Next 4 games

[TourneyBound]

We got a tough but important stretch coming up here...

[49r]

My vote is on KenPom's behalf.

[cornfed24-7]

4-0 magic boys! 

[Norm Peterson]

I can't remember how I put it before, but it was something like I'm not saying we'll be great, but I do want to see how we stack up.

 

Well, these next 4 games are real "stacking up" games. I think we have the potential to be a pretty good ballclub. We've beaten a couple of teams that were really pretty decent, including Duquesne. We've dominated some of the other clubs.  But I'm still not confident how we stack up against our own conference.

 

And I'm not sure the conference schedulers have done us any favors, either.

 

I'd say there are three categories of teams you face: 1) they'll likely beat you home or away; 2) they likely lose to you home or away; and 3) they probably split and each team would likely win at home.

 

So, if you had the PERFECT schedule, you'd not want to waste a home game on EITHER the teams you'd likely lose to home or away OR the teams you'd likely beat home or away. You want to save the home games for the teams in the middle where the winner will probably be the home team.

 

We have six single-play games, 3 at home and 3 on the road. I'd say two of the three home games in single-play are against teams that would likely beat us either place (MSU and Purdue).

 

ALL THREE single-play road games are in the category of "home team probably wins."

 

So, in the single-plays, the likelihood would be that we go 1-5, whereas if you flip the home/away factor and we face Purdue and MSU on the road and get to play Maryland, Iowa and Illinois at home, we might go 4-2.

 

That's a huge swing. HUGE! Unfortunate that the scheduling happened to work out that way this year, but does anyone disagree with my thought process?

 

In any event, these next 4 games will give us a good barometer of how good we *could* be and whether some of these single-play road games could actually represent an opportunity to burnish our resume.

Edited November 27, 2023 by Norm Peterson

[Huskerpapa]

I want to say 4-0.  I should be happy with 2-2.  So I went with 3-1, whilst thinking with my heart rather than my brain.  I hate to say this; but if things go south, we could even be 0-4.

[Vinny]

I said 3-1 and if that loss is next Wednesday when I’m in attendance, so help me god, I will shit in concourse of that barn. 

[AuroranHusker]

If the Gophers beat NU, then it's going to be a long B1G season, I'm afraid. That one should be a Big Red W. "Should"

 

 

[royalfan]

4 hours ago, Norm Peterson said:

I can't remember how I put it before, but it was something like I'm not saying we'll be great, but I do want to see how we stack up.

 

Well, these next 4 games are real "stacking up" games. I think we have the potential to be a pretty good ballclub. We've beaten a couple of teams that were really pretty decent, including Duquesne. We've dominated some of the other clubs.  But I'm still not confident how we stack up against our own conference.

 

And I'm not sure the conference schedulers have done us any favors, either.

 

I'd say there are three categories of teams you face: 1) they'll likely beat you home or away; 2) they likely lose to you home or away; and 3) they probably split and each team would likely win at home.

 

So, if you had the PERFECT schedule, you'd not want to waste a home game on EITHER the teams you'd likely lose to home or away OR the teams you'd likely beat home or away. You want to save the home games for the teams in the middle where the winner will probably be the home team.

 

We have six single-play games, 3 at home and 3 on the road. I'd say two of the three home games in single-play are against teams that would likely beat us either place (MSU and Purdue).

 

ALL THREE single-play road games are in the category of "home team probably wins."

 

So, in the single-plays, the likelihood would be that we go 1-5, whereas if you flip the home/away factor and we face Purdue and MSU on the road and get to play Maryland, Iowa and Illinois at home, we might go 4-2.

 

That's a huge swing. HUGE! Unfortunate that the scheduling happened to work out that way this year, but does anyone disagree with my thought process?

 

In any event, these next 4 games will give us a good barometer of how good we *could* be and whether some of these single-play road games could actually represent an opportunity to burnish our resume.

it is a great point but nobody in our leauge is in a very likely to win category in our building.  

[skerbball]

3 hours ago, AuroranHusker said:

If the Gophers beat NU, then it's going to be a long B1G season, I'm afraid. That one should be a Big Red W. "Should"

 

 

Agreed. And I would love some revenge for how last season ended in the Big 10 tournament against Minnesota. 

[HuskerActuary]

We only need to go 2-2 to stay on track for an NCAA tourney bid IMO. I would be very much satisfied with 2-2. 3-1 and we'll be very near the top 25 rankings.

[hskr4life]

40 minutes ago, HuskerActuary said:

We only need to go 2-2 to stay on track for an NCAA tourney bid IMO. I would be very much satisfied with 2-2. 3-1 and we'll be very near the top 25 rankings.

I don’t care how you’d swing the loss, if we go 3-1 in this stretch and aren’t in the Top 25, it’s strictly because of the name on the front of our jersey.

 

All three of CU, MSU, and KSU are acceptable losses.  Losing to Minny would hurt but it would mean going 3-0 against the aforementioned and the Minny game would be a road game.

 

Happy we got votes this week, but I don’t think we deserve them just yet.  Give any top half of a major conference team our schedule and the majority would also be 7-0.  However, we go 3-1 or even 2-2 and one of those 2 losses isn’t Minny… we should be ranked.

Edited November 28, 2023 by hskr4life

[hskr4life]

This is the strangest 4 game stretch I can remember and one of the most nervous stretches I’ve had since our late run to dance.

 

3-1 or 2-2 seems a likely outcome with how we’ve played.  However we can’t omit the possibility that we go 1-3 or even 0-4.  That would be a disaster but it’s entirely possible because… Nebrasketball.

 

Whats new, however, is that going 4-0 isn’t a complete pipe dream this year.  We have a chance in every single one of these games.  Our two toughest (MSU and CU) are at home, Minny should be a W provided we just do what we do, and KSU looks a little down compared to last year.  We also have a team that I can confidently say going 4-0 isn’t a pipe dream.  It’ll be tough, no doubt.  It shouldn’t be expected. But it also can’t be written off like in years past.

 

We could theoretically go anywhere from 0-4 to 4-0.  So yeah… the nerves are kicking in just a bit today.

[huskerkid21]

The only way i'd take 1-3 is if the 1 is to those sweater vests from omaha. 2-2 most likely but if we go 3-1 im buying plane tickets for march. idk where to - but im buying them.

[rwmctrofholz]

4 hours ago, huskerkid21 said:

The only way i'd take 1-3 is if the 1 is to those sweater vests from omaha. 2-2 most likely but if we go 3-1 im buying plane tickets for march. idk where to - but im buying them.

 

Came to post the same as it relates to the prospect of going 1-3 in the next 4.  Hopefully Trev doesn't plan on setting up any boutique style, bloody mary vendors for this game; I don't want those guys feeling at home at all on Sunday.

[roscoe]

Maybe I saw it on here somewhere but saw that some reporter from Fort Wayne, Indiana has us 22nd. Thus giving us all 4 points. 

[cornfed24-7]

4 minutes ago, roscoe said:

Maybe I saw it on here somewhere but saw that some reporter from Fort Wayne, Indiana has us 22nd. Thus giving us all 4 points. 

Those guys and gals in Fort Wayne really know their basketball

[Norm Peterson]

11 hours ago, huskerkid21 said:

The only way i'd take 1-3 is if the 1 is to those sweater vests from omaha. 2-2 most likely but if we go 3-1 im buying plane tickets for march. idk where to - but im buying them.

Seems reasonable.

[hskr4life]

I’m surprised at the overwhelming number of 3-1 predictions over 1-3 predictions.  I expected 2-2 to garner the most votes but thought 1-3 and 3-1 would flip flop their current numbers.

 

This also tells me that many of you too think we could go 4-0 this stretch but just don’t want to get that cocky.  Which, completely understandable… but there isn’t a game in these next four that we don’t have a chance in.

 

Watched a little of KSU’s game last night.  They went to OT vs Oral Robert’s.  Our arguably two easiest games in the next four are on the road.  Our two toughest are at home.  

[Norm Peterson]

I think we're pretty good, but I still went with 2-2 because ...

 

1) That's a murderer's row 4-game stretch;

2) Winning streaks are hard to sustain because you'll have an off-night every now and again and one of your opponents could get hot;

3) It's tough winning on the road even against inferior teams and KSU is certainly on par with us if not possibly a little better, so an awful lot would have to go our way to pick up that W.

[hhcmatt]

For post season purposes, I'm looking for Nebraska to win at least 1 out of the 2 games with Creighton/Kansas St with Creighton being the better one to win on multiple levels.

[TourneyBound]

this stretch followed by those first 4 games of January are really going to tell us where we are as a team..  Can we go 4-4 over those 8..  I think id take that.

[EAbby]

I went with 3-1, the road games are against the easier opponents. My in-laws are gopher fans and I’ve got first-cousins who go to K State. So I need those two wins for my sanity. And then I hope to split Creighton and Michigan St, since they’re at PBA. I definitely voted with my heart.

[Cazzie22]

I said 2-2.  I expect to defeat Creighton and Minnesota.  Would love to beat Izzo and Michigan St but Tyson Walker may be too much of a difference maker.  K-State may be a toss up with the home court being the difference.

[Dead Dog Alley]

18 hours ago, roscoe said:

Maybe I saw it on here somewhere but saw that some reporter from Fort Wayne, Indiana has us 22nd. Thus giving us all 4 points. 

 

So, he ranked all 22 unbeaten teams 1-22, and Nebraska was last?

[hskr4life]

1 hour ago, Dead Dog Alley said:

 

So, he ranked all 22 unbeaten teams 1-22, and Nebraska was last?

Nope— he just had Nebraska as his 22nd team in his top 25 ballot.