FOX News

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Lots of Sports to Talk About!

Wow what a game in Lincoln yesterday against Iowa. Nebraska outscored Iowa 39-19 in the second half to win 64-60. Dylan Talley hit a three with 9.2 seconds left to put NU up 63-60. Fun game. What a comeback. I just wished it would have been on regular TV. At the game the 2,000-3,000 Iowa fans were louder than NU in the first half. They were quieter late in the game.

In the last two games(MSU & Iowa),  Shavon Shields has averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds with 54% shooting. Nerbaska was rated as low as 218th in the Pomeroy ratings earlier in the season. They are now 138th.

This was the second to last men's basketball game at Bob Devaney. The very first game in Devaney was against Iowa also. Nebraska lost that first game 71-57. Their first win was against Washington and it took overtime to win on November 29, 1976.

Nebraska is now 13-14. They play three of the next four games away with Minnesota coming to Lincoln on Wednesday, March 6th. Nebraska plays Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa away. They will be underdogs in all of the four final games. Even though Nebraska has the third toughest schedule in men's college basketball, they probably need to win two out of four games to have any chance of playing in some kind of post season tournament.

The Omaha World-Heral picked their greatest Devaney Era players. They are Dave Hoppen, Eric Piatkowski, Tyronne Lue, Andre Smith, and Venson Hamilton. I got to see all of these players play. I also remember Jack Moore, Brian Downing, Carl McPipe, Brian Banks, Bernard Day, Eric Johnson, Rich King, Brian Carr, Jamar Johnson, Beau Reid, Bruce Chubick, Jaron Boone, Erick Strickland, Mikki Moore, Cookie Belcher, Kimani Ffriend, Cary Cochran, Nate Johnson, Brian Conklin, Aleks Maric, Ade Dagunduro, Ryan Anderson, Bo Spenver, and Lance Jeter. There are tons more that made great contributions to the program.

I also got to see Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman, and the championship Bulls play an exdhibition game in 1998 against our own Eric Piakowski. Rodman was ejected from the game when he went over after being called for a foul and grabbed a telephone along court and acted like he was making a call.

Concerts were always fun at the Devaney. One I remember was Neil Sedaka.

And then all the drama with the High School Basketball Tournaments. The Omaha World-Herald rates the1989 Class B final as its number one game. Wahoo won 68-66 when Troy Glock made a shot at the buzzer for Wahoo. The number two game is when Ogallala beat Wahoo in the 1992 semis 84-68 to break Wahoo's 114 game winning streak. The longest winning streak in the nation at that time.

Austen Everson was in Holdrege Friday night at the Holdrege Rotary Club meeting. He is the UNL Director of On-Campus recruiting. The former quarterback from Ohio wss humorous and informative in showing the group videos of all recruits and then he making comments regarding their accomplishments in high school. It was very interesting.

I especially liked the video of Nathan Gerry, Drake Martinez, Randy Gregory, Adam Taylor, and Terrel Newby. The defensive linemen looked pretty awesome also.

Nathan Gerry is out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He is listed as a defensive back. He also is a punt and kickoff returner. He is quick and fast. Looks like he could play receiver for sure also. He stuck out as one of the best in the class. We could see him this fall.

Drake Martinez, Taylor's brother, is so fast and he is big. He is just as fast as Taylor or maybe faster. He could be a great safety. Don't be surprised is he gets some major time this fall if he can figure out the schemes right away.

Randy Gregory is a defensive end that could start this fall. If they move Jason Anruh to the middle of the line, Gregory can fill in nicely. He is 6'6" but is only 230 in weight but he has the frame to add some weight. Mixon, Natter, and Suttles add to an A+ group of defensive ends.

Adam Taylor is the best running back coming out of Texas and Terrell Newby was the best out of California. These guys are both very good and both may see time this fall. Great pickups.

The offensive line has Matt Finnin at 6'7", Zach Hannen at 6'5", Dwayne Johnson at 6'6", David Knevel at 6'9", and Chongo Kondola at 6'4". HUGE!

The only Nebraska recruit is Josh Banderas who will be playing linebacker. He will be a great player before he leaves Nebraska.

I look to our quarterback recruit Johnny Stanton to redshirt this fall unless there are injuries.

I  like Marcus Newby at linebacker seeing some time this fall. He is a great defensive player from Maryland. Courtney Love from Ohio looks very solid.

The balance of the recruits are all solid and there is probably a diamond  or two in the rough with these guys.

The 2014 class will have needs at cornerback and tight end.

An LA high school has hired Marvin Sanders who was let go by USC after the season.

The lady NU basketball team won their ninth game in a row by beating Iowa today by 20 points, 66-46. Rachel Theriot had a career high 19 points. The women are peaking at a really good time.

The NU baseball team went 0-7 when they got beat by Texas 2-0. Today the pitching was excellent but the Texas pitcher, Nathan Thornhill was dominating. The good news is that Nebraska's starting pitching has been pretty good. We have to get better relief pitching. We did today but the offense just couldn't hit the Texas pitching.

Rex Burkhead has a good combine except for his 4.73 40. We know he will do better at the Pro Day in Lincoln. Knile Davis of Arkansas ran 4.37 in the 40 yard dash. Burkhead was second in running the cones which isn't surprising. He was also swcond in the broad jump.

Jimmie Johnson won the Daytona 500. My picks of Harvick, Stewart, and Kenseth wrecked or had engine trouble. Oh well we got 35 more races to go.

Wake Forest knocked off Miami 80-65. Miami was the Number 2 team in the nation. Many think they will win it all.

Did you see the attempted kiss by 50 Cent on Erin Andrews?

Unless Creighton finishes strong, they may be one of the more disappointing teams in the country. In the last 11 games they are 5-6.

The Iowa men's basketball team loss to Nebraska may have put them out of the NCAA tournment. Now Iowa has to win at Indiana to have a chance which means they don't have much of a chance.




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