[Husker] Baylor at Nebraska - 8 p.m.; Devaney Sports Center

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

The Cornhuskers, 14 and 6 overall and 4 and 3 in conference play, attempt  to 
achieve their best record at the halfway point of a Big XII season since  
1999, when they also opened at 5 and 3.  NU is an 11-to-12 point favorite  in 
tonight’s game against the Bears.  It’s an ESPN+ game, carried in  Lincoln on 
KLKN-TV8 and in Omaha on Cox Cable Channel 2.  I don’t have  satellite 
television info, although a friend in Denver told me that the game is  scheduled to 
appear out there on the Altitude Network, which is the same network  that aired 
the Nebraska win over OSU in Stillwater on Tuesday.
 
It’s been an up-and-down-and-up-and-down season for the Huskers this year,  
but it’s definitely “up” right now.  I just watched the ESPN+ pre-game show  
with Doug Bell and former Jayhawk Chris Piper prior to the Missouri-Texas Tech  
game (Mizzou’s getting’ pounded early … down 18 with about four minutes to 
play  in the first half).  A couple of Husker references -- from Piper re:  
standings when he mentioned Colorado’s surprising five-game win streak, Oklahoma  
and Kansas at 5 and 2 and “how ‘bout Nebraska?! … at 4 and 3 after two big 
wins  this week leaving them all alone in fifth place.”  The other reference 
was  from Bell as Piper was giving his “conference mid-season report card” on 
the  subject of best coaching job.  Piper mentioned that Texas’ Rick Barnes had 
 the best team but that he needed to be recognized for the job he’s done.   
Bell agreed but then added “that you also have to recognize the jobs done by  
Patten in Colorado and Barry Collier at Nebraska.  They've done good  jobs.”
 
Interesting to see how “others” see us.  (Sheesh, Missouri’s down 25  with a 
minute-and-a-half left in the first half … Quinn Snyder -- now THERE’S a  
coach on the proverbial “hot seat”). 
 
In checking out this morning’s Lincoln Journal-Star and the Omaha  
World-Herald, I saw some interesting things in today’s game stories and in the  current 
Big XII statistics.  One of my specific criticisms of Collier  over the years 
(and I personally hope that NU continues to improve and that  Collier is STILL 
at the helm next year) has been his desire to play as many as  11 players 
just 9 or 10 minutes into the first half of a game.  Good  players, as a general 
rule, want to play as many minutes as possible without  getting “gassed.”  
Being up-and-down off of the bench can make it tough to  develop a “feel” and 
rhythm.  Wes Wilkinson and Jason Dourisseau lead in  minutes played averaging 
between 27 and 28 minutes per contest.  Point  guard Charles Richardson missed 
some early games due to injury, but he’s third  averaging 24 minutes per game. 
 Center Aleks Maric averages 22 and-a-half  minutes, and freshmen Jamel White 
and Marcus Walker have averaged right at 20  (B.J. Walker 18, Marcus Perry 12 
-- McCray’s numbers are no longer  listed).
 
Interesting, in that (and I loved to see this) NU had it’s starting five  
during the OSU game (Maric, Wilkinson, Dourisseau, Richardson and White) all  
play in excess of 30 out of the 40 minutes of play.  It was the first time  since 
the 2003 season that Nebraska has had five starters all play in excess of  30 
minutes (last time being the 2003 Big XII conference tourney game against  
Mizzou).
 
Curt McKeever’s Journal-Star game story went on to quote Collier re: his  team
’s conditioning (he says it’s good and tested to be good during January  “
conditioning tests”); the fact that the current starting five is showing a lot  
of cohesiveness and is complementing each other well; and his belief that he 
can  still go four or five deep off of his bench for short spells.  I’ve always 
 thought that, yes, you’ve got to be concerned with making sure your best 
players  are fresh and on the floor during the late stages of a game; but that you
’ve got  to get your best players the majority of the minutes and not be 
overly concerned  about keeping everybody happy.  I was glad to see the way the 
minutes shook  out on Tuesday.  Some of the other comments were by Richardson 
re: Jamel  White’s continued improvement and that the team is playing better and 
more  together since the infamous dismissal of last year’s leading scorer.
 
Not a lot of NU representation in the league’s statistical leaders.   Grand 
Island senior forward Wes Wilkinson has been NU’s best and most consistent  
player this year (his demeanor and “head” have been light-years ahead of year's  
past).  He’s averaging 12.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game (Wes is NU’s  
leading scorer and second behind Maric in rebounding.  Maric’s 7.0 is 8th  in 
the league while Wilkinson is 10th).  The Huskers are second-to-the-last  in FG 
percentage at a lowly 41.5 percent … yikes, Baylor is last at  34.9!).  NU is 
third-to-the-last in free throw shooting (but it’s actually  rising) at 65 
percent.  The seventh-best free throw shooter in the league  (Texas’ P.J. 
Tucker) doesn’t even shoot 75 percent (a lost art?).   Wilkinson leads the Big XII 
in 3-point percentage at 48.7 percent (38 out of 78)  over Colorado’s Richard 
Roby (midway conference MVP?) and Tech’s Julius  Jackson.  Blocked shot leaders 
weren’t listed, but a short time ago Wes was  leading the league in blocked 
shots as well (he leads NU with 40 … Maric is next  with 14).  How’s that for 
an athletic combination?  A statistical  leader in both 3-point shooting and 
blocked shots -- Nebraska DOES still  have some talent, despite losing their 
pre-season returning star to dismissal  (and now there’s another scholarship 
open for someone who WANTS to be  here).
 
It would be great to see a “turn-style count” of at least 10,000 tonight in  
Bob’s House.  The one thing that I saw in the Journal-Star game notes today  
that I thought was a change or misinformation was that they listed the 
Wednesday  night game against Kansas as an 8 p.m. tip-off.  Most of the printed  
schedules that I’ve seen have it listed as a 6:30 p.m. start in Lincoln (my Time  
Warner on-screen guide still lists it as a 6:30 start on Fox Sports Net).   I’
m sure some clarification will follow.
 
Missouri’s back to within 16 with about 10 minutes to play … now 12 with 7  
minutes to play.  Quinn’s still in trouble. 
 
Dave Norris