Next Step

[throwback]

This crazy February run has been a lot of fun and tells us a lot about the culture the coaches & players built this season. Goes a long way in fueling optimism for keeping Fred.

 

However, I think Saturday is another huge benchmark in letting us know if this is sustainable. We go into a game with something on the line, where we will be strongly favored, where we already beat this team on the road, and where the players will hear all week how good they are. 

 

Not trying to be a smart ass, but none of the players or coaches during their time at NU have experienced what this week will be like around here. We haven't played a Febr home game with any expectations or with anything on the line during Fred's time. Heck, we've only been favored in a handful of B1G games the past four years. We haven't been favored this season since our trip to Minny in early January.

 

Granted, the expectations for this team right now are nowhere near what the 2014 or 2018 team was experiencing in February in terms of expectations, but for this group and considering where the program has been the past few years, this is a pretty big step.

 

How does this group handle success? How do they handle people patting them on the back all week? How do they handle it when they aren't the underdog for a change? Can they keep the chip on their shoulder when things are going well?

 

Ultimately, if Fred is going to be the answer long term, we need to win games we're expected to win in February. Saturday is going to be a very good measuring stick for how the coaches handle a situation like this.

 

Edited February 20, 2023 by throwback

[Silverbacked1]

Good thought out questions.  This is truly a trap game for us and hopefully we handle it well.  I think it will help playing this game at home.

[Nebrasketball1979]

29 minutes ago, Silverbacked1 said:

Good thought out questions.  This is truly a trap game for us and hopefully we handle it well.  I think it will help playing this game at home.

It will also help that this will be Minny's third game in six days.  We should win this game going away.

[Cazzie22]

The Gophers are battling the Illini on the road.  They will NOT be an easy victory.  NU has to work and earn every victory.

[49r]

13 hours ago, Nebrasketball1979 said:

It will also help that this will be Minny's third game in six days.  We should win this game going away.

 

Conversely, the Gophs will be battle tested and we will likely be a bit rusty after a week layoff, it could be a tougher battle than we want it to be.  Plus it wasn't exactly a walk over for us in Minneapolis earlier.

[longtimefan]

In all  my 60 years of following NU BB, it seems like every time we beat really good teams, we follow up losing to a really bad team that we should beat. I hope we don't follow this pattern against Minnesota.

[Crush78]

1 hour ago, longtimefan said:

In all  my 60 years of following NU BB, it seems like every time we beat really good teams, we follow up losing to a really bad team that we should beat. I hope we don't follow this pattern against Minnesota.

This is the Wile E. Coyote esque Husker hoop fan experience, always ready for the proverbial boulder to drop on our head. 

[Crush78]

Just now, Crush78 said:

This is the Wile E. Coyote esque Husker hoop fan experience, always ready for the proverbial boulder to drop on our head. 

 

[cipsucks]

7 hours ago, longtimefan said:

In all  my 60 years of following NU BB, it seems like every time we beat really good teams, we follow up losing to a really bad team that we should beat. I hope we don't follow this pattern against Minnesota.

You have a point. Here's how I look at this:  I know we have probably 20 games losing to Colorado at home in the first round of the Big 8 Tourney in 1981, to every one game where the fans are dancing on the court to New York New York just two years later. (I was dancing).    

 

This year has a different feel for me.  I have a 1986-87 gut feeling.  Once Hoppen went down, it took the team a few games to adjust.  This team losing two players, when you look at the records, has adjusted better than the 86 team. I'll be the first to say Hoppen, at that time, was worth at least two players value to that team.

 

That team, of course, was the first Nebraska team to reach the NCAA Tournament.  I look for this team to go farther.  

 

It won't be easy.  The B1G wants their blue bloods in the tourney, so we won't get calls home or away.  Screw 'em.  I have a feeling we have a Japanese Road Runner on our roster that'll beep beep their asses!

 

 

[Handy Johnson]

Minnesota loses at Maryland by 18 after losing to them by 35 at the Barn. In the Land of 10,000 Moral Victories, this one easily qualifies. I hate to jinx us, but I think we put em out of their misery on Saturday…

Edited February 23, 2023 by Handy Johnson

[Huskerpapa]

L0L...When I look at Minnesota I look at a team, that on the surface, has more talent than we do.  So on any given day, I fear they can somehow hit on all cylinders and beat us.  The fact that we beat them earlier in the year could motivate them and lull us into complacency. 

 

So, can this be a trap game?  You betcha.   

 

I still believe we win this by tenish.  But we cannot think about the next game until we take care of this one.  Given our recent time off, do we come out refreshed or rusty?

[FredsSlacks]

i hope i'm wrong, but you have to think tominaga has a bad game sooner or later and we will struggle to win if that happens.

Edited February 23, 2023 by FredsSlacks

[Norm Peterson]

5 hours ago, FredsSlacks said:

i hope i'm wrong, but you have to think tominaga has a bad game sooner or later and we will struggle to win if that happens.

 

He didn't shoot very well against Maryland, still scored 20, and we still won.

 

I'm expecting a bounce-back game against Minnesota where he torches the nets.

[basketballjones]

My next step is trying to figure out how I am going to do this HHC Guess the score game... I don't want to jinx us but I also want to win. 

[Handy Johnson]

I get a lot of folks have been “burned” too many times by going ALL In on the Red, but this one’s gonna be a laugher boys, the Gophers aren’t going 1-19 in the B1G by accident…Check my last two predictions & doubt me at your own peril. 

Edited February 24, 2023 by Handy Johnson

[cornfed24-7]

6 hours ago, basketballjones said:

My next step is trying to figure out how I am going to do this HHC Guess the score game... I don't want to jinx us but I also want to win. 

You know what you must do. 

[hhcmatt]

On 2/22/2023 at 11:20 PM, Handy Johnson said:

Minnesota loses at Maryland by 18 after losing to them by 35 at the Barn. In the Land of 10,000 Moral Victories, this one easily qualifies. I hate to jinx us, but I think we put em out of their misery on Saturday…

 

The difference is between having and not having Dawson Garcia.

In the 5 games he was out they averaged 55.0 ppg.  The last 3 he's been back they've averaged 69.3. 

We obviously should win but they aren't the easy out they were last week

[Handy Johnson]

26 minutes ago, hhcmatt said:

 

The difference is between having and not having Dawson Garcia.

In the 5 games he was out they averaged 55.0 ppg.  The last 3 he's been back they've averaged 69.3. 

We obviously should win but they aren't the easy out they were last week

He certainly makes a difference, but we didn’t unleash the Power of the “Governor” on them last time either…! 

[cornfed24-7]

3 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

He certainly makes a difference, but we didn’t unleash the Power of the “Governor” on them last time either…! 

Nor had the man from the land of the rising sun awaken the ghosts of his ancestors. 

[royalfan]

They have as much or more talent than we do.  I expect a tough game.  Payne impressed me early in the season.  He is different.  We need to bother the guards as they are not great at the point.  8.5 seems about right to be favored by.  That suggests we should win, but to put it in perspective it also suggests we have a far better chance of losing than we will to win a game in Iowa City in a week.  

[throwback]

[huskerbill85]

Maybe a dumb question but do we have the structure in place where Fred can go get 2 legitimate players in the portal for next year so finally we can make the dance?

[Navin R. Johnson]

17 hours ago, huskerbill85 said:

Maybe a dumb question but do we have the structure in place where Fred can go get 2 legitimate players in the portal for next year so finally we can make the dance?

 

Ask the University doctors and administrators.

 

[cipsucks]

19 hours ago, huskerbill85 said:

Maybe a dumb question but do we have the structure in place where Fred can go get 2 legitimate players in the portal for next year so finally we can make the dance?

 

Dammit.  There is no such thing as a dumb question.  The definition of dumb is not being able to speak.  Your question wasn't dumb. You asked if Fred can get 2 legit players in the portal so next year we can finally make the dance?  What does the upcoming portal have to do with the Huskers making the dance this year?  

[huskerbill85]

6 hours ago, cipsucks said:

 

Dammit.  There is no such thing as a dumb question.  The definition of dumb is not being able to speak.  Your question wasn't dumb. You asked if Fred can get 2 legit players in the portal so next year we can finally make the dance?  What does the upcoming portal have to do with the Huskers making the dance this year?  

I'd love to be wrong but I think they would have to win the B1G tourney. Regardless what this team has been able to do the last month is incredible and I'm so glad to once again be excited about Nebrasketball