Nebraska Basketball’s Thomas Allen Will Transfer

James Palmer, Isaac Copeland, Glynn Watson, and Tanner Borchardt will graduate. Isaiah Roby is declaring for the NBA draft. Tim Miles has been fired. At this point, it looks like Thomas Allen will be the most familiar face in Lincoln next season. Or will it?

Word on the street is that Thomas Allen will transfer. This past season, the sophomore Allen posted a decent offensive rating of 108, and he hit his threes at a 35% clip. The 6’1” guard logged over 60% of available minutes for the Huskers, and that would have been higher had he not injured his ankle against Michigan on February 28 and been forced to miss the final seven games of the season.

So who’s left on the roster for Fred Hoiberg next season? It’s possible Roby could come back, but even though he only showed flashes of brilliance this season, he’s got the type of measurables that make NBA scouts drool. If Roby’s gone, that means Nebraska returns... wow, only 13.5% of its offense. Yikes.

There are two pieces of good news for Husker fans, though. One is that Nebraska is expected to return 100% of its Viking minutes in Thorir Thorbjarnarson. Two is that the Huskers hired Fred Hoiberg, a man who is known for beating the bushes of the transfer market, and taking a bunch of cast-offs with poor attitude problems and turning them into a cohesive basketball units. What’s more, Matt Abdelmassih, the assistant coach who was Hoiberg’s No. 2 in Ames, has decided to leave the staff of St. Johns and rejoin his old boss in Lincoln.

You have to think that apart from Hoiberg’s family ties, one of the reasons Nebraska athletic director Bill Moos zeroed in on Fred as his top candidate was because he knew this roster was going to need a total overhaul. Nebraska fans are the best, and they’ve been patient for a long time waiting to root for a winner in Pinnacle Bank Arena. With Hoiberg, the Huskers won’t quite be in “win now” mode, but they should expect to start winning sooner rather than later.