Juco reliance, roster turnover reasons for Doc's demise
Posted by: Brian Rosenthal on March 7, 2012 at 10:10PM CST
Greetings from Indianapolis, where I’m expecting a short stay for the Nebraska men’s basketball team.
The Huskers face Purdue in Thursday’s first round, a game that will start around 7 p.m. CST. A loss would finish a dismal 12-18 season, and also end the Doc Sadler era.
Yes, that’s my prediction. It’s hardly a bold one at this point. But unless Nebraska does the unthinkable and wins the Big Ten Tournament, Sadler will be fired. When? If the Huskers lose to Purdue, I'd say it could happen as soon as Friday afternoon. I’d be surprised if the situation lingered through the weekend, but stranger things have happened.
I’ll have more on that situation, and why it didn’t work for Sadler, despite his efforts, in a postgame column Friday (or after the team’s final loss, whenever that is).
But here are some quick numbers that tell a lot:
29. Scholarship players Sadler brought into the Nebraska program during his six seasons.
14. Players that were transfers (10 juco, four non-juco)
11. Players, of those Sadler brought to Nebraska, who left the program (so far).
38. Percentage of Sadler’s recruits who didn't make it at Nebraska.
2. Players, of the 11 who left the program, who eventually ended up on a Division I roster (Alonzo Edwards, North Texas; Standhardinger, Hawaii.) To be fair, players like Cookie Miller and Eshaunte Jones transferred a division lower so they could play immediately.
Conclusion: The roster turnover and high number of transfers bit Sadler, who went for too many quick fixes.He tried filling up too many scholarships, too quickly, in his first full class, and got caught in a vicious juco cycle that's hard to end once you start it. It’s why the program has very little foundation six years later. And it’s why next year will be rough.
Prediction: The next coach won’t be relying on junior college transfers. He can’t. Not in the Big Ten. He'll have to build from the ground up. As painful as that may be to start.