Dead Dog Alley

KU was unbanked at that point in 88. They never really looked all that good that season until their return trip to Lincoln for the first weekend of the tournament.

If Sam is right, that would show the effects of including Rutgers in the conference. When was the last time a Big Ten team went 0.500 in conference and was 2 games over 0.500 overall didn't make the NIT? I don't know for sure but I'd imagine it was quite some time ago. But the selection committees now might not value 9-9, 10-8, or 11-7 quite as much if that includes two wins against Rutgers, if Rutgers continues to struggle.

Shea Rush (JaRon Rush's son) is listed at 6'6".

Michigan has won two road games so far, @ North Carolina State and @ Illinois, two middle of the pack teams. Personnel wise, it's not a terrible matchup for Nebraska. Michigan almost exclusively goes with one average post player, one guard, and three wings on the floor. I don't know how long LeVert is out, but they're still pretty good on the wing with Irvin and Robinson and Dawkins. It's a winnable game, but definitely not an easy one, especially considering the past results against Michigan in conference play. Outside of the 71-70 loss at PBA two years ago, they have not been pleasant to watch.

2013-14: Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern. 2008-09: Baylor, Texas Tech, Colorado. 2007-08: Texas A&M, Missouri. 2005-06: Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma. Nebraska was 5-32 on the road in Big Ten conference play prior to the last two games.

When was the last time they won 3 straight conference games by 10+ with two of them being on the road? In 1998-99, they had a stretch in the midst of a five game win streak, which was in the midst of a 9-1 stretch in conference, where they won four straight games by double digits, with two straight of those being on the road. And then they lost to friggin' Doug Gottlieb and Oklahoma State in Lincoln in a horribly officiated game, and didn't make the NCAA tournament.

Best Shields has played in a long time.

+1 (is that even still a thing?)And there's no reason they can't do that the other Norfolk kid, Strom. I'd get David Wingett from Winnebego on board, too. He's putting up 27 points a game. I'd love to see those two in the 2017 class. Or what about the leading scorer in the state, Bart Hiscock from Bennington, he's putting up 28 and 8, oh, and he's 6' 8" 225 and he's a senior. He can shoot, rebound and runs the floor well. You're telling me that kid can't contribute in a couple of years? With one Nebraska kid already in the fold for 2017, and if that team is as good as a lot of people think it can be, I think there'd be room for Arop, Strom and Wingett to recruit and develop. It'd be unlikely that they play much anyway. I always see Hiscock being listed at 6'6". I'd have to assume that the reason he's not getting major looks is concern that he's not at that level athletically - I don't know, I haven't seen many highlights of him - but he's obviously a good player. I know that Strom really wants to go to Nebraska. He's got enough size for that level, (it would be better if he grew another inch or so), has good hands, great touch, exceptional footwork - but, as far as speed, quickness, leaping ability, isn't going to wow anybody. So I don't know how good of a chance he has at getting an offer.

I remember hearing about him his junior year when I was looking to see what state tournament games to possibly go to. I did not ever see him play, I have a friend who went to their state tournament game his senior year who wasn't real impressed that day (he wanted to play on the perimeter instead of taking advantage inside - a common problem for kids who want to showcase their versatility instead of dominating inside.) His uncle Mark started at linebacker in 83/84 alongside Knox and Munford - so there was a family history at UNL. I read that he was a Wyoming commit, I don't know what happened there that he ended up at SDSU, both his parents went to Wyoming. His dad was on the Oiler's roster for a year in the 1980s. And that's all I remember about him from a couple years ago.

Rutgers has lost 17 straight Big Ten regular season games. This is there only real chance at a win until 2/3 when they play Illinois at home, they also host Penn State and Minnesota. They shouldn't be favored in any of those 4, but those are the only chances for them to salvage anything from this season. Nebraska is 5-31 all time on the road in the Big Ten. The next easiest road games this year are Penn State and Illinois, and possibly Wisconsin.

One more thing about the Alpha Dog, I don't know if I've ever seen any player set better screens than him. The reason being that I never saw the Alpha Dog actually set a screen, he might have been really good at it, we will never know.

OK, we'll see. I think he'd have been good, but I don't think he's exactly, exactly, exactly what we were looking for. He's a 4, not a 5. And that might have something to do with why he went to Clemson instead. What we need is a big dude who can post up with his back to the basket and defend the post. I don't think this was that guy. He still might have been better (or even a lot better) than our other 4s, but it would leave us still in need of a post. That's all I'm saying. Not trying to rationalize or engage in sour grape talk. Just didn't think he quite fit the need. You put your finger on one of our problems in recruiting. There's been guys who would have been a better option at the 4 than anybody we've got, and a better option at the 5, but look at our roster and see that they will exclusively be a 5 here. And that's not something they want to do.

Because, it's a crooked game. And one that was completely void of excitement.

They must reward their slump busters.

So can somebody go after these refs under a RICO statute? Because this is definitely organized crime.

How long before Robin puts out article (for a price) that we are at the top of his list after his visit. Turns out he was tweeting a song lyric and it had nothing to do with his visit. Reason # 138,372,494 to not bother following a 19 year olds twitter feed.

That's not necessarily effort and desire. In this case it is having to think too much on defense and ending up out of position.

I bet that 28 stays as his career high for a long, long time. Unless Olah is out when Nebraska plays them in Evanston.

Gill, Watson, Webster, Evelyn, Trueblood. Best backcourt since Lue-Belcher-T.Piatkowski or Lue-Boone-Strickland-Wald? Quite possibly. White, McVeigh, Roby, Fuller. One of the better sets of wings in a while, probably behind White-Shields and Petteway-Shields, otherwise the best since the early to mid 90s. White being the best individual player at the position since either Petteway or (if you would take him over TP) Piatkowski. Jacobson, Morrow, Horne, Hammond, Borchardt. Well, this needs some work. Three decent options if you go with a traditional 4, and a backup center. If you want to make a splash next season, and in year five you need to (you really can't waste the last year you have AW3), you need someone who comes in ready to play.

Was Barr our last mid season transfer that we got? He stayed a whole semester. Here's hoping for better luck next time.

I don't think I've seen these names mentioned here, and it's way too early to know how good any of them will end up. Brady Heiman is a sophomore from Platteview, is listed at 6'10", and was listed at 6'7" last year and 6'5" as an eighth grader - so he's probably not done growing. He's pretty thin, in one story this summer he was reported to be 6'8", 165. He's averaging around 12 points, 10 rebounds, 6 blocks. Malcolm Helmstadter-Whitlow is 6'0", 160, averaging 15 points for Lincoln Northeast so far as a freshman. Also from LNE, Trace Tupper has apparently improved quite a bit, he averaged about 4 last year and about 15 so far this year. He's a 6'9" junior.

Find another guy anywhere in the country who is putting up less than 4 points with less than 2.5 rebounds, less than 2.5 assists, and less than one steal a game who is averaging 20 minutes or more of playing time. I'd wager that you can't.

All else being equal, if we don't beat Wisconsin and Michigan State that year and go to the NIT, I don't think he'd have a lot of support right now. Last year's recruiting class would be the only thing to get him a fifth year.

Since we did have the 10-2 stretch and went to the tournament in 2013, I think he will get a sixth year regardless - unless the year five record is something like 14-17 or worse. That is assuming that this year plays out like looks right now and we end up with between 12 and 15 wins. To get to year seven, I think he'll have to go to the tournament at least once in the next two. To get to year eight, I think he'd have to win a tournament game or really be trending upward at that point. Two things to consider are, the chance of there being a new AD hired is about 50% after the next football season and about 90% the year after that. So that is an unknown with regards to the effect on the basketball program. The other factor is that Miles has never been anywhere longer than 6 years.

Since we are 9-22 against major conference competition since that Wisconsin game, you'd have to say something did change. Maybe it was blowing the 18 point second half lead in the very next game. It's similar to what happened after Sadler's biggest win, vs a No. 2 or 3 ranked Texas to make them 18-8 and 6-6 in conference, so they needed two more wins and they'd have been in the tournament. Instead they went 1-5 the rest of the year and 12-18 the next, 4-14 in conference, and 8-22 against major conference competition.