Putting the season in perspective

[aphilso1]

I've lurked through countless "what's wrong with this year's team" threads this season, as well as a few "should we or shouldn't we start looking forward to next season" debates.  And of course, there's the litany of "I still support Coach Miles, BUT..." comments.  So as any good lurker/infrequent poster is apt to do from time to time, I'm dusting off my soap box and telling y'all to take a step back for a second.

 

With tonight's win, we're .500 in one of the best conferences in America.  This team doesn't get run out of the gym by anybody.  We generally hold serve at home.  We've got two separate thousand-point scorers on the team, and they both have eligibility remaining after the year.  We've got a Georgetown transfer that contributes but doesn't start because a Florida transfer is better than him.  How many Husker teams in the past 15+ years could claim even one of these statements?

 

No, beating Northwestern is not going to do anything to put us back on the bubble, and that's OK.  I've been disappointed all season, and it finally struck me that I shouldn't be.  Or at the very least my disappointment shouldn't get in the way of enjoying one of the better Husker seasons in recent memory.  I'm ecstatic that this coaching staff has raised expectations to the point that a banner year under either of the previous two regimes is considered disappointing today.  

[Huskerpapa]

I am still hoping that we can make an impressive run...we will see.  I believe next up is Penn State.  Time to take care of business.

[FredsSlacks]

This is what needs to happen and seems doable.

 

@psu-W

Wis-L

@ purdue-W

@MD- L

Iowa- W

@OSU- L

@ILL- W

MD-W

 

B1G tourney- win 1 game.

 

this scenario would at least put us into the play-in game i think.

[hskr4life]

I think that next game is huge.  If we can get that road goat off of our back, we will be coming back home on a 2 game winning streak and with a little bit of swagger.  One thing that I have noticed is that you can NEVER count us out at home.  We seem to just gel better there.

[Norm Peterson]

This is what needs to happen and seems doable.

 

@psu-W

Wis-L

@ purdue-W

@MD- L

Iowa- W

@OSU- L

@ILL- W

MD-W

 

B1G tourney- win 1 game.

 

this scenario would at least put us into the play-in game i think.

When we play Iowa, I think our guys should all come out with goggles on.

[trickey]

Norm...that there is funny!

[hhcmatt]

 

This is what needs to happen and seems doable.

 

@psu-W

Wis-L

@ purdue-W

@MD- L

Iowa- W

@OSU- L

@ILL- W

MD-W

 

B1G tourney- win 1 game.

 

this scenario would at least put us into the play-in game i think.

When we play Iowa, I think our guys should all come out with goggles on.

 

As long as they're not the half-time beer goggles

[huskerbaseball13]

This is what needs to happen and seems doable.

 

@psu-W

Wis-L

@ purdue-W

@MD- L

Iowa- W

@OSU- L

@ILL- W

MD-W

 

B1G tourney- win 1 game.

 

this scenario would at least put us into the play-in game i think.

 

I would be pretty pumped if this team could find a way to win 3 road games down the stretch.  Unfortunately winning zero is probably more realistic.  The game vs PSU is a big one...must win IMO considering we have Wiscy then two tough road games after that. 

[hal9000]

Call me crazy but I think we can, nay, will beat Wisconsin at the Pinnacle. 

[hskr4life]

Call me crazy but I think we can, nay, will beat Wisconsin at the Pinnacle. 

 

You sir are out of your mind.  You are crazy!  You are flat out nuts!!!  You are the most optimistic nut case on this board, and that comment is just flat out nuts!

 

And....... IF we beat PSU on the road this weekend...... I believe you could be on to something!  I think so too.

[Lifetimesker]

I had city rec ball last night, so I wasn't able to go to the game(have season tickets in sec 120). I called 3 ill advised timeouts just so I could catch 90 seconds of the game here and there on the BTNtoGO app.  

 

I'm glad this topic was started. Nebraskaball has seen some very dark years in the past. As disappointing as this season has seemed at times, its way better than what its been pre Coach Miles. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year turns out, and looking forward to this fall.

 

Saturday's game is huge, and very winnable. We just need some shots to fall, the D will take care of the rest. 

 

GO SKERS.......

[Huskerpapa]

I had city rec ball last night, so I wasn't able to go to the game(have season tickets in sec 120). I called 3 ill advised timeouts just so I could catch 90 seconds of the game here and there on the BTNtoGO app.  

 

I'm glad this topic was started. Nebraskaball has seen some very dark years in the past. As disappointing as this season has seemed at times, its way better than what its been pre Coach Miles. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year turns out, and looking forward to this fall.

 

Saturday's game is huge, and very winnable. We just need some shots to fall, the D will take care of the rest. 

 

GO SKERS.......

Dude...priorities my man  --- you chose city recreational basketball over Husker basketball -- the shame! To quote Colonel Walter (Que JimmyKC) Kurtz from Apocalypse Now...   I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. ... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face...

[49r]

I've lurked through countless "what's wrong with this year's team" threads this season, as well as a few "should we or shouldn't we start looking forward to next season" debates.  And of course, there's the litany of "I still support Coach Miles, BUT..." comments.  So as any good lurker/infrequent poster is apt to do from time to time, I'm dusting off my soap box and telling y'all to take a step back for a second.

 

With tonight's win, we're .500 in one of the best conferences in America.  This team doesn't get run out of the gym by anybody.  We generally hold serve at home.  We've got two separate thousand-point scorers on the team, and they both have eligibility remaining after the year.  We've got a Georgetown transfer that contributes but doesn't start because a Florida transfer is better than him.  How many Husker teams in the past 15+ years could claim even one of these statements?

 

No, beating Northwestern is not going to do anything to put us back on the bubble, and that's OK.  I've been disappointed all season, and it finally struck me that I shouldn't be.  Or at the very least my disappointment shouldn't get in the way of enjoying one of the better Husker seasons in recent memory.  I'm ecstatic that this coaching staff has raised expectations to the point that a banner year under either of the previous two regimes is considered disappointing today.  

 

 

And you didn't even mention the Kansas transfer sitting out this year!

 

+1, great post.  This is pretty much exactly how I feel as well.

[Red Rum]

I had city rec ball last night, so I wasn't able to go to the game(have season tickets in sec 120). I called 3 ill advised timeouts just so I could catch 90 seconds of the game here and there on the BTNtoGO app.  

 

I'm glad this topic was started. Nebraskaball has seen some very dark years in the past. As disappointing as this season has seemed at times, its way better than what its been pre Coach Miles. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year turns out, and looking forward to this fall.

 

Saturday's game is huge, and very winnable. We just need some shots to fall, the D will take care of the rest. 

 

GO SKERS.......

 

I like your completely necessary use of timeouts but c'mon man. I've skipped rec league games to watch Nebrasketball. Granted my rec league team was absolutely terrible but still.

[Lifetimesker]

 

I had city rec ball last night, so I wasn't able to go to the game(have season tickets in sec 120). I called 3 ill advised timeouts just so I could catch 90 seconds of the game here and there on the BTNtoGO app.  

 

I'm glad this topic was started. Nebraskaball has seen some very dark years in the past. As disappointing as this season has seemed at times, its way better than what its been pre Coach Miles. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year turns out, and looking forward to this fall.

 

Saturday's game is huge, and very winnable. We just need some shots to fall, the D will take care of the rest. 

 

GO SKERS.......

 

I like your completely necessary use of timeouts but c'mon man. I've skipped rec league games to watch Nebrasketball. Granted my rec league team was absolutely terrible but still.

 

I hope I didn't highjack this thread, my apologies! Yeah, it's kinda one of those things where I gave my teamates my commitment for the season. I tried to get the team to flip to wednesday nights this year because of all the tuesday night Husker games, but I was overruled. It's tourney time and my team is pretty solid this year!

[Silverbacked1]

What kind of zone offense do you guys run anyway?

[Red Rum]

 

 

I had city rec ball last night, so I wasn't able to go to the game(have season tickets in sec 120). I called 3 ill advised timeouts just so I could catch 90 seconds of the game here and there on the BTNtoGO app.  

 

I'm glad this topic was started. Nebraskaball has seen some very dark years in the past. As disappointing as this season has seemed at times, its way better than what its been pre Coach Miles. I'm excited to see how the rest of the year turns out, and looking forward to this fall.

 

Saturday's game is huge, and very winnable. We just need some shots to fall, the D will take care of the rest. 

 

GO SKERS.......

 

I like your completely necessary use of timeouts but c'mon man. I've skipped rec league games to watch Nebrasketball. Granted my rec league team was absolutely terrible but still.

 

I hope I didn't highjack this thread, my apologies! Yeah, it's kinda one of those things where I gave my teamates my commitment for the season. I tried to get the team to flip to wednesday nights this year because of all the tuesday night Husker games, but I was overruled. It's tourney time and my team is pretty solid this year!

 

 

Someone had to hijack it.

 

Like I said my team was absolutely terrible so I had no problem taking a game off from getting embarrassed to go watch Nebraska. good thing Nebraska usually won the games I took off.

[jimmykc]

huskercwg; Shame on you for poaching a Walter. For this I plan to pull up one of my more difficult Walters next time. And let's hope we do not have to experience the horror for a few more games.

[OurDecay]

Its easy to forget, but before last season NU had gone 15 seasons w/o a winning conference record. Once in that span, they went 8-8. That was the only time in 15 seasons NU won 8 or more games in conference play (yes, we were playing less games in the B12).

NU is sitting at 5-5 with 8 games left. That includes games at Penn St, at Purdue, home vs. Iowa, and at Illinois. Theoretically, all of those games are winnable. Heck, maybe at the end of the year you can trip up Maryland at home. If NU even went 8-10 (.444) - 3-5 down the stretch - in conference, it would be our third-best conference winning % in 17 years. If this had happened a year ago, we would be pretty ecstatic about the direction we are headed. The fact that we jumped WAY ahead of schedule last year makes it tough to keep that perspective.  But make no mistake, the overall trend is very much up.  Still.

[Silverbacked1]

I tend to missremember a lot but, I think that there was quiet a few peolpe on here that said that our record could/would be worse this year just because of how of the things that have happened to us. And that has seemed to have happened so far.

Tougher conference schedule, not sneaking up on people, ect... We didn't how ever think that we would not be able to score like this this year.

Season ain't over, but The only one to worry about is PSU Saturday. Win that and then well...

[49r]

I tend to missremember a lot but, I think that there was quiet a few peolpe on here that said that our record could/would be worse this year

 

I was one of them.  I'm not sure I voiced that opinion here because I didn't want to be "that guy" but I had always thought that it was going to be very tough for us to live up to expectations.  Frankly, we are just about where I figured we'd be with about one extra loss in non-con and conference play.

 

Give me W's against UIW and Indiana and I wouldn't be dissatisfied with where we were at at all.

[49r]

Well, I'd still be pissed about the Creighton game I guess...

[Norm Peterson]

Well, I'd still be pissed about the Creighton game I guess...

Four games I think we could and should have won:

 

Creighton

Incarnate Word

Hawaii

Indiana

 

If we win those, our record would be 17-5 (6-4) and people would most definitely not be bitching about how our season is going right now.

 

There's a lot of angst on this board about how this season is a disappointment.  Those games were all before January 1 and I think we were just in a funk about trying to live up to the expectation of being a top 25 team and playing too damn tight.  Plus having injuries to a couple of important players.

 

I'm not making excuses.  I'm just offering this for perspective.  Yes we lost those early games.  But the team that took the floor last night looked a lot more like the team that danced last March than the team that stubbed its toe in December.

[PimpMario]

Our 5 wins are not really impressive.  MSU is the only team that is ahead of us in the standings.  We don't have a lot of games left against teams below us.

 

Road games have killed us for years.

[49r]

 

Well, I'd still be pissed about the Creighton game I guess...

Four games I think we could and should have won:

 

Creighton

Incarnate Word

Hawaii

Indiana

 

If we win those, our record would be 17-5 (6-4) and people would most definitely not be bitching about how our season is going right now.

 

There's a lot of angst on this board about how this season is a disappointment.  Those games were all before January 1 and I think we were just in a funk about trying to live up to the expectation of being a top 25 team and playing too damn tight.  Plus having injuries to a couple of important players.

 

I'm not making excuses.  I'm just offering this for perspective.  Yes we lost those early games.  But the team that took the floor last night looked a lot more like the team that danced last March than the team that stubbed its toe in December.

 

 

As disappointing as it is that we lost at home to Creighton, it's probably more feasible to think the URI game was one of the ones that got away instead especially since it was an OT game.  Going on pure hypotheticals, the games that could have just as easily (or more appropriately, should have) been wins as opposed to losses I would have to say are URI, UIW, and Hawaii in no particular order.

 

Of course, in fairness we could also say wins that could have been losses as easily would be Cincinnati, MSU and Minnesota (and possibly LMU).  So, all in all, our W-L record is something of a wash, but it may have been better to have wins over URI, UIW and Hawaii with Cinci, MSU and Minnesota being losses from an RPI standpoint I would imagine.

 

If that makes any sense.

 

Still, the hypothetical scenario has us at 3-7 in the league and really scrapping to avoid a bottom 4 finish.  I think I'll stick with the reality.