Healing and hopeful
This is a great time of year if you are a sports junkie because you have lots of things at lots of levels going on. Still got some college football, professional football if you are still watching, high school basketball, junior high basketball, wrestling and college basketball.
I had almost every day at home in November because of my back surgery and even though all this entertainment was on the tube, I was close to going even nuttier than I already am because of nothing else to do. It was nice to get back to the TeamMates program at the school because I was out of the house a little bit and there was still all the sports stuff going on when I got home.
The surgery has caused me to miss some Nebraska basketball games so my season tickets have been going to waste a little, but I have gotten to the home high school games.
This week I will take my first big car ride since getting home from the hospital. I have been trying to get as well as I can so I can make a trip to Lincoln this weekend for our early family Christmas and to work in the Nebraska and KU basketball game on Saturday.
You know you are a little nuts when you work Christmas with your family around a basketball game, but being a fan of KU basketball and NU basketball runs in the family.
This will be my first in-person NU vs. KU basketball game and I know both teams can’t win so I just hope the game is competitive. If it isn’t, I hope KU wins big. Right now I am not sure that will happen.
Last Saturday I had the same problem with Nebraska and Creighton. I am good friends with the Creighton coach, Gregg McDermott, and I like it when the Jays win. He is an outstanding coach and at one time was head coach at Wayne State and came out here to help me with a couple of basketball clinics I put on for coaches. He has a history playing a Tim Miles coached team and is actually 14-0 against the Nebraska Coach; 6-0 of that record is in the Creighton and Nebraska in-state rivalry.
I was hoping that Nebraska would win the game last week because you can’t really have a good rivalry unless both teams win once in a while. The game was closer this year, but Creighton was still the better team again.
Now Nebraska and KU will go at it Saturday. If Nebraska would win, it would bother me for awhile in most cases, but it would be a great win for the Nebraska team. Maybe it will help propel them into Big 10 play and even get them in contention to be included in the NCAA tournament down the road.
The Huskers might be catching KU at the right time because the Jayhawks have not been playing well. They were 22-point favorite against Washington and lost. They were then 12-point favorites against Arizona State and lost that game at Allen Field House where they have only lost something like nine times in the last 15 years or so.
On the other hand, they might come out really focused. That could spell big problems for the Huskers.
I hope I have a good week of healing so I can make the trip and the game at Lincoln on Saturday.
Plainsmen Boy’s Team and Potential
I hate to use the word potential when talking about teams. Maybe I should say promise instead but I think the Perkins County guys have done some good things to start the season this year.
After dropping the first game to Hershey, a very winnable game, they have picked up wins over Wray, Colorado, Kimball and Gothenburg.
The Wray and Kimball game were blowouts, but the Gothenburg game was on the road and went to double overtime. Games that close can go either way and when you play that extra quarter, which is what two overtimes compute to in minutes, you have to maintain your focus, even if you are a little tired.
You usually have to hit some shots that come at critical times and it doesn’t hurt if you are a little lucky along the way. The Plainsmen did that and picked up a really good road win over the Swedes.
This week it won’t be any easier as I am sure Paxton will be prepared. Ogallala is also a big game on the schedule.
Teams that are successful keep improving throughout the season and put themselves in a position to play well when the tournaments that really count are played.