Nebraska Basketball does not make 2018 NCAA Tournament
Nebraska basketball waited patiently on Sunday to see if they’d be dancing in this year’s NCAA Tournament. Their name was never called.
Well, it didn’t come as a surprise, but the Nebraska Cornhuskers were left out of the NCAA Tournament fun. The Huskers finished their regular season with a 22-10 overall record and13-5 Big Ten record earning themselves a four-seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Sadly, that was where the excitement ended, as the Cornhuskers were blown out by Michigan in their first game of the conference tournament. That pretty much sealed Nebraska’s fate. They were a part of a weak Big Ten and didn’t have many impressive wins throughout the regular season.
The regular season was fun, but at the end of the day, Nebraska was not worthy of partaking in this year’s tournament. They’ll likely be playing in the NIT though, if that does anything for you.
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Nebraska’s lack of postseason success in the sport of basketball has been frustrating, as the Huskers have yet to win an NCAA Tournament game out of their seven tries. Some hoped this year could right that ship, but it wasn’t meant to be.
As for the rest of the Big Ten, only four teams made it and they were the expected ones: Purdue (two-seed), Michigan (three-seed), Michigan State (three-seed), and Ohio State (five-seed). Nebraska’s one quality win this season came against the Wolverines, but Michigan came right back and smacked the Huskers in the mouth in New York a few weeks ago in the conference tournament.
It’s disappointing to not see Big Red participating in this year’s tournament and they’ve now been excluded from dancing for four straight years. The last time Nebraska made it, they were a ten-seed and lost in the first round to Baylor.
What frustrates me is seeing how many mediocre teams (mainly from the Big 12) made it into the dance, but Nebraska wasn’t even considered. Sure, the Huskers didn’t play many great teams, but their record should have gotten them in. Oklahoma was a nine-seed in their tournament and still got their ticket punched. Texas wasn’t any better and made it in.
Nebraska played some tough non-conference opponents and came oh so close to knocking off the Kansas Jayhawks in December. One has to think that had Nebraska pulled off that upset, this would be an entirely different post being written.
Hopefully this year’s momentum carries over into the 2018-2019 campaign, but until then, it’s NIT time for Nebrasketball. Go Big Red!