Nebraska Men’s Basketball Moves Up to 5-Seed in Latest ESPN Bracketology

Nebraska’s undefeated men’s basketball team jumped from a 7-seed to a 5-seed in the latest ESPN Bracketology released Tuesday morning.

Plus, the 11-0 Huskers were the entire focus of ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s story about this week’s NCAA Tournament projections.

Lunardi wrote, in part: “With Northwestern off the schneid, there remains only one power-conference school to never win an NCAA tournament game: Nebraska, which has taken a bagel in eight appearances. Not only are the Cornhuskers solidly in the projected field, they are a 5-seed thanks to an 11-0 record, their best start in program history.

“And there’s nothing fluky about it: They have wins over Oklahoma, New Mexico, Kansas State, Creighton, Wisconsin and Illinois. Fred Hoiberg has a star in senior big man Rienk Mast, who leads a veteran supporting cast that should hold up.

“All of which means it's time to start thinking about how many times to pick ‘Nebraska’ in your bracket come March.”

Lunardi told Huskermax.com exclusively last week he would have the Huskers pegged as a 6-seed this week before his latest projections were published. But that was before Nebraska’s 83-80 win at No. 13 Illinois on Saturday so Lunardi made an adjustment.

The other 5-seeds are defending national champion Florida, Texas Tech and North Carolina.

That’s pretty high-quality company.

Huskers on the move

Over the last five Bracketology projections, the Huskers have improved each week. Their run: 11, 10, 8, 7 and 5. When the Huskers were an 11-seed they were a “last four in” team. When they were a 10-seed, they were a “last four byes” team.

The victory over Illinois, which gained attention nationally, helped move Nebraska to the No. 15 ranking in the AP Top 25 Poll.

“This is a really good team,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said about the Illini after the Huskers' win.

“This team’s picked by a lot of people to be in the Final Four for a reason. This is a really good team. They’re going to win a lot of games, they’re going to be there in the end.

“It was a huge, huge win for our program.”

Illinois is a 4-seed in this week’s Bracketology.

Lunardi has Nebraska playing 12-seed Akron in the East Region, with the winner meeting the winner of 4-seed Houston and 13-seed East Tennessee State for a spot in the Sweet 16.

Duke is the No. 1 seed in the East. Michigan, Iowa State and Arizona are Lunardi’s other No. 1 seeds.

Ten Big Ten teams are in this week’s projections (with seeding in parentheses):

* Michigan (1)
* Purdue (2)
* Michigan State (3)
* Illinois (4)
* Nebraska (5)
* Iowa (7)
* USC (7)
* Indiana (9)
* Ohio State (9)
* UCLA (10)

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

Nebraska guard Sam Hoiberg drives past Illinois guard Keaton Wagler. | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Power rankings

Nebraska moved up to 27, from 38, in ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index. The Huskers’ rise of 11 places is the best in the country among top-50 teams.

The Huskers are projected to finish with 23.2 wins and 7.8 losses, an improvement from last week’s 21-10 projection.

Six Big Ten teams are ranked ahead of Nebraska:

* Michigan: 4
* Purdue: 8
* Illinois: 12
* Indiana: 15
* Michigan State: 19
* UCLA: 21
* Nebraska: 27

Nebraska has a 3.4 percent chance of winning the Big Ten. The Huskers’ projected Big Ten record is 12.2 wins and 7.8 losses.

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