throwback

If chalk holds from here and NU beats NW, NU would be the #10 seed and play #15 Penn St on Wednesday. #7 Mich St would be next on Thursday. (If a few upsets happen, NU could get as high as #7 I think.) 1. UCLA (16 - 1) 2. USC (15 - 2) 3. Ohio St (14 - 4) 4. Maryland (12 - 6) / Above Michigan based on head-to-head record (1-0). 5. Michigan (12 - 6) / Below Maryland based on head-to-head record (0-1). 6. Illinois (11 - 7) / Above Mich St and Oregon based on winning percentage against #4 teams [Maryland and Michigan] (1-1). 7. Mich St (11 - 7) / Above Oregon and below Illinois based on winning percentage against #4 teams [Maryland and Michigan] (1-2). 8. Oregon (11 - 7) / Below Illinois and Mich St based on winning percentage against #4 teams [Maryland and Michigan] (0-2). 9. Indiana (10 - 8 ) / Above Nebraska based on head-to-head record (1-0). 10. Nebraska (10 - 8 ) / Below Indiana based on head-to-head record (0-1). 11. Iowa (9 - 9) / Above Minnesota based on head-to-head record (1-0). 12. Minnesota (9 - 9) / Below Iowa based on head-to-head record (0-1). 13. Wash (7 - 11) 14. Wisconsin (4 - 14) 15. Penn St (3 - 15) ------- 16. N'western (2 - 14) 17. Rutgers (2 - 16) 18. Purdue (2 - 16) If NU loses to NW and chalk holds, NU falls to #11 and would play #14 Wisconsin - #6 Illinois would be Thursday. https://bball.notnothing.net/big10.php?sport=wbb

Saw during the Wisky-UO game yesterday that the last time every B1G team won at least 5 conference games was 2014. Could happen again this year, although we're playing 20 games now instead of 18 -- and there are a few more teams. Hard to believe PU ever finished last with Painter in charge ... but it's actually happened twice in his time there.

Not a Husker opponent, but UNO clinched at least a share of the Summit title last night for the first time - can win it outright with one more win in a game they'll be heavily favored at home. If they win the regular season title outright, they get 2 chances to make the NCAA tourney - win the Summit tourney themselves or have second-place St. Thomas win the Summit tourney - The Tommies are ineligible for the NCAA tourney while they transition to D-1 , so UNO would go as the regular season champ. If they go, UNO is right on the edge of being one of the four lowest 16 seeds - as a bottom four seed, they'd be in Dayton & give them a roughly 50/50 shot at winning a game. I think they'll be seeded a little too high to end up in Dayton if they make the NCAAs, but if, say, they get upset in the Summit quarters and St. Thomas wins the whole thing, UNO could drop into one of those last four 16 seeds.

Exactly. Wonder if we have too many veteran hitters thinking about their draft status in June and not focusing on the work it takes to get there. Our approach at the plate is absolute garbage so far. And outside of Vandy, we've really only faced 2-3 plus arms ... and we beat one of them Friday. Makes no sense unless guys are thinking about the wrong things up there.

A season's worth of terrible baseball in one afternoon. Pretty telling that the only hitter who did anything today was a freshman. Horn was solid, as were a couple of freshmen on the bump. Otherwise, really bad all the way around. Our veteran guys are not carrying their weight right now at the plate or on the mound. Margin for error is gone now. Need huge performances next weekend and against Oregon St -- plus dominate the midweeks -- to have any hope of being a regional host. It's not over, but it's in serious trouble already. Just awful after we had set ourselves up for a great day with last night's win and how deep we got into ULL's bullpen. But we never threatened to take advantage of it. Made things very easy on ULL.

After Friday's games - if chalk holds in the other games from here (which of course won't happen): NU goes 0-4 Misses B1G tournament NU goes 1-3 Win vs Iowa or OSU or Mich: #12 seed vs Rutgers Wednesday; Michigan Thursday Win vs Minny: #12 seed vs Iowa Wednesday; Michigan Thursday NU goes 2-2 Wins vs Iowa/OSU or Minny/OSU or Mich/OSU: #9 seed BYE Wednesday; Oregon Thursday Wins vs Iowa/Minny or Iowa/Mich: #10 seed vs Minny Wednesday; Illinois Thursday Wins vs Mich/Minny: #10 seed vs NW Wednesday; Illinois Thursday NU goes 3-1 Loss vs Mich or Minny or Iowa: #9 seed BYE Wednesday; Oregon Thursday Loss vs OSU: #10 seed vs Minny Wednesday; Illinois Thursday NU goes 4-0 #7 seed BYE Wednesday; OSU-Minny winner Thursday If chalk holds, top 4 seeds would be: 1-Wiscy 2-Maryland 3-MSU 4-Purdue

Couldn't have started a weekend series much better than that - our starter goes 6 innings and dominates - our hitters see almost 200 pitches and 6 pitchers with a double header on deck. A road sweep is always difficult but we set ourselves up to go get one.

Hope you're doing better!

Double-header on Saturday

Not a great weekend weather-forecast wise in Louisiana - get ready for a probable double header Saturday. Luckily we have Brockett available as a 3rd stretched-out guy if we have to play 18 innings Saturday and Horn or Walsh get into early trouble.

Playing with the bracket projector a little bit - we're probably going to have to go at least 3-1 down the stretch to have a shot to get into the top 9 and get that first-day bye. And we probably have to win at Ohio State or hope they get swept on their LA roadie - we lose most of the tie-breakers to them if we lose the rematch and we're both at 10-10. However, if we beat OSU but only go 1-2 in the other 3 games, we could still get to #9 at 9-11 because then we win the tie-breakers against Ohio St. For our hopes of getting a day 1 bye, that OSU game looks like the big one. If we go 4-0, good chance at #7 seed - could get to #6 with a miracle or two. If we go 2-2 with wins vs Iowegia and Minny - likely would be the #10 seed If worst case scenario happens, we could still miss the tourney. https://bball.notnothing.net/big10.php?sport=mbb

N 81 M 76

Holy crap - what a tough kid. I mean it's not quite Komine pitching in the NCAA supers at Stanford with his jaw wired shut, but still really tough. Hearing he'll probably be out until the Washington series, maybe a little longer. Needed some surgery, obviously. Glad he'll be OK.

Hopefully this GCU game wasn't a preview of how we're going to play in midweek games again. Still, 2-2 is a solid start against that quality of opponents on opening weekend. Really need to go 4-2 the next two weekends - ULL had a bad opening weekend, as did K-State, so 4-2 is definitely doable. The bad: The offense at times was really bad. Way too many Ks again. Still, if the offense was just average vs GCU, we have a 3-1 weekend, so I'm not too worried about it. Frost had a rough start - he's too good of a hitter to go 0-fer much longer. Just needs to get that 1st hit to get going. Too many veteran pitchers struggling with the strike zone. Again, I think we can chalk it up to first weekend jitters. Not too worried about it. Regardless, Childress won't put up with it, so it'll get fixed one way or the other. Wish we could've pitched a few more freshmen, but the game circumstances just didn't allow it. The good: That win over Vandy was really impressive. We pitched out of some tough spots. Yes, the offense struggled outside of Swanny, but the rest of the guys did a nice job working counts and getting on base. That Vandy starter is the real deal, and Vandy threw a lot of plus arms at us, yet we still found a way to win. We really competed - which makes the GCU game that much more disappointing because we didn't compete like we can. Defense - significantly better than I expected - Sanderson was good at first and Jesske stepped up at catcher vs San Diego St - especially for an opening weekend, we were really good in the field Carey - He didn't have a huge weekend in any one category, but he looks so much more comfortable on defense and at the plate. Really impressive. Brumbaugh - I was skeptical of him hitting leadoff and playing 2nd base, but he was really good other than for the opener - nice that he's healthy. Horn - Outside of the first inning jitters, he was dealing against a lineup that looks the part. He is poised for a big season. Walsh & Brockett - If those two guys can pitch like that the rest of the year, we're going to win a ton of games. Very few teams have #3 and #4 starters like that. Jasa - So excited to see him put up 2 strong innings with only 1 walk. Might have the best arm on the team ... as long as he can find the zone. Much more to like than dislike on the opening weekend. Really wish we could've gotten to 3-1, but we can make up for it the next two weekends. Inside the league, Michigan was great on opening weekend. Also liked what Purdue did. N'western won a series at Long Beach. Penn St looked good. Indiana was a mess. More good than bad in the league on opening weekend.

And the Iowegians score 24 in the second half and lose by 26. Guessing Fran-con was close to an 2 in the second half.

Jesske starting at catcher today - Helligso got dinged up last night but might play late if needed - otherwise same lineup as last night - Cymbalista must not be quite ready to go multiple innings.

Erased two double-digit second-half deficits on the road in a two-week span. Let's not need to do that Wednesday and give Fred's hand time to heal.

NU 81 PSU 68

Juwan was so big in turning that thing around - just refused to let us continue playing so poorly. Essegian was a very willing rebounder in the second half - he turned up the physicality versus how he's been playing & that was a big difference, too. I think I'll attend NW's graduation ceremony to make sure Berry walks across the stage finally.

Insanity - I think the color purple makes us sleepy ... and then angry.

True. I just hope we get one of his competent clones the next time we see him/them. One bright spot -- at least the College Basketball Referees Association didn't choose to clone Teddy Valentine.

Great bounce-back win - Swanny maybe could've let someone else drive in a run though. Picking up where he left off last year. Lots of gritty efforts on the mound. Hope Timmerman is OK - scary. Brumbaugh had a really nice bounce back game. Even though he hasn't drawn any walks yet, he did a nice job going deep into counts tonight - need to keep that up if he's going to be the leadoff hitter. San Diego St is the weakest of the 4 opponents this weekend - gotta get this one Sunday. Appreciated the radio guys gutting through that broadcast tonight - that had to be one of the toughest broadcasts they've ever done.

Going to be a tough radio broadcast to do tonight

Well, that wasn't ideal. Too many walks from veteran pitchers. Gotta think Mac was too amped up today - it worked for 3 innings with all the Ks, but he faded really fast after the energy ran out. Christo & Cleavinger have to be better at staying in the zone, too. Was surprised Brumbaugh started. We'll see if he sticks in that leadoff spot. Nice (and very surprising) to see Stone get an at bat - there was talk he might miss the season a few weeks ago. Clearly rusty, though. That was not a good at bat. And I was glad to see Cymbalista was healthy enough to catch the 9th. You don't want to wear out Helligso on the first weekend. Freshmen looked good on the bump - the coaches do like their young arms. Easier to pitch when you're down by several runs, though, - we'll have to see how they pitch in a tight game, but a good way for them to start out. Really like Buttenback, and Carey had a nice day. Frost just missed a couple of pitches. In that lineup, our 2 thru 7 hitters are going to be a handful for teams. Mostly we looked like a northern team that was kind of feeling its way vs a southern/western team that doesn't need an indoor facility. Plus I think UCI is pretty good. That lefty they brought in second was nasty. Hope we can bounce back tomorrow. Not sure if Worthley is available, but if he is, look for him to be next up after Horn.