March heartbreak for the Huskers

March Madness turned into March heartbreak for both the Nebraska men's and women's programs over the weekend.

Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

It was senior Keisei Tominaga’s tears on Friday night that did it for me. I’ve long told people I don’t root for teams — that’s key to being a sports journalist — but I root for people. After all, people are at the heart of all that we do.

The cameras catching Tominaga as Nebraska’s NCAA Tournament dreams slipped away stung. It wasn’t supposed to end like this for coach Fred Hoiberg and this Nebraska team. It was supposed to be the Huskers’ first NCAA Tournament win in program history.

But it wasn’t. Not this time once again.

Texas A&M entered Friday’s matchup with Nebraska as one of the best offensive rebounding teams in the country and the Aggies highlighted that. Their physicality was on display all night long. That wasn’t all that surprising.

What was surprising? Texas A&M’s 3-point shooting. The Aggies entered Friday’s night’s matchup 343rd in the country for 3-point shooting. Texas A&M ended its night shooting 56.5% from deep compared to the Huskers’ 31.8%.

But I won’t sit and rehash this all. You know what happened, and have certainly read and seen plenty on Friday’s loss at this point. Heck, some of you were even in Memphis to experience it directly.

Instead, let’s look briefly at what’s ahead for the Nebraska men’s basketball team:

>> Prior to Nebraska’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Huskers gave Hoiberg a two-year contract extension through 2028-29. Per his contract, he will receive raises to $4.35 million in 2025-26, $4.45 million in 2026-27, $4.55 million in 2027-28 and $4.65 million in 2028-29.

>> While Tominaga and Josiah Allick depart — neither will be easy to replace — Nebraska has a number of returners on its roster. Players like Brice Williams, Rienk Mast, Juwan Gary, C.J. Wilcher, Eli Rice, Jamarques Lawrence and Eli Rice could all return for the 2024-25 season.

Will they? A number of those players were asked following Nebraska’s loss to A&M, but all said it was too soon to answer. 

Either way, the NCAA transfer portal opened one week ago today (Monday, March 18). We’ll know more soon enough, both in who Nebraska is targeting in the portal and who from Nebraska might choose to depart.

>> With all of the change at Nebraska in the past couple of weeks, one thing that has remained steady is Hoiberg’s commitment to the Huskers. He reaffirmed that on Friday after Nebraska’s loss, telling fans that he doesn’t want it to be as long before the Huskers are dancing again.

“It’s there and there’s no reason this team can’t have sustained success,” Hoiberg said. “This can’t be another decade before Nebraska gets back in the NCAA Tournament. We need to be there again next year. This is a fun time of year. It’s really the only fun time of year.”

Another season ends in Corvallis

The Nebraska women won Friday’s matchup with Texas A&M — it’s still wild the selection committees did that — advancing to Sunday’s Round of 32 against No. 3 Oregon State. However, Sunday proved to be too much for the Huskers, with the Beavers taking control of the game early and hanging on (even despite their own struggles).

Nebraska’s season came to an end with a 61-51 loss to Oregon State in Corvallis.

“I think before the game if you had told us that we were going to hold Oregon State to 61 points, we probably would’ve taken that,” coach Amy Williams said post-game. “I think we had a pretty good defensive game plan and defensive effort today, but they made things very difficult for us on the other end and it wasn’t our best offensive showing of the season. That makes it really tough for it to end that way but I am so proud of this team.

“I have enjoyed the ride with them so much and so this is bittersweet . . . Just the thought of going back and not practicing on Monday is breaking my heart a little bit. Love these girls so much and just so proud of the mark they’ve made in our program and set the bar for us moving forward.”

As for what’s next? Nebraska will have some holes to fill, most notably the one left by departing guard Jaz Shelley. It certainly doesn’t hurt though that the Huskers have five-star recruit and reigning Nebraska Gatorade High School Player of the Year Britt Prince leading the 2023 recruiting class. There will be plenty to break down on incoming talent, especially as Nebraska begins summer workouts.

Also of note: Williams signed a new contract that extends her through the 2028-29 season like Hoiberg. She will make $950,000 next season.

Other news and notes as you start your week:

>> An update to the media availability for spring football this week, which pushes back our first day of availability.

 The Huskers officially kick off spring practices today, and will practice today, Tuesday and Thursday for the week. The only media availability will now be Thursday due to the introduction of athletic director Troy Dannen on Tuesday, which shifted availability of the football team.

>> Dannen’s introductory press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26 at 2 p.m. CT. Fans will be able to stream the press conference on Nebraska’s website and all social media channels.

>> Speaking of spring football, Minnesota will not hold a public spring game this year. Coach P.J. Fleck cited a few reasons for the change, like the weather and not giving opponents an early look at the team. Instead, fans will have an opportunity to attend one of two practices (but at a cost). One of those practices will be used to drive subscriptions for Minnesota’s Dinkytown Athletes collective.

Very interesting, no?