LINCOLN, Neb. — Maybe Tim Miles really is a miracle worker.

Men’s basketball is still relevant at Nebraska in March, the time of year when spring football typically dominates the sports conversation in the Cornhusker state. Instead, it’s all hoops, all the time right now and all eyes are on Miles.

The energetic, quick-witted 47-year-old was hired in March 2012 and sold the dream of someday leading the Huskers to the NCAA tournament and winning when they got there.

Skeptical fans, accustomed to disappointment, said they would believe it when they see it. Well, the time might be coming sooner than anyone imagined.

Nebraska (19-11) heads to Indianapolis for the Big Ten tournament after winning 10 of their last 12 games to finish fourth in the conference. The court-storming student section was, in a word, nuts during Sunday’s 77-68 upset of then-No. 9 Wisconsin. The rest of the sellout crowd showed up loud and proud, too, and responded favorably to Miles’ plea to stand and make noise the whole game.

“You’re seeing a euphoric state of mind with our fans, and rightly so,” said Marc Boehm, the executive associate athletic director who oversees the program. “It’s happened quickly, it’s happened unexpectedly, and that’s the beauty of all this.”

Miles, who on Monday was named Big Ten coach of the year in a vote of his peers, has connected with students and the rest of the fans like no other new Nebraska coach has before. He’s a voracious user of social media, and he shares in-game thoughts with some 62,000 followers with his halftime tweets. He high-fives students as he enters the arena, and he poses for pictures on the court after games.

He gladly obliged a couple months ago when a man asked him to shoot a video to be used in a wedding proposal. He’s quick to tell stories about his small-town South Dakota upbringing and to poke fun at himself for ranking in the bottom half in a graduating class of 13.