Tag Archives: Big Ten

It’s Friday! That means Ten Big stories in 10 little bites. We hit Tiger Woods and Bubba Starling, Ndamukong Suh and Julie Hermann and conference races in college baseball. But first, the head-scratching new Big Ten schedules.

In case you missed it, Nebraska doesn’t play Ohio State or Michigan in 2014 or ‘15. Neither does Wisconsin. Neither does Iowa.

Why would the Big Ten build a conference schedule whose biggest interdivisional matchup is Michigan vs. Northwestern? Good question.

Theory 1: All this talk about schedule strength as a critical factor for playoff selection is overblown and the Big Ten knows it. Yes, it’s going to be important to strengthen non-conference schedules. But the best way to assure yourself a spot — or two …

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The Big Ten released Thursday its revamped 2014 conference schedules for a 14-team league, and Nebraska drew Michigan State and new league entrant Rutgers from the East Division.

A marquee game against Big Ten traditional powers Michigan or Ohio State could only take place in the league championship.

The Huskers added Wisconsin — a West Division team starting in 2014 — to the schedule, while retaining games against other West Division teams that were already on the old 2014 schedule. Penn State has been dropped from the schedule.

“With the addition of two new programs to the Big Ten Conference and with a new divisional alignment, we embark on a new era of Nebraska football,” Nebraska Athletic Director Shawn Eichorst said in a statement. “Accommodating the changes …

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Tuesday morning on Twitter, I threw out this question: Who would you rather have for the 2013-14 college basketball season — senior Doug McDermott or freshman Andrew Wiggins, who announced he’s going to Kansas.

In June 2014, Wiggins is likely to go No. 1 in the NBA Draft. The same night, McDermott is likely to go in the 20s or 30s. Their careers will veer in very different directions. But that’s the NBA. Who will be better in this college season?

Here’s a sampling of responses:

Aaron Boni: “I love dougie fresh, but wiggins all day”

Zach Isherwood: “McDermott no question”

Mike Thielen: “easily Wiggins.”

David Berliner: “Dougie. U know what u have.”

Greg Hill: “Wiggins by a mile.”

Jake Immink: “McDermott. Mclemore …

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Monday’s Chatter — without marquee local sporting events — is starting to take on the characteristics of Fridays. That means lots of small helpings without a main course. Hope that’s OK with you.

>> Friday Nebraska scored a big-time transfer in Alex Lewis. Saturday Lewis was arrested for second-degree assault. Read the report; it isn’t pretty.

If the incident takes place a week ago, Nebraska almost certainly doesn’t offer Lewis a scholarship. But now what? What will Bo Pelini do? He’s taken pride in keeping the Huskers off the police blotter. Based upon that standard, my guess is Pelini will ask Lewis to find another school.

>> Nick Bahe (an intense Tiger Woods fan) and I engaged in a Twitter skirmish last night …

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Andy Staples, one of the best in the sportswriting business, presented his post-spring Top 25 on Tuesday. No surprise that Ohio State was No. 4. What did surprise me is ranking three Legends Division teams from 14-22. And none of them was Nebraska.

Michigan certainly deserves a spot. Northwestern probably does, too. But Michigan State? Unless Mark Dantonio has solved his quarterback problems, I can’t imagine the Spartans in the top 15.

For the record, Nebraska doesn’t even crack Staples’ five “teams he might regret not including.” I’m not about to argue on behalf of the Huskers, who fell apart in Indy. But if Staples is right and the Huskers are the fourth-best team in the division, then Bo Pelini will be in …

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It’s Friday! That means Ten Big stories in 10 little bites. We hit the Big Ten and SEC, Tom Ricketts and May snow-outs, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony. But first, Husker football.

We don’t want to play in the Big 12 North again.

We didn’t get into the Big Ten to play Purdue and Minnesota.

The standard for our program should be Michigan and Ohio State, not Wisconsin and Iowa.

With so many bad games, the sellout streak could be in jeopardy.

I’ve heard all of the above statements the past few weeks as the Big Ten moved toward its new East and West divisions. Husker fans are happy to see the Badgers more often. They’re also fearful that playing in the weaker division will …

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You’ve heard the excuses. You’ve seen the numbers.

Nebraska football and basketball are behind the eight ball because of their location. There are 1.8 million people within the borders and that’s just not enough to stockpile elite programs.

Husker football, which benefited from Johnny Rodgers, Dave Rimington, Zach Wiegert, Eric Crouch and dozens of other in-state standouts, has signed a grand total of one native son each of the past two years.

Husker basketball, which surged in the 90s thanks to Nebraskans Rich King, Bruce Chubick, Andre Woolridge and Erick Strickland, hasn’t signed an in-state high school player since 2002. Eleven years!

Football has let a few quality prospects get away recently: Trevor Robinson, Harland Gunn, Kyle Dooley, among others. But the state is producing …

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So, so much to tackle over the weekend, from Big Ten divisions to NBA playoffs to college baseball. We’ll cover it all. But let’s start with the NFL Draft and those 63 picks from the SEC.

I’m sure you’ve heard the stat by now. The ACC’s 31 picks in the draft were matched only by the SEC West (31) and the SEC East (32). The SEC has dominated the college football polls. They have dominated National Signing Day. Now they’re dominating the draft, too.

I have no doubt that the SEC is the nation’s best football conference. By far. But at some point, its reputation will exceed its performance. I look at the NFL Draft numbers and wonder if we’ve reached that point.…

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It’s Friday! We’re loaded with goodies, from Rick Pitino’s body art to Alex Gordon’s bomb. We hit Gardner v. Robinson and the resurrection of a college football tradition, an NBA trend and a big announcement for the Omaha sports scene. But first, an anniversary.

Today is exactly three years since Bruce Rasmussen called a press conference to announce his new head men’s basketball coach:

“Doug McDermott,” said the Creighton A.D.

Seriously, Rasmussen accidentally said Doug instead of Greg. Maybe his subconscious knew something we didn’t. Because Papa McDermott’s three years at Creighton have been defined by his son.

At the time, everybody thought Doug was a nice little Missouri Valley recruit. Maybe he’d even play as a freshman! Three years later, he has lifted the …

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There’s a ton of good stuff to cover today, so let’s jump right into the nuggets.

>> Great work by Tom Dienhart running the numbers on Big Ten draft picks over the past decade — he includes Nebraska. What stands out? Ohio State has produced 36 picks on defense — nearly matching Nebraska’s, Michigan’s, Penn State’s and Wisconsin’s totals. That’s incredible.

>> A conference breakdown of the top-100 draft prospects in 2013. We’ll hit this topic a little harder after the draft — I want to see how it shakes out — but it’s staggering how poorly the Big Ten is represented.

>> Matt Taibbi’s NFL Draft preview, complete with suggestions like “Draft the weed guy” and “Don’t sleep on Samoans.”

>> I realize …

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