PYB gives crucial thanks to The Donger, who chimes in with his State of Cornhusker Hoops entry, as we tend to other personal commitments. An insightful op-ed here, as we wait to see if Doc & Crew will make progress in the Big 12 this year or go down in flames once again....
We are one third of the way through the 2010-11 Nebraska basketball season, and we do not believe that we have the answers to too many of the questions that loomed over this program in the preseason. One of the major preseason subjects was the lack of strength of NU’s schedule, and to date, it has proven to be weaker than anticipated. With the exception of Vanderbilt (RPI, 19), NU has played a schedule that even Chadron State would be ashamed of. NU’s 10 opponents have an average RPI of 159. If you remove Vanderbilt, that number balloons to 175. It’s no wonder that the average attendance for the seven home games is less than 5,500 (although NU lists it as nearly 8,500 – year, right).
With a murderous Big XII schedule looming, will the Huskers be able to even compete night in and night out? The Big XII currently has half of its teams in the Top 60 of the RPI – Kansas (3), Kansas State (18), Missouri (27), Baylor (32), Texas (47) and Texas A&M (51). Oklahoma State is just outside the Top 60, at 69. This observer says that 4-12 would be a successful conference season. If NU can finish off the non-conference season at 12-2, they should see their current RPI of 109 rise and continue to rise during the conference season. With a 4-12 conference record, a 16-14 overall (prior to the Big XII tourney) could be enough to gain NU a berth in the College Insider.com tournament. In other words, the picture for the final year in the Big XII is NOT a good one.
Doc Sadler has touted this bunch as his most athletic team and one that can play in the highly competitive Big XII, regardless of the opponent. The sudden emergence of Caleb Walker & Tony McCray have pushed that statement closer to being true, rather than false, but in totality, the jury is still out. The emergence of those two, however, has been offset by the suspensions of Kamyron Brown and Christian Standhardinger. While Brown’s value to the team was, at best, a guess, Standhardinger is a proven scorer that could play 12 to 15 minutes per game and create matchup problems on the offensive end of the floor, without being a complete liability on defense (Editor's note: this last point on the Kraut's D is debatable). If he is to leave school at semester to go back to Germany and play for money (or Euros, or Franks, or whatever the hell they use over there), which is the current rumor in Lincoln, that would be a devastating blow to the depth of a team already limited with talent.
The positives are that Doc seems to have settled into an eight-man rotation, which is significantly better than trying to play 12 people per game. Lance Jeter does not get enough respect as a PG in the league and it says here that he could play significant minutes for any team in the Big XII, with the exceptions of KU & KSU. Brandon Richardson seems to have found his shooting touch and is finally playing both ends of the floor. Expect his minutes & contributions to continue to increase.
Drake Beranek has been a pleasant surprise and can obviously shoot the ball with no limit on his range. The downside to Beranek is that he couldn’t guard any of the guards on Nebraska's women’s team and needs seven to nine feet of space to get his shot off (IE, Paul Velander, Cary Cochran). If Andre Almeida could get off the Joe McCray diet plan, and shed 25 to 30 pounds prior to the conference season, he could contribute more than seven minutes per game and Doc would have more options with both McCray and Brandon “Keller” Ubel. If either of those two have to log significant minutes playing the four or five position, forget about it. Season over.
In short, while the team has logged decent wins over USC, Creighton & TCU (after a horrific trip to Puerto Rico), NU seems to be very limited as to its chances of success in the conference-–despite Doc’s mastery with the Xs and Os. Expect one, or two road wins for NU, with one being an upset over a double-digit favorite. Missouri or Baylor will be the best opportunities. Winnable road games at Iowa State, Colorado and Texas Tech will carry disappointment in two of them – with a blowout loss at Colorado. Lastly, NU will be competitive at home against most teams, but, again, the conference schedule is, at best, brutal. Feels like a 4 – 12 season.
If Mike Anderson wasn’t the baseball coach at NU, we would have that to look forward to. Another long winter in Lincoln.
~The Dong
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