Up next on our preview list is the Nebraska Cornhuskers. They will be in their first year of Big Ten play after joining the conference last summer.
The name “Nebraska” obviously doesn’t have the same ring to it when mentioning Basketball as it does with Football. One of the biggest reasons for this is that they haven’t won a conference title since 1950. They are also one of only 3 BCS schools to have not won a NCAA tournament game. For those keeping track at home, that makes two now in our conference – the other being Northwestern. Maybe we could get South Florida to join as well and round out the three?
Doc Sadler is in his 5th season as the head coach and Nebraska is coming off a promising 19-13 2010-2011 season in which they made the NIT. After a surprising 13-2 start to the season, they ended with a middle of the road 7-9 conference record last year, in their final season in the Big 12. On the positive side, they’ve actually been invited to the NIT in 3 of the previous 4 seasons, suggesting they’re on the cusp of getting back into the dance.
The most exciting news coming out the Nebraska basketball program is probably is the opening of the new Hendrix training complex. The 18.7 million dollar facility will be home to both men’s and women’s basketball training as well as wrestling and other sports.
They did lose the #1 and #3 top scorers from last years team in Lance Jeter and Christain Standhardinger respectively. Standhardinger had lots of promise as only a sophomore but was kicked off the team midway through last year. If you have some time read the back story on that situation. It makes for some funny laughs. Humor aside, this leaves for a very experienced team having 5 seniors and 6 juniors leading the way.
Last Season:
Last season was the mother of all roller coaster rides – full of ups and downs and twists and turns. Nebraska started the season out going 2-2 and losing 2 close games to Davidson and Vanderbilt. They then strung 11 wins in a row, including winning their first game in conference, to put them at a very good record of 13-2. Once conference play hit it became a bumpy road for sure, and usually more on the downside. Other than the three game winning streak in the middle with wins over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and capped off with the big upset at home over then #2 Texas. The Husker’s then suffered a disappointing one point loss in the conference tournament opener to the same Okie St. they had beaten earlier in the year by 11 points.
Nebraska’s record and resume was good enough to land them a spot in the NIT. Unfortunately, they were blown out of the gym by Witchita State by 25 pts.
Key Player:
Nebraska isn’t a team that has one guy that really stands out above the rest. They return 7 out of their 8 top scorers from last season, which includes 4 of their 5 starters and 8 guys with starting experience. Look for Junior Center Jorge Brian Diaz, Senior Guard Brandon Richardson, Senior Guard Toney McCray, and Junior Forward Brandon Ubel to step up and handle a lot of the scoring.
New Player to Keep an Eye on:
Bo Spencer will be the top newcomer to the Huskers this season. Many might remember him from 2008-2010 with the LSU Tigers, where he averaged 11.4 and 14.5 points per game in each of his two seasons with them. He was then ruled academically ineligble and transferred to Nebraska. As a scoring point guard, he is something that Nebraska can plug into the team after losing Lance Jeter to graduation.
Big Games this Season:
Nebraska’s non-conference schedule isn’t anything that people are going to be talking about. They do matchup with Wake Forest in the Big Ten / ACC challenge as well as a road test @ USC in their second game of the season. After that there really aren’t any other big names. There are some teams that have been bracket-busters over the years in Rhode Island (A-10) and Creighton (MVC) but it is hard to say what they’ll bring to the table this year, and if they’ll provide a preseason challenge for the Huskers.
Nebraska did manage a home game in their first B1G game ever, but they weren’t given any favors by facing preseason #14 Wisconsin. They follow that up with Michigan State at home on New Years Eve, and then go on a 2 game road trip at Ohio State and at Illinois. It is entirely possible that they will be staring at an 0-4 record in conferene play right off the bat. Worse yet, they get to play OSU and Wisconsin again before they reach their ninth game in conference. Look for games vs Minnesota, Penn State, Iowa, and Northwestern to really determine the fate of this team and where they will fall. If they want to reach the top half of the Big Ten they will need to find a way to knock off teams like Illinois, Purdue, Indiana, Michigan.
Outlook for this Year:
Any team that can say they have 11 upperclassmen on the roster with 5 seniors and 6 juniors on the roster should be looking at a pretty good season. Nebraska is a team that plays in a style very similar to the other B1G teams – they keep the score low and play good defense. They were 24th in the country last year in adjusted defense efficiency and 27th in the nation in defensive effective field-goal percentage.
One thing to watch out for: Andre Almeida, a key cog in the middle of the defense, led the team in blocks last year with one per game. He’s currently recovering from a knee injury suffered back in March, and his return date is currently in question.
All told, an experienced team that plays good defense, with a newcomer that knows how to score and win big games, to go along with other established scoring threats, and playing in a new league? You make the call. Sounds good on paper to me.
Where They’ll Finish:
They do bring experience in spades, and are playing in a new conference, so they have unpredictability on their side. That factor can either help or hurt at times. When you think about how many times that Thad Matta has looked down the court and seen Tom Izzo, you wonder if Matta knows exactly what Izzo is going to do next. Big Ten teams really don’t know what Nebraska is all about yet. Of course, that’s a double edged sword too.
I look for a middle of the road finish for them in the Big Ten, probably ending up a little closer to the bottom of the standings in their first year.
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