Buglem

One of my all time favorite basketball moments. If only we could have won the game...

Huskers 73 Indiana 84 9 wins

Can't argue with much of your logic. Well articulated post. One thing I'd add on Roby is that when he does make mistakes, he has the athleticism to erase them with a block or a play most people just can't make.

So for the people talking about paying for a basketball coach, serious question, do you think we would pay more for a basketball coach than a football coach? I ask because the difference in salaries isn't very much now so if you "paid" for a coach, you likely would pay more than Riley right now. Curious what people think of that at a "football school".

Miles said after the game that Jeriah was playing the 4. He still has concerns about his ability to defend but said he does have the ability to fill it up when he gets hot. The concern is whether he can play defense effectively against the 4's in the BIG. I think we are going to love Jeriah before he's done here but he is a WIP on defense and will have nights where he is off with his shot too.

Good summary. To add to it, pace was definitely better. Coach even mentioned it in the post game. Looked better in transition but still made some silly mistakes. Turnovers were bad in the first half (9), better in the second but agree with our bigs bringing it down too much. Most impressive thing to me was when Southern went on a run to start the half and we went down by 4. Miles called timeout and you could feel the entire building had a sense of impending doom, like "here we go again". I guarantee the team had to feel it too. They came out of the timeout with energy and were the aggressors the rest of the game. I was really happy to see it and could later in the season be a point to look at as part of getting over the hump. We could have very easily come out and laid an egg but instead the team found the will to win and made it happen. Side note, they made some of the luckiest/craziest shots to stay in the game and keep it close. It felt to me like we outplayed them and should have had a margin of 15+ points but those types of shots kept us from separating. Was nice to see us pull it out despite that.

Huskers 71 Southern 63

I can't believe nobody has brought up the obvious "money-whipping" target - let's go all Michigan style and get Tyronn Lue! I mean everyone says we just roll out the money bag and we can get coaches, why not go for it all and get an alum that currently has a world championship? For the record, I stand behind Miles.

To be fair, if you heard the entire quote from Coach, he wasn't making it an excuse. His point was that before the game he told them not to expect to get energy from the crowd and they needed to generate their own. If anything, I took it as him saying the crowd wasn't an excuse, not the other way around. I'm not making excuses for the way they played, I just think people are taking the quote out of context.

Huskers 83 gw 62

Good point. Ed has shown it occasionally but not consistently, out to 18 feet. I'd argue right now that having Morrow outside the paint is as much or more of a threat than MJ. His offense has been infuriating for me to watch the last couple games. I'm guessing he is one of the people Miles was effectively calling out on the mental toughness and why he didn't start him the second half against KU. He drives to the basket but stops in no-mans land of 10 feet. Hesitates on every shot he takes from the outside. If you're going to drive, take it to the rim, you're 6'9" and have a 35" vertical so be aggressive. If you're a green light to shoot from the staff, don't hesitate, shoot. I know it's easier said than done but the last couple games he has absolutely driven me bonkers. That may be as much of a reason I liked the Ed/Jordy lineup as any - because the Ed/Michael lineup isn't working on offense.

I really liked the Morrow/Jordy lineup. If you can keep Jordy out of foul trouble that lineup makes them put their 5 on Jordy and frees up Ed against someone more his height. I think he will win more of those battles than he will lose.

Next on the list for me is Assembly Hall. That should make a good roadtrip.

I've been to Cameron Indoor and now Phog Allen. The fans and overall noise level was better at Phog. While some might think it's creepy, I thought the fan involvement and coordination made for a really cool and intimidating environment for opposing teams. And I don't think they were that wound up for us. I would imagine a Missouri game would be off the charts to watch there. Definitely glad I checked it off my bucket list!

Huskers 68 kansas 78 5 treys

While I agree that a lot has changed since Miles took the job, most of it positive, there's one thing that will not have changed if Miles doesn't make it this year or next - the perception the HC of Nebrasketball is a soul-sucking, career-ending job with little upside. Miles is a proven program builder at multiple levels of basketball. If he fails here (I don't think he will) the perception in the coaching community will likely at least in part be "holy crap, that dude couldn't pull it off, can anybody?". Facilities, players, $$$ can all help lure a coach but none of them want their coaching career to die a lonely death on the prairie in a high major job where the challenges are high and the history of the program is low. Not saying you wouldn't get someone decent, but I'd be shocked if any of the four on the list above were interested. There's a reason Miles was given a 7 year contract to start with. I know we would like to see a higher win total the last couple years but how quickly we forget the NCAA appearance that was our 1st in 17 years...

Totally agree. The main difference I see is the level of athleticism and talent as a whole. I haven't seen it at this level since the Nee days. I'm not saying be patient forever, just that anyone that didn't think we would see growing pains isn't being too rational. That team we played last night had a senior point guard and experienced talent at every position (except center where they have an NBA talent). My view on the team this year hasn't changed in the last 24 hours.

Whoa, why are you posting a rational, balanced analysis of the season on a message board? Don't you know this is a place to totally overreact to one loss against a top 10 team and talk about how the sky is falling, we are never going to be good and our coach needs fired, pronto? For shame sir! I love your post, thank you! I really just want to move on from last night and get past all the overreactions as soon as possible. The sun came up this morning, it's cold in December in Nebraska and our freshmen and sophomores are still freshmen and sophomores. Nothing much changed when we lost last night.

I only expect the fan base to be as special in basketball as they are in football. In football, they sense when the team needs a big defensive stand and get into it, that's all I'm asking. I don't agree we would be that unique if we did that, certainly not the only fan base, I've seen it lots with other BIG teams. Not sure if you were at the game last night but it was striking how engaged the fans were in the first half and how disengaged they were in the second, even when we were still within 4 points.

I'll respectfully disagree and that's the problem with the crowd. I guess I see our job as helping provide energy when the team needs it, not when the team shows they deserve it. The whole crowd was expecting a loss in the second half and instead of getting off their asses and cheering to provide energy or a spark for the team, they sat there waiting for the inevitable. If we always wait for the team to do something exciting before cheering I believe we are all missing the point.

I was encouraged by Jordy - by far his best game Roby is looking a little better. Game is still too fast for him, needs confidence Gill looks lost Taylor can't be on the floor much - he's a huge offensive liability and doesn't seem to know it Give credit to Creighton, they played great defense on us, as usual, Mac had them ready to go and they were amped Our crowd SUCKED in the second half. When the team needed us we failed to provide a boost of energy. Very disappointing

Huskers 70 other guys 81 please prove me wrong guys!

I agree with your points except for the 20+ minute comment. I think we see that next year based on his improvement this year and Tim's comments on his radio show last night. He talked about Jordy probably getting more time in conference because of matchups. Also said he's making improvements. I think we see a big jump next year from Jordy similar to what we are seeing from our sophomores this year. Of course that could be wishful thinking...

Huskers 66 yotes 54

Pretty much agree across the board with your assessment. The thing that just killed us was their offensive rebounds that turned into 3's. Momentum changers and ultimately what got us beat. My positives: Jordy played the best I've seen so far. He's showing signs of "getting it". Hopefully soon he will be giving us 10-15 minutes and 4-6 points and 4-6 rebounds a game Roby played decent defense on Blossomgame, looked a little more comfortable but still overthinking it Although Jack didn't hold up his end offensively, I thought he played good defense most of the time and wasn't a liability out there MJ played his best game of the year. If he can start consistently playing like that we may have found our 4th scorer Morrow played soft in the first half but came back strong in the second Team showed a lot of toughness. If they can keep their confidence they will figure out how to close these games out.