Nebraska basketball: Penn State win likely closes the door on Huskers
The Nebraska basketball team lost on Friday but it was the Penn State win over Ohio State in the Big 10 tournament is probably what will send the Huskers to the NIT.
The Nebraska basketball team came into the Big Ten conference tournament looking to prove they should be the fifth B1G team to make the NCAA Tournament. After a 19 point loss to Michigan, the Huskers’ chances took a pretty massive hit.
That hit was doubled up on Friday night. Penn State had been the team du jour as far as who was moving up the ranks. They had likely even jumped the Cornhuskers when Nebraska lost to Illinois and the Nittany Lions beat Ohio State for the second time.
Then the Huskers beat Penn State in the final game of the regular season and seemed to have their postseason hopes back on track. Things likely changed once again when PSU beat the Buckeyes for a rather insane third time this year.
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There had been plenty of talk about what the Cornhuskers needed to do in order to make the tournament. That same kind of talk was less prevalent when talking about Penn State.
That was likely because they already had their fair share of wins against top tier teams. With the victory over Ohio State being their 21st win, it seems likely that no matter what they do against Purdue, if there is to be the fifth team from the Big Ten, it will be them, rather than the Huskers.
That doesn’t mean the Nebraska basketball team’s hopes are completely dead. We’re still talking about a team that won 22 games. But the Huskers needed a lot to go right for them to back their way into the tourney. Other bubble teams going down was a big part of that. Now that one of those bubble teams has improved their resume, hopes are dimmer still.