What to Make of the Alex Lewis Arrest

On Friday afternoon, Colorado offensive lineman Alex Lewis visited Bo Pelini in Lincoln and decided to transfer to Nebraska.  That night, he returned to  Boulder, and apparently had good time at a friend's graduation party.  About 15 hours after the news broke that Lewis was transferring out of Colorado, he was in handcuffs and headed to the Boulder County jail.

So what happened?  There was an altercation between Lewis, Colorado quarterback Jordan Webb, and Air Force Academy student Lee Bussey. Bussey ended up getting stitches for a cut to the head.  Lewis is alleged to have shoved Bussey into a brick wall; Lewis attorney said Bussey instigated the incident by assaulting Lewis first.

What's the truth?  It'll all come out in the end.  Lewis may have instigated the fight, or Lewis may have been defending himself.  Right now, it's important to not draw a lot of conclusions over what happened.  The only one that is safe to make is that Lewis had too much to drink on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Will Lewis ever make it to Lincoln?  Probably not this summer.  If the charges stick, probably not.  If Lewis is convicted, he won't...if only because he'll be incarcerated.  But if the charges are reduced or dropped, what happens?  That will be a call for Bo Pelini and Shawn Eichorst to make, and it's premature to draw any lines in the sand at this point.  If it does turn out that Lewis is only guilty of overdrinking and defending himself, that's one thing. Pelini might let him on the team, but on a probationary status that he keep his nose clean moving forward.  Or maybe not, considering a potential issue with alcohol abuse.

If it becomes a misdemeanor charge, it might be something else entirely. It all depends on what actually happened and who instigated this incident.

There's no need to rush to judgement here.  Lewis' legal situation is his biggest issue at this time; football is completely secondary. Even if he does transfer to Nebraska, he's not eligible to play until the 2014 season. So there is plenty of time to let the legal system resolve itself first, and then Nebraska can act accordingly.

As the facts become better known, this situation will sort itself out one way or the other.  I suspect that, in the end, Lewis won't be a Cornhusker....but that's a gut feel prediction, not a verdict.

Omaha Is Better Today With Horseman's Park Instead of Ak-Sar-Ben

This weekend, horse racing returns (albeit too briefly) for it's miniature meet at Horseman's Park in South Omaha. For one weekend, fans of the horses get a chance to reminisce about the good old days when tens of thousands of fans jammed packed Ak-Sar-Ben to watch and bet on the races. It's an era that's forever gone.  It was good for Omaha while it lasted, but what has replaced it is even better.

Instead, we have an upscale midtown redevelopment with shopping, restaurants, corporate headquarters, and the south campus of the University of Nebraska Omaha.  It's definitely an asset to the city once again.

With the Kentucky Derby last week and the Horseman's meet this week, many people wax nostalgic about what was lost with Ak-Sar-Ben.  The Ak-Sar-Ben of the 1970's was one thing.  The Ak-Sar-Ben of the late 1980's and 1990's was something completely different.  In it's prime, Ak-Sar-Ben was the only place to legally wager between Chicago and Las Vegas in the summertime.  Suddenly other states built tracks.  The dog races came to Council Bluffs.  Then the casinos.  Only people who truly loved horses still frequented the tracks, and the glory days of Ak-Sar-Ben were over.

Legendary horse trainer Jack Van Berg told the World-Herald today that he's still furious over the end of the track at Ak-Sar-Ben.  I understand why horsemen feel that way.  But they are wrong.  Said Van Berg to Mike Kelly:

“It's terrible. I never run into anybody in Omaha who isn't sick that they tore Ak-Sar-Ben down. It could have been saved if it got slot machines.”

Certainly, slot machines would have kept horse racing alive at Ak-Sar-Ben longer.  They might still be racing now.  They wouldn't be racing for much longer, though. Eventually, the casino would trump the horses, because as the casino becomes more lucrative, the horse racing becomes less and less important to the organization running the enterprise. Eventually, the racing people would sell out to an offer they can't refuse, and that is the end of racing.

Look at the river boats.  They started off as tourist attractions for cruising the river, and added slot machines to be a side attraction.  Soon the boats cruised less and less, until they finally stopped cruising altogether.  Now Harrah's is scrapping their Council Bluffs boat and moving the gambling onshore. 

Look at Bluffs Run. The dog track that took the first big bite out of Ak-Sar-Ben added slot machines to subsidize racing.  And over time, the business model shifted and the casino became the important thing, not the racing.  Bluffs Run became Horseshoe Casino, and the owners are tired of subsidizing the races.  They want to shut down the dog track.

Same thing would have happened in Omaha at Ak-Sar-Ben.  Ak-Sar-Ben would have momentarily revitalized with the casino, but eventually the midtown casino would push the horses out.  And I suspect that there wouldn't be a Horseman's Park there to ensure at least a little presence for horse racing when that happened.

So the future of Omaha would have had no horse racing, no expanded UNO campus, and those corporate headquarters might have ended up elsewhere.  But we would have had a shiny casino exporting profits off to Las Vegas.

In the grand scheme of things, Omaha probably got the best it could out of Ak-Sar-Ben.  Could it have been better?  Maybe.  But I suspect, considering the impacts I've seen personally from horse racing, casinos, and the jobs that opened up because Ak-Sar-Ben was redeveloped, Omaha would be much worse off with a casino at Ak-Sar-Ben.

Nebraska Basketball's Sell-Out Can Be a Lesson to UNO Hockey

Last Friday's news that Nebraska had sold out the first season of basketball at Lincoln's new Pinnacle Bank Arena was quite the eye-opener. I wasn't surprised as much by the interest as much as the speed that it occurred.  It's early May, and it's a done deal. It reminded people of the best days of Nebraska basketball 20 years ago, when players like Strickland and Piatkowski regularly beat teams like Kansas in front of packed, sellout crowds.

Tim Miles' teams haven't done that yet, but fans are optimistic that Nebraska basketball is heading that direction. Then add in the interest in a new arena: bigger, shiner, newer.  People buy tickets to get in on the ground floor and to see the new place.  As the interest increases, people on the fence quickly realize they too have to join now or be left on the outside. It snowballs from there, and suddenly Nebrasketball is the hottest hoops ticket in the state.  When all is said and done, Creighton will sell more because of the bigger facility, but the momentum is on the Huskers' side at this moment.

That's what a new sports venue does for attendance. Sarpy County's "Trailer Park" is the exception to the rule, where attendance has only increased slightly.  The new, cool factor is offset by the smaller ("right-sized", "undersized") capacity.  It hasn't increased attendance as much as it's increased revenue, thanks to a sweetheart deal from Sarpy County and higher ticket prices.

UNO has plans underway to build a new 7,000 seat hockey arena near the site of the former Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum. The goal is to downsize the building to better fit their current attendance, which averaged 7,233 last season.  That was down from nearly 8,000 fans a game the last couple of seasons, apparently because UNO cut back on promotions this season so that future capacity was not significantly less than current demand.

There is an important lesson to be learned in Lincoln.  Nebraska basketball used to regularly draw huge crowds to Lincoln, but times got tough.  Fans dropped away, and some realized you didn't need to buy season tickets.  Tim Miles and the new arena changed that dynamic.  Hope for better basketball, and a surge of interest made basketball a hot ticket again.

UNO used to sell out every game in hockey, and then attendance increased even further initially when UNO moved to what is now the CenturyLink Center ten years ago.  But that also was UNO's worst season on the ice.  New fans realized that UNO hockey wasn't very good, and stayed away.  Some fans saw plenty of empty seats and realized that they didn't need season tickets either.  So season ticket sales fell.

UNO's hockey fortunes have improved dramatically in recent years.  An NCAA tournament appearance two years ago, and strong starts the last two years give Maverick fans hope that something big is going to happen with UNO hockey.

Except there is that little issue of the "too small" arena that UNO is planning to build. Yes, 7,000 seats would have held UNO's crowds most games last season.  Just like a 10,000 seat basketball arena would have held most of Nebraska's basketball crowds last season.

Boom... once the final student, faculty, and club seats are sold, Nebraska will have sold out their new 15,000 seat arena for the entire inaugural season.

Yes, I understand that UNO is unlikely to ever fill up the 17,000 seat CenturyLink Center on a regular basis. The availability of single game tickets is always going to be a disincentive for committing to an entire season ticket.  But the other extreme is just as wrong: assuming that interest in UNO hockey is all that it can ever be isn't correct either.

If you believe like I do that Dean Blais is going to make UNO hockey a national power, then 7,000 seats is laughably too small for the Omaha market.  UNO's attendance was 8,314 for six seasons in the Civic Auditorium with some rather uncompetitive teams playing.  There's no reason to think that UNO couldn't draw that, and a few more, in a new arena near campus with a championship contending team playing.

The example of what happened in Lincoln with Nebraska basketball ticket sales this year is just more evidence that UNO's building plans are way, way too small.

Sarpy County Built It, They Didn't Come

A couple of weeks ago, I happened to find myself out at Cabela's, and decided to head south towards the "Trailer Park"...aka Werner Park, the second baseball stadium built in the Omaha area. I've been teased about how "it's not really that far away" and how "you can see the light towers from the Interstate" over the years, so I thought, what the heck... let's take a second look.

So I headed south...or tried to.  Tried a couple of roads heading south, and ended up at dead ends.  So rather than continue to waste time, I headed back to the Interstate and wound my way back to 126th Street and Highway 370.  So what's happening out in "BFE" as I like to call it?

Nothing.

"Pennant Place" in April 2013. Still a vacant field more than two years later.

Yeah, there's a baseball stadium there.  But that's it.  There are plans for development.  "Pennant Place" was announced two years ago, but despite multiple anticipated announcements, nothing is happening.  Real estate experts said at that time that while the area will eventually develop, it won't be because of the ballpark:

“When it comes to restaurants and retail,” [Trenton Magid, principal at World Group Commercial Real Estate] said, “commercial users ask ‘Where are the daytime customers and where are the night customers?' Right now, that location near Highway 370 and 126th (Street) needs both.”

Fast forward two years, the picture says it all. Nothing. Sarpy County was listed in the Top 100 counties in the entire nation for economic growth last year.  And still, nothing is happening out at BFE.  So I headed home.  My son fell asleep in the backseat as we drove back to Omaha; it's the same length of drive going from my home in West Omaha to BFE as it is driving downtown, despite the perception that the Trailer Park is a "west Omaha facility".

Friday night, I found myself back at TD Ameritrade Park.  I've been to baseball, football, and even hockey games at Omaha's new downtown stadium.  It's a great location.  After I finished up my post-game report on the Nebraska-Creighton game for CornNation, I walked past all of the new businesses that have been built around the new downtown ballpark.  GoodNights had a decent crowd.  Blatt Beer was jammed full of patrons.  (I hoped to get a Zesto's hot fudge shake for the drive home, but the sign on the window said that they weren't opening until May.  Boo.)

As I headed back to my car, all I could is wonder what could have been downtown.  The College World Series is great for downtown, but it's just two weeks.  Creighton baseball is nice, especially when Husker fans take over the ball park.  But after the Fourth of July, there isn't much scheduled at the downtown ballpark.  The Red Sky Festival only lasted two years.  The United Football League imploded despite setting great attendance numbers in Omaha.  Minor league baseball certainly would have filled a few more dates downtown, and probably led to even more growth downtown.

Eventually Sarpy County will develop around the Trailer Park...but it won't be because of the stadium, but rather because of the natural growth of the Omaha metro.  If it were actually because of the stadium, construction would have not only started, something would actually be open by now.

Maybe the people who said that the Royals' Triple-A affiliate would leave the area unless someone built them their own facility were right, and Sarpy County saved the day. I'm skeptical, because I still believe that Walter Scott and Warren Buffett would not have allowed the team to leave.  Once Sarpy County stepped in to give the team a sweetheart deal in exchange for a long-term commitment, Buffett and Scott no longer felt the need to maintain their ownership.

“When the wonderful decision was made by Sarpy County to build this terrific stadium — it’s the best stadium I’ve ever seen — it became clear that this team was going to be in Omaha forever,” Buffett said in a Tuesday press conference at Werner Park.
“And so Walter and I didn’t feel the same obligation any more because Sarpy County had taken care of our obligations.”

And as long as Sarpy County was promising to give the team nearly everything they wanted, there was no point in pursuing a compromise solution in Omaha.

So we now have two underutilized stadiums in the Omaha area.  One maintains a nationally prominent event in Omaha, but sits empty half the year.  It has led to moderate development, but it's not all it could be.  The other sits in outer reaches of the metro area, gets used a bit more, but sits in relative isolation.  Even more so, it is not all it could be.

And we're left to wonder... what could have been?  What if all of the interested parties (the NCAA, minor league baseball, the Zoo, and the associated government agencies) had worked together on finding the best compromise solution and found a way to make the downtown stadium work for everyone.

I understand why some of the organizations acted the way they did.  I suppose that's to be expected, to tell you the truth. But in the end, what the Omaha metro area got was less than what was possible when the whole Rosenblatt debate was going on.

Two stadiums are not better than one.

Omaha Awarded 2016 Olympic Swim Trials

Omaha's CenturyLink Center beats out domes in St. Louis and San Antonio to host the 2016 Olympic Swim Trials.  Exact dates are still being determined. That's likely a negotiation with NBC and potentially the NCAA. The 2016 Olympics in Rio will be held a week later than the 2012 Olympics in London, so there's less opportunity for a conflict.  More than likely, it'll be the first week of July.

Omaha hosted both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic trials, setting attendance records each time.  Obviously, USA Swimming wanted to stick with the proven location than try a bigger venue in another market.

Former UNO Assistant Steve Rohlik Taking over at Ohio State

Western College Hockey is reporting that former UNO assistant Steve Rohlik will be named head coach at Ohio State later today.

Steve Rohlik To Be Named Next Ohio State Head Coach, Per Reports sbn.to/ZNO6Wq
— SBN College Hockey (@SBNCollegePuck) April 24, 2013

Rohlik was an assistant under Mike Kemp from 1997 to 2000.  He then spent nine seasons at Minnesota-Duluth, reaching the Frozen Four in 2004, before jumping to Ohio State in 2010.  He was the runner-up to replace Kemp as UNO head coach in 2009, when Dean Blais was hired.

Bruins Fans are #BostonStrong

NHL fans have to be the best professional fans in this country. Sure, fans of NFL and Major League Baseball teams outnumber them in quantity, but hockey fans outclass them all in terms of their passion.  That was proven tonight, where the Bruins took to the ice for the first professional sporting event in Boston since Monday's terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon.

And what a tribute to the victims and this country where 17,565 fans sang the national anthem a cappella.

(H/T to Eric Burton's Goon's World and SB Nation)

Sadly, the Bruins lost 2-1 in an overtime shootout to the Buffalo Sabres.

The NCAA Hockey Tournament Needs to Return To Campus Sites

On Saturday night, the last team selected into the NCAA hockey tournament skated off with the trophy as #15 seed Yale defeated Quinnipiac for the national championship.  The story to me isn't so much Yale winning it as much as how Yale won it.

Two weeks earlier, Yale defeated Minnesota and North Dakota to emerge from the West Regional into the Frozen Four.  I don't get ESPNU at home, but fortunately, I found myself out of town with access to the Yale/North Dakota game on Dish Network.  North Dakota led most of the way, but a defensive meltdown in the last 10 minutes of the game led to Yale's upset.

It didn't help North Dakota's chances that the West Regional game was held in a mostly empty Grand Rapids, Michigan arena. Yep...the "west" regional was held in the eastern timezone.  Was it neutral ice?  Technically so, though the facility was so ill-suited for a tournament game that players had to use toilet stalls for lockers.

"Great run so far, kid. Now put your season on the line in an empty arena, on an unsafe playing surface, with a toilet for a locker." - NCAA
— Jayson Hajdu (@UNDSID) April 5, 2013

It was almost like the game was played at a municipal ice rink, albeit with shiny boards and shiny graphics on the ice.  Every hit against the boards created an echo in the largely quiet arena.  This wasn't a championship atmosphere.  It was no atmosphere, because the venue was nearly 600 miles away from the closest school in that region.

Immediately after that game, viewers were switched to the New Hampshire/UMass-Lowell game, and it was remarkable contrast in environment.  The neutral site was 40 miles from both campuses, making it an easy drive for every fan.  It was a packed house, and completely different feel.  A championship atmosphere.

There are lots of ideas over what to do with the early rounds of the NCAA hockey tournament.  A best of three first round could be interesting.  But no matter what the NCAA does, the opening games need to be played closer to fans.  NCAA baseball uses home fields.  Even NCAA women's basketball uses home courts for the opening rounds.  Is it an advantage for the home teams?  Absolutely...but at least the teams that get it have earned it on the field.  It's not a bidding situation where someone gets an advantage because a nearby community was able to submit a winning bid years earlier.

A community that doesn't support college hockey, I might add.  They depend on fans traveling in to make it work. When you get lucky enough to have teams within an hour, it can work.  It doesn't work away from the east coast, where the schools (and neutral sites) are much more spread out.

It's simply a matter of fairness, because the current format favors east coast schools.

Besides #TeamJack, Other Things to Like (& Dislike) At the Husker Spring Game

The highlight of the day was Jack Hoffman's 69 yard touchdown run, without a doubt. But there were other things of note on the day.  First, the good:

Alonzo Moore looks to be the next Nebraska wide receiver star.  I liked what I saw on his first catch of the day; I missed the second because I was explaining something to my daughter. Sadly, we didn't get a replay on the HuskerVision screens of it.  Jordan Westerkamp's hands are legit and as advertised as well.  Nebraska's receiver corps are absolutely loaded for the next couple of years.

A really nice hit late in the game by Corey Cooper, who looks to be finding a home at safety. Wil Richards had a nice game for the most part.

Tight ends were a big part of the day. I know not to read much of anything into anything we see in a Spring Game, but I think Nebraska is going to manage just fine without Ben Cotton and Kyler Reed this season.

And some of the not-so-good:

At first I was dismayed by the yardage that King Frazier and Graham Nabity were finding on the ground. I'll temper that by remembering that Nebraska had decent success running the ball last year behind the offensive line. The problems up front weren't in running; it was pass protection.  I still wish I could have seen a little more out of the defensive line.

I liked what I saw out of Zaire Anderson in the "compete" drill.  I saw some nice effort by Trevor Roach, and Jared Afalava made some plays.  So did Courtney Love, who really should have been worried about his high school prom date yesterday. Thomas Brown, on the other hand, seemed to catch my eye more with his misplays than anything.  Todd Neeley of the Hastings Tribune was awfully impressed with Brown, for what it's worth.

The player everybody wanted to see was Tommy Armstrong, and he showed a lot of promise. I can only wonder what the people who want Taylor Martinez benched thought when Armstrong fumbled on his very first play.   Did it again in the third quarter.  Nice moves in the open field, and a decent arm.  He looks more natural than Taylor Martinez on the option.  Is he a threat to unseat Martinez as the starter?  I'm not sure I saw anything like that, but what I did see is a solid option for 2014...and an insurance policy for 2013 that would allow Taylor Martinez to run more aggressively this season.  Call me decidedly old school about not liking Martinez running out of bounds to avoid contact.  I've understood why he's done it the last two years, but I've only accepted it grudgingly because of the lack of a viable backup. Now that excuse is off the board.  Do it judiciously, of course...but hopefully Martinez can be more aggressive on the ground in his senior season.

Placekicker Mauro Bondi showed a strong leg, including a doink off of the uprights on a kickoff with the wind. He kicks linedrives, which could be a problem on field goal attempts. Speaking of kicking, I think offensive tackle Zach Sterup actually looked like a viable alternative in the punt return game...especially in contrast to the bungling we saw last season.  His over-the-shoulder grab in the lineman punt-fielding competition was one of the highlights of the day.

Of course, the true highlight of the day was #TeamJack. Hard to believe that the story only keeps growing.

That Jack Hoffman TD run at Nebraska made it the best spring game ever.
— Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) April 7, 2013

Is it to early to think that Jack Hoffman should clear shelf space for an ESPY? #huskers
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) April 7, 2013

This 7-year-old cancer patient scored a TD in the Nebraska spring game: usat.ly/10HMJfc
— USA TODAY Sports (@USATODAYsports) April 7, 2013

Jack Hoffman leads @sportscenter this morning. I bust their crops a lot, but very classy, @espn. twitter.com/HuskersGameday…
— Huskers Gameday (@HuskersGameday) April 7, 2013

SC breaks down Jack Hoffman TD espn.go.com/college-footba…
— Joe Schad (@schadjoe) April 7, 2013

I just missed the morning SportsCenter where they opened w/Jack Hoffman story, but here's the ESPN vid from overnight espn.go.com/videohub/video…
— Jack Mitchell (@JackM_KLINRadio) April 7, 2013

An ESPY? You never know, but it's going to be awfully tough to top yesterday for a great story. I'm so glad that I was privileged to have a chance to watch it.

Jack Hoffman, the Husker Hero of the 2013 Spring Game

Not since Cory Schlesinger rolled into the end zone in the 1995 Orange Bowl has a touchdown moved me like the last, but greatest, touchdown of Nebraska's spring game. Jamal Turner's last second touchdown against Michigan State certainly was big. Ndamukong Suh's touchdown return against Colorado rattled every joint in Memorial Stadium.  Eric Crouch's "Black 41 Flash Reverse Pass" did the same.

But they didn't hit you in the heart like Schlesinger's run.  That touchdown put Nebraska in the lead in a place where Husker fans had felt nothing but pain for well over twenty years. You just knew that when Nebraska took that lead, this was going to be different, and that Tom Osborne would finally have that national championship that had eluded him for so many years.  The demons of 1983 and 1993 were exorcised as the Miami beast went down in Nebraska's house of horrors, and the emotions just flowed on that night.  That touchdown was different.

And that's what Jack Hoffman's 69 yard run did to me. Watching 100 college students yield the field to let a 7 year old boy battling brain cancer take the spotlight...yeah, that was special. It's been a busy week for #TeamJack.  Wednesday, the Hoffman's updated Jack's Caring Bridge site with the following update:

Today, we celebrate God's graciousness as another MRI revealed that the tumor is again stable to even slightly smaller.  Stability is success.  Shrinkage is a bonus.  All doctors agree that today's MRI, as compared to last April, reveals that the tumor has shrunk substantially.  

And what a way to celebrate that good news. It gave you goosebumps if you had the privilege of watching it in persons, and now the nation is now sharing in the story as it crashes into the Final Four.

@brettsbaker @peterburnsradio rare that I am misty eyed on the set.I was tonight.Nobody was watching us because of FF but what a story
— Scott Van Pelt (@notthefakeSVP) April 7, 2013

Already had CBS National call the 10/11 newsroom.Look for Jack Hoffman to get national publicity over the next few days
— Kevin Sjuts (@kevinsjuts) April 7, 2013

Why We Love Sports Today: 7-year-old cancer patient Jack Hoffman stars in Nebraska's spring game » youtu.be/_Jmisv1Spck | #SCtop10
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) April 7, 2013

If you are cynical, you could point out that it was just a meaningless scrimmage filled with gimmick events (offensive linemen fielding punts?)  But how cynical can you be after you see this?

Love this shot of Jack's TD run by @johnpeterson. Great reaction by the entire team. #huskers twitter.com/HailVarsity/st…
— Hail Varsity (@HailVarsity) April 7, 2013

Just look at what it means to the Hoffman family, and how it's going to impact their campaign to raise funds to help fight pediatric brain cancer.

What about the rest of the spring game? I have a few thoughts, but those are for another day. Tonight, I just want to reflect on a very special day.

FireMyCoach.com

I've never completely understood the impatience by some fans to fire the coach of their favorite program. Sometimes it's a no-brainer, such as when Bill Callahan was fired after posting the only two losing seasons in the last fifty years at Nebraska. Sometimes it's inevitable, such as Doc Sadler who was simply spinning his wheels of the Nebraska basketball program.

But more and more frequently, disappointment leads to a quick trigger finger on the fire button. Firing Frank Solich after a 9-3 regular season in 2003 seemed to start that trend around here. (Somebody will point out that he really should have been fired for a 7-7 record in 2002. That might make a little more sense, but it's still a quick trigger finger considering that Solich did lead the Huskers to the Rose Bowl and the national championship game in 2001.) We have people in Nebraska calling for Bo Pelini to be fired, even though there aren't many coaches not named Nick Saban who can match his record over the last five years.

I've even lost friends over it.  One college friend told me last winter to "Mark my words, Nebraska won't get to nine wins in 2012" and that he "couldn't wait to have this conversation after an even less successful 2012 season".  Well, I reminded him of his predictions after the Iowa game, and as you might guess, it didn't go very well.  And it went completely south after the Big Ten championship game debacle.

Nobody likes losing in big games, and it's even worse when you get embarrassed in those same big games. I get the frustration.  I don't get the impatience with the quick trigger finger on the eject button.  That's the mentality that starts programs into the coaching churn; if a coach doesn't produce immediate results or has a not-so-great season, it's time to find someone new.  And I'm going to say it:  that's the mentality that brings Bill Callahan to town.

Case in point:  UCLA basketball.  Fired Ben Howland after losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Has UCLA been in a bit of a funk in recent years?  Yes.  But Howland took the Bruins to three straight Final Fours in 2006, 2007, and 2008.  That was then, this is now.  Out he goes.

And when the rest of the world asks what the hell UCLA is thinking, Bruins fans get indignant.  And when it comes time to find someone who can possibly do better, most of the better candidates slam the door (or the phone) at the prospect of entering that cesspool.  So who does UCLA hire?

Steve Alford.  Yep, the failed Iowa coach who is known as "redacted" at BlackHeardGoldPants.com.  Stepped back to New Mexico, and drove a 33 year beat writer to quit last month rather than continue to try and cover an Alford team.  He's since removed his rant; he's probably giving it a second chance now that Alford's left for Lala Land.

Case in point:  North Dakota hockey coach Dave Hakstol. NoDak held a 1-0 lead over Yale midway through the third period of the regional final, only to lose 4-1 in a spectacular meltdown.  Leading to the inevitable:

Hakstol needs to go.9 Seasons, 4 Frozen Fours, 1 final, ZERO championships and a 65% winning percentage.W/ UND's talent?Unbelievable.
— Lyndsay Lee (@L__Lee) March 30, 2013

Four Frozen Fours in nine years sounds pretty good?  Pretty bad for some North Dakota fans.  North Dakota hockey fans are kind of like Nebraska football fans. They showed their passion in overrunning Omaha in February.  They have high expectations, and when those high expectations aren't met, some are quick to look for something else.

Case in point:  Denver hockey coach George Gwozdecky.  Rebuilt a proud program over the last 19 years, but forced out because he hadn't had more success in the NCAA tournament.

Grade-A source says George Gwozdecky did not resign. Forced out, terminated, for lack of NCAA success and failure to come to terms 4 ext
— Mike Chambers (@MChambersDP) April 1, 2013

Yeah... all the guy did was win the 2004 and 2005 national championships.  What have you done for me lately?  The Pioneers were miserable for most of the 1970's and 1980's, and even into the 1990's...but hey, that was then.

I guess if you are going to fire guys like Ben Howland and George Gwozdecky, then I guess you can fire guys like Bo Pelini and Dave Hakstol.  But don't expect things to get better after you fire a winning coach.

Kugler's Call Tells All You Need to Know When Kevin Ware's Leg Goes Wrong

Thanks to a cranky preschooler, I was spared from watching Kevin Ware's injury during today's NCAA tournament game between Louisville and Duke. It's probably something that every parent can identify with; the kids acting up while you are watching sports. When I came back and checked via Twitter, all I could find were tweets discussing how gruesome it was...but nothing that told me what had happened.

I'm glad I missed that live.Caught a glimpse. I've never seen that in a basketball game.I can't look at that.
— David McGee (@dpm917) March 31, 2013

And of course, once it happened, nobody wanted to see it replayed ever again.  Only problem is that those of us who missed it, the tweets didn't say what had happened.   And of course, that led to the video showing up on YouTube and other sources where people inevitably went to learn what had happened, if they had missed it.

Was on the road when injury happened. Just saw highlight now on YouTube of Kevin Ware. My goodness. How does that happen? Unreal. #Awful
— Jake Sorensen (@937JakeSorensen) March 31, 2013

Even worse, I came across a photo which may - or may not - have been of the actual injury on Instagram. Sadly, it was shown to me by a very frightened young girl who saw something graphic and gory on the iPhone. 

Couldn't there be a happy medium in reporting these incidents?  Nobody needs to see what happened again; if you saw it live, that was enough and couldn't be helped. YouTube or zoomed in photos not only aren't necessary in these situations, they are simply deplorable.  But by that same manner, just calling it an "injury" and "gory" isn't exactly helpful.  Heck, none of the reports I had even indicated which team had suffered the injury...

That's where radio came in, and Kevin Kugler's sensitive and accurate call of the play.

"It's very very bad, and it is a leg that has gone the wrong direction.. I can see it from here. It is abs...all of the players, his teammates, are on the floor, Siva, Behanan can't even look, he's rolling around at the free throw line,  Russ Smith is coming the floor nearly in tears, Rick Pitino's away from the huddle, Russ Smith is in tears Behanan is crying, sobbing, at the free throw line as Kevin Ware is down in front of the Louisville bench, his leg turned a way that a leg is not supposed to go. This .. is .. devastating, and this team is absolutely shaken to the core right now."

Pretty much said everything you needed to know about the injury and it's severity...but without the gory details.  Props to Kugler for making the right call in that situation...

UNO's 2013-14 Hockey Schedule Comes In Two Parts

The NCHC released the inaugural schedule for all eight hockey teams in the new conference, and UNO's  schedule is quite the dandy.  The biggest observation is that UNO has a three week holiday break, with no games scheduled between December 7th and January 3rd.  Before that holiday break is surrounded by road trips on both the front and back, plus another bye week on Thanksgiving weekend.

That's seven weeks without a home game.  UNO plays Miami on November 22nd and 23rd, then doesn't play again in Omaha until January 10th.  I've never seen a schedule like that; in fact, it's almost like UNO has two separate seasons scheduled this upcoming winter.

November's schedule is quite impressive.  A three-week stretch of home games against North Dakota, Michigan, and Miami.  You have to expect the NoDak fans to flock down I-29 for this series, which will run Saturday/Sunday to allow Creighton to open their basketball season on Friday night.  Only one game conflicts with a Husker home game; on November 16th, the Huskers host Michigan State while UNO plays Michigan.  The Huskers travel to Michigan for football on the North Dakota weekend and travel to Penn State on the Miami weekend.

The second half schedule is a little lighter with Minnesota-Duluth, St. Cloud State, Denver, and Colorado College coming to Omaha.  No marquee names to the casual sports fan, but you do have have recent national champion and two NCAA tourney teams from this season in the mix.

Heartwarming Article Highlights What Dirk Chatelain Does Best

I've long been a critic of some of Dirk Chatelain's "analysis" work in the World-Herald, but his Sunday profile of Howell's Matthew Gooch shows that he's a talented writer. Something that I've long been guilty of forgetting at times. It's easy to do when Chatelain goes off the deep end with his "bench Taylor Martinez even though Nebraska doesn't really have a backup" or "Creighton vs. Wichita State is the biggest basketball game ever at the CenturyLink Center" opinions.  Or "Nebraska football's biggest problem in 2012 was turnovers on offense."

But I was reminded of what Chatelain does well a few weeks ago when he reminisced about the 1989 Nebraska state high school basketball tournament, when Wahoo beat Lincoln Pius X and Millard South beat Columbus in back-to-back classic games.  I thought back and remembered Chatelain's great 2011 feature on Ameer Abdullah and Ron Brown, and how they coexist despite their differences in religion.

Some people like Chatelain's statistical analysis, but I still struggle to understand why. Take Chatelain's look at Nebraska's recruiting of football players within a 500 mile radius. A lot of people loved the article, but I didn't understand the point of it.  I asked several times for those people who loved Chatelain's analysis what we should have learned from it, and nobody could actually tell me what that would be.  Nobody wanted to actually come out and say it, but it seemed to come down to Chatelain's ongoing vendetta with Bo Pelini.  Pelini's not getting the talent regionally, so this must be yet another thing that Pelini is screwing up.

Except the data actually shows that the issue is more about the relative lack of talent within 500 miles of Lincoln. But you didn't read THAT in the World-Herald.

It really makes me wonder why the World-Herald keeps pushing Chatelain to write statistical analysis pieces. Maybe it's because that's what Chatelain likes to do.  Maybe because it's because it gets people talking and draws eyeballs to the World-Herald and it's web site.

It's not because he's very good at the actual analysis.

There's nothing wrong with saying Chatelain is a fine feature writer. There's room in the World-Herald, and in journalism in general, for a good story to be told.  And this week, he showed that he can find a great story to tell.  He should be doing that more. 

Most news organizations, especially the ones that cover sports, assign people to roles that match their strengths. Some people do a great job with X's and O's.  Some people do a great job with analysis.  Some people are strong with statistics.  And some people are great interviewers.  ESPN doesn't assign Jeremy Schaap to game coverage, because that's not his strength.  ESPN doesn't ask Shelley Smith to analyze the zone read or to discuss the difference between the Big Ten and the SEC.

So why doesn't someone at the World-Herald ask Chatelain to focus on what he does best, and to stop doing things he's just not very good at?  Are they that addicted to the page-hits that Chatelain's misanalysis creates that they are willing to put an inferior product out?  It was pretty eye-opening in October when Sam McKewon had no recollection of Chatelain's comments from the UCLA game a few weeks earlier.

That speaks volumes to me about what the rest of the World-Herald's staff REALLY thinks about Dirk Chatelain's analytical work.  If they don't think it's worth reading, it's probably not fit for publication.

UNO's Hockey Season Finishes It's Crash Landing

Disappointed?  Yes.  Surprised? No.  I suspect that's the reaction of most Maverick hockey fans to Sunday's season ending 3-1 loss to Minnesota State.  Two months ago, UNO sat atop the WCHA standings, but fell apart in the final weeks.  UNO lost ten out of their final 13 games, and dreams of playing for a conference and national title are long gone.

UNO never once qualified for the WCHA's "Final Five" tournament in St. Paul; they are the only WCHA school to not make it to the Exel Energy Center during those three years.  In fact, UNO's last playoff tournament appearance was in 2005.

Hard to believe that UNO's first season in a conference is still the best March the Mavericks have ever had.  After upsetting Northern Michigan in a three game series, UNO returned home to play an unexpected play-in quarterfinal game against Bowling Green.  That legendary "Tuesday Night" game against Bowling Green might have been one of the Civic Auditorium's greatest nights.  Three days later, UNO knocked off Michigan in the "St. Patrick's Day Massacre", sending the Cinderella Mavericks to the CCHA Championship game.  The clock struck midnight that night; Sparty shut out the Mavs 6-0.  And that's as close as UNO has come to a conference title.

It's not like Dean Blais doesn't know how to win championships; he won two national titles in ten years at North Dakota.  But something hasn't clicked in Omaha the last two seasons.

Or did UNO's first half performance give fans an unrealistic expectation for this season?  UNO was picked to finish eighth in the preseason coaches and media polls.  They finished seventh.  So they exceeded expectations.  Slightly.  But oh, so much more was possible.

So now Dean Blais has to sit down and figure out what went wrong in the last month and a half, and find a solution. He'll have to do that without defenseman Andrej Sustr, who's headed for the NHL.  That's should not be a shock to anybody; NBC hockey analyst Pierre McGuire began touting Sustr for the bigs back in October.  Sounds like there is a good chance that junior Matt White could turn pro as well.  But could Hobey Baker candidate Ryan Walters return?

UNO's gone pool is said to include Sustr, White and Young.Walters is iffy; everybody else is a "probably stay."
— The Red Army (@RedArmyUNO) March 19, 2013

So thus ends UNO's brief stay in the WCHA.  Now things get serious in the NCHC, where there won't be any nights off.  Yes, Minnesota and Wisconsin are off the schedule.  So is the Kryptonite from Bemidji State.  But there aren't any Michigan Techs or Alaska-Anchorages on the conference schedule anymore either.

One of these days, UNO will play in a conference tournament in the Twin Cities.  Lets just hope it's sooner rather than later.

UNO's Arena Plan Downsizes Further To Meet $75 Million Budget

Some of my questions about UNO's funding plans for the proposed hockey arena for Maverick hockey and other sports were answered by Henry Cordes in Sunday's World-Herald.  But a previous concern is becoming magnified.

Where will that extra $4.7 million in annual revenue come from? It's not complete, but we do have a blueprint:

$1.4 million from the sale of "premium" seating (suites and club seating).  Also "priority seating" for the best seats in the arena.  That's revenue that mostly goes to MECA to pay for the CenturyLink Center with UNO's current arrangement.  I believe UNO has implemented some "priority seating" plans for the best lower level seats at the CenturyLink Center; that'll probably expand moving forward.

$1.2 million from concession revenue - including beer.  That's probably a reasonable number.

$400,000 assuming that ticket sales will increase moving forward.  UNO hopes to increase season ticket sales to 6,000 with the smaller arena.

That's $3 million.  The rest would come from naming rights, advertising, and rental of the facility for other events.  Considering that the Trailer Park gets over $300,000 for naming rights, you see that this probably is a viable figure.

Heritage Services, the consortium of Omaha's power brokers, has signed off on UNO's plans, which gives it the stamp of approval.  At this point, it's certain to happen.

While UNO's numbers seem to be coming into focus, one of my previous concerns has actually magnified.  I've long felt that 7,500 seats for UNO hockey was too small.

So guess what?  As the plans have evolved, the size of the facility has actually gone DOWN.  They've even used a euphemism that I've long disagreed with.  In real estate, agents frequently describe tiny, cramped accommodations as "cozy".  In stadiums, the term is "right sized".

Or in plain English:  It's small...too small.  Now UNO is talking about a 7,000 to 7,500 seat arena, reducing the size in an effort to keep the arena cost within the originally discussed budget of $75 million.

Cordes' article says that attendance for UNO hockey had dropped to 5,000 a game.  That's completely misleading; for the last several years, UNO hockey has averaged between 7,000 and 8,000 fans per game.  Reportedly, UNO has sold only 4,000 season tickets in recent years.  That's probably accurate.  Some of the difference is with free tickets.  Some of those freebies go to marketing partners, some of those freebies go to students.  Those probably aren't going away.  At least not for students.  If anything, UNO needs to make sure that students have a sizable presence at Maverick hockey games - and not have to pay for them. 

That "6,000 tickets sold" per game figure is pretty close to a sellout, assuming students still get in free to a 7,000 seat UNO arena.  And it's something that probably can be expected if the understanding is that UNO hockey tickets aren't going to be available at the door.  As long as the ticket price hasn't gotten unreasonable for fans.

But with UNO hockey crowds capped at somewhere under 7,500, it's extremely disheartening to realize that UNO hockey will not grow any more than it is currently.  UNO hockey once sold out the 8,314 Civic Auditorium.  Ten years later, UNO is now contemplating 1,000 FEWER seats than before.

I'm not going to criticize the plans for UNO to build a long-overdue and very much needed practice facility. But the arena concept is becoming what UNO can afford to do on their own, even if it's not what UNO really needs.

Questions Still Exist on UNO Arena Proposal

Nebraska's Board of Regents approved UNO's financing plan for a $75 million arena south of Ak-Sar-Ben, seeming to make the plan an almost complete certainty.  Which is a shame because the numbers reported in today's Omaha World-Herald do not make sense.

The World-Herald reports that UNO anticipates that revenues will increase by $4.7 million a year, mostly from hockey.  That would more than cover the bonds that will pay for the arena ($2.1 million) and the operating costs of the building ($2.3 million).

$4.4 million is less than $4.7 million, right?  So what's the problem?

I'm not sure where that $4.7 million is going to come from in "increased hockey revenues".  The $2.1 million in bonds makes sense; amortize $35 million over 25 years at 3.25% interest, and you get about $2.1 million a year.  So that number seems to gel.  Operating costs of the arena are a clear unknown to me, but let's accept that number for now.

Where does the $4.7 million in increased revenue come from?  With ownership of their arena, UNO can count on all of the profits from concessions, including beer.  All of the advertising revenue, including naming rights, one would expect.  (Unless those were already promised in the $35 million being donated for the project.)  Parking revenue as well.

But $4.7 million equates to about $225,000 in ADDITIONAL revenue per hockey game, based on a 21 game season.  In a 7500 seat arena with students (who should continue to receive free tickets), that equates to an extra $30 per fan in attendance for every hockey game.

That's an awful lot of beer and hot dogs.  Heck, at $30 a ticket, that would make UNO hockey the most expensive season ticket around - even pricier than Nebraska football.  (Even if it's 20+ games versus seven or eight games a season.)

So it's not going to all come from ticket holders.  But it's not going to come from beer sales either.  And that's where the questions come in.  $4.7 a year in additional revenue is a big number, and one that really needs to be explained.  Yes, they can sell suites (some of which probably will go to the donors).  Yes, they can sell premium club seating.  But beer and hot dogs aren't going to make that up.

Now, moving to the new arena will eliminate UNO's costs of renting the CenturyLink Center.  That improves the bottom line, but then they have to take over all of the maintenance.  I wonder if the $2.3 million is instead the additional cost of arena operations over what UNO is paying to rent the CenturyLink Center for hockey games.  But since I've never operated an arena, I have no idea how much it costs to run.

I do believe the $4.7 million in additional revenue is overly optimistic, unless the plan is to charge UNO fans significantly more in the future.

And if that's really how this arena is going to be funded, then this plan was a major mistake for the future of UNO athletics.  Since I know there are many smart people overlooking this plan, I doubt that this is the case.  But I'm still curious because the numbers, at face value from what we know, don't make sense.

Outdoor Hockey Games Are Cool: Pula, Croatia

Some UNO hockey fans still have a bad taste in their mouth from last month's outdoor game at TD Ameritrade Park.  Some of that is because UNO got beaten...and beaten badly by North Dakota.  Some of that is because the North Dakota fans overran Omaha.

But that doesn't change the fact that outdoor games are simply cool. UNO laying an egg last month didn't change that reality.  Want more proof?  My fellow CornNation author David McGee sends us this highlight video of a KHL game played at a 2,000 year old Roman amphitheater in Pula, Croatia.

Outdoor hockey games are perhaps the coolest thing in sports, but they can't do this in the states. vimeo.com/49591164# #fb
— David McGee (@dpm917) March 13, 2013

Yeah, that was cool.  Hopefully, UNO gives the outdoor game another try in a few years.

Nighthawks Players Suing UFL, But Is That The End of Minor League Football in Omaha?

78 former UFL players, including former Huskers Phillip Dillard, Zac Lee, Mike Caputo, Cody Glenn, Jay Moore, and Steve Octavien, have filed suit against the UFL and the Omaha Nighthawks for wages owed from the aborted 2012 season.  When the UFL shut down last October, the plan was to resume play this spring. This lawsuit makes it pretty clear the Nighthawks won't be playing in the UFL again.  Even if this lawsuit is settled, what player would waste their time in the UFL after this?  The UFL essentially stopped breathing last October, so while it doesn't have an official "death certificate", there's no point in holding out hope that the UFL will come back.

Some will say that this is proof minor league football won't work.  I'm not sure I buy that.  The crowds the Nighthawks drew in 2010 to Rosenblatt Stadium were proof that there is a market for minor league football in Omaha.  And San Diego businessman Jaime Cuadra thinks minor league football is viable nationally.  He's resurrecting the USFL, with plans to play as a spring football league.  While the USFL talks about Omaha as a market, it's a market that lacks facilities for football in the spring.  TD Ameritrade Park was designed for baseball, and the NCAA would never allow football teams to tear up the field prior to the College World Series.  UNO's Caniglia Field is being converted to a soccer pitch, so unless the USFL wants to play at a high school field, there's no place to play in Omaha.

Dead concept for Omaha right?  That's what I had concluded.

But...not so fast.  Seems the organizers of the USFL have an idea.  The Boston Globe reports that the USFL is planning to build stadiums in some markets as part of a larger commercial development:

Now, with a large real estate developer aboard, the league is about to finalize paperwork with its first five franchises, some to be based in new stadia the league will build at a cost as high as $500 million each. Each stadium will have a seating capacity of about 25,000, and in most cases will be part of a larger real estate plan that includes commercial space.

Well, that changes things quite a bit.  If the USFL is going to build stadiums, suddenly Omaha is more viable than before.  Does this make the entire USFL concept viable?  I'm still skeptical, but if private owners are willing to make this gamble with their own money in other areas of the country, why not Omaha?

The first five franchises appear to be headed towards Southern California, Austin/San Antonio, Louisiana, Alabama, and Ohio.  Omaha is mentioned as another market the USFL is looking at along with Birmingham and Memphis.  The USFL is now talking about playing next spring, so if a stadium is going to be built, construction would have to start really soon.  That's unlikely, but maybe 2015.  The USFL has hired Jim Bailey, a former NFL executive, to run the new league.  That's football executive experience, which suggests that this might actually happen.

If private investors want to build a football stadium in the Omaha area with their own money, I view that as a good thing for Omaha.  Frankly, it would be an exciting idea if it were to happen.  I also have to say that if I had $100 million lying around, I probably wouldn't spend it on a minor league football team and a stadium. But if someone else wanted to do that, and do it without expectations of sizable support from local government, other than permitting, I'm all in favor of it.

Like I said, I'm not sure I believe in the business case nationally, but if someone is going to try to do it, Omaha has proven themselves to be the place to make it happen.

Searching For Answers For Maverick Hockey Collapse

Two months ago, UNO sat on top of the WCHA standings after sweeping Colorado College and setting the expectations of more - much more - in the second half of the season.

"...this is UNO's best start to a hockey season ever.  And considering that Dean Blais teams traditionally have been stronger down the stretch, that's a really positive sign."

 Well, that didn't happen. Not even close.  In fact, just the opposite.  It's almost like it was bizarro opposite world for UNO hockey.  The Mavs only won five of the remaining 13 games, and ironically two of those wins were actually against Bemidji State, UNO's version of Kryptonite.  Even worse, UNO has lost their last five games and fell all the way to seventh place in the WCHA. UNO now has to go on the road to play Minnesota State in Mankato for the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

The first signs of trouble emerged when North Dakota swept the Mavs in early February, but my warning alarms went off last weekend against Wisconsin. Crisp passing always seemed to be a trademark of UNO's teams under Dean Blais, but against the Badgers, they were anything but.  Off target, and too frequently picked off.

A good Twitter exchange between myself and UNO's Red Army Supreme Commander Rick Jeffries ensued during the early stages of Saturday night's 6-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth:

@husker_mike The fact that Saturday night games have gone badly since January is further evidence of a condition problem.
— The Red Army (@RedArmyUNO) March 10, 2013

He points out that UNO has gone 3-11 in March under Blais.  That's significant.  Another statistic that's eye-popping is that UNO hasn't been to Joe Louis Arena since 2005...and has never been to the Exel Energy Center since moving to the WCHA.  And right now, nobody in Omaha sees much hope of UNO getting there this season.

The March losses are one thing, but the February swoons are a recent development, but a trend emerged.  In Blais' first season (with Mike Kemp's players, mind you), UNO finished the season 10-5...the last two losses were in the CCHA quarterfinals to Ferris State.  In 2010-11, UNO finished the season 8-8, but the last three losses were to arch-nemesis Bemidji State then that disputed Michigan NCAA tournament game.  Last season, UNO ended the season on a 5-10-2 run. And this season, UNO is 2-8 in their last ten games.

@husker_mike The fact that Saturday night games have gone badly since January is further evidence of a condition problem.
— The Red Army (@RedArmyUNO) March 10, 2013

I agree, this looks like a conditioning problem. That's a layman - and outsider's perspective - to the problem. I could be wrong, but I remember when Dean Blais first came to town, he told his players to get ready to run.  And run.  And run.  That first team was stronger down the stretch.  His second wasn't bad down the stretch.  But it's getting progressively worse and worse down the stretch.

@redarmyuno @runwiththedogs Reviewing the conditioning coach. Find someone who has experience with hockey conditioning. Not just strength.
— Kerry Ring (@klring) March 10, 2013

I could very well be wrong here.  Conditioning wasn't a problem with Blais' North Dakota teams, but it's looking like it is in Omaha. Blais is a proven winner, so you have to believe that his system works.

That being said, it isn't working in Omaha.  Which raises the question as to why.  That's the question that Dean Blais needs to answer.  That's the question that Trev Alberts needs to be asking.  That's the question that Mike Kemp needs to be asking.  It's not a question as to whether Dean Blais is the right coach for UNO; he undoubtedly is.

But something needs to change with UNO hockey. And frankly, this is more urgent than any arena plans, unless the root cause can somehow be traced back to the lack of campus practice facilities.

Creighton Jumping Up to the Big East?

By all accounts, we could be hearing any day (maybe any hour now) that Creighton will be leaving the Missouri Valley Conference to join the "Catholic Seven" in a reformulated, football-free Big East Conference. Regular readers of this blog know that I have no love for Creighton, so that's probably going to influence my opinion on the matter.

Is it a good move for Creighton?  I can't answer that, but I think Creighton needs to ask this question for all of their other sports first, and then go back to basketball. How does this affect the Bluejays' rising soccer program?  How about their solid baseball program?  How about their womens' teams?  The question isn't how would they fare in the games, but rather how would they schedule games?  Do they have to fly everywhere?  Will Creighton's teams spend all of their time on long bus trips?

I don't know those answers, but Bruce Rasmussen should.  And he can then make an economic decision that the revenue that Big East basketball brings to Creighton will more than fund any increased travel expenses their other teams will make.  Or not.  And that should guide his decision.

Can Creighton compete in the Big East?  Maybe.  I'm sure some Creighton fan will jump up and point out that Creighton beat Wisconsin and that their RPI is better than many other Big East teams.  Duly noted.  But let's also point out that Creighton has never played the quantity of top flight opponents that they would face night-in and night-out in the Big East.  Anything can happen in a one game scenario.  Nebraska took a top-ranked Michigan team to the wire this season.  Beat a top-20 RPI Minnesota team last night.  (Or they were, anyway...)  Last season, they beat Indiana.  Upsets happen.  Creighton got caught by several stinker performances against lesser Mo-Valley teams last month.

One thing I learned from Nebraska's move to the Big Ten is that your perceptions of a conference change once you get inside.  And it's tough initially to change leagues because your opponents just have one new opponent...you have an entirely new schedule of unfamiliar teams to learn and understand.

One thing is clear:  moving to the Big East would be an incredible increase in prestige for Creighton basketball.  They wouldn't be a mid-major team anymore.  They would be in the big time, playing big-time schools week after week.  That's good for Creighton. Creighton vs. Georgetown? Creighton vs. Villanova?  Creighton vs. St. Johns?  That's not Bradley or Evansville anymore.

It also raises another interesting question.  What does the Missouri Valley do in respond?  Do they accept being a nine game conference?  Or do they search out another member.

Maybe one in a market that's a close drive to many other Valley schools.  One in a market that has fallen in love with the Valley name.

Would they look to add UNO?  And what would Valley membership mean for Maverick sports?  It's an interesting idea.  Could UNO compete in the Valley now?  No, and they aren't even NCAA tournament eligible for a couple more years.  But eventually, you never know.  And it would be a heck of a boost for UNO's basketball programs to play in a conference like the Valley.

Another Wisconsin Beat-Down

After the results of the last week, the only thing left for Wisconsin to do is annex the state of Nebraska. The Badgers blew out Nebraska 77-46 on Tuesday in basketball, then swept UNO in hockey this weekend. Nobody should have been surprised by the basketball loss, though Huskers fans should have been dismayed by the margin of defeat.

The hockey losses were a most disappointing surprise. Certainly UNO went into it looking for the sweep themselves, but never led all weekend.  (Well, they did briefly take a 2-1 lead on Wisconsin until the call was reversed after a ridiculously long goal review.)  UNO entered the weekend in third place, just one point behind Minnesota. Now they sit precariously in sixth place, one point ahead of Denver.  The top six teams host first round playoff series games in two weeks, and Denver finishes the season with last place Alaska-Anchorage.

UNO has to travel to Minnesota Duluth.  With the presumption that Denver is going to win both games at home, UNO probably needs to get a road sweep to retain home ice.  Or maybe a split of the series, and hope that North Dakota sweeps Minnesota State-Mankato.  There are a few other wacky scenarios that help, but for the most part, UNO is in the same situation they were in last week:  two wins gets you home ice.  The problem is that they failed both times this weekend.

Here's what's more ominous:  UNO has now lost five straight home games (not including the exhibition game loss last weekend).  So frankly, I'm not sure home ice is any sort of advantage for this team.  It's hard to understand, but perhaps without having the distractions of having class and friends around, this team might play better.  Maybe it really would be best for UNO to finish the season on the road.

So what has happened to UNO hockey over the last month or so? Deep down, I think it's the same problem they had last season: they are worn down. All weekend long, we saw sloppy imprecise passes that, when lucky, just failed to reach their target, and sometimes resulted in a turnover.  Add in some questionable goaltending, especially by senior John Faulkner, and you've got a leaky ship.  For much of this season, UNO's defense has been pretty solid, but it's was broken down badly by the Badgers this weekend.  North Dakota had their way with the Mavs three weeks ago as well.

The move to pull the redshirt off of Ryan Massa now looks like a desperation move in hindsight. He's probably UNO's best goaltender at this point of the season, but he's anything but in the form he showed last season.  I'm still not sure why Faulkner didn't get pulled last night in the third period of last night's 6-2 loss.  A goalie change wouldn't have changed the outcome, but it would have given a rusty Massa another opportunity to get some game action.

The officiating crew didn't help things much. The waived-off goal on Friday night didn't take nearly as long as the infamous Michigan "goal" in the 2011 NCAA tournament, but it was the same sour result for UNO.  Did James Polk interfere with Wisconsin's Joel Rumpel? Yes, but only after he got hauled down by the Badger defenseman.  A phantom "embellishment" penalty on Johnnie Searfoss after he was tripped up by Joseph LaBate? It was almost like officials Brian Thul and Craig Welker were auditioning for jobs in the Big Ten next season.

But that's not why UNO lost on Saturday night, and not really why UNO got swept.  UNO isn't playing very good hockey at this point, and that's a very dangerous thing to be doing in March. Up until last season, Dean Blais teams hit their stride in the second half of the season, but injuries and defections seem to have overwhelmed the Mavs the last two seasons.  This season isn't over; UNO still has a chance to regroup and make a run on things.  But they have to turn it around and fast.  Wisconsin has only lost three games since Thanksgiving, so it could be that the Badgers are just playing that well.  But the margin for error is gone now.  UNO must win on the road now to keep the season alive. And any dreams of playing in the NCAA tournament depend solely on winning three games in St. Paul and earning the WCHA's autobid.  And to do that, UNO first has to find a way to get to St. Paul.

And that road just got a whole lot tougher with a lost weekend against Wisconsin. And after the B1G football championship game and all of the other games against the Badgers, I've seen too much heartbreak from watching my teams battle Wisconsin in recent months.

UNO Rips Off Massa's Redshirt For Late Post-season Run

I wasn't surprised initially that Ryan Massa played last night in an exhibition game against the US National Development Team. The game didn't count in the standings, so there's no sense in playing any critical players unless you have to. Matt White, Josh Archibald, and Brent Gwidt were all healthy scratches for just that reason.  And with John Faulkner seemingly hitting a wall this month after playing the entire month of January, it's no surprise that Massa saw some action.  Or so I thought.

UNO typically plays all their goalies in an exhibition game...even the ones who are redshirting.  So why not get Massa in some game action? It's not like Faulkner or Dayn Belfour need more action.   And it's a meaningless game.  The postponement of the game from Thursday to Saturday mean that I couldn't be there.  I wasn't alone:  "Krutov" the MavBoni driver wasn't there either.

Neither was head coach Dean Blais, who didn't let the schedule change affect his plans to be out recruiting this weekend.

One minor fly in that plan:  I assumed this game would work like it did for other exhibition games.  I was wrong, because I didn't really understand the NCAA redshirt rule.

14.2.3.1.3 Preseason Exhibitions/Preseason Practice Scrimmages During Initial Year. During a student-athlete’s initial year of enrollment at the certifying institution, he or she may compete in preseason exhibition contests and preseason practice scrimmages (as permitted in the particular sport per Bylaw 17) without counting such competition as a season of competition. (Revised: 5/9/06)- Source: NCAA Compliance Manual

So incoming freshmen can play in the preseason exhibition game (i.e Manitoba, British Columbia, Lethbridge) without affecting their eligibility.  This game against Team USA isn't a preseason exhibition game, and Ryan Massa isn't an incoming freshman.

So that redshirt is officially burned.

So why would you burn a redshirt so late in the season?  Probably best to say it's desperation at this point.  Faulkner got shelled in the outdoor game, and hasn't been terribly strong in recent weeks.  Dayn Belfour had an impressive performance in his first game against North Dakota, but got pulled last weekend against Alaska-Anchorage.  Bottom line is that Blais isn't totally confident in either Faulkner or Belfour.

UNO is currently tied with North Dakota for third place in the WCHA.  Minnesota State-Mankato is one point behind in fifth place.  Wisconsin and Denver are tied for sixth place just three points behind.  UNO faces Wisconsin in a critical series this weekend, and UNO desperately needs to win at least one and preferably both games this weekend to clinch home ice for the first round of the playoffs.

For the NCAA tournament, the situation is even more dire.  UNO sits in a tie for 20th place in the Pairwise standings, which determines the seedings for the 16 team NCAA tournament.  If UNO wants to get to the Big Skate, they have to win, and win a lot of games.

Two wins in their last four games against the Badgers and Minnesota-Duluth probably gets the Mavs home ice.  But winning all four might get the Mavs the #2 seed in the WCHA playoffs.  UNO trails Minnesota by just one point at this point, and that #2 seed would earn the Mavs a bye for the WCHA quarterfinals, should they win that home playoff series.  Win in St. Paul, and the Mavs don't have to worry about the Pairwise with the conference championship.

So that's why Dean Blais is pulling one of those trademark bold Blais moves.  He told Tom Shatel of the Omaha World-Herald that he sees an opening:

“The bottom line is, it takes care of itself. If we finish second, third or fourth in the WCHA, we're going to get a bid. If we're 20th at the end of the year, you're not going to get in. But say we beat Wisconsin twice, we'll move up to 15th. And say we split with Duluth, we'll be 14.”

So with almost no margin for error, Blais is pulling his trump card out of his sleeve. Massa was the #1 goalie at the end of last season and was expected to be the goalie this season.  Something changed this summer, and Massa announced he would redshirt. Why?  Nobody outside of Blais and Mass knows for sure why, but that's immaterial at this point.  Massa had a good performance last night, stopping 27 of 28 shots.  My guess is that if he has another strong week of practice, he'll start Friday night against Wisconsin in a nationally televised game (NBC Sports Network; early 6:37 pm faceoff).  And if he has a good game, he'll be back on Saturday night.

Sports Guys & The Dry Slot

If it wasn't so infuriating, the ignorance about the weather shown by sports people during yesterday's winter storm would have been more amusing. It's infuriating because hindsight is always 20/20 with the weather.  Just like it is in sports.  In sports we can always second guess the decisions players and coaches make. Choose a different strategy, and maybe you get a different result.  But second guess the weather forecast? Until we come up with a way (other than burning fossil fuels) to directly control the weather, the weather is what the weather is going to be.  The weather guys just take their best educated guess as to what will happen.

When the forecasts for this storm first came out, there were some crazy amounts forecasted in the region.  And some of those crazy amounts materialized around Kansas City, where thundersnow dropped a foot of the white stuff.  But yeah, not here.  And those forecasts mitigated as the week went on.  Most predictions called for 8 to 11 inches in Omaha.

So yesterday, suddenly we had all of this taunting from sports guys about the "dry slot" and the "blizzard that wasn't to be".  Well, nobody said it was going to be a blizzard.  But some heavy snow, yes.  But the sports guys locked on to Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel, who was standing in downtown Lincoln away from any weather equipment, and called "Winter Storm Q" a bust.

DRY SLOT of the storm will drastically cut down our snow totals in Lincoln, Omaha and Des Moines: intellicast.com/National/Radar… #IAwx #NEwx
— Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) February 21, 2013

If this snow doesn't even amount to cranking up the snowblower, I'll be very disappointed.
— John Bishop (@JohnBishop71) February 21, 2013

In honor of the over-hyped #Snopocalypse I'll be taking your nominations for the most over hyped players in sports today. #Overhyped
— Michael Grey (@TheMichaelGrey) February 21, 2013

@husker_mike Two words:Dry slot.Go look.
— AJ (@AJtheHater) February 21, 2013

Well, guess what...  That "dry slot" never materialized in Omaha.  It snowed all afternoon.  My informal measurements show that in West Omaha, we got 9".  Other reports of  8 inches throughout town.  Basically, at the low end of the forecast.

Yeah, it did hit Lincoln...but overall the forecasts were right.  So what are the sports guys saying about the snowstorm now?

Here's to the REAL Snow Angels...and by that I mean neighbors with snowblowers. #TakeThatPlowGuy
— Michael Grey (@TheMichaelGrey) February 22, 2013

So much for that "dry slot" and all that ridicule, eh?

Barney Cotton: Tight Ends Coach & Running Game Coordinator

Barney Cotton, the assistant coach Husker fans love to hate, has new responsibilities according to Bo Pelini. He'll primarily be responsible for tight ends as well coordinate the running game. It's a curious move that's tough to understand. A new graduate assistant, Kyle Brey (also the son of Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey) will be working with Cotton on tight ends.

So let's review this.  When Tim Beck became offensive coordinator, Ron Brown moved from coaching tight ends to running backs.  Cotton absorbed that role along with continuing to work with the offensive line, though graduate assistant Vince Morrow took on most of the coaching responsibilities for tight ends. But Nebraska hasn't used the tight ends as much with Beck calling the plays.  Injuries to Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton might have been the excuse in 2011, but not in 2012.  Of course, when you have Kenny Bell, Jamal Turner, and Quincy Enunwa catching passes like they did in 2012, it's tough to take them off the field to insert a tight end.

So Morrow leaves for Kentucky (at the encouragement of Pelini), and snares a few verbal commits away.  Cotton slides over now to focus on tight ends with another grad assistant?  At a position that Nebraska didn't seem to use much the last two years.

Does this make sense?  I'm not sure, but let's dismiss the notion that Pelini is an idiot for now.  Some fans have that opinion, but I'm not buying that one.  So let's try to figure out what Pelini is thinking.

Tight ends.  Nebraska had talent in Kyler Reed and Ben Cotton, and didn't use them much the last two years. Is that Beck's fault? Or maybe Morrow wasn't in sync with what Tim Beck wanted.  Many fans were shocked when Morrow left, but consider the possibility that Morrow wasn't doing as good of a job as fans were thinking. Remember that defensive back recruit from December that Morrow got a commitment from, then suddenly Nebraska lost interest once Morrow left? That always struck me as odd, perhaps that Morrow was doing his own thing.  Maybe Morrow wasn't doing as good of a job as fans might have thought?

So Pelini nudges a friend to Kentucky for a soft landing, and shifts Cotton over to clean up the mess.  That's a reach, but it makes a heck of a lot more sense than "Pelini is an idiot".  Of course, what do you need two tight end coaches for with a wide open spread attack?

The run coordinator responsibility appears to be more of a formalization of a role that already existed.  Beck said in December that he wanted Cotton next to him in the booth.

Of course, this change takes resources away from the offensive line, and John Garrison is going to take over this area, though Cotton will still help here.  Personally, I can't help but think that Nebraska is phasing out Cotton's role in the offense by bouncing around between the o-line, tight ends, and run game coordinators.  Each one of those has another body in place.  So why this?  It could be as simple as Pelini likes the insight that Cotton provides him.  It could also be the fact that there are still two Cottons on the Nebraska roster: junior guard Jake and freshman tight end Sam.

Why not just cut the ties to Cotton now and open up another spot on the staff?  Pelini has his reasons for keeping him.  I don't have an answer here, but obviously Pelini still wants him around. And Pelini knows that he's ultimately accountable for the performance of his team. He won't have a job for long if he values friendship over competence. So obviously, Pelini feels Cotton is a net asset to the program.

If I had to look long-term, I suspect that in three years, Cotton will be retiring from the coaching staff. In the meantime, it looks like Cotton will continue to be the punching bag for Husker fans frustrations for a while longer.