Nebraska Basketball: Big Ten play crucial for 2018-2019 Huskers

Nebraska basketball wrapped up their non-conference schedule on Saturday and now have to ride that momentum into conference play. The Cornhuskers are 11-2 so far, their best start since the 2003-2004 season.

Nebraska basketball fans had been hearing all offseason long that this was going to be a special season for the Cornhuskers. If non-conference play is any indication of what’s to come, we might be in for a treat after all.

The Huskers finished up their (mostly) non-conference schedule on Saturday with a blowout win over Southwest Minnesota. The Mustangs are a Division II school, but it was still important for Nebraska to take this game seriously and blow the doors off the D2 squad.

While the first two months of hoops season is considered non-conference play, Nebraska did ply two Big Ten opponents during that stretch. They beat Illinois by 15 and lost to Minnesota in a game that they should have easily won.

The other loss Nebraska endured this year was against Texas Tech in Kansas City for the Hall of Fame tournament. Even with that loss, Nebraska has made it a point to play tougher non-conference opponents this year, knowing that was a big problem for them a season ago where they did not schedule anyone very tough and missed the NCAA Tournament as a result.

Big Ten play begins on Wednesday and that’s where we’re going to find out who this team is for real. Nebraska travels to Maryland for a date with the Terrapins to officially kick off Big Ten conference play in college hoops.

It’s easy to beat up on the Southwest Minnesotas and Cal State Fullertons of the world, but Nebraska has to come to play against the good teams in their conference. Last year, the Big Ten wasn’t very good and that hurt Nebraska when it came time to pick the teams for the NCAA Tournament.

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Even with a 13-5 conference record, Nebraska didn’t make the cut because of how poorly the Big Ten was in 2017-2018 and they didn’t capitalize against the good teams in the conference. Their one quality win came against a Michigan team that was ranked nationally at the time.

Otherwise, Nebraska faltered against the good teams in the Big Ten and that can’t happen this year if the Huskers want to go dancing in March. They already dropped a winnable game to Minnesota and that will be an ugly blemish on the record in a few months.

This season has a special sort of feel to it and Nebraska basketball has to take advantage. They have three really good seniors leading the way and at times, look like they can beat almost anyone. Then there are games, of course, where they look vulnerable, and they can’t let other teams beat them while they’re down.

This is the best opportunity in years for Nebraska basketball to make a run in March Madness and how they perform in Big Ten play will be a strong indicator as to how their season will go.

Go Big Red!