Nebraska basketball still has some good times ahead.

Ok Nebraska's hopes for a NCAA entry into this year's tournament is out. Or is it? Nebraska will play three, four, and maybe five more games before the selection committee makes its picks. Of Nebraska would have to win the last two games at Nebraska vs Missouri and at Colorado to have a chance but these games are both even games. It is possible.

Then Nebraska wins the first two games at the Big 12 tournament and we are probably in the NCAA tournament. It isn't over yet.

Nebraska lost to Kansas by three, Texas Tech by one,Baylor and Kansas St. by four, and now Iowa State by one in OT.

Now an NIT bid would not be the end of the world. Nebraska could get an early view of the Big 10 by playing Penn St. Minnesota, or Michigan. Hopefully the game or games would be at home as much as possible. That would be fun also. Even the the NCAA tournament would be great, the NIT may be more of a fit for late success.

This writer is looking to a one point victory over Missouri on Tuesday night. We need to keep them in the 60's.

M2U00055

M2U00058

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Nebraska nips K-State tonight

Prediction:
Nebraska wins narrowly against a very good K-State team. Nebraska 65-Kansas State 64.

Gilmore to USC

Coach Ted Gilmore is headed to USC to coach their receivers.

Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 today. He is an up and coming star. On a family trip last year, we saw him up close at Daytona. Seemed like a really nice kid and as we watched him on the nationwide tour last year, you could tell he has talent.

The Nebraska men's team won a big game vs. Texas yesterday. This improves their overall record to 18-8 and 6-6 in the Big 12. Nebraska beat the hottest team in college basketball and the number one college player in Jordon Hamilton.

Every game from here on out is very important and will be very close games. Next up is Kansas State in Lincoln on Wednesday night. This will be another tough matchup and definately not a gimmee. Kansas State was, for some, the preseason pick to win the Big 12. We can't let up now.

Nebraska needs to beat K-State to have a chance at the NCAA tournament. That's this writer's prediction. The Big 12 will probably have six teams go, maybe five. Texas, Kansas, Texas A & M, and Missouri are locks so that leaves Baylor, K-State, and Baylor for the other one or two spots. Nebraska has home games with K-State and Missouri and away games with Iowa State and Colorado. All winnable but we could go either way. If we play well hopefully we go 3-1. That would give us a 9-7 record in the Big 12. If we lose against K-State that will probably put them into the tournament with two wins against Nebraska.

One more thing. This writer knows of a few incidents that happened yesterday with Nebraska fans being VERY rude to the Texas fans. This took away from the victory because Nebraska should be represented much better than the way some ignorant fans acted yesterday. The Texas team enjoys playing in Lincoln and they are a bunch of good kids even though many fans think anybody from Texas are a bunch of low class citizens. Texas won the consideration for other contest and I am embarrassed as a fan.

You start to realize that next year will be so much different. We don't have any rivalries that will get the fans fired up about. I think it football, we get enthusiastic no matter who the opponent is because of tradition. But in basketball it will be interesting to see how big the crowds are and how passionate the fans are during the game. It will feel like our normal pre-conference games in the past, I think.

Nebraska will win a road game Wednesday night!

Nebraska has lost 13 conference road games in a row. Wednesday night that string stops!! Nebraska will win because they have too many weapons including Lance Jeter, who is this writer's pick as all conference point guard. Nebraska has a supporting cast that can play good ball. Toney McCray has to continue to score. Nebraska 65 Oklahoma 58.

Many times I have mentioned that the men's basketball team has to have Nebraska kids on the team. This year's main Nebraska player is Drake Beranek. He provides spark and Nebraska fans like to see players from their state playing. Mike Gesell is a player that Nebraska needs to get on the team. He is a star for South Sioux City. Gesell is only a junior this year. The Nebraska senior class is sparse this year with Big 10 talent but hopefully there is a diamond in the rough out there.

This fall let's incorporate the fullback back into the Nebraska offense as a threat. Garrison and Cotton both know how to teach trap blocking and we hopefully will have some fullback runs this fall. I'm telling you if we do our offense will start to produce. The spread is a threat but tough power football is where this team needs to be.

Wednesday night the men's basketball team gets to 5-6 and hopefully can end the season strong!

Dedicated to Our Soldiers and Family "SHARE" - Rhema "Note To God"

Nebraska has the biggest game of the year Wednesday!

Nebraska went against a very tough and number two ranked Kansas on Saturday and was in the game with ten minutes to go. However, Kansas, playing its best game of the year, beat Nebraska 86-66. Kansas and Texas are the two best teams in the nation. When they are on, they are a class above even Ohio State.

Nebraska has a must win tomorrow night. It is so important that they put a stop to their 16 game road loss streak. This writer thinks they will prove they are still in the top half of the Big 12. They will win in a huge game 62-61 versus Baylor in Waco.

62-61!! Nebraska wins!

Cripes

K-State drilled Nebraska tonight and the road loss streak continues at 16. Nebraska can Not make it to the NCAA tournament without a couple of road victories in the Big 12.

In football news, there is something going on in the coaching ranks. The Indiana head coach announced at his press conference today that his cornerback coach is coming to Nebraska to coach the entire secondary. Marvin Sanders, Shaun Watson, and Ted Gilmore were not at the recruiting event in Omaha tonight. Changes are coming.

Can Nebraska break their 15 game losing streak on the road.

K-State is prime to be beat but they do have a ton of talent. Will they finally start playing like the team that some thought in pre-season might win the Big 12? We'll see tomorrow night without our big man Almeida. Jorge Brian Diaz is supposed to make it for the game but will have no practice time this week.

If Diaz is present, we could win this but the prediction right now is 64-63 K-State. If Nebraska can win, they could establish themselves in the top four or five teams in the Big 12. The K-State game is huge!!

Nebraska basketball and the NBA!

The Nebraska men's basketball team continues to have an interesting season. They are 15-5 and ranked 40th by the Pomeroy rating. They are just coming off a big win vs. #13 ranked Texas A & M. They are a top half of the Big 12 team and they have a legitimate chance to go to the NCAA tournament. It's been a while since we did that.

We are going to Kansas State this week. Kansas State is primed to be beat. They just lost by 24 points to Kansas and aren't playing very well right now. But we have lost 15 road games in a row. Big man Almeida is hurt with a badly sprained ankle and probably won't play. Jorge Brian Diaz is gone early this week to his aunt's funeral and won't practice. Nebraska is good enough to beat K-State in Manhattan but there are some reasons we won't.

I am not an NBA fan. But today I looked at rosters to see how many Big 12 players are in the NBA and also how many Big 10 teams are in the NBA.

I found there are 41 Big 12 players and 27 Big 10 players in the NBA. The Big 12 has had more big time players.

In the Big 12 the following teams have players in the NBA. Also listed is the number of players by school:
Kansas 12
Texas 10
Oklahoma St. 4
Kansas State 3
Missouri 3
Oklahoma 3
Texas A & M 2
Texas Tech 1
Iowa St 1
Colorado 1
Baylor 1

That's right, Nebraska is the only Big 12 team without an NBA player.

Will that change? Lance Jeter or Jorge Brian Diaz?? It is possible. They are probably, at this point our only chances to make the NBA. The last players from Nebraska were Mikki Moore, who played even last year and Tyrone Lue who retired a couple of years ago.

In the Big 10 the following teams with the number of players are as follows:
Ohio State 7
Michigan St. 5
Purdue 3
Indiana 3
Michigan 3
Illinois 2
Minnesota 2
Wisconsin 1
Iowa 1

Only Northwestern and Penn State don't have representatives in the NBA out of the 11 Big 10 teams.

Latest on Nebraska men's basketball and football

Here is a list of the walk-ons for 2011 for Nebraska. There will be more walk-ons but the number will reduced down to about total of fifteen this year. The following is just a partial list.
Will Sailors - OL, Lincoln (Neb.) Northeast, 6-4, 245

Greg Milliken - ATH, Wahoo (Neb.), 6-1, 195

Aaron Hayes - OL, Elkhorn (Neb.), 6-4, 265

Broderick Boehm - LB, Lincoln (Neb.) Southeast, 5-11, 205

Chris Long - OL, Blair (Neb.), 6-4, 265

Wow, I thought NU would beat Texas Tech in men's basketball last night. This writer just didn't see that coming. NU has a series of games ahead where they could win all of them or lose all of them. They could all be a one to two point game.

Now they are off for a week until next Saturday's game vs a very good Texas A & M team. Nebraska can and should win but we'll see which team shows up.

Nebraska has a huge game vs Colorado tomorrow night!

After losing a close game to Kansas at Lawrence on Saturday, the men face a very tough Colorado team in Lincoln tomorrow night. Colorado is really good and beat Missouri last week. They are 3-0 and just recently beat Kansas State and Oklahoma State also.

After watching Kansas play, they may be overrated in the Big 12. Texas and Texas A & M look tougher right now. Texas is the team to beat.

Look to Nebraska to win tomorrow night and continue their journey to the NCAA tournament. Nebraska 69 Colorado 63. Brandon Richardson will hold Burks down and he will be under his scoring average.

Again Nebraska 69 Colorado 63

Nebraska men's basketball is much improved!

The Nebraska men's basketball team is much improved and has a very good chance to go to the NCAA tournament this year. To do that they must go 8-8 in conference play and win a game or two at the Big 12 tournament. They should be able to do that.

Tomorrow they face a buzz saw. They'll probably be in the game for quite a while but this will be their biggest loss of the year. Kansas 70 Nebraska 59.

NU has a couple of good players in Jeter and Diaz. They have ten more players who can play well. They just have to find the right combination for each game/each matchup. Each win may have a different hero; no superstars, just a lot of players that play hard team ball. That's why they will be better this year.

The other factor, and I have mentioned this for years, is the Nebraska connection is so important. Drake Beranek shows what the Nebraska work ethic is all about. We have to get a couple of very good Nebraska kids on the team for the future also. We have Mike Fox from Beatrice but who can step up and get a lot of playing time?

Nebraska sports!

Nebraska football had another non-commit. Niklas Sade, the number three rated kicker in the nation, is now committing the North Carolina State.

Having non-commits is a normal thing but Nebraska has lost three really good prospects lately.

Three and half months until the Red-White game.

Changes need to happen on offense. The defense overall had a great year. The offense continued to get worse after the first quarter of the Missouri game. The offensive line is too good to give up 12 sacks in the last two games. I wished Zac Lee could have played the last two games and this season may have been a lot different. Enough said. We need leaders and a complete check-up to see why this offense fell apart. Its more than physical talent but what is the source of the problem?

Now on to more fun things. Nebraska basketball is playing well. They are rated 40th by the Pomeroy Ratings. Look to Nebraska to have over 20 wins this year and go even or one better in the conference.

Nebraska is starting to shoot the ball. They have big men to rebound. They have leadership in Lance Jeter. They are shooting free throws better. They are very much improved. Here are the top Big 12 teams in the ratings:
3 Kansas
14 Baykor
16 Missouri
22 Texas
30 Texas A &M
38 Kansas State
40 Nebraska
45 Iowa State

Al Zikmund talks to Buck Mahoney on his touchdown in the 1941 Rose Bowl

This is an awesome article by Buck Mahoney of the Kearney Hub. If you like sports, you will like this article. I can remember Al Zikmund when he coached football and he was very active when the state track meet was held in Kearney for years.
http://www.kearneyhub.com/sports/local/article_9f016298-15ae-11e0-beba-001cc4c002e0.html

Rhema Marvanne on Maury Povich Show "Most Talented Kids 2010"

All I Want For Christmas is You - 7 yr old Rhema Marvanne..Truly Amazing...

This writer is in hiding after loss to Oklahoma!

Nebraska's offense was ineffective the last two and and a half quarters of the Big 12 Championship and lost 23-20. This writer attended the game and what looked early like a NU blowout ended in a collapse of the offense and a loss.

Points this writer noted during the game:

The game turned around when NU was ready to go up 24-3 and we threw into a crowd of OU players and the pass was picked off.

I kept thinking we would replace the QB or let Burkhead take over more of the game but it didn't happen.

Nebraska fumbled 42 times this year which affected drives even though we lost only 21 of them. Fumbles killed NU all year.

The defense played well but we can't put ever game on the defense to win.

The line seemed to block harder and have more urgency when Burkhead was in the wildcat.

Why did we send Martinez deep on a key play to catch a pass when he didn't run much of the game?

The offense got worse as the year went compared to a team that improved in 2009.

Nebraska shouldn't complain about the bowl when we could have played in the Fiesta with a win.

I wonder now how tough next year will be with losing a lot of very good defensive players this year and having no clear direction or improvement going into next year on offense.


Enough of that but I just wonder how Scott Frost would be directing the offense next year. He has been voted as one of five young assistants that have a great future. Former player who is from Nebraska???

We need some good recruits at the wide receiver position. This needs to be an emphasis. Recruiting has emphasized defensive players the last three years. We need wide receivers and hopefully an offense that they can excel in. Run the ball down their throats and then pass when we need to or as a way to throw off the defense. Throw deep now and then. Open up the field and of course, run the fullback.

In men's basketball, the win over USC looks pretty good right now. USC knocked off Texas last night in California by 17 points.