89Husker

yes, Georgia won last night. But Baylor and Pitt lost. That's life on the bubble, right? It's not just us and Georgia. Big picture I think yesterday was okay for us in the "how did bubble teams do?" world.

Looking at Jay Bilas ranking of teams in ESPN front page, he has the Huskers as the 67th team in his list. Yikes!

Some guys just clear space under the defensive board and he is one of them. Last guy I saw do that was Venson. Berke is not to that degree, but when he is under the defensive board, he is different than others - certainly different than Morgan or Meah. He is long and thick when it comes to clearing space. And I think that works for him when he is guarding on the perimeter. I'm sure that is why Fred says his metrics on defense are best on the team.

Of note, the ankle that Ashworth sprained was from the leg that he stuck about 3 feet forward in an effort to draw a foul. I like how Greggie took a subtle dig in his after-game presser by saying "he's a 3 pt shooter, defenseless. What can you do?" Well, for starters, you can land in the area you jumped from, not contort yourself trying to work the ref. Sorry for the rant...

Wisconsin takes down Big East's Pittsburgh, who was 6-0. Wisconsin now 7-0, and look pretty tough. Maryland also took down Villanova, who doesn't look so great this year. Good week for BIG vs Big East. Edit: oops, Pitt is not Big East, my bad.

Ok, that’s a little strong, but who’s got the info on them?

Guessing Cresswell and Conklin.

We are 55 right now and i think we would be in the dance, if it was called today. There are many ahead of us in this metric that would not be chosen ahead of us. Especially after last night. Yes, being in the 40's would be comforting, but I don't think it is required. And yes, we need Mich St to stay in Quad 1.

Love that this other stuff is even relevant!! #GBR Go FIghting Miles!!

Interested to see if Ohio St takes the Rutgers and NW approach of playing football against us and see if we wilt. Last couple games it seems the strategy on our high screening action has been to push and pull, especially against KT and RM, but really all of those cutters and screeners, and see if that throws us off. Then, of course, teams have figured out that they can crash the boards against us with success. Here's to hoping Josiah's toughness pairs with RM well and we can perservere.

Yeah, I kinda think that maybe Brice is just a very quiet, introverted guy. He doesn't celebrate after made shots like other guys, and he's not a talker either. Don't see him being the "alpha" that JPJ was. I don't think that Brice can go get his own shot at the end of the clock, but I certainly trust him taking and hitting an open shot if he has one.

13-5 through 18 games -- I don't think many would have predicted this at beginning of season. Yeah, there are different ways to get there, but whatever. Right now, it feels like season ended last night, but we all need to relax a little; this is not college football. You can have several bad losses and still achieve an end goal. Mast -- he needs to fix what happened last night quick. Cliff pushed him around, and if word gets around that that can happen, other bigs will do that for rest of year. I trust he will fix that against NU on Saturday. If we win Saturday (I think we will), we will be 14-5, 4-4, and in prime position going down the stretch. 3 of our 4 toughest conference games will be out of the way. I think only sure loss is @ Illinois. All other games are winnable. Just need to hang in there.

You are right, this is happening on the backside screen, but doing that involves 3 offensive players. That should free up a defender to cheat and be ready for this cross-court pass. But that top defender needs to recognize when his man goes to set that pick and make adjustment.

Iowa @ Minnesota. Who do we want to win? What would help our NET/Kenpom more?

Our defense was not ready for this game. Energy, or "X's and O's", or both, we were always behind. We weren't that way with Purdue. Is it the 2-day prep thing, or was it just effort that caused our guys to not know where the open shooter was? Also, I don't know why you would want to run with Iowa (or with Creighton). Slow down and run 15 seconds of offense, you will probably get a good shot. Anyway, we have more time to prep for Rutgers. It will be an ugly game so be prepared. If we go 1-1 on the road for this stretch, that is more than acceptable.

Last time I had this lost cause feeling before a game was a year ago as I was prepping to attend the game at Creighton. I was pretty certain we were going to get it handed to us. I can only hope the team surprises me tonight like they did on that day. Sitting in CHI Center listening to "Husker" ...."Power" chant at end of that game was memorable.

I agree with the idea of bucketing the games like this, but the problem is, most of us fans don't do it (or maybe won't abide by it). The last 4 game bucket for example: The fanbase was gone after the Creighton and MN debacles. Same ole NE team. The Michigan St game was evidence of that, as the crowd was sleepwalking for the first half of that game. Now, after we beat Mich St and KState, in retrospect, 2-2 for that four games was acceptable, albeit disappointing because of the MN 2nd half. That's why I would hate to put all the weight on the Indiana game, because if we somehow figure a way to be 2-2 for these next 4, that would be more than acceptable.

Yeah, RN seems like the best (for Creighton) of that 5 to leave, but that assumes the others are back. Sounds like Kaluma is moving on, and probably Scheierman.

In comparison, Miles set the bar too high by making the tournament in his 2nd year. By his 5th and 6th year, winning records were not good enough to keep his job. So maybe starting god-awful and improving each year is a really good strategy.

CJ was basically starting at the 4 the last part of the season. And that is really the only spot he can/could play. We certainly don't want him handling the ball much. He was fine as a spot up shooter or a hard-working defender. If Gary is back, he will have bulk of minutes at the 4. And our 2 and 3 guards will have to be better options that CJ. Good effort guy and good team plyaer. Otherwise, he will not be missed.

It's amazing what a new season can do. I had no positive expectations coming into this year. Alternatively, I'm looking forward to seeing what he puts together for next year. He has a blueprint now and I think he is invested in making it work. Without injuries this year, I believe he was tournament bound. If he doesn't do that next year, I am for going a different direction.

Was at the Creighton game and Gary was the best athlete on the floor. He was primary reason we were able to beat MN at MN when this team was still finding its way. This team was above .500 when the best 4 were on the floor for the games. That includes games against Creighton and Iowa. No reason to think with all of them on the floor, + Tominaga and/or Lawrence, we wouldn't have been playing strongly like we are right now. I can only imagine how well Tominaga would be playing if he could play on fire for 15-20 minutes a game, whereas now he is dragging in the 2nd half with cramps.

Considering I quit my season tickets this year, I’m shocked they haven’t all been OT games. Should’ve had more faith. Regarding your question, don’t recall consecutive OT games.

I've watched a lot of BIG basketball over the past couple years -- I have yet to see a time where Chucky has smiled or had enjoyment around his Wisconsin teammates. Maybe this is just his stoic nature. Did he enjoy the cold shoulder Gard gave him after he took that end of regulation 3?? Does he think Wisconsin style is fun to play? More importantly, do you think he noticed how much NE will need a point guard next year?

yeah, they lost those two guys but got "older" with transfers in. Kinda like when we had Walker, Griesel, and Bandoumel on the floor at once.