2007 Road to the Championship!

knapplc

knapplc

Well-known member
The Huskers have earned their way back to the Sweet 16 with two decisive victories over two teams well out of their element last weekend. Back-to-back sweeps over South Dakota State and Wichita State proved less difficult than a John Cook practice, so now it's off to Madison, WI.

The Huskers will face Michigan State in their Sweet 16 matchup, then take on the winner of what should be a pretty good Cal/Iowa State match.

Michigan State is an experienced team at OH with seniors Jessica Hohl, Ashley Schatzle and Katie Johnson leading the way. Only Johnson has much height at 6'3", with Hohl and Schatzle measuring in at 6'0". Their biggest challenge may be to keep true Freshman Lauren O'Reilly comfortable at Setter. If the Huskers can make her run with solid serves it could be a long night for the Spartans - or, actually, it could be a very, very short night for the Spartans. :lol:

While no team is to be taken for granted in the Tourney, MSU is not the kind of squad that keeps the Huskers awake at night. :thumbs

Iowa State is the party-crasher in the bracket, having beaten Wisconsin AT Madison last weekend to eliminate home court advantage in the Regional. Husker fans may remember former NU (and former Nebraska Tornadoes) Setter Christy Johnson, who led the Huskers to a 63-2 mark as a starter and the 1995 National Championship. Johnson led the Tornadoes to the 1998 league championship as well (and you have to be a hard-core fan to remember the Tornadoes). CJ will have her team ready to play Cal, so Cal had better bring their game and not overlook the Cyclones.

Good luck, CJ. It would be great to face you in the Regional Finals.

 
I think Texas will be OK. Florida isn't the Florida of old. Even though they’re playing in Gainesville I think Texas is just too talented for the Gators.

Does anyone know anything about USC this year? They have four losses including two sweeps by Stanford and Washington, both of whom are pretty good. I just don’t know enough about them this year to know what they’re going to be like. St. John’s shouldn’t be in the Regional Finals, so Texas shouldn’t have to worry about them.

I think Nebraska has by far the easiest road to the Final Four. Madison has become neutral ground with the Wisconsin loss, and I’m not afraid of the Spartans, Cal or ISU in the least. Once we get to Sacramento we will most likely face Penn State, and athletically they simply are not a match for us.

I would be stunned to see the Huskers miss the Finals. Once there we’re going to face a very difficult team in either Stanford or Texas, and then it’s just going to come down to guts and determination.

 
I think USC will pose some problems for Texas. I still like Texas to come out of that region, but would not be surprised to see them pushed to five in one of the matches.

After that, watch out. I am going to go with Texas in an upset over Stanford to get to the finals.

Nebraska will get by Penn State (don't think this one will be a sweep, though), and then beat Texas in five games to win the NC. I don't want to pick against the Huskers! (Although after going to the match here in Austin and seeing us get swept, I'm a little wary of facing the Longhorns again...think I'd rather have Stanford in the finals.)

My upset pick today is Iowa State over Cal.

GBR!

 
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It's not looking like Hotel is going to play. I think we'll be fine without her, but I wish she could get back to playing strength. That shoulder injury sucks.

If I had to guess, I'd pick a Nebraska/Cal Regional Final. I think ISU's dream run ends tonight.

 
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