[Husker] Fwd: Husker men's basketball & Today's BIG XII Results

Sun Feb 5 15:26:42 CST 2006

In a message dated 2/5/2006 10:57:49 AM Central Standard Time,  
sscurry at mybluelight.com writes:

Thanks for the effort you've been putting in to  keep the Husker List 
informed regarding Husker men's basketball.  Out  here in San Francisco you ARE my 
source and very much appreciated.  I'll  bet you are actually putting a few more 
local butts in the seats.  Sure  wish I could attend a few games.

Steve Curry

You’re very welcome, Steve.  I’ve really enjoyed watching the plots,  
twists, disappointments and achievements that have made up Nebraska Basketball  ‘05-’
06.  Something tells me, it’s just beginning.

There were two huge league games today involving four teams with designs on  
post-season play.  The Oklahoma Sooners WERE starting to look more like a  
typical Kelvin Sampson coached team -- up until the second half-of-their-second  
half against Kansas today in Lawrence.  Then they somehow … someway … let  
Kansas come back from 16 down in the second half in Phog Allen Fieldhouse to  
beat them by a score of 59-58.  I had no idea that OU hadn’t won in  Lawrence 
since 1993!  Kelvin Sampson had NEVER won there!  Well, they  STILL haven’t.  
Unbelievable.  

I was hoping that OU would win today, especially since the Jayhawks were  
coming to town on Wednesday.  However, Nebraska DOES have the tie-breaker  on the 
Sooners (thanks to what is STILL the biggest shot of the year.   Thanks, 
Joe).  

But I was ready to concede one of the “top three teams in the conference”  
label to Oklahoma.  Oh well, what do I know?!  I thought Oklahoma,  rated #18, 
was more of a sure thing for the NCAA’s and a top four tourney seed  than 
Kansas was.  For the better part of 30 minutes today, they sure looked  the part.

In the other game, Iowa State must have been impressive in a game that they  
HAD to have.  They beat Colorado 96-79 in Hilton behind 24 points from both  
Curtis Stinson and Rahshon Clark.  My only source is a “game-tracker,“ but  
ISU must have played some good defense (and Colorado NOT) based on the early  
turnover numbers I saw.  Richard Roby fouled out after scoring only  10.  This 
win means that Iowa State is positioned well at 4 and 4 to make  something 
happen in the second half of the season.  I suppose an NU fan  would have wanted 
ISU to lose and fall to 3 and 5.  Depends on how good you  think ISU is.  I 
happen to think they’re pretty good.  

With today’s results, Nebraska will be playing for a chance to move into a  
second-place tie in the Big XII when Kansas comes calling next.  

With all due respect to “the bubble” and the inevitable “Selection Sunday,” 
 I think that NU’s most immediate goal would be to qualify for a top 4 seed 
in  the Big XII post-season tournament in Dallas.  Earn a top four seed, and  
you avoid playing on Thursday (and playing on Thursday is almost a guaranteed  
way NOT to win the tourney … three games as opposed to four is huge in early  
March).

Heading into the weekday games this week, which begin on Big Monday with  
Texas at Texas Tech, here’s the up-to-date standings:

Texas, 7-1, 19-3
Kansas, 6-2, 15-6
Colorado, 5-3, 15-4
Oklahoma,  5-3, 14-5
Nebraska, 5-3, 15-6
Iowa State, 4-4, 14-7
Texas Tech, 4-4,  12-10
Kansas State, 3-5, 12-7
Oklahoma State, 3-5, 13-9
Texas A&M,  3-6, 13-7
Missouri, 3-6, 10-10
Baylor, 1-7, 1-7

You don’t have to look too long or hard to see the significance of this  
Wednesday night’s Kansas-Nebraska game in Lincoln on the conference’s  
pecking-order.  Wow.  I’m really diggin’ the fact that dear ol’  Nebraska U -- despite 
the internal subversive issues they’ve had to deal with  this year -- is 
gearing up to play in a big game like this.  I was sitting  in the Qwest Center 
watching the Creighton debacle and a lot of us watched the  Kansas embarrassment 
on ESPN.  Did not seem possible at the time, did  it?

The Huskers’ second half play was really impressive last night, after  
further review.  And I don’t really care that it was “just Baylor.“   Nebraska had 
their backs to the wall, a ton of pressure on them with the  season‘s renewed 
expectations, and an angry crowd that turned out to watch them  go 5 and 3 in 
league for the first time this century (the officiating wasn‘t as  bad as the 
crowd thought it was … they were angry because the home team was  losing … it 
was actually kind of good to see).

A loss to Baylor was NOT in the script.  NU re-focused, re-committed,  and 
realized that they’d better pound it down low to Aleks Maric and get Wes  
Wilkinson some shots … AND turn up the dial on defense a few notches.  The  team 
obviously responded to whatever the coaches told them at halftime.   The final 
rebounding advantage was 44-27.  The Huskers went on a 26-5 run  at the start of 
the half and ended up with a 22-point second half differential  (37-15).  
Impressive, I don’t care who it was against. 

Nebraska has six losses this year, and five of them haven’t been “quality  
losses,” to use a selection-committee term.  One of our losses was to  Florida 
State, who lost in overtime at Duke yesterday.

The Huskers immediate challenges are looming large.  The next three  games 
are at home against Kansas, then on the road to Texas and Iowa State …  then 
Bobby Kinght --followed by the Buffs -- in Lincoln.  

I still can’t believe that Kansas came back and won that game!  Oh my,  how I 
would love to see the boys in red suck it up … rise up … and smack  
Rock-Chalk right in the nose Wednesday night in Lincoln.

Dave Norris