Swan88

This is how Google Translate puts those Asian words into English: "Tominaga is coming to Rutgers University to watch the game! He scored 22 goals, but even more than that, I felt encouraged by the sight of a young Japanese man competing at this level in America. I don't know much about basketball, but his 3P has a dream."

The most recent recruitments of Parker by Nebrasketball have been like the guy who proposes on the jumbotron at a sporting event--and she says, "No." Twice! Plus . . . Parker said, "Yes," to two other suitors, only to leave them at the alter. So, the best advice for future Parker suitors is this: "caveat secutor" (i.e., suitor beware).

Those computers love Ohio State too—it’s inexplicable:

Following 49r's lead in the post above, gotta love this string on a Rutgers message board titled, "Nebby was 20 of 27 from 2 last night. 74% !!" And here's a set of statistics from that string: "Nebraska did not attempt a 2 point shot outside of the paint. 12/17 at the rim 8/10 in the paint - not at the rim 0/0 mid-range 2's"

The talking heads on B1G say it is the Northwestern coach.

Hoiberg has got to be coach of the year so far. Won't happen. But think of what he's accomplished: 1. Takes three transfers (Gary, Bandoumel and Griesel) and a repurposed post/point Walker to significant early wins and a near-win over the no. 1 team. 2. Then, loses two of those transfers for the season--fans nearly give up, wondering if the season is over already, and talking heads on B1G Network are burying "Nebraska and Minnesota" into the B1G cellar. 3. Then, starts winning with a "doesn't belong in the B1G" scorer and high-level production from underclassmen (including a walkon)--over Ohio St., Penn St., Wisconsin and then Rutgers (on the road, no less). All those wins are surprises--every single one. 49r even predicted a 20-point deficit at Rutgers . . . in the first half! 4. Now, some of the previously-vicious "Fire-him!!" folks purport to be happy at being wrong. All of this is magical. Truly!

Regarding a .500 record requirement, here is information from that highly-authoritative source called Wikipedia: "In an effort to maintain some quality, a rule saying that a team must have a .500 or better overall record to qualify for the NIT was imposed. The NCAA announced a revamped selection process starting with the 2017 tournament. The main highlights are: Teams are no longer required to have .500 or greater overall records to receive bids. Similar to the automatic bids the NCAA Tournament grants for all conference tournament champions, all teams that won regular-season conference championships but failed to earn NCAA tournament bids are guaranteed places in the NIT."

Yeah. I finished off a book while watching the game . . . and it was a boring book.

Here’s hoping yesterday’s comeback signals a new and improved approach to success without Gary and Bandoumel. Perhaps Walker+Keita is that improved approach? Consider this from OWH: “Eleven rebounds. Multiple hustle plays. Two steals. Two points. Plus-20 when he was on the floor — second-highest for the team behind Griesel at 21. All in 23 minutes of work.”

But it's not impossible. Consider this, for example: 1. In the 10 games this season when all five starters were available, NU gets 7 wins against 3 losses, including dominant wins over Creighton and Iowa and a final-possession screw-up by the refs in a loss to No. 1 Purdue.2. Replacing minutes of two gone-for-the-season, highly-proficient defenders with the likes of walk-on Sam Hoiberg is not ideal--but Hoiberg & Co. managed a win over Penn St. nonetheless.

Very cool, Jacob. Thanks!

Also impressive was Husker movement on defense. There were many mistakes, but when the Huskers got the defensive adjustments right . . . it was a thing of beauty to behold: 1. It all started by assisting on defense around the basket to minimize points in the paint--which worked very well, with relatively few close-in lion buckets! 2. That meant someone else is unguarded, so Husker defenders had to adjust to the open lion . . . and continue adjusting as passes to the next open lion continued. When the defenders got it right (and they did--lots of times) it was amazing! 3. But sometimes, Husker defenders adjusted to the wrong guy--open threes resulted, which went in at a high rate. 4. And sometimes, the lions made a well-defended three anyway: one happened at the southwest corner of the floor with Keisei immediately in front of the lion, who drained it anyway--Keisei trotted to the other end shaking his head and muttering something like, "What else could I have done?"

He's shooting from Mount Rushmore!

That was an impressive win. Seriously. With all the adversity, the coaching performance from Fred Hoiberg & Co. to get this win is exceptional. Since Coach Matt Rhule was in attendance, let’s call the Husker coaching effort in this game, “elite”!

Couldn't watch the game. Check-in on the ESPN app from time to time. At half-time, it's a close game. I say, "Cool." At the 12:00 minute mark in the second-half, we are ahead. I say, "Wow . . . maybe?!" Next time I look, we are down by 6--check the box score and see Walker has four fouls. I say, "Uh-oh." Next time I look, the last ESPN entry says "Foul on Walker." I say, "Oh-no!" Next time I look, we lose by 16. I say, "As usual."

So . . . a perfect example of Nebraska firing its way to success?! Too bad Miles had to start learning how to coach without Craig Smith by his side . . . at Nebraska. Apparently, he has learned how to do that.

Committee leadership is different this year. 2018 was an outlier: the first time in many decades that a B1G team with Nebraska's record did NOT make the Tournament.

Great win against a solid opponent!! And they did it without Gary and with Walker on the bench for nearly half the game. GBR!!

The trend right now is this: the Huskers are playing hard, unselfish and effective ball. We have two crucial players out, right now, with injuries. When playing at full strength, we’ve had excellent results. Such a trend won’t get Fred fired. Fantasizing otherwise may be fun for some—but it ignores this fact: the Athletic Director is both wise and prudent.

Put another way, Nebrasketball is where successful coaches go to get fired: Moe Iba Danny Nee Barry Collier Doc Sadler Tim Miles Fred Hoiberg? Firing our way to success has never worked-out for Nebrasketball. But maybe one more time . . .

Agree with the first sentence. Don't think the second sentence is accurate.

That's true, of course. But no one was on a hotter seat after last season than Fred--and that hurt recruiting. Yet, that did not prevent him from signing some impressive assistants and adjusting his approach to the game. Nor did it prevent him from signing the likes of Sam Griesel, Emmanuel Bandoumel and Juwan Gary. Each of those players was considered less-than-highly-impressive at the time, but each has proven to be an excellent and valuable college player. With the injury to Juwan Gary, it's hard to be optimistic for the rest of this season and for a positive momentum at the finish. But here's guessing that Trev Alberts recognizes the positive developments and will give Fred & Co. a vote of confidence of some type at the end of the season (something other than a raise or extension, of course) to help minimize the "hot seat" disadvantage.

The biggest mistake Tom Osborne made in the transition to Frank Solich is this: Tom needed to step into the Athletic Director role first (or simultaneously with that transition) so he could protect Frank's position. By failing to do so, Tom left Frank at the mercy of others.