Busting Brackets
Fansided

Nebraska Basketball: “NCAA Tournament or Bust” for the 2018-19 Season

By Tristan Freeman

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 02: Palmer and Gill (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 02: Palmer and Gill (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Sunday was a great day for Nebraska Basketball, with their top two players coming back for another season. With that, the expectations have risen up a level for 2018-19.

In the first five seasons as the head coach of Nebraska Basketball, Tim Miles has only one winning campaign. He was effectively on the hot seat, needing a big year to save his job.

That happened, with the Cornhuskers going 22-11 and a program-record 13 wins in the Big Ten. Although the team’s resume wasn’t good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament, a foundation has been set for the program’s future. The team’s top four scorers weren’t seniors, so the 2018-19 team could be one of the best in the Big Ten next season.

That’s “if” everybody returns.

Each of the four starters (James Palmer, Isaac Copeland, Glynn Watson Jr. and Isaiah Roby) declared earlier in the off-season for the NBA Draft, without an agent. There have been plenty of players with lesser odds of getting drafted already gone, so the odds weren’t great that all of them return, especially leading scorer Palmer.

But the good news started to arrive for Cornhusker fans. First, Roby and Watson Jr. already decided to come back. Then this past weekend, both Palmer and Copeland snubbed the draft for one more year of college.

https://twitter.com/HuskerHoops/status/1000794660070141958

This is not only huge for the basketball team, but for Miles personally. Over the past few years, multiple players have transferred away from the program, depriving the team of depth.

This time around, not only have players decided to stay with Nebraska, but they also added a piece in Robert Morris grad transfer Dachon Burke, who averaged 17.6 ppg and 5.8 rpg this past season. The roster is now set for next season, which should be a contender near the top of the Big Ten.

Next: Breaking down the five best class of 2018 recruits in the Big Ten

Nebraska Basketball has been trying to find themselves as a program since arriving in the Big Ten. This past season was a step in the right direction for the Cornhuskers, but now they’ll need to capitalize on it with all the key players coming back. An by capitalize, I mean an invitation to the Big Dance.

Home/Nebraska Cornhuskers