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

[Tony Lambert]

and now there’s another scholarship
open for someone who WANTS to be  here).


Does McCray's scholarship end at the semester or does it end when he was 
dismissed ?


          Tony Lambert
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <NUStLNorris at aol.com>
To: <husker at tssi.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2006 2:28 PM
Subject: [Husker] Baylor at Nebraska - 8 p.m.; Devaney Sports Center


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
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