Huskerpapa

They are out there, I am just not sure how we get them. We used to be able to, but landing those players continue to be difficult.

...or how about this one.

The good news is that we haven't quit. Barnett is a playa!

I believe I counted 18 missed tackles in the first half. The offense looks vanilla. There was a lot of talk about us being ready to play --- but we were not. Certainly missing our leaders on both offense and defense. ughh. Looks like we were/are playing to keep the game close rather than to win. Tennessee's talent is markedly better than ours today.

In college basketball, a flagrant foul is a serious personal foul. A foul is considered flagrant when it involves excessive or violent contact that could injure the fouled player. A flagrant foul may be unintentional or purposeful; the latter type is simultaneously known as an "intentional foul" in the NCAA. I can understand why this was called a flagrant, but I can also see inconsistency with the call as I could argue this was not an excessive or violent act. Jordy's back was to the player, he didn't swing at him. The foul ended in injury and wasn't intentional or purposeful. As said, I personally did not think it was excessive or violent; however, the injury likely was the reason the foul was deemed flagrant in nature.

Just thinking a bit out loud, I think our football/basketball program is similar to USC.

It was not a dirty play; in fact, I do not believe Jordy even know he was committing a foul. We have all seen much worse, especially in the paint. It was no more flagrant than the poke in the eye that Evan suffered.

I remember Cookie Belcher up top of our 1-3-1 zone. He caused havoc up top. I also believe he is one of the Husker all-time leaders in steals. It is great to have length up top where it creates issues to rotate the ball.

Isn't that what I said???

My expectations really are the same every year. Post season, preferably NCAA and then wins in the post season. Certainly if we get to that level, then my high expectations will get even higher. There are "only" 13 players on a team. We should be able to recruit players capable of being All-Conference, and eventually All-American. We should be in the hunt for a Big Ten and NCAA championships. Cip was indeed close on occasion. Nee was certainly close and did in fact win a Big 8 tournament championship and NIT championship. So we have been close...but never over that hump.

A day after...a few additional observations, or perhaps emphasized observations: We are a good offensive team when we push tempo. The word aggressive is often heard. Why do we make a decision to walk the ball up the court? Don't know the answer, but the observation seems to have legs. Our freshmen are needed for us to be successful. Being a freshman is no longer an excuse. The difference in each remaining game will come down to just a few good/bad possessions. Sounds sophomoric. Last night seemed to have ebbs and flows, but in this game, we didn't let a few physical mistakes manifest into a number of mental mistakes. We had a few, but not a significant number which seemed to show that we are maturing as a team. We have played in two very venerable venues this year, and in both cases, were not intimidated. That again tells me that we are maturing as a team. One remaining question (Perhaps there are many, many more) but the concern is that this team tends to play to the level of its competition. We need to continue to play well against high level teams, but we also need to play at a high level against less talented teams. In addition, we have struggled more on our home court, then on the road. We need to play at a high level on the road, but it is imperative that we take care of our home court. By the way, by playing well at home, we will win the band wagon riders back.

I will likely never have reasonable expectations, I will always have high expectations. Those high expectations haven't been met. Nee came close at times. Coach Miles had us close one year. Even Doc had us close a couple times. But that doesn't mean changes have to be made. Progress towards those high expectations is being made.

I believe you are going to see Isaiah playing three, perhaps four positions throughout the year. In fact, and this would not be shocking, he may see playing time at all five positions against certain teams and matchups.

Huskers 72 MaryLand 77

Hahaha....many of us had similar predictions.

From the LJS:

Ed gets a double-double despite being in foul trouble and playing against one of the better centers in our league.

Does anybody remember the pregame interview of Crean before the game. He was pretty prophetic in his perception.

We went back to a style of play that likely surprised Indiana a bit. If you scroll through the thread the ebbs and flow of the action is articulated. When we played an aggressive style of offense, we hit our shots and performed well. When we slowed things down, we struggled offensively. Those who do not follow Nebraska hoops may have thought we were incapable of playing at that level. But we did many of these same things against KU in the second half, and UCLA and Clemson in the first half and Dayton throughout the game. For the most part, that is how we played offensively against Southern. When we play the way we are capable of playing, we will beat a lot of teams.

Perhaps many of us noticed that in the midst of the celebratory behavior on our bench was Jack. He was celebrating and had his arms around Ed and whoever was on Jack's right.

This was a great win. But it is simply a good step. We are 7-6, but perhaps more importantly, we are now 1-0 in the league. We need to use this win as a stepping stone, not a feel good win. We can go into Maryland and do the same thing, then after that game, we cannot lay an egg against that team East of Omaha. Players tonight: - Jake played a good game. He scrambled, fought, played aggressive defense and did a bunch of little things well. I hope he can find his outside game. - Tai was a stud. That said, he missed some free throws and had some costly turnovers. If he can clean up those little things without losing his aggressiveness, then we are going to continue to see growth. By the way, he played stellar defense. - Ed was a flipping animal. I have no clue what his numbers were, but he seemed to block everything, rebound anything and score just enough - Glynn had sort of a quiet great game. He still gets beat on defense, but he is improving there as well. - Talk about someone having a quietly good game...Evan played well. He was excellent on defense, and did little to hurt us on the offensive end. - Isaiah had his coming out party tonight. The dude balled. Nice to see. Perhaps the rust is completely off and the nerves are now calmed. - Buckets did some nice things. His three's were all necessary and great to see. But he played well defensively as well. He is certainly earning his minutes. - I thought Jordy sort of struggled tonight. He continues to learn, but in the meantime, he provided necessary minutes.

Jack didn't play. I don't think he will spend the entire season on the bench, but I am betting he will be there for another game or two. Mentally he is in a bad place right now. He will eventually get his mojo back.

I am so happy that I blew my prediction!

I won't get carried away, but nonetheless, I will be excited. We had one senior, one junior, three sophomores and three freshmen play the minutes tonight. Think about that. We lost some games we shouldn't have lost. No question about it. But man, the future seems just a bit brighter.

Think about it ladies and gents, we just stopped a very long home winning streak! WOW!