uneblinstu

I'm really curious to see what our top 10 defense has cooked up for this one.

Head injuries are nothing to mess with and these are college kids. Playing rough hoping a post-concussion player might struggle in response doesn't strike me as the most sportsmanlike thing to attempt. Maybe, but maybe a better way to say it is don't take it easy on him. Go right at him.

I say we should start Moses and play rough the first five minutes of the game and see how he responds.

Check back before Wisconsin comes to town in a few weeks. We'll have a better idea then.

Anyone see the Journey the other day? It closed in NU's locker room after the Iowa. It's pin drop silent. Coach said he's sick of losing. When they're sick of losing, they'll make winning plays. Point blank asked Tai if he was helping us win. Tai said he could and that they needed to see it. Kinda surprised to see him call out Tai (and he called out Rivers too) with the cameras in the room like that.

- Back-to-back double digits conference wins is pretty cool. First time since 2005 that's happened. Nope, it happened last year. My bad. - Rebounded pretty well tonight. - They only got to the line once in the first 38 minutes of the game. What?! and the won by 10? Weird. - Illinois wasn't shy. And they didn't make many. Defense did pretty well and didn't give them some many second chance points. Probably the key to the game. - The offense looked better, today, I thought, even they didn't score a ton of points. More movement than we've seen much of the season. - I figured out why Pitchford doesn't win the tip this year. They just want to make sure they get the ball when Benny inevitably gets a tie up. - Though Peteway had a good game. Didn't force things as much as he's done in the past. - Tarin Smith keeps getting better and better. Time to start the conversation about having him start? - First time Tai hasn't played in a game since coming to Nebraska. - Thought we'd see more of Fuller. - Leslee Smith didn't hardly play. That's probably ok. - Pitchford had a nice game, even scored in the paint. Renewed my faith that the abominal snowman is real. Also, this: This post has been promoted to an article

A "center like (Jahlil) Okafor and Cliff (Alexander)"?! It's obvious from available videos that Ed's role on his high school team is as a back-to-the-basket center. Any chance he could serve that same role for the Huskers? Regarding Ed's height, Brian Rosenthall reported back on May 31, 2014: "Morrow, who recently turned 17, said he’s still growing, that he’s gone from 6-foot-6 at the start of last season, to his current 6-7½. Both measurements, he said, are without shoes." With shoes, he has to be 6-9, right? Tim Miles said some time ago that he views 6-9 to 6-11 measurements as functionally equivalent.. Unless he's wearing heels, shoes don't add 1 1/2 inches. I'd bet he'd measure about 6-8 in shoes.

No part of me thinks anything other than this. Walter is best when he's not guarding the 5.

It's the first time in, I don't know how long, that we've even been able to. Having those guys out there makes Pitchford a better defender, too. He doesn't have to take the opponents 5 as often.

Today was more about getting everyone back out on the floor. They'll get more comfortable as it goes along. We played a legit 9 man rotation today. I can't remember the last time we were able to do that.

I've got a bunch of thoughts but for now, I'm going to keep it conceis: - The gang is all back together. - Fuller has a nose for the ball. - With Moses and Leslee back, it changes everything for the better. That was the team I had expected to see all year. They've still got some things they're going to have to work out, but you can see how much better it will be. I know Rutgers isn't very good, but having those guys back helps in every aspect.

He'd be a surefire bet to get his story featured on The Journey before he graduates if he comes here.

Seriously, it just doesn't make sense. I refuse to believe it's a talent thing. I've seen him play well against better competition than he'll see here.

i believe the spread was 10.5 and we lost by 11.... I don't really care what the spread was. This was a four point game with five minutes left. With as thin as NU was vs. a full strength Iowa team coming off a huge win, NU had every chance to win this game. Iowa's depth was a huge factor in this game, probably the biggest one, NU still gave themselves a real shot to win.

Caught some of Welch's post game show and he made the point that Iowa was supposed to hammer NU tonight and they didn't. NU was right in this game. They have a very real shot to win this game. There's still a lot of fight in this team. I think we saw that tonight. Iowa just was a little too much for NU to handle tonight.

I'm having a hard time getting my hopes up. We weren't exactly dominating teams when Moses was playing. And if Leslee does come back, i have to think he will be on a minutes restriction and who knows how effective he will be after his 3rd serious knee injury. Obviously these guys would help, but I'm not sure if they can turn our season around. We were playing a lot better defensively. They just allow NU to defend a lot better, and the rebounding should, well...rebound. They're the two best rebounders on the team. You won't see a huge scoring change, I don't think, but you should see them get better just about every where else. Even if Smith can't play more than 5-8 minutes right away, it'll help ease some of the burden Pitchford's shouldering on his own right now. I'm also not saying we'll see them gone another "championship run", but I think they'll look a lot closer to the team we thought we'd see at the start of the year.

- Despite a couple bad looking shots at the end, thought Fuller looked ok. Iowa's a middle of the pack team athletically, so not sure he'll hold up vs. some of the top teams, but tonight and probably on Thursday, he should be able to do some things. - Smith looked good today, too. Not sure why we didn't see more of him down the stretch. - Thought we got killed on the boards, but the stats aren't as ugly as it felt during the game. - Missed some shots at the rim that we've gotta have. That's been happening too often. - Disappointing night from the line, too. That needs to be better. - Pitchford isn't great on the post, but he's got a tough gig trying to do it all on his own down low. I think him, as much as anybody, needs Abraham and Smith back. - Shields almost won that game by himself. - Thought Petteway was off tonight. Maybe slowed by whatever slowed him up in the first half. - Total fouls weren't hugely in Iowa's favor, but the free throw disparity, goodness. That's what Iowa does, though. They've done that all year. They're doing what Miles wants NU to do, "love the rim". You guys take it from here.

Well, that was a bummer. I've got a NYE shindig to get to, so I'm not gonna dissect this one. Maybe tomorrow. Happy New Year to my Nebrasketball family!

From the OWH story: I hope that's true, they're going to need to be. That's when the schedule gets really difficult. The schedule is front loaded this year.

I did too. He's struggled to hit that mid range jumper so far this year. When he's on, it's automatic and opens up that lane even more. He's a huge zone buster whenever teams want to do that. He easily could have had 10 more points yesterday.

Not gonna post much other than that was ugly, but not as ugly as if they'd have lost. I gotta get at least a little sleep before I go to work in the morning.

You recognize rock bottom only with hind sight.