Major questions remain for Hoiberg, NU heading into critical offseason

Head coach Fred Hoiberg and his players were still trying to process blowing a 15-point second-half lead to end their season in the moments following their 71-69 loss to Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday night.

But while they may not have been ready to turn the page at the time, the Huskers know full well that a critical stretch awaits that will shape the program's future.

Here are some of the most pressing questions Hoiberg and Co. will have to answer now that NU's offseason is officially underway...

The model Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts used in deciding to bring back Hoiberg for a fourth season followed almost precisely the blueprint he used in returning football coach Scott Frost for another year last fall.

One of the most significant concessions Frost agreed to make to stay at NU was to shake up his coaching staff, and he let go of four full-time offensive assistants.

There's plenty of speculation out there that Hoiberg will follow a similar path to some extent.

Assistant coaches Matt Abdelmassih and Armon Gates have been with Hoiberg since he took over in Lincoln back in 2019, while Nate Loenser is the newest full-time assistant after joining the staff last spring.

Doc Sadler served as an assistant and defensive coordinator, so to speak, from 2019-21 before moving to special assistant to the head coach this past offseason.

Will Hoiberg follow Frost's lead and change up his staff and bring in some new voices and ideas to the program? If so, how many changes will he decide to make?

As it stands right now, only three scholarship players from this season will for sure move on from Nebraska's roster in 2022-23.

Alonzo Verge Jr., Kobe Webster, and Trevor Lakes have exhausted their college eligibility. There's a chance Lakes could apply for a medical redshirt for this past season, but that remains TBD.

After that, several important decisions await that will heavily impact what the Huskers look like next season.

Trey McGowens, Derrick Walker, and Lat Mayen all have the option to return for another year due to the additional season of eligibility the NCAA granted because of COVID-19.

Walker seems to be the most likely of the three to come back potentially, and there's at least a chance the other two could as well.

There's also freshman standout Bryce McGowens, who has the option of jumping to the NBA after his one season at Nebraska. While his plans could change as he goes through the pre-draft process, it appears almost a certainty that McGowens will keep his name in the draft.

Then there's the normal offseason attrition with players transferring for other opportunities elsewhere. It's too early to speculate on which Huskers that could include, but the current national average is around three transfer departures per season.

Despite all of its on-court struggles, Nebraska still hauled in a second-straight top-30 recruiting class in November with its 2022 group.

Coffeyville (Kan.) C.C. four-star sophomore center Blaise Keita and Rivals150 guards Ramel Lloyd Jr. of Sierra Canyon (Calif.) and Jamarques Lawrence of Roselle Catholic (N.J.) joined early-enrollee wing Denim Dawson in a '22 class that currently ranks 27th nationally, per Rivals.

However, if Hoiberg decides to make changes to his coaching staff, will it impact any of those recruits' feelings about their commitment to NU?

Nebraska's recruiting process has operated differently than many other programs, as Abdelmassih has handled the bulk of the strategy in that regard.

All four 2022 recruits have signed their National Letters of Intent, and Dawson has already been on campus since December. But there is precedent of signees backing out of their commitments following staff changes at Nebraska.

Xavier Johnson, now the starting point guard at Indiana, is a prime example. After signing with NU under former head coach Tim Miles, Johnson requested a release from his NLI when assistant coach Kenya Hunter left for a job at UConn.

The reality into today's recruiting game is that prospects often choose schools because of the relationships they've built with coaches. If a coach is no longer part of the equation, it often times changes a player's entire outlook of a program.

One of the biggest criticisms fans have about Hoiberg's tenure thus far, aside from the 24-67 overall record, is how Nebraska has hit the reset button on its roster every offseason.

Hoiberg and his staff did a near clean sweep of the roster they first inherited in 2019, bringing back just three scholarship players - Thorir Thorbjarnarson, Dachon Burke, and Akol Arop - from the previous season.

Then they did it again going into Year 2, only returning five of their 13 scholarship players in 2020-21.

There was some roster continuity going into this season, as NU had 70 percent of its scoring and minutes played back and a core group of veterans that had actually experienced the grind of the Big Ten Conference.

But now Hoiberg is likely facing another offseason of attrition, and it remains to be seen just how much he'll have to replace going into the spring signing period.

Now, the real question isn't just how Nebraska will reshape its '22-23 lineup, but whether Hoiberg decides to take a different approach to construct his roster?

Will the Huskers continue to plug and play transfers every offseason? Or will they take on a more developmental approach with prospects more likley to stay in the program?