Huskers Have Already Overachieved for Season One of the Tim Miles Era

Put the jerseys on hangers boys, you've done enough already. Pack up the balls, hose down the locker room and call it a season. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are 10-10 and are already overachievers this season.

While these statements may be seen as a bit facetious, they are also true. The Huskers have nothing to gain the rest of the season.

Most people looked at the Huskers schedule at the beginning of the year and picked out eight games they could possibly win and struggled to believe they could win a game in the Big 10. The only thing that is going to happen over the next 11 games will be heartbreak and frustration, but that's nothing new to fans of Husker basketball.

With the season nearly two-thirds finished, Nebraska is 10-10, and this could be one of the last times they see .500 this season. If it were possible, the Huskers would be better off playing games in a closed gym against the rest of their opponents and building toward the 2013-14 season.

Coach Tim Miles has Nebraska pointed in the right direction, but some fans in the Cornhusker state were spoiled by the nine wins compiled in non-conference play. Against the boys of the Big 10, Nebraska is next to last in rebounding and last in scoring and some would say those are the bright spots.

After the Huskers most recent loss to Illinois, Coach Tim Miles commented on the team's rebounding woes saying, "I've coached a lot of games at a lot of different levels, and I don't think that I've ever been this disappointed or embarrassed in one area of the game."

Miles doesn't realize the hope that exists for Nebraska basketball with him at the helm. He doesn't believe in moral victories and will likely age ten years over the next two.

He built Colorado State into one of the more entertaining basketball teams in the country and possesses the type of personality that can make the Huskers into a winning program.  But it is going to take time, much like his four year build at CSU, just to get to a winning record at 19-13.

Given his career track of turning teams around in three to four years, one would have to believe that Miles understands that, but with a 1-5 record in the conference you can't help but wonder if his coaching sanity will be questioned at the end of the regular season.

The remaining schedule leaves very few opportunities for victory and even fewer if the Huskers don't perform well Saturday against an ailing Northwestern team, who has felt the sting of life without Drew Crawford.

Nonetheless, the Huskers have overachieved for season one of the Miles era, and while the fire for Husker basketball is more like a few smoldering embers of a campfire doused by a monsoon, there is no doubt the future of Husker basketball is back on course.

Husker fans are just hoping it's not the Magellan route.