Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: Buy or sell on Ohio State, Minnesota, Nebraska and IU

By Austin Walther

BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, IN - JANUARY 14: Romeo Langford #0 of the Indiana Hoosiers walks down the court after a turnover in the 66-51 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Assembly Hall on January 14, 2019 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
LINCOLN, NE – JANUARY 17: Thomas Allen #12 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Isaiah Roby #15 and Glynn Watson Jr. #5 walk off the court after the loss against the Michigan State Spartans at Pinnacle Bank Arena on January 17, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images)
LINCOLN, NE – JANUARY 17: Thomas Allen #12 of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Isaiah Roby #15 and Glynn Watson Jr. #5 walk off the court after the loss against the Michigan State Spartans at Pinnacle Bank Arena on January 17, 2019 in Lincoln, Nebraska. (Photo by Steven Branscombe/Getty Images) /

Nebraska Cornhuskers – Buy

The second of the Big Ten teams with 10 or more losses in conference play showing up on the bubble. Nebraska was consistently a KenPom top-20 team for the longest time. They picked apart Seton Hall earlier this season. They fell to Texas Tech by quite a bit, but the Red Raiders are proving to be just as good as last season. The Cornhuskers got a huge road win over Clemson, but the Tigers haven’t helped one bit. Nebraska knocked off Creighton and Oklahoma State, but both aren’t really that great this year either.

None of Nebraska’s non-conference power-conference wins have been helping them much. They lost on the road to Minnesota in what was an emotional game for the Gophers. The Cornhuskers reopened Big Ten play and blew two chances for good road victories over Maryland and Iowa. Their only other road win since the ACC/Big Ten Tournament was at Indiana. That came in the middle of January.

Five out of six Big Ten locks have gone on decently sized winning streaks. Three out of the four bubble teams have experienced very long losing streaks. Nebraska suffered a seven-game losing streak. Rutgers and Illinois were both included. They got revenge on Minnesota and avoided another bad loss which would’ve come to Northwestern.

The two-game winning streak brought hope to Cornhuskers fans. They had Penn State and then four ranked opponents. It was key to beat the Nittany Lions and split with the four NCAA locks. That would’ve put them at 14 losses, which honestly is not too many this year.

They blew it right off the bat against Penn State. Then they lost by three to Purdue. Luckily, all the other bubble teams are falling as well so somehow Nebraska is still in a few fields. If Nebraska wins out and snags one in the Big Ten Tournament, they might be in. But realistically speaking, Nebraska has to finish 2-1, take a pair in the Big Ten Tournament and get in with a 19-15 record.

Home/Big Ten