Nebraska football finalized a seventeen-player recruiting class on National Signing Day yesterday, but the day was as notable for who didn’t sign as who did. The Huskers missed out on five-star offensive lineman Andrus Peat, who chose Stanford, but that didn’t dampen head coach Bo Pelini’s mood, as he says he’s looking forward to working with the new crop of players. The Huskers also released the names of eighteen players who will walk on to the program, with a nineteenth to be added later.

Bo Pelini’s Comments:

“We finished our recruiting class today. We feel real good about the class we brought in. Seventeen players from a total of 13 states. We have 18 walk-ons that we can release today. There will be one more coming, all the paperwork and all the things necessary to be able to announce the 19^th young man isn’t in place yet, but we’ll have a 19^th coming. I feel real good about the class. I appreciate my staff, the players and everybody in the athletic department and on staff that puts a lot of hard work into recruiting. It’s not an easy thing. It takes a lot of time and effort. It’s a group effort; a team effort. I appreciate the effort everybody put in. I feel real good about the results. I like our class. Potentially, it’s a good group. Like I said before, and I really believe, recruiting starts today because right now is when you get the chance to develop them. It’s not what they are coming in; it’s what they are going out. We feel real good about the potential in this group. We feel great about the type of kids they are, the character they have, the type of people we’re bring into our program. That’s the first and foremost the most important thing to me and everyone else associated with this university and football program.”

The Nebraska men’s basketball team will try and win back-to-back league games for the first time this season as they visit Northwestern tonight in the first game of the second half of the Big Ten schedule. The Huskers haven’t played since knocking off Iowa 79-73 in Iowa City last Thursday for their first conference road win. After taking a week off, the Huskers start a stretch tonight that will see them play four times in ten days. Northwestern entered this season hoping to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time, but have struggled to a 2-6 Big Ten mark, with three of those six losses coming by two points or less. Nebraska and Northwestern will be meeting on the hardwood for the fifth time ever, and the first time since 1999. Tip-off from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston is scheduled for 6 PM.

Tonight marks the biggest game of the season so far for the 16th-ranked Nebraska women’s basketball team, as they travel to West Lafayette, Indiana to take on the Big Ten Conference leaders, 15th-ranked Purdue. The Huskers have moved to 7-2 in conference action after winning their last three games, and are chasing the Boilermakers, who won their first eight Big Ten games before losing at Iowa on Saturday. The Huskers are coming off a road win of their own, at Illinois, but they’ll be entering one of the toughest places to win in the country. The Boilermakers are 11-1 at Mackey Arena and have yet to lose a conference game on their home floor. This will be the first meeting between the Huskers and Purdue in their history. Tip-off for control of the Big Ten is scheduled for 6 PM.

The Nebraska scholarship class of 2012 is capped at 17 after Illinois defensive tackle Vincent Valentine committed to the Huskers this afternoon. Valentine was the final target left on the board for the Huskers, who got commitments from three of the five players who announced today that had Nebraska on their lists. Louisiana all-purpose athlete Alonzo Moore and Texas defensive tackle Aaron Curry made their commitments to Nebraska official this morning. But the top target on Nebraska’s board eluded them. Andrus Peat, a five-star offensive tackle from Arizona, chose Stanford instead. All fourteen players who had verbally committed prior to today’s National Signing Day have sent in their letters of intent. The Huskers also have a full 18-player class of walk-on commitments.

The North Platte Community College men’s basketball team won its fourth straight game last night, routing the Doane College junior varsity 80-56 at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium. The Knights shook off a slow start and went on a run that gave them an 11-point lead at the halftime break, and led by as many as 27 points in the second half. Three Knights scored in double-figures, led by Nick Tomsick, who scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the second 20 minutes. Darian Doleman added 15 points and led the Knights with 9 rebounds. Aboubacar Casse chipped in 10 points and 8 rebounds off the bench. The Knights improve their record to 13-8 ahead of an important weekend that sees them travel to Eastern Wyoming College on Friday and Western Nebraska on Saturday for South Sub-region play.

The Denver Nuggets suffered their second consecutive close loss, falling in overtime to the Memphis Grizzlies 100-97 in Memphis last night. The Nuggets held a 12-point lead at halftime, but a spate of second-half turnovers allowed the Grizzlies to send the game to the extra session, where OJ Mayo’s three-pointer with 35 seconds left gave the home team the lead for good. Denver had one last crack at tying the game and sending it to a second OT, but Rudy Fernandez’s three at the horn was off the mark. Al Harrington scored 23 points off the bench to lead the Nuggets offensive effort. Andre Miller added 20 points, Nene chipped in 14 points, and Ty Lawson scored 12 points. The Nuggets drop to 14-7 on the season. They head to Los Angeles to try and avenge Sunday’s loss to the Clippers Thursday night.

Nebraska senior guard Brandon Richardson became the first ever Husker men’s basketball player to be honored as the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week when he received a share of the award yesterday. Richardson’s career-high 25 points led the Huskers to their first ever Big Ten road victory, a 79-73 win over Iowa last Thursday night. He made nine of his ten field goal attempts, including six of seven from three point range, and also pulled down a season-high six rebounds and handed out five assists. Richardson shares the award with Michigan State forward Draymond Green. The Huskers, who improved to 11-9 on the season and 3-6 in Big Ten play with the win, return to action on Thursday night, as they make their first conference trip to Evanston, Illinois to take on Northwestern.