[Husker] Basketball

[SShubs]

Bob,
	This is one rant, that I disagree with you.  I think you understating how
difficult it is for UNL to become a contender, after never being one, vs.
the football program.  I think Collier has had a lot of things that had to
be overcome to draw good players to UNL.  Nebraska hasn't been on any good
players list of teams to play college ball at.  We need to move to some
level of respectability before we can become good.  I think Collier has the
personal character to do that and the basketball acumen to accomplish that.
Nee's effect on the program was more devastating that we realized, but given
their last year, we shouldn't have been surprised.

	Now.. maybe we have a good core that will play team ball and not sit and
watch NBA one-on-one stuff.  There are a lot of good players out there, but
not a lot that will play team ball.  I am afraid the Dukes of the NCAA get
most of those kids.  Duke is able to recruit these kinds of kids with
relative ease and have waterboys that could play on any team they chose.  I
live in Michigan and watch the Wolverines, year after year achieve the honor
to challenge to lead the bottom half of the Big 10.  Bottomline... they have
not recovered from the debacle of the Fab 5.  I think they are 13-17.  They
have won 1 game out of their last 13 games.  It is hard to recover from
screw-ups.

	I would take the Huskers situation over the Wolverines any day.  You and I
know that Michigan has a lot of reasons that draw kids and yet, they are a
dismal basketball program since the Fab 5.

	I put my vote in for Collier at least a couple more years.

Stephen Shubert
Husker in Michigan



-----Original Message-----
From: husker-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com]On Behalf
Of Bob Beach
Sent: Saturday, March 05, 2005 1:47 PM
To: husker at tssi.com
Subject: Re[2]: [Husker] Basketball





On 3/5/2005 at 10:21 AM Mike Jaixen wrote:

>>Where have they been all year?  Well, we saw a glimpse
>>of them at Lawrence in January, when they missed a
>>shot at the buzzer that would have upset #1 Kansas at
>>the Phog.  All season long there have been injuries
>>and illnesses that have kept them from getting into
>>any sort of groove - until the last week and a half.
>>In less than an hour, they go for finishing 8-8 in the
>>conference, which is a good season for Husker hoops by
>>any measure, if you look at past history.



      I agree 8-8 is a good season compared to the past.  But why be
satisfied with that?  Bob Knight is just two wins away from leading Tech to
its fourth straight 20-win season, an odds-against prospect when he took the
Lubbock job after being ousted from Indiana.  Texas Tech was not all that
great before Knight got there.  Knight won right away.  It didn't take five
years.  I know situations are different and Knight may not have been able to
do that at NU.  But, the point is it can be done in less than five years.
All Collier has done over five years is pretty much maintain a program known
for its mediocrity.  If that is all that is required and 8-8 is fine then
Collier appears to be the man.




>>As far as Bill Callahan goes, he doesn't get the same
>>5 year pass.  He took over a team that went 10-3 (not
>>11-19).  Some people have suggested that the talent
>>level was the reason for us dropping to 5-6, but the
>>prospects for the NFL draft is shooting that argument
>>full of holes.  He'll need to get the football program
>>back to where he found it, which means bowl games and
>>8-10 win seasons over the next couple of years.  Maybe
>>it's not fair, but it's not like he took over a
>>program in ruins either.



     I agree with the above.  I am not saying the football coach and
basketball coach have to be held to EXACTLY the same expectations.  But the
difference isn't close.  Callahan has to win now and his feet are held to
the fire.  Collier has now probably at least six years with virtually no
expectation other than to finish at least .500 in the conference.




Bob Beach
Man is never too old to learn.  Man only becomes too old when the process of
learning stops.



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