jayschool

Thank goodness it wasn't one of my sports writing students this time.

Playing it cool in Iowa City as Hawkeye fans contemplate the reality that this is NOT a Final Four club.

College hockey teams do it regularly as well.

MSU 76 NU 69 4 bench players score

I think that qualifies us for the MEAC Tournament.

Minnesota 90 Nebraska 78

Stevenson acquitted himself reasonably well, but Yvan's February return will help a lot.

My favorite until now has always been Chauncey Billups at CU. On edit: The "REAL" CU.

Illinois 89 Nebraska 71

True. I'd be happy if his role were as a bench player who can be put back on the bench if he's not feeling it on a particular night. He and Tominaga aren't similar players, but they can have similar roles, and we may need both a guard and a forward off the bench who can shoot well from deep.

AJ Epenesa went to Iowa, but, yes, your statement is mostly accurate.

I now count four players from this year's team who can be part of a winning rotation next year, though each has holes in his game that need to be worked on: T. McGowens T. Allen D. Banton D. Walker With B. McGowens, that makes a decent, if not great, starting lineup. That's what I take from last night's game. Now we just need three more players who can step in and contribute at a high level next year, and that includes Tominaga and Breidenbach as possibilities, along with the current roster. As for this year, I figured it would take until February to see this team winning some games. Last night felt like progress in that timeline. Small steps, for sure, but Walker's skill level and effort was nice, though he probably doesn't bring the rebounding presence that Yvan does.

He'll get all 3.5 minutes from Andre, whom we're unlikely to see much of except for garbage time or when we have severe foul trouble. If Yvan is averaging 25.3 minutes per game, that will likely be cut to around 15, giving Walker 10 more. Lakes and Stevenson are averaging a combined 15 minutes per game, so there's another 5 minutes for Walker. Add 'em up, and that's about 18-20 for Walker. We may not see Andre and Stevenson much at all from here on out.

Indiana 70 Nebraska 65

Purdue 78 Nebraska 73

Now that's a metaphor I can get behind. Well done.

Here's a recruiting idea: We self-impose a post-season ban for 2020-21 in anticipation of committing some egregious infractions over the next year or so. I'm talking really egregious, like offering $100,000 to somebody and his family. Maybe a job or two, too.

Nice.

Great insight from @Jacob Padilla

It goes like this: Nebraska to New Jersey to Florida (Coral Gables) to Florida (Gainesville) to Colorado (Fort Collins) to Kansas to Colorado (Boulder) to Iowa City. Still trying to wash off the patchouli stench from four years at CU.

I was at CSU from 1999 to 2009, and I covered Tim's first two teams at CSU for the now-defunct examiner.com while teaching there. I talked to Terry a couple of times just sitting in Moby watching a game. The Rams were awful, even with Marcus Walker. On edit: I also convinced Tim to talk basketball with me over smoothies at the Juice Stop. What a great guy.

Don't know how it relates, but words of advice from Terry Pettit: "Some haystacks don't have any needles."

Strictly as an aside (because I have no answers on why we never seem to be able to shoot against teams not called "Doane), our Big Ten opponents' shooting percentages through three games compared to ours in those three games: Field Goals 83-of-178 (47 percent) and Nebraska 60-of-178 (34 percent) 2-point FGs 54-of-93 (58 percent) and Nebraska 40-of-98 (41 percent) 3-point FGs 29-of-85 (34 percent) and Nebraska 20-of-80 (25 percent) Free Throws 42-49 (86 percent) and Nebraska 36-of-58 (62 percent)

My analysis will start with the coach, who has won before in a major conference, so until this continues to suck for another couple of years, I'm going to assume we have a successful coaching staff. As for the players, I haven't watched a lot of other teams in the Big Ten this year, but I've seen enough to seriously wonder if any of our guys — with Banton as a possible exception — would start on ANY other Big Ten team. Hell, OSU pulls a guy off the bench, Ahrens, who plays 12 minutes a game, and shoots the lights out. Our candidates to play that role are: An Icelander who's hitting 21 percent. A Division II transfer who's hitting 25 percent against teams not called "Doane." A Summit League transfer who's 0-for-8 against Big Ten competition. T. McGowens and T. Allen might be able to play a role on another Big Ten team, but I'm hard-pressed to figure out what it might be. We definitely need to keep those three around for the future, and we need to keep trying to develop players such as Andre and Wood, but we're woefully short of talent compared to other conference teams, and that apparently includes Northwestern, which isn't having any trouble running guys out there who can get off — and make — a high percentage of their 3-point shots in a five-out offense. Best case next year? B. McGowens has an immediate impact, much like Ayo Dosunmu did at Illinois. Banton continues to develop as a team leader and point guard, building on what he's painfully learning right now. Teddy and Trey hang around, but with an understanding that Bryce and Banton are the straws that stir a winning drink. Somebody develops as a true Big Ten post — not even one of the better ones, just an adequate guy like Kyle Young — whether it's Yvan, Eduardo or Derrick. Tominaga is a true sniper who not only can get his shot off against athletic opposition, but drain 40 percent of them. Breidenbach is ready to contribute as a stretch four off the bench. We find some (gulp) transfers who can shoot from deep, or Lakes figures out how to do that this year and becomes a Big Ten-level sniper by next year. There's a lot of development and hope tied to just getting this team to be competitive, but if Nebrasketball fans possess a lot of anything, it's hope ... and patience, which is wearing thin as 2020 winds down. On edit: Lat. Oh, Lat. Seems like an awesome human being, but I'm just not seeing anything that tells me he can play at this level. I hope he can turn it around soon. I'll be pulling for him.