1-on-1 with DP – 93.7 The Ticket KNTK - State of the Union for Nebraska Basketball: February 24th, 2026, 11:00am

Episode Date: February 24, 2026

State of the Union: Nebraska Basketball EditionAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's time to go one-on-one with D.P. Coming at you live from the heart of Lincoln America, a 93-7-the-ticket and the Ticketfm.com. Sponsored by the Downtown Lincoln Foundation. Here is your host, Derek Pearson. Tuesday, 1102, Mother Nature dance force. 44 degrees currently.

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Good time for it. So we head into Nebraska State basketball, boys and girls. What's going on there? looking forward to that. Two questions for you, Bach. Kind sir. How the heck are you? Can't say I'm doing too bad here.

Like you said, the weather's warming up here. I mean, what a great weekend for Husker sports this past weekend. I feel a little bit uplifted. A little bit, you know, mood. It's a vibe. Nebraska athletics is currently a vibe. It's a vibe. And we will kind of.

to get into the state of the union, right? I was going to get into Husker sports headlines. And then it rang on me to get into you know, the thing that sets the pace for this thing. But then in the conversation, and it's often what happens is in these conversations, things come up. And you have to remember to set order, right, GPS. So Bach, in setting the GPS for this hour, kind sir, would you please pay the bills? Yeah, today's show sponsored by Hamilton, Telecommunications, bringing the latest quality technology and communication services since 1901, whether it's residential or business. Hamilton has the answers. Visit Hamilton.com for more info today.

Thank you, kind, sir. The state of the union. And text line, I'm going to need for two things to be in play. Three things. I need for you to focus on three things. I was listening to AD and Nick, or Nick and AD, whatever the proper order. That is. But Bach, I'm trying to get, plant the fly.

on where we currently are with Nebraska basketball because it will help determine how we're going to get through the next several weeks. That, one, we have to remember where we were when the season started. Bach, on a scale of 1 to 10, and Texline, feel free to join in. Bach, on a scale of 1 to 10,

prior to the season started, what was your level of expectation slash excitement and give me both about this basketball season. Expectation, what you expected this season to be, and then your excitement for the season. Bach, sir, expectation level, scale of one to ten, preseason. You know, coming off a crown tournament, that was largely, I mean, you could credit to, you know, certain guys, but just really Bryce Williams and Juan Gere. I mean, there's a lot of turnover. Obviously, ringed mass was coming back.

Sanford looked, okay, maybe it can help out, but certainly didn't expect what we've got so far. Probably didn't expect the same amount of Braden Frager. So I think the expectation was for hopefully for Hoyberg and crew to be able to put the pieces together and make a run at the NCAA tournament, you know, in that area, in IT, kind of where they were, right? I mean, that hopefully you can take a jump from winning the crown,

but at the same time, as I mentioned, you lose Bryce Williams. That was a heck of a player. You know, you lost your, you're one A and one B. And you're in the Big Ten conference. And according to most known metrics, there was not a lot of money put into the transfer portal, right? Right?

Yeah. I mean, I think they were picked four. 14th, the Big 10 preseason, somewhere on there? That part, Bach. Preseason preseason 14, 13 or 14 pick in the Big 10. In the Big 10, bottom third of the Big 10.

And at the bottom of the Big 10, like, they're like, yeah, they can be, no, bottom third, bottom third, right? And if we say that, In full, what's been the best part of this season for you? Man, that's tough. I mean, I think just the win streak in general.

Right. Yeah, I mean, that's a different experience than what Nebraska fans have had. Certainly topping Illinois, Michigan State among those, the BYU, even though there was an exhibition, but great in Wisconsin. I mean, stuff to choose a favorite because it was also fun. So you just go with the whole win streak, I think. are we allowing, as Husker fans, are we allowing Husker fans to be fully present

and enjoying this season in full? Is it, at what point, and we know this about people, there are people who are pessimists and people who are going through trauma of some sort, some emotional trauma. And then the eyes get from present to, forward, right? Looking forward and you're either looking for the success that's coming or the

failure that's coming. And, Bock, are we not allowed to just enjoy the successes, each success? Because there will be more successes going forward than failures. There may be one or two final failures. Maybe. But are we allowed to enjoy the wins along the way? What say you? Well, I hope so. I mean, it is, I think it is getting toward the end of the season. There's not that, I mean, I think you better not overlook UCLA, Iowa coming back. So, but, you know, I don't think there's the big Michigan game you're looking. I mean, how long were we counting down to the Michigan game. So I think Nebraska fans' eyes might be start to kind of settle in on postseason. There's still four games in the regular season, still that will very much determine how Nebraska

is positioned for that postseason. And then I think the other thing is obviously you lose a couple games here, you know, three and three and four in your last seven games. So I think it's killed the buzz a little bit, not killed it, obviously, but put a hamper on it. And we'll see if Nebraska can get back into the wind column here. You know, I already did, I guess, I suppose against Penn State, but start to rattle off some wins here to finish the season.

You know, and I do think there are at least concerns about individual players, sickness, health, that sort of thing. I think that's probably what's more than anything is like, this is the best season we've ever had. Please don't let injuries or sickness get in the way. And it feels like a little bit of that's

happening. Hopefully they can get over. This is what I found Absolutely. So talking to the Maryland folks, of course, the great Johnny Holiday, Chris Docky talked a little bit to C.J. Wilter, who's on the Maryland staff as they come into town. And, Buck, it's not to devalue, but it's interesting that Nebraska basketball fans have totally flipped. because prior to this season, any Big Ten win is a big deal. Is that still true? More often than not. I mean, again, I think you beat a Penn State team or something that's at the bottom.

But remember, this was a preseason 14th seed in the Big Ten. And Penn State would be in the neighborhood of that, fair? Yeah, yeah. So one for one knows why wouldn't we just celebrate the Penn State win by 20 points? I think it's been generally celebrated, but I don't know if it's, I mean, to be honest, I think the big problem maybe that you're getting to is Iowa. When Iowa beats Nebraska, it kind of gets into this all sports Iowa spitting on Nebraska. You get frustrated with it.

Which is crazy that we've allowed them to have this headspace, but they... That part! They do. That part! They beat us routinely. I don't bach. I'm trying to understand it. Like, I'm trying...

In the text line, you get it. Like Jesse Plumberger said, the status quo has changed. That I want to free Nebraska fans from, from previous mental bridges that stop them from fully celebrating and being in the moment, right, to enjoy the, what may be currently would be described as the best Nebraska basketball season ever. We'll go into that conversation too, but I'll ask that question, is this the, the best Nebraska basketball team and the best basketball season ever? Bach will start with the first.

Is this Nebraska's currently, does this stand as the best? Nebraska basketball season ever. I mean, there's certainly plenty of arguments forward. I mean, that's the highest. Come on, Bob, get off the fans. They've ever gotten the top five, all that sort of stuff. You know, and record-wise, I think it's all there. So, yeah, I mean, it's kind of hard to argue at this point.

Is the Big Ten currently tougher than the Big Eight was back in the day? I mean, there was some good team. There's more teams, obviously. you go back to the 91 squad, which I think is what, you know, there's a few, they had a three seed, right? So that would be one that you could say is competitive or on the line there. There are only three ranked teams, Nebraska, among them, in the final rankings of the big eight that year.

None in the top. Right. So this is the toughest conference that Nebraska's been in. This particular group, right? This is as deep a conference as Nebraska's face in the course of the year. and without any question at all, they're having the most success. What's their record in the Big Ten?

Right now, 12 and 4. Have they had a better season in conference ever? Certainly not to my memory. I don't think so. Usually you're battling to get to 500 in conference. And I don't say that joking. I'm serious. No, but this is why the absolute absurdity of it all, that people are wrenching themselves into pretzel knots instead of,

you know what, you have had, you will have four months of absolutely celebrating Nebraska basketball for exactly what it currently is instead of worried about what it won't be. Whatever the result will happen, that's going to come and it's going to be what it's going to be. be. But to absolutely go from September or October to today in the midst, full in live vision of this, the best season Nebraska basketball has ever had and not live as though

you're living in the best of times when it comes to Nebraska basketball, right? That this is as good as it's ever been. This is it. This is the utopia. And if you're not throwing confetti, if you're not just wearing Hustrakellers and walking down the street, throwing basketball confetti,

are you doing justice to it? Are you doing a disservice to this roster and this coaching staff for what they're doing? So the Texas says this. And I just, we'll get into this as well. Texas says this, the only way you get out of this hell

is to beat Iowa in football. Nine of ten losses to Iowa sucks. But you beat Iowa and then immediately made changes to the staff. And it became something different, right? Eric says this, you will hear the entire states be the cyber relief if they win the first round game. Otherwise, it's just preparing for failure. That means you have erased and devalued 20 plus wins,

12 and 4 in the Big 10. If you tell me that 23 and 4 doesn't matter, right, because of something that hasn't happened yet. We don't know. We don't get to control that. But you've had four months to live in this thing, right? This is, it's amazing to me. And I'm trying to understand. I'm not speaking from full knowledge of.

I'm asking Husker fanatics, right? This is where I need to hear from Dan Twonze. Texas says if you're a Husker basketball fan, this is a dream season by far. That's where my head is. That if you're having the time, you know, the early break folks, you know, better times. There are no better times than this for Husker basketball.

Bacca, is that a fair statement? I think so. I think there was 19, 19, 19, 1920. They went 22 and 2, but I don't know much more about how the state of basketball was. But no, no, absolutely. And I think most Husker fans are over, you know, just over, happy with what's going on here. I mean, with at the top of their. But you're looking at the text line.

You're looking at the text line. This is not Utopia. We're still a program without a March Madness win. What are you talking about? 20 wins and a 12 and 4 record in the Big Ten conference with wins over prominent top 10 programs. the highest ranking ever, the longest windstreet ever. This is the best basketball season Nebraska fans have ever experienced in the middle of it. If you are looking over the horizon at, well, the sun's going to go down.

Of course it is. Of course it is. That's like you're having the best 24 hours of your life. And you just say, you know what? At midnight, I can't even begin to work because I have to go to work tomorrow. I can't this isn't as fun as it should be because I have to go to work tomorrow. Work is inevitable. The end of the season is inevitable.

It is inevitable. But I'm trying to understand. Eric, you haven't been alive 87 years, so stop it. Stop it. He says, we have 87 years of proof. What you have proof of currently, you forget about the things you didn't experience. The things you're experiencing right now, is the best Nebraska basketball season ever, ever.

Capital letters exclamation point. Right? You know, and I understand, I'm trying to get the full vibe from Husker. Because, again, I don't get to tell y'all how to feel as an outsider looking at. Like, I'm a basketball guy. I'm a sports guy. I'm rooting fully vested emotionally in Nebraska basketball because just proximity in space, right? You care about bringing the action and the stories.

This is a likable group, right? This is the likable group. Bach, is this a likable roster? Is this roster easy to root for? I mean, yeah, especially, I think Sam O'Iberg's hustle and dedication to every play, definitely helps with that. But yeah. Right.

This is a likable group. Yeah, to Marcus Lawrence come back, ring mass, stuck around. I mean, yeah, absolutely. Does this team represent Nebraska at its highest? Does this, are we proud of this basketball team? Yeah. Are we proud of the way they play? Yeah.

Are we happy with the results? Yep. Right? We don't get to say we're only going to be satisfied if it's perfect. That's Pollyanna. Polyana. We can't say in a program that has not had this kind of success, that you devalue the high elite level of success that this team and this program is currently.

having and to be present. Be present. Like, you know, as the proud parent, Bach, you know, when you're looking at your son and he does something as ideally as he could, like you walk in one day and he's reading on his own, right? He found something that he's intrigued by, right?

And then he shares it with you. Bach, you don't care if he read the book perfectly. You care of his action and the law. work he put into it, right? What kind of parent would you be if you went, it's good, but why aren't you reading Othello? Young man. Why aren't you reading the Illion and the Odyssey? Well, dad, I'm five.

I'm four years old. What do you want, man? Give me Dr. Seuss. I'll knock it out the park. I just find it amazing, right? Jesse Plum says it's more about a damage fan base, but I, and I,

I do not disagree. And I, I understand that. I'm trying to get the full understanding of it. What's up, Cupsor? He's a DVD you've been a long ago. I do think you can call yourself an outside,

I don't think you can call yourself an outsider anymore. Um, that is the matter, that is the subject for an entire show. Bach, am I a Husker? Am I an outsider? What, what am I?

It probably depends on the conversation because it can be like, like in this conversation, it's kind of helpful to have an outside perspective, right? So, I mean, you are, you are what you are. You've got to, you know, lean in with the way you need to. Certainly. You just said everything and nothing at the same time. Well, I mean, you've done. It's just, I always liked that argument about who's the bigger fan and this and that.

Like, I went to a Orlando Magic game. I'm probably sure. I'm sure there's a lot of Orlando. of Magic fans that have never been doing it. That doesn't make me more of a fan, right? So there's all these, these barriers that we like to hold. You've got a radio station in Lincoln, Nebraska, based on Husker sports, helping Oscar athletes.

I think that's more than what many Husker fans, even that were born and raised here have done. But, you know, so it depends on what perspective you want to look at it from. Hey, but what you just said, what you just said. And it moves me sometimes that people who are from here, aren't loudly loving the Huskers the way some people do, right? That we need to be the pioneers and not the settler when it comes to Husker athletics. We need to celebrate and elevate and amplify the good in the Huskers.

The bad news happens, right? The losses happen, the bad decisions happen. in every sport, in every corner of Husker athletics and Husker light. But when you have the opportunity to absolutely shine the good light on the good story of the good people being good Huskers, you have to do it because the other thing is coming. It happens. It happens. But if we're not celebrate, if we don't put Jordy Fromm on the pedestal and say how cool it is to watch,

Husker softball do what they're doing, having one of the three best players in the country by any argument and in any metric, and then to have young people added to the program and transfers in from great programs to add to Nebraska's softball program, to have Nebraska baseball win two straight consecutive Big Ten tournaments, and then have people and doing it the right way. They're doing it without flash, without pomp and circumstance. They're gritty, right? That's their own tag. Right? You knock off Florida State. Not only you beat Florida State, but you put a paddle to butt for Florida State. Competing, one beginning away from beating the best teams in the

country. Nebraska softball has already knocked off two teams that made it to the top ranking. They already beat them. That means tournament time, it's a real thing. Volleyball, you had an incredible run. Like, just say that. track and field you've got the best in the country and best in the world on Nebraska track. Bowlers, you have the bowler of the year, the returning bowler of the year. Number three program in the country who just went through a gauntlet at their big red event and finished third. So amongst the top six teams in the country, they finished third and were five fins away from bowling in the final. I think we get caught up in, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, is me looking for something to feel bad about.

But the state of the union, as it currently ranks, and I'm going to ask every text that said this thing, rank this season, rank this season by number. 1 through 10 rank this season. Is it a 7? Is it an 8? Is it a 9? Is it a 10? If you tell me it's a 6, I will block your 10. Six and below.

Block it. Tell me 1 through 10. I won't block you. I'm just kidding. I won't. I won't. Give me the number, 1 through 10. The state of Husker,

whoops, the state of the union. Where do we stand? Currently, Bach, what's our record? What's the record? At 23 and 4. 23 and 4 and 12 and 4 of the Big 10. What rank this Husker basketball season?

1 to 10 and tell me why. We'll get Box answer when we come back. Download our app by searching 93.7 a ticket in your app store. You're listening to one-on-one with D. On 93-7 the ticket and the ticketfm.com.