Nebraska Basketball: Huskers lose Kobe King, gain freshman guard Elijah Wood

Loss of Kobe King for Nebraska Basketball

The saga of the former Wisconsin guard continues. King played at Wisconsin for 2.5 years before leaving in the middle of last season due to what the guard described as racial epithets thrown his way from a member of the training staff. In today’s climate the racial slurs are unacceptable and are reasons why any individual would want to remove themselves from that climate and move somewhere they feel more comfortable.

King chose Nebraska without ever taking a visit, being recruited hard by Hoiberg in the past when Hoiberg was the head coach at Iowa State. He built the relationship with the staff and felt comfortable enough to commit to Nebraska. Everything seemed to be going well until the players were slated to arrive back on campus for the workouts. King had never showed up in Lincoln. His grades at Wisconsin were not posted so Nebraska could never get an updated transcript for the guard. That seemed to be out of his hands as he was at the mercy of Wisconsin releasing his grades, so he was able to move on from the school.

On Friday June, 19th it was announced the King was going to be transferring from the University of Nebraska with out ever playing a game. The guard never showed up on campus for workouts and he listed personal reasons as the reason for departure. Assuming as many did the guard was likely going to get a waiver to play right away, given the messy departure from Wisconsin. King was going to be a starter for the Huskers this year most likely and if he was not a starter, the guard was going to see quality meaningful minutes off the bench.

The reality is while the departure of King stings, especially for a team who could have used the experience in the Big Ten this is not going to destroy Nebraska. Yes, the guard averaged 10 points per game in the Big Ten, he was a good fit in the offense with his ability to get to the rim and his quick first step. The things he was good at made up for his lack of a shot from deep. It is impossible to build a program with players who do not want to at your program. Nebraska found that out last year with a few individuals who were extremely talented but didn’t have the full buy in needed to win games.

It is hard to say if King wanted to be a Husker. It appeared initially he did, due to him citing personal reasons as the reason for departure makes it seem that something happened to sour the relationship between the player and coaching staff. It may also have been that Nebraska over signed and King was the natural attrition given the situation with the grades and his transcripts. Given the comments by the head coach it does sound like the parting was mutual. So once again Nebraska is left scrambling late to try and fill out their roster.