Nebraska basketball: Is Jack McVeigh’s exit the beginning or the end of attrition?
The Nebraska basketball team lost one player just days after their season ended. Are more headed out the door or is this the end?
Now that the 2017-18 season is officially over the next chapter for the Nebraska basketball team is set to begin. That chapter has already included one player deciding to leave the Cornhuskers.
Fans of Nebrasketball have seen this show before. Once the season is over, players leave and Tim Miles is left with questions about how he can fill the holes.
The good news is, the hole left by Jack McVeigh is a tiny one. The Aussie shooting guard was once thought to be a big part of the program.
In his first year in the program, he appeared in 34 games (starting 4) and averaged 17 minutes a game. In his second year with the Huskers, he appeared in 30 games (starting 11) and averaged 22.9 minutes.
This year, McVeigh saw his role fall of the face of the earth. At the beginning of the year, the guard saw much the same level of use as in previous years.
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As the season went on and head coach Tim Miles solidified his rotation, McVeigh was hard pressed to get into a game. When the smoke cleared on the year, McVeigh finished with just 14 games played (zero starts). He averaged just 7.5 minutes per game.
It’s not surprising that he’s leaving. His departure does beg the question, who will follow him out the door?
In the middle of the season, it seemed as though Jordy Tshimanga was a sure bet to leave Lincoln. Whatever was said or done, the center decided not to quit the team after the paperwork simply had to be filed.
It seems unlikely we’re going to be seeing too many big contributors leave this season. That’s a bit of a change from the last couple of years.
We all remember when Andrew White left. Ed Morrow and Jeriah Horne both left after the season last year. It was about this time last year that Morrow made that decision.
At the time, there were some who thought it was the beginning of the end for Tim Miles. Instead, he put together a 22 win season, thanks in large part to two players people might be holding their breaths about.
If there are any players who might leave after this season, Isaac Copeland and James Palmer Jr are at the top of the list. Copeland seems like less of a candidate, considering no one is talking about him hitting the NBA.
He went from a kind of sixth man at the beginning of the year, to being a go-to guy later in the season. At this point, the only reason he would leave is that his back was bothering him again and he had to quit playing altogether.
Palmer is the real question mark. There has been talk about possible interest in the NBA. The Nebraska basketball team has been through this before.
Terran Petteway played a big part in Tim Miles’ only NCAA tournament team. He left a year early after things went sour the following season.
Palmer would have to speed up that timetable, but stranger things have happened. Does Palmer buy into the talk about the Cornhuskers having a tougher schedule? Might he think he should get out while the getting is good?
If there is anyone planning on following Jack McVeigh out the door, we’ll like find out soon. Tanner Borchardt is one that might decide he’d rather play elsewhere. The Nebraska basketball team could survive his departure. Coming from Gothenburg, it’s hard to imagine he’ll be leaving.
As long as the Cornhuskers don’t have any big contributors decide to depart, one has to consider it a win as far as the prospects for next season.