jayschool

That's my fear about not getting in and winning this year. Oh, we make a run in the NIT, and everybody feels good that next year is THE year. And someone goes Euro pro. And someone else tires of basketball. And someone else thinks he's being used wrong so transfers somewhere closer to home. And. And. And we're back to square one.

Mormon Trail 58 Jersey Turnpike 52

Thank goodness. I kind of have the same feeling for Indiana basketball as I do for Penn State football. They were able to celebrate championships while one of the worst human beings ever to walk the court coached for them. And then they hired Kelvin Sampson. And Tom Crean. Good lord.

Against a team that will suck your soul dry and turn a basketball game into the Bataan Death March.

The rest of team (aside from Palmer) was 10 for 36. We were giving the ball to the right guy.

Actual facebook chat between me and a KU friend from earlier today (after he asked me to be a reference for him in a job search): HIM: How's Nebrasketball looking? ME: Not bad. Big game tonight. But it will end in some soul-crushing fashion. ME (sarcastically): When's KU basketball gonna catch a break? It's uncanny no matter what the rest of the conference looks like compared to KU, you win and they don't. HIM: Yeah, we look really bad at home. I'm afraid we won't get past the second round of the NCAA this year. (Poor guy.)

You know, if I weren't 56 years old and hadn't lived through so much Nebrasketball agony, I'd take this as philosophically as Sean. But I am and I have. So phuck.

How is Indiana ahead of us in the Big Ten standings?

Rutgers game is HUGE!!!!

Rust Belt Shithole.

Come on, boys. Let's cover.

If this was 1983, we'd be chanting N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! And loving it.

Crap. Crappity crap. Gotta go 7-2 the rest of the way. That starts Wednesday.

How long was Wesson in the lane? Eight seconds?

Not money.

Win or lose, Wednesday is going to be a death march.

I'm looking for some strychnine. I know there's some here ...

Dakich anagram: Ha! Dick.

We should foul Dakich hard. Just on principle.

Then it's Roby Jam.

That. Is What I. Am Talking. About.

I hate it when fat guys use their guts and their asses to make room.

Halftime Husker Headline: Scrappy 12-point underdogs fighting tooth and nail with undefeated league leaders

We should be way ahead. Or way behind. I can't quite figure it out.

I've been pulling out the pity card with KU friends and others to get them to jump on the Nebrasketball bandwagon this year and root for the ultimate underdog story, even better than last year's run by Northwestern. It got me to thinking about what other universities have men's basketball programs still seeking their first NCAA Tournament victory. Here's a quick rundown based on RPI conference ratings by RealTime RPI. I'll give the team(s) from each conference with the fewest wins in the tournament (full tournament record in parentheses). I stop after the first 15 conferences because the bottom 17 conferences have a host of schools still waiting, probably forever unless they get into a play-in game. Big XII — TCU (5-7) ACC — Virginia Tech (6-9) Big East — Creighton (12-21) SEC — Mississippi (5-8) Pac 12 — Washington State (6-6) Big 10 — Nebraska (0-7) American — UCF (0-4) and East Carolina (0-2) Missouri Valley — Evansville (1-5) Mountain West — Air Force (0-4), Boise (0-7) and San Jose State (0-3) Atlantic 10 — Fordham (2-4) Mid-American — Akron (0-4), Buffalo (0-2) and Northern Illinois (0-3) Colonial — Delaware (0-5), Hofstra (0-4), Towson (0-2), William & Mary (0-0), Elon (0-0) West Coast — Portland (0-2) Summit — IUPUI (0-1), North Dakota (0-1), South Dakota State (0-4), South Dakota (0-0), Fort Wayne (0-0), Denver (0-0), Omaha (0-0), Western Illinois (0-0) Conference USA — FIU (0-1), FAU (0-0), Marshall (0-5), North Texas (0-3), Southern Mississippi (0-3) Now, of the winless teams, which have a reasonable shot of getting to the tournament, which means they also have a reasonable shot of winning a game (by RealTime RPI ranking?) 27. Buffalo (13-5, 6-0 in conference) 34. Boise (15-4, 6-2) 55. UCF (13-6, 4-3) 58. South Dakota State (13-5, 5-0) 66. Nebraska (14-7, 5-3) 72. William & Mary (11-6, 6-2) 96. Marshall (13-6, 5-2) Lots of possibilities for teams to break through, but none of them rival Nebraska's history of futility.