A friend called me Sunday afternoon. He calls a lot — usually to talk fantasy football. This time he called because he had just skipped a funeral (re-scheduled due to the Saturday snowstorm) in order to attend the Nebraska basketball game at the Devaney Center.
He sat through a 13-minute span in the second half in which Nebraska scored four points. He endured consistently awful shot selection. Afterward, he said, in hindsight, he wished he would’ve gone to the funeral.
We’ve all seen a lot of uninspired Nebraska basketball over the past 13 seasons. But the last 20 minutes at the Devaney Center ranks pretty high on the list. The Huskers didn’t just get stomped by a mediocre team, they showed signs of quitting.
Like a loose ball that turned into a Minnesota fast break lay-up — Tony McCray showed little effort to grab the ball or to get back on defense. Like a Husker possession where Dylan Talley had Bo Spencer open in the corner — instead, he took a 23-footer that missed the rim. Spencer looked at Talley like, “What was that!”
There’s a lot of people looking at Doc Sadler the same way.
Sadler is backed into a corner. His seat is heating up. Choose your metaphor. If he can’t find a way to motivate his guys — it doesn’t help losing Jorge Brian Diaz for the season — then he’s staring at 5-13 in the Big Ten. Tom Osborne would have almost no choice but to fire him, especially considering the dearth of young talent in the program.
Even Doc’s defenders are abandoning him — only 6,683 showed up Sunday. What they saw may have been the first steps of a long march to a coaching change.
***
>> If you’re a fan of the local guys, the Super Bowl went as well as possible. Danny Woodhead caught a touchdown pass; Prince Amukamara, Tyler Sash and Dave Tollefson will get rings. (Tollefson has an incredible personal story, which I wrote about in Sunday’s World-Herald).
>> Something tells me Tom Brady will post this on his bathroom mirror this offseason. Just a brutal column.
>> Now read Dan Wetzel, who delivered the best Super Bowl column I read. Not even Giselle could make Brady feel better after last night.
>> You can make the Super Bowl complicated. But it comes down to this: Mario Manningham caught the ball; Wes Welker didn’t. It’s unbelievable how one season comes to one play — the smallest of things.
>> Trent Dilfer delivered a great analysis in ESPN’s post-game coverage — the type of insight we don’t get often enough from former players. He was talking, of course, about Eli Manning’s completion to Manningham down the sidelines.
“This throw, this is how you judge quarterbacks right now. Remember when we used to say the big pro throw was that outside comeback route? No, that’s baloney. You hardly ever see it in the NFL anymore.
“The rail shot, in between the safety and the cloud corner, we call it the rail. You have a split second…You have to drive the ball. The ball can’t fall apart at the end. If you notice this catch, the ball is speeding up at the end, which allows Manningham to beat the safety and the corner.”
>> Please, no more talk about who’s better — Eli or Peyton. Eli is a big factor in the Giants’ success. But Peyton IS the Colts, and has been for more than a decade. Sometimes we overvalue playoff success. This “debate” is a perfect example.
>> I would’ve been very, very disappointed with Bill Belichick had he NOT allowed the Giants to score inside the 10-yard line. He should’ve ordered it one play earlier, in fact, which would have given Brady one more timeout on the final drive.
>> If you’re gonna lose, Creighton, that’s not a bad way to lose. The Jays didn’t get key stops down the stretch at Northern Iowa. They looked stagnant at times on offense. But they weren’t out-classed, like they were at St. Joseph’s.
I predicted this loss. Northern Iowa’s tempo bothers Creighton. And Ben Jacobson knows the Jays like he knows his own program. The key for Creighton is rebounding in time for Saturday’s Wichita State clash. Biggest game of the year.
>> This is cool. The World-Herald goes back into the archives and grabs a few Super Bowl covers.
>> So much to talk about from Sunday, but there were a load of good stories from Friday and Saturday worth reading (if you missed ‘em). Pick one or two and enjoy:
>> Pat Forde’s poignant story of the Summitts’ fight against Alzheimer’s.
>> Funny CBS Sports column about how every coach touts his recruiting class on signing day.
>> Wetzel had another outstanding column from Friday. The subject: Bill Belichick, NFL rebel.
>> Andy Staples’ fresh take on the Urban Meyer-Bret Bielema tiff.
>> Fox Sports examines the recruitment of super-wideout Dorial Green-Beckham. Revealing.
>> Rivals.com studies how the Super Bowl players ranked as high school prospects. Their conclusion: “The Patriots’ 53-man active roster included 36 players who attended high school since the current version of Rivals.com started in 2002. Of those 36 players, 18 were two-star recruits or didn’t appear in the Rivals.com database at all.”
>> The New York Times defends its decision to write about a sexual assault accusation against Patrick Witt, which reportedly ruined his Rhodes Scholarship candidacy.
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Dirk.
Minnesota is NOT a medicore team. What in the @#$!@!@# are you talking about??????????? Are great. Nope. Are thy horrible? Nope. They’re a Big Ten team who can play with any of the big boys in the conference on any given day. But they also have the ability to lose to the lower teams. But they’re not medicore Dirk…..
Mike Go Hawks Rod
You pretty much just defined mediocre. Not bad, not great = mediocre.
That is a funny response. They aren’t great but they aren’t horrible and they have the ability to be competitive with good teams and lose to bad teams. Isn’t that the definition of mediocre? You do know mediocre means average? It doesn’t mean bad.
Ok. Ok. Ok. Ok. I didn’t exactly expressed myself the way I wanted to. You all win. I look like a dope……………..:)
Don’t take it too hard, and kudos to you for not hiding after we gave you a hard time.
Minnesota is a lower division team in the B1G. The kind of team you HAVE to beat at home if you’re NU. I’m a loyal fan and will go to most games regardless, but it’s pretty clear to me with this being Doc’s most Senior led team he’s had here, that the future is not very bright. Let’s create some excitement around the program again going into a new arena rather than fans expecting the worst and occasionally being surprised by slightly better than that.
“Are great. Nope. Are thy horrible? Nope. They’re a Big Ten team who can play with any of the big boys in the conference on any given day. But they also have the ability to lose to the lower teams.”
Merriam-Webster couldn’t come up with a better definition of “mediocre” than you just did.
I am as die hard a Husker hoops fan as you will find and yesterday about did it for me. This season is over and we are losing a lot of players this year. We have Ubel and Talley coming back and Diaz as well but he can’t stay healthy. Next year is going to be brutal, so if there is ever a year to start over with a new coach it may as well be a year you aren’t going to be very good anyways. Why does Diaz make that much of a difference for this team? Sure he is a decent scorer and above average passer for a big man, but this team has zero inside game without him. You would think after the way this team plays with him out that he is Sullinger. One positive is that maybe next years team will play as a team instead of the bad defense and poor shot selection we have this year. Doc was right about this being a selfish team. As a glutton for punishment I will be going to the games next year and the year after because I am overly loyal to my teams but at least the other teams I cheer for have a good season once in a while.
I feel the same about the Husker football team.
Probably shouldn’t start looking ahead to Wichita State just yet. The Jays have Evansville on their schedule first.
If T.O. does pull the plug on Sadler, how about going after Ben Jacobson at Northern Iowa?
anything is better than doc right now. NEW COACH PLEASE.
Believe it or not Lil’ Herbie bUbbahood. Benjamin won’t go FOURTY miles near the small town Capital town. Seriously Lil’ Herbies!!
The Welker “drop” was an errant throw. Just like the one Aaron Rodgers made vs. NYG. can you say “RIGGED”? those guys hadn’t missed all season.
Ignorant comment. Watch the replay, while it was not a “great” throw, the ball was thrown in the area it had to be put to avoid where the defender(s) were positioned. If you look at several of the “drops” like the one Branch dropped on last drive…Brady made correct read and throw…in case of Branch’s drop, he was expecting him to sit down in the zone, not continue with his croosing route. Hernandez flat out dropped his ball…What about the hail Mary? Gronk had to push off on his bad ankle to reaach for ball after it was tipped…not saying he catches it if healthy, but interesting when you watch replay. Many are killing Brady as if its his fault the Pats lost…Ridiculous!
The Pats pedestrian defense, lack of an outside threat a receiver and inconsistent running game caught up to them…The Giants on the other hand have flaws as well, but that front 4 being healthy and playing well combined with Manning’s efficiency and patience throughout the playoffs was the key. In the end, the Patriots were a very flawed 13-3 team and yet still could have won the game. I do think a healthy Gronk makes a difference. Not a Pat’s fan, just realistic about what happened in game and why Patriots lost. You cannot pin this loss on Brady as many are trying to do!
I’ve been a Doc fan for his entire tenure at NU. Saturday put me over the edge. I’m ready for a fresh start. The program isn’t ever going to be as attractive to a up and coming coach than it is now (which isn’t very high). New facilities and a fan base that has limited expectations but has proven with other sports that they will support a winning program.
How does the current state of MBB compare to that of the Husker Baseball program before they started making the CWS under Van Horn?
I hear you. Have been backing Doc from the beginning, but this is just getting too old. Maybe he needs to go back to the small-fry under 6’6″ squad that at least played hard 40 minutes ever not. Right now we can’t even play stingy defense to at least offset the atrocious offense and that is the Doc Sadler bread and butter. Sadly to say, next year is going to be worse because the roster is devoid of young talent and Sadler, to save his own skin, has refused to put any of the young kids in the game recently. So now we are getting beat regularly, burned redshrits on our young players, and are getting no valuable PT for them to develop a squad for next year. Some of the hussle effort I saw mid second hald Sunday – I would have yanked the entire lineup off the floor and put in the walk-on practice team for 2 minutes to send a message.
The Van Horn analogy is a good one. We need someone who will bring pizazz into the buckets program, and holding the ball for 25 seconds and trying to play defense won’t do it. Can’t someone give us an update on the people coming in next year, to show how bad bad is. Not only do we not have much coming back, we are banking on an off guard being able to develop into a point guard (as a redshirt) and feeding three cripples, a physical specimen that can’t score and a kid who was kicked off his JUCO team for charges that no one will report on. If this mess is not enough for TO to move on, it would seem that Harvey Perlman has bigger fish to fry than the head basketball coach!
Sadly, I think the superbowl’s big play should have been ruled incomplete….When manningham hit the turf out of bounds the ball moved and since he was out of bounds when it moved, it is an incomplete catch…
I might buy the call had the official said the call stands, but when he said it was confirmed, it told me, he never was looking at whether he had full control when he hit out of bounds.
also, not reviewing the second to the last play was a unbelievable…the out of bounds catch on Dion Branch..was very close…and warranted a replay look…if nothing else.
the game was rigged. NFL rigged it to be a Boston vs. NYC game, then rigged the winner for who the mob told them to have win. It was density!
conspiracy theorists, BOOOOO!
It was a catch. And the Giants won. Get over it.
Lil’ Herbie small town bUbba’s, please don’t SWEAT IT. Because that Good Ol’ Boy head coach, y’all Lil Herbies FAWN over, will be back next season and in 2013-2014. Seriously good ol’ boys.
Simply Ozzie is a good ol’ boy man of his word and knows he has a good ol’ boy thing going in the Lil’ Herbie CHIEF. Eh.
Why do y’all Lil’ Herbie basketball CHARLATANS think Ozzie extended Good Ol’ Boys contract. Howdy!
I see macjones is up to his old tricks! Howdy!
Careful Melvin, a big black limo may show up at your door when you least expect it.
thanks Guide
The W-H post Super Bowl covers are great! What’s almost as fun as the SB headlines are browsing through the other articles on the sports page. How ’bout the Super Bowl X edition from January 18, 1976 – for Creighton fans – check out the headline at the bottom of the page…looks like Tom Apke did not get his wish. But probably not too many complaints from CU fans these days.
From the looks of those covers, it must have taken the W-H a decade or so to figure out that the Super Bowl was kind of a big deal.
Yes it’s absolutely true blue that Lil’ Herbie mens roundball pom pom wavers are pathetic. And may I add apathetic. Eh
But the Lil’ Herbie doldrums goes much deeper than beingthe absolute MOST pathetic basketball fandom in the universe. Yes. Well bloody yes, naturally.
You see Lil’ Herbie small town, bUbbhood. Your collective APATHY can be contributed to one absolute reason and may I suggest, ONE reason only!
The major college hoopdom Deities are still reighning down their WISE wrath on y’all Lil’ Herbie folk for RUNNING OUT the best head coach money could buy.
That’s right. Y’all small town Hayseeds RAN OFF that uppity, slick-talking CITY SLICKER and Lil’ Herbie mens basketball ain’t been the same brand of winning hoops. Howdy.
In other words, y’all have no one to blame for the lame arse state of Lil’ Herbie mens hoops than your collective bUbbahood! And may I say, that Lil’ Herbie MCB media-nexus and the wealthy smalltown/suburban, good ol’ boy, boosters are to blame too. Eh.
Now, go drown you collective small town basketball troubles on that domestic brewsky. LMAO
Both nthe football and B-ball programs at pivital crossroads. 4 loss Bo is mired in the minor bowl syndrom, and Doc is leading Nebraska to the bottom of the Big 10.
Wonder if TO stand pat, or begins to hold the HC more accountable for mediocrity/poor leadership?
The only thing certain about both programs this winter is Bo and Doc’s big checks will clear.
I don’t think Doc and Bo’s programs have much in common and they don’t deserve to be compared.
Another thing re: the New York Times editorial on the Patrick Witt story – what a pathetic and lousy defense the Times uses to state their position. While I do agree that it was worth reporting if the “feel good” story was just a cover-up for why Witt lost a chance at a Rhodes Scholarship, the woman from Virginia is absolutely correct in criticizing them for exercising yellow journalism (though a very common practice for the NY Times) by not using a single named source or taking to Witt or the victim. Not sure why journalists consider that to be an acceptable practice these days…
That article about the recruitment of DGB is both interesting and a little bit scary. Mizzou’s tactics bug me — arranging for students to cheer for his arrival, chant his name at the basketball game, etc. This is probably just the state of recruiting these days — giving the kid the superstar experience; I’m just more of a team-first person.
Went back to the lame helicopter tactic that swayed Gabbert. If this is really what kids like couldn’t we get Pelini a chopper?
Haha – that was actually the first thing that came to mind. I remember him taking the chopper to watch Tyler play…now look where he is.
No offense to DGB, because he sounds like a good kid, but I’m not sure I’d like to see Nebraska landing kids who are swayed by helicopters. I know that sounds like sour grapes, but, for what it’s worth, I’m actually pretty happy with the state of the program. (Flame away!)
I feel kinda bad for Doc as none of his three 6-11 guys have worked out this year. I have enjoyed the heart his undermanned teams have played with but the non-effort and selfish play this year has completely turned me off. Sadler had some success in the Big12 with a unique style, now that style is common and we are way to easy to beat.
Recruiting JUCO’s every year has left this team average to bad with no hope for improvement and nobody the casual fan can really identify and grow to like.
NU has finally made the commitment to compete in basketball and now is the time to bring in a coach to do it. Don’t expect a splach hire though. Oregon thought they were going to get Izzo…
Tickled to death to see sourpuss Belichek go down. Waiting for the same thing for Saban. I’m not real big on basketball, but always cheer for Nebraska sports. But I gave up on Doc when he wasn’t happy with American kids who deserve to go to college, so spends all his time going around the world to recruit foreigners just ‘cuz they’re tall. Let them play in their own countries. And I, for one, wish we were back in the Big 12. It’s tougher, and a lot more exciting. GO MAVS hockey! GO HUSKERS baseball. GO BLUEJAYS! And of course the Lady HUSKER’s. 6 more months til football!
NU Basket Ball sucks. MacJones is right on the mark.
MacJones might be right about NU hoops but he isn’t a Husker fan.
the booster left a voicemail asking if there was anything he could do for them. Yah maybe 180,000 cash. I hate how coaches recruit, and boosters get involved. The recruiting process needs to be reformed. I think an unbias member of the NCAA needs to be present during all visits, and all phone calls from boosters should be forbidden.