Time To Make The Move

[throwback]

Indiana 36-30 at halftime

 

We'll be in 8th after this game - either tied with Indiana for 8th (If UM wins) or all alone in 8th (if IU wins)

[Section_316]

Down 6 @ the half.... If we win out at home & ste 1 on the road , I don't really see how they can keep us out

[colhusker]

 

4-2 in the last 6 games with 5 very winnable games left in our final 8.

crap. Voted this one down on accident.

 

 

 

Big win...need to handle home the rest I the way and find one more road win maybe somewhere

 

If we win the rest of our home games and get to .500 in league play I don't think there's any way we aren't dancing.

 

Agree 100% 49r and I think it could happen.  Will it, I will wait and see but it could happen.

[hhcmatt]

20 wins will get this team in to NCAA tourney, with or without b1g tournament games.

 

That would be winning all our regular season games or winning some tournament games.  Would agree on that.

[hhcmatt]

 

I think it would take 10-8 or 9-9 +2 in the Big 10 Tourney for us to dance, just because we're Nebraska and we won't have a "quality" road win unless we steal one at Indiana or Minnesota.

The good news is 8-10 gets us in the NIT and if we just go 4-5 the last nine, we're in that.

10 is what it will take.. but it has nothing to do with "being Nebraska". It's about losing to a terrible UAB team on a neutral court.

 

 

Agreed.  Winning on the road at Michigan St would be about the only scenario where 9-9 gets us in the NCAA.

[lanigan123]

Best case I think this team could go 6-1 and win the first round game and be in. I dont think we beat MSU. That being said, I could also see 4-3 and the NIT.

[throwback]

Exactly - the selection committee loves big wins away from home - MSU would qualify 

[kleitus]

I'm looking at our RPI just for kicks... we were 72 before today... right behind Indiana.  Northwestern is at 91 with Illinois at 84.  If we win against the Illini, we're looking at a decent jump higher by the time we're done playing MSU (road game against top 10 team should help regardless).  Maybe 10-15 spots higher by the end of next week if we beat Illinois (i may be wrong, just seems right to me... obviously there are a lot of factors involved so if i'm full of it feel free to say so).

 

Just interesting.  An RPI in the high 50's/low 60's this late in the year is nothing to scoff at.  Not sure entirely what that means, but it's definitely bubble discussion time IMO.  It says a lot that the worst team in the big ten is still going to help us in the RPI so long as we take care of business.

[ajb5856]

I think it would take 10-8 or 9-9 +2 in the Big 10 Tourney for us to dance, just because we're Nebraska and we won't have a "quality" road win unless we steal one at Indiana or Minnesota.

The good news is 8-10 gets us in the NIT and if we just go 4-5 the last nine, we're in that.

10 is what it will take.. but it has nothing to do with "being Nebraska". It's about losing to a terrible UAB team on a neutral court.

Agreed. Winning on the road at Michigan St would be about the only scenario where 9-9 gets us in the NCAA.

So...currently liverpi.com has our RPI at 64 after today's win. Hadn't checked out that site for awhile but I discovered that there's a new button called rpiwizard. Thought i would share in case some didn't know yet but now you can go through and grade future games as a win or loss or even change results of past games to see what could have been.

It puts us at a final RPI of 66 if we win the rest at home and lose the rest on the road finishing at 9-9. Everyone get on there and play around with the scenarios.

[ajb5856]

Another liverpi scenario (rpiwizard.com). This time I had us winning out at home, stealing a road win at Illinois, and losing the other 2 road games. With this scenario it predicts our RPI will finish at 49.

So...take care of business at home and get the bonus points for stealing 1 more road win.

[throwback]

Minnesota rallies to win by 6, so we're tied with Indiana for 8th, and just one-half game out of 6th, where we'd currently hold tie-breaker edges over Minnesota & Northwestern.

 

I know NU has had its list of games that we'd like to have back, but Indiana fans have had it worse than us - blew double digit leads on the road at NU and UM, plus a home loss to NW, all teams that it's directly battling with in the middle of the standings. Then also lost in OT at Illinois and had a 5-pt lead at MSU with 11:00 to play before losing. Ouch.

 

#9 Michigan State 9-1

#10 Michigan 9-2

#17 Iowa 7-4

Ohio State 6-5

Wisconsin 5-5

Northwestern 5-6

Minnesota 5-6

Nebraska 4-6

Indiana 4-6

Purdue 4-7

Penn State 3-7

Illinois 2-8

[GoBigRed]

Ohio State comes through and Minnesota beats Indiana.

 

T-8th with Indiana as of now with the tiebreaker in our favor. If Wisconsin loses at home to MSU tomorrow, we are playing Illinois on Wednesday to move into a T-5th. Then we have possibly the easiest schedule of anyone to finish the year.

 

Will this be the year we finish? Probably not. But they've got the opportunity right in front of them.

[throwback]

By the way:

 

• First time we've won 4 of 6 conference games since 2011
• If NU defeats Illinois, it'll be the first time we've won 5 of 7 conf games since 2004

[AuroranHusker]

 

By the way:

 

• First time we've won 4 of 6 conference games since 2011
• If NU defeats Illinois, it'll be the first time we've won 5 of 7 conf games since 2004

 

 

Nebraska won 5 out of 7 conference games in 2008 (late-Feb to mid-Mar).

[throwback]

You're right - I was just looking at regular season only, but didn't mention that.

[Cazzie22]

Can't we just focus on the next game?  The cliche is old but true, play one game at a time and hopefully the TEAM gets better with each game.

[royalfan]

Can't we just focus on the next game?  The cliche is old but true, play one game at a time and hopefully the TEAM gets better with each game.

 

Obviously we could.  But my goal is to make the dance each and every year.  So you can be damn sure I am going to be paying attention to what is needed to make it.  Doesn't mean I think will, but I want to be aware of what is going on.  And it makes no difference whatsoever what we are worried about anyway.  It is what the team is worried about that matters.  This nonsense about the fans having to only worry about the next game is ludicrous IMO. 

[Ron Mexico]

 

Let's dream.

 

Every time we do this it ends up being a nightmare. You are correct that the second half of the season sets up well. Now we have to do something we haven't been able to do in over a decade and that's FINISH!

[throwback]

 

 

Let's dream.

 

Every time we do this it ends up being a nightmare. You are correct that the second half of the season sets up well. Now we have to do something we haven't been able to do in over a decade and that's FINISH!

 

Not picking on you here, but I've seen this sentiment a lot lately and had a thought on it. 

 

My thought is that even though NU as a program has been unable to finish in the past, we have to remember this is a new coaching staff, new players, and new feeling around the program (greatly upgraded facilities, etc.). While it's easy to fall into the habit of proactively punishing this team for the "sins" of the past, almost no one coaching or playing with the team now gives a damn that NU just missed in '08 or '11 or whenever because they weren't involved directly. So hopefully they won't be limited by that feeling of doom with past "close but no cigar" situations and continue to play with confidence.

[GoBigRed]

Can't we just focus on the next game? The cliche is old but true, play one game at a time and hopefully the TEAM gets better with each game.

Obviously we could. But my goal is to make the dance each and every year. So you can be damn sure I am going to be paying attention to what is needed to make it. Doesn't mean I think will, but I want to be aware of what is going on. And it makes no difference whatsoever what we are worried about anyway. It is what the team is worried about that matters. This nonsense about the fans having to only worry about the next game is ludicrous IMO.

+1,000. So sick of people telling me I can't talk about the past and can't talk about the future. If all we are allowed to talk about is Illinois and the next game, this message board would be pretty dang boring.

[PimpMario]

All that matters it the next game.  

[Cazzie22]

 

 

Can't we just focus on the next game? The cliche is old but true, play one game at a time and hopefully the TEAM gets better with each game.

Obviously we could. But my goal is to make the dance each and every year. So you can be damn sure I am going to be paying attention to what is needed to make it. Doesn't mean I think will, but I want to be aware of what is going on. And it makes no difference whatsoever what we are worried about anyway. It is what the team is worried about that matters. This nonsense about the fans having to only worry about the next game is ludicrous IMO.

+1,000. So sick of people telling me I can't talk about the past and can't talk about the future. If all we are allowed to talk about is Illinois and the next game, this message board would be pretty dang boring.

 

You are correct!  I want desperately for NU to get to a post season tournament, I'm 62 and don't have as much time as some of you younger guys.  You are right.  These boards are for enthusiastic fans and speculation.  That's what makes them interesting.  It's the "old" coach in me that tends to be conservative.

[Silverbacked1]

We as fans can dream, but the team dawn well better not!

[PimpMario]

I nominate this for annual "lets get our hopes up" thread of the year.

 

 

I can't help it either.

 

I am probably one of, if not the most reserved poster in terms of keeping a level head but even I am starting to think that maybe this year can be special.  

[PimpMario]

IF, and I do mean IF we beat Illinois on Wednesday we will be tied for 6th place for at least a day because none of those other teams play until Thursday.