Dana Altman is staying in Oregon. Thus, the most obvious candidate to fill the Nebraska basketball opening says no. I recognize a lot of Husker fans weren’t excited about Altman, not only because of his Creighton ties but his vanilla personality.

But the man has coached circles around too many colleagues to count. His style is fun to watch. And as a native son, the job would’ve meant more to him than any other candidate.

Had Altman won an NCAA tournament game in Lincoln, he could’ve been the man who resurrected NU and Creighton. That’s quite a legacy. And it must have weighed on his mind the past few weeks, especially since — at 53 years old — this may be Altman’s last chance at Nebraska.

On the other hand, there’s no doubt Oregon is an easier place to win, especially considering the current state of the Pac-12 and Big Ten. Just two years into his Oregon tenure, perhaps Altman felt it was too soon to leave.

Nebraska can still hire a great coach. But it lost a pretty good candidate this morning.

***

>> According to Andy Katz, Nebraska is expected to focus on Ohio’s John Groce and Colorado State’s Tim Miles. On the surface, those two candidates look similar. Both are successful head coaches outside the power-six conferences. But Groce is the better pick.

Why? Groce has experience in the Big Ten. He helped recruit the best class in Ohio State history, which included Greg Oden and Mike Conley. He’s an Indiana native.

Miles is a great guy; he famously sends out tweets at halftime. But he’s spent his entire career in South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Colorado. That’s not exactly the heart of Big Ten country.

Kudos to Miles for recruiting four native Nebraskans and making the NCAA tournament. But even with a roster of local kids, you still need a few NBA prospects from outside the state. Miles has no experience coaching or recruiting those types of players.

That doesn’t mean, if Tom Osborne hires Miles, he’s an automatic failure. (In fact, Nebraskans would probably love his personality). Nor does it mean that if Groce is the guy, he would automatically succeed.

But Miles looks like the riskier bet.

>> The NBDL in Ralston? Sign me up for 5-10 home games a season. Omaha is not known as a basketball town. And there’s plenty of competition with Creighton, UNO and Nebraska. But professional basketball — especially a league affiliated with the NBA — would appeal to Omahans, especially if ticket prices weren’t too high. But that’s just my take. What’s yours? Would you attend NBDL games?

>> Butler to the Atlantic 10? Sounds like it’s gonna happen. I’m on record saying I want Creighton to move up in the college basketball conference hierarchy. Hooking your wagon to Brad Stevens’ program isn’t a bad idea. I’m not crazy about the A-10 in its current form; it’s too big and spread out. But I think Creighton would fit in well with  the nucleus of Xavier, Butler, Dayton, St. Joseph’s, UMass and Saint Louis.

>> Remember the seven Sweet 16 schools within 2 hours of Cincinnati? Pat Forde visited all of them in one day! And wrote about it.

>> Roger Goodell went after Sean Payton with all his might. That’s exactly the right target, says Mike Freeman. But it’s not as much about bounties as it is about lying to Goodell, says Bill Barnwell.

>> Totally agree with these takes: The Jets can say they’re bringing in Tim Tebow as a back-up/change of pace quarterback. But considering the circus that accompanies Tebow, there’s no way this ends well for Mark Sanchez. It will be a QB controversy by week 4.

>> Jim Boeheim called Charles Barkley “an idiot“.

>> Memories of a legendary sports writer, Furman Bisher.