Bill Self's Toupee

I see us anywhere from a strong NIT team to a "win-your-first NCAA tourney" team. Our Non-Conf schedule should (and needs to) supply plenty of wins. Anything from 8-4 to 11-1 is possible here. Auburn, Creighton, NC State and Kansas State will be challenges. Going 2-2 here, and winning all the other games is a realistic goal. I am hoping for 10-2, beating everyone except Auburn and NC State. I think the B1G slate is going to be a slog, with only the PSU and MINN games a likely win. I'd like us to win our home games against IND, NW, WISC, RUTG and IOWA. That gets us to 7 wins. Grab another road win (or two) against any of those five teams, and pull an upset win at home against MARY, and you are at 9 or 10 wins. I think we will get to 8-12 in conference play. That is more wins in conference play than either of our last two entire seasons. Go 1-1 (or 2-1) in the B1G tourney. 10-2 + 8-12 + 1-1 = 19-15 and on the bubble is my prediction for the season. If the B1G sends 9 teams to the NCAA tourney, I think we go.

Looks like the schedule is coming out today! Tomorrow • 1pm CT • @BigTenNetwork

If I remember correctly, the B1G schedule drops in mid-September.

Heather DinichESPN Senior Writer Oklahoma and Texas have formally notified the SEC they are seeking "an invitation for membership" beginning July 1, 2025, according to a joint statement from the flagship programs of the Big 12.

Its has been reported that the exit fees that Oklahoma and Texas would pay to leave the Big 12 before the GOR runs out is capped at $70M per team. There has been precident set (Maryland and Rugters among others) where the exiting school pays 40-60% of that amount (~$35M each for a total of ~$70M, to be shared by the 8 remaining schools). This occurs only if there is a viable Big 12 in place, which requires a minimum of 10 schools. So in order for Texas and Oklahoma to have to pay their likely ~$35M, the remaining 8 schools need to decide to stick it out in the Big 12 AND find at least 2 schools that will want to become new members, INSTEAD of attemping to join another conference. The roughly $10M (or $20M if the maximum exit fee is paid) each remaining Big 12 school would receive would be little consolation to the future annual payout they would receive from FOX once a new contract is negotiated for 2025+, even if the Big 12 expanded to 16 teams. Would FOX want to start a Big 12 Network, and pay each team over $10M a year if the flagship school is Oklahoma State or Cincinnati (should they join)? I haven't seen any reputable source saying this would work out.

On this week's Off Court with Trey and Bryce McGowens we hit on the following: 0:00 - Opening headlines 10:45 - Kobe Webster 22:45 - Lat Mayen 33:17 - Mail Bag 1 42:37 - Mailbag 2

On this week's Off Court with Trey and Bryce McGowens we hit on the following: 0:00 - Opening headlines 8:44 - CBS's Jon Rothstein 17:46 - Freshman guard Sam Hoiberg joined us in studio 24:13 - ESPN's Jeff Borzello 37:21 - Mailbag

Favorite beer: The very, very occational Light Beer (whatever is lowest price at HyVee). Favorite Spirit: None. Favorite cuisine: I like a good Pot Roast or Lasagna Favorite NBA team: haven't followed the NBA since Jordan retired. Favorite athlete of all time: Michael Jordan "Vacations" or "trips"?: Staycations. Beach, mountains, big city or theme park?: Home. All my stuff is there! Missed your calling?: also Chef Bitcoin or nah?: Nah Fred or Frost?: Yes!

You have to consider the optics on display for AD candidates. Hard to prove he was in short timer mode, and Moos had more successes than struggles here.

Western Illinois on November 9th fills out the non-conference schedule. 11/09 vs Western Illinois 11/12 vs Sam Houston State 11/16 vs Creighton 11/19 vs Idaho State 11/21 vs Southern 11/23 vs Tennessee State 11/27 vs South Dakota 12/01 at NC State 12/11 vs Auburn in Atlanta 12/19 vs Kansas State 12/22 vs Kennesaw State

Here is the first episode of Off Court with Trey and Bryce McGowens, on Husker Online. Here's the breakdown... (0:00-12:45) - Opening headlines with Trey & Bryce (12:46) - Nebraska basketball coach Fred Hoiberg (26:14) - Assistant coach Matt Abdelmassih (38:56) - Freshman guard Quaran McPherson joins us in the studio (48.09) - Xavier transfer C.J. Wilcher joins us in studio

Piecing together the comments... with some guesses on dates... 11/12 vs Sam Houston State 11/19 vs Idaho State ?11/23? vs [Team TBD] ?11/28? at Creighton ?12/04? at [ACC Team TBD] ?12/08? vs South Dakota ?12/09? vs Southern ?12/10? vs Tennessee State ?12/15? ?? Auburn 12/19 vs Kansas State 12/22 vs Kennesaw State ??/?? at Illinois ??/?? vs Indiana ??/?? at Indiana ??/?? vs Iowa ??/?? at Iowa ??/?? at Maryland ??/?? vs Michigan ??/?? at Michigan ??/?? vs Michigan State ??/?? at Minnesota ??/?? vs Northwestern ??/?? at Northwestern ??/?? vs Ohio State ??/?? at Ohio State ??/?? vs Penn State ??/?? vs Purdue ??/?? vs Rutgers ??/?? at Rutgers ??/?? vs Wisconsin ??/?? at Wisconsin

You need to have good coaching staffs to be a successful program, and I think Nebraska has that in Volleyball, Softball, Baseball, both Basketball and (yes) Football teams. I also think that having talented players is even more important. I subscribe to the Jimmies & Joes beats Xs & Os school, say 70/30 in favor of player talent. If anything was going to give pretty much ALL sports at Nebraska a big boost in the eyes of recruiting, this will do it. Husker Nation may be the most active fan base out there. Still have fond memories of the ESPN fan-voted "best teams ever" where Kirk Herbstreit was dismayed at how Husker Nation tilted the voting for the '70, '94, '95 and '97 teams. Imaging this same fan base getting behind NIL. A complete game-changer. This will likely cause a pendulum swing in parity between Power 5 and Group of 5 conferences, and lead to a split between the two (particularly for the big sports like basketball and football, which I think would be a good thing in the long run). Separate the playing field into two levels, stop trying to level what is inherently not level. Also, I can't understand why a team would continue to pay players in the shadows. It would be like trying to run a speak-easy after prohibition ended. Would players want to have their NIL figures intentionally undercut, reducing their "brand"?

I agree with your 4 main issues, placing Rebounding and 3-Pt accuracy as the #1A and #1B, with FT shooting #2 and Bryce being everything advertised as #3. I would also add 4. Reduce the number of fouls, especially the fouls at crucial points in the game. I don't know if these are "frustration" fouls, or "making up for lesser effort" fouls, but there appeared to me to be too many of this sort of foul. Maybe they should be called "discipline" fouls. We were a better team in terms of foul per minute in 2019 (actually very good overall with 1 foul per 13.4 minutes).

It's unfortunate that we don't have the same sort of data for the Danny Nee years. I wonder how many of these would be on the list if we went back to 1986? Half? I think all of these guys could have made the list... Tyron Lue, Mikki Moore, Eric Piatkowski, Beau Ried, Rich King, Verson Hamilton, Tony Farmer, Eric Strickland, Kinani Ffriend, Terrence Badgett, Carl Hayes, Clifford Scales, Bernard Day. All of these players were fairly tauted recruits.