Nebraska Cornhuskers: Fred Hoiberg loses out on big man to predecessor

The Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team has been trying to nail down one more transfer pickup but struck out yet again and this one hurts more than most.

Over the last month, Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg has been working quite hard trying to add at least one more piece to the puzzle. Unfortunately, it feels as though he’s been working harder and not smarter. It’s also not clear what his approach has been that has been as unattractive to his targets as the Huskers have been of late.

The latest recruit that Hoiberg went after and was seemingly handed his hat for is former Washington State big man Adrame Diongue. It’s not that Hoiberg lost out on Diongue that is frustrating. It’s who the Huskers’ head man lost out to.

On Thursday, Diongue announced he was headed to San Jose State, of all places. Losing a recruiting battle to the Spartans is bad enough. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are supposed to easily beat a team like that.

The insult on top of injury for the Nebraska basketball team and Hoiberg is that San Jose State is currently run by none other than Tim Miles. That would be the same Tim Miles that Nebraska fired to make room for Fred Hoiberg.

Nebraska Cornhuskers miss out

It’s not like the Huskers couldn’t have used a 7-foot-0 center in their frontcourt. Despite reeling in Rienk Mast, the Nebraska basketball team is clearly hoping to add some more size.

There is of course a caveat to the sting that might be felt by Nebraska Cornhuskers fans with this recruiting loss. More than a few basketball experts have publicly wondered whether Diongue was suited for a power conference like the Big Ten.

Perhaps he knew that he really isn’t and that’s why he chose Tim Miles and San Jose State. Or perhaps the Nebraska Cornhuskers really did make a pretty monumental recruiting mistake.