Worst Thing About Tonight

[rwmctrofholz]

We were in the bonus with 15 minutes left in the second half.  What the hell?  I know we don't have a true big man, but you gotta start banging a bit at that point.  Particularly given the amount of air balls we tossed up there.

 

It feels like I should be fearing the direction it seems our team is headed, but I think I'm going to go down with the ship hoping that my gut is wrong.  

[hskr4life]

One of the big things that got us those recruits for next year was that amazing home court advantage last year. When you have someone who plays at Wisconsin say that the best road enviornment was at Nebraska, that is something to take into account. I know Dave you talk about recruits looking at us like uhhh WTF happened there, but in all reality, every school has a few down years every now and then.

One thing we CAN NOT LOSE is the fanbase. Playing in front of a half full arena with a half full student section is not going to get the job done. When fans start giving up on the season, and start going to the games to watch and not cheer, we are in big trouble. We have one of the best arenas in the country yes, but if we do not have that fan support, that will lose us more recruits than a loss to Incarnate Word will in the long run.

Fans still need to be there, and be loud. That is where we need to step up. We are on here talking crap on the players and how they need to step up their game, how they are not playing like a Top 25 team, or NCAA tournie team. If I was one of them, I would be thinking the same thing about the fans. You want us to be a top 25 or NCAA tournie team, treat us like one. Top 25 NCAA tournie teams do not play in half full arenas where fans sit on their hands and only yell at the peanut guy.

I am not knocking any of the posters, but rather making the observation that a loss in fan support will hurt us much more than a loss to Incarnate Word. We need a packed house and a place that is rocking every night. Bring the intensity that we bring to conference games every game, and nights like tonight usually will not happen. I am willing to go out on a limb and say if we brought a Wisconsin crowd tonight and last Sunday, we have 2 less losses on our resume.

[Erdbeereis]

Do other programs have the same problem with so many fans leaving early? I simply DO NOT understand this, it makes me so mad every time... The game wasn't even in hand today and people were leaving at the under 8 and under 4 timeouts. Seriously, is spending 20 more minutes of your day at the game going to kill you? Can't use traffic as an excuse in Lincoln on Wednesday night. Something has to change, our fans really disappoint me sometimes. I yelled the whole game, I don't care if we're playing Kentucky or Incarnate Word, make a little noise or at least stay until the end.

[PimpMario]

Are we projected for the nit?

[AuroranHusker]

Dave, relax. 

 

Incarnate Word played really well and that one guy made some shots he'll likely not ever make in another game this season. 

 

They got a HUGE assist from the refs.

 

And we made some boneheaded mistakes at the very end.

 

But, otherwise, I didn't think we played too badly.

 

It's OK, guys.  We'll live.

 

 

Exactly... no need to jump off a cliff. If this team learns a few lessons that EVERY POSSESSION matters, then it might be a good, hard lesson to learn on Dec. 10 rather than Jan. 10, Febr. 10 or March 10 as it would be 'too late' to fix it.

 

If you have about 13-min to spare, go to the post about POST-GAME PRESSER & watch Miles. It will help with his mindset on fear/worry/doubt & overcoming adversity. I think it is a very useful lesson for anyone in life.

[Chuck Taylor]

Do other programs have the same problem with so many fans leaving early?

Yes, the denizens of absolutely every message board in the country wring their hands about how the fans are lame. The only true fans are anonymous message board posters, apparently.

 

But that being said, the concerns about the crowds are legit. They won games for us last year and they helped get our best signing class in recent memory. If the PBA isn't full, we are not the program we thought we had become.

[hhcmatt]

Some days you fist the couch....some days the couch fists you

[golfer3]

After CU played us they had to go double overtime to beat South Dakota.  Games like this this happen. 

 

Our future is down the road with T Smith, Watson and Morrow.

 

Im not happy about last night, but Im not overly concerned, right now.

[hhcmatt]

After CU played us they had to go double overtime to beat South Dakota.  Games like this this happen. 

 

Our future is down the road with T Smith, Watson and Morrow.

 

Im not happy about last night, but Im not overly concerned, right now.

 

If there was a year to play over our abilities it was last year as it really kickstarted our recruiting. 

[HB]

Most embarrassing loss in recent program history?

 

Because of expectations, no doubt about it. Absolutely.

 

Also the fact that this is a second year transition school. This is completely awful. Pathetic. Embarassing.

 

I am EMBARASSED to be a Nebraska basketball fan. People I haven't heard from in months are texting me and laughing. And the game has been over five minutes.

 

We deserve better than this crap. Injury to Abraham? I don't care if we were playing without Petteway and Shields. An NCAA Tournament caliber Big 10 school NEVER loses to Incarnate Word. Spare me the Michigan talk. At least EMU and NJIT are much more established programs.

 

But worst part about tonight?

 

Have fun trying to recruit with this debacle, as people like Fran McCaffrey will use it against you all day, as will Greg McDermott after they own us and we drop this.

Also, the fact that this all but guarantees the NIT is our ceiling - and at this point, that's pushing it.

 

This is NOT a good basketball team right now. And that's putting it kindly.

 

I agree with the part that we are NOT a good basketball team.  I called that after FSU and quite a few disagreed.   As for the rest, well, that seems to be taking it pretty personally.  Assuming we are a bad team, that in no way makes me embarrassed to be a fan. I'm very proud to be a Husker fan and will keep going to every game, win or lose, play good or bad.  And I don't  think this game will derail all recruiting and chances of ever having success.   Just my take.

[HB]

But Norm, those losses came in years we were picked middle to low end Big 12. NOT when we started the year in the Top 25, picked 4th in the Big 10 and with 4.5 starters back. Not even comparable.

 

But those predictions were just that--predictions BEFORE the season.  Where even the experts don't have much of a clue. Like last year, where everybody picked us last.   Just because some people rated us in the top 25 before we played one game didn't make us a better team, just like being projected to finish last the year before didn't make us a worse team.  Expectations were way out of whack based on returning talent, and it was pretty obvious from the exhibition game on that we aren't very good.  It was always going to take awhile, so I don't get the meltdowns.   

 

I knew  that the early success would get expectations out of whack, and cause more consternation during the hiccups.  But I'm still glad we had it.  As Dimes said in another post, that gave us recruiting credibility for the Fall '14 class, and help is on the way.