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Perfect Ending at "The Bob"


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Start of the Minnesota Game




If I was given a chance to write the final chapter of the Bob Devaney Sports Center's basketball days, I don't think I could have scripted it any better than how things actually played out. That game last night was THE PERFECT way to close out the Bob. Seriously.

One of the things that I have observed over the last several decades of going to these games was that the Bob was never known for being a place where the Huskers enjoyed any home cookin' with the officials. Either the game was called fairly (as in equally bad for both teams) or especially a big name opponent almost seemed to get the home town calls.And last night was really no different. The officials were allowing physical play the first half but in the second half they got a little tighter with their whistles but mostly only on one end of the court. The only bad call that we got the benefit of was the stuff on Rivers toward the end of the game that was probably a relatively clean block, but that was actually a make-up call from earlier, probably the blocking foul on Shields where he picked up his 4th on what should have been a charge against Minnesota

2dYDP.jpg

But, given the history of the Bob not being a place where we've gotten the calls over the years, this game played out about perfectly. Two of our starters foul out on, at best, ticky-tack things that weren't getting called on the other end of the floor. And still we're in the game. The bench rose to the occasion and played some of their best ball.

Then, at the very end, the refs were really trying to give Minnesota a chance at the tie by calling that quick 5 second count. And I mean REALLY TRYING. But Minnesota misses the shot, we get the offensive board, Ubel gets fouled and we make the foul shots count. (Thank goodness Ubel hit those freethrows, or we'd have been in OT.)

But that's the way it needed to happen. What a fitting ending. Getting dogged by some questionable officiating, two of our starters fouling out, and holding on for a win in spite of it all. And, to top it all off, Brandon Ubel, the great kid and unsung hero over the last 4 years, the kid who so many said didn't belong at this level and who has received a significantly unfair share of criticism over the last 4 years, makes some big-time plays to secure for us the win.

Couldn't have scripted it any better than that. Thanks Bob.

P.S. Who was the governor whose veto had to be overridden to have the Devaney Center built? That guy should be flogged in effigy.

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It is also VERY poetic that the FIRST two games played at Devaney were against Minnesota and Iowa ... and we lost them both.  Then, the LAST two games played at Devaney were against Minnesota and Iowa ... and we won them both.

 

Poetic, no?

 

 

If nothing else, there's a certain amount of symmetry to it, Norm.

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Was a perfect night is right.  Got to throw back some beers with several of the posters to start it, and then watched a heck of a gutty effort to close out the bob.  And won a good chunk of change on the game to top it off.  Hard to be much better.  Was happy that the seniors all played really great games, and we couldn't have won without any of them doing anything less. 

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Great win can't wait for the Pinnacle bank arena.

 

I disagree about Sheilds and Rivers last fouls.  While some of their earlier fouls may have been questionable their 5 were definitely fouls and most assuredly stupid stupid freshman mistakes.

 

I was watching Shields act like he was a linebacker and plow into that guy under the hoop.

 

Rivers going after that ball would have been fine if he had 0 fouls against a noncon team but he ran straight into a guy knocking him down and still didn't get the ball.  Not only was it his 5th foul but he let Minn tie the game by giving them 2 free throws.  

 

The good news is that these two are a freshman and sophomore and they gained valuable experience.

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question - since norm brought up about the 3 at the end.  did minn player actually take the ball out of bounds before he rolled it to the one that made the 3 pt?  i was thinking i saw that he never did.  anyone else see that?

I watched the game again this morning.  Yep, he did.  It was legit.

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I thought this was kind of neat and didn't know where to post it, so I'll stick it here on this thread...

 

So things on the court are finally winding down about 5-10 minutes after the game.   I think the players have mostly headed for the locker room.  I happen to notice Shavon walking on the court in front of Matt and Kent's table heading the opposite way of where he would head to the locker rooms.   He appears to be heading over to shake someone's hand like he knows them.  He does that and then just keeps shaking people's hands as he heads to the end of the court long ways along the VIP seats.  Finally he kind of ran out of people and turned and headed for the locker room.  I assume he was just thanking people for being there or simply greeting them.  I thought that was a nice touch on his part.   I was standing up higher in the arena still...rats, wish I could have said hello.

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