Tom Jones

Her going to Iowa would be a nightmare of epic proportion! Their history of beating/taunting the Huskers with talented point guards already stretches to six or seven consecutive years of Kathleen Doyle (once a Husker recruit!) and now Clark. Yes, geography plays in our favor, but not ours alone. Creighton is even closer to home and BP's abilities might be more compatible with CU's style than with AW's. I think I reported here a few months ago that at a VB game, I sat in the first row of west side B section. Just below me sat several Husker women BB players when up the aisle came Britt Prince. The players made room for her and the greeted each other as though they were all good friends who had already made plans to sit together. I took it as a hopeful sign lFingers crossed here!

Objectives: no lazy leisurely lofted cross court passes that are easy pickins secure rebounds - no permitting quick footed, quick handed opponents to snatch the ball off our hands before it is secured bigs can't get the ball so deep in the lane that there is no room to lay it at least 30% success on threes

I would be astonished if they take 8 teams. Let's hope we maintain at least a 500 record and that we go far in the NIT.

All in all, I think this was the best performance of the year - i mean the best when playing a quality opponent. JS was 1 for 7 on threes and AM 1 for 5. They are better than that. If each of them had connected on one more three, it would have been a photo finish. AM had her best game (again, against a quality opponent). JS's last turnover under the basket was a killer. I am more disappointed than ever that MM just hasn't made a significant impact. Her first couple games since joining the team, IMO, were her best.

If Brady and Dillard are really gone (i hope so) and with Sam leaving for sure, then Huskers need to hit the portal hard regardless of what happens with Izzie and Jazz whose decisions affect only how many to try to take from the portal not whether or not to. Two incoming freshmen will clearly not be enough next year.

as i approached this game, there were four self inflicted errors that I didn't want to see: 1) lazy passes or attempting to pass the thru two defenders that result in turnovers; 2) missed bunnies; 3) getting a defensive rebound 90% secured and then losing it to a slashing quick handed defender; 4) AM getting fouls when what she was trying to do wouldn't have been effective anyway. Those were the four. The first three of those were committed in the first 60 seconds and the 4th was not far behind. I have to give up on bemoaning the lack of traveling calls. I guess that the practical meaning of traveling (not as defined but as called/applied) has changed and I have not yet changed with it. This team should be performing better - considering the available talent

from the "grass is NOT greener over there" department. I am not sure if subscription is required to read this. I didn't know it was this extensive. https://journalstar.com/just-weird-rash-of-injuries-hits-womens-college-hoops/article_7c96b097-edd9-52b8-b016-545827930719.html

Lots to like - in the fourth quarter anyway. The recurrence of some long standing problems is troubling. High among them: lazy floating passes that are pick off bait for quick and active defenders; failing to execute the last step of rebounding - securing the ball. Several times, AGAIN, our bigs were reaching for the ball when an opponent with quicker hands and feet stepped right in and grabbed it away. Perhaps watching film of Cravens' "that ball is mine and you can't have it" effort last year would help.

She is no longer listed on the Fort Hays roster. She played in December but now has disappeared. I am not asking for disclosure of any private info, more just wondering about possibility of injury.

Give me a second helping of Callie Hake. And then another. And one after that. And on and on

I think it is somewhere between "Amy has not reached her ceiling - there is room to grow" and "becoming a perennial top 5 or 10 program is not realistic". I think NU WBB can be an often ranked team that from time to pulls an upset and seldom or never embarrasses itself - such as the clunker at Rutgers. I keep coming back to this - after a coaching staff and facilities, the next thing a team needs is players - both quality and quantity of players. And it seems like every year the quality is good enough to be that team that plays consistently solid, but it runs out of players. I watched the Michigan-Iowa game and counted 15 players on both teams. Same with other teams that come here. Yes, losing AW was a blow, but injuries happen to other teams too but when a player goes down, they have choices re which bench player will be asked to step up. As already discussed here, the Huskers repeated have scholarships available but unused as well as used scholarship being occupied by players forever on the injured reserve list. I don't know if multiple offers have been made to potential recruits who got away and there was just not any HS or JC players left. Maybe that's it. And in this regard, next year doesn't look any better. We lose Sam for sure, probably Izzy, and Jazz possibly. So we are looking at losing two or three and adding only two. Bottom line - we need transfers. It would be interesting if Amy - on one of her radio shows - were asked why we have unused scholarships. Something else that we haven't mentioned much - as the season wears on I come to think that losing Cravens was more impactful than I expected.

This happens in most of our games. I don't get it.

Well that was uglier and stinkier than dog poop on the soles of your shoes. Other than a few good drives from Sam, I can't find the shadow of a hint of a whisper of silver lining. For a couple years now I have been perplexed at HWBB inability to consistently convert on lay ups. I mean point blank lay ups. I watched Iowa-Michigan and saw many many shots from the post tickle the nylon - and not just wide open shots. Two games with 5 point quarters ???? There is too much talent on this team for that to ever happen. But today it didn't show up. JS's misses on 3s were bad misses and she had no penetration game either. To my amazement AM was pretty close to a non factor. To a tourney selection committee, this might look worse than blow out losses to Creighton and Drake. Hello NIT

There are going to be questionable calls. and some egregiously bad calls. it's part of the game. many times we, as viewers, simply have a better view of the action than do the officials standing right next to it. I think that we see things that the officials, being so close, can't see. In the Indiana game, AM was called for traveling when right under the basket trying to get the ball high over her shoulders. One 6-3 player being guarded by another with the ball and both players' hands over seven feet above their feet and the ref standing 8 feet away .... how can the ref possibly look for hand to arm contact, body to body contact, and traveling all at the same time? If anyone wonders about the difference in views, go spend a few minutes watching from the first row and see if you appreciate the action as well as you do from first level in the B section

I re-played the game and watched several of the foul calls in slo mo and blow up. Viewed that way, the officiating was not nearly as bad as it seemed when watching live. Indiana players had quicker hands and feet and were more able to avoid body contact and getting their hands on shooters's arms. As for Huskers' post play - tho I just love AM and her effort, too many times - even more often than in her freshman year - she gets the ball in the lane and then freezes up. I wish she would either go up with the ball or turn and drive to better position or kick the ball back out instead of just holding it and waiting to get tied up get called for traveling. Indiana's Holmes and the two big girls on the Iowa roster, and the center for Kansas all have DECISIVE quick moves to the basket. as tho they knew before the pass came to them what their move would be rather than catching the ball first and then figuring it out. Late in the game, AM, apparently trying to avoid the overhead defense, backed away from the basket up the center of the lane and put up some low percentage shots. I say all this many years removed from ever myself having tried to avoid a mobile defender holding arms up in front of me! I love watching AM and appreciate her effort

SMH that Mendelson got only 8 minutes. Not saying that I know better than the coaches - just that I don't understand. she scored on her only attempt, got 3 rebounds and blocked a shot.

#14 Callin Hake .... budding star!

From the "something to like about it" file ...... How about the play of Callin Hake!?! three three pointers and a drive to the basket that one would find surprising for an 18 year old freshman playing against a top 20 team. She was open and ready for two other 3 pt tries when her ever hounded teammates didn't see her. She has very few minutes of playing time so far this year, but now with AW on the bench I think she will be playing more and I look forward to seeing it.

thanks, KarlHess. Tragic!

By saying this I don't mean to say that I lack respect for any injured player's desire to keep her/his health status quiet. It's just unusual that nothing at all (at least that I have seen) has been stated or even hinted at. If the reason is that AW and her family don't want anything said, then I respect that. But that doesn't keep me from hoping for a quick recovery and I would welcome any sign of optimism. Which brings me to Wagner's comment in the morning LJS .... "With Weidner likely missing time due to a knee injury ...." Likely? Does that mean it's not a certainty? And "missing time" sounds different than missing a season. And so ends the morning "clutching at straws"

from a slow mo replay of the injury it appears that she came down hard on the patella. It could be bruised, displaced, or fractured. Let's hope for a bruise or displacement. ... "A patella dislocation occurs when the knee cap pops sideways out of its vertical groove at the knee joint. It's usually caused by force, from a collision, a fall or a bad step. A dislocated patella is painful and will prevent you from walking, but it's easy to correct and sometimes corrects itself."

there were very quick. they were also physical. a lot of pushing was going on. refs were "letting them play"

i don't know about having 40 and 44 on the court together. Presuming only that both of them require some amount of rest, whatever amount of time they are on the court together will mean that for some comparable amount of time neither will be on the court.

wonder if MM will be back on the bench and in uniform. Maybe will even join the warmups. Also, let's see if Sam warms up and if so how she is moving.

Thanks 12Dozen. i am shocked at the lack of advance coverage of this game in LJS. The starting lineups are shown in the bottom left hand corner on page two. But there is no story at all.