Monday: Reaction to a huge weekend in Nebraska sports

Happy Monday everyone! What a weekend for Nebraska sports.

A women’s basketball championship, a 3,000-point scorer and the start of spring football.

But the Nebraska men’s basketball team overshadowed all that last night.

What an atmosphere at Pinnacle Bank Arena. I’m still getting chills from it. 15,998 people packed into that place and it was rocking the entire night.

Coach Tim Miles said it best in his post-game press conference.

“That was one of the more exciting environments that a guy can experience, or a team can experience, or a fan can experience in college basketball. If you would’ve told me that was the way it was going to be last year when we played Southern in the Devaney Center, I wouldn’t have believed you. But that’s what we want Husker basketball to be about, and that’s what we want it to continue to be about.”

This team continues to impress me. Everyone game it seems it gets better at something different. Sunday night it was adjusting on defense.

The Huskers came out and double-teamed everyone in the post, including the guards. This left wide open shooters on the back side and Wisconsin made most of them, en route to five 3s in the first half.

However, Nebraska made an adjustment in the second half, only doubling the Badger post players. This worked out brilliantly as the Huskers were able to keep the Wisconsin shooting at bay.

Adjusting is something NCAA Tournament teams do well, and that’s exactly what happened Sunday.

I don’t know if this squad is going to win a game in the Big Dance, but the fact that they should be in at this point in the season is amazing. What a job by Miles and the rest of that coaching staff. 

The state of Nebraska is on fire for basketball and I love it. 

-The Nebraska men’s team shouldn’t get all the attention either. Coach Connie Yori’s women’s squad deserves a good chunk of it as well after winning the program’s first Big Ten tournament title.

What a phenomenal run by the Huskers. It’s amazing to see these players blossom into stars.

I covered the team two years ago, and then Tear’a Laudermill was just a frantic guard with flashes of her potential, Hailie Sample seemed completely lost on offense and Emily Cady was just a skinny freshman getting bumped around inside.

Now, Laudermill is an All-Big Ten guard, Sample is one of the top defenders in the country and Cady is one of the best rebounders in the Big Ten.

Yori has built a powerhouse in Nebraska, and it’s only going to go up from here. Sure, she looses Jordan Hooper, one of the best to ever put on a Husker uniform. But out with one star in with another. Rachel Theriot’s turn is coming.

Hot Reads

-ESPN story about Huskers win against Wisconsin. 

-Sunday belonged to Nebrasketball, but Saturday belonged to Doug McDermotts. Two fantastic columns by Dirk Chatelain and Greg Doyle on Dougie McBuckets. 

-Oh, some other things happened outside of Nebraska this weekend. Like Wichita State becoming the first team to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated since UNLV in 1991. 

-Here is the Big Ten Tournament bracket.
-Another Nebraska note, smooth move by senior Mike Peltz. 

-Finally, here's a video I took last night of Nebraska fans storming the court. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading and have a great week! Also, keep an eye out for Big Ten awards. I'll have an update when it happens. 

Reach me at: award6344@gmail.com

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