Cookie Miller Wasn't Dirty

Lol not how I meant it. I’m guessing he’d look back and laugh, too.

I don’t doubt that the feelings were good before yesterday. Has Moos spoken since then? Because showing up the way we did with all eyes on us on a neutral court has got to change some minds. Unrelated side note: Gill’s reaction at the end of the game yesterday would be funny to look back on if we end up getting in.

I wouldn’t consider seven years a revolving door situation. Seven years is plenty of time. To me, it’s safe to say that this conglomeration of players is about as good as Tim is going to have here. You don’t often find transfers that are as good as JPJ and Copeland. His recruits don’t seem like they’ll ever be better than the Robys and Glynns of the world. So for those reasons, I think an ultimatum of NCAA or bust is extremely fair for Miles next year. If he can’t do that, I’d be more than ready to see what another coach can do with our state-of-the-art facilities and fan base, not to mention an AD I trust with the hiring process.

I don’t see how any committee member can put us in after this. I thought a close loss would get us in. Now I’ll be shocked if it happens. NIT bound. Yay.

Playing ourselves right out of the field. What an embarrassment.

Good point. According to that website, it'd drop us to 47th. Of course that's assuming no other games are being played. Obviously there will be slight changes to our OWP and OOWP based on other games, plus other teams will move up/down the list based on their outcomes. But I think it's safe to say it'd be in that ballpark. And for good measure, beating both the Michigan schools would put us around 36th leading up to the B1G CG.

So for those that are concerned with our RPI, a win today would bump us up from 57 to 42 on this website: https://basketball.realgm.com/ncaa/info/rpi-rankings That would lock us up for a bid, and probably even by-pass a play-in game IMO. I'm of the opinion that we'll still make it to a play-in game if we lose a close game today, as long as nothing too wild happens in conference tournaments.

Unreal. I turned it off after the lane violation! Can’t believe I missed it.

Bruce actually said that? That's great.

I honestly haven't watched either of them. Was seriously asking because I doubt most of the people on here have really watched much outside of Nebrasketball, or at the very least the Big Ten. Anyways... my point about Minnesota and Penn State still stands.

I agree that Maryland and USC are comparable home wins. A home win against Michigan is not the same as a road win against Arizona. And a home win against Penn State is not the same as a neutral court win against Kentucky. And have you even watched Utah or Oregon this year? So hopefully the committee remembers Minnesota was at full strength when we played them, but hopefully they forget that Penn State was missing their big man who averages 12 and 9? Our kryptonite is quality post players. He had 20 and 15 against us in Happy Valley. Yesterday could have been very different with him there. It's stuff like this that makes it very clear that people wear rose colored glasses on here.

I'd put us in if I were on the committee. Don't get me wrong on that. Just saying that I can understand the arguments against us.

I agree that we've definitely had fewer Q1 opportunities than most bubble teams. And like I said, hopefully the committee will see that. And yes, we haven't had any lower-end Q1 opportunities like some bubble teams have had, but we also haven't lit the world on fire against Q2 teams. Even if we were to count PSU and @ Minnesota as Q2 games, we'd still only be 4-3 in that quadrant.

Thanks. Like you said, it’s not just RPI. Quality wins is what’s really haunting us. We’ve only beaten one tournament team. I should add that seeing some of the public shout outs for us from coaches like Self, McDermott, and Beilein as well as personalities like Scott Van Pelt make me feel better as well. If objective observers think we’re a quality tournament team, I have more hope that the committee will use that to override our resume.

The problem with this logic is that the same can be said for all other bubble teams. All bubble teams have gone toe-to-toe with the best teams, and most of them have more wins against those teams than we do. There's a reason the committee incorporates metrics into the decisions, and it's not because they're a bunch of bumbling buffoons like some on here believe. It's because when you have a field of 351 teams to assess, you can't solely rely on watching the teams play. No committee member has the time or ability to watch every game. It'd be nice if they could, but that's not realistic. When it comes down to it, our record against top competition is worse than every other bubble team. Part of that could be explained by the fact that most of our games against those teams were either on the road or early in the season, and we can only hope the committee thinks the same way. But at the same time, they can easily say that our 8-1 hot streak is explained by not having to play that tough competition. I feel better about 22 than I did a few weeks ago, mostly because I have hope that Rasmussen will pitch a strong case for us. But if I'm being honest with myself and I look at our resume and how we fared against the best teams on our schedule, I couldn't fault the committee for leaving us out if we lose on Friday.

After seeing Rasmussen in Lincoln tonight, I have a feeling we have a good shot at a play-in game if we lose a close one to Michigan. And a win vs Michigan gets us out of a play-in game. There’s always a couple teams that don’t fit into the bracket the way the metrics say they should, and I think there’s a good chance that’s us. Rasmussen had to be impressed with that showing.

Is BTN stupid? Their whole set just said our resume isn't good enough. With something so subjective you'd think the league’s network would be lobbying for us...

Gotta feel good about Bruce Rasmussen witnessing that first-hand!

Leagues like the NBA that have salary caps and max contracts are still operating within an open market. The league is in the business of entertainment. In order to maximize the entertainment value, they have the right to make rules that level the playing field. Allowing the NBA to implement these rules for the business that they created follows the principles of an open market. Forcing them to abolish the rules would not.

Who says the employee's work is worth $20 an hour? If the boss is only willing to pay $15, and the employee isn't willing to leave, then by definition the work is worth $15.

Now Texas hits a buzzer beater to win. Not a good 10 minute stretch there.

I couldn't have said it better myself. If they weren't getting value out of playing college basketball, they wouldn't do it! To add to your list, they're also receiving free coaching, training, and mentoring. Those all have value. By feeling sorry for these kids who are actually in a pretty darn good situation, we end up teaching them to long for what they don't have instead of appreciate what they do have.

Yeah, it'd be insane for Arizona not to put themselves on probation immediately. Their season is done. The best player in the country will no longer be playing for them. They're in the midst of trying to get their leader and second best player eligible after failing that drug test. Their coach is done. If they want to sacrifice their future for a first round exit in the dance, then their people are simply blind. Regarding other schools, my guess is that no guilty parties will be having any come-to-Jesus moments and publicly rat themselves out. Everyone will likely be sweating this one out. Hopefully Nebraska is innocent in all of this. But if not, I guess we'll just have to a part of the massive fall of the current state of college basketball.

Yep. We're 34th now.

When he's not getting into foul trouble, he's pretty much immune to having a bad game. If he doesn't shoot well or doesn't take a lot of shots, he'll still be getting rebounds and playing great defense. When he does have an offensive rhythm going, he's an all-conference caliber player. Excited to see him continue to progress.