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It took maybe two to three possessions to make it obvious that this Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team’s ceiling is above and beyond anything the 2019-2020 Nebraska basketball team ever would have dreamed of.
For me it started with a rebound by the 6’9” point guard, Delano Banton, and after a couple dribbles he was already on the other side of the court as he passed it to a teammate. I don’t remember who finished that possession for sure but it might have ended with a three pointer by Lat Mayen, the starting center, who started 3 for 3 from the three point line.
Yes, of course. This was McNeese State. There is no reason to overreact. With that said, I would like to remind you of two things.
First, with the exception of Thorir Thorbjarnarson and Yvan Ouedraogo every single player on this Nebraska basketball roster logged a combined zero minutes last season for Nebraska.
Second, last season Thorir was the only returning Nebraska basketball player on the roster for Fred Hoiberg’s first game as head coach of Nebraska. Remember what happened that game? Nebraska lost to UC Riverside by 19 points. Nebraska scored 47 points in that game.
Today Nebraska beat a possibly poor McNeese State team by 47. They scored 102 points. That’s what a good team should do.
The eye test says that this team is more skilled, more athletic and bigger. They are also deeper. They had five different players score in double figures. Thorir had eight points and Yvan added nine.
We will find out what this team is actually made of during conference play. Regardless of the final win tally at the end of the season I think it wouldn’t be a stretch to think that Nebraska couldn’t double it’s win total from last year.