NUtball

uPS 65 NU 59

I agree...except for the feeling bad for referees part.

The real NU 61 Fake NuWs 57

Yep, Murphy cleared out (his normal operating procedure) Roby on their go ahead basket. No call. He's strong, but he's not that tall. There's no way he can get the operating space he gets against taller defenders as often as he does without the arm or shoulder clear out. I was really surprised they called the charge on him the next time down. Nebraska hardly ever gets those to go their way.

So true. The catch and 2 steps happens all the time - drives me insane. While not as bad as the NBA, the changing of pivot foot is quite common as well. If they adhered to the actual rules as written and called the current games like they did back in the dark ages when I played HS ball, the games would never end because there would be a whistle about every 2 seconds. Everybody marvels at the great moves by ball handlers (yes, they look pretty most of the time), but almost all of them are illegal, primarily because of palming/carrying the ball. It is physically impossible to carry out some of those moves without breaking the rules as written.

Happy for the team, and the coaches, to get a win and get the monkey of their back... despite their nearly flawless impression of 6th grade girls basketball the final 3 minutes of the game. Just brutal offensive execution when trying to hold a slim lead late.

Goophers 69 Other Team 58 4

Purdon't 78 Nebraska 53

Both.

Agree completely. I think the MSU loss broke them. The answers and body language in the presser from both coach and players showed me that they lost more than the game - I think they put too much emphasis on that single game (i.e., home winning streak, big name opponent, marquee win...). Yeah, it was hugely disappointing, but it stuck with them going forward. Copeland's injury just put the final nail in the coffin. Right now, I'm hard-pressed to find another win on the schedule, unless they find some way to break out of the shooting slump, which I don't see happening because there are no consistent scorers, the offense is terrible/non-existent and I think the starters are gassed physically and mentally (beyond the horrendous FG%, just look at the poor free throw shooting lately). Opposing defenses generally only have to shut down 1 or maybe 2 guys that have even a chance of scoring. Once they figure out who they need to stop/contain, it's game over. Even with Copeland, because of the MSU game fallout, I would've only predicted finishing somewhere between 6 and 8 conference wins.

When Kipper "F-ing" Nichols scores around 20 points on near perfect shooting after not scoring the previous 5 games, you know you've got a problem. He's really not a very good b-ball player. I thought Tanner had a great game. The Stooges finally let him play a little bit. He's just not an offensive threat outside of three feet from the basket. Maybe they should just let him and Brady shoot wide open 3's. It seems to work for the opponents - their bigs have made several 3's against NU the past few games. You know, like, first attempted and made 3 of career (or year as the case may be).

It's definitely a tough choice weighing what you want to happen against what you know is the more likely reality.

Turtles 69 NU 60

Illinoise 73 Nebraketball 60

What in the heck happened to Akenten's shot? He's got one of the worst hitches mid-shot that I've seen. It wasn't that bad earlier in the season, was it? Credit the effort for coming back and taking the lead. Such an incompetent call on that jackass Davison riding Tanner out of the lane. The Stooge that made that call should never officiate again - the call was that bad. So obvious what that little shit did. Definitely changed the momentum, but I don't really think the outcome would have been much different. They would've rung Tanner up on some other BS call soon enough anyway. The bottom line is, as many have previously mentioned, Nebraska simply has no one that can shoot. Not much else really matters. I doubt there are any more wins on the schedule unless they can pull an unlikely decent shooting performance out of their behinds.