Nebraska Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Cornhuskers

Outlook and Projection

This is the best team that Hoiberg has had at Nebraska in his short tenure. The team has a ton of shooting and good quality depth, which has been lacking at Nebraska for quite some time. The roster also has two go-to scoring options who should do the bulk of the scoring. That is also something that the Huskers have lacked under Hoiberg.

The offense should finally look like a Hoiberg coached offense, they should score points and they should hit threes. Playing fast was going to be inevitable as the first two teams have played fast, they just didn’t shoot at a high enough percentage for it to matter. This year the efficiency numbers should look more representative of a Hoiberg coached team as well.

Nebraska still has some things that are going to hold them back from being as good as they can be and that is on the defensive end. The Huskers are likely going to have a hard time rebounding and defending the three-point line could also be tough. In the exhibition game against Colorado, the Huskers gave up 25 offensive rebounds, and they won by over 20 points because they were able to shoot the ball well. Nebraska doesn’t have to be one of the best rebounding teams in the country, but they do have to at least be competitive on the glass and stop the offensive rebounds for them to be successful.

The Huskers are going to be vastly improved from a season ago and should have a record closer to .500 overall. If Nebraska can figure out some of what ails them then they have a great chance to get some quality wins and become a bubble team. The Huskers won’t be the worst power five school this year and they have some big-time sleeper potential nationally and in the Big Ten.

The rebounding problem is something is not going to be easily corrected and the defense still has a lot of questions. Due to those reasons, the Huskers finish 12th in the Big Ten and win around 13-15 games overall.