bball23

REALLY hope we can get this one..... NU 71 Michigan 67

RPI? We absolutely want these teams to win. Especially if we have any hopes of any post season play. The better the RPI, the better. UMASS won tonight over St Joe's as well.

I'm still optimistic this group can win its fare share of games. As I pointed out earlier, to this point, we have pretty much lost all the games that most thought we may (outside of UAB). UMASS-good team @CU-good team @Cincy-good team @OSU-good team @Iowa-good team. And outside of UMASS....ALL on the road. Winning games on the road in college is very, very tough. Then to make it tougher, you look at who we have lost too. All of the teams listed above are in the top 30 rankings outside of UAB. I was just telling a co-worker today (and call me crazy) I still think we can win (if things go well....8 or so games in the B10). Is it likely? Probably not, but I'm still pretty high on this team. The key for us is we HAVE to start making some shots. I think our defense is slowly getting better and I think our rebounding is much better as well.

This.....Even Miles has said our guys have struggled with the "ball fake" quite a bit when getting into the lane. Either that or I would like to see our guys draw more contact and hopefully get some fouls called and get to the line more. It will come I think. Hopefully starting Thursday vs a good Michigan team.

Here is what I keep telling myself. We have 6 losses right now. 5 of them are to teams that come Monday may all be ranked. 4 on the road and 1 at a neutral site. I still see this team winning its fair share of games. For the first time in what seems like forever, we should have a home court advantage. I think we can win a fair amount of games at home still. Then what we HAVE to do is get a few wins over teams like PSU, NW and maybe a Purdue on the road. I REALLY hope we can get a win on Thursday. Partly because we need it from the psychological standpoint. Plus, the other thing that gives me hope is that I thought by the end of last year we were light years better than when we started the year. I'm hoping for the same this year. And if you look at our last 8 games, several are "winnable". vs Illinois (winnable at home) @MSU (not likely obviously) vs Penn State (winnable obviously) vs Purdue (winnable) @Illinois (not likely) vs Northwestern (winnable obviously) @Indiana (not likely) vs Wisconsin (can we get that one really big home upset?) You look at that, and if we could somehow take care of home court, we can go 5-3 to end the season. Our schedule to start is simply a nightmare, no matter what team is playing it.

I have backed Petteway from the beginning. I wish I could find the post I had about how people would always bitch and moan we didn't have a guy that could just attack the way he does, but then complained when he would sometimes take a bad shot. I personally have liked him from Day 1. Glad others are starting to feel that way too. He's a guy that we haven't had in quite some time. The nice thing is, he is only a sophomore. Time to only get better.

Kent tweeted that Fuller didn't travel as RS get to stay home longer. Will be with team at Iowa game though.

I can't see us getting this one: Cincy 71 NU 59

Well...one coach suspends a player for being late to a film session...another coach post pictures on twitter of his player that got kicked out of a game and calls it "hustle". I'll take our coach.

NU 84 Citadel 61

NU 73 Ark State 61

LOVE KENT PAVELKA!!! Since I go to all the home games I don't get to listen to him as much as I would like. So after a lot of games I will actually go back and listen to parts of the game just to get Kent's call. Absolutely love his passion for the game and for Husker hoops. Guys great!

67 of the points by CU were from seniors that know how to play together. 3 of NU's points were by a senior we have. CU was clearly the better team yesterday...clearly! They also have been playing together for a LONG time. Wragge has been in the program for what, 5 years? Gibbs 4, Manigat 4, McDermott 4? Even guys like Chatman for 3, etc....how many of our guys outside of Ray have been together for long? This NU team will look very good on some nights, and VERY bad on some nights. Just the way it is for a young team. You look at at team like UNC for example (not comparing us to UNC, but using this as an analogy)...they lose to Belmont, beat Lou, lose to UAB, beat Michigan State....young team with ups and downs. Sure it sucks to lose this game, but I for one figured we would. First true road game, young team, vs a very good CU team that is very experienced. What I have said from the get go about this NU team. We HAVE to continue to see us get better as the year goes on. And frankly, I think we will.

I pray we switch everything! It shouldn't matter if a smaller guy gets on Wragge. Get up on him tight and beg him to dribble. Don't bite on any ball fakes. Wragge is 1-3 on 2 pointer for the YEAR! That's not an exaggeration. He has shot 3, 2 point shots.

I had to venture over to the Jays board just to see what they thought of this game. What kind of blows my mind is their mentality of "We have nothing to gain and everything to lose?" How do they honestly feel this way? Look, NU hasn't been a great team in a long time, but how can they feel this way? Even some of them felt this way when they were in the Valley which really blew my mind. You still get a shot at beating a BCS team. Sure, we are low in the B10, but it still helps them. And now some of them (not surprisingly) stick their noses even higher in the air now that they are in the Big East. Even though in my eyes it still isn't a great conference since losing (Syracuse, Cincy, Notre Dame, Pitt, Lousiville, UCONN). It doesn't surprise me they feel this way as they have always and will always be a fan base that thinks they are better than they are. I could understand if they have made some nice runs in the tourney, but they haven't. Wichita State for example has done some things come tourney time. Jays....not at all. But their argument is always "Well, at least we have won a game." If that's what makes them feel better, to compare themselves to a team that "They have nothing to gain from beating" then so be it.

Hopefully wrong, but they will be tough. Jays 74 NU 62

Some of them on their board have said how NU fans are saying "enjoying it CU while you can." Here is why I actually feel confident NU can start to do well in this series. Miles is a good coach Miles will be a good recruiter NU has FINALLY spent some $$ on hoops PBA will be a true home court advantage I think Altman was a much better coach that McDermott is. McDermott's best "recruit" to date is his son. Unless he has another All-American son anywhere..... Even some CU fans I know don't completely trust McDermott They were gift wrapped getting Gibbs back another year For as much as they hate that we as NU fans think this will be there last year of success.....we as NU fans could also argue that we as NU fans get sick and tired of hearing every year that this is CU's "breakout year" I can't tell you how many times I have heard CU fans say they will make the Sweet 16, Elite and hell some even say Final 4.

One thing on there.....Petteway is a sophomore

With all of what everybody is saying.....isn't it kind of refreshing that we can have a lot of different options of guys starting/playing? And who knows what Hawkins will bring to the table if he does play. IF he keeps missing too many more games I would much rather see him take a RS. He already has missed 7 games which is almost 25% of the season. I don't think he's a go tonight. So why play him? Just my $0.02. In fact, I would RS him for sure at this point.

This is what I'm thinking....I wonder if Ray not having a great night the other night makes Miles think he should start Ray. Ray started last year and more than likely would have this year without the suspension. Some guys handle coming off the bench better than others and maybe Miles feels Ray needs to start to get him going quickly. Biggs/Smith/Rivers/Parker have shown they can come off the bench and be productive. Plus, whoever starts doesn't mean they get the most minutes. Sometimes as a coach you may want to start one man over another but know it may affect the mental part of the guy that doesn't start. Maybe Ray is one of those type of guys?

NU 72 Miami 65

And Miami with a nice win over ASU. Gonna be a tough game Wednesday.

I love this board....(Actually I really do). So many complained for years about not playing enough "quality" teams. Now Miles sets out a decent OOC schedule and some would rather just "get wins" Miles almost has a way of "beating the system" when it comes to getting a high RPI and SOS. I'll trust Miles. Miles made it pretty clear as well that year 2 would be tough. We have seven new players trying to gel together. I'm going to go out on a limb and say we look pretty good by the end of the year. We live in such a "win now" society with social media that everybody wants to win every time out. We are playing an EXTREMELY young team this year, with a lot of new faces on top of that. Its going to take some time. I think Miles learned a lot about his team over these 3 games. I mean, look at what he did in game 3 by going to a zone more. I bet that he wishes he would have done that vs UAB in the 2H as well....but at least he recognized it quickly and made the adjustment in game 3. Keeps guys out of foul trouble and also it keeps athletic guards from hopefully getting into the lane easier. I was disappointed with the UAB loss for sure, but I think we got a hell of a lot more out of this tourney than beating a bunch of cupcakes!

Royal, I'm glad you brought this up. I agree with you 100% on this. So many on here want to rip Petteway, but never point out the fact that he is one of the best on our team at ATTACKING the hoop. How many times in the past 10 years have I had to read about people bitching and moaning that we never have that "one guy" that can get to the rim? And now, we have a guy that is fearless at getting to the hoop and people want to rip his head off at times. Sure he takes some bad shots, but so do other players. Trust me, he can be frustrating to watch, but I can tell you what, NO WAY IN HELL do we win yesterday without him. He had a few plays late where he just put his head down and took it to the rim and got fouled. Twice I believe he even missed a shot (one time I want to say Shields missed) and who was there for the dirty work to get a rebound and get fouled? Terran. Again....let me clarify. He does some things to make me scratch my head. But he also does a good job IMO of getting to the rim and being aggressive. If he were shooting 50% instead of 41% a lot of you would be thinking he's great. Plus, when he is getting to the line, he is making them (29-33, 87%).

NU 89 NIU 68