Nebraska Basketball: Huskers miss AP Top 25 as Missouri State looms

Despite a win over Seton Hall last week, Nebraska basketball fell just a few votes shy of making the AP Top 25 with a matchup with Missouri State up Monday.

After an impressive win over Seton Hall last week, it seemed like Nebraska basketball was going to have a good shot at cracking the Top 25 of the AP Poll. 

However, the Huskers didn’t quite crack the Top 25. Nebraska basketball ended up 26th, which is two spots lower than in the coaches poll, where NU ranks No. 24.

Nebraska was not included among the 25 teams in the poll, yet Ohio State and Wisconsin both earned their way in after the Badgers beat Xavier and Ohio State knocked off Creighton. All those wins came in the Gavitt Games, the same series between the Big East and Big Ten in which Nebraska beat Seton Hall.

While it’s frustrating that Nebraska hasn’t worked its way into the AP poll yet, the Huskers will get two more chances to impress voters this week. Well, if the Huskers can beat Missouri State, they will have a chance to play either Texas Tech or USC tomorrow night in the championship game of the Hall-of-Fame Classic.

The Huskers will open the tournament tonight in Kansas City against Missouri State, in what will basically be a road game for Nebraska. If you want to tune in, it will be broadcast on ESPNU at 6 PM CST.

If Nebraska wins, the Huskers will face either Texas Tech, which was ranked 24th in the Kenpom rankings or USC, which starts the tournament ranked 59th. Nebraska is No. 29 according to Kenpom, Missouri State is 167.

The Bears, who play in the Missouri Valley, have two solid scorers in Jarred Dixon, who averages 18.7 PPG and Keandre Cook, who scores 17.3 PPG and grabs eight rebounds per night. Of course, Nebraska basketball has three of its own players scoring in double figures led by James Palmer, who leads the Huskers with 21 points per game. Glynn Watson is also scoring 16.3 PPG and Isaac Copeland adds 13 PPG.

Obviously, Nebraska isn’t going to score points with pollsters or the NCAA selection committee by beating Missouri State. The chance to impress will come tomorrow night. First, though, the Huskers need to avoid an upset, then they can focus on getting a quality win on a neutral site against USC or Texas Tech.