Will Nebraska Improve On Their 9-11 Big Ten Record in 2023-24?

[60's Guy]

I think they will.

One of the Gopher Big Ten wins was against Nebraska. So happens it was in the Big Ten Tournament by 3. Minnesota lost to Nebraska by 2 in overtime at home. They lost by 11 at Nebraska. Nebraska was 9 and 11 in the conference.

Nebraska returns 5 of their top 8 scorers. They lost their leading scorer Derrick Walker to graduation. He led them with 13.6 ppg and 7.1 rebounds. They are replacing him with senior Josiah Allick from New Mexico. Allick averaged 8.4 and 7 rebounds. Allick has averaged double figures in two of his other seasons. He can play.
But he's not the featured replacement... Rienk Mast from Bradley averaged 13.8 and 8 rebounds. 6-9 Missouri Valley All Conference player. He is also a member of the Dutch National team.

Keisei Tominaga was the Huskers second leading scorer. He was very close to entering the NBA Draft but is returning to college at Nebraska. He averaged 13.1 ppg last year. Outstanding shooter....shot 40% from 3 and 86.8 from the line.

Sam Griesel was their third leading scorer at 12 ppg and he graduated. Brice Williams a 6-7 guard replaces those points. Williams is coming in from Charlotte where he averaged 13.8 ppg. Another top flight shooter....40% from 3 and 84.3 from the line.

Gary, Wilcher and Lawrence return as their 4th, 5th and 7th leading scorers.. They scored 9.5, 8 and 5 points per game with solid playing time.
Nebraska also added Iowa's point guard to get the ball to the shooters. Ahron Ulis averaged 6 ppg for Iowa in 22 minutes a nite. Nebraska swapped out 4 bench guys who averaged 3.6, 1.7, 0.6 and 0 for the scholarships.
They still have a spot or two available.

So they added four veteran players from the portal and also are bringing in 6-7 freshman guard Eli Rice from IMG Academy. Buzz is he could be a surprise addition. Again, Nebraska won 9 conference games and I think they got better...we played them close...will we be able to challenge them in 23-24?

The other two bottom of the conference teams were Ohio State and Wisconsin (9 wins). Some have both of these teams in their top 40 pre-season teams.

 

[Gophers7633]

I think Nebraska definitely has a more talented roster than we do top to bottom. This is a pretty good starting 5:

Ulis
Tominaga
Williams
Allick
Mast

Or they might go small and play Williams at the 4 and start Wilcher. Either way, they have good flexibility with their lineup. Getting to 9 wins will be tough given the depth of the league, but they are a good home team, and I think have improved slightly as well. In that regard, it's a tough call.

While I think we got better, all the bottom tier teams did as well. If we are going to be better than anyone, I think the best shot is either Michigan or Iowa.

 

[alchemy2u]

Will Lester Prairie improve on their 18-11 record of last year?

Who the F Cares?

 

[60's Guy]

Will Lester Prairie improve on their 18-11 record of last year?

Who the F Cares?

If you did care, you'd realize Nebraska was in the Big Ten. You'd realize they were on our schedule. You'd realize we beat them once and lost in overtime once. There are not many teams the Gophers beat last year. If you did care, you'd be curious if we can beat them this year....if you cared, you'd be looking for reasons how we might get out of last place. And if you don't care...why the heck you here?
And ya, pretty confident Lester Prairie will be better this coming year. Schauer, Radtke and Hodny will be a strong senior group.

 

[upnorthkid]

If you did care, you'd realize Nebraska was in the Big Ten. You'd realize they were on our schedule. You'd realize we beat them once and lost in overtime once. There are not many teams the Gophers beat last year. If you did care, you'd be curious if we can beat them this year....if you cared, you'd be looking for reasons how we might get out of last place. And if you don't care...why the heck you here?
And ya, pretty confident Lester Prairie will be better this coming year. Schauer, Radtke and Hodny will be a strong senior group.

I think then it would be “can the gophers beat Nebraska this year” not “will Nebraska improve on their Big Ten record”. Just sayin

 

[60's Guy]

I think then it would be “can the gophers beat Nebraska this year” not “will Nebraska improve on their Big Ten record”. Just sayin

You are probably right that the headline is wrong but to me the question is interesting. Why?
Nebraska won 9 regular season conference games last year. We won 2. Yet, we played them close and beat them in the tournament. That's a pretty big spread in victories but the scores are close.
How'd that happen? I dunno...

But, if Nebraska got better it would seem our chances to find an opponent we can beat are becoming smaller. Biggest point...I definitely think Nebraska got better. So, I'm saying they will be improved. Maybe it translates in the standings for them...maybe not? For the Gophers to be better it all rides on Christie, Betts, Fox and Ihnen. They are wild cards. The other Gophers have had a chance to establish a baseline to judge their ability on...can they improve? Sure, but that has been pretty incremental historically and sometimes they regress individually. So, if Mitchell and Hawkins equal Battle and Cooper the Gophers are still at the 2 win level without the emergence of something significant from the 4 wildcards.

Just looking for teams we can realistically beat to find more than two wins.

 

[alchemy2u]

You are probably right that the headline is wrong but to me the question is interesting. Why?
Nebraska won 9 regular season conference games last year. We won 2. Yet, we played them close and beat them in the tournament. That's a pretty big spread in victories but the scores are close.
How'd that happen? I dunno...

But, if Nebraska got better it would seem our chances to find an opponent we can beat are becoming smaller. Biggest point...I definitely think Nebraska got better. So, I'm saying they will be improved. Maybe it translates in the standings for them...maybe not? For the Gophers to be better it all rides on Christie, Betts, Fox and Ihnen. They are wild cards. The other Gophers have had a chance to establish a baseline to judge their ability on...can they improve? Sure, but that has been pretty incremental historically and sometimes they regress individually. So, if Mitchell and Hawkins equal Battle and Cooper the Gophers are still at the 2 win level without the emergence of something significant from the 4 wildcards.

Just looking for teams we can realistically beat to find more than two wins.

Hey, I clearly understand that you are much more of a true basketball fan than I am and that you are more interested in the players on other teams. But do not expect all Gopher fans to have the same level of interest in the projected performance and play of another team. I could careless if player A on Nebraska improves next season or not.

 

[RogueGopher]

They won't come close to 9.