Dave Feit: Husker Hoops Hot Takes

You can go ahead and say it: Nebraska is going dancing

The basketball season is heating up, so let's dig into some Husker hoops hot takes:

Nebrasketball is in the NCAA Tournament.

I'm not a bracketologist. I haven't been refreshing NET rankings, Joe Lunardi, and KenPom hourly since the Nebraska men beat No. 1 Purdue. I don't spend every waking hour watching college basketball.

I don't need to.

Nebraska is a NCAA tournament team.

Even if automatic bids are stolen all across championship week, there are not 32 at-large teams with a better résumé than Nebraska.

Even if Nebraska were to lose at Michigan and in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament, they're in the dance. The Big Ten is likely going to be a five- or six-bid league. Nebraska can't finish worse than fifth place. If the committee finds a spot for Wisconsin, there will definitely be one for Nebraska.

Those of you who have been living and dying with the Bubble Watch? It's time to shift your focus to what seed NU will get, and what region they end up in.

The Huskers are going dancing.

Trev Alberts' patience is being rewarded.

Let's flashback to Feb. 24, 2022. Fred Hoiberg was nearing the end of his third season as Nebraska's head coach.

His record to that point: 21-65 (.244) overall and 6-48 (.111) in league play. Nebraska had finished last twice and would be second to last in 2022. Hoiberg was on the hot seat, likely headed for unemployment.

That night, Athletics Director Trev Alberts announced that Hoiberg would be coming back for the 2022-23 season with a restructured contract (and the presumption of changes to his coaching staff).

Why did Alberts keep Hoiberg?

I truly believe the answer comes down to two words: Scott Frost.

The football team had just completed a 3-9 season that was not as "close" as fans believed. Frost agreed to a contract restructuring of his own to save his job, but still had a buyout of $15 million. At the time, Hoiberg's buyout was $18.5 million. Coming off of the pandemic, with a massive construction project, NU was not firing two coaches. Alberts is smart enough to understand that at Nebraska football always comes before basketball. It just does.

But here's the crazy part: since Alberts announced that Hoiberg was coming back, Nebrasketball has turned it around. Hoiberg's Huskers are 40-26 (.606) overall and 23-20 (.535) since Feb. 24, 2022.

Lead recruiter Matt Abdelmassih was fired, and Hoiberg took a more hands-on role with roster construction. Instead of a collection of mercenaries that never meshed, Nebraska got players who complement each other and found some talented in-state kids (Sam Griesel, Sam Hoiberg and Josiah Allick) who have established a culture of hustle, hard work and floor burns. This season has been great, and the 2024-25 team could have a lot of talent returning.

Call it patience, prioritization, fiscal conservatism or anything else, but Trev Alberts is looking like a genius for keeping Fred Hoiberg. And while it is worth noting that Hoiberg's overall record at Nebraska is still 30 games below .500 (39 games vs Big Ten foes), credit must also go to Hoiberg for having the humility to make big changes.

Fred Hoiberg should win the Big Ten Coach of the Year, but he probably won't.

In the preseason Big Ten media poll, Nebraska was picked 12th. Going into the final week of the regular season, the Huskers can finish third, fourth or fifth.

That success speaks volumes about the coaching job Fred Hoiberg has done. He put together a strong, veteran roster and has them playing at a high level. Nebraska is deep on offense (off the top of my head, I think of six different players who have been the leading scorer in a game) and they can play excellent defense. There is a buzz around the program that has been missing for the better part of a decade.

In theory, that should be enough for Hoiberg to win Coach of the Year honors from either the media or coaches.

Nebrasketball Handles Rutgers on Senior Day

But I don't think Fred will win.

The conference COY award is usually handed to the head coach of the first-place team. In the last 10 years, the Big Ten Coach of the Year (as picked by the media, coaches or both) came from the first-place team seven times. Two of the others were from the second-place team. Only two coaches won or shared honors leading the fourth-place team. Can you name them? *

Look: Purdue's Matt Painter is an excellent coach. His Boilermakers will win the conference and likely be a No. 1 seed in the tournament. Painter has earned the award four times, but hasn't won since the 2018-19 season. He would be a deserving winner. I suspect he'll get at least one of the Coach of the Year awards.

*Those two coaches to win COY leading the 4th place team? Minnesota's Richard Pitino in 2016-17 was the consensus Coach of the Year. And in the 2013-14 season, Nebraska's Tim Miles earned COY from his peers leading fourth-place Nebraska to their first NCAA tournament berth in years.

Nebraska's Josiah Allick dives for a loose ball against Rutgers' Derek Simpson on March 3, 2024, on Senior Day in Lincoln / Nebraska Athletics

NU celebrates Senior Day.

Four players were honored during Sunday's Senior Day ceremony:

• Jarron Coleman. Boogie hasn't had the on-court success he envisioned at NU, but Fred Hoiberg has had great things to say about his leadership.
• C.J. Wilcher. I'll be honest: I was lukewarm on Wilcher in his first two seasons. A lot of that was me not realizing that Wilcher was playing out of his natural position. C.J. has won me over with his hard work, selflessness in adjusting to a new role, and by being an excellent, supportive teammate. He has another year of eligibility, and I hope he comes back.
• Josiah Allick. Allick plays with an infectious energy and a desire to do whatever it takes to win. Nebraska football fans love to extol the virtues of the in-state kid who just wants it more. Allick has been that type of player. Plus, I've really enjoyed the interactions between Josiah and his sister Bekka. I wish he had another season.
• Keisei Tominaga. In my years of watching Nebraska basketball, I can think of only three players who had the ability to make my jaw drop with their shooting prowess: Tyronn Lue, Eric Piatkowski and Keisei. What I'll remember most about Keisei is not the lightning-quick release, the ridiculous shot making or his ability to move without the ball. It is the sheer joy and exuberance he played with. We'll tell our kids and grandkids about the magic that was a Keisei Tominaga heater.

Can Nebraska win a game in the tournament?

While it depends on who Nebraska gets matched up against, I think it is possible. Winning games in the NCAA tournament is less about seeding, and more about matchups. And Nebraska can be a matchup nightmare.

Nebraska can be a whack-a-mole team. If you focus on keeping Keisei Tominaga from getting hot, Juwan Gary might go off. Trying to take away Rienk Mast creates opportunities for Brice Williams. Look out! Here comes C.J. Wilcher off the bench bombing threes as Jamarques Lawrence goes flying by. And if you don't keep an eye on Josiah Allick and Sam Hoiberg, they'll burn you with a hustle play that won't show up in the box score.

The Huskers don't have a dominant "alpha dog," which can be a blessing and a curse. NU has had some impressive wins when Keisei is quiet. But as long as the defense comes to play and the Huskers work hard on the glass, anything is possible.

If this is the year it finally happens, give me an asterisk-free scenario.

We all know the situation. Nebraska is the only power conference team without a win in the NCAA tournament. We all would like to be done with that distinction.

So, whenever it happens, I don't want any asterisks, any "yeah, but" qualifiers, or anything to taint the accomplishment.

To me, that means staying out of Dayton or Omaha.

I understand that the "First Four" games of the tournament — played in Dayton, Ohio a few days before the first round begins — are NCAA tournament games. As such, they count as tournament wins for any team who is victorious there.

But I still don't want the first win to happen there. I want win number one to occur during a Thursday or Friday first-round game.

Some of the mock brackets have the Huskers playing their first-round game at the CHI Center in Omaha. While that would be awesome for Husker fans who want to watch in person (and definitely for Creighton fans looking to cash in), I don't want to deal with the "yeah, but you needed 14,000 fans to do it."

Are these silly concerns? Absolutely.

I am completely aware that my desire to avoid asterisks holds little to no logical reasoning. But sometimes fans aren't logical in their desires. Really, I'm just ready for that "no wins" moniker to be gone, and I want to leave no doubt — or qualifier — behind.

But just so we're all clear: Whenever it happens, I plan to celebrate any tournament win on the same scale as Nebraska winning a national championship or a World Series win for my beloved Royals.