Undefeated Nebraska Keeps Winning, and ESPN’s Bracketology is Paying Attention

Nebraska’s undefeated men’s basketball team keeps piling up victories and keeps improving its NCAA Tournament profile.

According to Joe Lunardi, the author of ESPN’s Bracketology, the Huskers are an 8-seed, their best showing this season.

Last week, Nebraska was among the “last four byes,” and was a 10-seed. The week before, Nebraska was among the “last four in,” and was an 11-seed.

No such designations this week for the 8-0 Huskers. This is the third time Nebraska has started a season 8-0. Nebraska started the 1977-78 season 10-0.

Bracketology has Nebraska playing 9-seed SMU at San Diego in the first round. The Nebraska-SMU winner would play the winner of No. 1 Arizona and 16-seed Tennessee State.

Lunardi’s other top seeds are Purdue, Michigan and Duke. Michigan is Lunardi’s overall No. 1 seed.

B1G presence in NCAA Tournament

Eleven Big Ten teams are projected to make the tournament (seeds in parentheses):

* Purdue (1)
* Michigan (1)
* Michigan State (3)
* Illinois (5)
* Indiana (6)
* USC (6)
* Iowa (7)
* Nebraska (8)
* Wisconsin (9)
* Ohio State (10)
* UCLA (10)

The Southeastern Conference also is projected to have 11 teams in the NCAA Tournament, according to Lunardi.

The Big 12 has nine teams; the ACC has seven teams; the Big East has three teams; and the West Coast Conference has two teams.

The Huskers also made their first appearance in ESPN’s Power Rankings of the top 25 teams that were released Thursday. The Huskers are ranked 23rd by ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

Borzello wrote about Nebraska: “Another new addition to the rankings, the Cornhuskers actually own the nation’s longest win streak dating back to last season, winning four games to take the inaugural College Basketball Crown and then ripping off eight straight to open this 2025-26 campaign.

“The victory over Oklahoma looks better, too, after the Sooners won at Wake Forest. Rienk Mast has been awesome after missing all of last season with a knee injury; he’s averaging 17.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists.”

Big Ten teams hold down the top two spots in the ESPN Power Rankings: Michigan (1) and Purdue (2).

Next up for Nebraska: Creighton

The Huskers’ next game is a challenging one. Nebraska plays host to Creighton at 4 p.m. CT on Sunday, Dec. 7, on FS1. The Bluejays (5-3) are among the “first four out” in Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, along with Santa Clara, Miami and VCU.

Two of Creighton’s losses were to ranked teams — 90-63 at No. 19 Gonzaga, and 78-60 at a neutral site to No. 15 Iowa State. Creighton’s other loss was at a neutral site to Baylor, 81-64.

Nebraska defeated Creighton last season, 74-63, in Omaha. The Huskers have won two of their last three games against the Bluejays.

There is an obvious caution about Bracketology, especially in early December. Once teams get involved in conference play, Bracketology will change dramatically. Nebraska opens Big Ten play at home against Wisconsin on Wednesday, Dec. 10. The Huskers will face a serious test on Saturday, Dec. 13 at No. 14 Illinois.

These next three games will give everyone a good read on what kind of team Nebraska is.

Nebraska’s last game was a 72-63 triumph over visiting South Carolina Upstate on Nov. 29. The Huskers used a 17-0 run to overcome a slow start.

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