Just like he did when he was the head coach at Iowa State, Fred Hoiberg is depending on transfers to move the needle at Nebraska.
The Huskers had three players — Shamiel Stevenson (Nevada), Dalano Banton (Western Kentucky), and Derrick Walker (Tennessee) — who sat out last season as transfers and have added two others — Trey McGowens (Pitt) and Kobe King (Wisconsin) — in the last two months. This doesn’t include commitments from a pair of junior college imports — Teddy Allen and Lat Mayen — and Western Illinois grad transfer Kobe Webster. Allen and Mayen began their college careers at West Virginia and TCU respectively.
“Our first year at Iowa State when we went to the NCAA Tournament we did it with some high-level transfers,” Hoiberg said in 2019 after he accepted the Nebraska job. “That’s what we’re going to do here and hopefully that will lead to a good mix. We’re hoping that adding some high-level transfers will help attract some really good four-year players.”
The Huskers were only 7-25 last season in Hoiberg’s first year in Lincoln and will only bring back two players — Thor Thorbjarnarson and Yvan Ouedraogo — who were in Nebraska’s rotation. The talent base though, is being upgraded.
The 6-4 McGowens was viewed by many as one of the top sit-out transfers available this spring and averaged 11.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.6 points last season at Pitt.
Allen meanwhile, averaged 11.3 points in three NCAA Tournament games at West Virginia in 2018.
Will all these new additions mean the Huskers are ready to dig their way out of the Big Ten’s basement?
That’s to be determined.
It’s unlikely that anyone is going to pick Nebraska higher than 12th or 13th in next season’s Big Ten preseason poll, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not the talent level in this program to exceed those types of expectations moving forward.
Georgia Tech could be next season’s Penn State
Winning in college basketball is dependent on having older and more experienced players which is why the Yellow Jackets are in position to have the type of year in 20-21 that the Nittany Lions just experienced in 19-20.
Georgia Tech will return five of its top six scorers from last year’s team that won 17 games, including one of the best back courts in the ACC in Jose Alvarado and Michael Devoe. An important thing to note: Alvarado missed seven games last season while Devoe missed three and the Yellow Jackets still were above. 500 overall and in the ACC.
“We’ve got a good nucleus of guys back and that’s important in college basketball,” Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner said last week. “We need to keep getting better. We need Michael Devoe to make the same type of jump from his sophomore year to his junior year that he just made from his freshman to sophomore year.”
The 6-5 Devoe has the ability to be one of the best guards in the ACC in 20-21 after averaging 16.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.4 assists last season. In addition to he and Alvarado, Pastner also returns two starters in Jordan Usher and Moses Wright along with two capable reserves in Khalid Moore and Bubba Parham.
USC transfer Kyle Sturdivant could also be a key piece off the bench if he’s granted a waiver from the NCAA to gain immediate eligibility.
Anything less than an appearance in the NCAA Tournament will be viewed as a disappointment for Georgia Tech in 2021.
Player development will be hindered due to the current circumstances
We’re in an uncharted territory as a society and that’s having effects on everything and everybody.
This includes college basketball.
The cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Tournament now feels like a distant memory, but that doesn’t mean that the coronavirus is done affecting the sport.
The spring and summer are often the times where players make their biggest individual jumps on the court and that’s going to be harder to accomplish if kids are not allowed on campus due to the current circumstances in the world.
The NCAA passed a rule a few years ago that allows programs in college basketball to have up to four hours a week during the offseason to work with their teams. This essentially means that the sport now exists all year long except for a few weeks in May and August.
Without this time now potentially available, it’s going to be harder and harder for coaches to develop the pieces they have internally and implement their concepts the way they want to implement them for the upcoming season.
This and That:
– Louisville will play Oklahoma State on November 13th in the 2020 Armed Forces Classic in North Carolina, according to multiple sources. The game will feature the first high profile college basketball showcase for Oklahoma State freshman Cade Cunningham. Cunningham is a 5 star prospect and top rated point guard in the freshman class.
– Kentucky transfer Johnny Juzang has cut his list to Arizona, Oregon, UCLA, Texas Tech, Villanova, and Notre Dame. The 6-6 wing averaged 2.9 points last season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.
– Minnesota and Mississippi State will begin a home-and-home series next year in Minneapolis, according to a source. There will be a return game in Starkville during the 21-22 season.
– Samford is expected to hire Mountain Brook High School’s Bucky McMillan as its next head basketball coach, according to multiple sources. There should be an official announcement this week. McMillan is a Birmingham native.
– A big thing to keep in mind when you see all of these college players posting on social media that they’re declaring for the 2020 NBA Draft? Due to coronavirus, there’s likely to be no workouts and no NBA Draft Combine in Chicago. So here’s the question: If a kid is a fringe prospect, what is he really declaring for?
