Nebraska

Nebraska Moves Closer to Clinching an NCAA Tournament Berth

Published

5 months ago

January 15, 2026

Press Room

Nebraska Moves Closer to Clinching an NCAA Tournament Berth

After Nebraska’s men’s basketball team routed Oregon on Tuesday, a friend asked a not-serious question.

Has Nebraska clinched a spot in the NCAA Tournament?

Well, the Huskers are 17-0 — one of three unbeaten teams in the nation. They are ranked eighth in the latest AP Top 25 Poll. They are a projected 3-seed in ESPN’s latest Bracketology.

If the season ended today, absolutely. Plan the travel; book the hotel.

But in the real world? Clinched? Not quite, of course. No team clinches an NCAA invite in January. Well, maybe Duke does.

Is Nebraska getting closer? Yes, with every game. It might take a total collapse for Nebraska to miss the NCAAs at this point. Have the Huskers shown anything to indicate that could happen?

Just the opposite, in fact. As a 3-seed, if seedings hold, Nebraska is targeted as an Elite Eight team. But seedings never hold; such is the beauty of March Madness.

But Nebraska continues to play itself into the story of the year in college basketball.

What’s left on Huskers’ schedule

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Two months remain in the regular season. The Huskers have 14 games remaining. Then, at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament.

The remainder of the Huskers’ schedule is mostly a minefield:

Road games at Northwestern, Minnesota, Michigan, Rutgers, Iowa, USC and UCLA.

Home games against Washington, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Penn State, Maryland and Iowa.

It’s impossible to know how many wins and losses there are in the remaining 14 games, but it’s safe to say the Huskers will not remain undefeated. A loss or two isn’t going to ruin the season, not this season.

ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index projects Nebraska will finish with 25.9 wins and 5.1 losses. In the Big Ten, ESPN projects 14.9 wins and 5.1 losses. Those numbers will get you into the NCAA Tournament.

Nebraska has quality wins over Illinois, Michigan State and Indiana, with the possibility of more on the way. The Huskers are 6-0, in first place in the Big Ten. The Huskers and Purdue are the Big Ten’s only undefeated teams in conference play.

Fans storm the court to celebrate after the Huskers defeated Michigan State at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Jan. 2. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Big Ten teams that got into the NCAA Tournament in 2025

To see where the Huskers currently stand, we need to look at recent history of Big Ten teams making the NCAA field.

Michigan earned the conference’s automatic bid last season by winning the Big Ten Tournament over Wisconsin.

Seven other Big Ten teams made the 2025 NCAA field, with records:

* Michigan State: 30-7
* Wisconsin: 27-10
* Oregon: 25-10
* Maryland: 27-9
* Purdue: 24-12
* UCLA: 23-11
* Illinois: 22-13

Nebraska was 3-6 against these NCAA Tournament teams last season. Every Big Ten team with 20 victories made the field, except one.

Nebraska.

The Huskers were 21-14 last season but hurt themselves with losses in six of their final seven games. When grinding over the final teams to choose for the field, the fickle selection committee looks for teams trending upward.

Indiana won 19 games and didn’t get in. Ohio State was 17-15 and was excluded.

Moving forward to 2026

Nebraska is in a wonderful position to make its ninth NCAA Tournament. The Huskers might be in a good place to win their first NCAA Tournament game. They are 0-8 in the tourney.

Nebraska guard Jamarques Lawrence shoots the ball against Oregon guard Drew Carter. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

Bracketology’s Joe Lunardi said after the Huskers defeated Wisconsin, 90-60, on Dec. 10, they looked like an NCAA Tournament team.

“I think that the metrics all indicate to me that they [Huskers] have staying power,” Lunardi exclusively told Huskermax.com. “Now, you know, they’re not going to go 16 and 4 in the Big Ten. They can go 12 and 8. A 12-8 Big Ten team is going to the tournament.

“This year they’ve already got a couple [of big wins]. And they’re going to win home games against other tournament teams.

“They might not win a home game against, and I don’t know: Do they play Purdue and Michigan at home? [Purdue at home; Michigan on the road.] But they’re going to be over .500 in the Big Ten. And that will get them in and probably get them an 8 [seed] or better seed.

“Now the league is brutal at the top, obviously. But I mean, they [Huskers] don’t need to be in the top three.

“They just need to be in the top half. Now there’s a couple borderline [teams]. But, they’re [Big Ten] going to have the most teams this year.”

In his latest Bracketology, Lunardi had 11 Big Ten teams in the field of 68.

Former Nebraska coach Danny Nee signs an autograph for a fan before the game against Northwestern last season. | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

With 17 wins already, and 14 games to play, Nebraska has an opportunity to set a school record for wins. Danny Nee’s Huskers won 26 games in 1990-91, going 26-8 and losing to Xavier in the NCAAs first round, 89-84.

Nebraska needs to go 10-4 down the stretch for a school-record 27 wins.

Nebraska making the NCAA field feels inevitable. Let other teams sit around and sweat out Selection Sunday.

Data centers take center stage at North Omaha townhall

Published

2 hours ago

June 12, 2026

Press Room

Data centers take center stage at North Omaha townhall

The future of data centers in Nebraska took center stage at a North Omaha town hall Thursday evening.

The event was hosted by State Sens. Terrell McKinney and Ashlei Spivey, who alongside Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh sponsored a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that looked to help regulate data centers.

Parts of their bill were adopted and passed in LB1010, which requires reports on annual power usage, water usage and ownership.

“Having this passed in a package showed a lot of bipartisan work,” Spivey told a crowd of attendees at Nelson Mandela Elementary School.

The proposed regulations were shaped in part by Bold Nebraska, an advocacy group focused on eminent domain and clean energy. Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and founder of Bold Nebraska, said before the bill passed there were “zero laws on the books” to address a boom in data centers.

“If one is coming into the community, we wanted to make sure that there were some basic transparency things in place,” Kleeb said.

Political discussions around data centers heated up in recent months following reporting by the Flatwater Free Press that showed Google is considering a data center in Nebraska that could require more than three times the amount of power the entire city of Lincoln uses at peak demand in the summer.

The Nebraska Legislature recently passed another bill, LB1261, that allows private developers to build and own power plants to serve a large industrial customer, including data centers. That bill was proposed by the governor’s office and celebrated by Gov. Jim Pillen.

“Our state is once again taking a bold and strategic step – one that will create an environment that attracts business and multibillion dollar investment, while legally preserving Nebraska’s unique and consumer-friendly public power model,” Pillen said at the time.

At Thursday’s town hall, McKinney called LB1261 “the bogeyman bill.”

“It’s a bill that the governor pushed through the legislature to allow for data centers to create their own power,” McKinney said. “It’s a bill that I stood on the floor and said this is going to harm our communities.”

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Nebraska

Hundreds lose power across southeast Nebraska after Thursday morning storm

Published

12 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Press Room

Hundreds lose power across southeast Nebraska after Thursday morning storm

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Hundreds of people are without power in southeast Nebraska after a severe storm passed through Thursday morning.

The Lincoln Electric System outage map showed 115 customers without power across the city at 11:36 a.m.

Norris Public Power District’s outage map also shows 45 customers affected by the storm. As of 11:36 a.m., there were nine active outages.

According to the Nebraska Public Power District outage map, 657 customers were affected by the storm. Most of the affected customers were near Plattsmouth in southeast Nebraska. As of 11:37 a.m., 27 customers remain without power.

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Nebraska

Mandatory evacuation orders for area near Crawford, Fort Robinson

Published

22 hours ago

June 11, 2026

Press Room

Mandatory evacuation orders for area near Crawford, Fort Robinson

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered near Crawford, including Fort Robinson State Park, as the South Fork Fire continues to spread in western Nebraska.

According to the City of Crawford, evacuations are currently underway for an area north of Crawford that includes the area south of Dodd Road, west of Dodd Road, and FF Street.

Fort Robinson has also been evacuated.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission said Fort Robinson State Park and Peterson Wildlife Management Area have been temporarily closed due to the fire.

The fire has burned approximately 9,000 acres and is currently 0% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Nebraska Game and Parks said the park and the WMA will remain closed until further notice to support firefighting operations and protect public safety.

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