Nebraska Cornhuskers: Keisei Tominaga’s return triggers craze, outshining even Zach Edey’s fanfare
Nebraska Cornhuskers fans’ overwhelming reaction to Keisei Tominaga’s return to the basketball program highlights his revered status as a cult hero.
Nebraska Cornhuskers fans were plenty excited earlier this week when Keisei Tominaga announced he was headed back to the basketball program for another year. In fact, the reaction to his announcement shows just what a cult hero he’s become.
While the excitement over Tominaga pulling his name out of the NBA Draft was expected, the degree of that excitement was likely a bit surprising to college basketball fans outside of Lincoln. While known as one of the best players in the Big Ten, other schools’ fans might not have realized how important the “Japanese Steph Curry” is to the hopes and dreams of Nebraska basketball.
The announcement was met with such a massive celebration that Nebraska basketball fans went so nuts that their excitement far exceeded even the celebrations of Purdue when their star player came back. At least on social media.
KLIN Sports Director and Program Director Kaleb Henry was one of the first to notice that the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ fans’ reactions were a bit more frenzied and excited. He noticed that after both Tominaga and Boilermakers’ center Zach Edey both said they were coming back to their respective programs, the Huskers’ guard got quite a bit more attention.
Nebraska Cornhuskers star spurs excitement
According to Henry, Tominaga’s tweet announcing his return garnered 15,000 likes. Meanwhile, Edey’s tweet announcing he was going to be playing in the Big Ten for one more season got just 7,800 likes.
Number of likes on their returning to school Tweets
— Kaleb Henry (@iKalebHenry) June 1, 2023
National Player of the Year Zach Edey: 7,688
Big Ten Honorable Mention Keisei Tominaga: 15,000
No one has ever claimed that Nebraska Cornhuskers fans weren’t incredibly loyal and active. But it definitely says something that the basketball program got that level of attention.
When people say Nebraska is a football school, they aren’t wrong. Matt Rhule and his squad are still garnering quite a bit more attention than anything else in the state. But it’s clear that the Nebraska Cornhuskers have quite the movement on their hands with Keisei Tominaga.