We're #1

[hskr4life]

 

[Huskerpapa]

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger!  Right?

[Norm Peterson]

I just re-watched the KU game and I think there's a hell of a lot to be pleased with in the first 10 games, including the KU game (we won the 2nd half, for instance.)

 

I wish we had Tai for another year.  But, having said that, I think the youngsters are showing solid improvement and I hope that 5 losses in their last 6 games hasn't demoralized them.  If they can tighten things up a bit, they're going to beat some good teams this year.

 

And, to build off what CWG said, they'll already know what it's like to play against top shelf competition. 

 

I think we'll surprise some people this year.  Win some games no one expected us to win.  Look at Maryland in our 2nd Big 10 game.  Just sayin.

Edited December 12, 2016 by Norm Peterson

[AuroranHusker]

Let's just go ahead & win 'em all. GBR

 

 

[colhusker]

We gained more losing to UCLA and Kansas than we gained beating Mary and Gardner-Webb (when we do).

[hhcmatt]

Losing by either not closing out, getting our teeth kicked in, or simply by not showing up against one of the top schedules in the nation becomes worth it when you can apply the lessons of losing to 2017.

[huskerbaseball13]

Find a way to go .500 in Big 10 play and see where the chips fall.  That probably doesn't get us into the tournament without some wins in the Big 10 tourney but it alteast will give us a chance. 

[SkersHoops]

10-8 in conference with only 1 bad loss (I think we have zero losses that would be considered bad losses by commitee), plus 2 big wins, gets us to 17-13, add the same as we did last year in the B10 tourney (2-1) for a grand total of 19-14.  Our SofS should still be really solid and RPI should be decent.  That would be tough to keep us out of the dance IMO

 

I also like our last 5 conference games.  2 tough road games @ Ohio St. and Michigan St., but 2 of 3 at home to finish, and get Michigan at The Bank to end conference play.  Maybe "No Sit Sunday" round 2 to get to the dance???? Never know....... GBR

[jimmykc]

We are not dead unless we sleep on one of the next two opponents. Once the conference starts though, we have to be ready to perform at a high level.

[49r]

2016-17 RPI
RK (RPI)	TEAM	RPI	D1 W-L	SOS	NCRP	NCSS	CFRP	CFSS	1-25	26-50	51-100	L12	LRPI	OFFQ	DEFQ	ASM
1 (8)	Minnesota	.6581	10-1	65	265	65	265	265	0-1	2-0	1-0	10-1	19	7.4	11.9	19.3
2 (24)	Northwestern	.6308	7-2	54	242	54	242	242	1-1	0-1	2-0	7-2	17	8.1	11.6	19.7
3 (25)	Maryland	.6307	9-1	73	262	73	262	262	0-0	1-1	1-0	9-1	14	3.1	9.0	12.1
4 (35)	Purdue	.6142	8-2	80	203	80	116	75	1-2	0-0	1-0	8-2	18	13.3	10.5	23.9
5 (41)	Wisconsin	.6067	9-2	121	333	119	333	333	0-2	0-0	2-0	9-2	20	7.6	14.8	22.4
6 (48)	Indiana	.5996	8-1	219	245	220	245	245	2-0	0-0	0-1	8-1	4	17.4	9.4	26.8
7 (49)	Michigan	.5986	7-3	61	264	61	264	264	0-2	0-0	2-1	7-3	8	1.5	12.7	14.2
8 (55)	Nebraska	.5930	4-5	1	279	1	279	279	0-3	1-0	0-2	4-5	46	0.1	7.8	7.9
9 (59)	Rutgers	.5850	8-1	251	284	251	284	284	0-0	0-0	0-0	8-1	61	3.4	12.9	16.4
10 (63)	Illinois	.5822	7-3	56	56	56	181	181	0-1	2-0	0-2	7-3	15	8.1	6.0	14.1
11 (76)	Michigan State	.5708	7-4	77	263	77	263	263	0-3	0-1	1-0	7-4	27	4.0	8.5	12.5
12 (78)	Ohio State	.5694	8-2	189	293	188	293	293	1-1	0-0	2-0	8-2	50	5.9	12.1	18.0
13 (92)	Penn State	.5526	6-5	42	300	42	300	300	0-1	0-2	0-0	6-5	54	3.9	4.1	7.9
14 (156)	Iowa	.5012	5-5	99	93	99	131	131	0-1	0-1	1-1	5-5	43	16.4	-5.6	10.

[hhcmatt]

3 minutes ago, jimmykc said:

We are not dead unless we sleep on one of the next two opponents. Once the conference starts though, we have to be ready to perform at a high level.

 

Even then it will be brutal starting against Indiana and Maryland on the road though I'd rather see us play those away from the PBA to start the season.

[uneblinstu]

51 minutes ago, SkersHoops said:

10-8 in conference with only 1 bad loss (I think we have zero losses that would be considered bad losses by commitee),

Every team we've lost to will likely be a tournament team. If you told me any one individually would end up in the Sweet 16, I wouldn't be surprised. Three of them have a good chance to go well beyond that.

[49r]

I would be mildly surprised if Clemson made it to the second weekend.

[uneblinstu]

2 minutes ago, 49r said:

I would be mildly surprised if Clemson made it to the second weekend.

They're the least likely, but they've got a punchers chance. That's part of the nature of the tournament.

[Norm Peterson]

7 minutes ago, uneblinstu said:

Every team we've lost to will likely be a tournament team. If you told me any one individually would end up in the Sweet 16, I wouldn't be surprised. Three of them have a good chance to go well beyond that.

 

I wish some of the doomsday types would go re-watch some of the games.  We're not as far away as some seem to want to believe.  We've got some good players out there doing some good things.  We're going toe-to-toe with KU, one of the top 5 teams in the country, and then, just as an example, you do a substitution where you bring in two talented true freshmen, they forget to communicate on a switch, and KU nails a wide-open trey.  Is that a system failure?  When freshmen make mistakes ten games into their college careers?  Not in my opinion.  But we saw a lot of youthful mistakes translate into KU points.  And then just some world-class displays by some future lottery picks.

 

Second half, we played equal to them and it wasn't like they put in their walk-ons for the last 5 minutes.

 

If you look at our non-conference foes and compare their current Kenpom rankings to our conference foes, here's what you get:

 

KU is better than the best team in the league (#4 compared to #8 Wisconsin (who also lost to Creighton)).

UCLA at #12 is one spot behind #11 Purdue.

Creighton at #16 is one spot behind #15 Indiana.

Clemson at #31 is 3 spots back of #28 Michigan.

Virginia Tech at #36 is one spot behind #35 Ohio State.

Dayton at #39 is one spot AHEAD of #40 Michigan State.

 

And those are the top 6 teams in our league, according to Kenpom, in that order.

 

So, just to complete the analogy, we beat our non-conference version of Michigan State, and we nearly beat the non-con version of Michigan ... ON THE ROAD.

 

We held our own against our non-con version of Ohio State on a neutral floor.  And we haven't been embarrassed by anyone including the non-con versions of the top 3 teams in our league.

 

So ... let me know if any of you need any assistance climbing in off the ledge.

[uneblinstu]

NU is playing about 20 minutes of good basketball a game right now, almost regardless of opponent. It's not very often a team plays good basketball for 40 minutes, especially in November and December. But the teams we're trying to reach (Creighton, Kansas, etc...) are playing it for about 32 minutes a game. If NU can get to 28-30 minutes a game of good basketball, the feelings about this team will change dramatically.

[hskr4life]

We're in a funny spot because even just 1 more win and people have a different opinion.  2 more wins and people are extatic!  And we were right there in 2-3 of those games.

[hhcmatt]

12 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

We're going toe-to-toe with KU, one of the top 5 teams in the country, and then, just as an example, you do a substitution where you bring in two talented true freshmen, they forget to communicate on a switch, and KU nails a wide-open trey.  Is that a system failure?  When freshmen make mistakes ten games into their college careers?  Not in my opinion.  But we saw a lot of youthful mistakes translate into KU points.  And then just some world-class displays by some future lottery picks.

 

Right or wrong this is some of the reason why these guys haven't played a ton of minutes this far into the season: It's hard to win games vs top level opponents when you give them points. However as we didn't exactly win most of those games up to this point we are going to see these guys play more.

[HuskerCager]

If we had beaten Clemson and VA Tech, I would have felt good about our NCAA chances.  Those were winnable games we let slip away.

Edited December 12, 2016 by HuskerCager

[49r]

1 hour ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

So ... let me know if any of you need any assistance climbing in off the ledge.

 

 

Norm, they could use your help on the more *ahem* football oriented Husker message boards...they are pretty much unanimous in that they think Miles should have been fired long ago.  They really hate almost everything about the program right now, and change is needed immediately...starting at the top.

 

It's no wonder the stereotype of the Husker fan who doesn't know a damn thing about basketball exists...

[Fullbacksympathy]

I'm thrilled with our RPI at 55.  We're in contention to make the dance.  It sounds crazy to say that at 4-5, but those losses help our team immensely, plus one really good win against Dayton on a neutral court.  

 

Look at it this way:  would we have the same amount of naysayers if we were 8-0, one good win, and an RPI of 55?  No chance in hell.  We'd be the talk of the town.  

 

I, for one, hope we aim for the nation's toughest noncon schedule every year.  This has been the most fun I've ever had watching the noncon.  

[hskr4life]

New AP Poll.

 

Huskers losses to 

#2 UCLA

#3 KU

#10 Creighton

RV Va Tech

RV Clemson

 

I think we can all agree that we were right there against Clemson and VA Tech.  Could have won those.

 

Went toe to toe with the number 2 team in the country on a neutral court.

 

Won the 2nd half against the number 3 team in the country on their court.

 

Shot terrible against the number 10 team in the country on our court.

 

Arguably, there were only 2 games (CU and KU) that we were pretty far out of it at some point in the second half.

Edited December 12, 2016 by hskr4life

[Silverbacked1]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

 

Norm, they could use your help on the more *ahem* football oriented Husker message boards...they are pretty much unanimous in that they think Miles should have been fired long ago.  They really hate almost everything about the program right now, and change is needed immediately...starting at the top.

 

It's no wonder the stereotype of the Husker fan who doesn't know a damn thing about basketball exists...

That is why I only read this sight. Most on here are well informed and have vaiuable reasons behind their agruments.  Not just we suck get rid of everybody.  

These are also many of the same guys who want the football coaches gone, baseball gone, women;s basketball gone after next year because it is obivous that we suck there,etc..  Will probably want Cook gone if we don't win this week end and then maybe even then if it isn't 3 game sweeps.

[Norm Peterson]

1 hour ago, 49r said:

 

Norm, they could use your help on the more *ahem* football oriented Husker message boards...they are pretty much unanimous in that they think Miles should have been fired long ago.  They really hate almost everything about the program right now, and change is needed immediately...starting at the top.

 

It's no wonder the stereotype of the Husker fan who doesn't know a damn thing about basketball exists...

 

You talking about the guys who complain that our "offensive identity" is standing around and jacking up three-pointers all game even though we didn't attempt our first 3-pointer against KU until 3 minutes left in the half and had gotten nearly all of our points in the paint?  Those guys?

[49r]

42 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

 

You talking about the guys who complain that our "offensive identity" is standing around and jacking up three-pointers all game even though we didn't attempt our first 3-pointer against KU until 3 minutes left in the half and had gotten nearly all of our points in the paint?  Those guys?

 

Yeah, basically an echo chamber full of Hoops_Legend's.