Nebraska basketball: Miles unfairly overlooked in ‘Coach of the Year’ talk
Nebraska basketball coach Tim Miles has done a remarkable job pulling together a team that was predicted to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten.
As the Nebraska basketball team starts to wind up the regular season, one thing is becoming crystal clear. The Cornhuskers are being largely overlooked.
The team has won 20 games for the first time in a decade. They are currently 11-4 in the Big Ten. And yet it seems as if it’s hit or miss on whether they will make the NCAA Tournament.
If the team as a whole is being overlooked, then Tim Miles, in particular, is not getting the attention that is due him. While there is plenty negative to say about the job Miles has done in the past, there is a ton positive to be said for the job he’s done this year.
Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball
This was a team that almost every media outlet had finishing near the bottom of the conference. Sports Illustrated‘s prediction that they would finish 12th was one of the most charitable.
If something catastrophic were to happened and the Huskers lost out, the worst they could finish would be 11-7 and 6th in the conference. Miles is doing this with a team that has had to gel as the season has gone on.
He’s had to do this with two transfer players and no senior contributors. None.
When you look at the coaches that are getting the mentions for coach of the year, it’s even more clear that Miles is getting overlooked. Sports Illustrated recently posted a story about four getting the most looks now.
Tony Bennett of Virginia, Rick Barnes of Tennessee and Brad Brownell of Clemson are all at programs that offered quite a bit more coming into the year. Virginia is good this year, there’s no doubt about that.
They were also good last year, finishing ranked in the Top 25. Barnes Tennessee Vols were not great a season ago, but they went 8-10 in the conference and 16-16 overall. Clemson was 17-16 on the year.
Chris Holtmann, the new man at Ohio State might be the best competitor for Tim Miles. Holtmann took over a Buckeyes team that went 17-15 last year and fired Thad Motta.
This year, the Buckeyes are 22-8 and ranked eighth in the country. Still, they weren’t 12-19 a year ago. Two years ago, Ohio State was 21-14. The Huskers were 16-18. Virginia was 27-4 and Clemson was 17-15.
Tennessee is the only school among the five that is comparable to the Cornhuskers and the job Miles has done. While there’s no argument that Tim Miles is the runaway coach of the year winner, it’s time for the Nebraska basketball team to be getting more attention in a number of different ways.