throwback

Colo 14 DeP 4 <1600 timeout Demons look awful. Taking a lot of really bad shots and having all kinds of problems getting in the lane vs long arms of Colo, while the Buffs are getting pretty much whatever they want offensively so far. Colo is long and lean all over the floor, no real post player like GW had, but they have a lot of size. Announcers mentioning NU off & on, but they all seem to be taking it for granted that we'll be playing Wichita tomorrow. Hope they're right but hope our players not taking Hawaii for granted.

Looks like they're taking about 25 min between games, just for reference for tonight/early tomorrow morning - Colo/DeP is now underway

GW 77, Ohio 49 - final Winners bracket: GW gets DePaul - Colo winner at 3:30-ish Central tomorrow (ESPNU) Losers bracket: Ohio gets DePaul - Colo loser at 1:30 Central tomorrow (ESPNU) Looks like Colo-DePaul will start at around 3:45 Central today on ESPNU

GW 64, Ohio 45 <800 timeout Getting away from Ohio quickly now - I forgot that N Dak St's coach Phillips moved to Ohio after last season - hopefully he & Coach Miles don't get a chance for an on-court reunion Xmas Day because Ohio's headed for the losers' bracket.

GW 57, Ohio 45 <1200 timeout

GW 55, Ohio 41 <1600 timeout

Yeah, there's been nothing new reported in the media this week on Moses' status, don't think they know for sure. I'd guess he'll have another x-ray after the team reunites after Hawaii & trainers/doctors will have a better idea then how the hand is healing. That type of injury is tricky; not something you can "test" at practice to see how it feels..

GW 43, Ohio 34 at half I think Ohio hit 4 3s against various GW zone defenses, and GW didn't play much zone overall - doubt we see any of it in half 2. Might have out-thunk themselves a bit there. I was impressed with Savage for GW, he had the dunk mentioned earlier, and drove into the lane a bunch - the GW post player Larson (sp?) also looked really impressive. Both guys are in double figures already I think.

GW 38, Ohio 31 <400 timeout GW up in points in the paint 26-10 - they've got a couple good slashers & have at least 7 offensive rebounds - kind of feels like Ohio is fortunate to be as close as they are

GW 26, Ohio 24 <8:00 timeout GW tried some 1-3-1 zone & Ohio got hot from 3 against it, Ohio's injured guard came back as well

GW 18, Ohio 13 <12:00 timeout Typical neutral court tourney, no energy from the crowd, lots of ugly coaches shirts , both teams struggling from perimeter, but GW showing its muscle inside Ohio just had kid roll an ankle, not sure if he'll come back - injuries are always unfortunate, but especially a few minutes into a 3-game-in-4-day tournament

Tournament underway on ESPNU! GW 11, Ohio 2, <16:00 1st H This ain't Danny Nee's Bobcats ... or John Groce's for that matter.

I try to follow other B1G teams during the non-conf season, but I know I don't follow them as closely as others on here, so would appreciate some thoughts. For me: Best team - Wisconsin (easily over OSU) - no brainer, although Wisky did lose its biggest game on the schedule at home against Duke Biggest surprise - Indiana (slightly over Maryland & PSU) - Yes, Indy has a loss to E Wash, but they've beaten Butler, Pitt & SMU relatively easily & also beat Tx Southern by 19 - Indy has been much better than I expected - Maryland is very, very close to the biggest surprise with that win over Iowa St but doesn't quite have the depth of wins of the Hoosiers for my money - PSU also has been better than expected but doesn't have the quality of wins of the other two Worst team - Rutgers - another no brainer Biggest disappointment - Michigan (over MSU) - what the hell is going on in Ann Arbor? Biggest Jekyll and Hyde - Iowa - how do you win at North Carolina and lose by 18 against N Iowa? Yeah, UNI is pretty good, but Iowa's offense is all over the map right now About where expected - Minn, Illinois, NW & Purdue - Minn has played well but schedule strength is a question mark - I thought Illinois would be a dark horse to challenge for league title, but after a good start, they've struggled a bit lately - NW & Pur look like bottom division teams, as expected Jury still out - Nebraska - Disappointing losses to IW and that blue team, but no one else in the league has a chance to prove something before league play starts like NU does out in Hawaii Overall, it feels to me like the B1G has struggled more than expected thus far. Some absolutely hideous losses, and not enough big wins to offset them. Still a very good league, but not quite as elite as I was anticipating.

Saw that Cronin has been diagnosed with an brain aneurysm, and sat out yesterday's UC loss to San Diego St. Fortunately doctors caught it before it ruptured. He won't be coaching for a while. Pretty scary. I think he's in his mid-40s.

NU 77 Hawaii 73

Yeah Doc might have an opinion on that. I think Coach Miles mentioned on the radio last week that he made sure the officials would be assigned by someone other than U of H, and that he was told they would be Big XII officials ... then he said he wasn't sure that was such a good idea for NU either.

No chance. I don't understand why they would only schedule 2 hrs between games. They know they have to give a 30 minute warmup period too. Yeah, I supposed they schedule it that way so it looks good on the TV digital guide. It looks better to pretend it's actually going to start at midnight than to put a studio show in the 12:00-12:30 slot on the digital guide. Anyway for those who choose to do the DVR thing, better make sure you add extra time. Nothing would tick me off more than to sleep through the live broadcast, wake up early the next day to watch it & miss the last few minutes because ESPN wants to pretend a game will start at midnight when it'll probably actually start at 12:30.

DVRs are for wimps! Watch it live! This is exactly why they developed those No-Doz truckers' pills. A handful will do the trick. And since Loyola-Wichita is a 10 pm Central start, I'd imagine there's no chance NU-Hawaii actually starts at midnight, right? Probably closer to 12:30 a.m.?

I admittedly don't track such things, so probably a dumb question, but do a lot of schools have a scholarship open right now? Then again, some teams will have one open at semester with their own transfers - about how many players on average transfer at semester from P5 schools? And will a mid-semester transfer take "official" visits again, that sort of thing? I would assume it has to happen on his own dime if he would. Just curious what the rules are. Can't remember who the last mid-semester transfer was that we had, I remember the big kid from USC who never actually played in a game from a few years ago, but can't remember that last "successful" one we had. I'm probably forgetting an obvious one.

Coming off what we've seen the 2 previous games, NU's toughness was impressive tonight, even if the play was ugly. Very proud of the way the guys kept fighting and fighting. Considering how desperate things looked in both OTs, especially OT1, that win was a lot of fun. Offense was atrocious thanks to the turnovers; half-court defense was amazing, especially our defensive rebounding, considering we basically played 6 guys. A lot of guys showed a lot of toughness - I'm starting to think RIvers would only leave the floor if the broken bone is sticking through the skin - but I really loved what Walt & Tai gave us tonight. Those two have taken a ton of criticism this season - and some of it deserved - but they both played hard-nosed basketball tonight. What Walt did in 48 min against that athletic and aggressive front line was simply amazing - what a turnaround. Those two may hold the key to NU turning this thing in the right direction in B1G play. We generally know what we're getting from the other 4, but those two are the wild cards. I'll take that kind of effort and toughness - win or lose - versus the tentative disaster we saw the past 2 games any day. That said, winning is a lot more fun. Any guesses on odds of a team winning with a 3-to-22 assist-to-turnover ratio? I'd guess no other D-1 team wins a game with a ratio that bad this entire season, yet somehow we found a way.

It's an unbelievable stat, I won't give it away as I read it earlier today, but it shocked me, considering where NU hoops has been historically.

I'm honored. Lee B might be a bit cantankerous but it's not contrived and he's one of the best in the business. I don't agree with everything he writes but i sure respect the heck out of him. Agreed - he is the best writer in the state by quite a bit - that doesn't mean I like everything he writes, but it's more because I don't want to hear it , not because he's off base. And good point on the players trying almost too hard to please the fans, live up to expectations, etc. What sometimes comes across to fans as not giving an effort or playing without focus is actually the opposite - they're trying too hard/overthinking it. I think this happens in baseball more often than other team sports, but it certainly can happen in hoops. Such as, not to pick on Tai, but you can almost see him trying to guide the ball into the basket as he shoots, rather than just relying on muscle memory and his training. Hopefully it goes well Saturday, but even if it doesn't, having to focus on finals next week and then traveling together to Hawaii for several days should help the guys hit the reset button on hoops heading into B1G play. Should be good for them.

Good numbers - Mr. Barfknecht mentioned the same ones in a good column in today's OWH: http://www.omaha.com/huskers/barfknecht-magic-carpet-ride-hasn-t-cured-all-ills-for/article_d824631c-0100-505b-80a5-ac64688d981f.html How did Miles describe last season? As an EKG? It's natural to think the program building process is going to have a similar trajectory. Figuring out how to go from hunter to hunted rarely is a smooth process, unfortunately, and I think that explains some of the tentative/tight play thus far. Speaking for myself, I was hoping things would pick up from end of last season and continue on an upward trajectory, but realistically, you had to think bumps in the road were coming. Maybe not the crater-sized potholes we've seen this week, but bumps regardless. Learning how to overcome those bumps is what building a program to last is all about. And will make your program stronger in the long run.

NU 57 Cinn 52

Yesterday they set NU-Indiana on New Years Eve for 4:30 pm on BTN