throwback

25-13 thru 1Q Morrow was great in there, but not sure how much of an inside game this opponent has - ie., none ;-)

Random thoughts Watson 2 nice assists, esp on pick and roll with Morrow McVeigh looking fluid on offense, nice dish to Morrow Tai aggressive with 2 driving layups but then traveled 21-13 NU

Shavon with a nice 3 (I think) 6-6 (I think)

Couldn't Craydone just pull 5 guys from whatever is the equivalent of the Rec Center on their campus and get better competition? Just play sweater vests and skins and save the money on a trip to Italy.

Not sure how I feel about it - good point on the narrow hallways though I am surprised it's coming up now. NU doesn't appear to need extra money that this would generate and we're selling plenty of tickets without it. Plus NU is close to getting its full B1G financial share, so money really shouldn't be a concern on NU's end to make this decision. Have to think this is all City of Lincoln's idea. I'm not sure how the concessions split goes at PBA between the city & NU, but the city needs to pay the bills & alcohol sales would definitely help. It's inevitable that it will happen, but I'm surprised it even is a serious discussion point in just the arena's 3rd year. I figured it would take a decade or more. Have to admit, it always does make me a little sad when I see those beer taps going unused.

Yeah, NU going back to that league would be about the dumbest move possible. Beyond the fact that the Big 12's behind-the-scenes issues, public issues, and overall dysfunction really hasn't changed from what was going on in 2010, other than Beebe leaving, just the financial penalties & losses alone to NU would be devastating, especially when NU has already invested 4 years into being a full B1G member and is only 2 years away now. The financial windfall at that point will be pretty impressive. I don't say "never" very often ... but NU going back to the Big 12 is never going to happen. If I'm wrong I'll wear burnt orange every day till I die.

I would imagine the problems with KU/KSU and OU/OSU splitting would be dealt with at the state legislative level. There would be a battle to ensure the "little brother" public schools don't get left in the dust. I'm sure it would get nasty, which is probably why it won't happen. May depend on whether the governor at the time this would come about is a KU/OU or KSU/OSU fan. As someone mentioned earlier, I've always assumed Delaney's ultimate plan is to continue marching southward down the East Coast, but if the Big 12 does get to the point (again) where it's on the verge of falling apart, the B1G certainly would be smart to look at adding a couple of Midwest teams and KU/OU make as much sense as anyone. Who knows with the Big 12 though? There will be a new rumor in a few weeks. After all "Tejas is a powerful player." I miss playing the old Big 8 teams, and there was nothing quite like Big 8 hoops on Saturday afternoons on Raycom but so glad to be out of that bunch of misfits.

Lee B was at Big 12 media days last week & had a wrap-up in Sunday's OWH: -Big 12 media folks in general think their league is doomed inside of a decade -Behind the scenes the B1G has vetted Kansas & Oklahoma as potential future members Obviously this is football driven, but throwing KU & OU hoops into what the B1G already has would be pretty crazy. Showing my age but for me there were/are no better two series in Nebraska athletics than NU-Oklahoma football and NU-Kansas hoops. Obviously it's a long shot & a lot of things would have to happen over the next several years, but If this actually came true down the road, I'd be very much in favor. And if they keep the Shorthorns out of the equation, all the better.

Right - Boehm mentioned a few weeks ago there would be 9 non-con home games So that plus the 9 conf home games plus the 1 exhibition, so 19 this year.

Hopefully NU's trip to Wisconsin isn't the regular-season-finale this year. It's tough enough in Madison, but whichever team gets saddled with that home finale game on the schedule will run into an impossible task with that also being Coach Ryan's final home game. Whomever gets sent there for that game will tell us which team the B1G schedulers hate the most. I think that would a good spot on the schedule for Iowa to have.

Nothing earth-shattering here, but Lee B verifies in OWH today that Boehm says NU will have 9 non-con home games - he listed the 3 home games (Ms Val St, Miami, URI) we already know, along with the 4 games away from home (2 in Barclays, at Nova, at Bluebirds) So that would mean 31 reg season games with 6 home non-con opponents yet to be announced

Better yet, create an app and let each fan vote on close calls after the replay is on the big screen, American Idol style. 15,000 pairs of eyes are better than 3. I volunteer PBA to be the first and only arena at which to test this app - I'd say 10-15+ years of testing are required to see if it works and before it could be employed in other arenas ... just long enough to get a good sample size of course.

Agree with this - Ventura is a young Pedro right now, he's got filthy stuff, where he goes from here depends on how he matures between the ears. Also agree with what was mentioned earlier - that a lot of them getting hit has to do with pitchers busting them inside, getting them off the plate. KC has a lot of aggressive young hitters who like to extend their arms, got to brush those types of hitters back and see how they respond. Plus teams are testing KC, seeing how they respond. So far they're winning when challenged, but it's tough to play with that big of a chip on your shoulder for 6 months. Not sure where last night ranks on the brawl list, but best KC "brawl" I saw in person was Brian McRae getting plunked vs Rangers (I think), and instead of charging the mound, he dropped the bat & headed straight for the other dugout - taking care of the problem at the origination point. It was great.

Under Coach Miles the team has delivered one above expectations season, one far above expecations season (the best NU season in 2 decades), and one well below expectations season in the best conference in the country. Nowhere near enough to consider him on the hot seat or facing even a pivotal season. Certainly there have been some disappointments recently, but Coach Miles was given a 7-year contract for a reason.

So is this Barclays Classic one of those tournaments where you get 2 cupcakes at home and then play 2 games at the neutral site vs the big names? Which would mean we can schedule 31 total games (18 con/13 non-con), right?

Still have this feeling Kamdy? I really do think so. Now will he step in from day one and be SD, no I don't think so, but really feel that after some acclimation that he can have a very similar game. They have similar styles of play and their athleticism is also very similar. Factor in they are about the same size and build its a very easy comparison. Another similar style he could build into is Aaron White from Iowa. Either way I feel he is a future All B1G level player. Not saying a first team guy but by the end of his playing days at NU he will be one of the top 15 players in the league. Hopefully we can come back to this in 4 years and I'm right. Wow - I hope you're right too. Those are 2 really good B1G players who showed improvement throughout their careers. Hopefully people have some patience with him, as I completely agree on the acclimation process. Now we just need Fran F to keep his opinion to himself on McVeigh's skills so the expectations aren't off the charts. Very, very impressive freshman class coming into Lincoln this fall.

Mr. Barfknecht in OWH mentions this morning that signs are still pointing toward TP turning pro, but that everyone involved is still talking and weighing options. A difficult decision to make under normal circumstances. Good luck to him.

Well so much for renewing that PSU-'Nova rivalry

Yeah I'm not sure Rutgers & Seton Hall even know the other has a basketball program. And 'Nova fans can't find State College on a map ... nor would they want to. But when Rutgers and Seton Hall knock heads in crew, look out. They row for blood that day.

Interesting that it looks like NU and Wisconsin are really the only teams that play their in-state BE team on a regular basis. I think Indiana & Butler have played a few times recently? I'd imagine this series is going to force Illinois-DePaul, Maryland-G'town, Ohio St-Xavier, etc, games that seem to have been avoided in the recent past. I'd be a little surprised if the B1G teams signed off on this series if there was the potential they were going to get in-state games for all 4 times they played, ie, Illinois being assigned DePaul 4 times, so maybe there's assurances they'll only get their in-state counterpart once or twice, or assurances that you'll meet a different opponent each time you're in the series. Or maybe there's a clause preventing some those matchups. Can't imagine Ohio State would be too pleased to get sent to Cincinnati to play Xavier as part of this for instance, as the Buckeyes have really avoided in-state games vs non-MAC teams. http://archive.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/article/20140320/SPORTS/303200015/Time-Ohio-State-get-Dayton-Xavier-Cincinnati-schedule And perhaps NU-********* is part of this series at some point, just to give both teams a little more schduling flexibility in a particular season. Such as, the annual regular season game would just be part of the series in that particular year. And maybe the same for Wisky-Marq.

I would think the B1G would have to give teams a heads-up well in advance of when they're scheduled to play in this series, just so they can balance the remainder of the schedule to get enough home games to meet budgets, when they can start home and homes, etc. So I'd imagine most of the teams involved already know. Or maybe the B1G allows teams to request when they'd like to be involved in the BE-B1G, whether they'd prefer home/road, etc. Since we haven't had any hints about a new home and home to replace Cincy, and our only true road game at this point is at Century Link against *********, and we should be home in the ACC-B1G challenge, I suppose it's possible we could be assigned a road game in this challenge. Rules for the BE-B1G challenge are: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10882667/big-east-big-ten-hold-challenge-series

Very sad news - at his age, I can't imagine having to work through all the things that have been weighing on his mind recently

Exactly - a chance for minutes immediately & at least 1 chance per year to show Michigan it missed the boat on him.

How about if Wisconsin wins tonight .... Rutgers can claim a win over the eventual national champion.

Not sure if knowing some of this makes me a MavSker - since there's no Husker Hockey, I do love some UNO hockey - but here goes anyway Programs certainly can jump to D-1 after having successful club programs - UNO's first coach, Mike Kemp, coached UNO's club team for a short time, then came back to UNO when they went D-1. Arizona St is promoting its club coach to become its D-1 coach - ASU has been one of the top club programs in the nation recently. Penn St has also had a pretty successful club program over time before its D-1 jump. So while it would be possible to "elevate" club hockey to D-1 over time, I would be completely shocked if NU ever adds D-1 hockey. I'm just not sure NU wants to risk its currently strong hoops season ticket base by adding hockey. There's only so much money to go around in the winter. And then where would they play? Playing in PBA would not work well - UNO has found this problem at Century Link, it's too big, which is part of the reason for the new UNO Community Arena. And fighting with hoops for winter dates is tough. To play in PBA you'd almost have to cap tickets at 5000-7000 and curtain off the upper areas, just to create scarcity and demand. NU would have an advantage with the Breslow center providing a practice area that has ice all of the time - that's another problem UNO has experienced with Century Link, as they have limited practice time there - they kind of have to be practicing nomads, kind of like what NU hoops was doing before the new practice facility was built. I even think last week & this week the Mavs are having to practice at Ralston Arena because their lease has run out at Century Link and they have no ice anywhere else they can get on consistently. At Ralston, they're probably having to work around the Lancers' practice/game schedules too, although I do think there's always one sheet of ice available at Ralston. Seems pretty silly a team prepping to play for the national championship has to practice this way, but I believe that's the case. UNO's new arena will solve this problem, as they'll always have at least one sheet of ice available for practice, personal workouts, etc. Ultimately though, I'm not sure NU would want to step on UNO's toes for hockey, as that's the money making sport at UNO. Adding NU hockey would inevitably partially cannibalize UNO's ticket base. Then there's always that rumor floating around that UNO agreed to drop football when it moved to D-1 in exchange for NU agreeing not to add D-1 hockey. Plus there's the money angle. I believe the two most recent teams to jump to D-1 hockey - ASU and Penn St - both had huge private donations, and then they're using that money as a partial or full endowment to guarantee funding of the program for a long time. I think PSU's was around $100M and included construction of a new arena (5000-6000 seats I believe) as well as funding for a women's team. So even though NU will be getting a huge pile of money in a couple of years - when we become eligible for a full B1G share & the new B1G football contract is negotiated - that they could use to add hockey, I just don't see it, short of someone providing a huge private donation specifically for a hockey program, like Penn St received. Maybe NU adds something like lacrosse, which would allow them to make use of the new soccer facility during the spring and where they could add women's and men's teams more easily. Or maybe they use all that new money to lower ticket prices across the board. I'd love to see D-1 Husker Hockey & the B1G would love to see NU add hockey to add to B1G Network programming on Friday nights in the winter, but I don't think it'll happen in my lifetime. So I guess I'll have to keep being a MavSker for hockey.