I’m going top 10 all time but no higher. However, if this kept us out of the tourney this year… would have been top 3 for sure. Brutal.
Worst loss since ?
- Thread starter Baz=Heisman
- Start date
Oh come on. I knew this wasn't over at halftime. Nebraska is a veteran team on its way to the dance and we are down to playing two very inexperienced players at the most important position: point guard. They dug out of a big halftime hole at Washington a week ago and won with ease, I can think of dozens more games more heartbreaking than this one, but I feel bad for the team that left it all out there on the floor today. Going in, I thought this might be a blowout loss. I doubt this team can win another game this year, but they keep battling.
This was a disappointing loss, but I don't see it as some especially bad loss given everything going on with the team. Cats were in a position to win and if, say, the refs had correctly called that flagrant two in Matt's favor I think we still win the game.
It sucked but was kinda predictable…and not costly. This season ended with the injuries, which hurts to say. Still hate to lose a game like that.
Honestly don’t think this is even a top 3 tough loss this season. Iowa, Michigan, PSU all harder to take because we had the full squad and a lot more on the line at that point in the season. Sucks to lose a big lead but this game didn’t mean much in the long run and the team as currently constructed is unfortunately probably the worst in the league right now.
And historically, anyone who lived through the Carmody years can remember a ton of demoralizing losses when we were on the cusp of breaking through to the tournament that are way worse than this.
Disappointing but not exactly one for the annals. Bad teams lose games like this regularly. It’s the nature of the game.
You are up by 20 at home to a mediocre team. Good grief. Nebraska was on a roll of layups and dunks for a long time. Love Matt but he is no better than he was 2 years ago. Just part of the problem.
Nicholson’s regression - or at least lack of progression - has been insanely disappointing. I thought that UCLA game in the R32 was going to springboard him forward. He’s just average at best. Sad.
We blew a 15 point halftime lead and a 41-21 lead with 19 minutes to play.
We gave up 47 points in the last 19 minutes.
Thats pretty hard to do at home.
Bad play, bad coaching.
We gave up 47 points in the last 19 minutes.
Thats pretty hard to do at home.
Bad play, bad coaching.
Yes. Regardless of who is on the floor. We should be past this at this point. Simply unacceptable.
But we're not past it because we had such bad recruiting classes prior to last year, so therefore no depth. You lose two of your top three and have no bench, you suddenly become a bad team. The key going forward is whether recruiting is becoming more consistent after the second wave of success. We'll see. The first class has some promise with KJ and Gelo, but no real studs. The second class looks interesting, but we'll know more next fall.
Is there a college team that would be viable after losing 2 of their best 3 players? I am thinking the answer is no. Take wolf and goldin off of Michigan, kj and Ivisic off of Illini, and Bailey and Harper off of Rutgers. See what happens. The injuries happened, you’re gonna lose. Perhaps an argument for depth can be made if you lose your 4th and 6th best player, but 2 of top 3, not much can be done.
20 point lead, but I digress...Also, 12 other teams have blown bigger leads just this year alone! Hell, we're the 8th team this year to blow a 20 point lead. Texas A&M is a tourney team, they blew a 22 point lead at Texas and lost by 1 in regulation. No one tops Bucknell though, as they overcame a 21 point deficit in November to beat Richmond at home in double OT, and then blew a 20 point lead in January on the road at Lehigh to lose in OT!
It's nearly impossible to have a loss bad enough to be worth remembering this year tbh. It would have to be some kind of tremendously humiliating like 60 point loss with 40 points scored or something like that, something that just makes us look like a joke. Collapsing because you have young players handling the ball who just aren't ready is... it is what it is.
People are conflating "losing 2 of your starters" with "blowing a 20 point lead."
You lose 2 of your starters - of course you're not as good...
But blowing a 20 point lead is choking.
Yes. This is how I feel. There’s simply no excuse to blow an 18 point lead regardless of circumstances. Not to mention this is not pre-2017 or even pre-2022. Ty, Matt, Mart have all seen clutch wins (even in this miserable year!) and can’t let that happen. Man the F up and close the deal.
Two halves to a game. Nebraska shot horribly in the first half and was not likely to do that all game. Anyone who knows NU knew we would blow our chances to keep them out of reach and we would let them back in the game. We lose leads all the time. It’s not choking. It’s playing the game.
Good lord man, tone down the implications our players suck. It's old by now. Any group of players who blows a 20 pt lead without being choking is a terrible group. We are not good, but we are not terrible. Vegas only saw us as a 1.5 pts underdog.
Please face reality that there are two halves to a game. No one said they suck. Stop your preaching to me, young fella.
Choking is when the pressure of a situation overcomes the player. That is not what happened in the Nebraska game.
After Ty Berry scored on a fast break to give the Cats a 50-32 lead with 15:31 to play, Bart Torvik says Nebraska had a 3.5% chance of winning the game.
We choked. Coaches and players.
We choked. Coaches and players.
Last night, UCLA, who had been playing like a top-10 team in the country over the last month, was up 17 points at home against Minnesota in the 1st half, up 11 at halftime, and up 8 with 4 minutes to play, but eventually lost to the Gophers. It happens to good teams as well as bad, they're college kids.
I was watching that game. Torvik gave the Gophers a 2.7% chance to win when UCLA took that 57-49 lead with 4:17 left.
He rated Minnesota at 1.8% chance to win when they trailed 29-12 with 5:33 to go in the first half.
Is Torvik's calculation too aggressive in writing teams off?
Minnesota is now 6-9 in Big Ten games...
Kenpom had essentially the same probability (2.9% and 2.0% respectively), the Gophers' efficiency numbers have been mediocre but somehow they manage to win games this year. They are 3rd in the conference in Kenpom's "Luck" factor, behind Oregon and Michigan, and just ahead of Nebraska.
Get old and stay old is the name of the game for teams that aren't featuring one and dones. Minnesota got most of its points last night (and during their impressive run of late) from two fifth year guys, Dawson Garcia (32 points) and Mike Mitchell (14). Mitchell had 25 at USC Saturday. He is a 5th year transfer like Jalen Leach was. I doubt we lose to Nebraska with a healthy Barnhizer and Leach.
Nebraska won at Oregon two weeks ago. They won at Creighton earlier in the year. Yes, we shouldn't have lost but our point guards shot 0-for-10 and we were playing 2 against 5 on offense in the final stages of that game.
When you consider Nebraska was missing their starting center, it definitely hurts.
To me, Nebraska came into Welsh-Ryan with 2 good players and a bunch of bench guys.
Juwan Gary and Brice Williams are both good players.
The rest are not.
And they beat us.
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Backup UNL centers Morgan and Meah - 18 points. Starting NU center Nicholson and backup Fitz - 8 points.
Already discussed Windham and Clayton combined zero.
36% vs. their 44% shooting.
That about does it.
The thing that allowed us to get up was an unreal number of O rebounds in first half. We shot just as poorly in second half but without the O rebounds which made for shorter possessions and let them back in, NEB shot nothing from 3 in first half and had a number in second and we could not seem to stop them. Then they ended up with a lot of FTs as well
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For shi** and giggles, if the cats win their remaining four games and then win 2 big ten tournament games, could they make it into the tournament? Cant believe I’m even asking this.
Yes. But let’s take one at a time lol. (I did think of this last night though after the win, hah.)