Pre-Game: Nebraska vs. BYU
December 23, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under Husker Basketball Pre-game, News.
BYU Cougars 11-1 vs.
Nebraska Cornhuskers 9-2
December 23 – 9:30 p.m. tipoff
TV: none
The championship of the Las Vegas Classic will feature Nebraska and BYU. The Huskers held on for a close win over Tulsa in the first round of the tournament while BYU came from behind to edge Nevada 110-104. NU carries a 4-game win streak into the game and BYU has a 6-game win streak.
BYU, like Tulsa, is sitting just outside the Top 25 with their strong start to the season. Coach Dave Rose has seen his team score over 100 points twice this season. They are an experienced Mountain West Conference squad with 4 returning starters from a team that earned a bid to the NCAA tournament last season. Their most notable win this season was against Arizona State and their lone loss was at the hands of Utah State.
BYU leading scorers
Jimmer Fredette 17.9 ppg
Jackson Emery 11.5 ppg
Tyler Haws 10.8 ppg
NU leading scorers
Ryan Anderson 11.0 ppg
Lance Jeter 9.1 ppg
Brian Diaz 8.6 ppg
This game will be a battle of contrasting styles. BYU likes to push the tempo while Nebraska wants to control the tempo. Doc Sadler will again try to dictate the pace of the game and keep the score down. The Huskers will have a good chance to earn the win if they keep the score in the lower 70’s or lower. NU doesn’t have enough offensive firepower to hang with BYU if the score get in the 80’s.
The advantage for Nebraska is that BYU has yet to face a defense as tough as Nebraska’s. The Huskers matchup well with the Cougars as each team likes to operate with 3 and 4 guard lineups.
This will be another challenge for this young Husker team. They’ll again be facing a quality, experienced opponent. Nebraska will need a repeat performance of their effort against Tulsa. Strong defense, win the rebounding battle, hit free throws, and take care of the ball. If they can do those things, and it’s very possible, the Huskers could take home the Las Vegas Classic Championship trophy.
In the end though, I think BYU’s experience carries them through in a close game.
My pick: BYU
No Comments
Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings – 12-10-09
December 10, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under Big 12 Power Rankings, News.
Welcome to the first edition of my Big 12 basketball power rankings! I’ll do this weekly to give you my thoughts on where each team stands in the Big 12 conference.
Week of Dec. 10
1. Kansas (8-0, 0-0) The Jayhawks are the cream of the conference. 2 Potential All-Americans in Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich. They have good chance of running the table in the conference this season and securing a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
2. Texas (7-0, 0-0) Texas is slightly behind Kansas. They look like a Top 10 team and have been taking care of business up to this point.
3. Texas Tech (9-0, 0-0) The Red Raiders are a surprise here. They get the nod because of a couple nice wins they’ve picked up over Washington and TCU.
4. Kansas State (8-1, 0-0) The Wildcats have been playing well with a 5 game win streak and 2 recent double-digit wins over Washington State and Xavier.
5. Baylor (7-1, 0-0) Between Lacedarious Dunn and Tweety Carter, the Bears might have the best backcourt duo in the conference. They are off to a good start and picked up 2 recent good wins over Xavier and Arizona State.
6. Texas A&M (8-1, 0-0) With 3 returning senior starters in Bryan Davis, Donald Sloan, and Derrick Roland, the Aggies have started well with only 1 loss to West Virginia.
7. Oklahoma State (7-1, 0-0) James Anderson, the conference’s leading scorer at 21.0 ppg, has been leading the Cowboys to a strong start against a weak non-conference schedule. We’ll know much more about this team once conference play starts.
8. Oklahoma (6-3, 0-0) The Sooners have rebounded from an early 3 game losing streak with a 4 game winning streak including wins over Arkansas and Arizona.
9. Nebraska (5-2, 0-0) Nebraska is offensively challenged yet again, but their defense is again among the conference’s best. Their best wins up to this point include TCU and USC.
10. Missouri (5-3, 0-0) The Tigers have lost 3 of their last 4 games. The lone win in that stretch was a blowout over Oregon.
11. Iowa State (6-3, 0-0) Craig Brackins came back for his Junior season to help re-establish the Cyclones program. A 3 game losing streak may have him rethinking that.
12. Colorado (6-3, 0-0) The Buffaloes have hung tough in their 3 losses against Gonzaga, Arizona, and Oregon State.
No Comments
2008-2009 Husker Basketball Season Recap
March 26, 2009 by Bret Nellor, under News, Season Recap.
It’s been a little over a week since the Husker’s season ended with a loss to New Mexico in the first round of the NIT tournament. Now that I’ve had some time to sit back and reflect back on this season, I felt that a recap was in order.
Off-season struggles
The story of Nebraska’s 2008-2009 basketball season began well before any games were played. The offseason was not kind to the NU program as they learned in late May that prized recruit Roburt Sallie was denied entrance by the Big 12 Conference. Unfortunately the fact that Sallie was enrolled briefly back in 2006 led to him being denied entry by the Big 12. The loss of a key recruit was a major blow to the momentum that Sadler and the Huskers had picked up through the 2007-08 season.
NOTE: Sallie ended up playing for John Calipari and the Memphis Tigers. Sallie, who had a quiet season, suddenly became the darling of the Tigers as he led them to a first round NCAA tourney win by hitting 10 three pointers and scoring 35 points against Cal State Northridge. That kind of explosive scoring ability would have been quite helpful for NU this past year.
This lost recruit ended up summing up the tale of the off-season for Coach Sadler as Nebraska appeared to be cursed. The team was desparate to replace Sallie’s scholarship with another player to address their lack of size. They were unable to secure a big man until Brian Diaz comitted in August, little did they know at the time that he would not be admitted to Nebraska until January 2009 and after a few short weeks decided to redshirt. Shortly before the season began, 6-11 Christopher Niemann was ruled ineligible by the NCAA. Which then led us to 6-9 Alex Chapman, a redshirt sophomore who waited until a few weeks into the season to leave the team and decide to transfer. Needless to say the Huskers were left with what would be the shortest team in Division I basketball.
Despite the team’s “short”comings, NU pressed on. Coach Sadler knew this team would have a difficult time but if he could get them to give maximum effort and play tough defense they had a chance. Behind the example of 4 seniors Ade Dagunduro, Steve Harley, Paul Velander and Nick Krenk, that’s just what this team did.
Let’s get the season started
The Huskers started the season 6-0 which included a nice win over Creighton before enduring their first 2 losses to Arizona State and Oregon State. After a rebound win over IPFW, the Big Red had their first devastating home loss of the season to UMBC. This was the game that showed how thin the margin for error was for Nebraska. Without an inside presence or a true go-to scorer they would continue to have a tough time scoring points all season. These weaknesses combined with the loss to UMBC foreshadowed a return trip to the NIT.
Big 12 Conference
NU reached Big 12 play with a 10-3 record and came out of the gates with a surprising upset of the Missouri Tigers. This was followed up with a rough stretch that saw the team lose 4 of their next 5 games – a tough road loss to Iowa State, a 2 point overtime loss at home to Oklahoma State, and a close loss at home to Kansas. Although they sat at 2-5 in the conference at this point, Sadler’s team was encouraged by the fact that they had played Blake Griffin and a very good Oklahoma team close on the road and were so close against OSU and KU.
Nebraska then rattled off 2 straight road wins and an impressive upset of Texas to get back to .500 in the conference. As soon as hope had returned that the Huskers could somehow manage their way to an NCAA tournament bid, they dropped 4 of the next 5 games. The most damaging loss of that stretch came when Texas A&M won with a last second shot in Lincoln. NU finished strong winning 2 of their final 3 games to reach 8-8 in the conference for the first time since the 1998-99 season.
Post-season blues
The Big Red clung to a very slim chance that they could still get an at-large NCAA bid if they could get to the championship of the Big 12 tourney. But they faced a difficult challenge having to play Baylor in the first round after having beat them in Waco only 4 days earlier. Baylor, who had underachieved the entire Big 12 season finally started to play up to their potential and sent the Huskers home after a short stay in the tournament and sealing their NIT fate.
Second-straight NIT berth
Nebraska soon learned they would play on in the NIT, earning a #6 seed and traveled to #3 seed New Mexico for a first round game. Hopes were high that NU could string together a run and possibly reach the NIT final four in New York. It wasn’t meant to be however as the Lobos used their home court advantage to eliminate the Big Red from the tournament. The loss ended the Huskers season at 18-13 overall.
The big picture
Before the season started I predicted that Nebraska would finish at 19-9 and an NIT appearance. I also figured that Coach Sadler would get them to 20 wins for the second consecutive season with at least one post-season victory. I was a little off on that, but considering that the team reached .500 in the Big 12 for the first time this decade, I feel like that was a major step forward for the program. Especially when you consider the obstacles this team had to overcome to get there. One could argue that this may have been Doc Sadler’s most impressive coaching job.
It’s hard not to look back at the season and say what could have been had the ball bounced differently for the Huskers – turn the Oregon State, UMBC, Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M games into wins and Nebraska could have held a 22-7 record going into the Big 12 tourney and quite possibly a lock for an at-large NCAA berth.
Of course, college basketball doesn’t live in the imaginary “what could have been” world, but I am hopeful that what this undersized team was able to accomplish has helped to set the foundation for the future. While the Nebraska basketball future may not be so bright that we need to wear shades just yet, I believe we’re taking the necessary steps to get there.
No Comments
Nebraska suffers painful loss to Oregon State
December 14, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under Husker Basketball Game Recaps, News.
The Huskers officially have their first losing streak of the season after Oregon St. beat NU 64-63 in Corvalis, OR last night. The big scoreboard now looks like this: Nebraska - 0, Pac 10 – 2. Unfortunately this loss stings more than their loss to Arizona State last week. This loss leaves questions about how this team will stack up against their Big 12 brethren.
NU continued their balanced scoring attack led on this night by Ade Dagunduro’s 16 points and 5 rebounds, followed by Steve Harley with 13 points and 5 assists, and Toney McCray with 13 points and 7 rebounds.
I was unable to watch this game, and quite frankly I’m glad that I missed it. I don’t think I could have stomached this back and forth ballgame as the Beavers capitalized on their free throws in the last few minutes of the game and the Huskers were yet again unable to generate any consistent offense. The sad thing about this game is that it was a winnable game against an opponent that is expected to finish last in the Pac 10. This is the kind of loss that if you’re sitting on the bubble for the NCAA tourney in March, you end up falling to the NIT. It leaves virtually no margin for error for Nebraska in Big 12 play.
Coach Sadler has his team playing the kind of defense that gives them a chance to win nearly every game, but now 8 games into the season it’s becoming painfully obvious that our lack of size is taking its toll on our offense as well. We have no inside presence which is allowing opponents to focus entirely on our outside shooters. Another problem on the offensive end is our lack of a go-to guy. We simply don’t have anyone who is able to step up and take the team on his back and get difficult baskets. Before the season started I thought that Dagunduro would be that guy this season, but now I’m convinced that NU has to designate someone for this duty.
So where do the Huskers go from here? I believe that it’s time for Coach Sadler to get his best offensive players on the court. This means that McCray needs to be a starter. The kid can score points. He’s also shown to be a decent rebounder which can help us on the defensive end. In fact, I think that Doc should work to groom him to be the go-to guy this year and for the next few seasons. Yes, there will be some growing pains this season as Toney adjusts to this role. But in my opinion, the advantages down the road outweigh the negatives right now.
Nebraska now sits at 6-2 with 5 home games remaining before Big 12 play. All are games the Huskers should win and leave us at 11-2 before the conference season. Unfortunately with a weak non-conference schedule that puts all the pressure on how we finish in the Big 12.
Up next: A week off for the Huskers before IPFW comes to Lincoln on Dec. 20th. The IPFW Mastodons are led by Head Coach Dane Fife, who played college ball at Indiana. IPFW is sitting at 4-6 and are coming off a 69-50 loss to Marquette.
Nebraska will need to regain their focus this week, which will be a challenge as it’s finals week in Lincoln. I’m sure Coach Sadler will have his guys ready to go however and I expect the Huskers to break their losing skid and pick up the win.
2 Comments
Husker offense can’t stand the heat in loss to Arizona State
December 7, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under Husker Basketball Game Recaps, News.
The Arizona State Sun Devils gave Nebraska a taste of its own medicine as they defeated the Huskers 64-44. Coach Herb Sendek’s squad used a stifling 1-2-2 zone defense from start to finish that led to a poor shooting performance (29% from the floor) for NU and drops their record to 6-1.
Doc Sadler had his team ready to play and looked strong to start the game. They grabbed an early lead as Arizona State struggled to against the Husker defense. The Sun Devils soon regained their composure and started to knock down open 3 pont shots.
The Nebraska defense played well today and set the pace that the Huskers like to play. The Huskers held the Sun Devils to 41% shooting from the field and star guard, James Harden to 20 points, 6 below his average. The problems on the defensive end came when Harden would put the ball on the floor and drive. NU’s defense would collapse on the former High School All-American creating open perimeter shots for ASU, which Rihard Kuksiks and Ty Abbott took full advantage of combining to score 33 points. But all in all the defense did what they needed to do today attempting to force other ASU players to hit shots, which they did.
The offensive end of the court is where the Huskers lost this game. Poor shooting caused several extended scoring droughts. Nebraska looked confused against the Sun Devils zone and simply couldn’t figure out where to get good shots. Against a team as good as Arizona State you can’t afford stretches where you can’t score. ASU deserves credit for their defensive performance as nearly every Husker shot attempt was contested.
Nebraska’s rebounding woes continued and certainly weren’t helped by the fact that Chris Balham and Alex Chapman did not play due to their on-going injury problems. Arizona State owned the boards 37-25. With poor shooting by the Huskers you would hope that they could come up with more than 3 offensive rebounds.
Items to be encouraged by in this game:
- Tough to find a lot of encouraging things in this loss but I’ll go with the Husker defense which did a decent job of containing James Harden. The NU defense continues to be effective and should keep them in nearly every game they play this season.
- Steve Harley continues to be leader for this team on the offensive end. He led the team with 11 points.
Several concerning trends are developing for Coach Sadler’s team however. The Huskers have shown in nearly every game this season that they go through stretches where they cannot put the ball in the basket. These lapses need to be addressed and shored up. While the defense appears to be solid at this point in the season, the offense needs to improve considerably before the start of Big 12 play.
While NU looks to have identified Steve Harley as their go-to guy on offense, they need find someone else who can step up and create shot opportunities when Harley is struggling.
Rebounding is a definite trouble area. Nebraska’s lack of size gives them “little” presence on the boards. This team will have to learn to make up what they lose in rebounding by creating turnovers.
Up next: Nebraska heads out to Corvalis, OR to face another Pac 10 foe in Oregon State on December 13th. The Beavers are coached by Craig Robinson, who happens to be the brother-in-law of President Elect Barack Obama. OSU has had a tough start to their season sitting with a record of 1-5 including a loss to Iowa State. They are led in scoring by Daniel Deane at 10 points per game.
This game represents another opportunity for the Huskers to pick up a road win against a BCS-conference opponent. Doc will need his squad to regain their focus and bounce back from their first loss as they should win this game and their remaining 5 games before the conference slate begins. A 12-1 record heading into conference play is what NU needs to shoot for.
4 Comments
Arizona State will be ready for the Huskers
December 5, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under News.
At the very least James Harden is ready for some payback against Nebraska.
“They killed us last year at their house,” Harden said. “They played pretty well. We’ve got a little chip on our shoulder against them.”
1 Comment
ESPN Bracketology update
December 4, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under News.
ESPN’s most recent Bracketology (as of Nov. 12th) has 7 Big 12 teams making the cut:
- Texas (3 seed)
- Oklahoma (4)
- Kansas (6)
- Baylor (7)
- Texas A&M (10)
- Missouri (11)
- Oklahoma State (13)
Nebraska fell in the “Next Four Out” group. Apparently the Big 12 has impressed Mr. Lunardi enough to add 3 more teams from his pre-season projection of only 4 Big 12 teams making the Dance.
If the Big 12 can get 7 teams into the tourney this year, I really like the Huskers chances to be one of those teams. In fact, we get Texas A&M and Oklahoma State at home this season.
Other Husker opponents projected to make the tourney:
- Arizona State (6 seed)
- Creighton (9)
3 Comments
Nebraska basketball flirts with AP ranking
December 4, 2008 by Bret Nellor, under News.
You may have heard about this already, but the Huskers picked up one vote in this week’s AP Top 25 poll. They appeared in the “Others receiving votes” group.
When was the last time the Huskers were ranked? Back in the first week of January 1995, NU was #19.
With a big game against Arizona State this weekend, a Husker win could boost the team into the top 25. Not too mention the effect it would have on our RPI.
