I dont do polls, but...

[cipsucks]

all you antique people' like myself, can take a crack at this question.  

 

Which Husker game in the last 50 years has most placed us in the position we are currently?  

 

Feb 1, 1986.  Nebraska @ Colorado.  Huskers win, Hoppen goes down.  If he stays healthy, chances are we win a game or two in the tourney and who knows... Not saying Moe remains head coach, but ....

 

March 14, 1991.  Too painful to talk about, but the Tony Farmer garbage before the Xavier game is unbelievable.  Huskers win that game, an Elite Eight is not out of the realm of possibilities.

 

March 13, 1994.  We beat Okie State to win the Big 12 Tourney.  Had we lost that game, a different seed in the big dance, and we wouldn't have had to play Penn in a Thursday game.

 

You know, over the years we've actually had decent coaching.  A game or two, a possession or two, a bad referee call X 500, and we'd be in a totally different situation than today.

 

Give me your thoughts on the above games. And as always, GBR!

[Cazzie22]

1. You will have to refresh me on the Farmer incident.  Pete Gillen out coached Nee that night.   That was at least a Sweet 16 Team. That loss was probably the most damaging. That was our best team.

However, the 1965-66 Huskers were very good.

 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Cazzie22
Spelling

[throwback]

Not a game, but the 1995-96 team mid-season walkout by players was a crossroads for the program. That dysfunctional team was a Sweet 16 team talent wise. Winning the NIT didn't keep the program moving forward like a couple of NCAA wins may have done. I know, shocking.

 

Who knows what happens with Nee & the program in 1997 and beyond if they avoid the dysfunction in that 1996 season and play to their potential? 

 

[Bugeaters1]

  On 1/14/2022 at 3:36 AM, Cazzie22 said:

1. You will have to refresh me on the Farmer incident.  Pete Gillen out coached Nee that night.   That was at least a Sweet 16 Team. That loss was probably the most damaging. That was our best team.

However, the 1965-66 Huskers were very good.

 

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https://omaha.com/sports/college/huskers/plus/how-dirty-money-led-nebraska-basketballs-1991-dream-season-to-postseason-disaster/article_c6e11991-142d-5e57-8aea-4935ea87dc85.html

[Cazzie22]

  On 1/14/2022 at 4:10 AM, Bugeaters1 said:

https://omaha.com/sports/college/huskers/plus/how-dirty-money-led-nebraska-basketballs-1991-dream-season-to-postseason-disaster/article_c6e11991-142d-5e57-8aea-4935ea87dc85.html

Expand  

Thanks for the information. 

[Ron Mexico]

  On 1/14/2022 at 2:44 AM, cipsucks said:

all you antique people' like myself, can take a crack at this question.  

 

Which Husker game in the last 50 years has most placed us in the position we are currently?  

 

Feb 1, 1986.  Nebraska @ Colorado.  Huskers win, Hoppen goes down.  If he stays healthy, chances are we win a game or two in the tourney and who knows... Not saying Moe remains head coach, but ....

 

March 14, 1991.  Too painful to talk about, but the Tony Farmer garbage before the Xavier game is unbelievable.  Huskers win that game, an Elite Eight is not out of the realm of possibilities.

 

March 13, 1994.  We beat Okie State to win the Big 12 Tourney.  Had we lost that game, a different seed in the big dance, and we wouldn't have had to play Penn in a Thursday game.

 

You know, over the years we've actually had decent coaching.  A game or two, a possession or two, a bad referee call X 500, and we'd be in a totally different situation than today.

 

Give me your thoughts on the above games. And as always, GBR!

Expand  

I'm going to stay more recent:

Jan 26 2018 (vs tOSU) Isaac Copeland is fouled and he continues on his path to attempt an unnecessary dunk and injures his knee and is out for the season.

While our record prior to that game wasn't eye popping, 13-6 overall and 3-5 conference, or something like that, we had beaten Seton Hall(NCAA), Creighton, OK St, and Clemson. Lost to final 4 TTech.

Including tOSU game we finished out the year 3-9 (6-14 overall) in conference play, with a surprising senior day victory against Iowa(NCAA).

That tOSU loss was part of a 5 game losing streak. All 5 of those teams went to the NCAA.

Conference was strong that year sending 8 teams to the NCAA. One of those being final 4 participant MSU, Purdue elite 8, sweet sixteen Michigan.

Both tOSU and Minny(split) got into the NCAA with losing conference records.

Think we could have flipped 3 or 4 games with a healthy Copeland, because that is about all we would have needed to get into the tournament.

[Handy Johnson]

The ‘99 squad finished 10-6 in the Conference beat Oklahoma in Norman yet OU went to the Dance & we did not. A deep Tournament run with POY Venson Hamilton would not have been out of the question. It might have kept Nee around & changed the arc of the program. He was gone the next year…

[tcp]

Ugh, that damned Xavier game. That's the one. The lynchpin in Nees program potential and what could have been the start to a budding explosion of quality nebrasketball in terms of recruiting and such. 

 

the most memorable of these for me is the 86 game, though, because I remember wanting to follow NU in the postseason but I was stuck at Fort Huachuca (Ft. Wegotcha for vets with an MI bent) at an intel course in the Army and the staff took no mercy on a Husker fan for basketball and made me actually do my work that day (and about a half dozen others) and stay in the field setting up the advanced course graduation exercise. 

 

I find out Dave's hurt and, voila, everyone knew the result from there. 

[HuskerFever]

I think it's probably the Rutgers game from this season. That 30-point loss to a good, but not great, team was demoralizing. But more importantly, that's when Norm lost interest in taking the reigns and rebuilding this team. Had that game not happened, we'd be talking about Final Fours every other season for the next decade. What a shame.

[No Place Like the Vault]

  On 1/14/2022 at 2:44 AM, cipsucks said:

all you antique people' like myself, can take a crack at this question.  

 

Which Husker game in the last 50 years has most placed us in the position we are currently?  

 

Feb 1, 1986.  Nebraska @ Colorado.  Huskers win, Hoppen goes down.  If he stays healthy, chances are we win a game or two in the tourney and who knows... Not saying Moe remains head coach, but ....

 

March 14, 1991.  Too painful to talk about, but the Tony Farmer garbage before the Xavier game is unbelievable.  Huskers win that game, an Elite Eight is not out of the realm of possibilities.

 

March 13, 1994.  We beat Okie State to win the Big 12 Tourney.  Had we lost that game, a different seed in the big dance, and we wouldn't have had to play Penn in a Thursday game.

 

You know, over the years we've actually had decent coaching.  A game or two, a possession or two, a bad referee call X 500, and we'd be in a totally different situation than today.

 

Give me your thoughts on the above games. And as always, GBR!

Expand  

Big 12 started in 1996

[Silverbacked1]

Hoppen just because it just crushed the vibe that was Nebraska basketball.

 

and because I am old and like to remember the good old days, well not the basketball good old days.

[jimmykc]

I'll go with Hoppen's injury too. I think Nebraska would have had a NCAA tourney win or two if it had not happened and the blanket of angst about being the "only major program without a NCAA victory" would have not smothered the program. 

[Norm Peterson]

  On 1/14/2022 at 2:44 AM, cipsucks said:

all you antique people' like myself, can take a crack at this question.  

 

Which Husker game in the last 50 years has most placed us in the position we are currently?  

 

Feb 1, 1986.  Nebraska @ Colorado.  Huskers win, Hoppen goes down.  If he stays healthy, chances are we win a game or two in the tourney and who knows... Not saying Moe remains head coach, but ....

 

March 14, 1991.  Too painful to talk about, but the Tony Farmer garbage before the Xavier game is unbelievable.  Huskers win that game, an Elite Eight is not out of the realm of possibilities.

 

March 13, 1994.  We beat Okie State to win the Big 12 Tourney.  Had we lost that game, a different seed in the big dance, and we wouldn't have had to play Penn in a Thursday game.

 

You know, over the years we've actually had decent coaching.  A game or two, a possession or two, a bad referee call X 500, and we'd be in a totally different situation than today.

 

Give me your thoughts on the above games. And as always, GBR!

Expand  

 

Too soon, man. Too soon. I'm having flashback nightmares RN.

[UnicamMan]

This is a bit more recent but I say the game against tOSU in the Big Ten tournament on March 14th 2014.  The game after No Sit Sunday and we had a huge early lead on them only to blow it before going on to lose to Baylor in the NCAA.  That was a great and fun season but it made No Sit Sunday the highwater mark of the season and Miles' tenure.  If we had beaten Ohio St we could have made a run in the conference tournament and then probably got a higher seed and better matchup in the NCAA.  

[Norm Peterson]

I'm not convinced that anything that happened 20-30 or even 40 years ago has much to do with where we are as a program RN.

 

I did not support firing Tim Miles, but even I had to concede that Fred Hoiberg probably represented an upgrade. It looked for all the world like a can't-miss hire. We should be in the top 4-5 of the conference RN.  We shouldn't be even discussing bubbles; we should be discussing seeding.

 

How we wind up where we are today is baffling to me. But those games decades ago don't affect where we are today. A perfect storm of events converging in time 3 years ago wiped away all that history: Bulls fire Hoiberg halfway into the season; there happen to be deep connections between Hoiberg and this town and this school; Miles' team struggled and he's let go; and we go after a big-name coach the likes of which we otherwise would have had no hope of landing.

 

It should have worked. Why it hasn't has nothing to do with Dave Hoppen blowing a knee and everything to do with things going on in our program at this moment.

[jimmykc]

Who knows. If we had won a few tourney games Moe probably would not have quit and lasted a few more years, causing us to hire a new coach who was not Danny and totally changing recruits' perception of us being "losers". I'm using the old "for want of a nail..." concept. For an example of small changes having major effects you might try watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" which I watched again last night-but bring some kleenex. 

[Cookie Crumbs]

  On 1/14/2022 at 3:34 PM, UnicamMan said:

This is a bit more recent but I say the game against tOSU in the Big Ten tournament on March 14th 2014.  The game after No Sit Sunday and we had a huge early lead on them only to blow it before going on to lose to Baylor in the NCAA.  That was a great and fun season but it made No Sit Sunday the highwater mark of the season and Miles' tenure.  If we had beaten Ohio St we could have made a run in the conference tournament and then probably got a higher seed and better matchup in the NCAA.  

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Was going to say this exact thing. Being a younger fan myself, that game sticks in my mind as a huge missed opportunity. We qualify for the B1G semi's and we are looking at better seeding, more momentum, and less of a mentally painful defeat when you let them go on a 42-19 run in that second half. 

 

If Miles was able to break the curse, I bet we build momentum and his entire recruiting/transfer strategy changes. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by hguy44

[HF_]

Most recently impactful IMO is the Kansas game @PBA in 2018.  We foul Azubuike and force him to make 2 freethrows instead of letting them hit the game-winning 3 pointer, and we dance that season.

 

Also on a side note, would've been nice for Fred to pull his head out of his ass and foul Cockburn 3 possessions in a row when they were in the 1-1.

[Ron Mexico]

  On 1/14/2022 at 6:17 PM, HF_ said:

Also on a side note, would've been nice for Fred to pull his head out of his ass and foul Cockburn 3 possessions in a row when they were in the 1-1.

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Was thinking the same thing. Cockburn 66% FT is likely part of the reason why he wasn't on the floor the last minute of the game or so.

[Ron Mexico]

  On 1/14/2022 at 6:31 AM, Handy Johnson said:

The ‘99 squad finished 10-6 in the Conference beat Oklahoma in Norman yet OU went to the Dance & we did not. A deep Tournament run with POY Venson Hamilton would not have been out of the question. It might have kept Nee around & changed the arc of the program. He was gone the next year…

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Probably one of the biggest NCAA tourney selection screw jobs ever.

We played pretty tough schedule that season and beat KU twice, only to lose to them in the the 2nd round of the Big12 tourney. 

[Huskerpapa]

Goodness Cip...there are sooo many to choose from.

I don't know of a specific game, but I know the original Cip had some exceptional teams BUT because the tournament had significantly less teams,  we didn't get the opportunity to play in the dance.