ESPN women’s basketball Bracketologist Charlie Creme says Nebraska simply can’t lose another game if it hopes to earn a spot in its third consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Nothing like a little pressure with three regular-season games remaining. But that’s where the Huskers stand, and it’s not comfortable, not for a team that opened the season with 12 consecutive victories. Nebraska is 16-10 overall and 5-10 in the Big Ten, tied for 12th place with Wisconsin, 10 games behind first-place UCLA.
Creme’s latest Bracketology on Tuesday featured the Huskers’ plight. For now, Creme has Nebraska as one of “last four in”. He has the Huskers as an 11-seed and matching up with fellow 11-seed Arizona State in a First Four game in Durham, N.C. The Huskers-Sun Devils winner would play 6-seed Alabama in the first round.
That’s a long way from that 12-0 start — needing a First Four win just to make the main draw.
What ESPN had to say
Creme wrote this about Nebraska: “Teams with a NET ranking in the 20s are typically locks to make the NCAA Tournament. But occasionally a team’s NET ranking doesn’t match what’s happening on the court. Nebraska is that team this season.
“The Cornhuskers lost at home to Iowa on Monday. They’ve dropped five straight games and eight of their past 10, yet have fallen only from No. 16 to 25.
“That NET ranking is keeping Nebraska in the field for now. It’s rare for a team to miss the field with a NET that high, but it happened as recently as 2022-23. That season, Oregon lost seven in a row in February and was 17-14 but ranked No. 19 in the NET — and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.
“The Cornhuskers — with an 0-9 mark in Quad 1 games and a non-conference schedule strength of 230, numbers worse than those Ducks — are one loss away from playing themselves out of the field.”
The Huskers had a golden opportunity to maybe clinch an NCAA berth when they played host to No. 15 Iowa on Monday morning. The Hawkeyes won, 80-67, before a national television audience on Fox.
Sophomore Britt Prince scored 13 for the Huskers, Eliza Maupin had 11 and Amiah Hargrove scored 10. A crowd of 6,771 showed up at Pinnacle Bank Arena for the 11 a.m. CT game.
What Huskers coach Amy Williams said
“I think the biggest message is that we know we were at Michigan State in a tie ball game with less than a minute to go,” Nebraska coach Amy Williams said in a postgame news conference. “We were at Minnesota in a two-possession game. We were at Iowa in a tie game with five minutes to go.
“We’ve been in ball games within one or two possessions of teams with chances to win games multiple times with teams that are ranked in the top 15 in the country.
“So I think that gives us an encouragement to know that we are most capable of competing and playing at that level with those teams.
“If we can really commit to doing it for four quarters and 40 minutes in a ball game, then we feel like we can be competitive with anybody.”
Rest of the Huskers’ schedule
If ESPN’s expert is correct, Nebraska’s tournament hopes are riding on these next three games. The first two games are on the West Coast before the Huskers close the regular season at home against Rutgers.
Nebraska has made the NCAA Tournament the past two seasons, both 20-win seasons.
The Huskers’ West Coast swing looks challenging for the Huskers. The schedule:
Nebraska at Oregon
When: Thursday
Where: Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene
Time: 8 p.m. (CT)
Records: Nebraska, 16-10, 5-10; Oregon, 18-9, 6-8
TV: B1G+
Live audio: Huskers Radio Network on Huskers.com and the Huskers App
NET rankings: Nebraska, 25; Oregon, 23
Nebraska at Washington
When: Sunday
Where: Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle
Time: 2 p.m. (CT)
Records: Nebraska, 16-10, 5-10; Washington, 19-7, 9-6
TV: Big Ten Network
Live audio: Huskers Radio Network on Huskers.com and the Huskers App
NET rankings: Nebraska, 25; Washington, 30
Rutgers at Nebraska
When: Saturday, Feb. 28
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena
Time: TBD
Records: Nebraska, 16-10, 5-10; Rutgers, 9-16, 1-13
TV: B1G+
NET rankings: Rutgers, 153; Nebraska, 25
Oregon and Washington have better overall and Big Ten records than Nebraska. Washington is ranked 27th in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, and 29th in the Coaches Poll. Nebraska is ranked 33rd in the Coaches Poll and unranked in the AP Top 25 Poll. Neither Oregon nor Rutgers is ranked.
Nebraska is comparable to Oregon and Washington in NET Rankings.
Oregon made the NCAA Tournament last year under coach Kelly Graves. The Ducks defeated Vanderbilt in overtime in a first-round game, and lost in the second round to Duke. Washington lost to Columbia in the First Four last year.
Rutgers hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2021.
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