Final Boss Juggernaut Jinx ends Nebraska's historic run in brutal fashion

In retrospect, perhaps when the muscle-bound Florida Gators fan known on social media as the "Final Boss" showed up in Houston wearing a Nebraska basketball jersey, Husker fans should have politely asked him to leave. Or switch out the jersey for an Iowa Hawkeyes one. 

After all, the big man spent last weekend watching his 1-seed Gators get upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament by these same Hawkeyes. In coming from Oklahoma City to the Sweet 16, the Final Boss brought his bad juju with him. He's 0-for-2 now in rooting against Iowa. It's only fair that he become a fan for the Elite 8 round and jinx them the same way he jinxed Florida and NU.

In all honesty, there were plenty of reasons why Nebraska couldn't continue its historic run. Bad luck wasn't really among them. For the second time in three games, the Huskers were simply outplayed by head coach Ben McCollum's crew when it mattered most. When the game came down to who would keep their head and bury the big shots, the Huskers went ice cold. 

Why Nebraska basketball fans should blame the Florida Final Boss after Iowa loss

Just ahead of the final moments, Iowa went on a 14-3 run. That run was aided by an inexplicable mistake where Husker coaches forgot to make sure all five players were on the court out of a timeout. Rienk Mast, for reasons that escape anyone with common sense, was very late to get off the bench and run to the scoring table. 

Iowa took advantage and scored a wide-open dunk that certainly helped with the momentum, but the fact is that the Huskers just didn't play all that well in the second half. Nor did a team that made its bones this season playing stifling defense, stifle anyone.

Perhaps the most surprising part of the night was that NU has been a second-half team most of the year. Their issue for most of the season has been starting strong. Those trends were reversed in Thursday night's 77-71 loss. 

There was an offense that had played well all tournament that disappeared as well. Other than Pryce Sandfort's 25 and Braden Frager's 16, no Husker scored double-digit points. Rienk Mast's final game as a Cornhusker was one of the worst shooting games of his career. He went just 4-for-15 and 0-for-7 from beyond the arc.

Nebraska is going to take this one hard. There's plenty of blame to go around for why they lost. However, considering how magical this season and tournament run was for everyone involved, let's all just agree to blame Florida's Final Boss and his Juggernaut Jinx and get ready for next season.