throwback

Japan lost 21-18 to Latvia - Tominaga again was the leading scorer with 9 pts - made 3 of 4 from 1 pt and 3 of 5 from 2 pt, so he definitely got his long range game going. Was minus-3 in +/- - first time he's been minus. Looks like their last 3 games are: Sun 10 pm CDT vs Serbia Mon 1 am CDT vs Russia Tue 1:05 am CDT vs China Looks like they may eliminate 2 of the 8 teams before the medal round? Hard to tell from NBC's lousy website. Quarterfinals start Tuesday around 7 am. Japan is tied with Russia for 6th, and China is 8th, so Japan still has a decent chance at finishing in the top 6.

Good profile on Bryce & Trey in the World-Herald today from Dirk https://omaha.com/sports/huskers/mens-basketball/chatelain-mcgowens-brothers-may-be-biggest-key-in-nebraskas-future-success/article_90e051a6-eccb-11eb-b40b-179f4a76f32f.html

Japan lost its first game today (tomorrow, next Thursday, whatever it is over there) 21-20 to Netherlands. Tominaga had a huge game, scoring 10 of Japan's 20 points - he made both 1-pt shots and was 4 of 8 from 2-pt shots. Was +1, again leading the team.

Yeah that OT was brutal to watch - both teams were gassed like me about 2 minutes into the typical pickup game. EDIT: I should say Tominaga looked to be the freshest player on either team in OT.

Will be very interesting if the remaining Little 8 take a breath and let this play out before trying to find new homes. Make Tejas and OU break the contract first. If you start thinking about the potential settlement the Little 8 could receive, it's huge. UT & OU should pay a 2-year-of-revenues penalty, about $75M each And if UT & OU try to leave the league in time for the 2022 season - which makes sense as to why this seems to be going so fast now - that means they're breaching the TV/GoR contact with 3 years left on it. As soon as they breach it, I have to assume it's null and void from the networks' perspective. That means each remaining LIttle 8 team would stand to lose roughly $38M over each of the next 3 years - roughly $110M total. I would assume they could sue for that amount. Certainly, the Little 8 still have some value for a network package over the next 3 years, so that $880M comes down a bit. Either way, you're close to $1 billion already. And that doesn't include any non-financial damages. Plus they're supposed to give 18 months notice, which they won't be if they're leaving for the 2022 season. That's got to be worth something. So unless there's some secret clause in the contract that UT convinced the others to put in there so they could leave with lesser damages -- and there very well could be from those sneaky bastards -- if I'm the Little 8, I'm sitting back and waiting until they actually do it. Then I'm asking UT & OU for way more than $1 billion to break the contract early and I'm ready to take it to court, just to make it as messy and painful for them as possible. I'm guessing there might be a lawyer or two at those 8 universities who could take on the case.

I haven't watched much 3x3 basketball previously - OK, none - it's way more physical than I expected. Tominaga is definitely scrappy, quick, and a willing defender. Also very savvy - just knows where to be and anticipates the flow of the game well. The officials allowed a ton of contact and holding away from the ball in their games, and he's taking full advantage. Man, he's little though. 3x3 clearly is not a big guy's game, but he's even small by these standards. His long distance shot has been off so far in the two games, but when he gets that going, I can see why he's really good at 3x3. Those long 2-pt shots are very valuable. Hopefully it all translates to D-1 hoops. He has a lot of good instincts for sure.

Vs Belgium, he scored 6 of the 18 points, including both baskets in overtime. He was 6 of 7 from 1-pt area and 0-6 from the 2-pt area, so similar to game one. +4 again to lead the team in +/-

Looks like Japan lost its first game in OT to Poland Tominaga had 7 of the team's 19 points but made only 1 of 8 "2-point" shots. Was 5-of-6 from "1-point" land. Was +4 in +/-, tops on the team. Looks like a replay is available: https://www.nbcolympics.com/replays/sport/basketball-3x3/team/men/japan Next games are 8:25 am CDT Saturday vs Belgium, 5:05 am CDT Sunday vs Netherlands, and 8:25 am CDT Sunday vs Latvia.

Saw something floating around out there today that UT & OU may be just throwing this out there in hopes that the one of the little 8 would try to jump in front and leave the Big 12 immediately. That negates the TV/GoR deal and gives UT & OU the freedom to go to the SEC now without penalty. In other words, if the B1G were to try to counter these rumors by quickly adding Kansas, it would play right into the SEC's hands. I hope Warren has his chess set out and not the checkers board. And I really hope he doesn't have access to Candyland.

Maybe Kansas would be considered from the Big 12's leftovers, but that'd be it. Iowa State has no shot. They add nothing in terms of eyeballs/TVs that the B1G doesn't already have with Iowa. It's going to be tough pulling ACC teams, as their TV rights deal goes to the mid-2030s, I think. Not sure how Notre Dame fits in the ACC's rights deal. Texas & Oklahoma can afford to buy their way out of the Big 12's deal - I don't know how many ACC teams would be able to survive that kind of financial fallout. Maybe the B1G could raid the SEC. Mizzou & A&M can't be happy about adding the Whorns. Maybe they'd jump. I don't think Kentucky would jump, but who knows. I don't think the SEC has the same kinds of buyout penalties as other leagues. Otherwise, If I had to guess, the B1G will look way farther west. Like way out there. Not Hawaii out there, but still pretty far. FOX is looking to rival ESPN. ESPN has locked up the SEC and ACC. Wouldn't surprise me to see FOX team up with someone (a streaming service looking to jump into sports perhaps, like Amazon or Netflix) and try to formulate some sort of B1G / PAC-12 merger. As was shown during Covid, the B1G and PAC are much more on the same page off the field politically and in how they'd like to treat sports and academics than the other major leagues. And they both love the Rose Bowl in an unhealthy way. Bring enough PAC teams on board, and you could go to 20-24, keep the teams relatively split regionally, and cut travel costs for the Olympic sports. 20 East: Rutgers, Md, PSU, OSU, Mich, MSU, Ind, Purdue, Ill, NW West: NU, Iowa, Wisc, Minn, USC, UCLA, Wash, Ore, Ariz, Stanford/Kansas Sending NU & the other B1G schools out west would be untenable I would think. Wouldn't be a shock to see it go to 24 if they do decide to expand west. 24 East: Rutgers, Md, PSU, OSU, Mich, MSU, Ind, Purdue Central: NU, Iowa, Wisc, Minn, Ill, NW, Kan, Colo West: USC, UCLA, Wash, Ore, Ariz, Stanford, Cal, Utah For football, you split into four pods - pods could rotate - maybe your last conference game opponent is determined by divisional standings, like they did in 2020. For the 4 pod leaders, that'd almost be like a semifinal before the conference championship game. If Tex/Okla really do jump ship from the Big 12, the Big 10 could go nuclear. And FOX will be helping to drive the boat. The move toward a super conference separate of the NCAA would take a big jump forward, but it's likely inevitable anyway, so may as well rip off the Band-Aid. Conference tournaments would be a little crazy for hoops and other sports, though. Who gets the quadruple-bye and who gets the quintuple-bye?

True, unless they're just ready to move on and don't care about signing bonus. Like Hallmark already being graduated. He'd have no leverage in the draft next year, so if a fourth-year junior like him is ready to move on, they might as well sign as a free agent and go, even if the bonus money sucks. Coming back on partial scholarship and racking up more student loans to take graduate classes may not sound all that appealing to guys versus starting a pro career, even with a lousy or no signing bonus. Thought I read Houston was Hallmark's only actual offer, which is kind of surprising. Not sure what the scouts don't like about his game. He is a little undersized, but he showed good power all year long, along with great speed and defense. I know we have a few other fourth-year juniors who would've signed no questions asked (like Wynne) if they had been drafted. So I think they'd at least listen to free agent offers. At this point, I'd guess we don't lose anyone else, but if some random team has several draft picks who choose not to sign, they might reach out at the last minute next week. Really a strange time for guys looking to turn pro with the cut back in the number of rounds in the draft and the cuts in the minor league teams. Has to be hard to determine the best path forward for a lot of these guys.

Hallmark signed a free agent contract with Houston. No surprise there. He was ready to move on. Good luck to him! And it sounds like Povich signed today with the Twins. No surprise there either. I'd lean toward that being all we lose, but there's always a chance some team jumps in with a late offer if they lose out on some of their draft picks. Aug. 1 deadline.

Does this mean we're going back to the Big XII? /s

Can we send all of our guys to Breidenbach's chiropractor? We wouldn't need to stand on tippy-toes for team photos anymore. The offseason got even better for Breidenbach and Nebraska. Even before his injury, Breidenbach had started seeing a back specialist to help him straighten out a hunch in his shoulders that’d he had most of his life. In just a few months, he was able to improve his posture and stand up straighter. Breidenbach arrived at Nebraska listed at 6-foot-9, 210 pounds. When the team took official measurements, he measured in at 6-10.5.

I think he may have fouled Walker, but we'll ignore that for now.

How about the way Andre recovered after the block attempt and nearly got to Walker's shot? That dude is a freak.

Schwellenbach signed for $1M. Got to imagine Povich will also be signing soon. Schwelly did sign for just under the slot value. That seems to be happening quite often this season, and some guys are signing for quite a bit less than slot. I doubt that affects Povich's decision much. However, if the Twins try to really low-ball him, it could, since he still has 2 years of college eligibility left. So far, no non-drafted Husker underclassmen have signed free agent contracts.

Holy crap. Might be scary to see what these coaches can do when they actually are averaging double-digit wins per season.

I'd read that as - "I like Nebraska, but I want to see what else is out there for me & I'm open to any other offers." Can't blame him, especially coming off Covid and especially when he's having a big summer. But if he waits too long, NU may have filled his spot. Gotta give him credit, though. That quote shows he's clearly smart enough to realize there's only one school in the state worth considering. Sorry, Mavs.

For math challenged (like me), a huge chunk of the cost increase is the 21 home games, right? We have 2 exhibitions this season instead of 1; 9 non-con home games instead of the typical 6 or 7. I think in 2019-20, we had 17 home games (including the exhibition). Maybe I'm not looking at it right. I'd imagine one of the reasons we decided to forego a neutral site tourney this year to have more home games and generate more revenue. As far as generating more revenue, it's always sad to see those beer taps covered up at PBA (and Haymarket Park). With 2 exhibitions games this season, it'd be a great chance to "test" beer sales during those 2 games and see how it goes. With a new AD, it's a great excuse to make a change like this and at least give it a try.

Yeah, this is a good point - probably gives credence to the idea that Moos was phoning it in and they just wanted to make the change sooner rather than later. Moos played them perfectly on the buyout, though. Not Green's best negotiating moment. I am a little surprised it's Alberts - I didn't think it sounded like he was interested when it was initially announced Moos was leaving. Clearly wrong on that call. This is a solid hire. I mentioned it earlier in this thread (I think), but what he has done at UNO is nothing short of miraculous. When you consider where that athletic department was financially and with facilities when he arrived to where it is today, it's impressive. The behind the scenes work that must be done to navigate going from D-II to D-I is a lot tougher than people know, especially as bad as their facilities were. To do that while continuing to take care of & improve your #1 sport in hockey that was already D-I is even more challenging. He has elevated hockey to the best conference in the country with a new, perfectly sized arena. I know the cutting of football & wrestling get the headlines, but those clearly were the right moves in hindsight. He'll hire good people, give them the blueprint for his vision, and let them do their jobs. If Frost & Co can get football moving in the right direction, Alberts is walking into an ideal situation. He definitely won't get in the way of the sports that seem to be on the right path, including hoops.

Sounds like Childress is already doing work - adding a solid Tex A&M reliever is a good start for next season - and a few more transfers may be on the horizon.

Wynne is turning pro - can't blame him. I'd imagine at least a couple of our other fourth-year juniors who have an extra year with Covid will try to sign free agent contracts.

Also with Kopps I don't think scouts see much upside remaining for him - I think he's 24, so what you see now is what you're going to get. Also, as HB mentioned, a ton of mileage on that arm. That said, he'd probably be able to join the Padres bullpen and get some outs right now. There's no point in starting him at A or even AA. Better see what you've got with him at a high level as quickly as possible. Gotta think Povich is gone for sure. Turning down almost $600K would be a huge risk. There is upside available by coming back, but it's a pretty big risk to try to jump from round 3 to round 1.. Good news is the only way we're losing incoming freshmen Christo or Mason now is if some team calls them tonight to see if either of them has had a change of heart with the signing bonus they want. Teams could go a bit above the slot money and grab one of them tomorrow, but both players would have to come down quite a bit from what it sounds like they initially were requesting. That'd be very unlikely at this point.