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All of the newcomers certainly looked the part at the scrimmage and I'd say that they can develop into contributors sooner rather than later - I will be interested to see how the 3 freshmen & Smith look in a more controlled situation against UNK, not to mention now with a couple dozen practices under their belts, but there doesn't appear to be any "projects" or "reaches" in the class. Splitting up the minutes will be a challenge - a good challenge - for the coaches.

I will be very surprised if Vooch sees the floor in anything but garbage time again this season - Coach Miles has had nothing to say that would indicate Vooch is anywhere near cracking the lineup or has improved in the areas he needs to. I didn't think he showed much, if any, improvement from last year in the open scrimmage either. Kurkowski outplayed him for stretches. Count me in the group that sees Fuller playing double-digit minutes. He may be NU's best spot-up shooter from the 3-point line before long, even better than Rey.

Maybe they're going all-in with Deng Deng and if they don't get him, they hold the scholarship until the spring or if they get a good option for a December transfer, they use it there.

Great news! Sounds like the kind of player who has plenty of raw potential. I like Coach Miles' chances of getting the most out of him. And good to get that verbal now with some other large programs starting to show interest.

The NU Basketball Show did air in place of the NU Football Show last night, although my DirecTV Guide never updated to show that. So if you DVR the Football Show, you'll have Basketball in its place this week. Just kind of an intro to the season show. 1st & 2nd segments - They showed several minutes of the open scrimmage from Sept 27 and then Coach Miles gave breakdowns of each player while they showed several minutes of practice footage - his comments summarized below - they started to go faster once they got to Petteway, my guess is Coach Miles was too long-winded early & started to run out of time, so not as many comments on the last several players: Gallegos - Really athletic, great 3-point shooter, needs to diversify his game, find ways to get fouled & score in transition, he has worked at that, becoming more vocal & being a better leader, big things expected Peltz - Love his grit & determination & fearlessness, never know how I might use him, needs to cut his hair Rivers - Slowed by foot injury, then had a bad allergic reaction that really puffed up his face, but has been toughing it out at practice Smith - Started well, then got hurt, knee swells up on him at times, then injured hamstring maybe favoring knee, need him healthy, he's a critical guy for us Biggs - JC All-American, important to get him going, suspended for exhibition & first 2 games Shields - He's a player, he's a leader, total package, it's in the DNA, cares about NU & wants success, expect his numbers to improve & improve Petteway - Chance to be very productive (kind of skipped over him here as they spoke quite a bit about him during the scrimmage highlights & how he is a gym rat, can't get him out of the gym, even sneaks over to the rec center after they kick him out of the Hendricks center, voted team captain, big role) Pitchford - Will do some very good things, going to be very productive player Vooch - Still developing, still trying to get into the lineup Parker - So quick & aggressive on the ball defender, needs to find his way on offense, find assists, knock down open shots Webster - A lot of hype, I think he loves the attention and pressure, very mentally & physically strong player, missed 9 practices with ankle injury Hawkins - Coming back from concussion, has practiced well recently Fuller - Has a great looking shot, acclimating to the speed of the game Wagner - Dislocated ankle, gruesome injury No other walk-ons were mentioned. Then they showed a few more highlights from practices, both in Hendricks & Pinnacle Bank plus a few comments from players about the upcoming season. Then a discussion of the schedule: In basketball, coaches get to set 95% of the scheduling, other than with Cincinnati we worked with the football team to get that one scheduled Could be a Top 20-type schedule again this year Wanted our first game at Pinnacle to be very exciting, wanted it to be an opponent that could really challenge us and a game we could possibly lose, we likely will be an underdog, FGC gives us a chance to measure ourself & find out what we're made of - historic day Going to Charleston for Classic Tournament sponsored by ESPN, will stay with ESPN next 2 years for in-season tournaments, next year in Hawaii around Christmas, then in Anaheim in 2015 Finally Coach Miles' thoughts on moving from level to level as a head coach: Basketball itself doesn't change that much as you go from level to level It becomes a bit more sophisticated Defensively have had to change the most because of athleticism, don't pressure all over the court as much anymore Now recruiting worldwide, have to get good enough players to win in Big 10 & NCAA Tourney, that's why they pay me the big bucks Next NU Basketball show will be after football season wraps up

Lincoln Journal Star story today: Miles says 'eliminating losing' paramount to NU's success

Thanks for the heads-up! A further heads-up - I just checked my DirecTV Guide and the NU Basketball Show doesn't show up on any of my local stations listed in the Huskers.com article yet, the NU Football Show is listed in the Guide in the time slot. Perhaps the Guide hasn't been updated yet or more likely the NU Basketball Show will be in a different time slot until after football season. However the NU Basketball Show did show up in the Guide on Fox Sports Midwest as a replay on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning - if you have the Sports Pak from DirecTV you should be able to get FSMW anywhere in the country. It's too bad the Big Ten Network decided to stop airing all coaches shows - that used to be a great place to catch replays when you missed the show at the scheduled local time.

Miles is on record wanting to redshirt Vooch and not redshirting Biggs. In both cases he ultimately went with what the individual player wanted to do. Interesting - I didn't know that about Vooch, thanks

Coach Miles doesn't appear to be a big fan of redshirting - Vooch was a perfect redshirt candidate last year and NU chose to play him in nothing but garbage time. Seemed like it was Biggs' idea to redshirt, not sure it was Coach Miles' idea initially. I'd be pretty surprised if Hawkins or any of the newcomers redshirt, barring injury or barring the player making a request to redshirt. Probably been discussed here in the past, but does anyone know what Coach Miles did at CSU with regards to redshirts? Did he have many who just used it as a year of development? Or were redshirts primarily limited to guys who were injured?

Agreed - I'd be pretty surprised if those 5 aren't the starters against FGC - it's difficult to imagine a captain who's an underclassman not in the starting 5 to open the year.

OWH story on Smith today, discussing his path to NU & how he has become a leader on the team - plus a giant photo of him that takes up 1/4 of the front page of the sports section http://www.omaha.com/article/20131012/HUSKERS/131019488/1002#barfknecht-after-travel-travail-nu-s-smith-has-found-an-island

Some of his comments Misses home-cooked meals Seems like he's been playing basketball since he could walk Hoops in NZ is growing Watched as much NBA on TV as he could in NZ Loved Iverson as a kid, wants to also try to drive and get to the rack as much as possible Couldn't believe he was playing in FIBA/international competition, blessing just to make the NZ team Didn't surprise him that he played well internationally, just wanted a chance to prove himself NZ teammates embraced him On top of the world, felt like he was ready for NBA after international tournament ((laughs)) On Nebraska/college hoops Always wanted to come to US to play college hoops Didn't get to see much college hoops on TV in NZ Very hard decision to turn down $$$ and attend NU Had to do a lot of extra work to get qualified Miles/Harriman really seemed genuine in recruiting Having Harriman was a big benefit, he knew what Tai was going through Enjoys Coach Miles, got to be on your toes around him - joking one minute, up in your face the next Shocked with workouts/weight training, didn't think it would be as hard as it is Biggest difference - athletic ability, everyone is fast and can jump in US versus NZ players in general Like to get to the rim a lot, use a pull-up jumper game Either point guard or off guard, comfortable with both Just want to win games, do whatever it takes, haven't thought about bigger goals yet New arena is beautiful, never been in a place quite like it Practice facility is amazing, too, very impressed with all facilities Haven't really studied Big Ten hoops yet I'm sure there will be a podcast up soon - he mentioned a player or two he has been impressed with on the NU roster thus far, but I missed the names - said he really likes the work ethic he's seen from those teammates, they're always in the gym, and he wants to emulate that.

Going to start a bit late, Tai hasn't called in yet

Just a heads up - Nick Bahe is scheduled to have Webster on his show on 1620 radio today at 1:05 pm

Apologies in advance for what's probably a stupid question, but I've never had a reason to really follow top-level/highly-ranked basketball recruiting before so I don't know the answer - do top rated basketball players switch verbals as often as football players seem to do? I'm guessing the answer is no in large part because of the early signing period. Just curious if NU's coaches make any effort to keep recruiting ER, hoping for a late switch. Like I said, I doubt switches happen often enough to warrant continuing to try to recruit him, but was just curious from those who know.

This is a good thought - what are the chances we may have a December transfer waiting who would take scholarship #2? And then maybe another 1 or 2 in the spring if/when there's roster turnover?

Do we contact Wacker with an official offer now & see if he will reconsider his verbal to Boise? Or maybe we hold scholarship #2 to the spring for a juco or a late qualifier? I guess I'd like to see us continue to make an all-out effort to get a 2nd signee in November, because roster turnover may very well free up another scholarship or two for the spring period. But you don't want to throw that 2nd scholarship in November at just anyone, so it's a fine line - still have to be picky

I picked up the SN preview yesterday - dropped it when I saw the cover, then decided I could just tape the cover to a dartboard after I read it so decided to purchase it anyway. I'm always curious where they slot our non-con opponents, kind of get an idea about strength of schedule: *exhibitions *Late Oct (closed scrimmage) - S Dakota St, 3rd of 8 in Summit (tie 1st in Summit reg season last year) (UNO is picked 4th, by the way) *Nov 4 (exhibition) - UNK (D II) Nov 8 - Fla Gulf Coast - 1st of 10 in Atlantic Sun (2nd reg season last year) Nov 12 - W Illinois - 5th of 8 in Summit (tie 1st last year) Nov 17 - S Carolina St - 12th of 13 in MEAC (tie 12th last year) Nov 21 - vs Massachusetts - 5th of 13 in Atlantic 10 (tie 6th last year, 16 teams) Nov 22 - vs New Mexico - 1st of 11 in Mountain West (1st last year, 9 teams) OR - vs UAB - 7th of 16 in C-USA (tie 7th last year, 12 teams) Nov 24 - vs Clemson - 14th of 15 in ACC (11th last year, 12 teams) OR - vs Davidson - 2nd of 11 in Southern Conf (1st last year, 12 teams) OR - vs Georgia - 12th of 14 in SEC (tie 8th last year) OR - vs Temple - 8th of 10 in American Athletic (tie 3rd in Atlantic 10 last year, 16 teams) Nov 30 - N Illinois - 11th/12th of 12 / 6th of 6 in West Division in MAC (tie 11th last year, 12 teams) Dec 4 - Miami-Fla - 12th of 15 in ACC (1st last year, 12 teams) Dec 8 - at Creighton - 3rd of 10 in Big East (1st in Missouri Valley last year, 10 teams) Dec 14 - Arkansas St - 5th of 10 in Sun Belt (3rd last year, 11 teams) Dec 21 - The Citadel - 10th of 11 in Southern Conf (11th last year, 12 teams) Dec 28 - at Cincinnati - 4th of 10 in American Athletic (9th in Big East last year, 15 teams) Then in the Big Ten our "two-play" opponents are projected to finish: Michigan - 2nd Ohio St - 3rd Indiana - 6th Illinois - 7th Purdue - 8th Northwestern - 10th Penn St - 11th And our "Single-play" opponents are projected: Michigan St - 1st Wisconsin - 4th Iowa - 5th Minnesota - 9th Overall I'd say a slightly softer schedule than I would've guessed at first glance ... of course that's assuming the Sporting News has projected everyone correctly. And since we know they've mis-projected Nebraska at 12th , maybe we can't trust the other picks all that much either.

And I'd guess some of the BTN Internet-only broadcasts will be shown on BTN TV as replays the following morning/afternoon, so set the DVR. Not a great option, but better than nothing.

Actually it's the opposite. Unless working for a university-sponsored outlet, media members are taught to be a little tougher on the home/alum team, just to ensure there's no appearance of homerism/favoritism. How that manifests itself is a little different in each person, but there's a concerted effort to separate the media person from any semblance of being a fan, especially in print media. Portray an aura of objectivity in other words.

That's an amazing number - I knew it was up but had no idea it was by that much. It would've been easy for Coach Osborne to go through the motions as an AD, focus on football and just let the next guy deal with hoops, but he has put basketball on the right trajectory as far as a commitment from administration. Not only a new practice facility, but an expanded budget to go with it. I remember Barry Collier asking for a practice facility right after he was hired - hard to believe it took so long. And just think about what Coach Iba could have done with a dedicated practice facility - he could've had as many illegal practices as he wanted with no fear of getting caught.

Good points - seeing this young team grow throughout this season will be fun, and that improvement has the extra advantage of building up the starting point for the team heading into next season as with nearly everyone back, there should be little drop off and worries about replacing a lot of graduated leadership, like we may experience early this season. This year we return about 60% of our minutes from last season, and next season we could return up to 85% of our minutes from this season, so next season could be special. I think we're two more big men November signees - especially one from Texas - from having a special 2014-15...

Sergej Vucetic - 0 Walter Pitchford - 25 Leslee Smith - 20 Shavon Shields - 30 David Rivers - 10 Nick Fuller - 15 Terran Petteway - 30 Nathan Hawkins - 0 Tai Webster - 30 Ray Gallegos - 30 Deverell "D Nasty" Biggs - 10 Benny Parker - 0 Going by 5s is easier to add I think we'll be down to 9 players getting regular minutes by conference play, so I guess that's where I'm at

I also came in/left via N and parked in the Red Garage it was pretty smooth, although I'm sure there are plenty of kinks to work out. Maybe 5 minutes in line waiting to enter the garage & 10 minutes waiting in line to exit the garage. During entrance, people coming from the North on Arena Drive trying to turn left into the road to the Red Garage entrance had a longer wait. My plan for games will be to park at the baseball park & use pedestrian bridge if I need to get home quickly. If I don't, parking in the garages & planning to have a beer or two in the Haymarket after the games while the garages clear out probably will be the way to go. Even though the walk north across the pedestrian bridge could be nasty in January, I think that will be the fastest way out as you'll get away from the foot traffic around the arena & avoid waiting in line in the garages. I felt bad for some drivers trying to go east on that road just south of the arena right after the scrimmage - must be R Street? - they had no chance to move as people streamed out and into the street. Plus I think the baseball park parking will provide fastest access to I-80, whether north to Cornhusker or south to West O.

I don't know how to post tweets, so hopefully this works: Lee Barfknecht‏@leebeeowh #husker hoopster Shavon Shields practiced today and is fine after nasty fall in Friday's scrimmage.