Nebraska Men’s Basketball Climbs to a 3-Seed in Latest ESPN Bracketology, Matching Selection Committee’s Bracket

Nebraska moved up to a 3-seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology projections, which were released Tuesday morning. That improvement of one spot matched the men’s basketball selection committee’s bracket preview released Saturday.

Committee chair Keith Gill had an interesting quote when the bracket preview was released: “There are 800 regular-season games between now and the start of the conference championships. More than 800. There is a lot of basketball left to be played.”

For Nebraska, four regular-season games remain. Victories in each game — no easy task, especially with a two-game West Coast trip looming — would solidify the Huskers’ 3-seed.

Remaining the 3-seed would mean the Huskers couldn’t play the 1-seed until the Elite Eight, one game away from the Final Four. Nebraska was ranked 12th in the latest AP Top 25 Poll, the first time in seven weeks the Huskers dropped out of the top 10.

If Nebraska wins out, it likely would receive one of the four coveted triple byes in what could be a chaotic Big Ten Tournament.

Chicago’s United Center will play host to the Big Ten Tournament beginning Tuesday, March 10. The Huskers are three games behind first-place Michigan in the loss column. In the race for the triple bye, the Huskers (23-4, 12-4 Big Ten) are in a four-way tie in the loss column with Illinois, Purdue and Michigan State, with Wisconsin one loss behind.

Three of those five teams — along with Michigan, the presumed B1G regular-season champion — will get triple byes and won’t begin play until Friday’s quarterfinals.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg reacts to a call during the second half against Purdue at Pinnacle Bank Arena. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Nebraska’s remaining regular-season schedule:

* Wednesday: vs. Maryland (11-16, 4-12), 6 p.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
* Saturday: at USC (18-9, 7-9), 3 p.m. CT (Big Ten Network)
* Tuesday, March 3: at UCLA (18-9, 10-6), 10 p.m. (FS1)
* Sunday, March 8: vs. Iowa (19-8, 9-7), 4 p.m. (Fox)

In CBS Sports’ Bracketology, dated Tuesday morning, Nebraska remained a 3-seed. In CBS Sports’ projections, Nebraska would play 14-seed East Tennessee State in the East Region. The Nebraska-East Tennessee State winner would play the winner of 6-seed St. John’s vs. a First Four winner.

Huskers projected in Big Dance

Here are Nebraska’s last 22 Bracketology projections, where you can see the Huskers’ journey through the season:

* Nov. 18: 11 (Last four in)
* Nov. 25: 10 (Last four byes)
* Dec. 2: 8
* Dec. 9: 7
* Dec. 16: 5
* Dec. 23: 4
* Dec. 30: 4
* Jan. 6: 3
* Jan. 9: 3
* Jan. 13: 3
* Jan. 16: 2
* Jan. 20: 2
* Jan. 23: 2
* Jan. 27: 2
* Jan. 30: 2
* Feb. 3: 3
* Feb. 6: 2
* Feb. 10: 2
* Feb. 13: 3
* Feb. 17: 4
* Feb. 20: 4
* Feb. 24: 3

For now, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the third-seeded Huskers playing 14-seed Navy, of the Patriot League, in a first-round South Region game at Oklahoma City. The Nebraska-Navy winner would play the winner of 6-seed Saint Louis and 11-seed Miami, Ohio, which remains America’s only undefeated team at 27-0.

UConn is the No. 1 seed in the South, Houston is the 2-seed and Texas Tech is the 4-seed. South Region Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games will be played at Houston.

Duke (East) is the overall No. 1 seed after its bruising win over previous overall No. 1 seed Michigan on Saturday night. The Wolverines (Midwest) and Arizona (West) are the other No. 1 seeds.

Nebraska guard Jamarques Lawrence suffered a sprained ankle against Penn State and now is said to be suffering from the flu. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Big Ten teams in the Big Dance

UCLA and Indiana are the Big Ten teams in Lunardi’s “Last Four Byes.” The others are Texas and Auburn. “Last Four Byes” teams skip the First Four round.

Lunardi’s “Last Four In” are Missouri, Santa Clara, TCU and New Mexico. They would play First Four games.

Nebraska forward Berke Buyuktuncel defends Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton during the second half at the Schottenstein Center in January. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Two Big Ten teams are in Lunardi’s “First Four Out” — Ohio State and USC. California and San Diego State the other two. These teams are ranked 69-72 and would miss the cut for the 68-team field.

His “Next Four Out” are VCU, Virginia Tech Seton Hall and West Virginia.

Lunardi has nine Big Ten teams — the second-most of any conference behind the SEC with 11 — in his latest Bracketology (with seeding and projected first-round opponents in parentheses):

* Michigan (1 vs. winner of 16 Southeast Missouri State vs. Bethune-Cookman)
* Purdue (2 vs. 15 Utah Tech)
* Illinois (2 vs. 15 Merrimack)
* Nebraska (3 vs. 14 Navy)
* Michigan State (4 vs. 13 High Point)
* Wisconsin (7 vs. 10 Texas)
* Iowa (8 vs. 9 Georgia)
* UCLA (10 vs. 7 Villanova)
* Indiana (11 vs. 6 BYU)

Selection Sunday is March 15. The Final Four is April 4-6 in Indianapolis.

ESPN’s power rankings

Nebraska dropped one spot to 19 in the latest ESPN College Basketball Power Index.

The projection for the Huskers’ wins and losses improved slightly: 25.9 wins and 5.1 losses, from 25.8 wins and 5.2 losses. In the Big Ten, Nebraska’s projections improved slightly: 14.9 wins and 5.2 losses, from 14.8 wins and 5.2 losses.

Nebraska’s projection to win the Big Ten championship improved slightly to 0.8 percent from 0.2 percent.

Four Big Ten teams are ranked ahead of Nebraska in ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index. Nebraska has defeated two of the teams ranked ahead of it, Illinois and Michigan State, and lost to Michigan, Illinois and Purdue.

* Michigan: 2
* Illinoia: 6
* Purdue: 9
* Michigan State: 13
* Nebraska: 19

Duke (25-2) is the top-ranked team with Michigan (25-2) second, Arizona (25-2) third, Houston (23-5) fourth, and defending champion Florida (21-6) fifth.

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