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So now CU players are allowed to leave the plantation? Please ignore the above. I forgot that I gave up going for the low hanging fruit for Lent.

You know there's only one person on the planet who had 3 Pac-12 teams into the Elite Eight. It's going to suck when Bill Walton wins every bracket pool.

You can't just break out a move like that in a game at crunch time. It takes time to perfect it. I'd imagine tenderizing the freshmen at practice in that special way is just part of the norm at Wisky for Davison.

I hate Wisky, but me from 20 years ago loved watching Roy Williams get his ass handed to him.

I'd imagine Mashburn is only the first of many that will be leaving Gopher-town, just like PSU. 12th place prediction in the preseason, here we come!

If his kid's middle name is Wagon, I'm going to have a whole newfound respect for Richard P.

Don't hold your breath.

Or, on the flip side, put him in a Wisconsin uniform and see how many games in a row he can get away with planting someone in the 3rd row without a foul call.

Think about this - with where NU basketball was at the time of this loss, with a still very bright immediate future, compared to where other local sports were positioned, what would the odds have been at the time that, 30 years later: NU basketball would still be without a NCAA win -vs- 3 national championships in NU football from the program that could not win the big one and, at the time, had become uncompetitive in those games 3 College World Series appearances for an NU baseball program that, at the time, had its best seasons under John Sanders very much in the rearview mirror and was more interested in playing Doane & Peru St to pad win totals than competing nationally 1 Frozen Four appearance from UNO hockey (which didn't even have a program 30 years ago) 1 Big 8 tournament championship and 1 NIT championship for an NU basketball program that remains 0-fer in the NCAA tournament What are the odds that all of those things happen & NU basketball is still working on an NCAA shutout? 1 billion to 1? Actually, they're probably way higher than that. Heck, the idea at that time of NU baseball playing in 3 CWSes would have been so laughable that it may have been close to 1 billion to 1 by itself. NU basketball makes me understand why people believe in curses. I guess the good news is what looks bleak today can swivel quickly. There's always hope. (And, in case you're wondering, I've only been drinking a little bit this morning.)

Well, Dooke is not going to the NCAA Tournament this season; we're not going to the NCAA Tournament this season. That can't be a mere coincidence. Hope B1G/ACC Challenge selection committee is paying attention. And hope Barry Collier is not on that committee, or we'll somehow get a road game against a MEAC team.

In the 11-for-16 game linked earlier, I like how it was a close, competitive game. Those 3s meant something. It's not like they were ahead by 25 and coach told him to jack it up each time he touched it so he could make 11 3s and they could create some social media buzz. Good sign. Also he seemed to catch passes from a multitude of origination angles on the floor, yet he always was able to square himself to the basket and let it fly quickly. He didn't always need the inside-outside pass to have his feet set and to square up to the basket. Another good sign. Almost have to wonder if he wasn't nicked up a bit at the start of the year or had covid or something that was not made public. Just seems odd that he's suddenly turning it on and becoming the focal point of the offense without some sort of reason that it didn't happen earlier.

NU 81 PSU 77 1

With all of the emotional ups and downs the past week, we probably should've seen this one coming. (Hindsight is always so clear.) We simply weren't ready to play mentally. Getting outscored 33-2 on fast break points and second chance points combined clearly shows that. Once our shots weren't falling and we started feeling sorry for ourselves, the physical toll of the past month left us with heavy legs. Hopefully we learned our lesson about prep and focus and will be ready for Sunday. I think we will. Good news is I was able to get a few honey-do list items checked off during the final 25 minutes of the game. That earned me some brownie points ... that I'll be giving back with all the hoops I'll be watching for the rest of March. Always seem to have a negative balance in the brownie points column this time of the year.

NU 76 fake NU 66 5

LOL - yeah, suspend him for an utterly meaningless game several days later, rather than for the game immediately after it happened - can't imagine why they would do that. CU should either take it seriously or not - but a one game suspension after allowing him to coach in the game that decides the conf title is disingenuous pandering. Almost as disingenuous as having Greggie have a team meeting to decide whether he resigns - show of hands, guys, who wants me to resign? - no peer pressure or fear of retribution there. How about the highly paid adults in the room - the supposed leaders of the program - decide what should happen, with input from the players?

If they fire Greggie, what will happen to the local economy? That 100K and a good job offer for players really keeps Omaha's GDP rolling along.

Part of the reason Fred left ISU the first time around was because of a penny pinching athletic department - refusing to spend money on the program and asst coaches. There's more than a few public stories about what went on. I'm not sure any of that has changed. It's the same AD, and the same issues financially they've had historically and will have going forward still exist. I don't think Fred is going anywhere. He's too competitive to give up on it now, especially when it seems like things are close to turning a corner. If he were to leave, it'd almost certainly be because of a stressful covid season & he just doesn't want to coach anymore. I can't see this, either - he's still too close to the times when he was out of coaching & bored. The Price Is Right hasn't gotten any more exciting. ISU will be looking for a new coach, but it won't be Hoiberg. I could see ISU going after DeVries at Drake, though. He'll fit more into their budget.

Coach A will be on Sports Nightly tonight, 7-8 o'clock.

iu 77 nu 69 2

Only gave up 13 combined second chance and transition points to RU after allowing just 16 combined to Minny. Huge improvement in those two areas after giving up 28 apiece in the previous two games to PSU & ill. Our work on the defensive glass vs an RU team that normally bullies teams in that area was the most impressive of many impressive areas of tonight's performance.

Whew. Glad we finally figured out the formula for the black uniforms ... only wear them at home.

Not sure if this is behind the paywall or not, but Steffon Bradford just finished his first year coaching at Brownell-Talbot in Omaha. https://omaha.com/sports/high-school/ex-husker-steffon-bradford-brings-a-world-of-experience-to-brownell-talbot-coaching-job/article_014f6768-7a50-11eb-8c14-9b970063c7e1.html

NU 70 RU 65

We had waaaaay more dead ball turnovers than live ball turnovers. Progress!

NU 66 Minny 59