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Coaching search....

Anyhow, I apologize for my frustration. Nebraska basketball is rarely anything less than a bit painful. This season is as bad as it gets, though.

I want to see Nebraskaball succeed as much as the next guy. I get the frustration with Miles and the team. The problem is that the team under him has shown signs of being very good, but then we have what we are seeing now. Collier and Doc never had any success to speak of, they were just bad. If Miles and his team would just suck all the time people wouldn't be nearly as mad.

Unlike a lot of you guys I just don't think it is all that easy for Nebraska to develop a consistent winner in basketball. Shelling out some money for a good coach should help I think, but all these Nee, Collier, Sadler and Miles all had success at mid majors and none except Nee had any real success at Nebraska and he wore out his welcome. No tradition and more importantly no recruiting base really hurts. If Nebraska could get 1 really solid player every year out of the state of Nebraska that would be a huge help.
 
I want to see Nebraskaball succeed as much as the next guy. I get the frustration with Miles and the team. The problem is that the team under him has shown signs of being very good, but then we have what we are seeing now. Collier and Doc never had any success to speak of, they were just bad. If Miles and his team would just suck all the time people wouldn't be nearly as mad.

Unlike a lot of you guys I just don't think it is all that easy for Nebraska to develop a consistent winner in basketball. Shelling out some money for a good coach should help I think, but all these Nee, Collier, Sadler and Miles all had success at mid majors and none except Nee had any real success at Nebraska and he wore out his welcome. No tradition and more importantly no recruiting base really hurts. If Nebraska could get 1 really solid player every year out of the state of Nebraska that would be a huge help.

But I'm not convinced that they have shown signs of being very good -- as in, being well-coached -- ever under Miles.

There is no doubt Miles (and assistants) have had more talent than Doc or Collier. A lot of that is due to the revolving door with transfers we play. But, so be it. Obviously, Miles has been gifted an arena that is infinitely better than what Doc or Collier had to work with.

I went through the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2017-18, and 2018-19 seasons with you in a previous post on this thread. I personally think the bright spots were illusions. Not due to good coaching.

I'm mad because Miles has taken two of the most talented, experienced teams in the entire history of NU basketball and pissed them away. In the other seasons, he fooled some fans. It's not like some seasons, he's a good coach, and others he's not. And yes, we've seen this season happen before 4 years ago. We've seen postseason choke jobs routinely -- even in what appeared to be good seasons. He's not a good coach. Not close. Never has been.

Yes, I don't buy the idea that Nebraska can't be a helluva lot better in hoops. Consistently good over a long period? Probably not. But significantly better than a bunch of poor coaching hires has done for us? Yes. It ultimately is going to take hiring the right coach. And we've failed plenty of times with that.
 
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That's fair. Obviously, we are all analyzing based only on the couple of games per week we see the results, but it's quite possible Roby is just Roby under any coach. Though I don't think MIles is the type of coach that can bring that aggressiveness out.

I am sure he is that way under any coach. If he wasn't he would have been at MSU, Purdue Michigan or any other B1G power house program. The kid is a phenomenal athlete if you could pair it with JPJ aggressiveness he would be 20 and 10 every night and going to the NBA in the first round.
 
I am not sure I agree with this statement.

On paper Nebraska has some great athletes. I am not sure they are all great basketball players. There are definitely not great shooters or re bounders. They can definitely make a highlight reel for dunks though. You can blame that on Miles all you want on the development end, but that is the type of player he has recruited. He loves the 6'5-6'7" swing player with long arms for defense and can slash to the basket. Most of these guys came to Nebraska not being great shooters. The got most of their points around the basket.

The blame lies squarely on Miles these are the players he has recruited either out of HS or as transfers. I would take a little more Borchardt hustle and grit and maybe a few guys that can't dunk so well if they could spot up and consistently shoot a 3.

Fair enough. They are power 5 athletes, but not power 5 players.
 



NU and basketball have a long history of frustrated expectations. I do believe Moos is the AD to turn this around, however, I do not see Miles as any part of the program going forward. I wish us the best, we need BB to be good.
 
Hey I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying.

But after 25 years of coaching I have never seen a coach turn a kid that is less than aggressive into some sort of monster. It just doesn't happen. They get better, but it never gets great. Roby is way more assertive than he was even at the beginning of last year. He is not turning into Bruno Fernandez on the court though, and that is not Miles fault. That is the kids personality.

We are talking about 2 completely different things. I am talking about making Isiah Roby a more aggressive offensive basketball player which I am sure Miles has worked on with him. Think JPJ. You are talking about Nebraska being a mentally soft and fragile team. Which I agree with, but it is not the same thing.

A coach doesn’t have to turn him into a monster, but a coach can create some fire, some excitement, some pride in how they do things, and confidence in themselves and their teammates. I’m not suggesting any coach can take a meek person and transform them into a beast. But being laid back, doesn’t mean you crumble in the face of a challenge, just as being a trash talker doesn’t mean you can’t be intimidated. I love athletes who rarely if ever waste time beating their chests, but methodically just hammer people into submission. Think Fedor Emelianenko.

Teaching guys it’s about the actions, not the words, that as long as they are playing with heart, they’ll be respected.
 
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I would take a little more Borchardt hustle and grit and maybe a few guys that can't dunk so well if they could spot up and consistently shoot a 3.

I'll take a few guys who can consistently spot up and hit a 15 footer. This is one thing we miss with Cope being out - filling to the elbow and hitting a mid range jumper. Feast or famine, this team is.
 



I'll take a few guys who can consistently spot up and hit a 15 footer. This is one thing we miss with Cope being out - filling to the elbow and hitting a mid range jumper. Feast or famine, this team is.

Not utilizing the skills of your players does not speak well of the coach.

Miles may have wanted to run a particular style, but from the first exhibition, anyone with reasonably adequate vision could tell we weren’t a good perimeter shooting team. Knowing that, but still wanting to follow the notion shooting 3s offers a better opportunity for points, he failed to create better opportunities for his shooters within an offense.

If you really want proof of just how poor Miles is at using the player’s skills, just watch some replays of those droughts we had throughout the year. Every well run offense will create opportunities for some ‘easy buckets’. Backdoor cuts, double screens, swing passés, unchecked access to offensive boards. How often do we see this when we are going 6, 7 or 8 minutes without a basket? Never? Instead it’s the same look of a weak weave, followed by one player bulling toward the lane while the rest of the team stand and watch on the perimeter. We were taught from our first organized ball to screen away if you are off the ball. I get it, it’s not cool, but it gets you open looks, and I NEVER remember scoring droughts like we see this season.
 
Not utilizing the skills of your players does not speak well of the coach.

Miles may have wanted to run a particular style, but from the first exhibition, anyone with reasonably adequate vision could tell we weren’t a good perimeter shooting team. Knowing that, but still wanting to follow the notion shooting 3s offers a better opportunity for points, he failed to create better opportunities for his shooters within an offense.

If you really want proof of just how poor Miles is at using the player’s skills, just watch some replays of those droughts we had throughout the year. Every well run offense will create opportunities for some ‘easy buckets’. Backdoor cuts, double screens, swing passés, unchecked access to offensive boards. How often do we see this when we are going 6, 7 or 8 minutes without a basket? Never? Instead it’s the same look of a weak weave, followed by one player bulling toward the lane while the rest of the team stand and watch on the perimeter. We were taught from our first organized ball to screen away if you are off the ball. I get it, it’s not cool, but it gets you open looks, and I NEVER remember scoring droughts like we see this season.

One thing I repeatedly see with this team (as well as other teams in this coaching era) is a remarkable amount of dribbling. Another tenet of effective offense is a player in possession of the ball establishing triple threat position, something you cannot do if you immediately put the ball on the floor when you catch it. There are lots of reasons a player does that, some of which is related to where/when they catch the ball, but it just amazes me how much these guys pound that thing into the floor while teammates are flat footed and spectating.
 
I think the answer is put Palmer at point. Let Allen or Watson come off the bench, and let someone else start. What are you going to lose? Palmer makes passes when he's told to do it. Run plays through Roby or Borchardt, both are decent passers from the post. Also, why not play everyone for short periods. Costello used to be a really good shooter... something has to stick to the wall.

Costello? LOL I didn't really understand your post until i got to that.....now i realize you are just suggesting changing everything.
 
But I'm not convinced that they have shown signs of being very good -- as in, being well-coached -- ever under Miles.

There is no doubt Miles (and assistants) have had more talent than Doc or Collier. A lot of that is due to the revolving door with transfers we play. But, so be it. Obviously, Miles has been gifted an arena that is infinitely better than what Doc or Collier had to work with.

I went through the 2013-14, 2014-15, 2017-18, and 2018-19 seasons with you in a previous post on this thread. I personally think the bright spots were illusions. Not due to good coaching.

I'm mad because Miles has taken two of the most talented, experienced teams in the entire history of NU basketball and pissed them away. In the other seasons, he fooled some fans. It's not like some seasons, he's a good coach, and others he's not. And yes, we've seen this season happen before 4 years ago. We've seen postseason choke jobs routinely -- even in what appeared to be good seasons. He's not a good coach. Not close. Never has been.

Yes, I don't buy the idea that Nebraska can't be a helluva lot better in hoops. Consistently good over a long period? Probably not. But significantly better than a bunch of poor coaching hires has done for us? Yes. It ultimately is going to take hiring the right coach. And we've failed plenty of times with that.

So who assembled "two of the most talented, experienced teams in the entire history of NU basketball"? I'm not going to argue TM is a great game coach or even strategist as his teams wouldn't be so lost on offense with the talent he has if he were. BUT, he has assembled some good talent (for NU) and that is probably what makes it most frustrating. He is far, far ahead of Sadler and Collier because they didn't get above mediocre....ever. So those that point to his flaws should be specific in what those are...game day and game plan are not good.

However, as someone else said, it is the type of player TM has recruited....the 6-6 wing that can slash and play D and can't shoot a bit. He has never constructed a complete roster which complemented each other to make a team....lack of bigs to rebound and provide scoring inside. Lack of consistent outside shooting. Lack of a bench...basically TM is MR, a great guy but he can not build a roster to make a team great.
 



I'll take a few guys who can consistently spot up and hit a 15 footer. This is one thing we miss with Cope being out - filling to the elbow and hitting a mid range jumper. Feast or famine, this team is.

Unfortunately, the 15 foot jumper is nearly obsolete in today's D1 game.
 
Costello? LOL I didn't really understand your post until i got to that.....now i realize you are just suggesting changing everything.
Yes, burn it all down. Because it's not working at all. I feel like Miles is trying to play Moneyball style basketball, but those metrics work over a long period for large numbers. Metrics can't take loss of confidence into account, or poor luck, or injuries when the roster is 13 people.

I like using stats for analyzing what you do well and what you don't and work from there. I feel like Miles is coaching his team to play a game that doesn't match their talents, and doesn't know what to do now that it isn't working.
 

So who assembled "two of the most talented, experienced teams in the entire history of NU basketball"? I'm not going to argue TM is a great game coach or even strategist as his teams wouldn't be so lost on offense with the talent he has if he were. BUT, he has assembled some good talent (for NU) and that is probably what makes it most frustrating. He is far, far ahead of Sadler and Collier because they didn't get above mediocre....ever. So those that point to his flaws should be specific in what those are...game day and game plan are not good.

However, as someone else said, it is the type of player TM has recruited....the 6-6 wing that can slash and play D and can't shoot a bit. He has never constructed a complete roster which complemented each other to make a team....lack of bigs to rebound and provide scoring inside. Lack of consistent outside shooting. Lack of a bench...basically TM is MR, a great guy but he can not build a roster to make a team great.

Although if the Huskers don't have quite the turnaround in the final eight regular season games, there's a very good chance they finish with a losing overall record. That would be five losing seasons in seven years for Miles in Lincoln. That's not good.

We remember fondly the 2013-14 season, which featured a rare NCAA Tournament bid. But of course, it included one-and-done in both that tournament game and our game in the Big Ten Tournament. And we remember fondly last season, with 22 wins. But it also included one-and-dones in both the conference tournament and NIT. And both of these seasons were followed with tremendous hope that completely fizzled.

Overall, yes, Miles assembled more talent than Collier or Doc. Of course, that was due to the revolving door of transfers. I'm not at all convinced if Miles had to rely mostly on high school recruits to build his rosters he would have had even one winning season.

I'm going to assume NU finishes this season with a losing record. I'm also going to assume that we finish 10th or lower in the conference. Again, that would be five seasons out of seven with a losing record. It would also be five seasons out of seven finishing 10th or lower in the conference. I'm also going to assume we don't play in any postseason tournament. If so, that would be the case in five of seven seasons under Miles.

I'm not at all convinced Tim Miles is any better than Collier -- and especially Doc. And yes, I thought both of those coaches were sub-par. Though neither had a shiny new arena to sell to recruits. And the transfer machine wasn't what it is today. I think maybe, however, the hype, hope, and the new arena made it seem better than it ultimately has been for Miles. I definitely believe Miles underachieved -- given the talent and arena -- more than any coach in NU history.
 

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