NUdiehard

Oh my!

The words "parking garages" and "better" should never be used in the same sentence. Parking garages are fine for daily transient traffic that comes and goes at different times. But for events, like concerts and sporting events, they are a deathtrap. One could easily get stuck in a parking garage for a solid 30-45 minutes before getting out. That is not my idea of "better" in any way, shape or form. I am thrilled about the new arena and look forward to this new era of NU BB at Pinnable Bank Arena. But I have never bought into the notion that this arena, which is essentially landlocked in the Haymarket, will improve the parking situation. Fans at Pinnacle Bank Arena will either have to walk a decent distance (most of them directly into a bitter north wind across the pedestrian bridge and then, once they get to their cars, battle all the traffic to get out on to west O street using the one and only exit road available) or park in a garage and wait out the long, slow lines to get out.

Thats more than double than the majority of asst's make at schools like Arizona, KU, etc. Nebraska cant do that for basketball I dont care what youre trying to accomplish you cant afford to do it. NU can afford it and it would barely even be noticed. Dollars are dollars. Moving him up to $400,000 would increase his salary approximatley $150,000. That is nothing. The AD wouldn't even know there was a change. Heck, Miles earns $1.7 million and will proably get a $200,000 to $300,000 raise after this season no matter what the record. A HC ultimately is only as good as his players. Doc Sadler learned that the hard way. Having ace recruiters to bring in their players is essential. Paying your ace assistants very well is a very wise investment, even if some of it has to come out of the HC's pocket through reduced salary. K State used to pay their ace recruiter $500,000+ and our ath budget absolutely dwarfs theirs. To say we can't do it is simply inaccurate. Would it be unconventional. Absolutely. But who gives a crap about convention. NU must do whatever it can to gain an advantage. We don't have tradition, or banners or any of that. But we do have a lot of $$$$$$. That is our advantage and if we have the card, we should play it.

Harriman said on the radio today that he measured "close to 6'4". Based on these two statements, I would guess that they are going to "list" him as 6'4" on the official roster. Of course, we all know he isn't really 6'4". I have no idea why they measure them in shoes, and Tai himself said he measured 6'3 1/4 in shoes, but on a relative scale, it says a lot. The fact is that ALL teams fib regarding their players height. So, it is all relative at this point. Even though we know a listed height of 6'4" isn't actually accurate, it is accurate in the sense of how he relates to other players on the court with him and against him. In this sense, he is a very good sized PG to have. And I think that is why Miles and the staff are so high on him. Miles has shown that he likes height in all his players, including his PG. This is why he put Talley in at PG last year. If another team has a wing listed at 6'5", Tai should be able to guard him on a switch (stength aside) because most likely that wing listed at 6'5" is actually only 6'3". Again, it is all relative to the scale that all NCAA BB teams have set. Plus, based on the picture of Tai "smiling", he looks quite long and his hands are huge. This extended reach should allow him to play a legit 6'4" even if he is not. (As a side note, I watched a documentary on Dr. J a few weeks ago and everyone that played with him or agaisnt him constantly referred to his huge hands and how lethal this made him on the court. I don't think Tai has Dr. J hands, but his extra grip will certainly help him when he is driving to the basket and making plays.) Harriman also said that they plan to have him play primarily PG. I think we all suspected this, but it seems to be confirmed by the coaches--at least as of now. If Tai can truly handle the ball and make plays, having a 6'4" PG for 3 or 4 years could be a huge advantage. I hope he can knock down that outside shot, b/c that is what will make him be the complete player we need (that, and playing good defense, which will definitely be a challenge for him initially until he adapts to the speed and strength of the American players.)

I said many months ago that Miles should give Harriman a significant pay raise to make it very difficult for him to leave. Excellent recruiting assistant coaches are very difficult to find and are worth every penny they make. Harriman is among the best and it will be hard to keep him. Paying him $400,000+ would be a very wise investment IMO. I don't really care if this would offend some of the other assistants. None of them, other than maybe Hunter (who I don't believe is as quality a recruiter as Harriman) is worth what Harriman is. They are not being courted by other teams like Harriman is. Harriman is wanted because he has proven himself an excellent recruiter. We are Nebraska and we need to pay well above market rate to keep the best and if I were Miles I would pay Harriman $400,000+ to show him NU's commitment to him and his family.

Is that Jean Claude Van Damme doing a nasty jig in spandex in Breakin

Someone should start a thread specifically designed to keep track of all the current recruits considering NU that are linked to Barnes. Norm???

Some of you are reading too much into my post. To give you an example of my thinking, use Ricky Thenarse as an example. He came from an extremely difficult background. Gangs, drugs, killings, surrounded him his entire childhood. I believe his brother was shot and killed in his neighborhood. Thenarse barely qualified. But what if he hadn't qualified? What if he missed out on qualifying because he was a few points short on his ACT score? Where would he be now? No degree? On the streets? Dealing drugs? Dead? How is denying someone like him the opportunity to come to the university, live in a structured environment where he had to practice hard, study hard, and live a disciplined life for 4 to 5 years, a good thing? How does denying someone like that that opportunity make our society a better place? Or make our university more credible? The university should be applauded for helping him with his studies so that he could get an education and a degree. That is something to be celebrated, not scoffed at or frowned upon. I see no difference between Ricky Thenarse, who was given that opportunity, and another young man who happened to have 1 or 2 points less on his ACT. So why should that other young man be denied that same opportunity? Are there some "athletes" who would abuse the opportunity? Sure. But as I said above, once they get here, they must achieve both on the court/field and in the classroom. And they must act like respectable citizens. If not, then they should lose that opportunity. Plus, it is up to the coaches to find the ones who may not have the grades, but have the desire and commitment to succeed both on the court and in the classroom. Those types of kids deserve that chance.

Not doubting you, but I've heard this so many times with football recruits and 99% of the time they end up making it. We'll see what happens, too early to say he for sure won't make it IMO And they should NOT budge on entrance requirement; not for any student, athlete or not. I have never understood this rule or this position. Frankly, I don't understand why they have these "academic" requirements in the first place. If a young man who has a particular skill or talent wants to come to college and get an education, why should they be denied simply b/c they don't meet some arbitrary and capricious standard set by a bunch of academics sitting on their soap box and looking down on others. I am not saying this is the case for Tai, but often times these athletes come from broken homes with single parents, no parents, parents who are drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes, or worse. They live in conditions most of these so-called academics couldn't imagine, with drug dealing on the corner, brothers and sisters getting beat up or possibly murdered, and attending schools that simply try to keep everyone safe and alive as opposed to creating a stimulating learning environment. Many have learning disabilities on top of that. Yet, the very few who manage to keep themselves on the straight and narrow enough to succeed in athletics (while most of their friends have already joined a gang, been kicked out of school, put on probation or in jail) are then denied the opportunity to possibly change their life forever, get and education and become a productive member of society. Why???? Can anyone give me a rationale basis for denying this opportunity? Of course, once they are here, they must meet all academic, social and legal standards. If they don't, then they should not be allowed to stay. But the great part about a place like NU is that they can get assistance, tutors, study halls, etc., to help them succeed. Why is this a bad thing? I don't get it. As for Tai, he certainly does not come from conditions like this. Appears he is from an upper middle class family. But we don't know what his circumstances are either. Maybe it is a cultural issue. Maybe he has a slight learning disability. Or maybe he made a few mistakes a few years ago and wasn't the most responsible kid when it came to hitting the books. So what? What does that have to do with today? If he now wants to get his life in order. commit to his education while pursuing his craft, what does that harm you or me? If he is denied, he may never go to college. Is this better for him in the long run? I was blessed to grow up in a good home, with a good and supportive family, attend good schools, have a home environment that was conducive to learning, and got good grades. Does this somehow make me more deserving to get a post high school education than someone else who manage to develop a craft, stay out of legal trouble, and graduate high school, but simply not have a certain GPA that I did manage to obtain? Gimme a break. Even those SATs and ACTs are biased tests. What if that kid came from an urban high school that lacked good teachers and sound teaching? Should I now sit on my high horse and judge those have come up in very different circumstances and say they should not have a second chance now that they want to come to college, get an education and possibly change their life forever?

Norm, how can you bear to even read about this kid? He credits Barnes with much of his impovement and he even calles Barnes "Coach"!!!!

When does the first session of summer school start? I am curious when the new recruits will show up on campus. Are some of them already here now?

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be. Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way. I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting people to say. I didn't see anything in his comment that I interpreted as being happy that we lost out on Tummala. Are we all supposed to go find a private place a punch a hole in the dry wall? That's going to accomplish a lot. Maybe Hooper's post wasn't the best one to reply to. I also had in mind posts like this:

Sai is not a "big man". He is basically the same size as Shavon Shields.

I guess I would consider landing a recruit like Sai as "walking" not "running". Landing recruits that are a lower caliber than Sai will not allow us to "get better". Even Sai himself is a relative average recruit in comparison to what all the other B1G teams are signing as we speak.

See my post above

I understand what you are saying, but I don't really agree with it. If NU ever wants to reach the top half of the conference and become a regular NCAA contender, then it is going to have to start landing some major prospects (and I'm not even certain I would call Sai a major prospect). I hate to break to you, but major prospects will ALWAYS have other quality options. Unless that prospect was born and raised in Nebraska--which is highly unlikely--then there is ALWAYS going to be a "home state" school and most likely, if that player is a major prospect, then that home state is also going to offer him. Or, as in this case, there may be multiple schools in the home state (ie, Arizone, ASU, etc), and maybe 1 or 2 of those home state schools will offer. Of, if it is not the home state, there are still going to almost ALWAYS be other more "prominent" schools with more tradition and NCAA wins, etc. At some point, this program must overcome those obstacles. That really is the only way to get this program where we want it to be. Losing Sai is not going to make or break this program or Coach Miles and I am not going to lose any sleep over it. But I will never understand that attitude of so many who seem to be happy (some almost giddy) simply because we are "competing" with other average BCS programs for a recruit. ASU is no UNC or KU. Yes, it was his home state, but as stated above, every player has a home state. If we succumb to that excuse every time, then we will never get a major recuit. At some point, what needs to be done must be done. It certainly won't be easy, but it is the only way.

http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/mens-basketball/hoops-ticket-sales-surpass/article_e5c3f790-b110-11e2-a7df-001a4bcf887a.html I will actually be quite upset if they sell out of the student tickets. I know that sounds strange, but let me explain. In the initial plans for the arena, they were going to have students surround three full sides of the court at the floor level. Although not quite as good as the 4 full sides that it used to have, I thought this plan was a major step forward as students are BY FAR the best fans to have at floor level for energy and excitement. However, this plan was later scrapped and replaced with the 2 sides of the court we currently have. The ostensible justification for the change was that they did not believe there was enough student demand to warrant having 3 sides designated for students. I didn't buy it then and I definitely don't buy it now. This is just another example of the Ath. Dept. having a chance to correct a massive mistake they previously made (reducing the students to just 2 sides) and then peeing down their leg when it became final decision time. There will never again be an opportunity to correct this latest blunder. Now that those seats are designated for non-students, there is no going back. The mor prudent decision would have been to keep the 3 sections for students and see what the student demand actually was before making a permanent decision. If students didn't step up and buy them, then the Ath. Dept. could always open the seats up to the general public later. But they didn't do that, and now it looks like many students will either be denied the opportunity to buy season tickets, or relegated to the rafters when they should be sitting courtside creating havoc for the opponent.

I agree with this completely. There are approximately 330 NCAA Div. 1 teams. There are only a handful of kids that leave early for the draft each year (and there are even fewer that are true "One and Done, leaving after their freshman year). Although these early entrants to the draft may affect the scoring average of a few teams at the top (ie, Kentucky, Duke, etc.), that effect is nominal when averaged out over 330 Div. 1 teams. Scoring is down across all of college basketball, including at NU. NU has only had a couple players leave early in its history (and even those weren't until after their junior year), yet the scoring is still down. Besides, you must consider the effect of early entrants to the draft on both sides of the court. To the extent these kids are leaving early, their defensive capabilities are also leaving early. Thus, that teams opponents should be able to score more against them as well. For instance, Kentucky would have scored more points this year with Anthony Davis on the team, but it also would have held its opponents to fewer points, thus negating any statistical difference on the whole (ie, 60 v. 55 = 65 v. 50). One last thing (and this is just a personal pet peeve of mine). The phrase "One and Done" is not really an accurate description of the issue. There are very, very few players that actually leave after only just one year in college. For instance, even a guy like Trey Burke at Michigan returned for his sophmore year. He technically is not a "One and Done". He played 2 full years in college, not just one. The majority of players that leave early remain in college for at least 2 years. Does anyone know the number of freshman from this year who are declaring for the 2013 NBA draft?

I don't think this issue is that there aren't any kids out there any more who can shoot, I think the problem is that the way the game is currently called rewards strength, quickness and athleticism over skill. Thus, if a coach is choosing between the more athletic, but less skilled player vs. the more skilled (ie, better shooter, passer, etc) but less athletic, most coaches are choosing the athletic kids. That coach knows that it is easier to teach a really athletic kid how to grab, clutch, hold and push than it is to teach a kid how to shoot. He also knows that if his tall, strong athletic kid is grabbing, clutching, holding and pushing the less athletic but skilled opponent, that opponent isn't going to be able to make many shots because he won't be able to get open enough to shoot it. Thus, the product we see on the floor most nights is a bunch of athletic, but less skilled players, grabbing, clutching and holding rather than swishing shots. To me, the only way to change this is to change the way the game is called such that it rewards skill more than, or at least just as much as, athleticism. Stop allowing the defender to grab, clutch, arm-guard, hand-check and hold, and you will start seeing more kids making shots because coaches will start recruiting skill over athleticism. This skilled kids are still out there, the game just has to give coaches an incentive to actually recruit them and play them.

http://www.huskers.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=23&SPID=24&DB_OEM_ID=100&Q_SEASON=1985

I am almost certain that I read an article a while back (February or March) about how Vooch had actually lost 20 lbs during the season. Maybe I heard it on the radio, but I thought it was in an article. That would be a similar situation to Diaz who struggled with losing weight during the season, and then had much more success putting on weight during the offseason. Dimes, what is remarkable about this is when we consider that Hoppen played his senior year at 6'11" 235 lbs. John Matzke was a 6' 7" senior at 190 lbs on the same team. You recently mentioned that you were watching tape of his games and noted how much less physical it was at that time. This is how the game has changed. Now a post player must either be an unbelievable athlete, or over 250 lbs to even get on the floor. This is largely because of how the game is officiated which rewards brute physicality over skill level.

The last report I saw in the paper said that Miles had not yet had his season-ending meeting with the players yet. I assume he is waiting to see how many players he signs in the spring signing period because that will determine whether he has to cut someone loose. It would be difficult to have a banquet and celebrate a player's achievements if you then had to meet with the same player a few days later and give them the bad news. Maybe that is why he chose not to have a banquet at all. Of course, this is all speculation on my part, just adding 2 + 2.

He is fortunate to have that option. If he had not RS his first year at CU, he would already have burned 2 years of eligibility, thus negating any possibility of going to a junior college for a year. Being able to play his sophmore season at juco could allow him to gain attention and possibly sign with another div. 1 school in 2014/15 with 2 full years of eligibility remaining.

In general this is true, but not entirely. There are other factors. Every missed shot is an opportunity for the opponent to rebound and initiate a fast break whereas every made shot requires the opponent to step behind the baseline before inbounding the ball, thereby allowing the defense to set up. It is rare for a team to get a fast break opporunity off a made shot. Thus, there is value in a made shot beyond just the 2 points. I suppose you could argue that a missed shot is an opportunity for an offensive rebound, but I would imagine most coaches prefer to make the basket a higher percentage of the time if the net scoring result was the same.