Huskers Picked 10th in Big 12 Preseason Poll

 

The Big 12 comes off a season where it had seven teams make the NCAA Tournament, including a pair of Elite Eight teams.  After the top two teams, the remaining order was Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Colorado, NU, Oklahoma and Iowa State.

While the Huskers were picked 10th on Tuesday, Nebraska has typically exceeded the preseason experts during Doc Sadler's tenure as Nebraska's coach. NU has finished ahead of the projections in three of the past four years, finishing eighth or better three times, including a .500 finish in conference action during the 2008-09 campaign.

The Huskers, who begin practice on Friday, Oct. 15, look to bounce back from a 15-18 mark from a year ago. NU welcomes back 10 letterwinners, including four players who started at least 15 games in 2009-10.

The returnees are headlined by senior point guard Lance Jeter, who averaged 7.5 points per game and was eighth in the Big 12 in assists per game (4.0) en route to earning a spot on the Big 12 all-newcomer team. Sophomore center Jorge Brian Diaz also returns as a force on the inside, as he averaged 8.8 points and 4.0 rebounds as a rookie, establishing a school freshman mark with 41 blocked shots in 2009-10.

Diaz highlights a young nucleus of sophomores who gained valuable experience last year. In all, nearly 40 percent of Nebraska's total points last year were scored by freshmen, as the Huskers set a school record by starting five freshmen at different points during the season. The sophomore returnees include forwards Christian Standhardinger (8.1 ppg) and Brandon Ubel (4.4 ppg) along with guards Eshaunte Jones (6.0 ppg) and Ray Gallegos (3.0 ppg).

In addition, the Huskers also return junior guards Brandon Richardson (8.9 ppg) and Toney McCray, who averaged 6.3 ppg in three games before season-ending surgery and gain the services of sophomore center Christopher Niemann, who missed all of last season following knee surgery.  Nebraska also adds three scholarship players, including junior college All-Americans Caleb Walker and Andre Almeida and point guard Kamyron Brown, who was a part-time starter at Oregon for two seasons.

Big 12 Preseason Poll

No.

Team (First-place votes)

Points

1.

Kansas State (10)

119

2.

Kansas (2)

109

3.

Texas

99

4.

Baylor

96

5.

Missouri

82

6.

Texas A&M

69

7.

Texas Tech

52

8.

Oklahoma State

51

9.

Colorado

46

10.

Nebraska

31

11.

Oklahoma

27

12.

Iowa State

11

Eleven points were awarded for first place, 10 for second, etc.Coaches are not permitted to vote for their own team.

Irving, Texas - Nebraska was picked for 10th in the preseason poll of the Big 12 coaches released Tuesday. The Huskers received 31 points in voting, as Kansas State took 10 of the 12 first-place votes, and finished with 119 points, topping Kansas' total of 109 points, including a pair of first-place votes.