Doc's recruiting...........

[Comish]

Most of us bought into Doc's assertion that we now have more talent than at any time since he's been here.

 

Then we watch the reality of Tuesday night.....................and the chasm is night and day between what we can put on the floor and what our opponents can..........

 

This is not a thread about Doc's substitution puzzles (such as sitting Toney immediately after scoring 5 of our first 7 points..??) or his use of time-outs, game strategies or mind-numbing style of play -------------those are all topics that deserve their own thread)

 

This is just a question about his recruiting strategy and successes/failures. (We all know the built in excuses of small state, few Div 1 players, no tradition, etc), but even acknowledging the limitations, how has he done recruiting?

 

Seems to me that we can summarize his efforts as globally scouring the world for marginal players with foot issues. I called it the 'ole' strategy..............one - legged - euros.

 

T.O. gives him an extension so that he can promise recruits he will be here and "supposedly" that would enable him to lure the few in-state kids to campus. Well, it didn't even work with Gessel. (I could see him going to Stanford.............but IOWA......??)

 

With the best practice facility in the country (no exaggeration) and a brand new arena................how can he NOT recruit better? I suggest it's because kids don't want to come play a dull, uninspired, boring, losing offense that is no fun to watch and no fun to play. The inextricable link between sports and entertainment has evidently not crossed the synapses in Doc's brain.

And, judging from his post game comments the other night (we lost because we weren't PATIENT enough ??), it's not likely to occur in our lifetimes.

 

IF kids can be lured to MANHATTAN figgin KANSAS to play ball under a combustible Frank Martin, well.......................nuff said !

[da skers]

Doc would have a completely different team this year if he didn't have the worst luck of any coach in recent memory. He's got too many guys injured and out for the year and at least 2 if not 3 guys giving us major minutes are injured to the point that many years they would sit out.

[Comish]

Doc would have a completely different team this year if he didn't have the worst luck of any coach in recent memory. He's got too many guys injured and out for the year and at least 2 if not 3 guys giving us major minutes are injured to the point that many years they would sit out.

 

Agree he is snakebit with injuries..................but the amount of lower body injuries that his teams seem to annually suffer ought to be worth at least a look at the training methods..................can it ALL be coincidence...??

 

And, even acknowledging the injuries.......................are you satisfied with his recruiting results......??

[308_Husker]

The arena and new practice facilities won't make recruiting any easier and I think it's silly to buy into that notion. Recruiting is about relationships and who you know. Yes, the facilities will make Nebraska look better, but we have no history, nor tradition. Neither the state, nor the athletic department care about the program. Blindly dumping money into a program in hopes to revitalize it seems good on the surface, but it doesn't take care of the root of the problem: the coaches. Doc and his assistant coaches simply can't reel in any big name recruits.

 

I would be willing to put money down that kids that go to VCU, Butler, Marquette, etc. don't go there for the facilities. They go there because they have great coaches. It doesn't help that Doc has changed his recruiting strategy about four times, it seems; going from JUCOs to foreign players to high school to playing walk ons. It just baffles me. TO made the mistake on making his buyout so damn high. We won't get any better the next two years, I'm afraid.

[Mavric]

I've often thought it was too bad that when there was a decent amount of D1 talent in the state (early- to mid-90s), we wouldn't recruit much of it. Since then, we seem to be more open to in-state guys but there just aren't that many that are top-end, and most of the ones that are are from Omaha and go to Creighton. There are obviously a lot of factors that go into it but it would be nice to get a player or two from close to home. Losing Gessel isn't good - no matter how good of a player he ends up being - because he's the first legit in-state recruit in awhile, IMO (not counting the Creighton recruits; I wasn't sold on Eliason but he seems to be doing well so far so I could be wrong on him). It would be nice to have a local kid be able to contribute to get some fan support fired up.

 

We needed some help to draw so kids here. There are so many D1 basketball schools that most decent players don't have to go too far from home to be in a good program. Hopefully facilities will help. Maybe a different style would help as well...

[Excel]

Just dump him and pick up Calipari after he ravages Kentucky.

[308_Husker]

Just dump him and pick up Calipari after he ravages Kentucky.

Or Bruce Pearl. That guy isn't doing anything. Better yet, we get Phil Jackson.

[Excel]

Just dump him and pick up Calipari after he ravages Kentucky.

Or Bruce Pearl. That guy isn't doing anything. Better yet, we get Phil Jackson.

haha....what's Knight up to these days?

 

Anyhow what's this I hear about new facilities? Anybody got some links/pictures...?

[Comish]

I've often thought it was too bad that when there was a decent amount of D1 talent in the state (early- to mid-90s), we wouldn't recruit much of it. Since then, we seem to be more open to in-state guys but there just aren't that many that are top-end, and most of the ones that are are from Omaha and go to Creighton. There are obviously a lot of factors that go into it but it would be nice to get a player or two from close to home. Losing Gessel isn't good - no matter how good of a player he ends up being - because he's the first legit in-state recruit in awhile, IMO (not counting the Creighton recruits; I wasn't sold on Eliason but he seems to be doing well so far so I could be wrong on him). It would be nice to have a local kid be able to contribute to get some fan support fired up.

 

We needed some help to draw so kids here. There are so many D1 basketball schools that most decent players don't have to go too far from home to be in a good program. Hopefully facilities will help. Maybe a different style would help as well...

 

Terrance Badgett is probably the last local kid who was D-1 and choose to come to the University. I obviously agree with your last point on style as well..............

 

It is not an exaggeration to say that there used to be about of a dozen of us in my social circle who were loyal season ticket holders. Sitting through the root canal styles of Collier and Doc have diminished that group to just 2 (and we get hazed about it constantly for hanging in there). I really believe an entertaining style would at least mitigate some of the ship jumpers.

[redout22]

Doc would have a completely different team this year if he didn't have the worst luck of any coach in recent memory. He's got too many guys injured and out for the year and at least 2 if not 3 guys giving us major minutes are injured to the point that many years they would sit out.

Trust me its got more to do then just injuries.. Even if we have Diaz amd Talley, that would mean Toney would have played less and who knows if we would have even cracked 40 points at all..

[Mavric]

I've often thought it was too bad that when there was a decent amount of D1 talent in the state (early- to mid-90s), we wouldn't recruit much of it. Since then, we seem to be more open to in-state guys but there just aren't that many that are top-end, and most of the ones that are are from Omaha and go to Creighton. There are obviously a lot of factors that go into it but it would be nice to get a player or two from close to home. Losing Gessel isn't good - no matter how good of a player he ends up being - because he's the first legit in-state recruit in awhile, IMO (not counting the Creighton recruits; I wasn't sold on Eliason but he seems to be doing well so far so I could be wrong on him). It would be nice to have a local kid be able to contribute to get some fan support fired up.

 

We needed some help to draw so kids here. There are so many D1 basketball schools that most decent players don't have to go too far from home to be in a good program. Hopefully facilities will help. Maybe a different style would help as well...

 

Terrance Badgett is probably the last local kid who was D-1 and choose to come to the University. I obviously agree with your last point on style as well..............

 

It is not an exaggeration to say that there used to be about of a dozen of us in my social circle who were loyal season ticket holders. Sitting through the root canal styles of Collier and Doc have diminished that group to just 2 (and we get hazed about it constantly for hanging in there). I really believe an entertaining style would at least mitigate some of the ship jumpers.

There was a good run in there - Badgett, Woolridge and Strickland were at the top but there were several others a notch down - Mitchell, Redhage and Hahn along with half of Pacific's roster come to mind and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. We only ended up with Strickland and Badgett out of that crew.

[Hskr86]

Most of us bought into Doc's assertion that we now have more talent than at any time since he's been here.

 

Then we watch the reality of Tuesday night.....................and the chasm is night and day between what we can put on the floor and what our opponents can..........

 

This is not a thread about Doc's substitution puzzles (such as sitting Toney immediately after scoring 5 of our first 7 points..??) or his use of time-outs, game strategies or mind-numbing style of play -------------those are all topics that deserve their own thread)

 

This is just a question about his recruiting strategy and successes/failures. (We all know the built in excuses of small state, few Div 1 players, no tradition, etc), but even acknowledging the limitations, how has he done recruiting?

 

Seems to me that we can summarize his efforts as globally scouring the world for marginal players with foot issues. I called it the 'ole' strategy..............one - legged - euros.

 

T.O. gives him an extension so that he can promise recruits he will be here and "supposedly" that would enable him to lure the few in-state kids to campus. Well, it didn't even work with Gessel. (I could see him going to Stanford.............but IOWA......??)

 

With the best practice facility in the country (no exaggeration) and a brand new arena................how can he NOT recruit better? I suggest it's because kids don't want to come play a dull, uninspired, boring, losing offense that is no fun to watch and no fun to play. The inextricable link between sports and entertainment has evidently not crossed the synapses in Doc's brain.

And, judging from his post game comments the other night (we lost because we weren't PATIENT enough ??), it's not likely to occur in our lifetimes.

 

IF kids can be lured to MANHATTAN figgin KANSAS to play ball under a combustible Frank Martin, well.......................nuff said !

 

Great post Comish... i could not agree more. Question; do you think TO showed with Mike Anderson that he is more willing to cut-em-loose than we all think? (I'm really starting to scream loudly for a new coach to go with the shiny new facilities - in MY dwindling group of season ticket holders.) The money doesn't mean beans - TO could have it in an afternoon.

[HuskerShark]

Just dump him and pick up Calipari after he ravages Kentucky.

Or Bruce Pearl. That guy isn't doing anything. Better yet, we get Phil Jackson.

haha....what's Knight up to these days?

 

Anyhow what's this I hear about new facilities? Anybody got some links/pictures...?

http://www.huskers.com/PhotoAlbum.dbml?SPSID=400&SPID=24&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=100&PALBID=424786

There's the Pinnacle Bank Arena for basketball and concerts and such.

AND

http://www.huskers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100&ATCLID=205315979

The new Hendricks Training Complex. Absolutely immaculate facility.

 

I am one who thinks that these new facilities absolutely help us out with recruiting in basketball. Tradition might mean more though, and we just don't have it.

[T_O_Bull]

Well here we go again. Wisconsin comes to our house as an 8 point favorite and leaves with a 24 point win, and the Huskers score 40, a lousy 1 point per minute. The B1G is a real BB conference and has been for a lot of years. All I see here is an opportunity to be totally embarrased. We desperately need a change in coaching. Bruce Pearl is out there and so is Bob Knight. Either one would be a great hire. Pearl would have to be monitored butCoach Knight has always been squeeky clean. He probably wouldn't stay long but he could sure get us a good start. Both of these coaches would recruit circles around verySADler and give UNL a boost as far as how we want to move ahead with the BB program. The only news I want to hear from the BB program is, "..the Doctor is out."

T_O_B

G>B>R

[PaulCrewe]

Even with the facilities recruits won't come here with the current make up with the staff. What honestly really needs to happen is that Doc needs an assistant with STRONG AAU ties. TO is adamently against this. This is utter crap. 90% of the top teams in the nation have an assistant with some kind of strong former ties to AAU programs. People are kidding themselves if they think elsewise. Not everyone with ties to AAU is a snake. Secondly, DOc relies WAY to much on the JUCO route. Yes he has hit gold a couple of times mining that level, but WAY to many busts which has left him with far to much influx in his roster.

 

And for those questioning the Gessel commit to Iowa. Look no further than Wooodbury, another Iowa commit. He is a stud(turned down Carolina) and wanted to stay close to home, but also wanted to play with Gessel who was his AAU(there is that term AGAIN) teammate.