8-for-30! Are you kidding me?

It has been a week now, since Nebraska men’s basketball had their last home game. We had a conflict and put up our tickets for sale and were lucky enough somebody bought them. 

I enjoy basketball and I enjoy going to PBA and watching the Huskers. 

But this year, it was difficult at times to get really fired up because you didn’t know if a competitive Husker team would show up or not. 

Last week, it was Northwestern and the best the Huskers could ask for was a win to keep Northwestern at the bottom of the conference. 

It didn’t happen and after the loss, the two teams were tied for last place. Nebraska got beat in overtime in a game they should have won in regulation. But the Huskers went 8-for-30 from the free-throw line during the game and lost in OT, 76-81. 

Both teams have two games left in the regular season with Nebraska playing on the road at Michigan and then Minnesota. Northwestern has a road game at Wisconsin and then at home against Penn State. 

Nebraska is 0-10 on the road and 7-22 overall for the season. I am not entirely surprised at the record, just because that team was put together in about 30 days after the hiring of Fred Hoiberg. I think he will get things turned around but trying to be as positive as possible.

I keep thinking 8-for-30, 8-for-30. The Huskers have been terrible from the free-throw line all year long, but 8-for-30? It was a team effort—no one could hit much from 15 feet with no one guarding them. 

8-for-30. 

I would almost bet that you could have picked 10 people out of the student section and had them shoot the free-throws and they would have had a better percentage than 27%. 

It doesn’t seem likely that going on the road for the last two games will produce a win, but you never know in this sport. The ball is round, but it does take some really crazy bounces now and then. 

One thing that has been constant this season is that PBA is usually close to capacity for games, which means 15,000 people show up. If we lived in Lincoln, I would have gone but that 600-mile round trip kind of makes me think it is ok to miss a game. 

The season isn’t over. I know Coach Hoiberg is a good recruiter and he said that he has some players coming that he knows will make them better, plus a transfer.

 Kobe King, a pretty decent player from Wisconsin, just announced he was coming to Nebraska and he is a better-than-average player. Time will tell.

Maybe next year the Huskers will be great in football and basketball. We know they will be great in volleyball.

I hope we never again see in the stats: FT 8-30.