Not much has gone right for the Nebraska Cornhuskers this year, but recently the team did announce that they reached an agreement with the Kansas Jayhawks on a home-and-home series starting next season. The Huskers and the Jayhawks have played 241 times and the Jayhawks lead the series 170-71. The Huskers are going to head to Kansas for the 2016-2017 season and Kansas will be the first former Big eight and first current Big 12 team to play at the Pinnacle Bank Arena during the 2017-2018 season.
Hopefully, by the time both of these teams face off, Nebraska's young players will be mature enough to handle the big stage at Phog Allen. The Jayhawks are obviously one of the elite teams in college basketball every year, and next season should be no different. After all, Kansas has won the Big 12 for 12 years in a row and Nebraska hasn't won any conference title since 1994. Nonetheless, seeing two former conference foes matchup should be fun.
One other interesting aspect of this game next year will be that Andrew White III will be making his return to Phog Allen after transferring from Kansas. He was never given the opportunity to shine for the Jayhawks, which is why he will be playing extra hard in that game to showcase what Kansas could have had if they let White play.
Kansas will also probably still have a few good players from this year's team like Frank Mason III (junior), Devonte' Graham (sophomore), Brannen Greene (junior), and Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (sophomore). The Jayhawks will also likely have some of their highly recruited freshmen from last year as well.
The matchup between Kansas and Nebraska might seem lopsided right now because of how poor the Huskers played this past season compared to the Jayhawks, but next year is a whole new year and this home-and-home series should try to help the Huskers get back on the right track against elite competition.
Was this a good idea?
Nebraska fans certainly lost a little faith in the team after back-to-back disappointing seasons, which is why it is a good idea to schedule a home-and-home series with an elite college basketball powerhouse. Think about it, they used to play each other back in the day, either in the Big 12 or the Big Eight, so restarting a series between these two teams will definitely turn some heads around the country.
Obviously, Kansas ha more of a well-known arena, but having the Jayhawks come to the Pinnacle Bank Arena should be awesome as well. That might be one of the best places to play in the Big Ten (even though almost all Big Ten venues are hard to play in). Nebraska fans and Nebraska players will have something to look forward to now seeing that they are scheduled to play over the next two seasons.
Yes, the game will be difficult, but it should be a valuable energy shot into the program.
Overall
The Huskers can forget about this season very quickly if they somehow pull of an upset win over the Jayhawks at Phog Allen, and Huskers' fans should look forward to both games over the next two years. Who knows, perhaps this is a sign of things to come and Nebraska will look into scheduling Big 12 opponents regularly.