As the football season winds down, and fans prepare for the last 60 minutes of Husker Football 2009, I'd like to introduce myself as your friendly Nebrsaka hoops "post-man". (Although I always played shooting guard). Covering NBA-D league action in Iowa has lost it's luster, so I have offered up my services to CornNation..writing about my beloved Big Red. Thanks to the managers and moderators for picking me up.
No doubt priorities are straight in Husker-Land...football first, everything else is secondary. But the off-season doesn't have to mean watching old tapes of Touchdown Tommie and the 1995 season. The 2009 Nebraska Basketball team has a lot of potential, anchored by Pelini-esque defensive efforts thus far. Lots of young talent on the mens team, and although it would be nice to cover womens as they keep playing well...most of my attention will be on the boys. Try to hang with me this winter, and I'll do my best to keep things interesting until the spring game arrives. Who knows, we may have something to watch in March?
Just to recap the season for those of you that are now starting to tune in, Nebraska is currently 7-2 with losses coming at Saint Louis (7-3) and at in-state rival Creighton(4-5). Impressive defensive showings lifted the team to wins over USC and Oregon State. Nebraska has been out-rebounded in each of their 2 losses, with Creighton's rebounding edge keying their 6 point win, while the loss to Saint Louis came after a poor effort all-around. With some better "glass-work", the Big Red could be knocking on the door of a top 25 ranking.
The season is still young, and the real deal begins on Jan. 9th when conference play starts against Texas A&M. I'm predicting the next 6 games to yield 5 wins if they play solid fundamentally, which would leave us at 12-3 heading into conference play. Might be a good idea, however, to focus on holiday cheer during the Las Vegas Classic (Dec 22-23), as Tulsa(8-1) and BYU(9-1) are both very potent on offense. For now, lets start with a statistical comparison with Saturday nights 7PM CST game against winless Jackson State (0-8).
| Probable Starters - Nebraska | Pts. per game | Probable Starters - Jackson State | Pts. per game |
| #5 Sek Henery - 6-4 Sr. Guard | 8.0 |
#33 Garrison Johnson - 6-5 Sr. Guard |
13.9 |
| #34 Lance Jeter - 6-3 Jr. Guard | 9.1 | #23 De'Suan Dixon - 6-5 Jr. Guard | 8.8 |
| #44 Ryan Anderson - 6-4 Sr. Guard | 11.1 | #4 Tyrone Hansen - 6-7 Jr. Guard/Forward | 10.9 |
| #13 Brandon Ubel - 6-10 Fr. Forward | 5.1 | #32 Grant Maxey - 6-7 Sr. Forward | 6.5 |
| #21 Jorge Brian Diaz - 6-11 RFr. Center | 8.8 | #25 Davon Jones - 6-8 Fr. Center | 4.0 |
| W-L | PF | PA | HOME | ROAD | STK | |
| Jackson State Tigers | 0-8 | 57.9 | 79.5 | 0-2 | 0-6 | L8 |
| Nebraska Cornhuskers | 7-2 | 67.6 | 54.9 | 6-0 | 1-2 | W2 |
Based on individual statistics, the Tigers look as if they could compete with Nebraska. Somehow they have managed to lose every game thus far. Winning on the road in Lincoln isn't likely, but only if the Huskers play fundamentally sound. Control the boards. Control the tempo. The Big Red should win easily, as Jackson State can't even get their logo right.
Tipoff: 7pm CST
Radio: www.Huskers.com
Television: None