Pitchin' with Pritch: More basketball than I can count

It is 10 p.m. Sunday night and I have watched more basketball games in the last week than I can count. 

NIT, NCAA and the Perkins County Alumni Tournament were all filled with talent, hustle and outstanding plays. Well, the alumni tournament was a little slower pace, not so much above the rim but exciting to watch and visit with the players from past teams in Perkins County.

Huskers

First of all, the Husker men ended their season. They traveled to TCU and the Horn Frogs gigged them 88-72. As most Nebraska fans know, the last part of the season has been filled with lots of questions and not a lot of answers. 

I don’t know how hard it would be to coach knowing you might get fired at the end of the season or that maybe the decision was already made and announcements may come on Monday. Add to that drama a squad that was functioning with about seven players most of the time. 

Against TCU and most of the last 10-12 games of the season, I have been proud of how the players’ effort was really good. The last game of the season, the two games they won in the Big 10 Tournament and even the game at TCU there was no lack of effort. 

During that time, each time they took the floor, the other team had more talent available to them than did the Huskers but they finished winning four of the last six games. They did it with guys like Johnny Trueblood, Tanner Borchardt, Thorir Thorbjarnarson, playing more minutes in those last six or so games than many of them had played in their entire careers. 

Borchardt, a Gothenburg kid, had double-figure points and double-figure rebounds against TCU. Trueblood, an Elkhorn kid, worked hard, stole the ball, made great passes to the three guys who had the most talent on the team in James Palmer Jr., Isaiah Roby and Glynn Watson Jr. 

They finished the season much better than most people thought they would after having so many things go wrong during January and February. 

Tim Miles will probably be unemployed by the time this is published, but I think he has shown a lot of class and kept on coaching even though his future was probably being questioned. The players responded pretty well considering all the parts of the situation.

 NCAA

The NCAA tournament is now moving into the Sweet Sixteen portion and there are still three Big 10 teams playing. Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue still have a chance to make it to the Final Four and a possible National Championship. 

It will take outstanding play and some luck because there are still a number of teams left that can will it all. All the number one picks are still playing. Duke, Gonzaga, Virginia and North Carolina are alive and well. 

I said you had to have a little luck and Duke might have used most of theirs just getting to the Sweet Sixteen. Their game with UCF was close all the way and UCF had a chance to win it at the end but could not get two almost point-blank shots to fall. 

Johnny Dawkins, a former Duke All-American, is the coach at UCF and his son is a player for him. He has a load of talent but he missed a tip-in that would have won the game. It wasn’t an easy tip-in, but it was makeable. It rolled out instead of in and even though the ball is round, it takes some crazy bounces. 

Iowa was another team who could have used just a little more luck but didn’t get it. They were down 20-plus points at half against Tennessee and came back in the second half and tied it and got beat in overtime. 

Then there was my favorite team Kansas. They used all their luck up in the first half against Auburn and were down 25 or so. They were lucky it wasn’t more. They did play better the second half but Auburn was a much better team than the Jayhawks that night. 

Coach Self does play four freshmen a lot so they might be decent next season. If most coaches started four freshmen they would probably think getting to the tournament and winning the opener would be an accomplishment, and it would be, but KU is one of those Blue Blood teams that are expected to do more than that. 

Can’t wait until Thursday to spend another four days watching the 16 go to eight and then to four.