Husker Hurry Up: Basketball matchups released, more transfer news

Good morning, and welcome to Husker Hurry Up! This is your guide to news, analysis and other tidbits as we get you caught up and prepared for everything that’s going on in Nebraska football, recruiting, volleyball, basketball and more throughout the week. So grab your coffee and sit down to read up on your favorite Huskers players and teams.

Or, grab that coffee to go and listen to a rundown of today's Husker Hurry Up on the Inside Nebraska Podcast available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Nebraska’s nationally ranked volleyball team knows its regular-season path on the road to Omaha and its quest for another national championship following Tuesday’s schedule release.

Now the men’s basketball team knows its avenue to what it hopes will be a bounce-back season after a 10-22 mark last year, and the women’s basketball team will find out if it can build a strong enough résumé for a second straight NCAA Tournament bid following a 24-9 finish.

Fred Hoiberg’s squad full of new faces will get a good opportunity to build its own tournament résumé. Nebraska will square up twice with Big Ten co-regular season champion Illinois and conference tournament winner Iowa, in addition to two games against Michigan State and Purdue – each NCAA Tournament qualifiers last season. Penn State, Maryland and Minnesota are the other three double-play opponents.

The Huskers will get a chance to boost that résumé, though, by holding down Pinnacle Bank Arena with home games against Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan State and Purdue. They are also slated for home matchups with Maryland, Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State.

The road slog won’t be easy, either, with trips to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue and Rutgers on the docket, in addition to road games against Maryland, Minnesota and Penn State.

Dates and times for those games have not been announced yet. The non-conference slate is also still to be announced with the exception of Kansas State on Dec. 17 in Kansas City and the ESPN Events Invitational Nov. 24-27. Florida State, Memphis, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Seton Hall, Siena and Stanford are the potential opponents. Memphis and Seton Hall are the only ones of that group to have earned NCAA Tournament berths last season.

Nebraska women’s coach Amy Williams may be looking at the best team she has had in her seven seasons running the show.

The Huskers will get the chance to prove it against a loaded slate. Nebraska is ranked No. 22 in the ESPN preseason rankings and No. 20 in the way-too-early rankings released right after the 2021-22 season ended. It returns Alexis Markowski, the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, plus All-Big Ten players Sam Haiby, Jaz Shelley and Isabelle Bourne and starting guard Allison Weidner.

That strong core group will face off against No. 6 Iowa, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 18 Maryland and Michigan, which reached the Elite Eight last season. The Huskers will also match up with Michigan State, Northwestern, Penn State, Wisconsin and Illinois. Those are their home games, but they will travel to face No. 12 Indiana as well, in addition to games at Minnesota, Purdue and Rutgers. The double-play opponents are Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Northwestern and Illinois

While football and men’s basketball are each in make-or-break years under Scott Frost and Hoiberg, the main women’s programs in the fall and winter months continue to surge. It remains to be seen if there will be fireworks for the men’s programs, but the women figure to put on a show a few months from now at the Devaney Center and Pinnacle Bank Arena.

Will Bolt added a talented up-and-comer with a lot of time left to shine on Wednesday by landing Oklahoma State transfer Cayden Brumbaugh, who has three years of eligibility remaining.

Rhonda Revelle followed suit on Thursday by adding Southern Illinois transfer Sarah Harness to the softball roster. The right-handed pitcher earned first-team all-league honors in the Missouri Valley Conference after posting a 17-10 record, 155 strikeouts to 76 walks and a 3.21 ERA in 189.2 innings last season.

Harness has an impressive career résumé with two All-MVC honors and a 2.31 ERA and 436 strikeouts across 55 starts in 442.1 innings pitched in her three years as a Saluki.

Her addition gives a tremendous boost to Revelle’s pitching staff that already saw big news when Courtney Wallace announced this week that she will return for one more season.

"Sarah, combined with our talented pitchers that return next year, gives reason for great optimism for another successful season,” Revelle said. “Sarah can flat-out pitch, and her strongest pitches are very complementary to our other pitchers' best pitches.

"She brings a competitive fire, a high pitching IQ and a desire and talent to be an immediate impact player. On top of her ability to help us win on the field, Sarah fits right into our 'team-first' culture and is an excellent student as well."

No. 72: Defensive lineman Nash Hutmacher

Quick facts: 6-foot-4, 325 lbs., played in 11 games last season, nicknamed “The Polar Bear”

In case you missed it, we rolled out our series debut of Rivals on Rivals in which staff writer Jansen Coburn (Twitter: @JansenCoburn) will be taking an early look at each of Nebraska’s upcoming opponents this season. He is providing a sneak preview of what the Huskers will be going against in the fall as we continue to grind away through the rest of the summer leading up to training camp.

You can read the written version of Jansen’s analysis here, and you can watch the video breakdown in the video below or on the Inside Nebraska YouTube page.

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