jayschool

Sit down, Dixon!

I find it interesting that in his fourth year as a head coach at Nebraska, Scott Frost's team lost eight one-score games and lost another single-digit game: by 8 to Illinois by 7 to Oklahoma by 3 in OT to MSU by 3 to Michigan by 7 to Minnesota by 5 to Purdue by 9 to tOSU by 7 to Wisconsin by 7 to Iowa The mantra was "we're close," so the logical conclusion was that while the roster may have been close, poor coaching doomed the team to a horrible season. I'm choosing to interpret Hoiberg's season as the exact opposite — we were close to a horrible season, but good coaching turned those close games our way and led to a mediocre season. After losing to Purdue in OT, we won: by 2 in OT at Minnesota by 3 vs. tOSU by 10 in OT vs. Wisconsin by 4 in OT vs. Maryland by 4 at Iowa We lost a close game to Minnesota in the BTT, but we never led after the 9:00 mark of the first half. In other words, we could easily have gone 5-15 in the conference instead of 9-11. Assuming the coaching will still be solid, we will need to upgrade our roster significantly to compete for a winning record in the Big Ten and be in consideration for an NCAA berth. Of course, you already know that.

Ran that through the calculator, and if you are into math, why yes, that is better than Nebraska.

Finally! That vaunted Hawkeye Defense makes its appearance!

I'm really hoping for the Olympic sports re-organize themselves into more traditional regional conferences once the Power Conference in football splits off from the NCAA.

Bruce Pearl vs. Fran McCaffery. Tough pick there.

I got to watch Timberlake play quite a few times this year in Towson. I live less than two miles from SECU Arena. I'm no talent evaluator, but he was fun to watch and a real energy guy for the Tigers. Would be an interesting get.

In journalism, we call them "cutlines," so this whole thing is a non-starter. Just like Isaac Traudt.

Oh, I know, but it'd be so #Nebrasketball if 12 B1G teams make the NCAAs, with only Minnesota and Nebraska left out.

Ohio State's gonna make the postseason, aren't they?

Huh? 9-11 is the second-best season in 23 years? Third-best. But point taken. Maybe a little slippage as long as we don't have to rebuild every year just to be slightly below average. Thanks for the reality check.

No slippage, record-wise (nine conference wins and .500+ overall), accompanied by a clear sense that the team will continue to improve plus at least one BTT victory. For example, while we achieved our best conference record since 2018, we did it with a couple of super-seniors and others who won't or probably won't return. In other words, if we can do just as well next year but with a slightly younger team, that would be acceptable because the future would be clearly brighter than the cloudy forecast we have today. On the other hand, if it appears we have to annually rebuild the roster in order to still finish in the bottom quarter of the Big Ten, then that puts the AD in a difficult position with the coaching staff.

Better than this preview for 2022-23 from BT Powerhouse: 10. Overall Season Outlook At one point talking about the Cornhuskers on a season preview podcast episode the other week, I managed to psych myself up into thinking this team might stand a chance at finishing with 15 or more total wins on the season and 10th place or maybe a spot higher in Big Ten action if things really clicked. After two exhibition games of bad shooting, that balloon popped far faster than Trev Albert’s excuse of a helium shortage ended the pollution plagued football tradition (at least for one season so far). If the team manages more than 10-12 wins overall and doesn’t finish in the bottom three of the Big Ten, then it should likely be considered the optimistic result. If the team finishes better than that, man was it a great season by recent standards. Big Ten Prediction: 14th Place

I will always remember his wave to the basket after a made free throw. That 1977-78 team, which was Andre's freshman year, was fun to watch: Carl McPipe, Brian Banks, Andre Smith and a couple of Lincolnites, Kurt Hedberg (yay, Spartans!) and Terry Novak (boo, Rockets!), along with Hastings' Mark McVicker. They went 22-8, 9-5 in the conference, beating KU 62-58 at the Devaney Center. The season ended in the second round of the NIT at Texas.

From Saturday Tradition website: Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year Keisei Tominaga, Nebraska Our Sixth Man of the Year is technically no longer a Sixth Man, but since he’s started less than half of Nebraska’s games, I’m deeming the Japanese Microwave eligible. In 8 games since being inserted in the starting lineup, Tominaga is averaging 20 points per game and the Cornhuskers are 6-2. If Tominaga had earned the starting nod sooner, he’d likely be second team all-B1G. Purists may insist on Iowa’s Payton Sandfort for Sixth Man of the Year, but we are happy to be impure.

The B1G's gonna get 11 teams in the Dance, aren't they? And we'll not be one of them unless we win the next five.

They want Fran to get the ND job so they can hire DeVries from Drake. That's not gonna happen, right?

I know, right?!?!? Win by 10 at Creighton, win at Rutgers, sweep Iowa, beat Wisconsin ... That's a good season. And we now can build on that on the recruiting trail and in the portal.

One down, five more to make six straight. Unless you think 20-16 gets us in.

N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! N-I-T! But let's shoot for a six-game win streak first.