Fred, Fred, Fred.....
- Thread starter Spartanhusker
- Start date
Like every other coach before him he is hamstrung by our pathetic history as the worst D1 basketball program of all time. Therefore, he has not been able to recruit a high caliber roster. A good player here and there but that is it. Not his fault. We are what we are.
I refuse to accept this.
Why??
BB isn't dependent upon weather like fb and baseball. No reason Nebraska cannot have a good bb team.
Prior to last year Fred was on the hot seat IMO because his teams didn't play well. Uninspired defense and stand around me ball offense.
Last years team played inspired defense and team offense.
This year we're back to the way we were. Why??
No one replaced Tominaga. Still have Gary and Williams doing their thing, but no one else has really stepped up. Essegian has not. Every now and then he will hit 3 in a row like last night, but then air balled the most important one. Need another elite scorer to even be on par with what we were last year, which was just ok.
Im not sure what the answer is, but I might argue that weather does affect recruiting.
I was thinking about it last night after watching USC's athleticism. Why don't we have that? Well could it be that the climate in california is just a bit nicer than Nebraskas? And if kids have to choose between on average program in California, and the other average or below average program in Nebraska what are they going to choose?
It's really tough to recruit to a bottom dwelling program in state that doesn't have much to offer for 20 somethings.
We really aren't much different than South Dakota. IF it wasn't for the Big 8 and Nebraska football our university would be a tough sell.
By saying this you’re referring to not winning a NCAA tournament game.
But in reality Nebraska isn’t even close to being the worse Division I basketball program..
Exactly. If you go back and look at the more modern history of NU basketball, the program generally fielded winning teams with conference records at 500 or better in most years from the Cipriano through Nee eras. Its really been since Barry Collier where the program has dipped to a lower level, with losing conference records being the norm and losing seasons overall becoming more common. When did Collier take over? - it was 2001 about the same time the football program began its descent. I would attribute the decline in the BB program to some of the same things that have plagued the football program over the past two decades including poor athletic leadership and decision making which have been discussed ad nauseum on this board over the years.
This is total bullshiot. We are who we are because we accept stupid **** like you posted. Get some balls and go fix it.
Disagree! NIL and liberal transfer rules give every program the chance to flip the script. For example, Indiana’s football history is comparable to our basketball history.
Unless Fred isn’t able to access adequate NIL resources he has no excuses. It should be obvious by now that college sports are just like any professional sport where money talks the loudest. Might be time for Fred to retire and concentrate on his health.
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The worst part is they are a tough watch. I've been down to a couple games and it's painful to watch. It's just ugly basketball. The roster is not athletic top to bottom and can't shoot. Tough combo to win games in the Big Ten.
Do we not have the NIL to get players? If the answer is no, next year is going to be a trainwreck.
Sucks because I like Fred, but the reality is we need to stop looking back at his days at ISU. He had dudes at ISU during his time. We look nothing like those teams and I don't see him getting us there.
Do any of us know how are NIL money is compared to the football program..
Not fair to really compare but I’d guarantee we don’t have the NIL money for Basketball like we do for football.
Not athletic and can’t shoot. Tough but accurate description of this year’s team. Funny Fred doesn’t mention this in his post game pressers. He talks about being tougher and wanting it more. No one believes that ********. Last year’s team was also not athletic, but they could shoot.
Isu is a northern school. Why were they allowed to have a good bb team?? Location means nothing for bb especially today landscape
We don’t and some that is because the Jayskers . There BB money goes to Creighton.
I'm referring to the fact that some say Lincoln has nothing to offer and bad weather to which I say bull
Well we don't have much to offer. But I would argue that this year's NU team would do ok in the Big 12. Competition is a factor also. I understand your argument but outside of a case by case instance, in general location plays a big factor.
Really? Well I was referring more to Fred's ISU team during his tenure compared to playing in the big 10....But currently the Big 12 has 4 ranked teams. The Big 10 has 6.
Not sure how you get a much better league from that.
FWIW, a team is more than a collection of the talent on the floor. It also includes chemistry and leadership (as well as coaching). Last year we had the chemistry and leadership by the name of Keisei Tominaga (Ninja). We have better coaches than Hoiberg's first few years, and they are more than capable of drawing up offensive and defensive game plans. The only difference this year is we lack that true leader who can get the rest of the team to pick it up just a teensy bit more. I personally think that is the difference between winning games like last night or losing games like last night. And, yes, it is Hoiberg's responsibility to recruit and have a leader on the team. Unfortunately, I don't see who it is this year. What does that mean? Nearly every game with mostly comparable talent between the teams will go down to the wire (and vastly superior talented teams will likely smoke us). Does someone make the 2-3 plays needed to go from a 5 point loss to a 5 point win? We will see.
The next time I see us double-teaming someone on the block who isn't a real threat offensively...only to see said person kick out to the top of key and whip it around the 3pt line to a wide open shooter will be one too many times. I think I've seen it literally a 100 times in the last 5 games, and I would say the shooters are hitting at > 50% in those scenarios.
I’m sure it’s recency bias (or some other, similar bias), but goddam opponents drain 3’s against NU like they have an XBOX cheat code.
How many career highs or season highs from 3 do we seen from random opponents?
How many career highs or season highs from 3 do we seen from random opponents?
They should be higher than one tourney appearance in 7 years. I like Fred, but that stat gets anyone fired.
That may be true at this moment in time. But the B12 has been the highest rated basketball conference for the last several years.
Why does it suck? Weather, city, historically sucking in bball? All of them?
I just don’t get how we can’t turn the corner with the resources. If you can win at ISU, KSU, Purdue and whisky I don’t see why we can’t win a freaking ncaa tourney game. Not asking for a title. Just one win.
I'd argue that losing Reink Mast hurt us more than Tominaga. Having a legit big man was huge last year. Nobody this year has been able to replace the Mast/Derrick Walker role we had the last 2 years.
True. I overstated my case based on our lack of a tournament win. But my larger point still stands I think. We may not be the worst D1 team of all time but we have been absolute bottom feeders forever. Hoiberg in my opinion is a good coach. I thought Danny Nee was a good coach. I thought Tim Miles was a good coach. But they all faced the same uphill struggle because of our tradition of suckville in basketball.
I don’t know what the answer is. Hiring an even better coach?? Who?? Locate a super successful coach at a D1 program and then toss $10 million a year at him to come here?
Right now I am just content to watch the games and hope for a win. Because we are what we are. And unless we bring in a much better roster we will continue to be the same mediocre program we have always been.
Not one. But I would settle for 5 really good guys even if not NBA quality. But we can’t seem to find five or six high quality players. Crap, even a fvcking little school like Butler made the final four a few years back. If Butler can do it why can’t we? This is the question that I keep asking myself. Why is it so damn hard to recruit really good basketball players to NU?
My answer? Our tradition of losing holds us back and hamstrings our coaches. A lot of folks in this thread think I am just being a defeatist nitwit for saying that. Ok poindexters, what is your theory then? That every coach we have had have just been mediocre coaches who can’t recruit? And if we can just get the “right” coach (finally!) all our problems will go away?