Griesch's The Word - Dec. 30

It has been 10 days since Nebraska has played a  game. On Dec. 20, the then-No. 20 Huskers knocked off then-No. 5 LSU in what has been a scene-changing victory in the national landscape of women's college basketball.

Nebraska has soared seven spots to No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25. NU's ranking is the second-highest in school history, and it is the latest in a season that the Huskers have ever been ranked as high as 13th.

The Huskers have certainly got people around the Big 12 and the country talking. Kelsey Griffin was in the thoughts and on the keyboards of nearly every major national writer following her huge 30-point, 14-rebound effort against the Tigers. She received national attention both before and after the game from ESPN.com's top women's basketball writer Mechelle Voepel, who attended the game.

In fact, after the game, Mechelle thanked me for making sure that Kelsey scored 30 points while Mechelle was at the game, because it made writing a feature story on Kelsey a lot easier. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure she thanked Kelsey, too. Mechelle also jokingly wondered why other SID's just don't get how helpful huge games by big stars can help a feature. Believe me, judging from personal experience, it doesn't always work out that way.

Kelsey is not the only Husker that has drawn praise early in the season. ESPN.com's Graham Hays put the spotlight on some impact freshmen around the nation, and guess who had her picture on the front page of ESPN.com's women's basketball home page on the morning of Dec. 30. You guessed it - Husker freshman point guard Lindsey Moore. The last time Moore was on the floor for the Big Red, she dropped nine points and dished out seven assists against an LSU squad that has advanced to five of the past six NCAA Final Fours.

Here's the link to Graham Hays' full story on ESPN.com:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?name=hays_graham

Nebraska plays its final regular-season non-conference home game today against Albany. The Great Danes appear to be much improved from a year ago, and have already matched their win total (6) from last season. It will be a hometown battle between Dominique Kelley and Charity Iromuanya, who joined forced to help Lincoln Northeast to a state high school crown as Rocket teammates in 2005.

The Huskers have been practicing hard since returning to Lincoln on Dec. 27. They will have four or five more days of practice to prepare for their non-conference finale.

Nebraska travels to Vermont on Jan. 4 for what may be an even bigger game on the national scene than NU's game against LSU.

In his blog this morning on ESPN.com, Hays called it "the biggest women's home game in school history" for Vermont. Can you believe a game between Vermont and Nebraska in Burlington, Vt., in January can have a major impact on the college basketball scene?

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4781175&name=hays_graham

If you're trying to comprehend it, consider this: Nebraska is No. 5 in the CollegeRPI.com rankings this morning. The highest ranking in school history in December. The Huskers are unbeaten and have won 10 of their 11 games by double digits. Vermont is 9-2 with one loss to No. 1 UConn and the other by just five points to No. 6 RPI Oklahoma State.

Vermont's RPI is No. 12 right now. That's right - No. 12. The Catamounts play Rhode Island today and then open America East Conference play on Jan. 2, before facing the Huskers. Last season, Vermont won the America East crown but the Catamounts finished 116 in the RPI and played national champion UConn in the first round.

This season, Vermont is playing for seeding in the NCAA Tournament and hopefully a guaranteed at-large berth in the Big Dance, even if they don't win the America East Tournament.