Archive for '2009 Recruiting Class'
Myles Holley to sign with the Huskers
May 5, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, News, Recruiting.
Nebraska will add a 3rd player during the spring signing period. Myles Holley announced in an interview with the Lincoln Journal-Star that he will sign a letter of intent to play for the Huskers.
Holley is a 6-5 wing player who has taken an unconventional path to Nebraska. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Va. in 2007. He then played at Brunswick Community College in North Carolina but left due to financial reasons to attend the Heat Academy where he hoped to improve his Division I stock and save a season of eligibility. This leaves Holley with 3 seasons of eligibility remaining. He averaged 20 points and 8 rebounds per game according to his club team coach.
Holley had offers from Miami, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro and LaSalle. He joins 6-3 point guard Lance Jeter and 6-8 forward Quincy Hankins as juco transfers for the Huskers this spring. By signing with NU, he puts Sadler’s 2009-10 team one over the 13 player scholarship limit. This certainly suggests further roster movements between now and next fall.
As it stands for now Nebraska’s incoming recruiting class includes: 6-8 forward Christian Standhardinger, 6-9 forward Brandon Ubel, 6-2 guard Rayes Gallegos, Jeter and Hankins. In addition to those incoming first-year players, the Huskers will get the services of 6-4 guard Eshaunte Jones, 6-11 center Christopher Niemann and 6-11 center Brian Diaz. Next season’s roster looks to be quite a makeover from last season as the shortest team in Division I.
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Miller and Edwards to transfer
April 6, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, News, Recruiting.
Nebraska announced today that Cookie Miller and Alonzo Edwards asked for and were given their releases in order to transfer. The departure of these 2 now trims the Husker roster to meet the 13 player scholarship limit, but there may be more roster turnover to come.
Cookie Miller was a major contributor for NU over the past 2 seasons. The 5-7 point guard started 46 of 60 games during his stay and averaged 6.7 points, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per game this year. Miller cited family reasons as the explanation for his departure. It was also learned that he strongly considered leaving the team after his freshman season in order to be closer to his family in Charleston, WV.
Alonzo Edwards played a limited role on this year’s squad. He played in 16 games and averaged 1.7 points per game. Edwards is looking for more playing time and appears headed to junior college in his home state of Texas.
Only a few days ago I was curious after the oral commitments of Lance Jeter and Quincy Hankins which players may be leaving in order to make room on the roster. We now have our answer and apparently Coach Sadler is still out recruiting. Possibly expecting further roster turnover. It’s been widely speculated that Chris Balham may consider ending his Husker career due to chronic knee problems and there is concern as to whether Christian Standhardinger will land in Lincoln despite the fact that he is likely to be ineligible this next season as his situation is similar to Christopher Niemann. So it was quite a surprise that Miller and Edwards have decided to transfer.
I’m sad to see both players go as I really liked Miller’s game and determination. Now with his departure there is no doubt that next year’s Nebraska team will look very different from this past season’s unit. I also thought that Edwards could have developed into a nice player by the time he was a junior.
As for Sadler’s additional efforts on the recruiting trail, he is still looking for a wing player. Reports indicate that the Huskers are looking at 2 other juco players. Jamarr Sanders, a 6-5, 205 lb. guard from Northwest Florida State is scheduled to visit Lincoln for the Spring Red-White football game on April 18. Sanders has a reputation as a scorer and averaged 18.5 points, 4.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game. It appears that he is also considering UNC-Charlotte.
Another player NU continues to pursue is Myles Holley, a 6-5 wing from Patrick Henry (Va.) Junior College, who visited the school in early March.
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Lance Jeter commits to the Huskers
April 4, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, Recruiting.
Nebraska received its second commitment from a juco player when Lance Jeter gave Doc Sadler his oral commitment this past Wednesday. Jeter will join his teammate Quincy Hankins, both from Polk (Fla.) Community College, who also committed to the Huskers this past week.
Jeter is a 6-3, 230 lb. point guard originally from Beaver Falls, PA. At Polk Community College, Jeter averaged 15.9 points, 4.5 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 2 steals per game. In high school he was named the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s athlete of the year in 2005-06 when he averaged 20.4 points/game as a senior.
The addition of Jeter to the NU lineup figures to give Coach Sadler some options at the point. Last season the Husker’s primary point guard was Cookie Miller. While Miller was often the sparkplug for the offense, pushing the ball in transition and creating opportunities for teammates in the half court sets, the 5-7 sophomore had some trouble defending some of the Big 12’s bigger guards. Jeter’s size potentially gives the team a defender to counter those mismatches.
I’m excited at the prospect of these two players joining the team. They should be able to give us much needed experience and size. The 2009 team is shaping up to be a much different looking group than this past season’s unit.
Spring signing period begins April 15. Once Jeter and Hankins sign, Nebraska will be 2 players over the 13 player scholarship limit. It looks like Sadler is now done recruiting for his 2009-10 team unless there are any roster surprises this spring and summer. With our recent recruiting snafus, it may be best to expect the unexpected.
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Nebraska picks up juco commitment
March 31, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, Recruiting.
Quincy Hankins, a 6-8 240 lb. forward, gave his oral commitment to Doc Sadler Monday night. His teammate at Polk (Fla.) Community College, Lance Jeter is still thinking over the Husker’s offer but judging from the good things he had to say about Sadler and the program, his commitment may not be far behind.
Both players could fill some holes in next season’s roster for the Huskers. Hankins adds size and strong rebounding ability (he averaged 15.8 points and 12.2 rebounds per game this past season) while Jeter gives Nebraska another option at the point. Both players add some experience to young roster.
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Cross two potential Husker recruits off the list
March 30, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, Recruiting.
Anthony Harris apparently has decided to forego playing Division I ball and headed overseas. Harris is a 6-7, 235 lb. forward who the Huskers had hoped to woo to Lincoln. His coach at Northeastern Junior College confirmed the latest turn of events.
Nebraska is looking to bring in some junior college players in an effort to bring some experience to what figures to be a very young squad in 2009. The Lincoln Journal-Star reports the NU has offered scholarships to Lance Jeter, a 6-3 225 lb. point guard and Quincy Hankins, a 6-7 240 lb. forward. Both players were teammates at Polk (Fla.) Community College.
Melvin Goins, a 5-10 point guard can be scratched off the Huskers list as he committed to Tennessee this past weekend.
Doc Sadler and his staff also have their eyes on Myles Holley, a 6-5 small forward from Patrick Henry (Va.) Junior College. Holley would have 3 season of eligibility.
Nebraska sits at the 13 scholarship limit heading into next season so if Sadler looks to sign 2 juco players that will mean there will be some turnover on the roster. One player who has been mentioned quite often as possibly ending his career as a Husker is Chris Balham. He reportedly will be visiting with doctors to look at his chronic knee problems.
Christian Standhardinger, who signed with NU this past fall, is another player who may not count against the scholarship limit for the upcoming season. Similar to Christopher Niemann who was ineligible this season, he played on a German club team where other players were paid. Plus, there has been word that Standhardinger has been receiving quite a bit of interest from European pro clubs. Time will tell if he lands in Lincoln or not.
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Husker recruiting news
March 5, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, Recruiting.
Some recent recruiting news around the Husker basketball program has them looking at a couple of juco point guards, Melvin Goins and Lance Jeter, as well as small forward Myles Holley.
The Omaha World-Herald mentioned this week that Nebraska is looking to sign a juco point guard. They are reportedly looking at Melvin Goins and Lance Jeter with coaches Doc Sadler and Phil Mathews taking recent trips to evaluate these players.
- Goins is a 5-10, 195 lb. guard who started 26 games as a freshman and averaged 8 ppg at Ball State before transferring to Mount San Jacinto Community College. He has interest from Nebraska, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Providence and TCU. Here’s a link to his profile on Rivals.
- Jeter is a 6-3, 225 lb. guard who was a redshirt scholarship wide receiver at Cincinnati before transferring to Polk Community College to change sports. He was named the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s athlete of the year as a high school senior. He has interest from Nebraska, West Virginia, Seton Hall, Kent State and Duquesne.
Nebraska also hosted Myles Holley, a 6-5 wingman from The Heat Academy, who attended the Huskers game against Iowa State. Holley was named the Virginia Eastern District MVP as a high school senior by VirginiaPreps.com. He also helped lead his team to the Virginia Group AAA state title in his junior year.
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Roundup of Husker basketball links – 020909
February 9, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2009 Recruiting Class, News, Recruiting, Video.
Quite a few links this week. It’s a mixed bag of topics with a late rush of praise for Coach Sadler and his team plus some NCAA tourney projections in the past week’s Husker basketball related links:
- Men’s Basketball: Watching McCray mature is a sight to see – Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald writes about the development of Toney McCray this season.
- Nside the Husker Locker Room with Nick Krenk – HuskersNside video profiles walk-on senior Nick Krenk.
- Nside the Program – HuskersNside profiles Nebraska basketball grad. asst. athletic trainer R. J. Pietig.
- Bracket Junkie: It was moving Saturday (and Sunday) – Baseline.com updates their bracket projections and places the Huskers in their ‘Last 10 out’ group.
- Early look at the bubble leaves more questions than answers – USA Today takes a peak at the NCAA tourney bubble. Nebraska, not surprisingly, is projected as out of the dance unless they can pick up some more big conference wins.
- Nebraska player’s dad wants Doug Gottlieb to say he’s sorry – The Dagger, a Yahoo! sports blog, reports on Cookie Miller’s father, Big Cookie’s disappointment with Doug Gottlieb’s “punk” remark.
- Flying elbows out of control – Jay Bilas heaps praise on Doc Sadler and the Huskers for their effort this season on his blog at ESPN.com.
- Husker video highlights – HuskersNside video highlights from Nebraska’s 58-55 win over Texas.
- HuskersNside video tribute – The Husker athletic department honored former player Jack Moore during the halftime of the Texas game.
- Steven M. Sipple: There’s no harm in dreaming big – Steven Sipple from the Lincoln Journal-Star tells Husker fans it’s OK to dream of a NCAA tournament bid.
- Winners and losers: North vs. South – Yahoo! Sports brings attention to the North Division’s 11-8 record against the South Division of the Big 12 up to this point. Nebraska is 2-2 versus the South so far.
- Tom Shatel: NU does it between rain drops – Tom Shatel from the Omaha World-Herald offers his praise for Doc Sadler and this year’s Nebraska basketball team.
- Match-Up Problems, But For Whom? – Clark Fosler at HuskerHoopsCentral.com examines NU’s size disadvantage and the matchup problems they create for their opponents.
- Is there any progress? – Tom Behmer of the Norfolk Daily News Blog throws water on Husker fans hoping for an NCAA tourney bid this season. I wonder if he’d revise his post now after the win over Texas?
- Jack Moore Day poignant for family, coaches, best friend – The Omaha World-Herald looks back at Jack Moore, a true Husker legend.
- Velander named to All-District 7 First Team – Paul Velander receives an academic honor.
- Sadler catches Crayton in action – Omaha Sports Source reports on Doc Sadler attending a recent game of Husker recruiting target, Jarrell Crayton.
- Richardson giving more to NU’s offense, defense – The Lincoln Journal Star takes a look at Brandon Richardson and his recent increasing contributions to the team.
- ESPN2’s ‘Cookie’ cutter not apologizing – The Charleston Gazette covers the Doug Gottlieb-Cookie Miller ”acting like a punk” comment and talks to Cookie’s father, known as Big Cookie. And no, I didn’t make that last bit up.
- Around The Big 12 - Clark Fosler from HuskerHoopsCentral.com assesses the Big 12 teams at the midway point of the conference season.
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Diaz joins Huskers
January 17, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under 2008 Recruiting Class, 2009 Recruiting Class, News.
It’s official and we can finally put to rest the recruiting saga of Jorge Diaz. The 7 footer from Puerto Rico arrived in Lincoln today and has been admitted into Nebraska.
Doc Sadler announced the news at his post game press conference after NU’s win over Kansas State. Diaz will begin practicing with the team on Monday. Sadler sounded unsure if Diaz will play for the Huskers this season. It will depend upon whether Diaz is ready to play at the Big 12 level and if he wants to use one year of his eligibility for the remainder of this season.
My guess is that he won’t. But this news is still good for a team has struggled to recruit big men and build depth in the front court. Especially after learning that Vander Joaquim will not be a part of the 2009 recruiting class.
Update: There was some confusion last night about Diaz’s first name. His name is Brian Diaz, he is using his middle name rather than Jorge. He was officially measured in at 6-11 and 235 lbs. He must be close to 7-0 though as Coach Sadler mentioned that he is a little taller than 6-11 Christopher Niemann.
