aphilso1

Well that's disappointing. I had been checking back to Arizona's commitment page periodically, and got my hopes up since the other 4 guys in their class are all listed as signed but Ristic is still listed as committed/unsigned. I guess Rivals needs to get their act together, and I should follow more sources.

No, according to Rivals. Arizona is still in the running for Myles Turner, who you have to assume would take Ristic's scholarship spot. Turner is a surefire lottery pick and plays the same position as Ristic, so I for one am rooting for Arizona to nab MT and cut Ristic.

I'm holding out hope that Ristic is a silent commit, pending Arizona not having room for him. That would seem to make a lot of sense, given Miles' spring game comments about getting better bigs and the widespread speculation that someone has committed but can't openly say so. Why would someone be a silent commit at this point? I can't think of a better reason than Ristic's, since he is officially committed to a school that probably has no room for him. Doesn't want to back out of his commitment, but needs an agreement with a safety net program too. It's a smart move for Ristic to have a backup plan, and an even smarter move for that backup plan to be a team that is probably not going to fill all of it's scholarships (us!). Combine that with Ristic's earlier comments that Nebraska was his #2, and I don't think it's too much of a stretch to think that he fills out paperwork for both AU and NU. Then when Zona fills up, he sends us the fax instead. So I'm going with-- Smith Ristic Ayegba ???

One of the things I like about Tim Miles is that he generally doesn't overuse timeouts. I think he has a very good understanding that when he calls a TO, he's not the only head coach in the room that's drawing up a play -- the other team is also using YOUR timeout to THEIR advantage. Most of the time there's just no need to burn all of your timeouts.

Playing WSU at the Sprint Center would be FANTASTIC. I miss the Big XII tournaments there, and KC is a great place for weekend road trips. Husker game vs a quality opponent on a neutral floor, plus Power & Light District, the Plaza, Jack Stack BBQ...sounds awesome. Make this happen, Shawn Eichorst!!!

Nothing says "long time fan" like selecting a first-year arena as your profile name. And maybe that's the problem. If someone is a new fan and only started following the team in the last few months, then it's pretty easy to criticize a player that played poorly in the biggest game of the year. But for those of us that have followed this team for any length of time, we realize that Walt is a tremendous upgrade over what we've had in the past at the 4 or 5, and part of the core group of players that gave us our best season in 1.5 decades. Room for improvement? Yes. But still very much a quality player that I'm glad is on this team.

I've got three friends that are Baylor grads. I live in the greater Omaha area, and have ZERO friends that are Creighton grads. What does that tell you about their fan base?

He is truly a stand up guy, and I hope things work out for him at VaTech. There was an amazing story written about him earlier this year, I dare anyone to read it and not shed a tear-- http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/24433916/antics-aside-marquettes-williams-is-a-positive-force-for-children

As good as the B1G was this year, it could be even deeper next year. Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Northwestern and Minnesota are all likely expecting to take a step forward. I know Rutgers is a joke, but Maryland always has a ton of talent and now they're in the mix. Including us, 11 of the 14 teams in the league will enter the year with a shot at dancing. More than one talented team will be eaten alive, there just aren't enough conference wins to go around. I expect us to have a better team next season, but would be very happy to duplicate our 11-7 record in conference.

My intention in creating this thread wasn't just to complain about today's refs. It was also to look at the issue from a more macro level for the future -- how does Nebraska position itself so that games like this don't happen, or at the very least, happen far less regularly? I mean think about it, Karl Hess didn't wake up this morning planning on screwing us over. He had no prior history with our team or this coaching staff. No beef with us. So why did we get bent over the proverbial barrel today, and how do we minimize the chance of it happening again? I already posted my thoughts in the OP on what factors influence officiating, and we're well on our way to getting more calls. And to be honest, there were a few home games this year that we got our fair share of breaks. This was the first year I can remember feeling that way, as getting hosed seemed like a regular occurrence over the past decade or so. But we HAVE gotten a strong home court advantage, we HAVE a coach who is respected almost universally, and we HAVE a core of athletic guys that can dribble penetrate and force the refs to make a decision. I honestly think that games like this or the Aaron Craft fiasco will soon be solidly in our rear view mirror. Getting calls is not just dumb luck. As a program, you CAN position yourself to get the benefit of the doubt, and we are close to doing that.

So yeah...that sucked. But it's officially the offseason and time to start countless threads of paralysis by analysis. Why not start with a doozy -- referees. IMO, a lot of factors go into "getting the calls." 1. Home court environment. This one is scientifically proven, and there's no arguing with science. The biggest advantage of playing in front of a rockin' fan base is getting a couple extra whistles. 2. Style of play. Aggressive offensive teams get the calls. Aggressive and *disciplined* defensive teams get calls. 3. Coach prestige. The Mike Kryzwsjudieskijdzxqucski factor at Duke. The Boeheim factor at Syracuse. I cold go on, but you get the point. 4. Human nature. Refs can only get yelled at so much before they start wanting to retaliate against the team doing the yelling. See Exhibit A, 2014 NCAA Second Round game, 11 Nebraska v. 6 Baylor. 5. School's reputation. I don't think this one actually exists, but I hear people claim "Kentucky treatment" or "Carolina treatment." More often than not, the root cause is probably one of the first three factors that is instead perceived as favoring a school with basketball history. Schools that are rich in tradition usually hire well-respected coaches, have sold arenas, and recruit premier athletes. So yeah, they're gonna get some calls, but not simply because of the name on the front of their jersey. Now as far as the officiating goes this year, I actually thought the last three games were potentially the most poorly officiated of the year. Wisconsin - We were aggressive and constantly getting contact driving the lane, while the Badgers settled for jump shots. Yet somehow, the foul and free throw counts were approximately even. Should not have been the case. But our guys were en fuego that game, and were able to overcome an officiating crew that clearly thought "fair" meant blowing the same # of whistles on both teams, regardless of whether they deserved it. OSU - I could go on forever on this one...but let's just say they got the Craft Treatment. Baylor - Factor 4 was huge in this one. Ticky tack calls early on both teams, Miles got frustrated and Drew didn't. Our players threw their hands up in disgust after every iffy call, Baylor's didn't. And then the zebras just got tired of it. Two techs on Miles, a million FT's for the Bears, and we never even made it into the bonus in the 2nd half. Do I think the refs sucked? Yeah. But, I can kinda see why.

That almanac only goes through 2000. Time for another trip to THE FUTURE

I had Western Michigan over the Cuse. Didn't exactly pan out.

And Misery is the only former Big 8 team left out of the dance. 7 out of 8 ain't bad

I LOVE that this is "off-topic"

Great googalie moogalie...OMA to SAT flights are going for $800.....

When will they announce the TV schedule for the games? Curious if we'll get a day or night game for Friday. I play guitar at church, so I'm also wondering if I'll need to find a sub for Sunday morning.

Interesting. Two things stand out to me, and both have to do with 3FG%. First, I'm shocked that Ray's % actually went up. And second, did Benny really make ZERO three pointers this year? I mean I know he's not exactly a deep threat, but to go 0-for-the-year...it's a good thing he improved so many other facets of his game

I see raw talent in Webster, and fans seem especially hard on him due to the amount of hype he came in with. First of all, he's not even 19 years old yet. And second, I think a lot of people underestimate the challenge of playing basketball in the US after only playing internationally. I think Dirk, the Gasols, Ginobli, etc. have shown that patience can be richly rewarded when dealing with overseas players. And Tai doesn't need to be NBA all-star good for us. I'd be thrilled with 3rd team all B1G

It counts. South Florida picked up their first (and I believe only) NCAA win in Dayton a few years back.

We're in. There just aren't that many bubble teams still playing with a chance to jump us, and there aren't that many nobodies still playing with a chance to steal a bid. The small conference tournies all went according to plan with no bid stealers. I don't see how we could be left out.

We're in. We may have to play in Dayton, but we're in.

travel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

need to win in regulation. too much foul trouble to survive in ot

buck it, suckeyes!!!!!!