Just got home from class, I have lots of beer and some other snacks, and I'm ready for Thursday night showcase, baby! Feel the excitement. I was inspired to do this after Down With Goldy Tubby live blogged the Gopher's debacle of a loss against Iowa last night. I got tremendous joy out of his pain, so perhaps you, dear reader, can cackle with glee after NU inevitably chokes this game away.
20:00 - Looks like the small lineup to start for NU. Where was this against Purdue, Carmody?
19:25 - Hearn hits a three on an out of bounds play with 1 on the shot clock. Cue two hours of praise for Carmody's out of bounds play calling skills.
17:58 - There's your token Marcotullio unnecessary foul. Also, the 1-3-1 is a lot more effective with a guy who can move in the middle rather than a stiff like Mirkovic or Curletti.
17:25 - Sobolewski is a disaster on defense, totally out of control on the closeout and it leads to a wide open shot.
16:44 - I'm convinced that refs just flip a coin on block/charge calls. There must be a random number generator in their heads or something.
16: 20 - And there's Sobolewski lazily chasing Spencer around a screen, wide open three. He's lucky he's facing Nebraska, a real team makes uncontested jump shots.
15:40 - Northwestern doing nothing but shooting threes, which is fine since Nebraska appears to have no interest in defending the three. 9-8 good guys at the first media timeout.
15:00 - Jesus Shurna, you're being guarded by Jorge Brian Diaz on the perimeter, a guy who might lose to Ivan Tolic in a footrace, and you don't attack the basket? I blame Tim Doyle for this. Tim Doyle trying to mentor John Shurna on basketball would be like me trying to mentor Spencer Hall on college football blogging.
14:30 - So let me get this straight: Doc Sadler's strategy against Northwestern is to clog the line and force them to shoot threes? Has he seen any game tape on Northwestern? Did he not watch the Wisconsin game and see what happens when NU is forced to try to create off the dribble? I thought he was supposed to be a good defensive coach, and he has his kids sagging off Crawford and Shurna. Pretty sure Doc is faded just like a flat top right now.
11:39 - 1-3-1 forcing some turnovers. However, Curletti's about to check in, which will force some Northwestern turnovers.
10:26 - Are you fucking serious Curletti? Its an uncontested layup and you play in the Big Ten conference and you don't even hit the goddamn rim. Does Nikola Baran have any eligibility left?
8:24 - Crawford can dunk with his left hand, but he refuses to use it for lay-ups. Weird.
7:16 - Only took 13 minutes for Nebraska to get called for a foul. Of course, when you just stand around and let the opponent shoot threes on defense, you're probably not gonna pick up many fouls.
5:35 - Marcotullio is playing really well, done a nice job of penetrating and finding open men, set up Shurna for a three nicely there. Of course the other time he did it Curletti blew the lay-up.
3:30 - Nine threes now for NU, and up ten. Edit: holy God Curletti sucks.
2:03 - Damn, even Stephen Bardo starts mocking Doc Sadler's defensive game plan after yet another wide open NU three.
1:30 - The ole Reggie Hearn post up. I guess I'd rather have him in the post than Curletti. And by guess, I mean would definitely.
0:23 - Carmody once again doesn't go two for one at the end of a half. He went two for one against Purdue last game (one of the few things he did right), but it apparently was a one time fluke. Fortunately Hearn's hustle means NU gets the ball for a final possession.
0:00 - Sobolewski flops on a three point attempt to end the half and gets himself three free throws. Crafty. And he makes them all, NU up 15 at the half. I'm surprisingly not depressed right now.
19:26 - Marcotullio is a keystone cops act on the fast break.
18:43 - If I'd told you in October that Reggie Hearn would be the best post player on Northwestern come February, you'd have committed me to a mental hospital, yet its true.
17:52 - Nebraska lighting up the 1-3-1 now. Might be time to get more beer.
17:07 - Oh man Shurna just bitchmade Ubell of Nebraska, he's so damn good at helping on the interior, sadly he's a disaster playing man to man defense.
16:35 - There's one guy trying to start an air ball chant and its not taking off. I blame Rodger for not going to the game.
16:05 - And just like that it's a four point game, get me some rubbing alcohol. Oh, and Curletti's in now, great way to stop the run. Might as well free Omar Jimenez.
15:46 - I'm getting blackout if NU loses this game.
14:47 - Sobo once again with a totally out of control closeout. How many career blocks does he have, about 2? It's called coaching, Carmody, tell him not to do that any more.
14:20 - This guy Dylan Talley for Nebraska just got his pocket picked in the back court by Curletti. If I'm Sadler I'm making the kid walk back to Lincoln and apologize to every Nebraska fan he sees on the way.
12:15 - Hey, Shurna attacks the basket and gets an And 1. Remember in Charleston when he did that all the time and dominated? Yeah, that was awesome.
11:30 - Would it kill you assholes to defend the three point shot?
11:13 - One point game. Shoot me.
10:11 Announcer just said Nebraska hasn't missed this half. That's wrong because Shurna did block somebody's shot, but besides that he could be right. For Christ's sakes. At least Crawford has showed up this half.
9:42 Wow that was the weirdest and 1 I've ever seen from Shurna. Tipped it in from below the rim while getting held. Bizarre.
9:14 And the lead's back to 10 after a Hearn three. 9 points in 3 possessions, very nice answer. Who said the Big Ten was a low scoring league?
8:02 - Spencer is the biggest chucker in the Big Ten, no one else even close.
7:43 - I looked down to type that last bit and looked up to see Curletti attacking the rim, let me rewind. Hmm, I guess with no one near him that's a reasonable move. In that same amount of time Luka wouldn't have made it past the free throw line.
7:34 - Field goal percentages just posted, Nebraska at 54%, Northwestern at 43%. Why you no switch to effective field goal percentage, ESPN?
6:24 - These Nebraska big men must be a complete joke if they can't guard Curletti in the post without fouling.
5:29 - Offense has been outstanding for Northwestern tonight, getting easy shots basically every time down. Defense has been mediocre at best, but what else is new?
4:14 - Hearn is a solid energy guy, would be perfect to provide a spark off the bench for 10 minutes in an ideal world, but in this world he has to play 30 minutes a night.
3:24 - Curletti should get a technical foul for that flop. That was pathetic.
3:06 - They fouled out Hearn on that call? You gotta be kidding me.
2:13 - That turnover by Crawford reminds me of last year when he threw a pass to a ref against Creighton.
1:34 - What in the fuck just happened? Sobolewski is choking a la NU in 2009 vs Illinois. Somehow it's a 3 point game now.
1:12 - And Shurna steps up. Would be nice if he did more of that.
0:51 - Sobolewski's got the flop down pat and he's only a freshman. He's gonna be public enemy number one in the Big Ten in a couple years. Lead's back to seven now, and that should just about do it.
0:20 - Nebraska's done precisely nothing since cutting it to three, NU will escape.
0:02 - Nebraska still fouling down 9. Hurting your KenPom stats there, Nebraska.
NU wins and even beat the spread. How about that?