Swan88

Thanks, Norm, for linking the USA Today article. An amazing story! Gotta admire Nick Rogers for his dedication and for his perseverance through adversity. Getting up, for example, at 5:00 a.m. 3 days a week to work out before school--and that was before his injury!

Here is some new information in the article: "Miles said his recruiting focus has moved to the Class of 2014."

Louisville is losing a little-used 6'10" center, Zach Price, to transfer, according to this article. In the article, Pitino is quoted as saying, “If he goes it’s not a big deal. . . . You’re not going to hold onto everybody." Mr. Price was a Rivals four-star in the class of 2011, holding a 67 ranking in the Rivals 150 and an 8 ranking among centers. So . . . it happens [subliminal message to Akoy Agau]

Here is .

Awhile back, Illinois Four-Star Mike Shaw decided to take his talents to Bradley due to limited playing time under Coach Groce. Now, Myke Henry is also walking out the door. Henry is a consensus Four-Star by Scout, Rivals and ESPN. Henry is the fourth transfer out of that program since end of this past season.

The last day to add a new player is a week or so after school starts--it's an internal University rule on what the last day might be for someone to sign up for the academic semester. Mike Peltz took advantage of that rule last year. As I seem to recall, he joined the team last year after the fall semester had already started.

He seems to be a Ryan Anderson type of player. Check out this description of his game: "What the numbers don't show is Jesperson's basketball IQ. We all know Tony Bennett's defense relies on players being in the right place at the right time. Paul was always there. That is why he got so many minutes, and that is the part of his game that will be difficult to replace." And: "The sophomore played forward for the Cavaliers this past season, but only averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game while averaging 25.7 minutes. At 6'6, he is often listed as a guard during written recaps of the game, but roster injuries often forced Bennett to play Jesperson at forward."

Coming out of high school in Wisconsin, Paul Jesperson was a Rivals three-star, rated 136th on the Rivals 150 list, with a boat-load of offers from the likes of Arizona St., Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Oregon St., and Wisconsin--along with Colorado St. Scout said, he is "one of the best shooters with range."

Two observations: 1. 30+ pages on this board for a single recruit is, apparently, not a good omen. 2. Apparently, Jahii Carson at ASU and Sai Tummala are good friends.

Or, worse yet, it could be a Lebron James type of deal . . . oh, wait, that would be a good thing. Here's hoping (and expecting) that Mr. Pitchford has assessed the situation accurately!

Oversigning? In the SEC? Say it isn't so!!! Check this out, by way of illustration: "In May 2009, the SEC passed a rule restricting its football teams to accepting no more than 28 National Letters of Intent each year. This move was widely viewed as a direct response to the University of Mississippi and its head coach, Houston Nutt, having promised 37 scholarships to new recruits for the 2009 season. Thus the rule is now commonly referred to as 'The Houston Nutt Rule.'"

Got it from neither Hell nor the Journal Star. But glad to know my sources are good

Additionally, regarding Vooch, Coach Miles went out of his way in one of the later KFAB Monday night interviews this season to praise Vooch and explain how important he is to the future of Nebrasketball.

Rumor has it that all current players will stay, that Sai Tummala is priority numer one, with Mikael Herbert as the first alternate, followed by one of the many available transfers. Don't know if the rumor is any good, but I do know that Vooch looked surprisingly brawny at the Spring Game--he seems to have spent a great deal of time and effort in the weight room!

Sai Tummala's JUCO coach is quoted as follows: "Phillips . . . noted that 'it is going to be hard for him [sai] to say no to ASU because he basically grew up right down the street from that school.'"

If lack of movement is an issue, word has it that "ex-lax" can be helpful.

With the last three Nebrasketball recruiting targets consisting of two JUCOs (Smith and Tummala) and a foreign player (Herbert), we are reminded of the following Tim Miles quotes: "junior college players and foreign players are 'more high risk'" than high school recruits. and "Juco's are like peach schnapps. Enjoy in moderation." A couple observations are pertinent: First, neither Sai Tummala nor Leslee Smith enrolled in junior college because of high school academic deficiencies, so neither presents the higher risk Tim Miles mentioned: -- Leslee Smith started his college career at SMU and has performed well academically at both SMU and his junior college, and -- Sai Tummala started his college career as a "preferred walkon" at Michigan, which may suggest some sort of academic scholarship assistance, and is an exceptionally strong student. Second, Mikael Herbert's father is a Canadian expatriate living in Finland. Accordingly, Mikael Herbert is not a typical foreigner dealing with language issues, TOEFL requirements, and similar "foreigner" problems.

Yup. That's the title of this article in today's Journal Star. Check out the article. It's a good read. The article also addresses a non-AAU subject--here's a blurb: "The college game should do what the NBA did years ago and begin calling games more tightly. That would greatly diminish all the arm-barring and hand-checking — and presumably lead to more freedom of movement."

In the world of "my guess is as bad as anyone else's," Beadle may be on to something: here is a called "The Weeknd - Outro," and here is "OUTRO (THE WEEKND)."

According to Steven Sipple, Tim Miles is looking for a "Devastating" home court advantage at the Pinnacle Arena. Sipple also offers a teaser for an article he will be publishing in tomorrow's Journal Star.

So, pretend for a moment we are Alex Illikainen--or, better yet, one of his parents. This recrruiter has been showing up for the past year sporting a red shirt with an "N" or "Huskers" or "Nebraska" logo, singing the praises of Nebrasketball and Tim Miles and a Pinnacle Arena, and a new training center, and how Nebrasketball is on the rise, and how Alex could be a huge part of all that. But . . . now he shows up in a different shade of red with an "M" or "Gophers" or "Minnesota" logo, singing the praises of Minnesotaball and a new guy named Pitino and a basketball court raised a couple feet higher than the rest of the arena floor and how players and spectators don't really get hurt when players careen off that floor. And how this new gig and new University are better for Alex than the old one. Anyway, as a recruit or his parent, we've got to be wondering just a little bit about this guy and what he says, don't you think?.

This.

how is the shortie the second tallest, Im cornfused, Short for his position--the center is often the tallest player on the floor, and 6'8" seems a bit short for B1G centers these days. Sorry for the confusion.

Yeah. And think of the length on the floor with such combinations as Petteway (6'6") at the point, Fuller (6'7") at the two, Shields (6'6") at the 3, Pichford (6'10") at the four, and Leslee Smith (6'8"--the shortie of the group) at center.

Hate to break the news, folks, but neither Chris Harriman nor Craig Smith plans to stay in Lincoln long-term. Both have head coaching aspirations and both view their Husker assistant gig as one of the stepping stones toward that goal. The big question on Harriman, like Ben Johnson, is whether he will honor his three-year commitment or not--here's hoping and praying that he will! Recall that Tim Miles tried to help Craig Smith get the Colorado St. head job. We Nebrasketball fans should be mighty grateful that such efforts did not succeed because the Tim Miles / Craig Smith teamwork longevity is undoubtedly a huge asset for the Huskers. Tim Miles is a creative survivor. Heck, who else has the ingenuity and chutzpah to hire a Chin Coleman of Chicago AAU fame to the likes of Colorado St.? Tim Miles will get through this assistant coach change (and disappointment) just fine and, if prior history is any indication of future performance, will find a replacement that effectively meets and advances Nebrasketball's needs and goals.