Swan88

Lhouisville

Matthew has superb athleticism and a strong ability to block shots, play defense and rebound--to do anything without the ball in his hands. Those traits are, obviously, the reason Nebrasketball has been recruiting him, with (presumably) the hope that he would develop skills with the ball. However, if you look at all the available videos and describe his weaknesses, such description would be precisely the reverse of the Miles recruiting mantra: he doesn't "pass it, catch it [or] shoot it" very well.

Here's a quote from the Lee Barfknecht article posted on the main board: "Miles has identified in recruiting which players fit his style. Miles’ simple mantra is 'he better be able to pass it, catch it and shoot it.'" Hmmm . . . does a dunk count as "shoot it"?

With basketball season ending for many schools, the time for firing coaches has arrived. Here is an opening-days list already from ESPN: Buffalo Bulls fire men's basketball coach Reggie Witherspoon. | | March 15, 2013 Ball State fires basketball coach Billy Taylor. | March 14, 2013 San Jose State Spartans fire coach George Nessman after 8 years. | March 13, 2013 Matt Brown fired by UMKC Kangaroos as men's basketball coach. | March 12, 2013 Siena Saints fire coach Mitch Buonaguro after 3 seasons. | March 12, 2013 Robbie Laing fired as men's basketball coach of Campbell Fighting.... | March 11, 2013

Great student-athlete. Great player. Great person. Great contribution to Nebrasketball!!

Depth issues . . . ugh . . .

What is the deal on Dylan's sickness?

Our thoughts and prayers are with you.

Ok. Duly chastised.

From what I've heard, he's at the top of NU's board. No cooling whatsoever. The staff wants him and he's their #1 big. Ok, I'll bite. You've heard directly from the coaches or one of their staff on this?

Outside shot: the Huskers have cooled on Matthew and are no longer pursuing him hard. [now, Swan ducks behind his desk to avoid all the arrows coming his way on this board--always enjoy referring to myself in third person]

What is now public information, that was apparently a mystery before today, is this: Matthew Atewe had eligibility issues that are just now resolved in his favor. He is now eligible. This seems to be very good news. This is the first time we've seen anything approaching a reason that makes sense for the delays (and the appearance of indecision) that have produced 30 pages of angst and discussion on this board.

Check out this Matthew Atewe quote from an Auburn Rivals article: "Them and Charlotte have been in contact with me the most. Those two programs are recruiting me the hardest out of the four. That plays a role." FYI--the "them" is not Nebraska.

Here is the latest on the subject from this morning's Omaha World Herald: "Though the NIT has no requirement of at least a .500 record for an invitation, a tournament official said Tuesday 'the committee wouldn't look favorably' on teams with losing records. And NU coach Tim Miles repeated Tuesday that he's not interested in becoming the first Big Ten team to play in either the College Basketball Invitational or the CollegeInsider.com Tournament."

My thoughts exactly. A little slow on the windup and pretty low on the release. But on the other hand, his shots appear to go inside the hoop with a strong degree of regularity!

Velander turned out to be a pretty good player. Here's a blurb from a Big 12 article: "Paul Velander . . . has carved out a niche for himself not only as the nation’s top 3-pointer shooter, hitting 50 percent of his shots from behind the arc, but also as a force defensively taking 14 charges this season."

Wow. That came out of the blue. Good for him . . . and good for us. Some excerpts from the article: "Wagner announced today he accepted a preferred walk-on offer at NCAA Division I Nebraska next season . . . 'I’m pretty excited,' said Wagner, who averaged 23.8 points per game this season with the Red Hawks. 'Last spring, I contacted them and told them I would be interested in walking on.' Wagner, a 3.95 student, will also receive an academic scholarship from the university." "'We’re really excited,' said Red Hawks coach Mark Wagner, who is also Tim’s father. 'I think the one thing that Tim can bring to any team is the fact that he can shoot the ball so well.'"

he'd have to qualify academically before he could even play so juco or NAIA would be the only route for him more than likely. As long as we are in an inquiring mode here, I've been curious, Kamdy, on how the rules for prep schools and jucos relate to each other. In other words, if I'm a recruit and have some academic issues, what would be the reasons for choosing a prep school over a juco and vice versa? Most of the time prep schools anymore are for the competition. Kids used to use them to extend themselves another year for growth and/or academics but the NCAA changed the rule going forward that kids cannot reclassify for any reason to go to a prep school. This year was the last year you could do so which is why you saw Tory Miller, a player nebraska is on, reclassify to get another year. This will more than likely push more talented players the JuCo route which requires players to complete their associates degree at that point to transfer to a NCAA school which on average takes 2 years. Thanks. Very interesting.

he'd have to qualify academically before he could even play so juco or NAIA would be the only route for him more than likely. As long as we are in an inquiring mode here, I've been curious, Kamdy, on how the rules for prep schools and jucos relate to each other. In other words, if I'm a recruit and have some academic issues, what would be the reasons for choosing a prep school over a juco and vice versa?

Based on nearly every standard Matthew has articulated publicly, the Huskers should be a lock. Heck, in his interview, he said he is in regular contact with Tai Webster, Nathan Hawkins and Nick Fuller--all three of them. . . . but he's still taking visits. The wild card in all this is Matthew's "mentor." We've never heard a public comment from him. And it seems we've never had a full explanation on what's going on behind the scenes. . . . and Tim Miles is apparently still looking at backups. The irritating thing about all this is that Norm had a point all along--Matthew may fill a defensive need but is not exactly a five-star (heck, he's a two-star on ESPN). However, Matthew may have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. . . . and now cue up Kamdy's defense . . .

Thanks, Tex, for posting. Some observations on the Atewe interview: 1. The name pronunciation for Matthew is, apparently, something like "Uh-twee'," with an emphasis on the "twee." That was unexpected. 2. Matthew has a great relationship with Coach Harriman. 3. Matthew loves the current and new facilities. 4. Matthew spent a lot of interview time talking about having a point guard who can get the ball to him in transition and around the rim. 5. Matthew is impressed with Husker fans. 6. Gotta like Nebraska's chances here . . . except that the "mentor" is a wild-card--we've never heard him talk about the situation and can't know what he's advising Matthew. Regarding a focus of this station on an Omaha team, rather than on Nebrasketball, it's a matter of winning. If Tim Miles and Co. continue to improve, the focus in Omaha will adjust. For example, my experience is that the around-the-watercooler-discussions on basketball during the latter part of this week in Omaha have been focused on Nebrasketball and the successes against Iowa and Minnesota--not on a mid-major tournament. If the trajectory of the program continues into next year and following years, the Nebrasketball bandwagon will get very crowded, including people all the way from Scottsbluff to Henry Doorley Zoo.

No hair on his legs. Feet seem large compared to the rest of him. Ya never know.

I mentioned this in another thread, but it seems to fit here too: in last night's post-game presser, Tim Miles showed that he likes fans rushing the court--he said that Colorado State "led the country" in that category and mentioned that his son inquired hopefully whether the fans would rush the court if we were to win last night. Then, Tim Miles had a brilliant suggestion: that the students should rush the court in slow motion, like the slow motion wave we do in Memorial Stadium. Love it.

Under the over-pass, where the railroad tracks cross the creek--the tracks abut the parking lot on its North side, and the creek is immediately to its West. Simply step down the steep incline and follow the creek path to The Bob.

Here's the goal: we need to beat Iowa on Satursay, then win enough games in the B1G tourney to get a home NIT game so that, when we win, the students can do the slow-motion rush-the-court that Tim Miles suggested in last night's post-game presser. Wouldn't that be cool!!!