How Did Nebraska Basketball’s 2013 Recruiting Class Pan Out?

Tim Miles took over as the Nebraska head coach in 2012 and thus made the 2013 class his first full recruiting class.

Since taking over Miles has experienced some highs – like making the NCAA Tournament – but also plenty of lows that have resulted in some calling for his job. Part of the down times in Lincoln can be accredited to Miles’ first recruiting class. One of the three recruits that made up the 2013 class went on to do great things but the other two … not so much.

When looking back on the 2013 Nebraska recruiting class it’s hard to give a letter grade or rating because of how each recruit went down a different path. One left after one year, one became possibly the program’s best player in recent years and the other left after this past year as a graduate transfer. So it’s a class full of up’s and down’s to say the least.

Background

As I mentioned above, Miles took over Nebraska in 2012 and in year one the team struggled. Nebraska finished the season below .500, but did pick up three more wins than the previous year. So there was improvement.

The Cornhuskers graduated three from that team and thus entered three recruits as Miles’ first recruiting class in Lincoln. It wasn’t a spectacular class but it did feature three three-star recruits and ranked 8th in the league, according to 247Sports.

The Huskers returned some decent pieces from the previous year’s team but this class was going to be given a chance to make an instant impact. That was the case for a couple while one was redshirted. The Cornhuskers ended up making the NCAA Tournament that season, which is the high point of Miles’ career in Lincoln.

-Tai Webster (PG, #245 by 247Sports)

Webster turned out to be the crown jewel of this recruiting class even though he was the lowest rated prospect. He saw good minutes on the floor during all four years in Lincoln and became a dominant scorer by the time he was a senior.

Webster averaged around 20 minutes per game as a freshman and sophomore, scoring 3.9 points per game in both of those seasons. Nothing out of this world there, but it was during his junior season where he took his play to the next level.

As a junior he averaged 10.1 points per game and in his final season he bumped that to 17 points per game along with 4 assists and 5.1 rebounds per game. He finished the year as the fourth leading scorer in the Big Ten. His strong play had him as one of the players considered for BT Powerhouse’s Nebraska Mount Rushmore.

One knock against Webster is the team was lousy throughout his career, and especially bad – 16-18 and 12-19 – during the two seasons where he had the biggest impact. He still had a strong run in Lincoln and certainly exceeded expectations.

-Nick Fuller (SF, #158 by 247Sports)

After Webster the 2013 class is a little murky, and that includes Fuller. He was supposed to be the lone 2013 recruit that remained on the roster after being redshirted as a freshman but he left following the season as a graduate transfer. He will finish his career at South Dakota.

If you go by rankings then Fuller had the most potential when he originally arrived at Nebraska. He was the highest ranked player, however, he never had much of an impact. He averaged no more than eight minutes per game each season since redshirting. With that being said his numbers obviously weren’t great either, averaging 1.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game in his career.

The writing must have been on the wall for Fuller to play out his final year at a new school. The Cornhuskers return plenty of forwards from last year’s team that saw more time on the floor so it made sense that Fuller wouldn’t get a ton of playing time had he returned for his senior season. His career in Lincoln never took off like some may have expected but maybe he’ll have more of an impact next year with South Dakota.

-Nathan Hawkins (SG, #221 by 247Sports)

If you’re following along you know that Hawkins is the one who left after one year in Lincoln. The transfer by Hawkins hurt this class because he had the potential to be solid for Nebraska.

Hawkins missed the first six games of the 2013-14 season with a foot injury but from there appeared in 16 games. He averaged 1.4 points per game, and showcased his potential when he posted a career-high 11-point performance against Michigan. After the season he transfer to UT-Arlington.

Since leaving the Cornhuskers Hawkins has averaged 3.8 points and 2.1 rebounds across 14.9 minutes per game with UT-Arlington. He still has one year of eligibility remaining.

Overall

It’s all over the place with this class and because of that it’s truly hard to assess how good it was. I would say Miles struck gold on one of these three recruits. Hitting .333 is great in baseball but this isn’t baseball.

Webster kept this class from being a disaster but one player can’t do it all. That’s why Nebraska has finished below .500 each of the last three seasons. So with that being said this class would fall below par. This class wasn’t great but it did at least have Webster so there’s that.