-Anyone looking for a sign that quality & depth in college basketball has hit a new low? Newly-crowned #1 Texas has to go to OT to beat Texas A&M in Austin, then goes on the road and is the underdog against Kansas State. The Longhorns promptly got blasted 71-62, and the Mildcats were clearly the better team. Had they not gotten tight for a while in the second half and started short-arming shots, they'd have won by 25.
-The 'Horns point guard, Dogus Balbay, is the worst point guard PYB has ever seen on a top-ranked squad. No threat to shoot from outside, can't get to the rim, racked up four assists and six turnovers Monday night. Can't make plays. That being said, UT is easily the worst top-ranked team PYB has seen.
-Nebraska's loss at home against Iowa State was a season-killer. Their best player, Brandon Richardson, played very limited minutes after suffering another one of his myriad of injuries. Bear Jones, the only other Division-I-capable guard NU has, did not play because of the flu. Still the Cornhuskers took the lead and should have won the game. Doc may not have done his best coaching job ever, but four of his top five players are freshmen or sophomores. Bad games will happen.
The real heat needs to be directed at the Huskers' physicality, or lack thereof. 2009-10 marks another season where NU has been physically dominated in conference play. Sure, there are a lot of young bodies out there. But NU has not developed players as they stay in the program...not to the point where they can bang in the paint and become the aggressor rather than being tossed around like the Ayatollah's corpse in an Iranian funeral procession. NU's players also miss too many games with injuries...not torn ACLs or broken legs, but nagging back injuries, thigh bruises and the like. PYB contends this has to do something w/ the training staff's methods in Lincoln...just a theory, but it's gone on far too long for it to be total coincidence.
Look for more soon from The Donger on the state of NU hoops....
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