Nebraska Basketball: Tim Miles looks to rediscover his 2014 success
By Mike Knapp
With Tim Miles inching towards the hot seat with Nebraska basketball, the head coach needs to have a comeback season.
Nebraska head coach Tim Miles was one of the hottest commodities in college basketball just two years ago. Nebraska was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten in 2013-14, but ended up surprising everyone and finishing fourth.
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The Cornhuskers rebounded well from a four-game losing streak to open conference play, winning 11 of their last 14 Big Ten games, including a thrilling victory on the road against ninth-ranked Michigan State.
Nebraska’s impressive run to end the regular season earned them their first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1998, and it led to Miles being selected as the Big Ten Coach of the Year by his peers. He even received further praise from one of his fellow Big Ten coaches at Nebraska’s 2014 postseason banquet.
Miles was a virtual celebrity in the world of college basketball following that season, but despite the increased expectations, things have not gone so well for the Huskers since.
Nebraska was in the top-25 in virtually every preseason poll headed into the 2014-15 season, as they brought back most of their top players from the prior campaign. The Cornhuskers started off the season slow, losing games early to Rhode Island and Creighton, before inexplicably losing to Incarnate Word at home. That sent them into a season long tail spin.
Nebraska stumbled to a 13-18 record in 2014-15, and although they did play much better than their record indicates in 2015-2016, they only managed 16 wins.
In 2013-14, during their NCAA Tournament run, Nebraska was successful because of their stifling defense. The Huskers finished second in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency and held their opponents to 63 points per game in conference play.
A year later, Nebraska’s defense fell to ninth in the conference and last season they finished tenth.
Offensively, in 2013-14, Nebraska didn’t really excel at anything aside from taking care of the basketball. They were top-40 in the nation in turnovers and while they didn’t exactly strike fear in opponent’s hearts, they didn’t beat themselves either.
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Nebraska fell outside the top-100 in turnovers in 2014-2015 and they barely averaged over 60 points per contest. Last season, their offense was much better, averaging close to 80 points in non-conference games. Unfortunately, this did not continue into Big Ten play where they fell short of 70 points per game.
A lot of Nebraska’s struggles can be attributed to the fact that they are not catching opponents by surprise anymore. A team that finished top four in one of the nations best conferences can hardly be considered an underdog, and their top-25 ranking to open up the 2014-15 campaign added to their national profile.
This season, Nebraska will once again be flying under the radar, as you will be hard pressed to find anyone picking them to finish in the top-10 in the 14-team Big Ten. They lost their leading scorer, Shavon Shields, to graduation and their second leading scorer, Andrew White, transferred to Syracuse.
If the Huskers want to match their success from a few years ago, their defense once again needs to be their calling card. They also have to rediscover the offensive discipline they were known for two seasons ago.
Miles is still without a doubt a capable head coach. He has not been dealt the easiest hand in building up a program that only won 20 games once since 2000.
Despite the long list of legitimate excuses, Miles has to find a way to turn Nebraska into the perennial NCAA Tournament contender they looked like they could be a couple years ago.
Miles is running out of chances, and judging by Nebraska athletic director, Shawn Eichorst’s decision to not extend the coaches’ contract, he could be running out of patience. Nebraska needs to make a charge up the standings.