tcp

I"m one of those guys who thought this was Brandon's crown jewel as a husker. The last few minutes were the Ubel show, and it was a terrific thing to see. Hats off to all the seniors, since this rally was their win collectively.

wow, i'm glad my debbie downer prediction didn't come true. some pretty good prognostication in there by others, tho.

CoY's a tough call, but I'd probably put Ryan on top as well. I think regardless of the vote, MIles getting 5 wins out of this team--and who knows, maybe even a 6th--will certainly get the attention of the rest of the league. No one's done more with less than miles this season, and if that were the sole standard, he'd win the award.

great end, but draining game. i'm spent.

i have no idea how we did it, but we did. i lie the look of dejection on eliason's face. now if he cries it'll make the season worth it.

Parker drives to the hoop instead and we probably win this one.

let's just have minny shot free throws every possesion. this is getting on my nerves

wow, video carnage on the last game at the Bob. As signs go, this isn't auspicious. I think you guys should draw a series of stick figures instead. Then we can scroll really, really fast and it'll look like a movie.

This thread illustrates why I don't follow recruiting that much. What looks good on highlight reels in high school and on paper too often doesn't pan out; plus, everyone else's recruits probably looked good on film and paper, too, so it's not like you're going to turn around a moribund program in a year or two unless you have amazing luck. And then the intangibles come in; maturity, team chemistry (which killed Doc's last two classes/teams), fit with system. And as coaches start creeping into their magical "5 year plans", one early mistake can start a cycle of dice rolling with shaky recruits that can bring the whole house down. One thing I like about Miles' contract is the addition of an extra year or two over the norm. Guy can have some job security on paper that will extend to his 3rd or 4th class, which gives him a little room for error.

Just a bad matchup for us no matter the location. Gophers-73 NU-60

I say we open in style and take on the Lakers.

Second that. Brandon is the kind of player that makes you step away from the cynical ledge in college sports. Just when everything seems a calculation over revenue, you get a guy like this who epitomizes the sheer fun of playing for your school, and if you're lucky, you remember why not everything is about winning and losing.

We shall see! Hopefully we get into the fray ourselves in a couple of years. But man, did we pick a nutty time to switch in hoops.

some combination of robinson, stauskas and hardaway. those guys likely return. that's serious returning firepower. I do get your point, I just think the tendency every season is to assume that the departure of a star or a high end player spells doom. Look at OSU this season. Still pretty darned good because their returning talent go better, to. A dropoff, true--and that was a bigger loss than almost any team not named Indiana is going to have this season. We've had 6 teams consistently ranked this season, and most of them pretty high. I wouldn't be surprised to see the B1G approach Big East levels of ranking volume next season, with 7 or even 8 teams getting top 25 love.

This sounds like a much better mock and I think the most realistic. As for Uneblinstu's comment above, I would argue that I'm not asking the freshmen to replace departing talent. I'm expecting returning talent to more than do that. The freshmen replace them.

I wouldn't make this assumption that a lot of the good underclassmen will be leaving for the draft. I can really only think of two who would go high enough to justify taking off: Burke and Zeller. True, others could go, but the standard advice is that unless you're going in the top half of the 2d round at the latest, you stay in college to improve your position. This conference is likely to be better next year. Highly likely. I did a quick look at rosters and I see four I'd almost guarantee will go pro, Oladipo, Zeller, Burke and Thomas, and two others that wouldn't surprise me, Hollins and Hardaway. Also, the list of playes leaving due to graduation is deep: Paul, Richardson, Griffey, Hulls, Watford, Nix, Mbakwe, Williams, Talley, Ubel, Crawford, Swopshire, Byrd, Evans, Bruzewitz and Berggeren. I know a lot of teams will be loading up with highly rated talent, but not all of these players will have guys ready to just step in and take over. I'm sure the conference will be very good next year, but it won't be as good as it is this year. Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin are going to have some massive shoes to fill next year. Also, two names that I thought were seniors and aren't: Craft and Marble. Good list. I checked into Bleacher Report (I know, suspect there) for fun to see their first 32 picks. They had 5 players in the B1G going, but two were pretty suspect first rounders. I can see Oladipo going as a lower first rounder as I think about it. Zeller and him going will probably pop Indiana some. Minny's woes come down to Hollins going. If he returns, they actually improve. BR has him going mid first round. I think that's way too high. He's an iffy call. Marble's not going, unless he's stupid. BR also had Robinson going out early, which I thought was drug induced. MIchigan and Illinois and, if Oladipo goes, Indiana will take the hardest hits. UM and IU both have good incoming classes which should make up for quite a bit of the loss and young guys being a year better. Illinois is still the only near certain casualty I can see. But look who's probably going to get better. Iowa, PSU, Purdue, OSU, and I think MSU will be better next year. Minny even or slight drop; same as Indiana. Michigan might actually improve with 3 really good younger players returning in spite of losing Burke, but worst case is that they won't drop by much if at all. Wiscy is a tough call, because they lose their bigs. But they have really young guards who are actually a big reason they're playing better now, and they'll be back, and with Dekker a year better (and he's better than both Berg and Bozo), Wiscy has a really good shot at being better next season. I gotta tell you, if I had to bet on B1G being a bit better or a bit worse next season, I still go with being a bit better. Too many teams should improve, and a handful should be quite a bit better. I'm hoping we're one of those.

I wouldn't make this assumption that a lot of the good underclassmen will be leaving for the draft. I can really only think of two who would go high enough to justify taking off: Burke and Zeller. True, others could go, but the standard advice is that unless you're going in the top half of the 2d round at the latest, you stay in college to improve your position. This conference is likely to be better next year. Highly likely.

heh heh. Easy now, Chester.

If anything, we'll have more serviceable bodies. That means guys aren't grinding out 37 minutes a game. That should help a little. A year practicing in a specific system has to lead to some improvement, so the redshirts should be a help. I think we can't help but be a bit better next season, although by how much is hard to tell. Losing Dylan and Ubel isn't a small deal. But you can be better and still not have it reflect in your record, and that's a possibility next season. This conference is loaded with young talent right now, and other teams are going to be improving, too, or if they're degrading, not by all that much. I think next season the best we're going to do is maybe squeeze out an NIT bid if most things go really right, but that won't be easy. I'm trying to think of how many teams will take a step back next season, and I'm struggling to find them. All of the bottom teams minus Northwestern should be better. PSU is going to surprise some folks with Newbill AND Frazier playing together. Most of the top teams are young as well, so unless there are early departures, I actually see the top of the league getting better, too. Illinois is the only team I think that loses too much than they're bringing in. Next year is not going to be easy, either, even if we are better. I've said this before, but Miles is going to have t hit some gold ore for the following class before we can even think about challenging for the middle or higher of the conference.

typed that to soon. we just couldn't stop them on D at all. hope they an make some noise in the tournament, but we would draw Purdue in the 3rd round, and that's another bad matchup for us.

killer game so far. psu's darned good.

If we're having this conversation in a year or two, I'll be upset. For me, not this season. I"m not really too upset, just a little frustrated. long, long season. Actually, tcp, for whatever reason this season has gone by pretty fast for me. I don't know why. Maybe I'm delusionally optimistic on the way things will head in the next few years. Maybe it's the whiskey shots with the Nyquil chasers.... i also think i'm grumpy because today's been a sucky medical day, which doesn't help. hard to believe the Bob's closing for business this week. Sorry about the medical day, my friend. If it makes you feel any better, right when the second half started, I spent 15 minutes on the phone with an IRS appeals person. ugh...just forge a death certificate and maybe they'll leave you alone.

If we're having this conversation in a year or two, I'll be upset. For me, not this season. I"m not really too upset, just a little frustrated. long, long season. Actually, tcp, for whatever reason this season has gone by pretty fast for me. I don't know why. Maybe I'm delusionally optimistic on the way things will head in the next few years. Maybe it's the whiskey shots with the Nyquil chasers.... i also think i'm grumpy because today's been a sucky medical day, which doesn't help. hard to believe the Bob's closing for business this week.

this one hurts, because it was everything we needed to win minus a coupe of prayer 3s and a couple of Ubel blows late and.... this is the kind of game that reminds you of how much of a grind this season has been.

Not so fast, kimosabe! There's 4 to play in Chicago!!! i'm out of kool aid...