HUD

Oden did a great job filling in the 2nd half.

I agree about the Kendalls. Also the player whose performance has suffered the most when Allison went out is Jaz. The stats don't lie. That all being said when you are in close games like last night plays earlier in the game can have a big impact. For example when an Illinois guard intercepted a bad pass from Kendall Moriarity and went down for an uncontested easy layup that was a potential 4 pt. play. Maddie Krull later drove into the lane with no clear path of what to do next and attempted a pass to Alexis with no chance of completion. Not to pick specifically on her but we have several others that do the same thing. Where are the pull up jumpers. Sam and Allison are about our only players that do that. Illinois had a large amount of scoring from 10 to 15 foot jumpers.

Our bench didn't show up at all tonight. That and 9 missed free throws cost us this game.

Huskers to win by double digits.

Natalie Potts is coming from St. Louis next season.

Define urban players.

Ohio St. beat Louisville at Louisville earlier this season by 19 pts.

One thing many of you neglect is that the teams we are playing this year versus last year are one hell of a lot better. That coupled with the fact that we have a lot of great coaches in the big ten and after her freshman output which was some what of a surprise to the competition I'm sure they have a better idea how to limit her. I definitely think she has improved from last year.

As for predictions I will go on record that we will make the NCAA T.

Bourne was moving with Haggeman as she was going to the basket. It was smart for her to have contact with Bourne as refs will call that every time. The second foul was pretty well explained by the announcers. Haiby did not touch her with her upper body but when Haggeman came down Haiby's foot hit hers and she did a good job of selling it. Sam shouldn't have been that close. Haggeman was 0/5 on three's for the night.

I sure hope our team is more optimistic than you guys! Every team playing today is a work in progress. This years schedule is the toughest that I can remember.

Player development covers a big area. I would like to focus on the mental part of the game. Many of our on going short comings stem from a weakness there from time to time on decision making. A couple of mental break downs can cost us in a close game like last night. I could give many examples but for the sake of brevity I will give two examples. With a 6 point lead and 22 seconds left (after a Mich St time out) Haggeman drove to the bucket on Bourne who fouled her. 3 pt play. With no foul and a made basket it would have still been a 4 pt lead and our ball and they would have had to foul us. Big mental mistake. The foul which was correctly called was on a 4th year senior. We then missed two free throws and they drove the hoop again and we fouled with them and they made one but got the rebound and Haggeman took a long 3 which missed but was fouled by Haiby. Made all 3 free throws. It may have been an iffy call but you don't put yourself in that position for the ref to possibly call it. The mental mistake was made by a 5th year player. We can blame mental mistakes on poor execution but I will put a lot of it on the coaches when we have so many of them and they are recurring over the years. Poor percentage passes, bad inbounds plays, bad fouling etc. We have too much talent for this to happen as much as it does.

Many of you may not agree but I have thought in the past and continue to think that Taylor McCabe has been and continues to be over rated. She may prove me wrong in the future but she sure didn't do anything for Iowa this year for someone supposedly the top player in Nebraska last year. In my mind it was a weak year for senior talent last year.

No guarantee but Michigan State hasn't played very well over the years in Lincoln.

Both Natalie and Logan come from extremely successful programs and are the leaders on their teams. They should be able to contribute relatively soon. Natalie's team ( Incarnate Word Academy in St. Louis) has won about 82 games in a row and are rated in the national top ten.

We have 8 conf games left. All are winnable but we probably will end up 5-3 for an overall conf. mark of 9-9. If Jaz starts hitting her 3's anything is possible.

I watched Logan a few of her games but she didn't play in the last two or so. According to the Bismark newspaper she has an injury that will keep her out for several weeks. No specifics. Bummer.

We are presently tied for strength of schedule at 12th in the nation and after tomorrows Iowa game we will be tied with Connecticut and North Carolina for most Quadrant one games played at 11.

What we miss out of those three is 90% Allison, !0% Bella and 0% Scoggins who has done absolutely nothing for the Las Vegas Runnin Rebels.

She may have just quit. I followed her stats at Fort Hays St. off and on this season. She played a little more earlier in the season although never a starter. Playing time was down to less then 5 minutes per game in the Jan 2nd game and then after 15 games nothing.

That's where we really miss Allison. She was the one that usually got us going early. Both on defense and offense with great hustle.

In the last eight games she is 3 for 24 (12.5%) in shooting threes.

We need more minutes for Maggie M. and less for Anika S. and Kendall Coley.

I don't think the starters minutes have increased as of late, I think as Maggie M. has joined the team she cuts into some of Kendalls time as they now have five healthy forwards/posts. I did see her play a little at the three position against Penn State.

She needs to go back and help her dad coach at Northwestern.