busticket

Nailed it. I don't want anymore one and done or ego players. I want us to build something that is sustainable with good kids that are also solid players who get what HCFH is doing and are willing to sacrifice their individual accolades in order to win. I want us to be able to survive losing an assistant coach because the next assistant coach who comes in will be able to be a part of the culture. I also want to build so that way we can survive losing HCFH if he where to step down do to health concerns. This is a real concern of mine.
 
I believe that we are going to be a program on the rise as kids will get to play in a system that is fun where everyone contributes and scores, and that we go deep into our bench. Right now we have 8 guys who have played a total of 550+ minutes this season. We have only 2 players who average more than 25 min/game. I believe we will be a magnet for athletic big men who can shoot and don't just want to play with their back to the basket for an entire game.
 
To be clear that doesn't mean I'd turn down the opportunity for 4/5 star players under the right set of circumstances. I just don't want to lose our soul to get them. I also know that we need to bring in talent next year to keep this going as we will no longer be the hunter but the hunted. 

Challenge accepted! 

Challenge accepted! 

Challenge accepted! 

I hear ya Chuck...All I know is I want another crack at Ill-noise. Neutral court this time, jerks. 
 

Will I happily take the Michigan/Penn State vs. Indiana winner?
 

its insane to me that as of this morning most pundits had mich st ahead of us....no sane person can look at their resume and say it's better than ours.

that is the best we could have hoped for...should be fun

No more projections. The field is set. We're here. Now it's time to take care of business.
 
Let the Big Ten tournament chatter commence.
 

And since we finished with a better overall record in league standings, I'm beginning to think margin of victory/loss is maybe an over-rated criterion for determining which is the better team.
 
I mean, for example, Nebraska football under Frost losing 9 games by a combined total of 56 points was still just a 3-win team at the end of the season.
 
At some point, you have to account for the fact that some teams are able to do what needs to be done to get more dubs. Great that Michigan St had half as many blowout losses. But they also had fewer wins and, at the end of the day, that seems like a more important metric.

I’d prefer getting that elusive first tourney win.  Being the only P5 program without a tourney win in 125+ years of basketball is a 2000 lb gorilla on our backs to me.

Conference records broken
 
Total points: -1513 (prev 1423 - 2021-22)
FGs made - 531 (prev 505 - 2019-20)
3pt FGs made - 190 (prev 167 - 2001-02)
Assists - 298 (prev 289 - 1984-85)

Keisei scoring 30 points in the last game doesn't hurt his chances at recognition 

I don’t know how to make this make sense. But I would vote Keisei ahead of anyone else on the team for all-conference accolades. Yet, I would vote Mast our most VALUABLE player. And yet again, I would vote Gary our most IMPORTANT player. Pretty cool season of basketball we are experiencing. 
 
Over the course of the whole season, I’d say Brice has been our most improved player. Even though his numbers have dropped just a bit since non-con. His progression and role acceptance on both ends has been as vital to our current success as anything else. 

Right now, I think Keisei gets 2d team honors and Mast and Gary looking at honorable mention. 
 
Thats not only fair, it's awesome. We don't depend on a star player to win. That''s ideal in sports. 

That's the beauty of this year's team, we have a bunch of dudes who care more about the team's purpose ("us" is what they say after a game in their team huddle) than any particular personal accolade, but I do think if Keisei goes off in the next 3 games that he could garner attention as a first-teamer although not all that likely it happens. GBR
 

Yeah, I'll feel differently if NU plays in Omaha within these next 2 weeks, for sure. It would be a ginormous weight off one's shoulders and a major marketing tool for Freddy & the program to get that little monkey off their backs and be able to show recruits we have a Sweet Sixteen, even. But, first, I'll still prefer winning it all in Minny would feel pretty darn sweet, only wish NU WBB had sealed the deal. A double sweep in Minneapolis would have been golden.
 

Same here,  however why not both. Lets get greedy.

I’d prefer getting that elusive first tourney win.  Being the only P5 program without a tourney win in 125+ years of basketball is a 2000 lb gorilla on our backs to me.

I'm just saying.
 
Maybe there will be a #30 jersey hanging in the rafters after all.
 
Usually it's reserved for NBA lottery picks. They didn't even do it for Venson Hamilton, who was conference POTY.
 
But they gotta do something to honor the guy who leads this program to its first NCAA tourney win.
 
And we aren't the team we are without him.
 
So ...
 
I'm just so freaking geeked and I wanted to share in the feeling of being geeked with the few hundred people on earth who would understand.

It was a season that no one thought was possible. And we get a top 4 seed in the B1G tourney and the first win in Huskers' history at Michigan.

Kinda straying off topic, but I've been thinking that the next coach's kid likely to become a successful head coach himself is ...
 
Sam Hoiberg.
 
Whatever "it" is, Sam seems to have a lot of it. He really understands the game, has a high hoops IQ (same thing), and a lot of charisma. He's learning a lot from his dad. When he runs out of eligibility, I would not be the least bit surprised to see him get a graduate assistant job somewhere good. Maybe even here.

Completely agree.  I think it’s a badge of honor if we were to finish top-4 in this league without any serious threats for all-league players.
 
interestingly, all-Big Ten teams should be inversely related to COTY in our case.  If we finish 3rd in this damn conference without any marquee players then Hoiberg has to be lock for COTY (he might be anyway)

Bump.
 
We're coming down to the wire on this. We're a team where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.  And that means our guys getting post-season recognition might not be commensurate with our conference finish.
 
We're a collection of a bunch of guys who can hurt you but no individual superstars.
 
I still think the branding of Keisei is going to pay some dividends for him in terms of post-season recognition, though.

Our “problem” is we are so balanced we may not get a guy.  People thought we would rely on Tominaga which hasn’t been the case.  Being the #20 scorer in the league when that is your main attribute as a player probably won’t cut it.  But he is a media darling and the face of potentially the #4 team in the BIG.  And a team that far exceeded their predicted finish.  So there’s a chance.
 
Meanwhile, Mast could make a run at bumping Reese or Omanyuri, even though when they play us they look like All Americans.  His scoring and rebounding are in the ballpark with those two, and he is much better at assists.  And, he is on a much better team, which often gets rewarded.  Except we are Nebraska, so I am not counting on it.