throwback

Full 2 days of TV binging for the opening of B1G Conference play - 4 games on ESPN2 today, and 2 on BTN tomorrow Penn State forget to show up at home today though in the first game - NW running the Nits out of their own gym, 51-32 at halftime. Am especially curious to see Illinois-Maryland at 4 pm and MSU-Minny tonight - wasn't expecting much out of Illinois or Minnesota entering the season, but both have surprised on the upside in non-con play.

I'd say there's 2 or 3 excellent teams, 2 or 3 really good teams after that, and then a lot of muddle in the middle. Whole lot of teams that feel like 7-11/8-10/9-9 type teams. Impossible to say how it will shake out in the middle, just too many evenly matched teams that have had a lot of ups and downs so far. Lots of inconsistency for a lot of B1G teams. Someone is going to get hot out of that middle group and make the NCAAs. Probably won't be NU ... but I wouldn't mind having 2014 all over again. Probably only one thing I'm feeling pretty confident about - we don't go 1-17.

Indiana 92 Nebraska 81 9 wins

Now I'm worried. If we go 18-0 in B1G play, the board may fade away. Agree with comment that it felt like an exhale game. Hopefully a few days off will get the guys going again. And was really encouraged by Gill - very active. That kind of performance/effort from him going forward will be a big benefit.

Yes. I was surprised he survived the original cleaning house of all things Stevie P, and that's been nearly a decade ago now. Can't say I know what he does at a high level - he may have done scheduling at one point but I think Miles handles that himself now? Not sure how much of a say, if any, he has in coaches' hirings, bringing on assistants, creating a spot for Ali, setting basketball budget, etc., although I would assume those are the kinds of things he'd be involved with, just based on his job title - at the very least providing recommendations to Eichorst.

NU 82 Southern 63

NU 81 GW 60

KU 81 NU 64 4

NU 81 Sweater vests 77

NU 75 S Dak 66

So ... many ... chances. Sigh. Trying to stick to the positives: With Clem in the bonus midway thru 2nd half and with their strength at the FT line, I thought we did a good job hanging in there. The game could've gotten away from us a few different times in that 2nd half. Did a good job not fouling that last 10 min. Also hung in there decently considering we didn't reach the bonus in either half till 2.9 seconds remained ... and that only happened because of an purpose foul. I know Clem is good at not fouling, but for a team that attacks the paint like we do, our FT opportunities seem to be MIA. And it wasn't just last night. Seems to be a consistent thing. Not sure how we can improve on drawing contact (or making it look like we draw contact), but it'd be nice to get more chances at the line. Scored 34 points in the paint. Forced 17 turnovers and came up with 9 steals - normally those are winning numbers - but only turned them into 6 fast break pts. Roby did a decent job on Blossomgame I thought. MJ was more aggressive/active offensively; he had some struggles defensively certainly, but Blossomgame is really good. Jordy's foul problems were disappointing, but he was also very active/aggressive - showed some nice confidence. Clutch 3 by Watson to tie it - and Webster got a pretty good look at the last shot, all things considered. Our rebounding has been a pleasant surprise all season > +8 last night and 18 offensive boards (just need more than 12 2nd chance pts though) Morrow with his 2nd double-double of the season ... guessing it won't be his last. He keeps getting better. Clem with 14 2nd chance points - seemed like every offensive rebound in the 2nd half they got ended up as a 3-pt make. (Sorry, that's not positive - but that part of the game really pissed me off. Just corral one of those rebounds and it's a different game.)

Maryland is the only home team to lose so far on either side. I have a B1G team in mind that it'd be great to see win on the road tomorrow to make up for the turtles loss. Tuesday Results (Series tied 4-4) Pitt 73, at Maryland 59 at Penn St 67, Georgia Tech 60 at Wisconsin 77, Syracuse 60 at Notre Dame 92, Iowa 78 at Illinos 88, NC State 74 at Duke 78, Michigan St 69 Wednesday 11/30 Purdue at Louisville, 6 pm – ESPN Virginia Tech at Michigan, 6 pm – ESPN2 Rutgers at Miami, 6 pm – ESPNU North Carolina at Indiana, 8 pm – ESPN Ohio St at Virginia, 8 pm – ESPN2 Nebraska at Clemson, 8 pm – ESPNU Monday Results at Florida St 75, Minnesota 67 at Northwestern 65, Wake Forest 58\

Didn't take long for Iowa to revert back to the norm, now down by 14 with 6 to play. Game is still worth watching just for Fran's faces as his team fails to guard and then throws up bad 3 pt shots. Plus Jok is 3-for-16. Ouch.

Iowa fought back - surprising to see them hanging with Irish on the road MSU tied with Duke at half, also a surprise on the road for Sparty Illinois and NC St are tight too - 3 highly competitive late games so far

B1G goes 2-1 in Tuesday's early games, but Maryland getting blown out at home could be a costly one for the B1G in the final series result. First loss for the turtles.

Minnesota suffers its first loss of the season Monday Results (Series tied 1-1) at Florida St 75, Minnesota 67 at Northwestern 65, Wake Forest 58 Tuesday 11/29 Pitt at Maryland, 6 pm – ESPN2 Georgia Tech at Penn St, 6 pm – ESPNU Syracuse at Wisconsin, 6:30 pm – ESPN Iowa at Notre Dame, 8 pm – ESPN2 NC State at Illinois, 8 pm – ESPNU Michigan St at Duke, 8:30 pm – ESPN Wednesday 11/30 Purdue at Louisville, 6 pm – ESPN Virginia Tech at Michigan, 6 pm – ESPN2 Rutgers at Miami, 6 pm – ESPNU North Carolina at Indiana, 8 pm – ESPN Ohio St at Virginia, 8 pm – ESPN2 Nebraska at Clemson, 8 pm – ESPNU

NU 74 Clemson 73

Yeah, I'd imagine ESPN/TV guide lists it that way in case first game ends early, then NU-VT starts 1/2 hour later, so it could start at say 3:25 or something.

I like their line of thinking.

Agree - they hit the open shots, but even when we forced them into what I thought would be a tough shot, they hit a bunch of those too. They can really score, and I can't imagine too many teams holding them down like we did ... and it seems pretty silly to say giving up 82 points is holding a team down, but I think we did a solid job on that end all night. Felt like we were in too big of a hurry inside in the first half, afraid to get shots blocked. Played without fear in the 2nd half, was fun to watch and a nice step forward. I also thought Roby made some strides the last 2 nights, seems to be getting more comfortable. Horne is still swimming in it, especially on defense, but I like his potential too. Jordy was up and down, but you can see the potential there. They just need experience, going to be good players for us. Considering UCLA's length and their inability to play physical in the man to man, they may have found their defensive go-to in playing zone - that decision may have won them the game, as we were really rolling up to that point. Although I thought we rebounded offensively pretty well against their zone.

NU 66 Turkeys 61

I don't think it's a coincidence that the B1G is 3-0-2 in the challenge since NU joined the league. B1G-ACC Challenge Schedule Monday 11/28 Minnesota at Florida St, 6 pm – ESPNU Wake Forest at Northwestern, 8 pm – ESPNU Tuesday 11/29 Pitt at Maryland, 6 pm – ESPN2 Georgia Tech at Penn St, 6 pm – ESPNU Syracuse at Wisconsin, 6:30 pm – ESPN Iowa at Notre Dame, 8 pm – ESPN2 NC State at Illinois, 8 pm – ESPNU Michigan St at Duke, 8:30 pm – ESPN Wednesday 11/30 Purdue at Louisville, 6 pm – ESPN Virginia Tech at Michigan, 6 pm – ESPN2 Rutgers at Miami, 6 pm – ESPNU North Carolina at Indiana, 8 pm – ESPN Ohio St at Virginia, 8 pm – ESPN2 Nebraska at Clemson, 8 pm – ESPNU NU History (3-2) 2015 – Miami 77, at Nebraska 72 (ot) 2014 – Nebraska 70, at Florida State 65 2013 – at Nebraska 60, Miami 49 2012 – Nebraska 79, at Wake Forest 63 2011 – Wake Forest 55, at Nebraska 53 Series History (ACC leads all time, 10-5-2) 2015 – B1G 8, ACC 6 2014 – B1G 8, ACC 6 2013 – (tie) B1G 6, ACC 6 2012 – (tie) B1G 6, ACC 6 2011 – B1G 8, ACC 4 2010 – B1G 6, ACC 5 2009 – B1G 6, ACC 5 2008 – ACC 6, B1G 5 2007 – ACC 8, B1G 3 2006 – ACC 8, B1G 3 2005 – ACC 6, B1G 5 2004 – ACC 7, B1G 2 2003 – ACC 7, B1G 2 2002 – ACC 5, B1G 4 2001 – ACC 5, B1G 3 2000 – ACC 5, B1G 4 1999 – ACC 5, B1G 4

Back to back games coming up vs ACC teams - not sure that's ever happened before. Hope NU's players don't ride the tea cups too many times at Disneyland today. That can really mess with your equilibrium.

Thursday 11/24 Texas A&M 95, CS-Northridge 73 Virginia Tech 92, New Mexico 72 Nebraska 80, Dayton 78 UCLA 99, Portland 77 Friday 11/25 New Mexico 105, CS-Northridge 89 Texas A&M 68, Virginia Tech 65 Dayton 84, Portland 74 UCLA 82, Nebraska 71 Sunday 11/27 1 pm – 5th place game – New Mexico vs Dayton - ESPNU 3:30 pm – 3rd place game – Virginia Tech vs Nebraska - ESPNU 7:30 pm – Championship game – Texas A&M vs UCLA - ESPN 10 pm – 7th place game – CS-Northridge vs Portland - ESPNU

I wouldn't mind a championship game of old Big 12 foes. Thursday 11/24 Texas A&M 95, CS-Northridge 73 Virginia Tech 92, New Mexico 72 Nebraska 80, Dayton 78 UCLA 99, Portland 77 Friday 11/25 New Mexico 105, CS-Northridge 89 Texas A&M 68, Virginia Tech 65 8:30 pm – Dayton vs Portland – ESPN3 11 pm – Nebraska vs UCLA – ESPN2 Sunday 11/27 1 pm – 5th place game – New Mexico vs ??? - ESPNU *3:30 pm – 3rd place game – Virginia Tech vs ??? - ESPNU *7:30 pm – Championship game – Texas A&M vs ??? - ESPN 10 pm – 7th place game – CS-Northridge vs ??? - ESPNU *potential Nebraska game times