Re: [Husker] Huskers Finish a “Disappointing” 10 and 3 in Pre-Conference

[jfpgroup]

An excellent post if I have read one all year.  I have been supporting the 
Huskers since before the Danny Nee era.  NU has an amazing ability of just 
playing woefully down to their opponent.  I just hope they do find that 
"switch" going into the conference portion of the season.  Or again...very 
long winter.

Steven K.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <NUStLNorris at aol.com>
To: <husker at tssi.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 8:49 PM
Subject: [Husker] Huskers Finish a “Disappointing” 10 and 3 in 
Pre-Conference


I posted before the Huskers current basketball season began that if NU
finished anything less than 11 and 2 in the pre-conference portion of their
schedule, it would have to be labeled “disappointing.”  Factoring the 
strength, or
lack thereof, their schedule (ranked in- or-around 310 out of  340?!); the
heavy home-court tilt (11 home, two away); etc., 12 and 1 would have  been a
realistic goal.  There were only four legitimate opponents -- five  if you 
want
to include the Louisiana Tech team that beat Bobby in Lubbock (the  others
being Creighton, Marquette, UAB and Florida State).

Well, they just finished defeating a one-win Northern Colorado team, and I
haven’t heard from many, if any, who aren’t “disappointed,” or worse
APATHETIC  about Husker hoops.  They and their 10 and 3 record face Big XII
competition next with Kelvin Sampson’s always-prepared Sooners coming to 
town.  Yikes.
 (12:30 p.m. Saturday, ESPN+ … carried by KMTV and KOLN  in the past).

I need to start another thread sometime under the heading, “Give Me Reasons
-- NOT Excuses -- Why NU Can’t Field a Consistently Competitive Top 25
Basketball Program.”

Maybe someone who knows more than I can shed some serious light.  As I  look
at it, the only reason that sounds plausible to me is that they just don’t
want one.  And that doesn’t make sense when you consider who NU’s Athletic
Director is.

Facilities?  Academic Support?  Fan support?  Athletic  Tradition?
Money/Revenue-generation potential?  Why can’t it happen  here when it’s 
been shown
elsewhere that it can be done?

This team, this program, isn’t going to just “flip the switch” when
conference play starts, are they?  I wish they would, but I haven’t seen 
it.  Tonight
’s game is the first I haven’t witnessed, either in person or  on the tube,
all season.  The Creighton game just floored me.  The  Florida State game 
this
past weekend gave me a similar feeling.

I suppose that a 10 and 3 record at this point should be acceptable when 
you
consider that NU’s two heralded sophomore returnees -- Joe McCray and Aleks
Maric -- haven’t even shown up yet.  I can’t believe how bad they’ve  been.
Without getting in to it, I think Joe didn’t work enough during the
off-season and Maric probably worked too much.  Grand Island’s Wes 
Wilkinson has been,
by far, NU’s best player.  I’ve liked what I’ve seen in  Marcus Walker and
Jamel White, the two true freshman guards, and I can see (at  times) why 
B.J.
Walker was heralded coming out of JuCo.

But where is the fire, the passion, the sense of urgency?  Where are  the
leaders?  Isn’t anybody taking the status-of-the-program  personally?!

It all comes back to Barry Collier, a good guy by anybody’s definition, but
he hasn’t won here.  I don’t want to get into any knee-jerk job speculation
conversation here.  I’ve heard it too much and it gets old.  But so  does
losing.

Here comes the conference season.  I can’t believe how much I’m not  looking
forward to it.  And the Big XII has looked much better -- both at  the top
and top-to-bottom -- in previous years.

I hope I have to post here a few times over the next two months, making 
sure
to include the words “pleasantly surprised” in my musings.

One way or another, I’ve gotta’ believe that some “defining moments” are
going to occur to Husker Hoops over the next year or two.

Dave Norris

P.S.  NU won tonight by a score of 60-50 over a one-and-whatever  Northern
Colorado team.  Winning in spite of a 21-point-run by Northern  Colorado 
(nine
to end the half then the first 12 of the second half).  It  was a 
three-point
game with about ten minutes to play.   Ouch.

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