Pitchin' with Pritch: The Super Bowl is finally over
Finally the Super Bowl game was played. After two weeks of hype and anybody who ever had a football helmet on being on some kind of panel, the game was played.
I didn’t really care who won but I thought the Patriots always seem to play well in the Super Bowl and they did in this one also. The Rams had a good outing also but not enough to get it done.
For the sixth time, the Patriots win the Super Bowl. You can argue with the fact that Tom Brady has to be in the discussion of being the GOAT (Greatest Of All Time). Both teams’ defense dominated the first three quarters but when the situation called for an offensive drive late in the game, Brady’s bunch got it done.
Also in the mix was former Husker player Rex Burkhead and he had a run that was very important in the Patriots hanging onto the ball and running time off the clock and all the stuff it takes to win. Brady has been on six winning Super Bowl teams and might not be finished. The Patriots lost five games in the regular season and none of those five teams even made the playoffs, so a lot of people thought New England might not get through the playoffs but they did. If not for a “no call” in the Rams and Saints game, New England might have, probably should have, been playing the Saints, but the call was missed, not called, or the games are fixed, whatever you might think, but the Rams beat the Saints and came up short in the Super Bowl. The best thing about this is the Super Bowl is over.
Basketball
Changing sports and getting closer to home, the Husker men’s basketball team kept distancing themselves from the NCAA basketball tournament by losing to Illinois last Saturday 71-64. Illinois is ranked 110th in the NET ratings and those are the ratings used to help choose the NCAA field of teams and Nebraska was 28th.
If you remember, the Huskers defeated Illinois in Lincoln 75-60. Apparently the Illinois team has improved and it is quite evident the Huskers have not. With the loss, the Huskers are 13-9 on the season and 3-8 in the Big 10. Illinois is 7-15 and 3-8.
The Huskers have lost one of their key players and are getting very little from their bench. The bench players have only scored 16 points total in the last four games. Nebraska has dropped five straight games and hasn’t scored 70 points in that span.
One writer had a comment that basically said the Illinois coach was a good defensive coach and Coach Miles’ brand of offense is unorganized and often undisciplined. The loss of Isaac Copeland was a big blow to the team, but even with him the unorganized and undisciplined comment still rings true.
At one time last week, it was a guess who might get fired first, Coach Miles or AD Bill Moos. Again in today’s world where you can use social media and never reveal your name, there was talk of Moos having some problems with alcohol and such. It also could not be substantiated so at the moment it most likely will just be labeled as “loose talk” or slander.
If I was a betting person, I would bet on a change in the basketball program before there is a change of athletic directors. With the schedule that is left, I don’t see many wins popping up and actually don’t even see the NIT tournament in the picture. What started out to be an outstanding season has turned completely sour.
Next week, I am headed to Lincoln to watch the Huskers on Wednesday and again on Saturday and I hope I see a team that looks like they want to be on the floor. The last couple of games it appeared to me they would rather be anywhere but on a basketball court.
The Big Ten is way too difficult to give less than a full effort. That should not even have to be mentioned but maybe it should.