There is reason to wax nostalgic about the Nee era -- as it was the best era in Husker hoops history. Not saying it was incredible or anything close to that -- but it was the best in what has been a sorry program for many decades.
The excitement level was nor ever has been as high as it was for several years in the Nee era. He had that arena packed on a regular basis. Students packed the floor level an hour before tipoff (heck, I was one of them). And it was LOUD. I can remember many conference tilts where I absolutely could not hear myself scream. He even had thousands turn out for Midnight madness.
True, he never did bring a NCAA Tournament win to his Husker squads. The real blown opportunity was the 90-91 team that went 26-8 and finished the season #9 and #11 nationally in the two major polls -- but lost to Xavier 84-89 in the first round. But remember, that was the first taste of the NCAA Tournament for those players -- and Xavier was tournament-seasoned (that was Xavier's 6th consecutive Dance). In the other NCAA Tournament appearances, Nebraska was not a heavy favorite. Still, there were four NCAA Tournament appearances -- and again -- how many tournaments has Nebraska appeared in since? Zero.
Nee also did coach a NIT championship team -- and a conference tournament championship team. How many times have we done either since? Zero.
I have a bit of a bias since the 90-91 team was "my team." The seniors on that team were freshman when I was a freshman at UNL. I hung out with King and Reid a bit as we all lived on the 4th floor of Harper Hall my freshman year. Those were my boys. Let's remember -- that team finished higher in the polls than the football team did that season.
All that being said, Nee's time was over. No doubt about it. The team jumped ship on Nee at the end of his tenure. He had lost his players. It was not a pretty finish to the Nee era -- and there was no way it could continue. He had maxed out in Lincoln. And yes, wish there could have been more tournament victories -- but I also wish some coach would come along and top that (as it shouldn't be that difficult) -- but NO ONE has come close to matching Nee's success.
He certainly wasn't a great coach. But yes, he had great talent -- and he new how to attract kids to Lincoln -- and how to keep the Nebraska kids from straying elsewhere. And they played hard for Nee during the glory years of the early-to-mid 90s. He didn't have as long as a tenure as he did by mistake. But yes, enough was enough -- I will never argue that.
We long for days like that -- because simply, we haven't sniffed it since. Not even close. As I've said before, Nee should be the measuring stick for success in Lincoln. If you can't match Nee's level, you must truly suck as a coach -- because the bar is not that high.
