You Could Sense It All Night

That feeling that I had previously written about set in again last night.

Despite only being down 2-6 points throughout most of the night, I never thought Nebraska was poised to recapture the lead from the Kansas St. Wildcats. In other words, they were just good enough to lose by a few points.

This loss is gonna make it tough for the Huskers to go dancing. I said before last night’s game that they needed to win 3 of their next 4 to feel good about their chances. I also said I could easily see them going 4-0 or 0-4 in those games because they were all near 50-50 toss-ups.

I think it will take wins in their last three games of the season now, or an upset of one of the powers in the Big 12 Tournament to get in. They haven’t drowned yet, but their legs are tiring from treading water all season.

It was a bad time for senior leader Lance Jeter to play one of his worst games of the season. He committed numerous turnovers at the beginning of the game when the Huskers had the opportunity to set a tone for the rest of the game. Instead, K-State raced out to the early lead and had Nebraska playing catch up the entire night.

One positive thing to draw from the game was the electric atmosphere that was excellently captured by ESPNU last night. The announcers kept quiet during long shots of the fans that really added to the viewer’s experience of the game. It was more like actually being in attendance at the game.

And I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t excited about a chick calling the game, but I must say that it was one of the best called games I’ve watched all season. Words can’t even explain how much better last night’s commentators were than Brent Musburger and Bob Knight, who must have contractual obligations to call every KU game (my other team). It’s gotten to the point where it isn’t even fun to make fun of them anymore.

The loudest the crowd get all night was when ol’ Franky Martin (who resembles Mr. Buzzcut from Beavis and Butthead – pictured) got T’d up late in the 2nd half. The announcers did a terrific job of letting the crowd tell the story at that point. And believe me, if you think I’m overpraising this, listen to how often the announcers try to make themselves the story instead of allowing the game itself to. It’s alarming how bad announcing has gotten in sports these days.

The other most interesting part of the night was Curtis Kelly executing a strategy I had heard discussed before and one that I fully endorse the use of. The Nebrasketball crowd, like many others around the nation, likes to chant right, left, right, left as a player who has fouled out walks to the bench. They continue to chant until the player sits down when they all scream “SIT DOWN!”

Usually, this is all going on while the home crowd’s team is preparing to shoot free throws. So if the player picks up on this, then why doesn’t he sit down right as the player is about to shoot so that the crowd unintentionally messes with the concentration of the home team’s shooter? Well, Kelly did. And it worked. It was really something. Props to him.

The Huskers don’t have time to pout after a tough loss like that, they must get right back on it and win against a pesky Iowa St. team on the road on Saturday. It’s the easiest of their three remaining games, but will be no easy task.