So I had kind of a bummer of a day yesterday. My laptop finally died on Thursday night and confirmed yesterday that it had passed. It was an ASUS, and I somehow got 7 years out of that piece of crap. I was hoping to stretch its life out until after Christmas, but I knew our relationship was ending soon, so I had been backing everything up pretty good for the last year or so. I still lost a few things that I will never get back, but I will not lose the pride in making a cheap hunk of junk last twice as long as it should have. If anyone wants to go to a field and break it to pieces with my wife’s softball bats and listen to some gangster rap, I’ve got a little spare time. We can bring the cheapest 40 we can find too. Why? Because I think it’s actually a societal norm that if a cop catches you doing illegal stuff in the middle of a field that you need to have a 40.
But there was a basketball game last night. It was frustrating, there was very little flow to it with all of the fouling. Yeah, not a big fan of the fouling. We saw some new faces and some old ones with new haircuts. The crowd was big, which was great. The student section was full! It wasn’t very loud, but they did not have much to cheer for in the first half. It was just a really odd first half. Justin Simmons and CJ Carter were both on the sideline to cheer on the Mavs. I think I may have saw Alex Phillips as well, but I was not 100% sure about it.
- So my seats got temporarily moved over a section with something to do with hockey that I didn’t quite fully understand but I nodded my head because I am a weak adult, the new seats were not as great of an angle. I made up for it by drinking a Shock Top Twisted Pretzel ale. As far as I know, you can only get this beer at Omaha Mavericks and Omaha Stormchasers games. I am one and done with drinks at sporting events. I never get these people spending 80 bucks on 10 beers at a sporting event and going to the bathroom every 10 minutes. You spent at least 100 bucks to pretend to be at a sporting event. I’m pointing at you CenturyLink Citizens.
- The pregame for my friend and I was at Ponzu. Why is Ponzu so bad at wrapping their sushi? It just falls apart. We were able to make at least 20 Seinfeld references though. You cant beat that.
- As we were sitting there the marching band (or I assume the marching band) came by pounding on drums around Aksarben Village. My friend and I discussed how it’s actually kind of weird to see school spirit around UNO. That wasn’t there 5 years ago.
- So Randy Reed? High energy guy off the bench? Damn it, I hope that continues! He is going to play such a big role in the Summit League, everyone has a 6’5″ or 6’6″ guy they throw in at the 4.
- I know that Santa Barbara was missing their top returning player, and Omaha was missing Marcus Tyus, but Tyus’ three point shooting was dramatically missed last night. I still say the basket on the side of the visiting team’s bench is cursed.
- The fouls got annoying, this is worse than two years ago, it completely took any flow out of the game. This scares me for a team that needs a face pace and flow to win games.
- Jake White fouled out, took some contact himself, but he was healthy and that is so awesome. He had a hard fall to the ground and quickly got up, like it was his way of showing us all that he was alright. I remember a game last year in which he fell to the ground and my wife’s coach mind was saying “get up kid, get back on D, what is wrong with him?” And I sat there like: Careful babe, he might literally break.
- I feel like Devin Patterson is able to channel this inner Chris Paul thing from time to time, but last night was not that night. He has taken bad games by him personally in the past and had great bounce back games in the past. Can he save that for UMKC when he goes up against an All American?
- Did anyone notice that Kyler Erickson has an entire Millard South section cheering for him? I think it’s 215 or 216? His one rebound in the game was fantastic. It was another moment where I thought the Mavs were giving up another offense board, but then he came flying out of no where to start a break. He was out on the floor for the last defensive play. I want to point that out.
- It was so hard for the Gauchos to find passing lanes with Devin Patterson and Tra-Deon Hollins on the court at the same time, like they seriously could not figure it out. I’m coining that backcourt as: The Devil’s Gate…whether you like it or not.
- Hollins is a bandit. He steals everything. Remember in Home Alone 2 when Marv is thinking of all the dumb nicknames for him and Harry? I motion to nickname Hollins as The Sticky Bandit. It’s also great that this team has two passers that can penetrate as well. All the kick out threes from the two of them to Tyus and Gibson are hopefully coming.
- I want to say this about Tre’Shawn Thurman. He picked up that second foul in the first half, and you could tell he was just angry with himself. He sat on that bench in absolute Hulk like anger. He was never more ready for that second half to begin. When the first half ended, he wasted no time getting up off that bench and running to the locker room. The fouls did not scare him in the second half, he came out more aggressive on offense and showed off some new post moves. You could feel his pain and anger at the end of the game as he walked off the court. He is a leader.
- Seeing Zach Jackson get the start was a shock for me, especially since Tyus was in warm ups. Jackson did okay though, he didn’t pass up on his first shot and took it with confidence. He was not scared.
- JT Gibson also played with great confidence. Those two threes in a row got the big crowd back into the game. He made it a game. Going to love watching Gibson and Jackson grow and develop.
- Toward the end of the game, the team bench was dry. It was a close game, and guess who got the rest of the team to get up and cheer on their teammates…Ben Kositzke. I think I was sitting near the Ben Kositzke and Alex Allbery fan clubs too.
- I saw Rylan Murry after the game. He looked sad. I wanted to yell “Skinny Love” again, but I had Pandora on Skinny Love at work all day on Thursday and I think I almost cried at the music selection.
- Did I hear Jon Green say this right on the radio: If UNO Volleyball wins the regular season title, they get to host the Summit League tournament the following year? Oh my. I wish this worked to a degree in basketball. But like, since we beat Marquette last season, they have to come to Omaha to play the following year. Or if Wisconsin lost to Western Illinois last night, they will have to travel to the fine town of Macomb in 2016. Why cant that be a thing?
- IUPUI beat Indiana State. Oral Roberts beat Missouri State. North Dakota State beat UC Davis. How tough is the Summit this year?
- If the Mavericks are ever on ESPN or ESPN2, or whenever they make the NCAA tournament; I badly want to see Derrin Hansen slowly and dramatically take off his glasses like he is in the cheesiest TNT drama that has ever been produced.
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