[Husker] WBB @ Baylor

[Steve Reichenbach]

A little research.

Rankings: AP - BU #9, NU #11; ESPN - BU #9, NU #9
RPI: NU #4, BU #23
Sagarin ELO/Predictor/Rating: NU #3/5/4, BU #12/7/9
Sagarin prediction: BU 94.66 + 4.14 (home) - NU 96.24 = BU 2.56 pts

Schedule strength: RT-RPI NU #18, BU #86
Sagarin: NU #47, BU #112

NCAA:
Scoring - BU #6, 83.1; NU #12, 79.1
Defense - NU #12, 52.7; BU #25, 54.8
Margin - BU, #2 28.3; NU #3, 26.4
FG% - BU #2, 52.0%; NU #6, 47.4%
DEF% - BU #3, 31.2; NU #12, 34.3%
Rebound Margin - BU #2, 14.5; NU #12, 9.5
Blocks - BU #1, 7.9, NU >#50, <4.7
Fouls - BU #13, 14.1; NU >#50, >15.5

NU has no losses.
Baylor's only losses are:
Its opening game @Tennessee 74-65, which BU led by 2 at half and was
outscored 50-39 in the second half.  UT was #9 at the time (and BU was
#4), but UT is #4 now (and BU is #9).  Both teams shot poorly (BU
19-50, 38%; UT 27-73, 37%), but UT had 40 rebounds versus 33 and 18
offensive rebounds versus 9.  For Baylor, Jones had 21 pts, Griner had
15, and only one other player scored more than 6.
Its opening Big12 game (then unranked) @OSU 78-65, which BU led by 2
at half and was outscored 42-27 in the second half.  Griner led BU
with 16 points and four other players had 8-10 pts.  BU outrebounded
OSU 51-35 and 17-10 on offensive rebounds, but OSU made 12-37 3pt
shots while BU was 3-12.  Both teams shot around 40% overall

Baylor's only win against a top 25 team was its last game at home
against #13 OU.  OU led at half 25-24, but BU won the second half
33-22.  OU shot poorly, only 30% 19-63 and 1-15 on 3pts.  BU won
on the boards 39-23 and 11-8 offensive rebounds.  Still, BU shot
only 42%.
NU has two home wins against ranked opponents, #9 LSU (now #12) and
#21 Texas, and three quality road wins @Miami (13-3), @Vermont (14-3),
and @ISU (12-3).
At home against LSU, NU led 41-34 at half and won 77-63.  NU shot
50% (27-54), held LSU to 39% 24-61 and 0-4 3pt, but was outrebounded
36-30 and 15-9.
At home against Texas, NU led 50-44 at half and won 91-79.  NU shot
49% while UT shot 46%.  Rebounds were nearly even.  NU won at the
line 28-34 versus 13-19.



> >>How do we match up against Baylor?
> 
> Baylor is young but talented having the #1 recruiting class in the
> national.  First and foremost they have Brittany Griner, an athletic 6'8"
> shot blocking, dunking machine.  She is closing in on the Big 12 season
> shotblocking
> record with almost half the season to go.  She had 9 blocks against
> Oklahoma the other night.  Baylor is stocked with talent.  But they are
> without Melissa Jones right now and she does for them what Kelsey Griffin
> does for Nebraska.
> She is the fulcrum of that team even with all the explosive potential that
> Kim Mulkey has in the wings.
> 
> This is the next step in this early referendum on Nebraska.  There are
> still quite a few fans and media folk in the south division who believe the
> Huskers really just aren't that good.  They are in Norman and Stillwater
> and College Station.  There
> are probably fewer in Austin, although you never know with Longhorn fans.
> There's quite a few who still believe that we are just an under-talented
> team from up north who can't play with the 'big girls' down south.
> Walking into Baylor and beating them there would seriously raise the
> profile.