Welcome to Husker Heartbeat - a sampling of links and quick wit to start your morning! Keep checking each morning, Monday-Friday, for new links! We look for the offbeat as well as the straightforward - so don’t just think of us as a typical link farm!

A quick abbreviation key FYI: OWH=Omaha World-Herald, LJS=Lincoln Journal-Star, CN=Corn Nation, BRN=Big Red Network, HI=Huskers Illustrated, BRR=Big Red Report. If we need to add more - we will. Others, like ESPN, are self-explanatory.

Cool? Cool!

*Connie Yori and the Northern Iowa head coach have a long connection and friendship. Guess that means the Panthers will lie down spread eagle on the court in Minny and give the Husker a walkover game.

*Because you’re just dying to know which JUCO player Doc Sadler might recruit next, Brian Rosenthal of the LJS hoofed it down to Hutchinson, Kan., for the national tournament.

*Turner Gill doesn’t want his assistants to cuss on the practice field. Although this appears to be an infringement of some great divine right for coaches, trust me: They’ll live. For that money especially.

*BRN takes a gander at Idaho.

*A Washington defensive end gets booked on an investigation of assault. I don’t even know what that means.

*The Big East bemoans its potential demise. What? Huh?

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Six strong takes and we plow - you know, figuratively - toward St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness.

*We’re roughly ten days from the start of spring football; we’ll be offering six “Springtime with Bo” questions next Monday.

One question that didn’t make that list: Who settles in next to Jared Crick at that defensive tackle position?

Conventional fan wisdom suggests Baker Steinkuhler. But it would benefit NU more if Terrence Moore, a tank of a junior tackle from New Orleans, rises to the starting occasion.

Nothing against Steinkuhler, a sophomore, but it’s asking a lot of your run defense to consistently rely upon two 6-foot-6 guys down in the trenches. Taking double teams, like Ndamukong Suh often did, takes an enormous amount of leverage that a longer, leaner player Steinkuhler may not yet have.

Moore, a squat, giant-legged fire hydrant, battled nasty foot injuries that more or less sidelined him for all of 2009. His return is crucial to NU’s interior success. He has to eat up double teams inside and penetrate into the backfield with his quick first step.

Watch for the maturation of true freshmen Jay Guy and Chase Rome, both of whom could quickly vie for playing time in a defensive tackle rotation. Redshirt freshman Thad Randle, if he’s big enough, could fit the bill, too. Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini has previously praised Randle’s first step and ability to play with his hands.

*Wide receiver Niles Paul captured Nebraska’s ten-yard dash record with a 1.40-second burst in recent winter testing. No surprise there; Paul’s always been a workout warrior. If this means he gets off the line a little quicker, all the better; his frame is too big for smaller cornerbacks to jam him at the line.

But Paul’s big-play abilities are hardly in question; he averaged 20 yards per catch last year. Where Paul needs to improve in 2010 is consistently getting open on third down in traffic, when the entire stadium knows where the ball is going - and Paul grabs it anyway. Ten catches like that are worth one or two wins.

*If you still think Bo Pelini made a mistake in booting Quentin Castille off the team, consider that Castille, after one thoroughly average year at Northwestern (La.) State (333 rushing yards) is declaring for the NFL Supplemental Draft. The Supplemental Draft is rarely a good option, and Castille “couldn’t talk” specifics as to why he was leaving NSU.

In retrospect, Castille should have taken his redshirt year and stayed in Division I-A. He needed time to integrate into an offense, not an immediate platform on a team that was often playing up a division in weight.

As always, transferring is tough, tough, tough. Nebraska should consider and accept transfers with that thought in mind at all times.

*Hats off to Oregon’s Chip Kelly for making a stand in suspending his star quarterback, Jeremiah Masoli, for an entire year after Masoli pleaded guilty to stealing laptops. Not only did Kelly need to send a message to all the rotten apples former coach Mike Bellotti happily welcomed to Eugene, he eliminates any doubt for Masoli’s backups, and can spend an entire offseason preparing whoever might emerge as the starter.

And former Omaha Central quarterback Daryle Hawkins will be among those Ducks vying for the starting job. Hawkins, who missed most of his senior high school season in 2008, was offered a scholarship by wide receivers coach Scott Frost at the last minute; he’s been more impressive than UO coaches anticipated. Although he redshirted, Hawkins traveled with the team a few times last year, just in case.

*At 30-1, the Nebraska women’s basketball team better not get robbed out of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. There must have been a twinge of worry on the part of head coach Connie Yori, who kept her starters in the game toward the end of a 80-70 loss to Texas A&M on Saturday so NU “didn’t lose by 20.”

Even with top billing, NU should expect a serious grind on its way to the Final Four. The opening-round game figures to be a walk, but round two is a frequent graveyard for good women’s teams not named Connecticut and Tennessee; Iowa State and Kansas State have both played spoiler in past years in that very round. Should the Husker women progress to the Sweet 16, they’re likely to play teams with more depth and overall talent. Nebraska just has the best player in Kelsey Griffin and a tenacious style.

Watching Griffin at the Big 12 Tournament, it’s hard to overestimate her worth to the Huskers. She’s definitely the straw, and a good part of the drink. If anything, she doesn’t get the ball enough as NU’s guards take early, undisciplined shots that rarely fall in March, because your legs are worn down and shots aren’t quite as crisp.

Griffin, meanwhile, is a picture of efficiency inside relentless effort. She scores baskets in such unorthodox, funny ways that she’s nearly impossible to defend with any consistency. Although Griffin outworks her opponents, her innate creativity, combined with that tenacity, is the strength of her game; she snakes a single arm into spaces where it looks like it won’t fit, flips the ball with her hand, scores and draws a foul.

Basketball is still a game of balance, coordination and timely improvisation. Griffin, the nation’s best player, is a reminder of that.

*For the first time in years, the Nebraska High School Boys’ Basketball State Tournament (OK, breathe) piqued my interest with players who could actually compete - and excel - in the Big 12 Conference.

South Sioux City sophomore point guard Mike Gesell provided some must-see TV with 25 points in a 60-56 win over Omaha Skutt in the Class B final, while Omaha Central freshman Akoy Agau went for 18 points and 15 rebounds in helping beat Norfolk in the Class A final. Nebraska’s already offered Gesell, and Agau won’t be far behind, I suspect. Central’s Dev Biggs might catch on somewhere - he’s a senior - while Chadron’s near 7-footer, Elliott Eliason, is headed to Minnesota with a thin frame and an unpolished game. I’m curious to see how much he actually plays for defensive taskmaster Tubby Smith.

NU head coach Doc Sadler a good chunk of the day conspicuously milling around the premises. Not that he hasn’t before - and not that Creighton’s Dana Altman wasn’t there, too - but it’s good to see him optimistic and undaunted after struggling through a difficult season.

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For a second straight afternoon at the Big 12 Tournament, Nebraska’s basketball team resembled the one head coach Doc Sadler hoped he’d see throughout the conference season. The one all of us saw in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Tough. Methodical. Crafty. Undaunted.

Thanks to Texas A&M guard Donald Sloan’s 23 points - and some timely Aggie 3-point shooting - it wasn’t enough in a 70-64 loss. But NU, at 15-18, had already made its point. Doc had too.

The Huskers’ will to win, reasonably questioned after awful losses to Colorado and Oklahoma State last week, was still there. And Sadler, instead of fiddling around with lineups and pushing too many buttons, stuck with a core group of seven, kept center Jorge Brian Diaz well-fed, and trusted Diaz to kick the ball out to shooters when necessary. On defense, the Huskers communicated in their zone and fought for rebounds.

At long last, a return to a recognizable identity, with players who might get tired and make mistakes, but at least fit the roles they’ve been given. It shouldn’t have taken this long, and the losing and constant shuffling may cost NU a few offseason transfers, a notion to which Sadler appeared resigned after Thursday’s game.

“Hey, that’s just the way it is today,” he told reporters inside Kansas City’s Sprint Center.

That’s true at each school - for different reasons. At Nebraska, more than some, it often appears to be because the coaching staff miscalculated the talent of a player. Or recruited a guy who ultimately didn’t fit Doc’s style. We’ll know in the next month…well, we’ll know a lot of things. Whether NU really wants to drag itself through a CBI Tournament. Who transfers. Who signs in April. Which assistants, if any, Sadler reassigns or fires.

This also is true: There is enough talent on the roster, right now, for a NCAA Tournament berth next year. An offseason in the weight room - and possibly a trip overseas for some exhibition play - will make an even bigger difference. Sadler can search for his Donald Sloan or James Anderson in the JUCO ranks, but just in case he doesn’t find that guy, wise NU fans can’t just settle for mediocrity.

Doc won’t; he’s too proud and hard-working for that. But fans don’t need to make excuses for him in year five and simply write off next season, as some already have, to a sad-sack narrative of no tradition + no arena + no practice facility + the Barry Collier era + no “commitment” + no recruiting = little hope.

No, you can’t put the cart before the horse. But you also can’t leave it out in the February snow with 13 good enough horses in the barn, either. This nebulous debate over “commitment” is precisely the one Colorado and Iowa State (and Kansas and Kansas State and Missouri) would like Nebraska to have. For several years, preferably. If the thinkin’ in Lincoln is always “a dream deferred,” then so, I assure you, it will be.

The weight of history does bear down on Nebraska basketball. But history can be changed.

Is it easy? Of course not. Is Sadler charged, in many ways, with the same daunting tasks as Bill Snyder once was at Kansas State? Yes. Snyder probably had it worse. And yet, by year five, Snyder’s Wildcats finished 9-2-1, and won a bowl game. Former Nebraska baseball coach Dave Van Horn took over a team that used to schedule twin bills with UNO and Peru State to rack up easy wins. In his fourth year, NU earned a trip to the College World Series.

Maybe those comparisons are unfair. But they’re reminders of what’s possible.

“Let’s be real,” Sadler said Thursday. “I’ve got to get some wins.”

Refreshingly candid. And a darn good place to start.

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Doc Sadler had hoped a couple of 5 a.m. practices might rouse the Nebraska men’s basketball team for whatever slumber it fell into with a 81-68 loss to Colorado on Wednesday’s Senior Night.

By the time the Cornhuskers appeared to take that lesson to heart in a 74-55 loss to the faster, bigger and NCAA Tourney-bound Oklahoma State Saturday, they were buried under a 28-point deficit and a crowd of unsightly orange pleading with OSU star James Anderson to return for one more season.

“We’re a vulnerable basketball team,” Sadler said on his postgame radio show.

Record-setting, too. NU will finish with a school-worst 14 conference losses. The basement of the Big 12, for the second time in the league’s existence - in the fourth year of Sadler’s tenure.

“We’re 2-14. They’re frustrated, and they don’t have a lot of confidence,” Sadler said.

It only got worse when senior leading-scorer Ryan Anderson sat out the game with a ankle injury. Sadler played 11 guys in the first half, in which the Cowboys (21-9 overall and 9-7 in the Big 12) used a 22-2 run to bust open a tight game and race to a 38-19 halftime lead. OSU hit 9-of-15 3-point attempts in the first half.

Nebraska turned the ball over 14 times in the first half in all manners of ugliness.

Meanwhile, Anderson - a junior who is expected to declare for the NBA Draft - thrilled the 12,018 fans at Gallagher-Iba Arena with a variety of steals, jumpers, jams, pirouettes, leaps and other things great players might do in a game that more resembled an exhibition than the tight-fisted, overtime war these two teams waged in Lincoln last year. Anderson scored 25 points.

Oklahoma Stated quickly padded its halftime lead to 53-25 in the first four minutes of the second half. From there, OSU hit the cruise control and proceeded to launch long 3-pointers, connecting on just 1 of 14 attempts, while NU guard Brandon Richardson (16 points) and Christian Standhardinger (14 points) toiled at keeping the game respectable. NU succeeded in this, scoring 30 points over the game’s final 15 minutes to Oklahoma State’s 21.

At 14-17 overall, Nebraska will try to pin a happy face on a disastrous season with an improbable run in the Big 12 Tournament at Kansas City's Sprint Center. As the No. 12 seed, the Huskers will first face fifth-seeded Missouri on Wednesday at 2 p.m. Win there, and it’s a date with No. 4 seed Texas A&M on Thursday.

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Attendance is down. Excitement is down. Performance is way down. Belief? Not right now.

The Nebraska men’s basketball team has reached a dip in the road. One of those country roads on a spring morning, in fact. The fog has settled in like smoke. Never mind the answer - you don’t even know which question gets you out of 0-10 against the Big 12 North.

Is it talent? Is it recruiting? Is it work ethic? Is it a practice facility? Is it a new arena? Is it luck? Is it the Big 12? Is it the fans? Is it the ghost of Barry Collier? Is it Doc Sadler? Is it simply the rotten birthright of this university?

An 81-68 loss to Colorado was unusually sobering. Nebraska looked slow and tired. The crowd at the Bob Devaney Sports Center was so quiet you could hear senior Ben Nelson clapping on the bench. The Red Zone student section - which didn’t bother to show up Saturday - launched half-hearted chants at the red-hot Buffaloes and insulted Sek Henry with rude signs on Senior Night.

I’ve argued for Sadler getting another year. Still think he should, because three solid years trumps one awful year. I've watched him outcoach just about every bench guy in the Big 12 not named Bill Self. But with each loss, he’s making a miracle turnaround in the fifth year of his tenure harder to envision.

Sadler said Tuesday night he plans to “roll up our sleeves” and “work hard” with 5 a.m. practices. “Soft” doesn’t work for Sadler. Which is fine. Good. Doc’s intense. His team should be, too.

But the Huskers do work hard most nights. They often have to work too hard, especially on offense. They’re not athletic enough. Most of them can’t - or won’t - consistently create their own shots. The ones who can - like Brandon Richardson - are so locked in to playing team ball they pass up open shots in search of perfect ones. And even when NU alights on something that works, it flits away to another strategy.

Colorado didn’t have a single post player who could or would cover center Brian Diaz Tuesday night. Through 25 minutes of play, Diaz hit 7 of 12 shots and had scored 15 points, including six in a row.

He took his last shot of the game with 14 minutes left. He played a total of 19 minutes. As CU went on a game-deciding 12-0 run in the second half, Nebraska ignored Diaz, shooting five straight outside jumpers. Seniors Ryan Anderson and Sek Henry took four of those jumpers. Game over.

That’s been happening to different players, in different stretches of games, throughout the Big 12 Conference schedule. Sadler tailors his lineups and schemes to opponent and situation, but he appears to do it to such an degree that it’s unclear to whose wagon he’d like to hitch the team. The offense has to revolve around someone, right? Is it Diaz? Is it Richardson? Is it Christian Standhardinger?

A better offense will inform a more spirited defense. You win with defense, but if you can’t score - or, worse, if you have no clear idea who will try to score - defense becomes a chore. Especially when, in search of offense, you’re also using a whole bunch of defensive combinations that may not work.

It’s not an issue of potential, though. Richardson, Diaz, Standhardinger. Folks, that’s not a bad trio of potential scorers. Throw Toney McCray in the mix next year, too. But they have to play. They have to burn off the mistakes and make corrections that only come with playing time.

Repeat: Enough talent is here for an NCAA Tournament berth next year.

Some in the media will tell you there isn’t, and they’ll trace Sadler’s recruiting troubles back to a bad admissions team at UNL that bungled a few situations, to the absence of a practice facility and an arena, or in one online chat, to the fan base expecting the basketball coach to have too much integrity in hiring assistant coaches. (The Osborne Effect! Ga!)

They’ll rely on the “birthright” argument, in other words. Or they’ll point to Barry Collier and put the woes on the doorstep he abandoned four years ago. There is a plague on the Husker house that only $364 millon - roughly the combined cost of a practice facility and arena - can truly solve. Why else are Husker fans bombarded with stickers and videos inside the Devaney Center to vote for the new arena?

Context is, yes, crucial. Nebraska basketball is no blooming rose. Sadler’s jumped through some hoops and over some hurdles. That’s part of why he deserves another season.

But Sadler’s recruiting - and subsequent handling of those recruits - invites its own criticism. He gets piecemeal results, which leaves him impatient and shuffling lineups. Then they leave and never become all-around players. He hasn’t taken a chance on a Nebraska kid but he’ll throw a scholarship at a stick of balsa wood like Adrien Coleman, who lasted all of three months.

Sadler’s two primary feeding grounds, in four years, are prep schools and junior colleges. Myles Holley hails from what amounts to a basketball factory unattached to any college. You’ll hit on those players as often as you miss. Is the newest commit, Caleb Walker of Butler (Kan.) Community College a hit or a miss?He fits the Sadler mold, but he'll have to hit the ground running, too.

Some teams can afford a oft-revolving door. Nebraska can’t. Not right now. NU’s chemistry next year depends on keeping the young core talent from this year and carrying it through the summer. If the Huskers are once again adding four or five new pieces to the team - and, once again, none of those guys are willing to redshirt - 20 wins becomes quite the challenge.

However hard Sadler rides some of those Huskers in the 5 a.m. practice - he has to work that hard to keep them on track and in the program.

Doc’s on the clock, and I think there’s one year left in it, even though his contract runs longer than that. He needs to make the next 365 days about building a successful sum.

The best way to get lost in the fog is to keep switching directions. You can work hard - and still walk in circles. Nebraska basketball has done that long enough.

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It was Doc Sadler’s first press conference as Nebraska’s new basketball coach, and he kept fielding questions from a kid in the crowd.

Wow, Sadler thought, who’s this guy?

One of his incoming freshman, actually - Ryan Anderson.

“That was kind of - unique,” Sadler said Monday. “But being around him for four years, that’s the kind of person he is.”

For Anderson - one of four seniors to be honored in NU’s final home game of the regular season Tuesday night vs. Colorado - building the foundation of the Sadler era has been “a crazy ride.” Grinning, Anderson means it as a good thing.

He played nearly every position on the floor except point guard. He joined Erick Strickland as the only Husker to notch 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 150 3-pointers, 150 steals and 150 assist in his career. He’s packed on weight to throw down in the paint. He’s lost it to get quicker on the perimeter. He’s rediscovered his high-arcing 3-point shot in the last month.

Anderson even met his wife, the former Danielle Smith, when she was a member of the NU track team.

“A lot of stuff happened, man, but all along it was a great opportunity,” Anderson said.

Anderson and Sek Henry - along with Ben Nelson and Chris Balham - comprise the first four-year class of Sadler players.

While a Barry Collier recruit, Anderson never played a second for him. Nelson played club rugby at NU for a year - he was good at it, too - before switching his attention to basketball. Balham played for three years before chronic knee pain forced him to become a student coach.

Henry, meanwhile, was Sadler’s first recruit in August 2006 out of the Patterson School in North Carolina.

“For him to have the confidence in me to come to Nebraska, you’re always going to be appreciative of that,” Sadler said.

Henry’s never missed a game at NU. He’s played in 124 straight, 95 of them starts. The left-hander from Los Angeles struggled with confidence during this season - “I take things too hard on myself,” Henry said - but busted out of a slump with a career-high 21 points in the 83-79 double-overtime win over Texas Tech.

His mother Juanita - who doesn’t like to fly - will take in her first Husker home game of Henry’s career Tuesday along with Henry’s cousin, who made it to Lincoln despite her plane being struck by lightning.

“I’m going to try not to get emotional,” Henry said. He’d rather be focused, he said, on delivering a win in the 7:05 p.m. game.

Anderson’s parents and in-laws will be on hand for his final home game, unless NU, 14-15 sneaks into a postseason tournament like the NIT or CBI with a healthy winning streak at the end of the season.

Henry hasn’t lost hope of that. The screensaver on his cell phone is a picture he took of the Big 12 trophy while in Kansas City for media days. A conference tournament title remains the goal.

“I’ve been frustrated, but I never doubt we can win,” Henry said.

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You didn’t think it was going to be easy, did you?

In a game packed with runs, blunders and big shots for both men’s basketball teams, Nebraska finally clubbed Texas Tech 83-79 in double-overtime Saturday in the longest game of Doc Sadler era.

“Relieved,” was Sadler’s first word on his postgame radio show. NU won its second Big 12 game in a long conference season. Senior guard Sek Henry, in an offensive slumber for most of the Big 12 season, finally broke out of it, scoring 12 points in the extra frames, and career-high 21 overall.

“You’re so happy for Sek Henry,” he said. “He’s a senior, he’s frustrated, probably hasn’t gone the way he’s wanted it to go with the wins and losses. Probably hasn’t shot it as well as he’d life. But tonight? He’s an example of somebody who just comes every day and stays the course. You make your own luck.”

After a month’s worth of gut-punch losses to Baylor, Kansas State and Iowa State, NU (14-15 overall and 2-12 in the league) rode the roller coaster again.

Tech ripped off a 17-0 run in the first half en route to a 34-26 halftime lead. NU then overcame a 12-point second-half deficit with a 22-2 run that gave the Cornhuskers their biggest lead of the game, 55-47, with 6:27 remaining. Freshman Brandon Ubel - who finished with a career-high 14 points - hit a 3-pointer with 4:34 left for a 60-52 advantage.

Nebraska didn’t hit another basket in regulation. Tech tied the game at 60 with three straight jumpers before Henry hit two free throws with 42 seconds left for a 62-60 lead. Tech answered 12 seconds later with a basket, and, on NU’s final possession, guard Brandon Richardson’s fadeaway jumper fell short.

The Red Raiders (16-12 and 4-10) quickly grabbed a 69-64 lead in overtime, but Ubel’s 3-point play with 2:24 left cut the lead to two. Henry then drained a 3-pointer with 1:39 left for a 70-69 lead. Tech point guard John Roberson hit two free throws to recapture the advantage. Then NU point guard Lance Jeter hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie it. Roberson, much like Richardson, missed a fadeaway baseline jumper at the buzzer of the first overtime.

In the second OT, Henry scored seven straight points as Nebraska captured a five-point lead of its own at 78-73. Tech didn’t recover as Jeter iced the game with three free throws.

Neither team shot the ball well, and Nebraska made just 34.8 percent of its shots. Nebraska grabbed 52 rebounds, however, including 18 offensive boards. Senior Ryan Anderson finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and two steals. Tech was led by guard Nick Okorie, who scored 28 on 6-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. The Red Raiders’ best scorer, Michael Singletary, finished with just eight points.

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It’s little secret that, regardless of how the Nebraska men’s basketball team ends its 2010 season, head coach Doc Sadler is returning for a fifth year.

Sadler acknowledged the “total support” of athletic director Tom Osborne Monday on the Big 12 Coaches Teleconference.

"Coach Osborne and the administration have been tremendous," Sadler said. “But I can be the first to tell you that I’m sure Coach Osborne isn't happy either, and I understand why he shouldn't be."

NU currently occupies the cellar of the Big 12 at 1-11, although Wednesday’s game at Iowa State affords the Huskers the opportunity to get one leg out of it. Nebraska has led more than half of those games at some point, but failed to close Iowa State and Baylor at home and Kansas State on the road.

"The fact of the matter is we've got a job to do and we've got to get it done,” Sadler said. "That would ease everybody's mind, and I understand that and I accept that responsibility. Nebraska has paid me to win basketball games and run a basketball program here.”

Sadler said NU is heading in “the right direction.”

Osborne, speaking on Huskers.com last week, agreed and called the future “reasonably bright.”

“It’s a group with talent, they play hard, they give good effort,” Osborne said. “I don’t think there’s been any dissension internally…I have great confidence in (Doc). We’ll try to finish this year up the best we can and look forward to next year.”

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Six takes after your morning shower, shave and, well, you know…

*The most important Husker rolling into spring football? Who is it for you? I’ve been asked this via email and personal chats. My answer may surprise you: Niles Paul. Nebraska’s senior receiver is one of the best offensive playmakers, a local kid and a natural, driven leader. He also turned into a pretty dangerous punt and a kickoff returner toward the end of the 2009 season.

When NU’s offense got stuck in permanent mud during the last half of the season, the plan became:

1. Plunge into the line.
2. Modest playaction pass.
3. Bomb to Niles.

Paul is the team’s best perimeter blocker too, so you have a guy ingrained into Huskers’ offense, plus a respected voice in the locker room. With reduced leadership at quarterback, a beaten-up offensive line and running back Roy Helu skittish with the media, Paul will be one of the team’s spokesmen. It‘s notable that, after gaffes vs. Texas Tech and Iowa State, Paul did not duck the media. Nor did he dodge questions - or teammates - after his cop stop last spring.

Until the last half of last season, Paul hadn’t necessarily fulfilled his considerable potential. But he made clutch plays vs. Kansas and Colorado - you could argue he won both games - and his punt return in the Big 12 Championship should have set up NU’s game-winning touchdown.

*Spring football is now officially Cody Green’s proving ground, now that offensive coordinator Shawn Watson decalred senior-to-be Zac Lee out for this spring.

Watson spoke at length to the Omaha World-Herald’s Tom Shatel in an interview, mostly about last season, a bit about what’s to come. Watson artfully dodged a majority of the questions - he’s good at it - but 2009 is over, there is no use in hashing it out again, and 2010 will be the OC’s proving ground.

But, crucially, Watson said Lee “won't be there at all” for spring football.

“He'll get back in the mix later,” Watson said.

That means Green gets his shot. He couldn’t handle the “emotions” of the Oklahoma game last year, Watson said - and Green looked bug-eyed and confused in the Holiday Bowl, too.

Watson and Co. have two years invested in Green. The OC doesn’t bring his entire offensive coaching staff to Green’s high school state title game otherwise. Green doesn’t enroll early otherwise. Green doesn’t hustle back from a minor groin injury to play last spring otherwise.

I don’t blame them - the size, the speed and the personality all scream: Prototypical QB. But in that second spring, you either make the leap or risk getting leapt over. In this case, those frogs would presumably be Kody Spano and Taylor Martinez.

Jury’s out on what Spano can do - he has to play with two previously-torn ACLs, for one thing - but Martinez…here’s a guy who spent most of last fall as a scout team receiver and scout team Wildcat QB. The regular scout team QB most weeks was walk-on Ron Kellogg.

Said it before, and here it is again: That a kid who has been given, to this point, a token chance at quarterback is in the running for the No. 2 or No. 1 job speaks volumes about the state of the position and the direction of the offense.

*Through three losses to Fresno State, Nebraska baseball has twice handed a two-run lead to closer Mike Nesseth in the ninth inning, and he has twice blown that lead. Both a 7-5 loss on Friday and the 10-9 loss on Sunday stung badly, but yesterday’s heartbreaker was compounded by two wild pitches by reliever Chase Adams, one of which served as the Bulldogs’ winning run.

It’s early, but pitching remains the issue. Casey Hauptmann and Jordan Roualdes appear to be on track as the season begins. We’ll see about Sean Yost, who recovered from a shaky start on Friday. Everybody else?

Let’s be blunt: NU could easily start 1-9 or 2-8. That’s a big hill to climb.

*A huge loss by Notre Dame over the weekend (to Georgetown) puts Nebraska’s women’s basketball team in even-better position for a No. 1 seed now. Get past Oklahoma, and there’s just no stopping NU from a regional date in Kansas City. And if Huskers draw a more beatable No. 2 seed - say, overrated Xavier - than all the better.

Should the Huskers lose to OU, but still win the Big 12 Tournament, that top seed is still in the bag. Lose to the Sooners and in the Big 12 Tourney, and NU may need a little more help from the Irish.

Whatever gets Nebraska to Kansas City. If the Huskers land there - regardless of the seed - NU volleyball fans will get a run for their money.

*No matter how the season ends for the Nebraska men’s basketball team, it’s going to be one bear of an offseason for the returning Huskers under head coach Doc Sadler. This team will work, I know that. And weight training will be a priority.

The inconsistency has to be maddening, and I think it’s a combination of lacking attitude, confidence and toughness and just plain speed, man. NU has to get faster in the offseason. And stronger. How does NU keep brawling away at Kansas State Wednesday night, then seemingly back down at home vs. Missouri on Saturday? The Tigers, who are just slightly more talented than the Huskers - certainly not to the tune of 17 and 15 points in two games - just played harder and hit tough shots. Period.

Know this: Sadler won’t sit still after a year like this.

*A few words about Tiger Woods’ statement and apology on Friday:

It appears clear now that Woods had, to brilliant on-course success, compartmentalized his life into various spheres of golf, family, modern-day brothel, ad image, foundation guy, etc. He wasn’t leading a double life, but several lives. He lived them well, in part, because mankind is generally stupid, and we allow a wider berth to rich, successful people. I got a lotta money to make here, so let me carve out time for the GFE! Mankind does so to their general detriment, as it often turns out, for the sake of our own self-satisfied sycophancy but, you know, back to the point.

When two of those many spheres collide, it can have a startling effect. Woods’ game began to decline after his rehab and return from amazing win at the 2008 U.S. Open, and, it seems clear now, the demands of the harem, or whatever you’d like to call the legion of his emotionally-kept women, were beginning to bleed into other areas of his life. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner, but I suspect he had friends making sure it didn’t. More than the few who have already been implicated as enablers.

Now. Erase all those enablers and replace them with people who insist the walls are part of the disease - which they probably are - and demand they stay down. That’s a vulnerable state for an elite athlete. Imagine somebody in Woods’ life expressing concern over thrown clubs and muttered curses. To make oneself whole, see, you have to break down every little part. But if one of those parts was the key to Woods’ success on the golf course?

There are advantages to being whole. It’s the real thing, for one. You don’t become an emotional Darth Vader. It also prevents you from becoming the miserable sourpuss Michael Jordan turned out to be, for two. But maybe you lose the “part” you liked the most in the process. You have to rebuild it as part of the whole. Like Woods rebuilds his swing.

Let’s see how he does with his wife and addiction support system tracing his every step. For a man of supreme control to suddenly give it to someone else? Try jumping without a net.

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The wildest, strangest loss in the Nebraska men’s basketball season still ended as too many losses this year have: Valiant effort. Errant execution in the final minute. And more tough luck.

In a 91-87 heartbreaker, NU twice stunned No. 7 Kansas State with ten and nine-point leads, but saved its biggest surprise for the final three minutes, when it overcame a ten-point deficit by hitting six straight 3-pointers. The last two - both by senior forward Ryan Anderson - came after consecutive K-State turnovers, and tied the game at 87 with 32 seconds left.

Then, just eight seconds later, point guard Lance Jeter - who finished with 12 points and 12 assists - committed a foul near midcourt on the Wildcats’ Chris Merriewether, who drained both free throws. Worse - Jeter had fouled out, leaving the Cornhuskers with no point guard for the game’s final play.

“You want to make sure they make a tough shot,” head coach Doc Sadler said. “You don’t want to put them in a situation where you foul them.”

Sadler had exhausted his timeouts, so he couldn’t set up a play. Senior Sek Henry lost the ball on a drive to the hoop and true freshman Ray Gallegos, after grabbing the loose ball, turned down a 3-point shot. Instead, he threw a crosscourt pass to guard Eshaunte Jones that was stolen by KSU’s Jacob Pullen, who passed to guard Denis Clemente for an uncontested layup.

The Wildcats enjoying their highest ranking since 1962, exhaled as they left the court. Now 13-13 overall and 1-10 in the Big 12, the Huskers did, too - for a different reason.

“This seems to be what’s happening,” Sadler said. “Our guys are playing as hard as they can play.”

Wednesday night, in front of 12,258 at Bramlage Coliseum, they finally hit some shots, too - 58 percent from the floor, and 14-21 from the 3-point line. Anderson hit five treys. Jones hit three. Gallegos swished two. Jeter consistently pushed the ball, creating fouls and free throw opportunities.

Nebraska took leads of 29-19 and 51-42, respectively, rebuffing the Wildcats’ size and athleticism with floaters, runners, set jumpers and even two bank shots from Anderson.

“Offensively, it’s probably as good as we’ve played in awhile,” Sadler said.

Said Pullen: "We played bad defense. It was atrocious. I think that was the worst defense we played all year.”

But Kansas State (21-4 and 8-3) played strong enough defense to crawl out of two holes, force 20 NU turnovers, and score 29 points off of them. The Wildcats, the worst free throw shooting team in the Big 12, made 32 of 40 - 14 in a row to end the game - to just 17 of 23 for the Huskers. Clemente hit four of his trademark rainbow 3-pointers, and Dominique Sutton - KSU’s fifth-leading scorer - finished with 21 points and nine rebounds.

By game’s end, the called fouls were skewed because of Nebraska’s endgame strategy, but Sadler picked up a technical midway through the second half for arguing with officials.

Nebraska competed gamely on the boards (losing 29-28) while using what amounted to a four-guard lineup. But Anderson said NU gave up too many offensive rebounds - 12 - several of which played key roles in KSU’s 17-0 second-half run.

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Tom Osborne isn’t going to fire Doc Sadler after this season. So just flush that wish from your mind, even after Nebraska's 91-51 skunking at Texas.

For one thing, he’s Tom Osborne.

For another, it’s not prudent.

Why? Because Nebraska can’t afford to blow up its program for the third time in ten years. Not on the basis of (potentially) a single losing season. Not with Missouri, Kansas State and, yes, apparently Colorado finding its footing. Let Iowa State do that. Osborne has to see the Sadler era through to a logical end.

And that’s two years with this current bunch of newcomers. Yes, I know, a broken record. But we’ll keep the needle to the vinyl here, as NU appears to be headed for a fairly awful end to the 2010 season, which rightly draws the disgruntled out of the dark broth of cyberspace.

Sadler hasn’t done his best work this year. The Big 12 has generally lived up to its billing as college basketball‘s best league, true, but NU’s botched two wins at home - Baylor and Iowa State - on poor execution and mismanagement. The Huskers were inexplicably ill-prepared at the outset of the CU game in Boulder. Any fan with a roundball pulse foresaw a loss in Austin. But not a 40-point meltdown.

The defense - NU is ninth in steals and field goal percentage defense during Big 12 play - hasn’t been up to Sadler’s usual standard. The offense, unfortunately, has. More dry spells. NU isn’t great in the half court, and, as the disastrous performance at Texas proved, not great pushing the issue, either. The Huskers don’t get to the line with any frequency, and they’re not great - 67 percent as a team - when they do.

But what do you gain by turning the heat to broil now? The Huskers are blissfully young, and not quite talented enough to just take over like Texas’ bunch. The practice facility is two years away. The arena deal goes to the voters May 11. Sadler has earned respect in the coaching community for doing more with less - especially last season - and even the suggestion of sacking him now puts the Huskers on a lot of coaches’ no-fly list.

There isn’t a single advantage to putting Sadler on the hot seat this year - other than satisfying some urge most Husker fans haven’t earned the right to have. Change for the sake of it is the second-worst kind, right behind changing for the sake of money. And right now, an honest follower of NU basketball can’t legitimately contend Sadler’s failed. He hasn’t consistently succeeded. But he hasn’t failed.

Ask Iowa State, on its fourth coach in 15 years. ISU felt it had no choice in forcing Larry Eustachy to resign after his one-night stand with a case of Natty Light and some Missouri co-eds, and no choice, three years later, in firing Wayne Morgan for his connection to a murky (and unfruitful) recruiting/scheduling scam.

Now onto Greg McDermott, a Missouri Valley guy out of his depth when it comes to recruiting Big 12 talent, the Cyclones are learning, after three decades of reasonable success, the pain of turnover, necessary or otherwise.

If NU were to dump a coach whose first three years were better than any in Husker history, it’d be a plague on the house smokers built. The Huskers rise out of this muck next year and qualify for the NCAA Tournament in a weakened Big 12 Conference, or they fall on their collective sword. Either way - that’s the time.

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Nebraska served as a tonic for the recent woes of Texas’ 14th-ranked basketball team. Texas served as a reminder of what NU is not in the toughest of head coach Doc Sadler’s four seasons: Loaded with size, talent and scoring options.

Where the Cornhuskers go from here, after a humiliating 91-51 loss to the Longhorns, may be the toughest challenge of Sadler’s NU career.

UT, resembling more that No. 1 ranking it briefly earned than a team that had lost 5 of its last 7, jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening two minutes, then iced NU (13-12 overall and 1-9 in the Big 12) with a 20-0 run late in the first half. Texas (20-5 and 6-4) led 53-26 at halftime, stretched that pad to 73-36, and coasted into the finish line by emptying its bench.

“It was men playing with boys,” Sadler said on his postgame radio show. “They just took it right at us. I’m not saying we weren’t prepared, they were just that much better than we were.”

The Longhorns offered the shorter, less talented Huskers a seemingly easy choice: Defend the post of Dexter Pittman and Damion James with double teams and quick collapses, or rotate out on UT’s streaky freshman shooters at the 3-point line.

Sadler chose, as he often does, to defend the post. Problem: Those freshman shooters - particularly Avery Bradley - hit 11-of-23 3-pointers. Bradley hit his first six. J’Covan Brown and Jordan Hamilton - also freshmen - hit the other five. Bradley scored 25 and the trio combined for 53 - two more than NU’s entire team.

“When they hit 11 3s, and you’ve got to guard their perimeter as well as their inside, it’s a difficult matchup, especially for us,” Sadler said. “They’re so much bigger than we are.”

When Nebraska tried to defend those shooters, it was left exposed on the boards. UT outrebounded NU 49-27, with 14 offensive rebounds.

The Huskers’ offense, meanwhile, was nightmarish. Impatient, and full of rushed, contested shots. During the last five minutes of the half, NU missed seven shots, three free throws and committed three turnovers. Texas outscored Nebraska 22-4 in that stretch.

For the game, Nebraska hit a miserable 28 percent of its shots, and only 2 of 18 from the 3-point line. Guards Sek Henry, Ryan Anderson and Lance Jeter combined to finish 5-of-24 overall and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.

“You gotta hit shots,” Sadler said. “We didn’t get a lot of great looks.”

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With 78 seconds remaining in its 55-53 loss to No. 24 Baylor Wednesday night, Nebraska’s basketball team had the ball and a 53-52 lead.

What the Cornhuskers never had again was a good look in three possessions. NU settled for three long, contested jumpers, while the Bears got a hook shot from center Ekpe Udoh, a free throw from forward Quincy Acy and a key win in its surprising bid for the NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska went home with its eighth Big 12 losses in nine tries despite controlling the pace in front of 6,500 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, forcing 12 turnovers and holding Baylor 22 points under its season average. That’s what happens when NU’s two senior starters - guards Sek Henry and Ryan Anderson - combine for zero points, and when the Huskers hit just 31 percent of their shots.

The most damning evidence, however, were those final three possessions, when it appeared Nebraska played passively and without organization, having burned up all of its timeouts.

“We had three different things called and we just broke down on all of them,” head coach Doc Sadler said. I didn’t have any timeouts; we had three special plays called and we had plenty of time. And we just didn’t execute.”

On the first possession, starting with 1:18 left, point guard Lance Jeter whittled down the shot clock before launching a 23-footer at the top of the key. It was long, Baylor rebounded, and the Bears scored with 26 seconds left on Udoh’s soft hook in the paint over Jorge Brian Diaz.

Possession two: Jeter hustled down the court, dribbled to his left and passed to guard Brandon Richardson, who took an even longer 3-pointer from the wing. It missed, Acy rebounded with 12 seconds left, was fouled with 9.3 seconds, and hit a free throw.

The final possession: A disaster. Jeter dribbled to his left, got trapped, tried to pass out of it, and threw up a desperation shot that was blocked by Acy at the buzzer.

“(Doc) called plays and the five guys on the floor, we just didn’t execute,” Richardson said. “It is what it is. Just the last three possessions…it was kind of tough to hear what he was saying, but we heard him. We didn’t execute.”

For most of the game, the Huskers (13-11 overall, 1-8 in the Big 12) followed the script to beating Baylor. After a quick start, the Bears’ transition game was shut down. They took bad shots early in their possessions, making just 3 of 14 3-pointers. For the night, BU (18-5 and 5-4) had just six assists - three of them from Udoh - a testament to NU’s ability to deny passing lanes.

If only the Huskers had knocked down some of their open 3-pointers. NU made just 4 of 21.

Sadler was irked by Baylor making more free throws (20 of 25 from the charity stripe) than NU attempted (13 of 16).

“Not tough enough,” Sadler said as to why NU isn‘t reaching the foul line. “Gotta be a lot tougher. Because we’re getting it inside.”

Freshman Myles Holley led NU with 11 surprising points, two of them off a highlight baseline dunk. Holley played 25 minutes against Baylor’s zone defense after not playing at all at Kansas.

“He‘s just active,” Sadler said. “He plays hard.”

Richardson and Eshaunte Jones chipped in 10 points. Jeter missed 5 of 6 3-point attempts, but he finished with six rebounds and three assists. Baylor was led by guard LaceDarius Dunn scored 19 and grabbed 7 rebounds, while Udoh scored eight points and blocked six shots. Udoh also drew fouls on Anderson, who fouled out of the game with just over two minutes remaining.

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There was another 10-minute stretch in Kansas basketball’s 75-65 win over Nebraska where KU showed why it’s KU - and NU showed why it isn’t.

The top-ranked Jayhawks’ spectacular 28-5 run midway through the second half flipped a 43-39 deficit into a 67-48 lead faster than one of those home design shows redecorates a shabby living room.

“The light came on,” said Kansas coach Bill Self. “We played about as well as we’ve played all year long for those ten minutes.”

And so a 56th straight home win for KU. And 24 out of 25 against Nebraska.

But those other 30 minutes in front of a packed house at Allen Fieldhouse may have comprised the Cornhuskers’ best basketball of the season. And it may have provided Nebraska (13-10 overall and 1-7 in the Big 12 Conference) with some needed momentum as it heads into the easier half of its league schedule.

“The effort was the best that we can do,” head coach Doc Sadler said. “We made some shots.”

That they did, shooting 43 percent overall and hitting 10 of 17 3-point attempts. Two consecutive treys early in the second half by guards Sek Henry and Ryan Anderson gave NU a 41-39 advantage. Center Brian Diaz - who led all scorers with 20 points - padded the lead to four on a layup. Self, furious, called a timeout. Sadler even flashed a brief smile at finding his young Huskers in the thick of the Phog - and thriving.

On the next possession, KU's All-American candidate, guard Sherron Collins, swished a 3-pointer.

“Which great players do,” Sadler said.

Then center Cole Aldrich scored six straight on two baskets and two free throws. Kansas drew fouls. Nebraska did not. KU also grabbed several key offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive. The Huskers were limited to one-and-done trips. They went nearly seven minutes without a basket.

“That is why they are where they are at and that is why we are where we are at,” Sadler said. “I challenged our team that until we start making the plays that are the 50-50 plays, then we are going to struggle.”

In the opening half, Nebraska, behind Diaz and a spirited Christian Standhardinger off the bench, had won those battles. Self even drew a technical when his star freshman, Xavier Henry, bled from his eyebrow, the victim of an unseen elbow.

KU (22-1, 8-0) led 37-33 at halftime, but had been knocked on its heels by NU’s aggression. When the Huskers took that four-point lead with 16 minutes remaining in the second half, the Jayhawks looked ripe for the upset they escaped Wednesday in an overtime win at Colorado.

But Nebraska’s assertiveness waned as KU turned up the heat. Diaz continued to get his points - he also finished with nine rebounds - but guards Brandon Richardson and Eshaunte Jones combined for one point in 37 minutes of play. Jones, who scored 12 in the first meeting with Kansas, has scored just 11 in the last six games.

Kansas was led by Marcus Morris, who scored 20 and had 11 rebounds, Collins, who scored 17, and Aldrich, who sat with foul trouble in the first half but finished with 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks.

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If there was a mistake to commit during its 76-57 loss to No. 10 Kansas State Tuesday night, Nebraska’s basketball team made a list and checked it twice.

Contested jumpers just seconds in the shot clock. Fouls at midcourt. Bricks at the charity stripe. Wild, fruitless careens into the lane. Fifteen turnovers of all varieties. A technical foul. A shot that hit the top of the backboard, and one that got lodged in the rim. Seven missed layups in the first half. And what head coach Doc Sadler called “selfish, selfish” defense.

Naturally, the lack of defensive held irked Sadler the most.

“I’ve not seen that basketball team,” he said of NU afterward. “This basketball team that I just spoke to (after the game), I didn’t recognize it because that’s not us. We have been a tremendous team defensively, but they made us make mistakes that are as basic as it gets.”

In sum: NU (13-9 overall, 1-6 in the Big 12 Conference) guarded too closely guys who couldn’t shoot, and let shooters Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente get far too many open looks. The pair hit 7 of 17 3-point attempts between them. Clemente swept around elaborate double screens to hit crucial treys and finish with 23 points overall. Pullen scored 13.

When the duo missed, the Wildcats’ frontcourt swooped in for offensive rebounds, putbacks and dunks that left Sadler remarking about KSU’s strength and athleticism - and Nebraska’s lack thereof.

“I mentioned the strength to our coaching staff after the game,” Sadler said. “We have to do something to have guys look like that. We’ve committed to four days a week in the weight room and we’re not even close to guys like that. Maybe it’s because we’re young. I don’t know.”

Personnel aside, the Huskers, in front of 8,231 fans at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, had their chances early and didn’t take advantage of them. In the game’s opening four minutes, Brandon Ubel botched a dunk. Brandon Richardson missed a layup. Brian Diaz did, too. Point guard Lance Jeter picked up his second foul at midcourt at the 16-minute mark, and sat on the bench for much of the first half. His replacement, Sek Henry, struggled against the Wildcats’ physicality. Once, when trapped near the sideline, Henry simply lowered his shoulder into Pullen, drawing an offensive foul.

Kansas State (18-4 and 5-3) led 42-28 at halftime, with Sadler fuming over the points allowed.

“We were out there trying to guard them and pressure them,” Sadler said. “One of the things they can do well is drive to the basket. We didn’t take charges on anybody.”

NU opened the second half with a 7-0 run thanks to five quick points from Jeter.

“I know it was frustrating those first two minutes of the second half, but they came into the huddle and they policed themselves,” Kansas State coach Frank Martin said.

Indeed. The Wildcats responded with an 11-3 run punctuated by three of Clemente’s five treys, right in a row, in the span of a minute, pretty as punch. KSU led 53-37. NU never closed the gap inside 12 points again.

“I pressure the heck out of Denis to attack every single time we can,” Martin said. “That’s what I like. I don’t like walking it up and making 957 passes to get a shot.”

Clemente had hit just 8 of his last 29 3-point attempts heading into Lincoln. Tuesday, he nailed 5 of 9.

It was that kind of night for Nebraska. That kind of Big 12 season.

“I was outcoached and we were outplayed,” Sadler said during his postgame radio show. “In every area.”

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Nebraska basketball forward Ryan Anderson doesn’t have a score prediction for the Cornhuskers’ Tuesday night tilt with No. 10 Kansas State.

But he does know how the 7:05 p.m. game with the Wildcats will look.

“A lot of diving on the floor,” Anderson said. “A lot of hard fouls. It’s going to be a physical game.”

NU and KSU have split their last eight meetings, and wouldn’t have it any other way. Though not mirror images of one another, each team holds fast to similar principles. Defense first. Aggression always. Cats’ third-year coach Frank Martin probably blows his top better than anyone in the Big 12. Nebraska’s Doc Sadler isn’t far behind.

The difference between the two teams in 2010?

“They have more depth with their bigs,” Anderson said.

KSU is among the deepest frontcourts in the nation, with five forwards - Jamar Samuels, Curtis Kelly, Luis Colon, Wally Judge, and Dominque Sutton - taller than 6-foot-5 and averaging double-digit minutes. And that’s not counting seven-foot freshman Jordan Henriquez-Roberts. Samuels and Kelly, the latter a transfer from Connecticut, are creative scorers to boot.

Coupled with two free-shooting perimeter guards in Jacob Pullen and Denis Clemente, Kansas State, at 17-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12, is a formidable test.

“Frank has done an unbelievable job of getting guys to understand what they need to do to have a good team, and they’ve bought into it,” Sadler said. “That’s why they’ve been ranked in the top ten.”

Not that Nebraska (13-8 and 1-5) heads into Tuesday without confidence after it finally notched its first league win Saturday over Oklahoma. Sadler said he saw the Huskers’ aggression back, and that translated into 30 points in the paint and offensive rebounds. Even mild-mannered center Brian Diaz stuffed a putback dunk to stave off a Sooner rally. That earned Diaz, Anderson joked, some rolls he particularly craves.

“He has a favorite food,” Anderson said. “(Teammate) Ben Nelson’s mom makes these rolls; he loves them. I said, ‘I’ll give you all the rolls if you dunk.’ He’s just realizing how good he is. Even as a freshman, he’s really good. High IQ. He can be more vocal but that stuff comes when you get more experience.”

Sadler carried Anderson’s take on Diaz over to the entire group of five freshmen and two newcomers who regularly contribute for NU.

“Consistency is just continuing to do it and do it and do it,” Sadler said. “…Guys understanding, ‘This is the standard, and you’re going to be held to this standard.’ And they do it day in and day out.”

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Six strong takes as we hunker down for football Christmas, also known as Signing Day:

*The annual debate over whether college football should adopt an early signing period - be it in June or August or even during the season - generally has me torn and trying to devise a “perfect” rule.

But I’ve decided I’m against it. Here’s why:

1. The rich only get richer. Texas, Florida, Alabama and USC would basically use an early period to strong-arm the majority of “can’t miss” prospects into accepting “now or never” offers before many of these players even get to visit their full allotment of five schools, and drink in the game day experience.

2. Teams like Nebraska would have to resort to guessing on players. And that’s not a good thing. Look: In many of the nation’s best high school programs, kids aren’t starting until their junior season, and they don’t necessarily round into shape until their senior campaign. An early signing period basically negates a player’s senior year. If guys regress or get hurt; too bad, you’re stuck with a lemon. And you’re left scouring sophomore tapes, which can be too early for 97 percent of prospects.

3. Players get stuck with coaching changes, and new coaches with unwanted players. Sure, you can always “release” a kid from his letter of intent. But what if the coach wants a kid who doesn’t want to stay? What if the kid wants to keep his scholarship but the coach wants no part of him? There’s a huge difference, for example, between the regimes of Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez.

4. Less room for sleepers and late-bloomers. Some of the best recruits are the ones who hit their growth spurt at the right time and splash with big senior seasons.

5. There already is an early signing period. It’s called “January enrollment,” and a number of the best programs are legitimately using it to acclimate some of their most coveted recruits to the college life and game.

A defined early signing period simply doesn’t favor Bo Pelini and Co. Which recruit in the 2010 class would have been ready to sign by, say, June? Two guys NU ultimately didn’t want - Keeston Terry and Anterio Sloan - and one quarterback - Tyler Gabbert - who no longer fits the dual-threat direction of the Huskers’ offense.

*Would an early signing period guarantee Nebraska holds onto 2011 quarterback commit Jamal Turner? Sure. But NU wouldn’t accept his commitment this early if he wasn’t one of the crown jewels of that class and, in the Huskers’ estimation, worth the effort.

Turner, who plays for Arlington Sam Houston, is an intriguing prospect. His recruiting tapes look terrific, but of course they would. Texas high school football, great as it is, often devolves into a 7-on-7 competition, and because Sam Houston’s defense gave up 42 points per game last year, Turner fell victim, to some extent, to the statistical anomaly of getting countless chances to score.

Remember the nutty numbers Cody Green achieved in his senior year at Dayton, and how that translated to college. Texas is still America’s best state for quarterbacks - but adjustment is necessary.

*If Brion Carnes is out - and all signs point to him heading to Western Kentucky - then Bo needs to throw the ball away on a QB recruit this year, instead of taking a sack or risking an interception. Yes, it’s always possible NU missed out on the next Joe Ganz. The Huskers also might land a Jordan Adams, Brian Hildebrand or Beau Davis. You don’t have to take a girl home every Signing Day.

*Here’s my question of the week: How did such a superb athlete such as Tim Tebow develop such a faulty throwing motion? And why are unorthodox throwing motions - like the San Diego Chargers’ Phillip Rivers or the Tennessee Titans’ Vince Young - seemingly more frequent in high school, college and pro football?

Don’t have a great answer here. It just seems bewildering why Tebow, who possesses every other intangible to be a NFL quarterback, throws in a way to invite fumbles and inaccuracy.

Let’s hear ya, experts!

*Doc Sadler is a victim of his own success and the ticking biological clock of a Nebraska basketball fan. NU’s tiny lineup so overachieved last year - and Sadler did such a masterful coaching job - that expectations in “year four” - that dreaded phrase - were off-kilter with the experience on hand, and the Big 12 hornet nest. The 0-5 league start flew in the face of a sold non-conference run and Doc’s ability to ice so-so opponents like Iowa State at home.

So it was good to see NU beat Oklahoma 63-46 Saturday night - and do it Doc’s way, with defense and strong guard play. The win was also a reminder: Sadler is not after a quick fix to the Huskers’ 12-year NCAA Tournament appearance drought. When he arrived at Nebraska, flooding the roster with ill-advised recruits, maybe. But Sadler has corrected those errors with an eye at building a program, and not just a season.

Which is why, despite the recent rough road, Husker fans have to let it play out.

*Congrats to Lehann Fourie of the Nebraska track team, who tied an NU school record with a 7.7-second time in the 60-meter hurdles over the weekend. That’s quickest in the country for a guy who suffered horrible luck in the 2009 outdoor season, when he was cruising to a spot in the NCAA Championships when he hit a hurdle and flipped it over his head and back onto the track, if you can believe it.

The NU men are favored to win the Big 12 crown and have a shot at the national championship. Chew on that for a second, considering how good the Big 12 is in men’s track. Looks like Gary Pepin still has the magic to meld Nebraska kids with international talent for a top-shelf team. The winter’s big indoor meet - the Frank Sevigne Invitational - is Feb. 5-6.

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