1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - Does the Nebraska Basketball Loss Feel Like a Break Up or a Funeral?: March 27th, 11:00am

Episode Date: March 27, 2026

Does the Nebraska Basketball Loss Feel Like a Break Up or a Funeral?Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up, spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where Iexel comes in. Iexel is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork, from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-K through 12th grade, with personalized interactive content that adapts to each child's level and pace. I Excel makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level, and simple progress tracking. It fits into even the busiest spring schedules. It's also trusted nationwide. In fact, Iexel is

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The sun did come out today, and everything is still, seems to be going well here in downtown Lincoln, despite what we might have thought with the season coming to an end for Nebraska basketball last night. Of course, I'm not DP. Derek Pearson, still in Houston. We'll be making his way back here to Nebraska, along with some of our other folks that we sent out there to Houston. We were just talking about it there at the end of the drive, hopefully not running into any problems at the airport, but certainly could happen. I'm Jake Boggman. He is Nick Sainert, and we will be your team here for one-on-one today. And no shortage of topics, of course, Nebraska basketball just finished. One of the great

seasons of all time. In fact, probably the greatest season of all time for Nebraska in many ways. Obviously, the first tournament win, the Sweet 16 appearance, the top five ranking throughout the year. You know, and so, I mean, I think it's a little bit one of those deals where Nick, we have to, we have to celebrate and fight that, you know, through today. It's one of those deals that when you're at a funeral. Is it, you know, do you, it is just what it is. You know, do you. Well, it's the end of the season. I don't know. That's brutal.

Exactly like a funeral, but I was going to say, it's over, right? Is what it is. Are we celebrating a celebration of life? Are we going to mope around and be sad about the fact that it's over? I would more so compare it as to a breakup. Okay, a breakup. A breakup.

Here is why. Because, like, right now, the mood, because we can talk about it, feels pretty good. We can, you know, when you can rant about it, when you get, you have the text line, you have the phone line. you have the phone lines, you have the microphones. We can let all of our opinions out about Iowa and Nebraska basketball last night. But you know what?

When we're all sitting in our rooms at 8 p.m. this tonight, this evening, and it kind of sneaks up on you, the sadness will overcome. And that's what it is. I would compare it to a breakup rather than a funeral, simply because during the day when the sun is shining, you're doing things, you're keeping things busy, you're keeping busy, you're fine. The mentality is okay.

But when you're sitting alone, eating dinner by yourself, that's when you're sad. Well, in this case, you can't, you still can't make the call that you said you wouldn't call or the text that you shouldn't have done. There's, there's no way of going back here. Well, you can, you can watch YouTube and you can, you can have hope. God. Nebraska basketball might sneak it out. I like, I would go back to the funeral. That makes me feel a lot better than the breakup.

You're bringing up bad history. You can come back. Here's the thing. Everybody, I'm creating a program. Iron on T-shirts. If you want to get your Illinois basketball, iron-on t-shirt to become the biggest Illinois fan, we hope Illinois beats them.

Yeah. We're all cheering for Illinois, correct? I think so, yeah. It's impossible. The Iowa hatred is growing for the Nebraska fan base and certainly in basketball as well. Just unfortunate, of course, had to happen to Iowa.

The way that it all kind of came, you know, came to an end here. Again, I think it's more of a celebration of what the team was. I think they're especially as we get more away from this day, you can kind of have. Yeah. Well, I don't think you're going to get more sad. No, I think you're going to be happy. I'm going to work toward being happy and happy with what, what we saw here. This is one where it sneaks up on you one week later and say, damn.

This could have went a different way. I could use the brick of analogy. I could have done one thing differently. If I could have had five people on the court. Yeah. Instead of four. Maybe we would have won. Maybe I could have kept the girl if I would have just done one nicer thing.

Yeah, yeah, there's always that. But, uh, I don't know. I don't know. I don't let it go. I just felt like the funeral was a little deep. Yeah. Maybe the break of is too. The breakups you're making me feel worse about.

Again, at least in, in a funeral, there's finality to it. The break of you're like asking about lingering on like a week from now. 3 a.m. Hey, well, I don't know. Looking at Facebook scrolling, looking at the past. Well, are we not going to do that? We will. Remember the excitement after, you know, at halftime when Nebraska was up by three.

Oh, man. Yeah. Should have been six. Well, here's the thing. When they made the Sweet 16, it's like, man, I think I really see a future. I think I really see Nebraska going deep in this tournament. Yeah. And then, bam, out of nowhere, she ends things.

Yeah. Well, it's a problem for Dayton, Iowa to begin with, I guess. That's a great point. I guess here's the question for all the gents out there. Would you compare your ex-girlfriends to Iowa? Oh, man, yeah. I think some of them, yeah. Some of them.

Gross. I think that's fair enough. Now let's talk about spring football. I was going to say, is it going to be that thing, too, where you, like you said, you're cheering for Illinois now. So as long as Iowa doesn't succeed further, is that going to hurt more if I will keep winning? You don't want to stick your ex.

Do better. Yeah. Yeah. I want the X to be feeling the same way I'm feeling sad. Yeah. I don't know if our analogy is the landing or not, but it was at least fun. I feel like we've done a decent job here. I feel like we've, we've actually explained this pretty well.

Like we justified why the loss last night is like an ex-girlfriend or a breakup. Yeah. Girlfriend or boyfriend. It does in one way or the other. It does again. When you have to say at the beginning, the sun came up, that means you're dealing with something, right? And it does, it's not, you're not just noticing that out of nowhere. So it is, it is a part of it is, we're all trying to you feel a little bit better after Nebraska season comes to.

And of course, 77 to 71 last night in the sweet 16 to the Iowa hot guys. And we, we were talking about it in the last show on the drive, you know, but it, I don't know if there's enough, you know, I guess the attention nationally. that I've noticed. You can look at an ESPN right now on the website. They're directly. Everything's focusing on the four players on the court instead of five, which obviously is going to get you buried more often. Yeah, yeah.

So, how about that? Unfortunately, that that's the headline. But that, yeah, but that's where the talking point is. And again,

it's just so frustrating because Nebraska, I feel like that the, I guess one of the best ways you could describe this is they, they optimized everything. I mean, they got just about everything they could out of every inch of this program and for it to end or to really derail on a just critical error that you don't see

in middle school basketball is, you know, is the most frustrating part out of this, more than the Iowa part. Here's what I would ask. Do you think, and maybe this is a question for the text line as they're still going on about the breakup. Do you feel like they maximize everything.

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forward slash today. Visit Ixel.com forward slash today. today to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. Just about. I mean, because like they missed. They missed on a couple of pieces. Sure. Right.

But they had some injuries too. They did. Yeah. So that's where that and I, I'm not trying to play this game of like, man, it could have been so much better because I am very pleased with the way that Nebraska basketball season went this year. Like, Buck, we can agree that our, our job is so much more enjoyable, man, when when they're winning like this.

When Nebraska basketball has this type of output, it is so much fun. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this has been the time of my life, you know, covering this team. I think anybody that's been around Nebraska basketball, again, if you're, you just jumped in for the ride this year,

you know, whatever. But if you've been following Nebraska basketball for a long period of time, you understand, you know, all these conversations that we're having and maybe why it can be a little bit more of kind of throwing around jokes here because the season is still the best season.

I mean, Fred, Fred, Fred, what we were excited last night. You're going to raise a banner to this at some point, right? And you did a good job of kind of explaining, you know, that teams do that with the destinations that they make. So kind of like a sweet 16 portion type of banner that's going to be, you know, the other things that they've done. So it's not a championship banner, obviously. So people kind of parked back at that a little bit.

But, you know, this has just been, and that's why I'm trying to do it more of the celebration of life type of idea is that, you know, this really was the peak time to be a Husker fan. It is still, I mean, moving in the future. Yeah, because we have spring football tomorrow. I just think that I just keep making the joke. No, I think that when you look at Nebraska basketball this year, it just provides excitement for the future.

Like what we just got done talking about for two hours, essentially, the excitement for the future of what it could look like, you know, as they continue to build, like the momentum that you get on the recruiting trail, the momentum you get in the portal, the momentum that these guys have, I think also the burning desire that, like, Barcay-Buktengel and it Price Sanford if he returns, and these guys that experienced and played key roles in this,

they got a taste of it. And that's something that previous teams haven't. And sure, there's been a few that have gotten the taste of March Madness. But Sweet 16 is a different beast. Like in the second weekend of the tournament, it's a different beast. And you got a taste of what this place is like, what Lincoln and Nebraska is like, what the fan base will do for a team that travels to the Sweet 16. Like, you're going to want this more and more.

And so you hope that not only the momentum on the recruiting trail, what it can do for potential newcomers, engage in interest to come play for Nebraska, but also block the guys that are in the locker room already, that had got, that have gotten a taste of this, they're going to want it again. And hopefully that drives into work harder this offseason.

Yeah, and again, I mean, this is not going anywhere. This team is going to be, have preseason expectations, certainly the top 25. I would expect top 15 going into next year to take another, yet another step forward. And so hopefully in the years to come, as special as it was.

And that's what I think is part of this is just kind of taking in what could be the new norm. and, you know, just really appreciating the rise because the rise can only happen once. Now, they've been, they've had 20 wins season. I'm not saying, you know, they haven't been doing well. But to get to this point, to win the NCAA tournament game, to get to the Sweet 16, you know, that can only be new to you once. And it was.

And it was such a magical ride. Now it leaves a little bit more out there still for Nebraska to reach for in the future, right? Another, another year. If you get to the elite eight, then that can be maybe the best. team in Nebraska basketball history, depending on, you know, the circumstances and all that. But, you know, so there, there is a lot more still to do. And I think that that Nebraska basketball is now going to be in the position where the expectations are to, to reach that. And so that's going to be kind of fun as we go through it is to change all these moving parts

for Nebraska basketball. But, you know, for those that are, you know, traveling back for Houston and hopefully, you know, that's what I'm interested in, too, is, um, One, what did you make of, you know, and I think it got pretty much cleared out for people. But it is frustrating at these games where like right behind, like, this is the biggest game in Nebraska basketball history. And behind the benches, there's nobody on the television for the television project. Yeah, well, it's it was product. I mean, here's the thing. It was Houston's fans.

Right. But it's, it's poorly, poorly managed. Yeah. poorly managed. I do want to say this, a little bit of breaking news. Fred Hoyberg has officially been named a finalist, one of four finalists for national coach, as we talk about Nebraska basketball in just the historic season.

They sent this out to the media here just a couple of minutes ago, about five minutes ago. Nebraska men's basketball coach Fred Hoyberg was named one of four finalists for the Naismith men's coach of the year award. Hoyt on Friday. Hoyberg joins. How about these three names that are on there as well?

Tommy Lloyd at Arizona, Dusty May at Michigan, and John Shire at Duke. Fred Hoyberg at Nebraska is in that list. It's those fours. names. As finalists for the award, Lloyd in 2022 and Shire in 2025 have each been finalists for the Naismith men's college coach of the year award. First time that Hoyberg and Dusty may have been named finalists. The winner will be announced Sunday, April 5th at the Naismith Awards

brunch presented by Jersey mics during the men's final four at the Indiana roof ballroom in Indianapolis. How about this? Fans will have a say in determining the winner through the Naismith Awards fan vote. Fans starting March 27th, which is today, fans can visit Naismithfanvote.com to cast their ballot for one of the finalists for the Jersey Mike's Naismith coach of the year. Voting ends at 12 p.m. Eastern time on April 1st, and fans are limited to one vote per day. The fan vote will account for 5% of the total vote. The four finalists in each category were chosen by the Atlanta tip-off clubs, uh,

based their selections on outstanding on-court performances during the 2025, 26 college basketball season. But once again, I didn't want to bury the lead. That Nebraska basketball is in the same conversation for an award at the end of the season as Arizona, Michigan, and Duke. Yeah. Yeah, very cool stuff.

And in, in my mind there, I mean, it's a runaway. I mean, those guys all, as, as, as, good as seasons as they've had, they came in with top 10 expectations and players and, you know, all that sort of stuff. Here's what I would ask you, Bach, where do you value the ability to maintain that? I value it. When you, when you have top 10 expectations, it's like the Ryan Day conversation, right? Covers were full when he got there.

How much should we credit Ryan Day for being able to maintain the success? Well, I think, I think a high level. I mean, especially, you know, it's huge to that point. and, you know, I think the, you know, one of the best guys to ever do that was Tom Osborne. Tom Osborne Inhered a great program, obviously, as we know, and then kept it

where it was and unable to, you know, raise it up by the time he left here as well. So it's, you know, there is, there is something to be said about that. But I still kind of go back to like, look at Nebraska's roster compared to Duke's roster, right, compared to Arizona's

roster. And, you know, so I always, I like that. you know, if you're just going to give the coach of the year to the national champion, that's one way to look at it, right? I mean, and every coach of the year in the history of time would rather be the national champion than the coach of the year. So there's different things to kind of look at it going about that. But I always like when you value, to me, doing more with less, coaching.

The actual kind of coaching more is if you replaced, if you replaced, you know, Dusty May, and, you know, maybe, you know, maybe that's not the best thing. maybe John Shire with Dusty May, what would Duke's record be? Oh, sure. No, I think Dusty May certainly has a pretty good argument. But that was, again, that was a sweet 16 team last year at Michigan. This is his second year with them. They were preseason top 10.

So, you know, I think there's value to it. But to me, it doesn't, I think that you can win in those type of situations in a year where there's not such a magnificent job from somebody that gets more with less like Fred Hoyberg did this year. Yeah, and I've tried to, I've tried to step outside the bubble of us here at Lincoln and say, okay, like, let's try to look at this with an unbalanced, or excuse me, an unbiased, you know, a viewpoint of, you know, is Nebraska, are they perceived nationally the same way that we perceive them in the job that Fred Hoyberg has done?

That's why it was crucial for Nebraska to go deep in the tournament, though, like to get one or two wins in the tournament. That's why it was crucial. It's because, sure, right, like, we had. the national publicity for Nebraska basketball when they were just in the round of 64. But it took a step up when they won their first game. And then with the impressive win against Vanderbilt in the round of 32, it took another step up. And it gave the national media a full week to talk and learn and observe and discover what Fred Hoyberg's done with this team. And so

to your point, I do think Fred Hoyberg should win it. And I think that's what a feather in the cap man. What, I mean, what a feather in the cap to win it. Big 10 coach of the year. That's, that's the other side. Obviously, the big 10 views him as the coach of the year. Big 10 coach of the year over Dusty May. Well, who's the final? They split it right between coaches and coach. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Media said Dusty May. Coaches said Fred Hoyberg. Right. Which you'd hope that somebody that is voting on the national coach of the year award would no ball. Let's hope so. The media doesn't know ball. That's right.

Bennett starts as good. Did I say that? We're going to take a break on that one. I like that. That's a perfect place to stop. But I do want to talk a little bit of spring football. We'll continue talking about basketball. But yes, the spring game is tomorrow.

I'm jacked for it. We're going. I'm going. You're going. We're going. Yes. Football is in the air. And after all of spring practice, I feel like it's time to finally talk about it.

Let's do it. Coming up next year on one on one. This time of year, the school calendar really starts to fill up, spring activities, testing season, and that final push toward the end of the year. It's a great moment for kids to stay focused and build confidence in what they're learning. That's where Iexel comes in. Ixel is an award-winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand their schoolwork, from math and reading to writing and science. It's designed for pre-k through 12th grade, with personalized interactive content that adapts to each child's level and pace. I-Excel makes it easy to stay on track with instant feedback and clear explanations, skills organized by grade level, and simple progress tracking.

It fits into even the busiest spring schedules. It's also trusted nationwide. In fact, I-XL is used in 96 of the top 100 school districts in the U.S. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get I-Exel now. Listeners can get an exclusive 20% off I-XL membership when they sign up today at I-XL.com forward slash today. Visit IxL.com forward slash today.

to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.