Nebraska coach has epic response to ‘insult to injury’ moment in the NCAA Tournament

Looking back on Thursday night, there were plenty of omens that should have prepared Nebraska basketball fans for a heartbreaking loss in the Sweet 16. There was the Florida fan "Final Boss" who came to hate-watch Iowa and instead watched the Hawkeyes pull off two straight upsets. There was the oddity that was the Huskers taking a 65-62 lead, only for cameras to pan to football head coach Matt Rhule and for Iowa to then go on a 15-6 run to close out the game.

And there was the halftime entertainment on Thursday night. For reasons passing understanding, the Houston-based arena held a short ceremony honoring the Texas A&M Volleyball team for winning the National Championship. The problem with that, of course, is that it meant honoring a team that pulled off an upset of Dani Busboom Kelly's Nebraska volleyball team in the Elite 8 as the Aggies marched to their first title in the sport.

In other words, before the Nebraska basketball team suffered an upset at the hands of a bitter rival, Husker fans in attendance, including Busboom Kelly, had to "celebrate" the last team that pulled off an upset over NU in an NCAA Tournament. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Dani Busboom Kelly’s beer joke summed up the Nebraska Cornhuskers' bizarre halftime moment

If it brought up painful memories for the Husker coach, she did manage to laugh it off. On social media, when Lincoln Arneal announced the halftime "entertainment" on social media, Busboom Kelly didn't miss a beat, replying to the post, "glad I was getting another beer."

To be fair to all involved, the Lincoln Journal Star's Amie Just reported the ceremony had been planned to take place during halftime of the first game of the Houston Sweet 16 game for more than a month. That, of course, means that the event wasn't scheduled specifically because Nebraska was there. Even if it felt that way.

While the event might not have been a planned slight at Nebraska, it certainly should have been a warning that Dani Busboom Kelly and the rest of the Husker faithful ignored as they watched Fred Hoiberg's squad struggle mightily in the second half. Still, the head coach shrugged off what could have been a very uncomfortable moment with class and humor.