Nebraska basketball Bubble Watch: Some still not convinced Huskers are tourney team
The Nebraska basketball’s bubble watch became a real thing this week.
The Nebraska basketball team is officially an NCAA tournament contender. Unfortunately, they are still contenders instead of a lock to make it in.
The first bubble watch of the season to have the Huskers and the NCAA tournament in the same breath was released this week. ESPN’s most recent bracketology mentioned the Cornhuskers as a team to look out for.
Joel Lunardi is still not quite convinced this is a team that is going to be part of March Madness. The ESPN prognosticator has the Huskers listed as one of his “next four out.”
Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball
That might surprise some, including us, because it seems as if the Huskers have done enough to make the dance if the season ended today. Part of the problem is Lunardi sees only four Big Ten teams making it.
That means Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan State and … Michigan. Cornhusker fans would have a right to be a bit angry should that come to pass.
Yes, the Wolverines have a better RPI. They have a much better RPI as a matter of fact.
At the same time, Nebraska didn’t just beat Michigan. They manhandled them. The beat them by 20.
They are also a half game up on the Wolverines in the standings. When talking about taking four teams from the Big Ten, Lunardi is not talking about taking the top four teams standings-wise.
That’s always going to be frustrating if true. It’s also not as if the Huskers couldn’t have made a better case for themselves up to this point.
They had Ohio State on the ropes. They had Kansas beaten. They should have beaten Penn State.
Those three losses could be the difference between being the “next four out” and a lock for the tournament.
Right now the Cornhuskers are sitting with Syracuse, UCLA and Utah. Historically, that’s pretty good company.
Missouri, Georgia, Western Kentucky and Washington are the first four out. SMU (68th in RPI), NC State (63rd), Boise State (41st) and Virginia Tech (56th) are the last four in.
Considering the Nebraska basketball team is sitting with the 60th RPI ranking, they are definitely in the thick of things. They’re just going to have to do a bit more work to be a Bubble Watch lock.