Pitchin with Pritch: Basketball week that really wasn’t

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The boys state basketball tournament—something I look forward to with great anticipation. It’s a tournament that I have been attending since 1966 and one I was looking forward to attending again this year. 

This was going to be a big couple of weeks for Marlene and me. 

We planned on heading down on Wednesday, staying at D&J Beck’s Hotel and Fine Foods and then attending the boys tournament. From there, we had a babysitting gig at our son’s with our granddaughter and ending it by going to the NCAA tournament in Omaha. Sometimes plans change!!

To be honest, we had been questioning if we should go. It had been pointed out by the medical profession that I was the poster boy for people who should stay away from crowds. 

I had a plan for the state tournament because the venues are such, in venues like Devaney and PBA, that if you can avoid most of the people getting into the place, you can find places where you are sitting by yourself. 

But then when the NSAA decided to still have the tournament but only let immediate family in, my idea was non-workable. The NCAA tournament was just out of the question, but our son’s plans got changed also due to the same problems and we lost our babysitting job. 

So, it was stay home, watch the games on TV that were still being played. Didn’t get to watch all of those either! Bummer from that standpoint.

Uncommon BBall recruits

The Husker men’s basketball team got some help from the football team. Two of the Husker’s football players, Noah Vedral and Brant Banks, joined the team for the Big 10 Tournament. 

I would like to think that this will help the Huskers, but it might be just to make sure they have 10 players on the team. 

Vedral was a standout basketball player at Wahoo Neumann and averaged 13.6 his senior year and helped Neumann win three state championships. 

The 6-7, 300-pound Banks averaged 11.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game as a junior in high school. He did not play as a senior because he enrolled early at Nebraska in January 2019. 

Nebraska was short of players after due to a season-ending hand injury to senior Matej Kavas and suspensions to guards Cam Mack and Dachon Burke. 

The Huskers started Big 10 tournament play last Wednesday with a 14th seed and with a 16-game losing streak. It didn’t help. They played, but the Huskers lost. Coach got sick, but got released and the season’s now over.

Cancellations Galore

Thursday turned out to be the day the sports world crashed as all kinds of activities and sports teams, tournaments etc. got delayed or just plain cancelled. Bad situation all around. Hope it gets better soon.

 

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