Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball head coach Fred Hoiberg might be hoping for his most successful season yet, but national analysts aren’t on board.
Despite some rather unfortunate pieces of news this offseason, there’s still quite a bit of excitement around the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball season.
After all, Nebrasketball head coach Fred Hoiberg had his best season since setting foot on campus. That best season might have only been .500 but there was reason for optimism. And there’s reason to believe that the team will be better with the return of Keisei Tominaga, some other veterans, and some new additions.
If there is optimism around the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball program in Lincoln, it doesn’t appear that optimism is met by national analysts. According to a comprehensive list put together by Busting Brackets, Hoiberg’s rank isn’t all that impressive.
Out of all 326 D1 coaches ranked, Hoiberg is considered the 98th best coach in the country. That’s actually down a bit from his 2022-23 ranking. The site had this to say about just why they ranked him there:
"“Born in Lincoln, Nebraska, Hoiberg starred at Iowa State in the early 90’s before spending a decade in the NBA. After retiring from basketball, he worked in NBA front offices before becoming Iowa State’s head coach back in 2010. Hoiberg had great success across five years leading the Cyclones before departing to lead the Chicago Bulls. Back in the college game, he’s been at Nebraska in his hometown for the last four seasons and it’s been a struggle, with this past season’s 16-16 mark by far his best result.”"
Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball will need to prove doubters wrong
They aren’t wrong that it’s been a struggle. He’s seemingly been on the hotseat for the last few years. If he doesn’t have success this year, it will be interesting to see what happens.
It’s possible the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team will be talking about a new head coach this time next year.