Nebraska Basketball: 2022-23 season preview for the Cornhuskers
By Bryan Mauro
Nebraska Basketball enters a critical year on the court and it very well could be a make-or-break year for head coach Fred Hoiberg. Nebraska hired coach Hoiberg four seasons ago and all of the fan base was expecting the coach to do what he did with the Iowa State program, and do it as fast as he did it with the Iowa State program.
In reality, it has gone much different, as he had to build a roster from scratch in year one, then the Covid-19 Pandemic derailed a team that many thought was his best team at Nebraska. Then last season Nebraska received their first commitment from a five-star in Bryce McGowens and paired him with an elite scorer in Alonzo Verge. Last season, the team finally started to figure it out towards the end of the season when it was too late.
Entering year 4 of the Hoiberg era, Nebraska is 24-67 overall and 9-50 in the Big Ten. There is no disputing that those numbers are terrible. Coach Hoiberg has a new revamped contract, that lowers his buyout which will make him easier to fire. The same situation happened with the football program in Nebraska.
The key thing to remember here is that Athletic Director Trev Alberts provided himself an out for this massive contract so if it starts to go south quickly, Alberts will not hesitate to make a move. Hoiberg is in a better position than the Football coach, as the Basketball program has shown some improvement over the last year. The Cornhuskers did also just pay a buyout of 15 million to fire Scott Frost.
The coaching staff has been revamped heading into this season as well, and that is typical of a team with the record that Nebraska has over the last three seasons. The main concern for Nebraska was on the defensive end, they have not been able to stop anyone over the three seasons that Hoiberg has been at the helm.
So, Coach Hoiberg went out and hired Adam Howard from South Alabama. Howard runs a zone defense and under coach Howard had one of the best defenses in the country a season ago. The other coaching move comes by way of Ernie Ziegler. Ziegler replaces Armon Gates who left the program late in the offseason to Oregon. Ziegler spent the last four seasons at Mississippi State under Ben Howland.
The roster this year is built differently, Hoiberg switched from recruiting athletic guards who could run to recruiting big-bodied, athletic players who come from winning programs, and most importantly he recruited kids who have a reputation for defense and rebounding. The team this season also has a lot of length and should be very good in the zone defense.
The Huskers have a long way to go before they get back to relevance but hopefully, this team is a step in the right direction. Let’s review the Starters, Bench, an outlook of the schedule, and my overall prediction for how this team finishes.