the end of the season. Although he could fire Boehm too and blame him for not knowing what was going on with the players.

We have to hope we get lucky. With just 9 scholarship players, and 2 coming off surgery, the picture isn't bright. But hoping against hope is what we do.

Worst offseason ever? I've lost track.

I wonder if that means Chang is no longer with Mokan Elite. That's a top-level program, he played there with Carte'are Gordon, who's ranked something like 25th in the country.

Postmodernism is the pseudointellectual term to describe the perception that relativism is overtaking society. You could say Socrates engaged in postmodernism. So next time you're shaking your fist at a cloud, just tell your neighbor you're a postmodernist. Or an anti-relativist.

There's a poll for when this is all over.

Patton is going to the NBA. Might be the best news in a while.

You haven't explained it, you just presented your opinion. Others may disagree, including Bookie Killer, a suspected troll.

Exactly. And the other side of it is that there have always been guys transferring, and there probably are 50 more D-1 schools than there were 15 years ago. At some point it increased enough that people started counting. So everyone overreacts to the big number. Not saying it hasn't gotten much worse, but it's a normal occurrence that's been going on for a long time. The biggest reason for the higher number might be the players calling the shots, rather than the coaches. Robbie Benson probably wouldn't have stuck it out now. As an aside, can anyone quote One on One like Hoosiers? "All the way up with a red hot poker. I can play anywhere I want."

Now that April Fool's Day is over, can we get back to reality?

Yeah, I don't mean to mean to be negative about either. I think there's a chance for both to play some meaningful minutes if they stick with it, but I don't think that's the staff's expectation for either.

nm