HuskerPower #nato73

Eric in Scottsdale also on twitter claiming inside knowledge that we will play a neutral site game in Sioux Falls against North Carolina. I am just reporting.

I know the humor in which this was attended but thanks for the reminder of how often we were with a knife (or unarmed) going into a gun fight. I don't understand why there is any conversation with Miles job status. Our talent is soooooo much better. Two 4th place finishes in the Big 10 in 6 years. We are 3/4 of the way up the stairs, I don't want to start back at the bottom. I suppose one could make the argument that with our new commitment to facilities etc. that we could rocket from the bottom of the steps to the top, but I still believe Miles is the scrappy guy to get us there.

Penn St. beats everyone's bubble darling Notre Dame by 10 on the road. That's a quad 1 win for the big 10.

Where is that guy that said we were in Dayton? He always has good info.

Next year will give us chance to become a consistent program. We have inconsistent players (Roby, Jordy, Watson) and we have a program that has made two runs by getting hot at the end of the year. The next step in building the program in my opinion is another post season birth next year and some good non-con wins. We are going to have some roster turnover and everyone has an off night now and again but we need to bring it early and often.

I am not a Creighton fan, at all, but Rasmussen is not a bad dude. I think something wild is going to happen though just based on the crazy bubble. USA Today guy has Creighton out (with Rasmussen the chair :)) and Lunardi has them as an 8. The something wild I hope happens is St. Mary's and Oklahoma and ASU out with us in.

I was reading his other rumors. Decently accurate other than Miles to New Mexico, so tell us more we have 50 minutes to speculate and I want to believe!

Don't rule out Jordy's continued development, he has only played basketball a few years. I think he will be back.

Alos, Maryland and Penn State slipping to 77 and 79 in RPI respectively has us 1-3 in Quad 2 instead of a much more respectable 3-3.

I like how a Western Kentucky team that lost to Wisconsin is a Quad 1 road win and Quad 2 home win for Middle Tennessee. Seems a little flawed.

I am in on this. Sign me up. I think we are in too. I know conference records don't matter but i don't think the committee will want to put 80% of a conference in. I think if a team like Louisville that has been caught cheating gives them any reason to be left out, they will leave them out. I think a 14-15 loss team like Alabama is not gonna make it. I think we get credited for beating Minnesota when they were top 15 and good enough to beat Alabama and Providence. I think the Creighton AD knows some of the biggest boosters give money to both schools. I think it is a play-in game and I think we win it! So there.

I think Gill's reaction was because they laid an egg on the big stage, more so than thinking their bubble got popped but hard to say. I get the reaction. The amount of time and effort college athletes put in is amazing. It was a tall task when it was build up as a must win against a team that is playing like an NCAA 4 or 5 seed. I think the takeaway from this season is that you have to dial in your rotation and win earlier in the season instead of relying on getting hot. It was a tall task for Miles because it involved melding new guys and benching long time contributors. Assuming most everyone who should come back does then we need to get that right from the get go and play like we are on a mission all year long. And if I am being snarky, I look forward to the Big 10 getting "good" again so we can get on the bubble with a 7-10 record in conference.

I heard a lot of criticism on the number of 3's we shot and I was wishing we loved the rim more but 10-26 is like going 15-26 on two's for 57.6% so I don't think it was too bad. I think the issues on our end were: Defensive lapses especially in the 1st half Empty possessions when we got up 52-47 (14 of 18 empties to end the game) Playing panicked from about 1:45 on when we did not need to be Illinois' first half shooting was remarkable and uncharacteristically so.

NU 68 Ill 59

The Texas (that lost at home against Michigan) has three more tough road games: Oklahoma, KU and Kstate. I am guessing 11 conferences losses will keep them out! Keep on winning Huskers!

NU 71 maryland 65

BracketMatrix is just an aggregator of lots of brackets. Many of them have some conference bias etc. Don't bang your head too hard.

Bigger picture: I think we want Michigan to stay in quadrant 1. Also Northwestern has Rutgers away and then three home games (one against Mich State.) it would be nice if they could sneak in to make our road win against them a quadrant 1. It will matter to somebody so ideally we get those. I suppose, ironically, we could knock Michigan out of quadrant 1 by beating them again in the conference tournament, but by then we are in the semis with a lot of wins so who cares right? Our big games are in the ACC today. Lunardi is talking about 10 bids for them. Louisville has chance to get a brutal loss today and syracuse could lose at home. Interestingly Syracuse on KenPom is predicted to lose their next 6! An upcoming game of note: St. Bonaventure gets Rhode Island at home. We don't want that upset to happen. If the above sounds like rambling, that's what being on the bubble does. We should just win and let the cards fall where they may I suppose.

Looking waayyyyyyy far ahead, I like the idea of playing Ohio State versus Purdue in a semifinal.

I will not pick against Nebraska again in the regular season: NU 75 Rutgers 58

I picked Minnesota. As my punishment, I would ask that you down vote this post.

I am not sure we want UCF to get a big road win. They are on a few bubbles. Georgetown has been playing better. That one would not surprise me. My desire for us to get the double bye along with the want to see Michigan in tier 1 is confusing me. I think Miles wanted to avoid an Incarnate Word this year, but thought the conference would be better.

Minn 68 NU 63

Not Kenpom but live RPI moves us from 65 to 57. Between Gonzaga and Maryland. And now Kenpom says 57 as well

Jordy's defense on Happ when he had 4 fouls was key. He had a block and a couple of good defensive plays and rebounds and played a while before he fouled out. I thought that was key.