In October, we'll start getting more and more into Doc's team with the season previews and such.
For now, I thought we'd just take a quick look at the Huskers schedule for 20011-12, now that the Big Ten has released schedules. Especially the meat-grinder that is the Big Ten portion. No disrespect to the Big 12, as we certainly had heavy competition there as well, but this whole thing from top to bottom is going to bring out the best or the worst in our guys. Lord help us.
Full schedule below, or... Take a gander at what Sadler's guys have on the plate this season.
So...tell us what you think? Manageable, or just plain brutal?
I for one, am excited as hell. If it wasn't enough that Doc may finally have a seasoned group of guys who can possibly meet some of the expectations that Nebraska fans have had over the years, but to match that with a pretty legit schedule and massive exposure just makes me smile. If we don't add thousands more basketball fans as a result of this season, I'd be very surprised.
Schedule and notes after the jump:
7-Nov Doane - Exhibition BTN.com
11-Nov South Dakota BTN.com
14-Nov at USC none
20-Nov Rhode Island BTN
23-Nov Oregon BTN
26-Nov SDSU BTN.com
30-Nov Wake Forest ESPNU
4-Dec at Creighton none
7-Dec Florida Gulf Coast BTN.com
10-Dec at TCU the Mtn.
17-Dec Alcorn State BTN.com
20-Dec Central Michigan BTN.com
27-Dec Wisconsin ESPN
31-Dec Michigan State BTN
3-Jan at Ohio State BTN
7-Jan at Illinois BTN
11-Jan Penn State BTN
15-Jan at Wisconsin BTN
18-Jan Indiana BTN
21-Jan Ohio State BTN
26-Jan at Iowa ESPNU
2-Feb at Northwestern ESPNU
5-Feb Minnesota BTN
8-Feb Michigan BTN
11-Feb at Penn State ESPNU
18-Feb Illinois BTN
22-Feb at Purdue BTN
25-Feb at Michigan State BTN
Feb-29 Iowa ESPNU
3-Mar at Minnesota BTN
Exposure |
Two words - Higher Ground. If you haven't been sold on the BTN already (Hello...the UT-Chatanooga game on television??)...then this year's basketball slate will. How many basketball games per season have we been able to watch in Huskerland? Four? Five tops? And usually the big ones against KU or Mizzou or Texas...which often times resulted in losses. That's just not fun. Check this shit out:
Number of games scheduled this season - 29 (Not including the first round of the B1G Tourney - which I'm juuuust kinda thinking will be broadcast)
Number of games broadcast on either television or streamed at BTN.com - 27
That's right, 93% of our games will be out there for us to watch. How cool is that? With that, the only two games not available for viewing are @ USC and @Creighton. Head to the Qwest Center,and you can add one more to the list.
The BTN will be showing all 64 of it's conference games for the fifth straight season, and ESPN/CBS will be showing 44 conference games.
SOS |
We may be saying that come February..but I'm talking about strength of schedule. We'll take hits yet again due to weak non-con games, but the conference portion gets a boost. The Big Ten was second only to the Big East in total RPI last year. Yippee.
-Nebraska gets home/home matchups with Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, and Penn State. All NCAA Tourney teams last year. The Huskers play a total of 12 different teams that qualified for the NCAA Tourney in 2011.
-The Big Red will play 22 of it's 29 games versus BCS schools.
-Non-con schedule once again appears to be so-so with just @USC and Rhode Island as the only solid teams on the bill. If Creighton and Wake Forest would be in their normal modes, this wouldn't be a bad schedule. Getting wins is nice, but I'm guessing we get amped up after going 10-1...just to walk into a shit-storm of better teams.
Noteable Games |
-Like the football team, we open Big Ten play with Wisconsin, although this one's at home. (Note- The basketball season sis not structured with Leaders/Legends divisions. Scheduling format will be similar to what we had with the Big XII. We'll play seven teams twice, and four teams once.)
-Nebraska's last home game of the season will be a match up with the Hawkeyes. I'm seeing a theme here..
-That last stretch however, will be tough with 3 of 4 games on the road. If we don't take care of business before that stretch, we'll probably need a lot of help to land in the post-season.
-The Huskers first six games will be against NCAA Tournament qualifying teams from 2011. Dec 27th - Jan 15th: versus Wisconsin, MSU, tOSU, Illinois, PSU, and again at Wisconsin. Ouch!
-I don't have the total numbers yet (coming in the season preview), but I'd venture to say that the majority of schools in the Big Ten haven't played us in many many years. Like at Memorial Stadium, it's going to be really cool to see the likes of Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, and others coming to "the Bob" for games.