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Opening weekend of conference play Dec 3 - Iowa at Purdue / Rutgers at Ilinois / Dec 4 - NEBRASKA at Indiana Dec 5 - NW at Maryland / Ohio St at Penn St /

NU-Auburn will tip at 10:30 am Central Dec. 11 on ESPN2. It's not quite big ESPN but it's not the "U" or the "+" either. Progress!

Good thing this staff doesn't recruit high school players.

Interesting - I figured this one would drag out a while longer, especially considering the big summer he had and that he's still receiving offers. No idea whether this is good or bad for us. It's easy to find theories that fit both scenarios. On the optimistic side, he hasn't really indicated a favorite, and I haven't seen any recruiting guys making a bold prediction in the last few hours, so he's keeping the decision close to the vest. In other words, we're not out of it until we are. Plus, I never would've guessed we'd even be in the mix 18-24 months ago. Did we make up enough ground? I hope so. But it clearly could go any of a few different ways.

So anyone want to guess who we'll draw in the Big Ten-ACC-Pac-12 Challenge in 2025? I just hope we don't end up in a thruple with Washington State and Miami. Brutal.

Did you watch him holding his man away from the ball during the 3x3 tournament at the Olympics? He was performing similar to a Wisconsin-level defender (minus the jabs to the family jewels). He has this league figured out already.

You have to guard him well beyond the 3 pt line, so he opens driving lanes for others even if he isn't scoring. And he's savvy and skilled enough to drive around players who fly at him on the 3-pt line, creating passing opportunities. He just needs to hit shots early in the season, so he's always on the opposing team's scouting report. Hopefully he's hitting 3s if they ignore him and opening things up for other guys if they focus on him. Hoiberg mentioned a few weeks ago they have a plan for utilizing him. Will be interesting to see how he adjusts through the first few practices.

Buzzy had his first show tonight on 93.7 - podcast should be at https://theticketfm.com/category/ticket-weeknights/ soon. He's been working with Shavon Shields this summer in KC, helping him get ready for his upcoming professional season in Italy. Said he wouldn't be surprised to see Shavon get an opportunity with a team in the US in the near future if he continues on his current trajectory with is improved shooting. Just make sure you adjust the bass setting on your favorite listening device so his voice doesn't blow out the speaker. James Earl Jones is jealous of Buzzy's voice.

That raw turkey would be the cleanest thing in either of those places.

93.7 the Ticket announced some lineup changes today that should increase NU basketball coverage DP is moving to 3-6 pm, and the first hour is dedicated to discussions with current NU players from all sports and NU assistant coaches from multiple sports plus a few head coaches of Olympic sports. Jay Foreman will be on with him from 4-6 pm. From 6-8 pm Monday thru Wednesday, sounds like they're allowing assistant coaches, past players, & team personnel to host shows. Schedule still sounds a little fluid, but Buzzy & Strickland will have the Tuesday night slot much of the time. Wednesday will be Coach A at least some of the time. DP specifically mentioned Badgett as going to have a role in those evening time slots occasionally too. I'm sure it'll change quite a bit during the season, but it should be pretty cool. They're also going local from 6 am to 6 pm every weekday with the extra shows a few times a week until 8 pm. I haven't really listened to the revamped Sports Nightly, but I think they switched up to a 6-8 pm show, so 93.7 will be going head to head with Sports Nightly on some nights with NU assistant coaches on the air. Kind of interesting.

Interesting - if Mayen makes a big step forward, just start importing the Big Red Kool-Aid in kegs. It would make some sense though. More 3 pt shooters on the floor opens space for him and more drivers & passers give him more chances. He gets a normal non-covid offseason to go through strength training and to become familiar with teammates. He shouldn't have to play the 5 anymore, which should keep him out of as much foul trouble. Plus he hopefully makes the standard year-2 juco player jump forward. I'm down too.

Someone is not impressed.

Now we're talkin': Raycom, Phillips 66 Studio, and Saturday afternoon double-headers, all culminating at Kemper. The best.

Not naive, but if a breakaway SEC can sell itself as the primary way to the NFL/NBA/MLB, plus you'll get paid very well while you're in "school", they will pull in 90%-95% of the highest ranked players every year. Nearly all players have NBA/NFL dreams. Then it becomes, does the viewing public care that the "best" age 18-22 players are in the SEC? Or are they still cheering for their school that's not part of the SEC and don't really care that they're not getting the best of the best players. I'd imagine most college sports fans are cheering for their school, and as long as there's still a competitive tier of the "NCAA" below that SEC tier, it won't hurt the viewership/attendance all that much. Make the SEC in essence a minor league to the NFL/NBA/MLB, and I think it's ultimately a failure. Minor leagues have never been successful nationally. This one would certainly be unique in having the college/state pride model at its heart. But eventually, I think most of the country would yawn at it. They'd rather watch their own team and tailgate on their own campus, than make a breakaway SEC game in October must-see TV. I agree that, if this is the end game, the SEC is waaaaay overplaying its hand. ESPN has made a pretty stupid decision or two over time -- cough, Longwhorn Network, cough -- so it wouldn't shock me if this is the ultimate grand plan, though. Now if the SEC can get the other schools to follow along with its no-holds-barred model of college sports minus the NCAA, then they win. I don't see it working, but who knows. As long as FOX (or CBS/NBC) has the stomach to continue battling ESPN and offering an alternative, the academic focused schools can hold out. If ESPN becomes the only option, then they can call the shots and all bets are off. At this point, I think the B1G is probably better off standing pat. There's no point in making a reactionary move and adding schools just to add schools. Wait a little longer to see if the SEC will tip its hand. Fortunately, we have the right guy in charge to stand pat and do nothing.

Plus the recruiting guys have mentioned repeatedly that NU isn't holding a spot for Green. They're holding one for Traudt, but not Green. Got to keep recruiting for that spot, just in case.

After a bit more thought, I think the SEC's ultimate goal here is to do away with the NCAA, put an end to scholarship limits, recruiting rules, payouts, etc (so kind of like they do now ) and pull in all of the best players and win every championship. I think they'd just expect everyone else to fall in line behind them, as they have the most power & the biggest names. They'd assume everyone else would go along with them, because college sports couldn't operate without them. If that's the goal, I think they're badly misjudging the B1G & PAC's goals (and parts of the ACC). I just don't think the more academic focused schools go with them. In fact, I think those schools might celebrate the SEC going off on their own, and I think they'd counter by holding the remaining schools together and giving the NCAA more ability to enforce the rules. I know a lot of people like to complain about the NCAA's inability/unwillingness to enforce the current rules -- and I'm usually leading the charge -- but it's the schools who tell the NCAA what it can and cannot do. The schools have basically made the NCAA the weak entity it is currently. And the SEC loves that, but a weaker NCAA means more power and money for the SEC, and they'd love that even more. However, the SEC may find that the TV money is great early after a breakaway, but with the way college sports are regionalized the majority of the season, I think they'd find that most of the country won't care about their NFL-lite model, especially if the rest of the schools cobble together some sort of new NCAA, minus the SEC.

The end game is the great unknown and why there's so much uneasiness right now. Is the SEC's end game to break away from the NCAA, start making its own rules, and turn college athletics into a free for all where they make huge amounts of money and become an NFL-Lite & NBA-Lite? Basically, they'd have a loose affiliation with their universities at that point (clubs). They may want to get to the point where they generate so much money that they don't have to take money from the school and to adhere to Title IX - then they can just become football/basketball (and maybe baseball) powerhouses. If that's the end game, the B1G wants no part of it, I'd imagine. I'm sure the B1G would still want "student-athlete" to be part of the equation. I could see if the SEC tries to go rogue that the B1G & PAC double down on maintaining more of what we have now, and the rest of the NCAA membership would have to choose sides. Very few would go with the SEC because they'd have no chance of competing in a free for all. You'd end up with 2 "college" division - or more like 1 college division and 1 semi-pro/club division. Just one potential scenario. Hard to know what the end game is for the SEC, though. I would imagine at some point relatively soon, they will test the ability of the rest of the schools to stand up to them. Maybe something like announcing they're going to go beyond the scholarship limitations for a non-revenue sport, like baseball. Claim that it's unfair to limit baseball players from receiving a free education. If the NCAA/other schools don't/can't stop that move, the free for all is on. SEC schools start signing 30, 40, 50 football players every year, guaranteeing tons of "NIL" money/payouts. I just don't see the B1G leadership having the stomach for that. Having a B1G/PAC partnership gives them a chance to counteract that sort of move from the SEC and to have enough clout to hold together some sort of NCAA-like oversight for the schools that want to maintain the idea of the "student-athlete."

I mean, to be fair, this dude just kind of screams "undermine me."

Latvia wins 21-18 - Tominaga was really good offensively again, but Japan dug a huge hole early with turnovers/nerves - the announcers gave him a lot of praise for his play in this game and all week, they even dropped a "Nebrasketball" He finished with 8 points including 3 of 6 from 2-pt range - had 3 assists as well Can't wait to see what he can bring to the team this year - going to be very interesting to see how the coaches try to deploy his skills

Japan plays Latvia at 8:20 am CDT in quarters Just noticed USA Network is showing the women's quarter game live now, so they may also have the men's game that follows live too.

Coach Hoiberg was on Sports Nightly tonight - I was in the car, so going from memory: Guys have about one more week of summer workouts before they send them home for a couple of weeks before school starts First player he brought up (unsolicited) was Breidenbach (somewhat surprisingly) - since being cleared after the injury, he's been very impressive Then he talked about B McGowens - says he just takes over some of the workouts/scrimmages - hit 4 or 5 3s in a row today in practice Then brought up T McGowens and how he's showing great leadership and he's focused on finding the hot hand, like with Bryce in practice today Finally mentioned Verge and how great he's been since arriving - he's a huge addition with losing Banton so late to the draft When asked about Tominaga at the Olympics, he said how great it's been to see him play so well against much older and more seasoned players - and how they're excited to get him on campus and in their offense - because teams will have to guard him all over the floor, it's really going to open things up for everyone else, and they envision a big role for him There will be media availability for players tomorrow - some of the players who didn't speak last week should be available this time Also caught Buzzy on 93.7 earlier today - he also brought up Breidenbach, talked about how impressive he's been and how hard he's working - and that he will play some 4 and some 5 this season - you can just hear it in the coaches' voices how much they like him - my guess is they knew he was good when they recruited him, but now that he's healthy and they can see him up close, it feels like they're getting far more than they expected.

Tominaga is 5th in the tournament in scoring & 6th in shooting value (no idea what that is) & 6th in 1-pt shooting percentage. He's 9 of 19 in 2-pt shooting over the past 4 games, which would rank 3rd in percentage, but, for some unfair reason, they won't throw out his poor day shooting from long range to start the tournament. All pretty impressive since he almost certainly has to be one of the youngest (and smallest) players in the tournament. https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/resOG2020-/pdf/OG2020-/BK3/OG2020-_BK3_C85_BK3MTEAM3-------------------------.pdf Poland loses to Netherlands, so that keeps Japan alive.

2 more losses for Japan today - 21-11 to Serbia and 19-16 to Russia Tominaga had just 1 pt against Serbia - didn't watch, but I'd assume they bullied him around - Serbia is the best team here & would know how to take advantage of his size He had 6 vs Russia, including 2 of 3 on 2 pt shots. Japan has fallen to last in the standings, so if they do cut the last 2 teams before the medal round, they're almost certainly out with that loss to Russia.

I am not an NBA fan, but if these guys are willing to put USA on their chests, I'm willing to back them, especially when several other guys say no thanks. Caught the replay after knowing the result - ugh. Blowing a 7 pt lead and failing to make a shot in the final 4+ minutes was brutal. I think they played relatively hard, but just couldn't buy a bucket. Maybe missed their last 15 shots? Maybe more than that? It was ugly. Played way too unselfish, too many times making the unnecessary extra pass. Hopefully they get it turned around fast, because the preliminary exhibition games did not go well either. I'm not sure France played all that well, honestly, which is also a little scary. They really dominated the last 15 minutes using 2 bigs, though. And they hit at least 3 3s off broken plays/offensive rebounds in the 2nd half. Thought I was watching the Huskers, as it seems like other teams hit about 98% on those scramble 3s against us. First Olympic loss in like 17 years I think? Not good.

stream is available for all games - go to https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule and scroll down until you find the 3x3 basketball row click on Expand when you find the right session, and you should see the stream link at game time. Otherwise, replays are available at https://www.nbcolympics.com/replays/sport/basketball-3x3/team/men/japan - have to find the right session again, but at least you can fast forward, as each session has 4 games in it. You do have to have some sort of cable/satellite/streaming subscription - you'll have to log in to your service provider to gain access to the live stream. Not sure if you need a subscription to watch the replays.