Should we expect a win?

[seaofred92]

I'm asking because I just read through the HHC predictions, and I'm wondering if as a fan base, do we expect to win this game? Should we expect to win this game? Will you be let down if we lose it? The last two losses weren't as hard to take because we were nearly 20 point underdogs in one and 25 point dogs in another, but with this being considered a "winnable" game by a lot of people, would you be disappointed if we came up with a similar result, say to the MSU game?

[trickey]

Seeing that Wisky just went into IU and won by the same # as against us....and how we played the top 20, the players will certainly be disappointed if they don't. And that is what matters.

We could help. BE LOUD!

[hskr4life]

I think as a fan, I want to see the players WANT and FIGHT to win.  This year may be rough, but if Coach Miles can keep these guys fighting until the end, and if that happens, and they think they can win every game, I feel as a fan base we too should expect a win.

[49r]

I'm not sure we should expect a win tomorrow night per se, but I do think maybe we need to raise our expectations of what this team can accomplish this year.

[Concrete]

FWIW, purdue is only a 1 point favorite tomorrow 

[HuskerFever]

Never expect a win. The team needs to earn it.

[hhcmatt]

I expect us to be able to win this game without Nebraska having to play their best and Purdue their worst.

[FredsSlacks]

Don't forget we have 6 scholarship players that will be playing in this game if you don't count Vucetic. Andre and Parker have basically contributed nothing recently. So people on here expect Shields, Rivers, Gallegos, and Talley to beat a decent BIG10 team? We lost to Kent St by 14 at home, so I do not expect us to beat Purdue.

[tcp]

I don't expect a win at all. Part of the "miracle in michigan" is that both teams overlooked us. Purdue, like us, can't afford to do that. So they probably won't. They know they can be beat.

 

Should be a pretty close game, though. I just hope we come out with the same urgency we did in both Michigan games. We'll need it to win.

[Jurgey]

Remember the team saying they wanted to win 8-10 BIG games? I'm sure Purdue was one of those they expect to win.

Even with Ubel hurt, they'll be ready. (fingers crossed)

[Huskerpapa]

I expect is to play hard, play smart and to execute.  If we do, we certainly should believe we can win this game.  I hope the fans show up and support the program and I hope that, as a team, we are hot, hot, hot!

[colhusker]

I think after seeing what Miles can get out of these kids that this game is very winnable.  Clean up some of the wasted possessions where we dribble to much and then have to chuck up a bad shot, and if we rebound we have a legit chance.

[jimmykc]

This thread is just a clever way to raise our expectations by a troll.... Just kidding, seaofRed.

[bball23]

I'm cautiously optimistic.  I think we can definitely beat Purdue if we play well, but on any given night we can also probably be blown out of the gym.  If our guys continue to limit the turnovers, make teams work on defense, play good defense then we have a chance.  The key is going to be for us to make the open shots we get.  When we shoot even decent, we look like a decent team.  Thats been the problem all year though.

 

I really hope we get this win, get some momentum going into the weekend.  I'm not one that likes to look ahead, but our next 4 games are lets say "more winnable" than the previous 4.  I hope we get a great crowd tonight and Husker Nation comes out in full force.

[Handy Johnson]

Even in years past when we've been shi**y, we've always been tough at home. Tonight should be no different. Lose this one, and things might start snowballing in the OTHER direction.

[seaofred92]

Even in years past when we've been shi**y, we've always been tough at home. Tonight should be no different. Lose this one, and things might start snowballing in the OTHER direction.

 

This is perfect for me to segment into my next question, which is, what happens if we drop this game? What if we lose on a buzzer beater? What if we get blown out? At 0-5 you have to believe this team might see the writing on the wall to a certain extent. These are the same guys who, by the end of last year, appeared to be just going through the motions. (Maybe that had something to do with them knowing Doc's future, but still). Teams can come back from 0-4 in the conference. 0-5 might be too much though.

[Norm Peterson]

Depends on how well we shoot.  If Talley and Gallegos can drop some bombs, we can stay in this one.  If Gallegos gets hot, we can hang with just about anyone.  But he really needs to elevate his shooting percentage.  He can get the shot off; he just needs to hit the darn thing.  If we shoot the ball well, we can win.  But, as a fan, I'm not going to expect it.

[49r]

Lee Barfknecht wrote about that in the OWH this morning, at some point you're gonna need to win an actual game.  Moral victories are not enough on their own.  For that reason, yes, this one is huge.  But with tempered expectations going in to the season, I don't think that a loss means the end of the world for most fans.

[Red Rum]

I'm asking because I just read through the HHC predictions, and I'm wondering if as a fan base, do we expect to win this game? Should we expect to win this game? Will you be let down if we lose it? The last two losses weren't as hard to take because we were nearly 20 point underdogs in one and 25 point dogs in another, but with this being considered a "winnable" game by a lot of people, would you be disappointed if we came up with a similar result, say to the MSU game?

 

Yes we should expect to win this game just by going off of the last 2 games. And yes we should be let down if Nebraska loses. But that's just me, no moral victories.

[HuskermavfanChuck]

Loved the article yesterday by Barfy regarding the comments from Monday's press conference.  It's also pretty clear from his, Shatel's, and BR'S columns/stories that if anyone is taking moral victories from the B1G season, it isn't Miles, or even necessarily the players.  I think their heads are all where they need to be, which is fighting and scrapping for the next game.  I don't see Miles as a guy who gets really big into moral victories.  Considering we've held many teams to much below average or season-low point totals, he certainly could be taking moral victories from many of the games.  But I just don't see him as that type of guy.

 

I don't think this team will ever stop fighting this season.  I predicted 6 wins in conference before the season, and even now, I stand by that.  This team gets one or two guys on a shooting roll, watch out.  And that's basically what Izzo said in his comments as well.

[HuskermavfanChuck]

And for the record... yes, I think we should expect to win this game.  But then, I go into every game thinking we should expect to win it, and I think that's how the coaching staff and players approach every game. 

[49r]

Projecting the 2013 Big Ten Basketball Race: January 16

 

According to "The Only Colors" on SB Nation, we should EXPECT to win from 3-6 conference games this season, with 4 or 5 wins the most likely outcome.  These prediction formulas are generally right on.

 

Right now it looks like we've got about a 1 in 7 shot at 6 wins, and 1 in 20 at 7 conference wins, any more is not even worth thinking about.

[Silverbacked1]

Jimmy be careful you don't have any salsa to give away as a peace offering.

 

And yes I expect to win. 

 

I won't be a kool-ade drinking, rose colored glasses wearing,  yell my guts out Husker Basketball fan, if I didn't think we would win. :lol:

[hhcmatt]

Even in years past when we've been shi**y, we've always been tough at home. Tonight should be no different. Lose this one, and things might start snowballing in the OTHER direction.

 

This is perfect for me to segment into my next question, which is, what happens if we drop this game? What if we lose on a buzzer beater? What if we get blown out? At 0-5 you have to believe this team might see the writing on the wall to a certain extent. These are the same guys who, by the end of last year, appeared to be just going through the motions. (Maybe that had something to do with them knowing Doc's future, but still). Teams can come back from 0-4 in the conference. 0-5 might be too much though.

 

Miles has experience not winning any conference games before so he should know how to handle the team should that happen.  While we'll probably be underdogs in every game except Penn State at home it's a lot more likely we'll win some games instead of no games.

[tcp]

My biggest reservation about getting too giddy about wins is that I see their achille's heel as being too tired to finish a game. That's the kind of weakness that will be as important against PSU as it is against OSU. Anyone with even a functional bench is going to have an advantage, unless we get a big enough lead to burn down, which I think we can against a team like PSU.

 

This next stretch of games will be good to test this theory and see if it's worth a crap.