The success of this Nebraska basketball season has snuck up on everybody. Even the most hopeful fans couldn't have seen a 20-1 start to the campaign coming. Analysts were also caught unawares, forcing them to talk about a Husker team they're not used to talking about. However, that's no excuse for CBS Sports analyst Isis Young to offer the most uninformed, poorly researched take on Fred Hoiberg's squad of the year.
On Thursday afternoon, the CBS Sports panel was discussing whether the Huskers are truly a Final Four team this season. Young voted no and then offered up an explanation that is just factually incorrect.
"To date, they have played mostly the bottom half of the Big Ten," Young said of a Nebraska team that is tied for first place in the conference. "Next upcoming, they have Illinois, then they've got Rutgers, and then Purdue. If they win three out of the next three, then we play this game again, and I'll tell you it's a reality."
"To date, [Nebraska] have played mostly the bottom half of the Big Ten."@IceYoung23 says she needs a little more convincing to believe that Nebraska will make the Final Four. pic.twitter.com/6OBKnSmSSf
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) January 29, 2026
Nebraska basketball has proven more than this CBS analyst gives it credit for
First of all, saying the Huskers have to go 3-0 and improve to 23-1 in order to be considered a Final Four-contending team seems like a standard that no other traditional contender would be held to.
Purdue, for instance, is currently on a three-game losing streak. And yet, it's a safe bet that most analysts would still consider them contenders (and that's all that's being talked about here) for the Final Four.
Secondly, Young's insistence that Nebraska has "mostly" played the bottom half of the Big Ten is objectively false. When talking about an 18-team conference, it's incredibly easy to check this assertion with the tiniest bit of effort.
Of the other eight "top half" of the Big Ten teams, Nebraska has played five of them. They beat Wisconsin by 30, they beat Michigan State and Ohio State, they lost to Michigan in Ann Arbor by 3, and ... they beat Illinois in Illinois. That's the Illinois team Young said she wants to see Nebraska beat before she'll consider them contenders.
Yes, Nebraska has played its fair share of bottom-half Big Ten teams. It's hard not to do that in an 18-team league. NU has beaten Minnesota (bottom half by half a game), Northwestern, Washington, Oregon, and Indiana.
In other words, after 10 conference games, the Huskers have the exact same number of top-half Big Ten teams as they have bottom-half teams.
What makes Young's argument even more ridiculous is that Nebraska is about to complete its most challenging stretch of the conference season. Yes, Purdue and Illinois (for a second time) are coming up; however, over the next 10 games, they'll only square off against four top-half teams.
There's one other reason not to take Isis Young's rationale at face value. Even some of her CBS Sports colleagues don't buy what she's selling. As of Thursday morning, despite a loss to Michigan, CBS's latest bracketology has Nebraska as a No. 1 seed in the tournament.