[Husker] Women's basketball

[Steve Reichenbach]

The Husker women's basketball team dominated #5 LSU from start to
finish at Devaney, winning 77-63.  NU is now 11-0.  Nearly 8K were
in attendance, a record for a women's non-conference game.  LSU
dropped to 9-1.

Kelsey Griffin, who should be a first-team all-American this year,
had 30 points and 14 rebounds.  NU's pressure defense held LSU to
less than 40% FG shooting.  NU had some turnover and rebounding
issues in the first half but still built a 17 point lead that
closed to 41-34 at the break, then pulled away in the second half.
NU did not substitute quite as much as usual with only six players
playing more than 11 minutes.

NU has two more games before the conference season.  Albany at home
should be an easy win, but NU goes on the road to Vermont.  Sagarin
has Vermont ranked #40 (#22 by ELO) so he would favor NU (ranked #9)
by only 2-3 points.  Sagarin has six of the Big 12 teams in the top
25, seven of the Big 12 teams in the top 30, and nine of the Big 12
teams in the top 35.  Wow.  The conference season will be tough.

NU should move into the top 15 and perhaps the top 10 when the next
poll is released.  At this point, NU looks like not making the Sweet
16 would be a disappointment and the final four isn't out of the
question.  At this point in the season, this may be NU's best
basketball team ever.

> The NU women's basketball team has started the season 10-0 for the
> first time.  NU is ranked #20 by the AP (but fifth of six Big 12
> teams in the top 25, with three other Big 12 teams getting votes).
> Only 12 other teams are undefeated and unranked St Bonaventure
> is the only other team at 10-0.
> 
> This weekend, NU plays LSU at Devaney.  LSU is a traditional power,
> is undefeated at 7-0, and currently is ranked #5 by the AP.  However,
> NU stands a good chance.  It is early in the season and not that
> many games have been played, but Sagarin has NU predictor strength
> ranked #10 at 90.72 and LSU #14 at 88.47, which would make NU a
> six point favorite at home.  Note that according to Sagarin, neither
> NU nor LSU has played a top-50 team.  NU's schedule is ranked #179
> and LSU's schedule is ranked #175.  NU's best and closest win was a
> 5 point victory against #51 Miami on the road.  LSU has an OT win at
> #104 Tulane and a 3 point win at #56 Lousiana Tech.  Besides being
> at home, NU has this week off and LSU plays tomorrow.  The teams
> ahead of NU in the AP ranking are pretty bunched, so a win at home
> probably would put NU in the top 15.