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Husker Basketball Looking Up
Even die hard, brainwashed Husker basketball fans didn’t have much hope that Nebraska could beat Kansas in the second round of the Big 12 tournament. But even I, the level-headed, ice in my veins, realist, was freaking out (in a good way) at the end of the first half of of NU vs. KU. The 27-18 Husker lead had me excited for Nebrasketball like I hadn’t been since the 1990’s. Even then, the future didn’t look as bright as it does now.
Even though the sleeping beast of Kansas eventually went on a 20-4 run and won the game 64-54, Nebraska fought tooth and nail to be in it. Doc Sadler’s aggressive game plans are not only paying dividends, but the players are buying into the scheme. Since the February 20 win against Kansas State, where they shut down Big 12 player of the year Michael Beasley, the Husker players have been hanging tough in their loses and playing hard in their wins.
Last year, our record was 17-14 with a 6-10 conference record. 19-12 with 7-9 in conference may not seen like much improvement, but many thought Sadler was giving up on the season by sitting down 4 red-shirt freshmen. Our quality wins are the big difference. In 2006-2007, we only had a good win against then #25 Creighton. This year, we beat #16 Oregon, #25 Kansas State, and #22 Texas A&M. We also beat a team headed to the Big Dance in Oklahoma. Next year, if we can get wins against 5 or 6 tournament potential teams, we can make the NCAA tourney.
Two more wins in our conference schedule could be the difference in making us a bubble team. This year, we were fighting for a 4-5 ranking in the Big 12 tourney, but were eliminated from that race about two weeks ago. Expect the 4 spot to be battled for up until the last game of the regular conference season in 2009.
Sadler will be looking at a 4 returning starters and 4 red-shirted freshmen off the bench next year. If we see the same amount of improvement in 2008-2009 as we did for 2007-2008, then we could expect the beginning of a winning tradition for us.
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