Monday: The NCAA Tournament bubble welcomes Nebraska basketball

Happy Monday! It was a great weekend of college basketball. No. 1 Syracuse almost went down, No. 2 Arizona fell at its in-state rival and North Carolina won it’s sixth straight game as a matchup with Duke looms ahead this week.

But I’m going to talk about Nebraska basketball today.

In case you missed it, Nebraska knocked off No. 9 Michigan State Sunday afternoon. At Michigan State!

It was unreal. Terran Petteway—who was just named co-Big Ten Player of the Week—made shots I didn’t think he could make. Walter Pitchford went bonkers from behind the arc in the first half. And the rest of the Huskers played with a massive chip on their shoulder.

It was fun to watch. Nebraska’s big men were taking it too Adreian Payne and the rest of the Spartan frontcourt. Bench player Benny Parker pestered the Michigan State guards as well, helping force 11 turnovers.

Sure, Michigan State didn’t play like the ninth best team in the country. But a lot of that had to do with the Huskers, who played stifling defense the entire night. It was an impressive performance.

Just ask the social media world.

Nebraska coach Tim Miles and the hashtag Nebrasketball were trending on as well. Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

In all seriousness, this win puts Nebraska basketball right in the thick of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Granted, the Huskers have a lot of work to do, and this win alone won’t get them in the field of 68.

This does put them that much closer though. And the schedule seems favorable for them as well. Take a look at their final six games:

-Penn State

-Purdue

-@ Illinois

-Northwestern

-@ Indiana

-Wisconsin

Those are all extremely winnable games. If Nebraska wins out, it’s a tournament team in my opinion. They have 22nd-ranked strength of schedule to go along with a No. 52 spot in the RPI rankings.

If the Huskers somehow end up with 20 wins and a top 4 seed in the Big Ten tournament, their chances of making the Big Dance are extremely high.

This is all speculation of course, but Sunday’s win has the entire state of Nebraska on Cloud 9.

Coach Miles has this team playing at a level Nebraska hasn’t seen in years, and it’s fun to watch.

Hot Reads

-Sunday was a HUGE day in the state of Nebraska for basketball. Creighton routed Villanova once again while the Nebraska women won their sixth straight even with their coach sidelined.

-Great story about Trey Burke and Jared Sullinger.
-If you were up to watch early Sunday morning, you witness one of the greatest hockey games in Olympic history.
-The U.S. women's hockey team reached the gold medal match today.
-The NBA All-Star set some records Sunday night. 

Thanks for reading and have a great start to your week!

Reach me at: award6344@gmail.com

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