Hooper

I was thinking the same thing. After going through a stretch of bigs with absolute stone hands, it's amazing to have three bigs on the roster who pretty much grab everything thrown their way. It's really a testament to how much more natural basketball skill our big men have right now vs. many we've had in the recent past.

We can debate whether next year should be viewed as year 2 or 3 of the Hoiberg era, but the bottom line is that this program needs to take a sizeable step forward next season. They've faced adversity, but when you really distill it down, Nebraska just needs better players and more of them. Fred & Co. need to hit on more recruits and have fewer busts. You can be a schematic genius, but if you don't have the pieces in place to execute your vision, you're not going to win many games at this level. The 2019 recruiting class was a huge setback for this program and honestly the main reason why this was more like a year one than a year two. In my view, poor recruiting had a lot more of an impact on the program's fortunes than anything related to the disruption caused by the pandemic. They obviously were trying to put together the best class they could without a full cycle in which to operate, but this was not a good start: Kevin Cross - GONE Cam Mack - GONE Jervay Green - GONE Samari Curtis - GONE Yvan Ouedraogo - Now 3rd string, transfer likely imminent Akol Arop - Likely transfer candidate That class was a trainwreck and the reason why this program finished as the #14 team in the Big Ten this season. They did better with the sit-out transfers, but the hit rate on early Hoiberg recruiting was brutally bad and the primary reason why we are where we are. I do believe things have trended up since then, and continue to do so, but that first class was a disaster.

I disagree. Scholarships are precious, and what exactly is Yvan's role on next year's team? He would effectively become the #4 big behind Walker, Andre and Breidenbach. I believe Fred probably would rather have Breidenbach come in at the five if necessary instead of Ouedraogo, who is incredibly limited offensively. I'm sure there are some match-ups against big physical centers where maybe Yvan would get the nod, but his upside is minimal, and he's a black hole offensively. He seems like a great kid, but I've never seen someone struggle so badly to put a round ball in a basket from point-blank range. Breidenbach likely won't defend as well as Yvan, but I really don't see Yvan getting significant minutes next year, and I'd much rather use his scholarship on a player who can see the court and contribute.

Tough to project Breidenbach as a starter over Lat in my opinion. I also don't see Banton sitting on the bench next year, though he may be used more off the ball. He will have to improve quite a bit as an outside shooter, however. Unless there are any major future additions, and assuming Thor and Kobe don't return, I still see it like this: T. McGowens B. McGowens D. Banton L. Mayen D. Walker

I don't think we really need to speculate about how Teddy would do against tougher competition. Just go to YouTube and watch him against teams like Oklahoma and KSU from his true freshman season two years ago. He's already faced numerous top-10 Division I programs and put up double digits in the scoring column. He'll be fine.

These situations are always fluid and subject to change, but as of a month ago, he was telling folks associated with the program that he was leaving. It's possible he's changed his mind.

No one should expect Nana to be back next year. He's gone as far as I've heard.

This is Moos buying a year to find his guy. There's certainly a downside to this approach. The uncertainty of Miles' contract and the improbability that he'd get a lengthy extension may have been a major factor in Kenya Hunter leaving for UConn. I haven't heard anything, but it seems logical that it would have been a factor. Hunter's departure created a domino effect that resulted in the loss of Xavier Johnson, which is a huge blow to this team. If this is a cost-benefit type of situation, then I'd say the costs are mounting if the contract situation led to Hunter leaving. Again, though, I can't say definitively that Hunter wouldn't have bolted for UConn even if Miles had gotten a big extension. I just hope the benefit is sufficient to give fans something to get excited about again, because the loss of Hunter and Johnson is enormous from a personnel standpoint.

I'm not an AD or someone who's very knowledgeable about coaches out there and who's realistic. I'd start with Greg Popovich and Jay Wright and go from there.

Well, Altman was a special case due to being a native Nebraskan and having familiarity with the program. As I posted before, a one-year extension for Miles would buy Moos another year to work on other possibilities. Of course he has a list handy, but that doesn't imply that any reciprocal interest will exist. I just don't believe we're going to see Miles replaced with another mid-major roll of the dice. They've got big money to throw at this problem and are targeting proven winners. When you're Nebraska, that's a tough plan to execute, but I know the willingness and financial commitment are there. Now that football is "fixed," basketball is next. It may take some time though.

I really don't believe some folks here appreciate what's been going on behind the scenes with our basketball program. Let's start with the aggressive pursuit of Dana Altman, which our AD has denied, and many here believed him. Sorry, but that's nonsense. As I posted when this was going on a couple of weeks ago, Nebraska fans are not entitled to full disclosure from the AD about what's going on behind the scenes with the basketball program. He was asked about Altman, flat denied it (lying in the process), and I have no problem with that. It's not the type of information that needs to be admitted publicly. Altman turned us down, so it ended there. The AD is not going to admit that publicly. If you took his denial at face value, you may not understand how the game is played. If you believe Nebraska didn't make a very lucrative offer to Dana Altman, you've bought into a lie. Tim Miles and his staff were very aware of the offer to Altman. They're very well aware that the relationship between Nebraska and Miles is not a long-term partnership, but rather a temporary alliance out of convenience and, in reality, only set to continue for a while longer because the AD hasn't found "his guy" yet. Tim knows this because the AD has been more than honest with him in this regard. Tim knows the score and his assistants know the score. He understands that this entails the possibility that some will seek greener pastures. How could they not be expected to do so? He likely has encouraged them to take care of their business and do what they have to do. If you like Tim Miles and believe he's the future of this basketball program, you're entitled, but just know that the AD doesn't share your perspective. Tim's on borrowed time and is only still here because the home run hire the AD seeks has not been secured. Nebraska under Bill Moos is not prepared to accept a future in which the program continues to be a doormat in college basketball. I understand we just came off a very successful year by Nebraska standards, but the old standards that many here seem to accept as the appropriate reference are not considered to be acceptable by the people currently in charge of this athletic department. They've set their sights much higher and are no longer prepared to accept sustained mediocrity. Tim is a .500 coach at Nebraska who has not built anything sustainable from year to year. Some people believe that Miles and his staff are somehow "in limbo" as a result of the slow pace of Moos' progress in extending a new contract to Miles. While this may be true to an extent, there is very little uncertainty among the parties involved about the fact that the AD is not a Tim Miles fan and does not consider him to be the future of this program. So, there's no "in limbo" situation here. Kenya Hunter knew he was on a path that will soon hit a dead end, so he chose a different path. That's called being smart and taking care of your family. Anyone who has resentment toward Kenya has not correctly assessed the situation in my opinion.

You're just not looking at this from a realistic perspective. Tim Miles' job security is poor. Hanging by a thread is probably the best way to describe it right now. Tim knows it, his assistants know it and his players know it. What you're seeing are people trying to secure a stable future for themselves and their families, which they have every right to do, and which no reasonable person could challenge or dispute. If you know your boss isn't likely to survive for very much longer in his current role, would you not secure something more stable for you and your family? Making Nebraska great again doesn't pay college tuition or a mortgage.

I continue to be baffled about why people believe there are only two viable scenarios here -- all in or all out on Miles. Again, I see three scenarios: 1) You believe Miles is the guy - Go all in and offer a major extension 2) You don't believe Miles is the guy and you have his replacement in the bag - Go all out, fire Miles and hire the new guy to a big contract worthy of his status in the profession 3) You don't believe Miles is the guy but you don't have your guy yet - Offer a small extension to buy time and be prepared to have recruiting affected for one year (but you'd better have your guy in the bag a year from now) As I've said, I believe option #3 is the one Moos will choose, and I see his logic.

Sorry, I'm not deliberately trying to ignore your posts. I just didn't notice that you used the word "contract" instead of "extension," so, yes, we're talking about a two-year difference in contract duration. Sorry about that. I believe there's a lot of sensitivity among the AD, Regents and top boosters about how many coaches we're paying right now. We're currently paying three different football HCs. I don't think it's thriftiness, but rather a sense of prudence and fiscal responsibility that's driving these decisions. They're not looking to hand out free money, but I believe they'll pay top dollar to land the right guy.

I don't see it that way. The reason why is that if another coach were hired next year to replace Miles, that coach and his staff would bring their own cultivated relationships with them, just as Frost and his staff did. These relationships are portable.