There's No Place Like Home

Sitting at the Bob Devaney Sports Center last Saturday, I was reminded how good of a basketball arena it is when fans actually show up.  It took about 37 minutes of action to wake them up but in the end they proved to be the difference in a 63-62 win over Iowa State.  

By no means are the Huskers a great basketball team,  right now they are just good.  Notice I didn't say very good,  just good.

Nebraska could have easily folded against Iowa State, another team that is just good.  Down by four points in the final three minutes, the crowd as the Devaney Center came alive.  It could sense the Big Red needed a boost.  The fans provided the noise and the Huskers provided the plays.  

Lance Jeter is legit.  He rock solid and can do so many things on the floor.  It's easy to see how not very good the Huskers would be without him.  Jeter came up with a steal, one of his five on the night with six seconds to go in the game and drive the length of the floor to draw a foul with .4 seconds remaining.  He hits one of two free throws and the Huskers win 63-62.

Nebraska will have to fight for every win its gets this season.   The Huskers next two games are at Missouri and at Kansas.  They will lose those two, but if they can continue to improve and get bigger crowds at home that are loud, active and intimidating there's no reason the Huskers can't pull off an upset or two against teams they shouldn't beat.

This doesn't address the bigger problem and that is the lack of overall talent the Huskers have in year five under Doc Sadler.  His big men are soft and the dependence on foreign players that turn out to be nothing but selfish has prevented Nebraska from being nothing more than good.  With a new practice facility being built and a new arena in Lincoln in a couple of years, just being good will NOT be good enough.