No college basketball team prepares for a global pandemic, exactly.
But Nebraska was far from being caught flat-footed when the busy spring recruiting season was stripped down to coaches sitting in their home offices trying to build their rosters for next season.
In fact, there may be few programs as well-prepared as the Huskers for such an earth-changing event.
"One thing that I try and pride myself on is — offseasons for me tend to be very chaotic because of the transfer market. And I think the one way I’ve been able to have success is being organized and prepared," Nebraska assistant and lead recruiter Matt Abdelmassih said. "And being prepared starts, I feel like, at an early time where you play out scenarios. You go through those scenarios so you don’t feel like just anything pops up and you’re not prepared for it."
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The proof has come in the results of the past few weeks. Nebraska has gotten commitments from two transfers who appear set for significant roles: graduate transfer point guard Kobe Webster and sit-out transfer guard Trey McGowens.
Trey McGowens, a highly sought-after transfer from Pitt, announced Saturday afternoon he was committing to the Huskers.
Both players committed to NU without taking a recruiting visit to Lincoln, though Webster played in Pinnacle Bank Arena with Western Illinois, and met with Abdelmassih and head coach Fred Hoiberg when the Huskers were in Indianapolis for the Big Ten Tournament.
Wisconsin transfer Kobe King also committed without a recruiting visit, meaning the last three players to pledge to NU have done so largely on faith.
With the Saturday commitment of McGowens, Nebraska has just one scholarship to fill for 2020. The roster for next season, save for that one open spot, is largely set. That's a big step from last year at this time, when NU was in the process of adding 11 new scholarship players in a one-month stretch.
Nebraska's coaching staff can't speak about specific recruits until the athlete is signed with the school. It's expected the five already-committed members of NU's 2020 recruiting class will sign April 15, the first day of the spring signing period.
"We're not in a position where we need to scramble," Abdelmassih said. "I assume my mood would be a lot different if we had five scholarships open and were not far down the road with anybody."
For a coach as tied into the transfer market as Abdelmassih, the coronavirus pandemic hasn't changed much about the way he goes about his business, other than eliminating his ability to travel and see recruits face-to-face.
But even in that snag, Abdelmassih sees a way forward not just for Nebraska, but the entire recruiting world. At a school where the ability to fan out across the country for recruits is paramount, technology has effectively filled in the gaps.
"The one thing this time period has certainly proven is, the FaceTime effect seems to be borderline as valuable as flying and meeting with a kid. So I think it's going to change the dynamic of recruiting a lot," Abdelmassih said.Â
"Because college coaches are realizing that — even for us, the whole in-home visit thing, that's usually an important time period for us. Right now, we can do five in-home visits sitting in our office. So I think it's going to change a lot moving forward on how coaches go about recruiting."
Nebraska has a detailed plan for when it contacts recruits, starting with a video call that allows NU's coaches to show players a style of play edit and explaining how that player would fit into the plan.
From there, NU sends potential commits virtual tours of Nebraska's facilities — everything from Pinnacle Bank Arena and the Hendricks practice facility to Nebraska's academic center, housing and the Nebraska Athletic Performance Lab.Â
There are program guides sent out, and a five-minute recruiting video that highlights what Nebraska has to offer.
All that, though, doesn't much matter if there isn't a strong relationship already in place.
"Right now, whether we’re going through this terrible crisis or not, I think the recruiting for us is the same. And that’s, you have to identify people that are going to really lock in and believe on your vision, and are confident that the vision is going to play out in the way that we all think it will," Abdelmassih said.Â
"So those are the kids you have a chance to get. Fortunately, we have our fair share that have believed in it, and are going to believe in it. We’ll have more in the near future that do. And I think that’s when you really start taking off as a program."