Husker Hoops Need a Gamechanger

It dawned on me as I was watching the Nebraska Cornhuskers lose yet another close game to the Baylor Bears last night, that it has been a long time since a true game changer has donned a Huskers jersey (see what I did there?).

For quite some time now, the Huskers have played solid defense and preached about sharing the basketball, and have had very balanced scoring as a result.

In other words, they’ve been just good enough to lose by a few points.

Nobody fears them down the stretch of close games. Despite cutting the lead to 2-3 points at times within the last few minutes of last night’s game, I never really believed they were poised enough to pull ahead for good.

I believe it’s because they don’t have a player that is feared by their opposition. Somebody that can take over at the end of games. Somebody they can look to when they’re struggling on the road. Somebody that can lead them to the NCAA Tournament.

The last player Nebraska had that averaged 15 points a game was Aleks Maric in 2007-08. Here’s a look at their leading scorers from the past 5 years:

• 2006-07: Maric – 18.5 ppg
• 2007-08: Maric – 15.7 ppg
• 2008-09: Dagunduro – 12.8 ppg
• 2009-10: Anderson – 11.3 ppg
• 2010-11: Jeter – 12.8 ppg

Lance Jeter has the tools to be that player, but not the time left in his career to get to that point. And while he has a solid all around game without many weaknesses, he lacks the potential to really take over a game.

The next closest player on the roster with the potential to be The Man is Jorge Brian Diaz. He averaged 8.8 points and 4.0 rebounds as a freshman, and averages 10.2 and 4.3 as a sophomore this season. He’ll need to improve at a quicker rate than that to provide what Nebraska really needs, but I’m not convinced he has the personality to be The Man either.

So can Nebraska recruit this type of player?

Well, not easily. I understand that there is a reason why they haven’t had this type of player. It would be lucky if the best basketball players in the country even considered the Big Red.

Here’s my possible solution. Stockpile players for a possible 1-2 year run. Call this the Florida Marlins theory, who would set up their farm system so that all their young players would hit their peaks at the same time.

I would literally sacrifice a few years worth of games (through redshirts and recruiting) to put out a worthwhile team for a year or two. How popular would this be with ticket payers? Tough to say. That’s what you pay your PR people for I guess.

The question is would you rather field a mediocre team for 4 years like Nebraska has the past four years, or spend two years in the tank and then field a team with a chance to do some damage for two years (just ask Marlins fans….oh wait)?

My answer would be anything that would provide relevance to the Nebraska basketball program.