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OKLAHOMA CITY – You’ve got a team that, while it isn’t considered a top-tier men’s basketball program, became one this season in an elite conference.
It beat a lot of opponents it isn’t supposed to beat. It didn’t lose a game until January, taking a lot of 3-pointers, and making a lot of 3-pointers.
Vanderbilt? Well, yeah. But that’s also Nebraska.
When the No. 12 seed Cornhuskers (27-6) and No. 5 seed Commodores (27-8) collide in the second round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament on March 21, it’ll be an intriguing matchup of similar teams with similar metrics and similar circumstances.
For Vanderbilt, a 78-68 winner over No. 12 seed McNeese State, it looms as a difficult game in a very difficult setting.
Nebraska is good, and it has been good all season. This is a complete team, strong statistically on offense (especially behind the 3-point line) and No. 21 nationally in scoring defense.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, four different Nebraska players had hoisted at least 141 times from 3-point range this season, including Rienk Mast, a talented 6-foot-10 forward from the Netherlands. Much like Vanderbilt, Nebraska has shooters all over the court.
Senior guard Sam Hoiberg, the son of coach Fred Hoiberg, is the sparkplug and assists leader.
Of Nebraska’s six defeats, all were to Big Ten teams who advanced to the NCAA Tournament. All but two of those losses were away from home, too, and that could matter because …
This is going to be a road game for Vanderbilt’s team. Maybe its toughest yet.
Nebraska fans – eager to witness the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory – hit the roads and packed into the Oklahoma City Thunder’s arena to watch the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers handle No. 13 seed Troy with ease 76-47. They painted the Paycom Center red, chanting “Go Big Red” and giving Nebraska a raucous sixth-man advantage.
The Commodores should expect more of the same and an atmosphere as hostile as any Vanderbilt has experienced all season.
The most dangerous of Nebraska’s shooters is 6-7 forward Pryce Sandfort, an Iowa transfer whose brother Payton just made his NBA debut for this city’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Pryce is the Huskers’ leading scorer, and against Troy hit seven 3-pointers, five before halftime.
It was a shooting display that’d been heralded beforehand by Troy coach Scott Cross.
“I don't think we faced anybody as good as a shooter as Sandfort,” Cross said prior to the game. “… I looked at the timer on there, and I believe he got his shot off in like 0.3 seconds. Which if you can get your shot off (in) under one (second), (it) is good. Probably 0.5 is elite. (And) 0.3, that's like Steph Curry-type shooting.”
Nebraska isn’t a great rebounding team. It ranks outside the Top 300 nationally in offensive rebounds per game. That’d be welcome news to a Vanderbilt team that struggles to keep opponents off the glass on the defensive end (McNeese had a 16-9 edge in offensive rebounds).
Vanderbilt 77, Nebraska 75: I’ll grudgingly stick with my original bracket projection, which had Vanderbilt winning this game. Plus, I do think Nebraska is better matchup for Vanderbilt’s free-flowing style than physical McNeese, and the similarities of the two teams could just turn this game into a contest of who shoots it better from 3-point range.
But …
My confidence in my initial prediction was shaken by Nebraska’s crowd during the first round. That was special, and it’ll be an enormous disadvantage Vanderbilt must overcome in this game.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball vs Nebraska prediction, March Madness second round
Continue reading...
It beat a lot of opponents it isn’t supposed to beat. It didn’t lose a game until January, taking a lot of 3-pointers, and making a lot of 3-pointers.
Vanderbilt? Well, yeah. But that’s also Nebraska.
When the No. 12 seed Cornhuskers (27-6) and No. 5 seed Commodores (27-8) collide in the second round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament on March 21, it’ll be an intriguing matchup of similar teams with similar metrics and similar circumstances.
For Vanderbilt, a 78-68 winner over No. 12 seed McNeese State, it looms as a difficult game in a very difficult setting.
A quick overview of the Cornhuskers
Nebraska is good, and it has been good all season. This is a complete team, strong statistically on offense (especially behind the 3-point line) and No. 21 nationally in scoring defense.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, four different Nebraska players had hoisted at least 141 times from 3-point range this season, including Rienk Mast, a talented 6-foot-10 forward from the Netherlands. Much like Vanderbilt, Nebraska has shooters all over the court.
Senior guard Sam Hoiberg, the son of coach Fred Hoiberg, is the sparkplug and assists leader.
Of Nebraska’s six defeats, all were to Big Ten teams who advanced to the NCAA Tournament. All but two of those losses were away from home, too, and that could matter because …
Nebraska fans have swarmed Oklahoma City
This is going to be a road game for Vanderbilt’s team. Maybe its toughest yet.
Nebraska fans – eager to witness the program’s first-ever NCAA Tournament victory – hit the roads and packed into the Oklahoma City Thunder’s arena to watch the fourth-seeded Cornhuskers handle No. 13 seed Troy with ease 76-47. They painted the Paycom Center red, chanting “Go Big Red” and giving Nebraska a raucous sixth-man advantage.
The Commodores should expect more of the same and an atmosphere as hostile as any Vanderbilt has experienced all season.
The Nebraska player to watch
The most dangerous of Nebraska’s shooters is 6-7 forward Pryce Sandfort, an Iowa transfer whose brother Payton just made his NBA debut for this city’s Oklahoma City Thunder. Pryce is the Huskers’ leading scorer, and against Troy hit seven 3-pointers, five before halftime.
It was a shooting display that’d been heralded beforehand by Troy coach Scott Cross.
“I don't think we faced anybody as good as a shooter as Sandfort,” Cross said prior to the game. “… I looked at the timer on there, and I believe he got his shot off in like 0.3 seconds. Which if you can get your shot off (in) under one (second), (it) is good. Probably 0.5 is elite. (And) 0.3, that's like Steph Curry-type shooting.”
If there’s a weakness on paper
Nebraska isn’t a great rebounding team. It ranks outside the Top 300 nationally in offensive rebounds per game. That’d be welcome news to a Vanderbilt team that struggles to keep opponents off the glass on the defensive end (McNeese had a 16-9 edge in offensive rebounds).
Vanderbilt vs. Nebraska prediction: NCAA Tournament Second Round
Vanderbilt 77, Nebraska 75: I’ll grudgingly stick with my original bracket projection, which had Vanderbilt winning this game. Plus, I do think Nebraska is better matchup for Vanderbilt’s free-flowing style than physical McNeese, and the similarities of the two teams could just turn this game into a contest of who shoots it better from 3-point range.
But …
My confidence in my initial prediction was shaken by Nebraska’s crowd during the first round. That was special, and it’ll be an enormous disadvantage Vanderbilt must overcome in this game.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt basketball vs Nebraska prediction, March Madness second round
Continue reading...
