Tim Miles

[Harry Caray]

Interesting that some people who are willing to give Riley at least 4 years no matter what, are ready to put Miles on the hot seat in Year 4 (even though the programs couldn't be further apart tradition-wise and Miles led us on one of the most improbable runs I've ever seen in college basketball). Have you forgotten how awful we were for the 15 years before Miles? Pretty much the basketball equivalent of Iowa State football.

People are making too big of a deal about Creighton. I hate losing to them but conference games are much more important in the end. Doc beat Creighton 3 times, but those wins didn't lead to any NCAA appearances. Bad games are going to happen this year with such an inexperienced team. If we're still laying a lot of eggs in 3 years when this freshman class are seniors, then we've got a big problem.

 

[cubsker]

other than a great six week stretch in year 2, we've been pretty bad. Games vs real teams:

this year: 1-4
last year: 7-16 (conf games plus URI, Jays, Cincy, & FSU)
two years ago: 13-13 (conf games plus Baylor, Jays, Cincy, Miami, Georgia, UAB, UMass)
three years ago: 8-16 (cong games plus Oregon, Jays, Wake, and USC)

29-59 against teams with a pulse. handful of other losses against teams like Incarnate Word, Kent St, UTEP, UAB, and Hawaii.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

Correct. He will and should get a ton of credit for the run to the tourney 2013/2014. That was nothing short of a miracle. Not only does this program have no tradition, our tradition is bad basketball. We've never won a game in the NCAA tournament guys. I'm willing to be patient with Miles. Do I want more? Sure, but I'm seeing better recruiting and some baby steps toward building a pretty good team.

I do not disagree with any of this. And as I noted above I think Miles should be given all seven years of his contract. But I stand by my criticisms as well. Despite his successes, I think in year 4 we should be expecting more. I know he inherited a disaster, but four years is plenty of time to bring in "your players" and for improvement to be seen. And except for Miami I see the same old Nebraska basketball. And that disheartens me. Maybe I am just being too pessimistic. I hope so. I hope we are on the cusp of a turnaround. But I have followed the frustration that is NU basketball since the early days of Joe Cipriano. I sat in the old coliseum as a boy cheering on as the futility continued. So my skepticism of the current coach is rooted in that decades-long frustration. Results. That is what I want. No more BS about "next year". I have heard that same crap since 1965. Just win damn it

 

[ridge22]

No way? Webster scored 15, and White scored 28, and Nebraska lost by 16. Wow. Despite CU's hot early shooting, Nebraska had an opportunity to get back into the game in the first with Huff going out with 2 fouls in the first 3 minutes, and Groselle missing a bunch of minutes in the 1st half after he went down hard. They closed it to 6 at half and then boom, CU extends the lead again in the 2nd.

The only way Nebraska beats CU this year is if Nebraska shoots lights out like Nova vs Georgetown in 1985. It pains me to say this, but they are a way better team and it's not even close.

Thomas (Omaha Benson kid) I wish was wearing a Nebraska uniform, because he took Shields out of the game holding him to 6 points, and 5 turnovers (1 more than Webster had). 2 years in a row they took Shields out of the game for the most part. Is that just luck?

This thought some have that CU isn't as talented as Nebraska is a head scratcher to me. CU gave Arizona State everything they could handle about a week ago. CU's Watson is a very good point guard and CU got lucky getting him as a transfer. Thomas was another steal for them. Zierden was clutch and got them going with clutch early shots. Nebraska fans didn't see what Huff can do, which is scarry.

Next year CU will come to Lincoln with Watson, Thomas, Zierden, and Huff. At the 5 they will probably start Omaha North's Justin Patton, who if he can pack on another 10-15 pounds before then, will cause Hammond all sorts of problems. The addition of Gill will help Nebraska, but you can probably count on Thomas likely guarding White.

If Hammond is the only true post guy Nebraska has next year, and we continue to see this same offense, I have little reason to believe we don't have the same result next year. McDermott knows how to defend Miles' offense. If Nebraska has no inside game, and you have to out-shoot CU from the outside to win, good freaking luck.

Right now Nebraska hopes to beat Creighton. Creighton expects to beat Nebraska.

What I am saying is that it should not be a 16 point margin. Vegas has the line at about 6 and I think that is probably pretty accurate. Creighton is not going to scare anyone athletically, they have smart players who know their roll and are pretty disciplined. Upside potential, I would say Nebraska has more upside and raw talent than Creighton.

 

[newAD]

What I am saying is that it should not be a 16 point margin. Vegas has the line at about 6 and I think that is probably pretty accurate. Creighton is not going to scare anyone athletically, they have smart players who know their roll and are pretty disciplined. Upside potential, I would say Nebraska has more upside and raw talent than Creighton.

I laughed at that line. Had I been in Vegas I would have bet everything I had to gamble on that game and taken CU to cover. Pains me to say, but that was my objective opinion.

If you believe the star rankings, CU has recruited just as well as Nebraska the last couple of classes, and I think Thomas is going to prove to be a steal for them.

 

[DenverRed]

Careful. Osborne hired him

Curious why you hate Osborne so much.

 

[newAD]

I do not disagree with any of this. And as I noted above I think Miles should be given all seven years of his contract. But I stand by my criticisms as well. Despite his successes, I think in year 4 we should be expecting more. I know he inherited a disaster, but four years is plenty of time to bring in "your players" and for improvement to be seen. And except for Miami I see the same old Nebraska basketball. And that disheartens me. Maybe I am just being too pessimistic. I hope so. I hope we are on the cusp of a turnaround. But I have followed the frustration that is NU basketball since the early days of Joe Cipriano. I sat in the old coliseum as a boy cheering on as the futility continued. So my skepticism of the current coach is rooted in that decades-long frustration. Results. That is what I want. No more BS about "next year". I have heard that same crap since 1965. Just win damn it

He absolutely should be given all 7 years. When it comes to college basketball, Nebraska is the bottom of the bottom of all power 5 conferences when it comes to history (and we are way behind a whole lot of "Mid Major" programs). I am almost certain Nebraska is the only P5 school with zero NCAA tourney wins. Not only that, I'm pretty sure we have the second most appearances with zero wins (I'm excluding Iona, who vacated a win IIRC). Nebraska has traditionally had almost zero home state recruiting, but I'm hoping that changes in Omaha as youth basketball got much better locally in the last 10 years. Talking firing Miles at this point in his tenure at Nebraska is flat out foolish. We have no choice but to be patient with him. We are not Kansas who can recruit nationally for elite players.

That being said, I am have been critical of some things with Miles' scheme that I don't like, and if they don't change, I have little hope that Nebraska will beat CU any time soon. Some of these arguments that claim CU doesn't have the talent that Nebraska has, well, when has CU had more "RAW" talent than Nebraska. Nebraska might win more one-on-one games vs CU players, but this is a team game, and CU plays like a team, and frankly against Nebraska they are practically a well oiled machine. There's a reason they have started fast against Nebraska in recent years.

Miles has tried to recruit some "Big's" but those are the hardest guys to get, and the good ones have lots of options other than Nebraska to go to, and in Basketball you can't always use the, "you'll play right away here," card, because those guys believe they'll play right away anywhere. If that means getting a "project" who you hope can develop into a serviceable 5 in his 3rd and 4th year, then so be it.

I hope Miles thinks long an hard about his assistants, and if there isn't one on the staff that can help be a great bench coach/ X and O offensive guy, then he needs to go get one, because that is what it appears he is lacking badly. There needs to be some more imagination to this "O" because in the BIG, everyone has talent, and Nebraska at this point is predictable. I fear that even if the young players develop, they will still not be successful due to being predictable.

 

[Archie Graham]

Miles has tried to recruit some "Big's" but those are the hardest guys to get, and the good ones have lots of options other than Nebraska to go to, and in Basketball you can't always use the, "you'll play right away here," card, because those guys believe they'll play right away anywhere. If that means getting a "project" who you hope can develop into a serviceable 5 in his 3rd and 4th year, then so be it.

It extremely hard to change your philosophy mid-career; however, I really hope Miles considers abandons the traditional big and takes the approach that Baylor does. Let's go long and athletic and push the ball. We are never going to get traditional big men here routinely.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Curious why you hate Osborne so much.

Yea that's what I said. Just because I laugh at those that think he is infallable does not mean I hate the man. That is a stupid leap for you to take, really stupid.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

Yeah!

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Yeah!

Dynamite drop-in. You seem angry lately, hope you are ok.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

Dynamite drop-in. You seem angry lately, hope you are ok.

I was hoping for the "dynamite drop-in" line!

Thank you for the kind words, I appreciate the warm thoughts.

 

[DenverRed]

Yea that's what I said. Just because I laugh at those that think he is infallable does not mean I hate the man. That is a stupid leap for you to take, really stupid.

But its not a stupid leap to assume people that agree with his decisions think he is infallible. Got it.

 

[HuskerJack95]

other than a great six week stretch in year 2, we've been pretty bad. Games vs real teams:

this year: 1-4
last year: 7-16 (conf games plus URI, Jays, Cincy, & FSU)
two years ago: 13-13 (conf games plus Baylor, Jays, Cincy, Miami, Georgia, UAB, UMass)
three years ago: 8-16 (cong games plus Oregon, Jays, Wake, and USC)

29-59 against teams with a pulse. handful of other losses against teams like Incarnate Word, Kent St, UTEP, UAB, and Hawaii.

There you go with facts again

 

[Pennsyhusker]

There you go with facts again

Facts yes. But I will give Miles some slack here. He did inherit an awful team and he did have a good year in year 2. My only point in starting this thread is that in year 4 I was expecting to see improvement. There is hope so let's give him his seven years. But come on, show us some wins here in year 4.

 

[HuskerTimOmaha]

other than a great six week stretch in year 2

Great stretches are a part of college basketball, to throw it to the side is ridiculous.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

There you go with facts again

To be fair...I can't really blame him for anything that happened in year 1. Our roster was a complete disaster. We overachieved in year 2...year 3 we underachieved. I didn't really have high expectations for this year either as we are playing quite a few young guys...but, come late Jan/Feb it would be nice to see some signs of development.

 

[Pennsyhusker]

To be fair...I can't really blame him for anything that happened in year 1. Our roster was a complete disaster. We overachieved in year 2...year 3 we underachieved. I didn't really have high expectations for this year either as we are playing quite a few young guys...but, come late Jan/Feb it would be nice to see some signs of development.

I agree with this 100%. If the argument is that Miles has brought in a talent upgrade, but it is still young, we should see improvement over the course of this year. I would expect to see that if there really is good young talent.

 

[cubsker]

Great stretches are a part of college basketball, to throw it to the side is ridiculous.

notice how his good stretch is included in what i posted.

 

[HuskerTimOmaha]

notice how his good stretch is included in what i posted.

No shit, a snippet, thanks for proving my point.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Interesting that some people who are willing to give Riley at least 4 years no matter what, are ready to put Miles on the hot seat in Year 4 (even though the programs couldn't be further apart tradition-wise and Miles led us on one of the most improbable runs I've ever seen in college basketball). Have you forgotten how awful we were for the 15 years before Miles? Pretty much the basketball equivalent of Iowa State football.

People are making too big of a deal about Creighton. I hate losing to them but conference games are much more important in the end. Doc beat Creighton 3 times, but those wins didn't lead to any NCAA appearances. Bad games are going to happen this year with such an inexperienced team. If we're still laying a lot of eggs in 3 years when this freshman class are seniors, then we've got a big problem.

Who are those people?

 

[Bill_Callahan2.0]

It is my belief that next year needs to be the year we see quality improvement. Sounds kinda sad, but NIT or bust next season. No reason to not get 17-19 wins next season. We can still end up with 17 or so wins this year too for that matter.

hyopthetical, but if we finish below .500 again this season, he cannot afford another sub .500 finish next season.

 

[JohnRossEwing]

The Big Ten is weird this year...Purdue/MD/MSU are all legit Final Four teams. Indiana is "weird" but OSU-Wisky-Michigan are way down.

 

[dinglefritz]

To be fair...I can't really blame him for anything that happened in year 1. Our roster was a complete disaster. We overachieved in year 2...year 3 we underachieved. I didn't really have high expectations for this year either as we are playing quite a few young guys...but, come late Jan/Feb it would be nice to see some signs of development.

Pitch and Petteway had a lot to do with that underachievement. The vibe from last year's team was terrible. Petteway and his mom's illness and Pitch and his mental state caused all kinds of problems. Beyond that, Miles wasn't going to bring in lottery pick talent that could play right away to Nebraska. The only guys that could do that were NOT going to take a Nebraska job. Miles is going to have to build a program and team block by block. It appears with the young talent I see on the floor that he will be able to do that. At least he recruits some guys that can play offense.