Why does Nebraska struggle with MBB?

[CascadeClone]

He'll be fine at Nebraska, and keep them in tourney contention most years, but I don't see him taking the Huskers to the highs TJ is on the cusp of taking ISU to.

Is Fred Nebraska's... Fran?

 

[Clonefan94]

I don't follow Nebraska basketball at all, but I think a lot of it is similar to why ISU struggled for so long in football. Either you never had success or had a long streak of doing really poorly. Programs get into this cycle that just ends up really hard to break. Apathy sets in and it's tough to get top coaches. Top players aren't interested because of the history and fan expectations tank and, not enough people care to change it.

It's really a miracle when you look at what CMC has done with the football program. And even with our recent success there are constant remarks when things don't go right of, "Well, what do you expect, we're ISU, we can't have nice things." I'm sure that is a huge problem with Nebraska basketball. They've never had any real success so deep down, no one expects that to change.

 

[RoseClone]

What is the worst NCAA W/L record for a grandpa/grandson combo? To his credit, Fred is trying to help the family legacy. Also, looking this up, this is Fred's 6th year at Neb and he was here 5.

Grandpa 81-132 / 38-80
Grandson 80-105 / 37-77

 

[cyclones500]

Literally every season at least since ISU was back in NCAA tourney contention under Fred, probably before that, everybody says the bubble is soft/weak. Every year, everybody says this exact same thing.

At some point has something structurally changed that makes this so? Is it that there have become 40 or so programs that have really separated themselves as perennial locks or close to it, that there is always this big dropoff?

Just wondering, because from when I started regaining interest in bracket predictions in 2011-12, every year everybody seems to say the bubble is weak this year.

The "weak bubble" thing existed prior to that, even before expansion to 68.

And it's a myth.

Certainly, teams in the bubble range are more inconsistent/erratic or with iffier profiles than teams higher up the list. If they weren't, they'd be comfortably in. It isn't like everyone thru a specific seed line is outstanding, then everyone below it is awful.

There might be variance of year-to-year how quickly "lock status" occurs throughout the field, but trying to compare one season to another is mostly a pointless exercise.

 

[cyclones500]

What is the worst NCAA W/L record for a grandpa/grandson combo? To his credit, Fred is trying to help the family legacy. Also, looking this up, this is Fred's 6th year at Neb and he was here 5.

Grandpa 81-132 / 38-80
Grandson 80-105 / 37-77

I think grandpa was there 9 seasons, not 5. (I checked only because the total games tally didn't align with difference in schedule length comparing now to then).

List of Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball head coaches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[RoseClone]

I think grandpa was there 9 seasons, not 5. (I checked only because the total games tally didn't align with difference in schedule length comparing now to then).

List of Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball head coaches - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I was not clear - Fred was here 5 and already in his 6th year at Neb.

 

[Drew0311]

Nebraska has a player from my all
Hatred team

Eric Piatkowski

 

[1TwistedCyclone]

I've watched way to many Nebraska basketball games since Fred went there. And this season in particular is rough because they seem to be in a lot of games until the end, and then lose a lot of squeakers. Consistently, they seem to be one more player away from getting over the hump.

 

[swiacy]

If memory serves when Fred came to ISU Pollard asked him how he plans to turn the program around and into a winner. Fred's plan was to find skilled players with a rocky past looking for a fresh slate. Essentially inventing roster building through transfers. At the time it was an NBA view of roster building which Fred was good with coming from an NBA front office position.

This is something that is just part of the system today so he now doesn't have a leg up on everyone by already having a plan of attack. Everyone else is doing it too now.

With the plan in place he then needed to evaluate the talent and see who would fit the program. It worked well at first since Fred was driven and motivated to make his plan work. Over time Fred famously began to hate the recruitment process and later transfers didn't pan out as well. If you look back and see who was involved with some of the best transfer recruits you'll find TJ's name frequently. The real talent evaluation was likely done by TJ or some other assistants. We have seen TJ still being successful in this process and I believe this proves he was the true source of making this system work.

I believe this isn't working at for Fred at Nebraska because he doesn't have the same quality of people around him, he doesn't have the same passion and drive, and he isn't doing something nobody else considered viable.

This is very accurate and I might add that Fred never was much about coaching up defense intensity. When he was successful in Ames it was offensive production that won similar to the coaching style of his college coach Johnny Orr. Fred is an NBA coach who stresses scoring. As far as why Nebraska can’t get over the hump in basketball, it’s a known fact that the sports fan in Omaha/Lincoln is a Big Red fan in the fall and a Blue Jay fan in the winter. Until NU can lure Rick Pitino to Lincoln they’ll never be a player in basketball.

 

[cyclones500]

I was not clear - Fred was here 5 and already in his 6th year a Neb.

Thanks for clarifying, I misunderstood.

 

[beentherebefore]

I know everyone says "Football School or "basketball School" or in Iowa's case, "womens basketball school". However, it's pretty true. Most schools are usually known for something. Iowa State is known for Basketball and has always been. Nebraska is a football school. So when recruiting for basketball it seems it was very hard to get recruits. Sure a couple good players here and there. Just when you think "Where am I giong to go play basketball, Schools like Nebraska, Minnesota and so on don't get recruits. Illinois, Iowa State, Kansas, K STate are known as basketball schools and it shows.

I have to say that Iowa State has not always been known as a basketball school.

 

[Cloned4Life]

Freddy never had us as a 2 seed.

3 seed, twice (his final two seasons).

 

[Drew0311]

I have to say that Iowa State has not always been known as a basketball school.

Since the early 80’s though. We have never been a football school. Couple good years here and there but mostly basketball

 

[EvilBetty]

I've watch 10 or 15 of their games of the past 2 seasons and considering their poor history, I am really impressed with their fan support. stronger than a lot of teams with much richer tradition and history. They have been competitive the past two seasons. If they just stay the course i'd bet they can become an above average big 10 team.

 

[aeroclone]

Since the early 80’s though. We have never been a football school. Couple good years here and there but mostly basketball

I'm not so sure we have enough of a basketball resume over that time to truly be a basketball school. In the last 40 years we have two regular season titles and an elite 8. I think we as a fanbase over inflate our status as a basketball school because of our strong fan support in hoops and our comparative lack of football success. Nationally a lot of fans likely view us as a nothing school.

 

[nfrine]

The B1G is such a meat-grinder. That's why Freddie is struggling.

After trying to watch last night's game against against Michigan, I swore off watching any more of that conference. That was bad.

 

[Lineup]

They are Nebraska sucks at most everything