Looking ahead: Nebraska basketball still has miles to go

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It’s never too early to look at what’s to come. Over the next few weeks, we will give you a peek at what is ahead for teams in the Power 5 conferences and some other teams expected to be players on the national scene. Next up: Nebraska.

In 2012, Philadelphia 76ers center Jahlil Okafor’s AAU coach arranged an unofficial visit to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the future lottery pick and his teammates.

Once they returned to Chicago, they gushed about the mini-palace Cornhuskers supporters assembled after they decided to invest serious cash in the school’s dormant basketball program. Those accoutrements included a state-of-the-art, $18 million practice facility, which features a locker room with tablet computers in each stall and three 65-inch TVs. The team’s $180 million home, Pinnacle Bank Arena, would add another jewel when it opened in 2013.

Tim Miles led Nebraska to the NCAA tournament in 2014 but saw the Huskers post losing records in the two seasons since. Bruce Thorson/USA TODAY Sports

Okafor, the top prospect in the 2014 recruiting class who would go on to lead Duke to the NCAA title in his lone season of college basketball, attracted offers from every premier program in the United States.

We all knew Okafor would spend his six-month stint at the Division I level with one of the powerhouses. But his visit to Lincoln hinted at future success on the recruiting trail. Sure, Nebraska didn’t land Okafor, but it made the first step toward enhancing its talent pool: convincing elite prospects to visit. The program’s 2014 NCAA tournament appearance helped, too.

Huskers coach Tim Miles, a social-media titan who tweets during games, had trimmed the gap between his program and the Big Ten mountaintop Nebraska pursued. With Tim, the miles separating the school from the league’s top tier had become …

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