The Coach

I feel bad for Trey Dickerson. Can't wait to see Benny Parker guard him next year.

I love how much the announcers are talking about Coach Miles and our team during the Iowa game.

Tonight we need to root for Marquette over Xavier, and Arizona State over Stanford. If Xavier and Stanford lose tonight, we'll be in great shape. St Joe's and Dayton play each other tomorrow, so we should stay ahead of that loser no matter what.

Hey it took him a whole 7 minutes to foul out last night. His first game it only took 6 minutes. He's making progress.

I think ever since the Biggs situation, Miles is focused on getting high-character, team-oriented guys. He's talked about guys who know their roles and go out there and just perform their roles. Smith seems like this type of kid. I think he could score a lot more if he wanted to, he has a pretty good shot and can take it strong to the hole. But it seems like St. Anthony's likes to run a patient, disciplined half-court offense. I'm not worried about his defense, look how our defense now compared to earlier in the season is like night and day - Miles will teach him how to play great D.

It will be interesting to see who we get in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge next year. It would be cool to get one of the big names (Duke, UNC, Louisville, or Syracuse).

New Game Film. Tarin is #10 in white

Looking at the projected 6 and 7 seeds.....I'd love a first-round matchup with UCLA, Texas, or Kentucky. VCU? Not so much. We don't really excel against full-court pressure.

It will be fun to go back and read all of the predictions that we would finish last. I came across this one today: Nebraska: Nebraska returns just 52% of its possessions from last year which should slow the momentum Tim Miles was building late in the season. JUCO transfers Leslee Smith and Deverell Biggs, Texas Tech transfer Terran Petteway, and Florida transfer Walter Pitchford should add some experience which might help a little. But none of them would start for a good team in the Big Ten. (Petteway had a hideous 75 ORtg in limited minutes for Texas Tech. I remember watching him two years ago and thinking that he had no idea what a good shot was. Perhaps that is correctable, but he was still dreadful.) Realistically, this is still the beginning of the rebuilding project. Tim Miles needs to give a lot of minutes to his young players next year and build for 2015-2016. And this one: Nebraska (+6000) – These guys were kind of spry in Tim Miles’ first season at the helm. But Nebraska should take a step back this year. When you’re Nebraska there aren’t too many steps further back you can take, but this roster is terrible. Guards Ray Gallegos and Shavon Shields are competent. That’s about it. And the two best players in the frontcourt, transfers Tarran Petteway and Walter Pitchford, are guys that could barely get off the bench at Texas Tech and Florida, respectively. This team is pretty terrible.

Would be fun if we got matched up opposite Creighton (if they were a 2/3 seed and we were a 10/11 seed).

https://twitter.com/Smittee_/status/442836105482997761

Well, looks like we have to win tonight!

Not to look ahead.....but the closest host sites for the Big Dance are St. Louis and Milwaukee. Other sites are Buffalo, Orlando, Spokane, Raleigh, San Antonio, and San Diego. Next year Omaha hosts! But that's really getting ahead of ourselves.

Another thing to consider - with the season we've had, and Petteway and everyone else coming back next year - we should get a lot more ESPN games, and maybe even a couple CBS games. We will likely be picked to finish in the Top 4 of the conference, so we won't be relegated to BTN or ESPNU every game. We will get much more National TV exposure, which should help recruiting. I can't wait to see who we schedule next year. Miles isn't afraid to play anyone, anything to bring attention to the program. I'd love to see something like a game against KU in Kansas City. Or how about a 2-for-1 deal with Duke or Kentucky or UNC? Now that we are gaining some respectability, I think these are realistic possibilities.

I just find it strange that right after Miles went to watch Trey last Sunday - the next day Trey announces that he is visiting Iowa this weekend......when before he had planned on visiting Nebraska this weekend. The same day, Miles schedules a trip to see Tarin Smith. So either Miles saw something he didn't like on that visit, or maybe Trey told him he was no longer interested......but it seems strange that the interest seemed to disappear right after Miles went up there to see him.

Trey really seems to love tweeting, which makes me wonder why he wants to play for a coach that banned Twitter during the season. Here is Tarin Smith's twitter for those that are interested: https://twitter.com/Smittee_. I don't see any red flags at all.

Trey is criticizing the refs on Twitter.....good thing Fran bans his players from tweeting during the season.

They have no +100 losses. That's the only reason. BYU has 4 losses to teams with RPI of 140 or worse....and zero RPI Top 25 wins.....yet Lunardi has them in as a bye.

I don't see how Iowa's resume is better than ours right now. Same number of total losses, but they have more conference losses, worse SOS, more home losses. We both beat Ohio State. They beat Michigan at home, we beat Michigan St on the road. We seem pretty even to me.

Based on the first video that was posted, I don't think he does (see 4:38). If we are trading this guy for Vooch, then I'm OK with it. But if we keep Vooch and sign this guy, I'll be pretty disappointed. We need someone with some size who can play right away. Hopefully a senior or JUCO transfer. They don't need to be 7'0. I'll take an athletic, skilled 6'8 guy over a slow uncoordinated 7'0 guy any day.

More interesting quotes from Coach Hurley: “I think he’s paid his dues,” Hurley said. “I think he can run a college team and it’s up to those guys to figure out at what level. By his recruiting, he’s at least being recruited by the Atlantic 10 level which is not too far off anything else. If teams from the Atlantic 10 are recruiting you then you’re close to being capable of playing in most leagues.” Mike Brey was also at the game last night, but did not offer Tarin.

Disagree. When you're an under the radar recruit who commits early to a college...what is the point for any of the big boys to even look at him? Probably the fact that he's taller than 99.999% of high school basketball players out there. Sorry but you don't go "under the radar" when you are that size. If you have any skill at that size, you're going to get major interest, no matter who you are committed to. Like Kamdy said, look at how Jackson Davis is blowing up. And I'd say the jury is still out on Miles' ability to spot talent at the post position. See Vooch, Atewe, Tummala, etc. These guys aren't exactly lighting the college hoops world on fire. I don't think Miles recruited any good post players at CSU (though he did get Colton Iverson as a transfer). So it seems Miles has his best luck with transfer bigs like Iverson and Pitchford. I'm really hoping for a senior transfer.

I'd say our chances are very slim for this one. Looks like everyone wants him now.

His only offer is still Albany. He visited Oklahoma and has no offer. Remember Vucetic had offers and not just interest from Providence, Georgia Tech, Minnesota, Vanderbilt, UNCC, Nevada, and Rhode Island yet we all know where he is at today. I could be completely wrong but watching his video he is underwhelming against inferior talent and thats at the high school level. The size and some of his athleticism is intriguing but intrigue only goes so far. Quick, tell me who Shavon's other offers were from. Nevermind, I'll tell you: Long Beach St., Weber St. and Wyoming. I know Shields was a Doc recruit, but find the right guys for your program and get them on board. True, but Shavon wasn't 7'1. If you're that tall and your only offer is Albany, I'm sorry but you aren't very good. Usually just being over 7-foot is enough to get at least a handful of major-conference scholarship offers.

Tarin scored 13 points and Coach Hurley notched his 1100th career victory. “We really wanted to emphasize defense today and come out and play strong so we could send a message and show that we’re here to play,” said senior guard Tarin Smith. “Our defense fell off a little bit in the third quarter, which I wasn’t happy about, but we picked it back up to end the game.