So the UNO men’s basketball team is taking a summer trip to Italy. How cool is that? Foreign trips are typically very beneficial for basketball teams. I am sure there is a great deal of bonding off the court, but it also means a few more games of playing together and working some things out on the basketball court. Kentucky coach, John Calipari, has stated that he would like the NCAA to change the rules so teams could take a foreign trip every two years, instead of four years, for the great benefits it can bring to a basketball team. I was literally not sure that Calipari knows the percentage of his basketball team that stays for two years.
I check the interwebs everyday in fear of finding out that one of the Mavs will be transferring. I feel like it would have been announced by now, but you never know. I just hope no one on the team is leaving. I am not sure how much of a per diem the players get for food, or if any, so I assume some of the players need to take up a summer job to buy some souvenirs and whatever weird funny European stuff college students can find. So here is where I assume the Mavs players will take some summer jobs for a little extra cash.
Tre’Shawn Thurman
Family Fun Center
I have not been to Family Fun Center in a long time, but I had some hipster friends that worked their during college. They were not exactly hipsters I guess, but they loved to play Street Fighter, so whenever it was slow, you could find them playing Street Fighter.
One of the first things my wife said when she took notice in Thurman’s game was “number 15 has so much length.” It is true. Thurman could use his long arms to grab the really cool stuffed animals that kids have to spend their entire summer allowances on to finally earn. I mean, he does not even have to officially work there I suppose, he could go over to the basketball machine and just go drop the ball in the hoop about a million times so he could win those giant stuffed animals and sell the stuffed animals to the kids. This reminds me, how much fun would be if a casino had something that you could shoot a basketball and make money off of it? I feel like that would be where you would find every college basketball player once they turned 21 to make some money. Would that be break some NCAA rule? Kids could also spend all their summer money at Family Fun Center and tell Thurman they want the stuffed animal on the very top row, but he has to do a 360 jump in the air to grab it and pull it down. Oh, by the way, I am really thinking we can get Thurman in the dunk contest his senior year. How bitchin’ would that be?
Marcus Tyus
Anywhere that needs a fry cook
Tyus is recovering from a torn ligament in his leg, so he has to get some shots up over the summer anyway that he can. Some restaurant just needs to let him grab all things that can be deep fat fried, stand about 20 feet from the fryer and let him make it rain. He could multi-task for sure, standing at the prep table cutting everything that needs to be cut, then toss in some crab rangoon when needed. It would be constantly be raining fryer grease. I hear restaurant kitchens love it when fryer grease is flying all over the place.
Kyler Erickson
With a career goal to be a translator for a professional sports team, he could piggyback off of Tyus here. If you ever work in the restaurant business, you will find out that there is always someone that speaks a total of 25 words of English. He can get some practice being next to Tyus to interpret everything that is said. Also to commentate all of Tyus’ shots into the fryer…en fuego! Yes, he will be needed to inform someone that Marcus Tyus is not literally on fire.
Rylan Murry
Whole Foods Cashier/Game Stop/Comic book shop dude
If he had some incredibly lame tattoos and world’s worst beard, he could really make Whole Foods work. I love going to Whole Foods and the cashier always asking me how my day is going. It usually goes like this:
Cashier: How is your day been going?
Me: Not bad, I got a morning run in, getting some veggies and bison for dinner later.
Cashier: You check out that new AFI album?
Me: Who the hell is AFI? I really like the new Mumford and Sons album though.
Cashier then puts their head down in disgust and tries to bag my groceries as fast as he/she can to get me out of their store.
Seriously though, who the hell is AFI?
About once every three months I will go check out Legends Comic Books on Leavenworth, I will get a Tony Stark White Mocha or whatever it is called and catch up on Batman and Nightwing comics, and sit there and read while I enjoy my coffee. While sitting their, the comic book shop employees will rush over to the coffee shop part while they have no customers at the counter, to meet their friends and try to trade some Pokemon cards, Magic the Gathering, and other stuff that I assume makes their parents proud. Then the employee gets some dude that brings his son in to buy an action figure and I just hear the employee whimper out an “ah shit” and run back to the counter. The dream is for that guy to be Rylan Murry.
I also list Game Stop, where I assume he would get fired from pretty quickly. For either playing all the games and not helping customers, or for making fun of customers’ video game choices.
Tim Smallwood
Customer Service Agent
This is not the most glamorous thing that one could think of. People call in, and they whine about stuff that no one should ever give a crap about. Omaha is filled with customer service jobs, and they are mostly terrible, but I am basing this off of my impression of Tim Smallwood. Based on his tweets, Smallwood appears like he just always has a positive attitude, or at least he does not post a bunch of negativity online. Smallwood seems like he could calm down a pissed off Jim Molinari.
Devin Patterson
HyVee
How many times have you been at HyVee and an employee asks if you are finding everything alright, you tell them you cannot find something, so they guide you to that item instead of just telling you where it is? With Patterson’s speed, he could ask you what you are looking for, and then go sprint for it and bring it back to you at a much quicker rate than you having to walk to the item.
The problem is that Patterson could get that really dumb manager that does not use his skills effectively and just uses him to go get all the carts in the parking lot all the time. An incompetent manager at a grocery store? That would be the world’s first. Every time I am in a HyVee they will have 1000 carts ready for use and I will see a manager whine to the one employee that looks competent to go get the 15 carts that are in the parking lot, like it is much more important than getting customers through the checkout lanes as fast as possible.
Actually, can Patterson be the manager? Hey kid, go get the carts, never mind, you are too slow! Sprints out and gets the carts, comes back, checks out a few customers in record time. Hey kids, you are all fired, I got this.
Wait, can Devin Patterson be The Flash? Never mind, he needs to go work in a science lab of some sorts, preferably with a lot of chemicals and lightning. Trust me, I have read a comic book before.
So this is what happens when nerds talk sports ball…
Randy Reed
Per his profile on the team’s page, his career goal is to be a personal trainer. My wife hires personal trainers, and they get recruited to play on our dominant softball team, in which I am seriously the worst player out of both the males and females. Actually the team is full, one more member would mean that I would not have to play anymore, that would actually be kind of sweet. Anyway, personal training is a great way to make money. Even if you are just looking to do it part time, it can be pretty flexible with your full time school or full time work schedule.
Devin Newsome
There is still not much known about Devin Newsome at this point, so can we get him a job at Voodoo Taco to learn as much as he possibly can about the new Taco Cannon and be the unofficial Taco Cannon Reporter? Voodoo can come out with a bunch of local commercials with Newsome hanging out with the Taco Cannon, both getting to know each other. The cannon talks, right?
Daniel Meyer
Also HyVee
There is also very little known about Daniel Meyer. You would have to think with the graduation of Mike Rostampour that Meyer will see his minutes go up with a need for a man in the middle. His post player teammates, Jake White, Murry, and Thurman, have all had more on the court time or in practice time getting a timing down with Devin Patterson passing them the rock. It would be great if he just followed Devin Patterson around all summer to get some of that timing down, or followed Newsome as well. Essentially, if there is a way to make money as a non-violent stalker, I would love it if that is what Meyer could do.
Jake White
So with Bo Pelini no longer in the state of Nebraska, I have realized that the state of Nebraska needs a weird cat guy representative. No idea if Jake White likes cats, or hates them, I do not care. Jake White needs to get a job at the Nebraska Humane Society or some pet shop and become one with all the white cats. Try to think of something more awesome than the UNO men’s basketball team having a Christmas card that is just a portrait of Jake White, trying to be emotionless but still trying to look like a hard ass, with 12 white cats all in Christmas sweaters and possible elf hats. We would win the internet with that.
The transition period is coming to an end, I keep talking about it because I am so damn excited. It is about time, I felt like this would never come. With this time finally coming, I feel like the question of “should the Summit League add a 10th member” be asked. Should the Summit League add a 10th member? 10 makes sense, right? With only 9 teams you assume that one team would be left out of the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. With 10, you feel like everyone would get included and have the two first round games like the Missouri Valley Conference does.
Summit League Commissioner, Tom Douple, has stated before that he likes to keep these things quiet. No one was really aware of Denver coming to the Summit League until it was announced, the same goes about Oral Roberts returning to the conference, and the UNO making the reclassification was for the most part under wraps until it was announced. It is not like the Summit League is one that is going to get a bunch of buzz in the rumor mill on ESPN for the nation to discuss, so we are never going to hear the chatter that conferences like the Big 10, SEC, and Big 12 are going to get with all the schools moving around. So i am going to throw out a few suggestions for teams that could be added, and most of these are based on geography. The Summit League is not some prestigious conference like the WAC that can schools be 1500 miles apart from each other. Not that these should be the only suggestions, but here…
Chicago State:
The Cougars would make sense in terms of geography, but they are kind of bad at…well, everything. The athletic department is still in the process of developing a soccer team, so this could be attractive to the Summit League. The Cougars have been attempting to get more recognition for their sports program, but Chicago is a city that cares way more about professional sports than they do college sports. It is tough for them to schedule non-conference games, the basketball team was only able to schedule two home games against division one opponents in 2014-2015, UNO and Depaul. Their facilities are not terrible, their basketball arena has a capacity of 7000 Depaul, which you would think draw in a crowd, only had an attendance of 750 fans, so that is the level of support the Cougars have. The WAC is weird, no teams are within driving distance to Chicago, so I imagine it is pretty difficult for any Chicago natives to really get into an intense Chicago State-New Mexico State match up. Essentially, Chicago State probably needs the Summit League more than the Summit League needs Chicago State. I saw on a South Dakota State fan forum, which is super educational, that the University of Denver absolutely hates Chicago State and does not want them in The Summit. No idea if that is true, or what it could even be over.
Eastern Illinois:
The Panthers are probably more than happy in the Ohio Valley, but maybe there could be a conversation since EIU already plays in the Summit League in soccer.
Evansville:
This would be a long shot, but I seem to hear a rumor every year that the Purple Aces are trying to get out of the Missouri Valley, though much of the rumors are for them to head to the Horizon League, who like the Summit League, also is at 9 members. From a competitive standpoint, Evansville is routinely in the middle of the pack in the Missouri Valley standings for all of their sports, so it is not like they would come into the Summit and just dominate everything, but they certainly could add some attention and a little intrigue to the Summit.
UMKC:
Still no real idea why the Kangaroos left the Summit. I still think the WAC is the dumbest conference of all. It makes no sense to have UMKC do all the traveling that they do. With Omaha and Oral Roberts in the conference now, UMKC would not have nearly as many travel issues as they do in the WAC. The ‘Roos certainly bring a tiny more prestige to the Summit than a Chicago State. Omaha-UMKC could have a little bit of a rivalry. The ‘Roos are getting a little more community support as Kareem Richardson is strengthening the basketball program. Who would really be better between UMKC and Chicago State? I will base this on a very tiny piece of evidence. The top team in the WAC this last season was New Mexico State. New Mexico State @ UMKC attendance was 2900. New Mexico State @ Chicago State attendance was 530.
Northern Colorado:
The Bears would make sense geographically and could create a travel partner with Denver. Northern Colorado would have to stay in the Big Sky as an affiliate member for football, or get into the Missouri Valley. They already have wrestling in a separate conference since the Big Sky does not have wrestling. They also no have men’s soccer. So I mean, they could drop football and wrestling, and add men’s soccer. I have heard of schools doing that before and it going over very well with ALL fans…
North Dakota:
Only if North Dakota State were to leave the conference for whatever reason. I cannot stress this enough. The Bison have a new statue coming of a giant hand with its middle finger pointing toward the sky, the hand is along I-29 and facing North toward Grand Forks. In recent news, the North Dakota men’s basketball team added Wheeler Baker, an Albany transfer. Some of his offers out of high school included North Dakota State, South Dakota State, and Omaha.
SE Missouri State:
I typed their name in because of geography and it just kind of came to mind. I really knew nothing about SE Missouri State, and then I looked up and researched their athletic department and I immediately regretted suggesting this.
Some possible schools to transition to division one.
Arkansas Tech:
Russellville is about a 3 hour drive to Tulsa, a 8 hour drive to Omaha, and a 8 hour drive to Macomb so it is not like the travel for this school would be impossible to the Summit League. Arkansas is a very underrated state as far as beautiful geography goes, but teams do not get into conferences just based on how pretty their state is…I mean North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma are just…um, terrible to drive through. While their sports teams are pretty competitive in division two, they do not have many sports. The football team could possibly be dropped, and men’s soccer could be added. Not sure if the state of Arkansas even knows what soccer is though.
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs:
With an undergraduate enrollment of 12k and a graduate enrollment of 11k, a close drive to Denver, and with all the sports that the Summit League has, it makes sense, right? Their men’s and their women’s basketball teams are both well established in division two, they might both currently be better than a few of the Summit League teams…ouch.
Minnesota State-Mankato:
I have heard rumors before of these Mavericks debating of making the transition to division one. The geography checks out for them to join the Summit League. Their men’s basketball team has some division one talent on the roster as well. Not sure if they would want to bring football with them as well to division one, as part of the rumors that I have heard would be that they would drop football. The MSU baseball team is 40-5 so far this year. That sounds decent, I guess. Could there be two Mavericks in the same league though? That sounds ridiculous. The SEC has three freaking Tigers, but the SEC can do whatever they want.
Nebraska-Kearney:
I am seriously kidding.
St Cloud State:
I have not heard many rumors of this school going division one, but it is something that is not incredibly impossible. St Cloud State has an undergraduate enrollment of 15k, they are in the geography of the Summit League. Like the MSU Mavericks, they would create a more competitive recruiting market for the Summit League. With no mid-major in the state of Minnesota, the Bison, Jackrabbits, Coyotes, and Mavericks like to recruit the area, adding St Cloud State or MSU would add another school into the mix for the area, could they all share that area? Oh, their baseball team this year 47-3. Why do I keep mentioning baseball? Because the Summit League needs some more baseball. The Huskies have 21 varsity sports, I am guessing with a move to division one that they would have to drop a few of those. I am not sure that they are willing to pull that trigger. I feel like the Summit League has had at least one conversation with MSU and St Cloud State of “so what if?”
The UNO Mavericks hockey team made their first Frozen Four appearance. UNO Men’s soccer tied for a regular season Summit League championship. UNO baseball won a pair of regular season Summit League championships. UNO volleyball has improved their record each season in the transition period. UNO softball can compete with just about any team in the NCAA. UNO men’s and women’s basketball are both still growing and gearing up to be at the top of the Summit League. A brand new arena in Aksarben is being built to be the centerpiece of a strong foundation of the UNO athletics program. Also, a few of the UNO teams are competing nationally with ranking their teams with some of the highest team GPAs in the NCAA. With all of this, there are still people who claim they will never support UNO athletics as long as Trev Alberts is involved.
The transition to a higher status in athletics came with a great price, the price of UNO’s football and wrestling programs, and this did not sit well with many Omahans and it still does not sit well with many. Much of the controversy surrounds around the fact that he cut the wrestling program after three straight national championships, and I totally agree that one is a hard one to still process. Still, the overall decision to make the transition to division one came with several mixed emotions.
The feelings of the Omaha community thinking that the Mavericks should go division one started long ago. When I was in high school we would always talk about it. Imagine if they did it, what would it be like? The basketball team could play in the Civic (we were so young and naive). The baseball team could definitely take recruits away from Nebraska and Creighton, those guys that want to play right away would come to UNO. How fun would it be to add a third team to the instate rivalry? Oh, and what if Kear…never mind. We were high school kids, we just thought of the positives if it were to happen, we never thought of the negative consequences.
The same thing happened while I was in college. My friends and I would ask ourselves, will they ever become division one? The Mavericks certainly have the resources to do it. Obviously though we were not looking at any of the financial aspects of it, we were mainly looking at it in terms of a fine sports culture in the Omaha metro. If the North Dakota and South Dakota schools could make the transition, then why could the Mavericks not do it? Those were the questions we really sat around and debated as young college studs. I mean young college students…students. My sophomore year I was in an English course, and one of the assignments was an argumentative paper that you would eventually have to present to the class. There were two softball players that wrote about the possibility of UNO becoming division one and what impacts that would have on the university. Those girls knew that it would mean UNO would have to sacrifice post season play, and they were completely for it. It was a five page paper, so it is not like those girls put together a bunch of financial charts and did as much investigation as a professional staff would have put together, so they did not really think that cutting a program or two would have been a part of the conversation.
After the university lost an Athletic Director, who you could sum up his tenure at UNO as “did not give a shit” after trying to get the program back in the green after a scandal that embarrassed the athletics department, the search for a new person in charge started. There were some names thrown around, nothing really all that exciting, but how exciting could a Division 2 Athletic Director search get? When Husker legend Trev Alberts’ name came up as a possibility, interest grew around that.
Alberts is a bit of a household name in the state of Nebraska, he is kind of a big deal. When he took interest in being the Athletic Director at UNO, the people around here listened, and they thought he was trying to gear up to be the next Athletic Director at Nebraska. From what I heard from other employees at UNO, Alberts was the only one who actually got an official interview for the job, it was just his if he wanted it from the second he took interest. When he officially took the job at UNO, there was buzz around the athletics department for the first time in a long time.
When Alberts made the announcement that the Mavericks were headed to division one, some were in shock and others thought it was about freaking time. When those people heard that the football program and the back to back to back championship wrestling program would be cut though, more came to be in shock than anything. Many of positive feelings for Alberts turned negative. How dare he? Where does he get off? Who does he think he is? Not only were people critical of the decision to cut wrestling and football, when people heard the programs were being cut they automatically tried to turn him into the emperor and claim he must have forced Mike Kemp out. Basically, Trev could do no right in the eyes of some. If you think Trev was a just a prick 24/7, he is not. He engages with students when he has the time, he engages with fans and boosters, which is something you will see from any Athletic Director. He has a little fun with all the negative things people say about him too. When there was a career fair for student employees in the newly renovated HPER building, he jokingly came in and asked for an application because he may be out of a job soon.
There were some people that wanted Trev’s head. They claimed he always had it out for wrestling, that he had an agenda from the second he walked on campus, and he does not actually care about the UNO Mavericks, he just cares about his giant ego. That concept of being upset with someone for that should irritate you. Of course Trev had an agenda, but just because he cut two programs does not mean that was his intention from day one. His agenda was to be a successful Athletic Director and to have an athletic department that the university could be proud of for their on the field achievements as well as their off the field achievements. If you ever take a business class at UNO, one of the first things a professor will ask is “what is the number one goal of a business?” Many students throw out an easy answer of “to make money.” But the answer is to survive.
Trev took over an Athletic Department that was in trouble thanks to the past. Other than hockey, there was little support from the community. People just genuinely did not care a great deal about the UNO Mavericks. In his first year, when the Mavericks were still in division two, I was on Student Government, Trev came and asked us all for our opinions on a few matters. He never once asked how to get the Omaha community behind the Mavericks, he wanted to know how to get the student population to come out to UNO games. He spoke of how when the university would try to recruit a professional to be a member of the administration, they would take the recruit to a sporting event, and the professionals would ask where the students were. He talked about in his first meeting with the UNO athletics department staff that he asked the staff how many Division 2 national championships the program had, and no one knew the answer. Even people in the athletic department were not completely engaged. Now from what I have heard, everyone is engaged, and they appear to be proud members of the Maverick family (from the sound of it at least).
I remember walking to class before a football game, and Trev hosted a mini pep rally outside the student center and trying to promote a football game for the upcoming week. Students walked by him like he was one of the crazy people on campus telling you…well crazy things. That is just a couple of examples, about a total of 30 minutes that I viewed in my last year at UNO. Do you really think he did not care about the UNO Mavericks and it was just all about him? Or do you think he was doing what many adult professionals fail to do, he was actually trying to do his job.
It was difficult to lose the football and the wrestling programs, I agree. I knew a few guys from each of the teams. Some of them were genuinely nice guys, and some others were absolute dicks, but that is probably something that you could say about any social group of dudes. I always felt awkward about the football program. Pat Berhens was kind of a weird guy to begin with, but aside from that, the scheduling was always weird in my opinion. A decent number of their games always seemed to mix right in with a Husker game, so you know those games would have a low turnout. I remember one year they tried to have their spring game the exact same day as the Huskers’ spring game. I was there for the start of it for an event that took place before the game, and I can tell you that literally no one showed up. The wrestling program was a big shock, and pretty much why there was and still is so much animosity toward Trev. Mike Denney was and is a great solid guy, he brought some impressive guys to UNO, and his accomplishments were obviously extraordinary.
Even with the great accomplishments of the wrestling program, the program was not greatly contributing to the longevity of the athletic department’s survival. Even growing up for several years around rumors that UNO would make the jump to division one, there were, at some points, also many rumors that UNO would just cut a few athletic programs or even the entire thing. If you get into a conversation with anyone who claims to have loved the UNO wrestling program, you will learn that they did not actually have a dying love for the UNO wrestling program. They liked wrestling, and successful wrestling, but they did not actually like UNO so much to where they supported it by going to matches or keeping up with it unless they heard the UNO name in the national championship. They regularly cannot name one wrestler, or clearly identify what years the program won a championship. Yet, these are the same people who say they will never support UNO athletics as long as Trev Alberts is involved.
How freaking dumb is that? So if he stepped down today, you will all of a sudden support the program again? You are going to take your hate of Trev Alberts out on student athletes involved in the UNO athletics program? It is not like the current athletes at UNO banned together as underclassmen in high school and held a gun against Trev’s head until he made them go division one.
Consider this you rummy… Downtown Omaha became a vibrant atmosphere after the city of Omaha was able to build the CenturyLink Center from the popularity of the Creighton men’s basketball program. That little area where TD Ameritrade Park is was once a step above a ghetto. I do not know the appropriate unit of measure to use for the number of restaurants and bars that have moved in near the CenturyLink and TD Ameritrade Park since the two have been introduced to Omaha. I will just say a crap ton. Real estate in downtown has become more valuable, the recreation in downtown has become more attractive. The rest of the state benefits off of purchases from the two arenas to build more arenas and recreation where it is suitable. Much of downtown’s success could be contributed to Creighton basketball, as much as some people would hate to admit that, it is true.
Now look at the Aksarben area. In 2010, the area was basically empty, it was an area that had UNO faithful asking what the hell was ever going to happen with the area. A few things were being put up, but nothing anyone was bragging about. Now look at it, the area is becoming a hot commodity. You could probably contribute about 90% of that off of what UNO as a whole and what UNO athletics has brought to the area, and Aksarben is just getting started (again). So in turn, because much of that area has been reborn thanks to the future of UNO athletics, are you going to not support Aksarben? Or are you too proud to say you do not like Trev just because of his unsuccessful NFL career and it embarrasses you somehow as a Husker fan? By the way, I never hear anyone whine about UNO cutting football. Everyone seems okay with it. They want to cry about how it was such a travesty to take away the opportunities for the wrestlers to wrestle and get an education, but then they easily forget that UNO had a football program.
The athletics program may have cut football and wrestling, but it is not like Trev got up on a microphone on a stage and pulled a Half Baked moment and pointed at Wrestling and said “F you” then pointed at football and said “F you” and then pointed at basketball and said “you’re cool.” The athletics program and the university helped the student athletes move on, find new colleges, or finish their education at UNO. By the way, I am pretty sure Northwest Missouri State and UNK bitch the least about UNO cutting the programs.
Look around as we are finally nearing the end of this transition. Look at how many students and Mav fans made it to Boston for the Frozen Four. Look at how the attendances are gradually rising each year for all sports. Do you see how many UNO students actually care about athletics right now, and we are not even at a status of being fully division one yet? Look at the facilities that have been renovated and the ones that are about to come, and the ones that are still being imagined. You may dislike Trev for whatever reason, but are you going to sit there and say he does a poor job?
The Mavs will finally be fully eligible for the post season next year…duh. From what I have heard, the 2015-2016 schedule for the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball team includes trips to Minnesota, Missouri, Wyoming, and “a trip to Vegas.” I am not sure how complete the schedule is at this point, but from what I have heard creating a schedule can be pretty difficult. It was pretty difficult in EA Sports’ March Madness 2007. That was the worst video game I have ever played. Well that is dead anyway, but here are some trips and games that I thought could be potentially good match ups and/or fun trips for the Mavericks and their fans should they choose to go. A few of these are suggested home-and-home series, and the others are just UNO going there once.
Virginia – 7 (Final RPI Ranking) or Virginia Tech – 221
The first UNO game I could watch on ESPN3 was UNO @ Michigan State. I remember the commentators saying Derrin Hansen was trying to sell recruits at the time on the opportunity to go play against the bigger teams in their home area. With Jake White and Marcus Tyus getting a run at Minnesota, Randy Reed getting the chance to go up against Missouri, and Tim Smallwood getting conference foe Oral Roberts, that leaves out Devin Patterson for the senior non-Omaha guys.
I would think you would be more comfortable with the Mavs going up against Virginia Tech just based on the RPI rankings, but if you are one of the people that want them to play the best to become the best, then obviously Virginia would be the more appropriate choice for that route. Tech had a pretty similar roster this season as far as experience with 2 seniors, 4 juniors, 1 sophomore, and 5 freshman but they were a substantially larger team. I never watched a Virginia Tech game this season, because I mean, why would I have? Based on the just really lazy investigating, they appear to be a pretty slow team which could draw to the Mavs’ advantage.
Drake – 259
I thought I heard that Drake had a return game to Omaha from the Mavs playing them in Des Moines in 2013, but I have yet to see it or hear anyone mention it ever since. I may have made it up in my own mind now that I think about it. If the Mavs had to go to Drake again, the Bulldogs are a little over two hours away, so obviously not a bad trip for Mav fans. Des Moines also has a lot of fun stuff to do like…turn around and drive back to Omaha.
As a former conference foe to the Creighton Bluejays, the JaySkers may draw some interest in this game and show up for a game in Omaha. The Bulldogs have been going after some of the same recruits as UNO, so that could add some animosity and create a new I-80 rivalry with the Bulldogs. Both programs could live off of the “screw Creighton” policy.
Apparently Des Moines recreated Rainbow Road from Super Mario Kart
Drake did not have the greatest season in 2014-2015, but it is not like they had the greatest of expectations. The Bullsdogs did have a bright spot with freshman Reed Timmer leading the team in scoring at 11.5 ppg, so the future does not look awful. In addition to Timmer, Drake will have two Big 10 players that will be eligible for the 2015-2016 season, Kale Abrahamson from Northwestern and Graham Woodward from Penn State.
Nashville trip
So most of this trip is based on wife’s alumni status to Belmont, and it is not like anyone would ever actually attempt to schedule all 6 of these schools, but my wife has stated that if someone needed 2 or 3 quick road games that they should check out the Nashville area. I have never been to Nashville, but as she described it, Vanderbilt, Belmont, and Lipscomb are all right on the same block.
Nashville is an 11 hour drive through Kansas City and St. Louis, so it is not like it would be the most boring drive in the world for the Mavs and/or their fans. Mav fans that like country music would have the time of lives in Nashville as it is the center of country music with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. My wife says to not go out and do karaoke unless you are a serious singer. The karaoke scene is much different there as it is composed of people trying to make it in the industry and get noticed for a record deal, not people getting really drunk and singing songs in an Eric Cartman voice. I would not know, I think karaoke is dumb either way.
Vanderbilt – 88
The only SEC school that appears to actually care about academics of the student athletes finished the season making it to the 3rd round of the NIT. Vanderbilt was made up of mostly underclassmen, so you have to think they have a bright future as they are not really a program that is built around one and done stars. They would be kind of the centerpiece of the Nashville trip, but with a SEC team already on the schedule, this could be a tough sell to the UNO program. As a fan if you went to the game or watched it on television, you could just find yourself upset that the team benches are located on the baseline. It is one of those things that bugs me and I cannot figure out what it is about it that is so upsetting. It is like not liking someone, but you cannot exactly put your finger on it as to what makes you want to punch them in the face every time you see them.
Belmont – 100
Rick Byrd has been with Belmont since they were in the NAIA so he knows what is like to take a program into division one and how long it can take to become a successful program at the D1 level. Hopefully because of this, he can have some sympathy for Derrin Hansen and the UNO Mavericks.
Byrd has become one of the most respected coaches in all of college basketball. Byrd is on the right if you want to be a smart ass about it.
The two schools have played a home-and-home series in men’s soccer, so the two athletic programs have had some sort of communication. Playing Belmont would be no easy task, their size and athleticism is pretty similar to UNO, but they rarely make mistakes and are one of the best at hitting the three. Last year the Bruins ranked 4th in the nation with 10 threes made per game, and as you probably know, the Mavericks were not the best at perimeter defense. Belmont has a winning record of 101-36 since UNO made the transition in 2011-2012. The team should be returning their top three scorers as well. Hey, did you also know that, per Rivals, South Dakota State’s Reed Tellinghuisen’s final three choices were SDSU, UNO and Belmont?
Belmont also hosts the Country Music Awards, so there is that. My wife also claims you can just randomly see celebrities just about anywhere. She once saw Tim McGraw in Walmart and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban at a tiny little diner. The university was also the shooting location for a number of Hannah Montana episodes, might I suggest a Socker Boppers tournament at random places around campus to get your rage issues out of the way when you think of Miley Cyrus?
Lipscomb – 275
I do not know much about Lipscomb other than that they are one of Belmont’s biggest rivals and that they are on the same block as Belmont, and hey they are pretty close to UNO in RPI. I bet a good ole Summit League versus Atlantic Sun battle really gives you that special feeling that makes you feel like your heart is going to explode out of excitement.
Tennessee Tech – 288
An hour and a half from Nashville, but per Verbal Commits, their basketball program has been going at the same level of recruits as UNO. They made offers to Zach Pirog and Ben Kozitske. Also pretty close to UNO in RPI.
Austin Peay – 316
A hour drive from Nashville, and hey what the hell, while we are there I guess. Austin Peay is one of those programs that you have seen the name on the ESPN bottom line score center and it always sticks out, but you literally do not know anything about them. The basketball program also has Lincoln’s Parkview Christian School’s Domas Budrys (by way of Lithuania) on the roster and they also gave former UNO player Jalen Bradley an offer this year, so where do they get off?
Middle Tennessee State -152
I am not going to pretend that I know anything about Middle Tennessee State, I seriously had no idea that they were in Conference USA until right now. Mufreesboro is also a hour drive from Nashville.
Weber State – 260
Okay, I know I am biased since I worked at Weber State for a year, but the schools actually have some pretty decent similarities that could make for a fun match up. Both schools are at that “lower major” status and battling for name recognition with the bigger names in their own state with UNO dealing with Nebraska and Creighton and Weber State dealing with Utah and BYU. Like UNO, Weber State is also a commuter campus and they have had difficulties trying to find that community support that UNO was struggling with for quite some time. Weber State men’s basketball though is pretty similar to Creighton in the Dana Altman era in regards to that it is difficult for them to get teams to come to them. They are a decent basketball program, and they really want to do the home-and-home series with the bigger programs, but the bigger programs end up laughing at them. They really do not want to do the Go Play a Big 10 Team and Get Crushed games. Weber State did play Oral Roberts in Ogden this year and won by one point, so it is possible that they will have a game in Tulsa in 2015-2016, not sure how many Summit League teams the Wildcats want to play.
Weber State was picked to win the Big Sky conference, based on basically nothing, but they ended up tying for 7th (out of 12) in the conference with Idaho and a 13-17 overall record and finished with an RPI of 260. The Wildcats are coached by Iowa native Randy Rahe who has tried to get into the Nebraska area of recruiting in the recent years. Last year he had former Omaha Skutt center James Hajek as a senior, and he has also had some players from Nebraska junior colleges join his program in the past. Rahe was also rumored for the Drake job when it was last available. He has taken the Wildcats to two NCAA tournaments.
Even though the Wildcats did under perform this last season, they have some great pieces returning that could help prepare the Mavericks for the Summit League. They will be returning 2nd Team All Big Sky forward Joel Bolomboy, who will be a senior, that averaged a double double with 13 ppg and 10 rpg as well as 6’2″ guard Jeremy Senglin, who will be a junior, that averaged 16 ppg, 3 rpg, and 3+ apg. Aside from that, the only player that they are graduating is Hajek.
If Mav fans were willing to make the trip, Ogden and northern Utah have a lot to offer. Anywhere you are in northern Utah, you are a guaranteed 15-20 minute drive away from a beautiful hike. Get some beautiful pictures at Antelope Island 20 minutes away from Ogden, see the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City, and you can also go take a look at all the sights and gorgeous landscape that hosted the 2002 Olympics. Oh, there is also an In N Out Burger in between the Salt Lake City airport and Ogden… The trip is about a 13 1/2 hour drive from Omaha, but can be risky with the state of Wyoming basically giving up when it comes to taking care of I-80 during the winter. The flights are usually not too bad though, you will typically have to connect through Denver and end up on two separate 90 minute flights. There is a large Salt Lake City group that loves the Huskers that hosts watch parties for Husker games, but if you were to go you would actually find a decent number of UNO alumni in the group
You can snap pictures like this all around Northern Utah.
If you are a beer drinker though and want to make the trip to Utah, you will more than likely not have a great time, especially if you are not into outdoors stuff. The Salt Lake City Husker bar is really fun though, they have a party room dedicated to the Huskers (and the Utes). I also have some Weber State friends that I have been talking a little smack to telling them that UNO is superior in basketball (and another number of sports), so there may be a few Ogdenians that will get a little too into the game and causing a ruckass. Weber State did have a decent club hockey team while I was there, and Ogden has the Mustangs, a Junior A team in the WSHL, so there is always the potential to catch some hockey while there.
Omaha and Weber State have already played in softball (UNO won) and women’s soccer (WSU won) so again, there has been some form of communication between the two athletic departments. Also, while I was working at Weber State the volleyball team played at a tournament in Lincoln against Nebraska and Creighton and I offered to give their (now former) head coach information on restaurants and things to go do and see…he was actually surprisingly a really big jerk about the entire thing.
Creighton
Just kidding…
Oregon trip
Oregon -27
Okay, so the schedule is already pretty tough as it is with two power 5 schools on the schedule already, and there may not be room for one more, but you have to admit you have some interest with the Mavs going up against former UNO coach Kevin McKenna. Derrin Hansen could definitely soften up Dana Altman and McKenna by bringing them some Runzas and Dinker’s. That may be the only way to sell it to Altman and McKenna. When Altman played against Creighton in the CBI Championship, it was definitely awkward already with how recent it was since Altman had just left Creighton, but also Altman claimed that he did not like playing against his friends. I am not sure if him and Hansen have a relationship, but I am sure they have ran into each other, and it could be difficult for Altman having to face a jersey with the word Omaha on it.
Portland State -166
Portland – 221
Okay there is not much that I actually know about Portland and Portland State, but to get to Eugene, Oregon to play the Ducks, it would probably be best to fly through Portland. I know that Portland State is a commuter campus just like UNO, they are in the Big Sky, which the Mavericks and other Summit League teams like to go up against, and I know that the city of Portland is awesome.
Showing the O has already been done in Portland.
The city has literally everything you could ever ask for. Great scenic views, awesome hikes within driving distance, the Columbia Gorge is just about one of the most beautiful things that you will ever see, tons of breweries and unique restaurants, mountains to look at and drive to, the ocean is about an hour and a half away, and the state also has no sales tax. There is also Voodoo Doughnut, their line gets really long, I was there on a Sunday night at 10 pm and the line was longer than a Christopher Nolan film. Portland is also a huge hipster community, possibly the biggest I have ever seen, so it may be difficult for Rylan Murry to ever come back to Omaha after a trip out there. You can also walk around and mock everything that you have seen in “Portlandia”. Who else wants to have an adult hide and go seek league? Per the UNO Alumni Association, there are 400+ living in the state of Oregon that are UNO alumni, but Portland is right on the border of Washington state which has 700+ UNO alumni so there is a chance of getting a decent turnout to see the Mavs in the area.
For reals, Portland has everything.
Portland State has been trying to recruit a little from the Nebraska area, but I really do not know why, none of their coaches have any ties to the Midwest, and their basketball program has yet to land anyone from the area. The Vikings will lose seven seniors from their 2014-2015 roster that opened up the season by winning at USC, which really is not all that big of a deal. They also will not have much height on the roster with only only player 6’7″ or taller, as of right now anyway. The Vikings do have a Arizona State guard sitting out in the 2014-2015 season, Calaen Robinson, who the team is expecting to play a huge role in the 2015-2016 season.
The Portland Pilots beat Drake and Murray State this season, two teams that the Mavs lost to in 2013-2014. They also lost a narrow game at UNLV by two points. Okay, this seems a little more interesting now. The Pilots, like the city of Portland, is a really diverse team. Their roster this season consisted of guys from Canada, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and obviously the Pacific Northwest. If sitting around in a giant hipster city, drinking craft beer, eating delicious sushi, and making fun of tall people’s funny last names is fun to you, then maybe you are wishing this trip would have happened this season. The Pilots also has a will be sophomore named Jason Todd, so if you are a comic book nerd and understand what that means, you are pretty much looking for airplane tickets to Portland right now.
I mean, look at how entertaining sports can be in Portland.
Montana State -323
Speaking of Dana Altman, Montana State is coached by his former assistant Brian Fish who is trying to grow some respect for his program. Fish was rumored for the Western Illinois job a while back, and he has been recruiting in Omaha’s backyard. Again, Montana State is a Big Sky team. I have never been to the state of Montana, so…that is all I have to say about that. The average high temperature of Bozeman in November is 42 degrees and in December it is 33 degrees, so it is not like it is completely awful.
In 2014-2015, the Bobcats had…ahh hell I am not even going to try.
Bran Fish went 7-23 in his first season at Montana State.
Southern Miss – 283
Hey Doc Sadler, remember when you said there was no way you would schedule UNO? Southern Miss was one of the worst scoring and worst rebounding teams in division one this past season, that actually sounds really familiar to Nebraska fans. I am still pretty baffled that they beat North Dakota State, who they did schedule a home-and-home series with. Doc’s team had no player taller than 6’7″ and only graduated one player from this season, oh and their non conference schedule only had two power five schools on it, so yes that sounds exactly like a Doc Sadler team.
I am just saying, based on everything that I can perceive about Sadler, if the Mavs called him and pretended to be the University of New Orleans I am sure they could convince Doc to schedule “the Privateers” and Doc’s staff would just sign the contract without looking at it actually saying University of Nebraska at Omaha instead of University of New Orleans. Then Doc would actually look at his schedule at some point and drop his signature phrase of “I am not a smart man.”
I think UNO fans and people in Nebraska would like the match up. Doc was never really an enemy to anyone around here. He was never Santa Claus but he was never Martin Short as Jack Frost. People around here genuinely liked Doc as a person and would welcome back to Omaha for a night or two.
You know you want everything that comes with this.
The transitioning schools
As a school that is just finishing up the transitioning period, we know how painful of a four year process it can be, so maybe we can help out the following programs. Also as a Mav fan, I am keen to go play and beat these teams as four of the five had better RPI rankings than the Mavs last season.
Abilene Christian – 326
10-21 record in 2014-2015, 3 wins were against non-D1 opponents
scored 27 points in their final game of the season, ouch
Grand Canyon – 279
They have Thunder Dan as their head coach, that is enough for me
Incarnate Word – 173
They beat Nebraska last year, which may have led to the destruction of the Huskers’ confidence all season
Massachusetts Lowell – 262
Finished 12-17 overall including 1 win over a non-D1 opponent
As of right now, their 2015-2016 roster will be composed of one senior and the rest of the team will be freshmen and sophomores
Ranked 346th out of 351 in the nation in rebounding as a team
Northern Kentucky -263
Will be coached by John Brannen, former Alabama assistant
They got to play in their conference tournament. Why? What the shit?
Southern Illinois – 274
Another team coming to terms with the “screw Creighton” policy. I am not sure if Creighton and Southern Illinois ever actually had a bitter rivalry program to program or if it was really just Creighton not liking SIU taking their attention away for a few years. I remember Southern Illinois fans being incredibly furious whenever Creighton played in Carbondale. I searched and searched online to find the “I h8 Cr8n” shirts that their fans made but had no luck.
Southern Illinois has also had and won some recruiting battles with the Mavs, so this just irritates me more than it should. With the transition over, this should be less and less of a problem so that is refreshing. Also I feel like Creighton fans would come out to the game in disguise just to yell at Barry Hinson. Seriously, Hinson seems like he was molded out of puddy by Rita Repulsa to create the ultimate douche to destroy the Power Rangers, but probably more likely to destroy Southern Illinois. Granted, it is not like he took over the best program there in Carbondale.
UMKC – 293
Is anyone else incredibly bored with this match up? I do love a trip to Kansas City, but the Kangaroos have more players than they do fans, so it feels like you are going back and watching an old Division 2 game. The game I attended in Kansas City in 2013 there were more Mavs fan than Kangaroo fans. Most of the UMKC fans there were parents of the youth cheerleaders that put on a routine at halftime and then they all left at halftime.
The loss to UMKC this last season should have left an disgusting taste in your mouth. It was the first loss of the season that the whole team was available for, and a team that most thought the Mavs should not have lost to. The Mavs had 26 turnovers in this game. 26! So yes, I would love to see the Mavs get the chance again to not have 26 turnovers. Every time the Mavs play UMKC in anything I get more wrapped up in “why the hell are they in the WAC” instead of the actual game itself. They have to fly to every single one of their conference games, so you know they are looking to make up for it in the non conference schedule. Oh we can drive there? Just send them a contract and hope they sign it.
They will be returning Martez Harrison who was an All American Honorable Mention player. He averaged 17.5 ppg and 4 apg, and he had 25 points and 6 assists against the Mavs in the one game they played this season. A guard like Harrison could prepare the Mav back court for what they are going to have to go up against in the Summit League next season. The Summit League is going to be filled with a lot of great guards this upcoming season.
I am not expecting Mav fans to make the trips for the in season games, but how refreshing was it as a Mav fan to see how many students and fans made it out to the Frozen Four? With things beginning to “matter” more, fans are going to be willing to make the fun trips.
With the addition of a 6’10” center from Colorado, the first year of being fully eligible for the post season, the UNO Mavericks men’s basketball team will be one of the biggest teams in the Summit League.
Okay, so height is not everything, but it does not hurt most of the time. South Dakota State and North Dakota State have been able to be dominant the last couple of years with their balanced attack of controlling the paint with their front court while being able to shoot the ball and play strong perimeter defense with their back courts. The Mavs are starting to get more and more of that balance as they are still growing. We are also still in transfer and late commitments period, so anything could happen to the Mavs roster, or to any Summit League team still. You still have to be excited about the signing of a guy like Zach Pirog. ESPN’s recruiting database, which could basically be summed up in three words “It really sucks,” has only taken the time to rate a few of the recruits that UNO has had over the last couple of years, Nick Billingsley in 2013 and Jalen Jones in 2014, neither of them ended up at UNO. I am not saying that to anger you or scare the crap out of you, just saying that anything can happen. Either way, I hope that Pirog is completely committed to the Mavs.
It is still unclear if Pirog will redshirt or not, Derrin Hansen has a history of redshirting bigger guys, but you know, we are kind of in a new era here, so we will have to wait an see. It is going to be interesting to see what unfolds with the Mavs front court with the loss of Mike Rostampour. Jake White can hopefully be more healthy in his senior year, Tre’Shawn Thurman is already a star, and Rylan Murry and Daniel Meyer showed moments of potential during their freshmen year. Now you are going to add Pirog (and walk on 6’8″ Ben Kositzke from Millard West) to that group, Thurman and Murry also both have the potential to play the 3, so at times the Mavs could have a very big lineup on the court like when North Dakota State did when they won the 2014 Summit League tournament.
So what do you think when you watch this video? With it starting with a minute and a half of his shot blocking ability, I immediately get excited of the potential. He is not just blocking his defender, he is blocking anything that comes at him. Take notice of how well he moves and shifts on defense. Pirog next to Thurman on the court at the same time has to get you a little excited. That combo on defense will provide so much rim protection. They will basically form a gate around the paint and make it extremely difficult for teams to get easy baskets. When we get a chance to get Pirog and Thurman on the court at the same time, I am going to coin it as “The Devil’s Gate.” It is a cattle term. We are the Mavericks. It sounds scary. Deal with it.
Another thing to take notice is how well he moves without the ball, his footwork is great. Yes I know it is a highlight reel, and I have no idea who the opposing players are, but he still gets to the ball with ease and spins around his defender extremely well. There are also a few highlights of him making some 15-18 foot jump shots, which can be extremely beneficial to a offense. I have always thought it was a great addition to a team’s offense, honestly it helps when anyone on the team can make mid range shots, but extremely helpful when a big man can do it. It keeps the opposing team’s defense honest and it can mess up their plans if they love to play a zone and hate to draw their post player out of the lane. John Karhoff had that mid range weapon and it was a big help for the Mavs in his senior season. Mike Rostampour and Jake White both had a decent mid range game, but it did not really seem like it was something the Mavs were really counting on this past season, those two spent more time in the post than Karhoff did. It was a different team though (obviously), Karhoff had Rostampour and Matt Hagerbaumer to bang down low and grab his potential misses so it seemed like there was more confidence in giving Karhoff the green light for that.
I was in Denver this last weekend and staying near the Pepsi Center and by coincidence the Colorado high school all star game was going on. I only had a little time to go, so I could not stay for the entire time, but Pirog was quick for a post player and ran the floor very well. Seemed like a healthy guy, but thought maybe he needed to put on some muscle for the next level, and really what high school athlete does not need to put on some more muscle for college? In a game that featured 3 other players that would be in division one next season, and maybe a few more, Pirog was able to put up 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks.
Per Verbal Commits, Pirog had other offers from: Air Force, Yale, Columbia, Albany, Lafayette, Holy Cross, Tennessee Tech, Northern Colorado, and Liberty. Along with JT Gibson also getting a good amount of offers, UNO is finally getting to the point where they are winning recruiting battles, probably directly related to the reclassifying period coming to an end and a brand new arena, but dang it feels good to finally see. Early in the transition phase, I would see UNO going up against other schools for kids and I would just instantly write them off and I was right for writing them off 100% of the time. I was still in that mode before the start of this season. I saw Pirog had some other offers and took some other visits, had some great length, and I instantly went to the old, Oh He’s Not Coming Here mentality. When I saw Pirog committed to UNO, that was the moment it finally hit me that this transition phrase was coming to an end.
Per MaxPreps, Pirog averaged 14.6 ppg, 10.5 rpg, and 3.4 blocks per game his senior year and led his team to the the state championship game, where he had 4 points and 9 rebounds against a team that featured a Wyoming commit and a junior center who holds offers from Pac 12, Big 12, and SEC schools. With Pirog, Gibson, Tra-Deon Hollins, Zach Jackson, and walk on Ben Kositzke, you have to find yourself wondering if UNO picked up their best recruiting class yet.
Welcome to the Mav family…I just hope he and Rylan Murry can get along…
I do not know my capability of talking about college softball, but I will take a shot at it here.
I have learned a bit about college softball over the last few years, I did after all marry into it. The sport though has grown in popularity over the last decade, partially because of more exposure from ESPN, who tends to go on lazy mode from the NFL Draft to the NFL training camp. When the NBA dwindles down in games from the playoffs, and MLB is not in crunch time, college softball (and baseball) gets its shot on national television stage. More respect has been given to the softball athletes with segments being posted about how it is actually more difficult to hit an incoming softball pitch versus a baseball pitch, and other stuff. It has become more than just a Hey, That School Needs That For Title 9 thing, so for UNO going division one, and having softball as probably their most successful female sport, it is a great thing for the athletic program.
Anyway, here is a little background on my wife: She grew up in Washington state, played on travel softball teams with girls that went on to play at Arizona, Alabama, UCLA, Washington, Oregon State, Louisiana Tech, and others, some even went on to team USA. She played middle infield for much of her softball career, except for one travel team where she was moved to the outfield, but there was a future Olympian at shortstop, so she was cool with it. She valued her education more than sports, so she picked Belmont, a private university, over the likes of Kentucky, Columbia, and other various schools, oh and my wife also picked Belmont over Creighton. She often claims that her first coach in college at Belmont was “a dumb ass.” My wife has A LOT of speed, and her college coach tried to make her a slapper, but my wife claimed she did not see the ball as well as a slapper. She wanted to hit away, but was not given too many opportunities to do so under that coach.
Finally that coach was let go, and Amy Tudor became her head coach. You may know Tudor as the former coach of IPFW, who had the program in really good shape but had difficulty getting over North Dakota State, and she is now the head coach of Western Kentucky who has picked up wins over Nebraska and Tennessee so far this season. She took five players from IPFW with her and now the Mastadons are 0-23 so far this season. Anyway, at first, Tudor wanted to keep my wife as a slapper, but halfway through my wife’s junior season, she started to let her hit away and still tried to utilize her as a slapper a bit, but my wife started to take off and raised her hitting average by 30 percentage points.
Tudor brought new life to my wife’s college career, she won conference player of the week awards, became an All Academic player, and was chosen as the team captain. My wife needed the new spark, you see picking the education over a big name program came at a small price. The players on her team were not strongly committed to softball, and Nashville (and the south in general) is filled with a different type of casual female that is only going to college so they can meet their future husband and become a stay at home wife. The older players would discourage my wife for “caring too much” or being “too competitive,” and make other degrading remarks, trying to get her to not try as hard, and fit in with them and not be as good. They were like The Joker trying to bring Harvey Dent down to his and Batman’s level. Something my wife was not used to with growing up with highly competitive softball players, she did not understand how someone could call themselves a division one athlete and not be competitive. Even though my wife had a softball team around her, she felt completely isolated and alone while she was at Belmont. It is not like my wife hated or was hated by every single one of her teammates, there were some girls that tried and were competitive and some that she became great friends with and still maintains close friendships with. My wife at one point was in talks to transfer to some better programs, but Tudor came in and convinced her to stay, and at the end of the day Belmont was providing a fantastic education, and my wife wanted to think big picture. My wife’s senior year was the best year that Belmont ever had in softball, from a wins standpoint. Tudor would later have my wife as a volunteer assistant for one season at Belmont, and later highly recommended that she apply to be her assistant coach at IPFW, which was incredibly difficult for my wife to pass up. Do not worry, I would have never loved IPFW as if it were my own. Tudor provided some support for my wife’s college experience, something she did not necessarily have a lot of in her first two years. My wife also now coaches high school, just as a FYI. My wife watches every single Women’s College World Series game every single year, no matter how late the games go and no matter how early she has stuff to do in the morning. She watches every moment.
How does any of this relate to Allie Mathewson and UNO softball? Okay, part of that is to provide a frame of reference that it is not like I just thought, hey what the hell I will try to take up talking about softball for shits, but that I have grown to love the sport through the passion that my wife has for softball.
So one day I am looking in the Omaha World Herald, and I read an article to my wife about how a Creighton player is transferring to UNO. Oh neat! At the time I did not know a bunch about softball, just that my wife is far superior than me at it, but I was recognizing that Creighton was a better softball program at the time as far as division one history goes, I mean, it was after just one division one season from UNO. So for UNO to get a transfer from a slightly better program, was probably a big deal given their status at the time. My wife told me that Jeanne Scarpello is a quality coach, she has the tools and knowledge to build a successful program at the division one level. Before Tudor left IPFW, my wife was certain that North Dakota State, IPFW, and UNO were going to make for a very competitive threesome in the Summit League tournament in the future.
My wife is eventually asked to teach Softball Coaching Theories at UNO, and guess who is in one of her first classes… My wife comes to respect Mathewson as a student, learns more and more about her as a player too, my wife recognizes her as a leader as well. The World Herald comes out with a few more Mathewson articles over time, but there was one that caught our eyes, why she left Creighton, mostly on how the girls at Creighton were not committed to softball, did not take it seriously, basically took all the fun out of it for her, and how she felt isolated and alone. It is possible I have that wrong, I could not find the particular article again as a reference for the specifics. I think this literally brought my wife to pain, it sounded incredibly similar to her experience at Belmont, and from the sounds of it, Mathewson got out of the situation for a much better experience at UNO, my wife could feel Mathewson’s pain, and it was difficult for my wife to get through the article as it brought back her memories, and she felt completely happy for Mathewson and believed Mathewson made the right decision. After getting to know Mathewson better from a teacher-student standpoint, my wife was happy that Mathewson could find that support from the UNO program.
My wife and I went to attend Nebraska at UNO softball in the 2014 season. It was cold and super windy, but there was over 400 people in attendance. Sure most of them are there to see Nebraska softball, but people wanted to see what Mathewson, Campbell Ditto, and Amber Lutmer and the rest of the Mavs could do against the Husker ace Tatum Edwards, but none of them had great luck against Edwards that day, I remember a lot of first pitch swings from the Mavs. The Mavs only had one hit, and the Huskers figured out Dana Elsasser as the game went on.
When watching softball with my wife, the coach in her has a lot of “what were you thinking there”, “why swing at the pitch”, “the infielder did not go after that ball correctly,” she also recognizes the great plays and says things like “way to go getting that ball”, “that is a tough pitch to lay off of, get after it next time.” When watching UNO events that have her students playing my wife turns into a defensive soccer mom, “how dare the opposing player do something bad toward (student’s name)”, and her student can usually do no wrong in her eyes. Granted, this has mostly been in Hockey where she knows less about the sport, so when she sees someone try to fight her student, she pretty much stands up and gets in a defensive stance, like if the refs do not stop the fight, she will. So with Mathewson, I was curious if my wife the coach or if my wife the teacher/soccer mom would come out.
Mathewson steps up the box, and this is instantly where things got interesting. The crowd would shout to Husker players that batted in the top of the inning against Elsasser, positive and negative things, but no one talked for Mathewson’s first at bat, it was like everyone was giving respect to a golfer trying to focus in. They all read the World Herald stories, they all have an idea what Mathewson has gone through, and they all know of her .365 batting average. My wife even quietly says “oh, she has the same batting stance as me.” Her teammates go after her and the volume starts back up, people carrying on their casual conversation and cheers, but still paying attention to the game, young softball girls there to cheer on both the Mavericks and Huskers. Mathewson’s second at bat, the young softball girls that had seemed to lose a little interest in the game because of the weather tell each other to “shut up, Allie is up to bat!” Through the transition, has there been a player in any sport where the young kids would tell each other to shut up and watch?
I am still not sure if the coach or the teacher came out in my wife when Mathewson was up to bat. When Mathewson came up to bat or would track down a ball in the outfield for an out, my wife just said nothing. I think it was just respect, the coach in her had no critique. The teacher in her had the trust and confidence that she could handle herself.
Is Mathewson the best college softball player in the state of Nebraska? Maybe, maybe not, Liz Dike of Creighton is hitting .484 over 20 games so far…holy crap. And Kiki Stokes, Alicia Armstrong, and a few more Huskers are having solid years so far. With no Tatum Edwards, and basically Creighton fans not caring about sports after basketball season (they care when the CWS starts, because you know, their season tickets they never use become useful for once), Mathewson is definitely the most talked about college softball player in the state this season. For a transitioning program to have a player like that, is kind of a big deal. Her story is unique and she is a player people that know about softball want to see. The discussion that will come up with any star Mav athlete of Would She be that Good at Creighton is off the table because we have seen what she can do as a Bluejay, and that was apparently when she was not the same player off the field.
It appears that the Creighton softball program has picked up a little this season, after losing their momentum for a few years. But something I found interesting is the RPI of Creighton and UNO since the transition. 2012: CU-135, UNO-234, then Mathewson transfers and UNO gets a good recruiting class…2013: CU-87, UNO-71, 2014: CU- 117, UNO-69. That right there should start some conversation with local softball fans. Should I have opened with that? I think the Mathewson transfer hurt Creighton in a way, it shows that Creighton is not the bigger dog of the two programs to the local girls that are looking to stay local, that the two programs are an equal playing field. Did I just make Mathewson the Mockingjay? Or the Mockingmav? Or the…okay I will shut up.
I do not want this to be a Creighton against UNO thing, yeah they will both go after some of the same recruits, but they still have to turn those recruits into great players and great women for the future. Creighton (and Nebraska, North Dakota State, and others) can be a measuring stick for the growth of the Mavericks softball program. With a great coach in Jeanne Scarpello (I have seen her refer to herself as an average coach), who has a Division 2 National Title under her belt, and players like Mathewson, the program definitely has a solid foundation to build off going into a fully fledged D-1 member.
With just 2 2/3 years so far at UNO, Mathewson has impressed us all, and already ranks in the top 25 in a number of statistical categories for the history of the Mavericks, but just because Mathewson is the most talked about player in the state of Nebraska, it does not mean the Mavericks live and die off of her. Softball is a true team sport, it takes commitment and team work from all the players on the field. The fellow members of her senior class Kat Borrow and Tonya Peterson have been great for the Mavericks throughout their careers. It seems like Campbell Ditto is one of the best clutch hitters in the Summit League. Lia Mancuso has been great, she leads the team with a .329 batting average this season. Freshmen Kelly Pattison seems to be knocking down some clutch hits, and Jaylee Hinrichs already has a couple pitcher of the week awards in her young career.
From the sounds of it as well, UNO has a great 2015 recruiting class. I know that much of the talent in softball comes from the west coast and that is where many of the bigger programs go to recruit players. Look at any SEC roster, it is generally made up of west coast girls. The top team in the Summit, North Dakota State, 11 of the 17 girls on their softball roster are from the west coast. None of that means that there is not talent in the Midwest though, the best players in the area are certainly going to hear from Nebraska, Creighton, and UNO for sure among others, but rarely do you see a Pac 12 school come to Nebraska to recruit some softball talent. It does happen though, Oregon has Karissa Hovinga who played at Papillion. So UNO definitely has a chance at the top players in the area, every single year. In a different sport like basketball or volleyball, I think it would be difficult for UNO at this point to go up against Nebraska and Creighton for a top level athlete from the area. Softball though, with the rich Division 2 History UNO had, Jeanne Scarpello, and players like Mathewson, Elsasser, Lutmer, Mancuso, Carly Nielsen who transferred from Michigan State and others, if there is a top level athlete from the area, UNO has just as much of a chance to get that player as the two bigger names. In some cases, the Mavs have a much better chance, they already have gotten some of those players.
When UNO first made the transition, I needed a minute, or a week, to process it. A friend of mine asked me, is UNO going to be any good and which of their programs will be the quickest to a conference championship/NCAA tournament bid. I immediately and uncontrollably came out with baseball for the men and softball for the women…Men’s soccer and Golf were kind of wild cards though being that they were not even implemented yet though. The softball team was the first UNO team to pick up a win over Nebraska, they have had more opportunities, and that is not exactly how a program should measure success, but still… In the fall, my wife and I were playing co-rec slow pitch and I checked Twitter before the game and informed her that Mav softball beat the Huskers twice in fall ball. My wife’s response, which I am sure is shared by many Mav fans, “it is a damn shame that team is not eligible for post season yet.”
I bring up my wife’s reactions to the stories we read in the Omaha World Herald on Mathewson’s transfer because they are somewhat similar stories, but also because I think it is easy for sports fans to immediately get ignorant when a player transfers and automatically go to “oh they could not cut it at the bigger school.” Some fans think that sports should be everything to these kids. There are several different reasons why student athletes transfer, and some players never transfer and never get out of their bad situation. Mathewson could play at the level of Creighton, which at the time, was bigger than UNO’s level. I may sound like a broken record here with things I have mentioned about the basketball team, but can you think of a better player, and even combined with her teammates, to help build the foundation for a transitioning program moving forward? I find it unfortunate that things could not work out for her at Creighton, but as a UNO alumni and sports fan I am proud that UNO could take in such a quality athlete, and who sounds to be a great quality person and athlete, and provide a good quality softball home for her.
So March Madness has officially began, the Mavs still cannot attend the dance, so it is not too early to look at what the Mavs will have for next season. I am already convinced that my bracket is ruined.
You should have finally accepted the fact that the NCAA will not just let CJ Carter and Mike Rostampour get another year of eligibility for the chance to play in the Summit League and NCAA Tournaments, but hey wouldn’t be cool if Jason Mims just kind of let Carter play on the soccer team for the opportunity for post season? Or if Bob Herold let Carter play as a pinch runner for the baseball team for his 5th year of eligibility? I have no idea if Carter is even capable of doing those things, but you would be interested to see what it would be like.
So Tra-Deon Hollins, a 6’2″ guard coming to UNO from the Junior College ranks, played high school basketball at Omaha Central, where he was a part of four state titles, with the likes of Tre’Shawn Thurman and Georgetown/Louisville forward Akoy Agau. Is it Tra-Deon, or is it TraDeon? I have seen both. I am going to need help from Dale Doback on this whole Pan/Pam situation. That is a Step Brothers reference. Anyway, Hollins has the chance to be an immediate impact on this basketball team, as most junior college transfers do coming into mid-major teams.
Whenever I present my wife with a good news/bad news situation she always wants the bad news first, so I will throw the bad at you before the good. It is not really all that bad, but as a sports fan you have the have a small amount of worry. Hollins only played 9 games at Chipola College this past season before he was dismissed from the team for disciplinary reasons.
That raises your eyebrow with a small amount of concern as a sports fan. You see it a lot in college sports, or even in professional sports, of someone getting in a small amount of trouble, but it keeps escalating into more and more until that player never plays. You obviously hope it is nothing, and it is something that the player can learn from and become a stronger person and player. Sports give that opportunity for some people to find redemption a little faster.
Here is a quote from the Omaha World Herald from Hollins: It just made me a better man today. It opened my eyes and made me more wise, and it taught me a lot about decisions and how much that can take a toll on you.
I do not know what happened with Hollins, nor do I really care as it is not really any of my business, but I think that is a great quote from him. Someone gets in a little trouble and you ask for them to own up to it. I hate when I hear someone get in trouble and their immediate go to comment it “yeah, but it was all some bullshit.” Sports (and life) is all about decision making, you know aside from athleticism and whatnot, so to have that character on the team that knows how important decision making is, that is a great addition to the team. If you had a “yeah, but it was all some bullshit” guy on the team, you would need to worry a little more. He could become a distraction by doing stupid crap, like accidentally stealing seafood from a supermarket. I know a guy was a “yeah, but was all some bullshit” guy. He got in trouble, went on to play junior college basketball, quit basketball after getting in trouble a few more times, and the last I heard he is a drug dealer. So yeah, do not be that guy, learn, move on, and grow.
Okay, so now onto the good. 13.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg (that is not role playing games), 6.6 apg, 61.5 FG%, 42.9 3pt%, 75 FT%, and 4.6 steals per game in those 9 games. The season before at Central Community College: 17.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 5.3 apg, 47.8 FG%, 37.2 3pt%, 69.9 FT%, and 4.1 steals per game. Certainly sounds like a guy that can do a little bit of everything.
What is more shocking is that in the Omaha World Herald, he said that he was a defensive player. Okay, yeah, now I do not know what to do with myself. UNO’s defense was not very good last year, last in the league in points allowed, and near the bottom in defensive shooting percentage. The offense was like Oregon football, but the defense was like Omaha Northwest football. Are they still bad? There were not very good when I was in high school. So when you have a guy that sounds like a great scorer on paper, but out loud is completely committed to defense, you are completely freaking excited. I am just imagining a team coming down the court and trying to get the ball past Hollins and Devin Patterson. Then when they do, they have to deal with Thurman’s length and shot blocking ability, and then if they can get a shot up they have to deal with Jake White’s rebounding ability. You just got like super pumped about that, right?
One thing that worries me though is the dying of the hair to blonde? I remember seeing a bunch of pictures in the Omaha World Herald in 2013 of the Omaha Central basketball team and it seemed like a bulk of the team dyed their hair blonde. It is cool to have a little unity like that. Like when a football team all shaves their heads, or when the Boston Celtics starters in 2007-2008 all shaved their heads at the beginning of the season. But I hope this blonde head thing does not catch on for the UNO Mavericks basketball team. I do not know if I could concentrate on a game if Jake White, Rylan Murry, and Kyler Erickson went all Slim Shady.
So we are going to add Hollins to a back court of Patterson, Marcus Tyus, Tim Smallwood, Kyler Erickson, Devin Newsome, and incoming freshman JT Gibson. Sounds like a good back court committee. The back court is going to need to come up huge with South Dakota State returning Deondre Parks, Jake Bittle, and George Marshall. That is a back court that is going to be dangerous.
I remember watching the 2013 Nebraska high school state championship game on television. I was watching to see what Nick Billingsley was like, who was at the time committed to UNO. I remember thinking that Hollins was incredibly fast and a big piece of energy for the Eagles. Was he the best player? I do not know, that team was freaking stacked. I said a few times throughout the 2014-2015 season that the Mavericks lacked a high energy guard off the bench. Tyus was that high energy guy off the bench in 2013-2014, and Alex Phillips and Caleb Steffensmeier both had their moments in that role, but no one was really doing that for the Mavs this past season. Not saying that Tim Smallwood, Devin Newsome, or Kyler Erickson were bad, but not of them were that unstoppable piece of energy off the bench. Erickson became that toward the end of the season, but none of them were that Nate Robinson or Jamal Crawford type of energy. Hollins seems to have what it takes to be that much needed chess piece.
Hollins is (clearly) an Omaha guy, and he seems to have a sense of pride to represent the city. You want those guys mixed in on your team. Even Kansas finds a few dudes from Lawrence for that representation. I was reading something yesterday, I already forgot the subject of the article, but it was basically stating that teams cannot get by with the one trick ponies anymore. The guys who just stand in the corner and take threes are not very important. Teams need the guys that can do a little bit of everything, and we totally got that in Hollins.
Before moving forward, I would like to point out to you that I worked 40 hours over the course of 3 days and got very little sleep while trying to write this in the little free time I had, so I was probably a little delirious, and noticed several errors and typos while skimming over this and I fixed as much as I could, so if there is a problem, see my assistant. I do not have an assistant, so good luck with that. There were many stretches where I just sat at my computer, wondering where the heck I was.
So I now have been to a few UNO women’s basketball games. It is not my lack of interest or lack of support as to why I have only been to a few games. During my time as a student at UNO, I would have night classes or work during most of the home games. After the transition, I lived in Utah which was close to no fun, and after moving back it has seemed like I would always have a scheduling conflict with the women’s teams home games. I listen to most of the games on the radio while I am working out, or doing other stuff. But I was able to make it Thursday night, and I got to tell you I feel pretty good about this team moving forward.
Let’s think about the lady Mavs’ division one life. First thing, they lose their coach. They find a new coach in Chance Lindley, who was an assistant at Arizona. Lindley would guide the Mavs to wins over three division one opponents in their first year: Western Illinois, Texas-Arlington, and UNO (holy crap they beat themselves! – no, no, that is New Orleans). In his second season, Lindley and his staff were able to pick up Carolyn Blair-Mobley, a graduate transfer from Oklahoma State, who made an immediate impact to help seniors Paige Frauendorfer and Jamie Nash create a big time Big 3. The lady Mavs were able to go 17-11 overall in their second year of transition.
Then, in a way, the whole thing comes crumbling down. The seniors graduate, which is kind of a given, and on top of that 4 other players leave the team, Cathleen Cox is injured, players decommit, and Lindley unexpectedly leaves the school. Brittany Lange is given the opportunity to fix the situation, which it appears she is becoming more and more comfortable dealing with day by day. To top things off, Cox is injured again, Brianna Bogard injures herself as well early in the season, who seemed to be expected to be a big piece of the offense, which the injuries and transfers leaves the team with one senior, 3 juniors, and 5 freshmen to be the players night in and night out. If you do not know anything about basketball rosters, that is not a lot, and why are you here? This year, Lange was given the chance to have a little more depth on the team, really just one more player added to last year’s roster would have seemed like a ton more depth, but it is a full roster now for sure.
It is incredibly difficult to rebuild a women’s basketball team. First of all there is very little parody in women’s basketball. My wife and I have discussed this on a number of occasions. On the men’s side, there are a million six foot tall shooting guards to knock down threes, and their dream is to play college basketball. There just are not as many girls that have that same love of basketball that can play at a highly competitive level. You also have to consider how many girls in high school basketball are playing it as their second sport, many go on to play volleyball, or soccer, or softball at the collegiate level. Combine that with a bunch of high school coaches that do not know what they are doing and go with a Hey This Volleyball Girl is Tall so Let’s Just Keep Feeding Her the Ball Even Though She Has no Hands approach. Basketball is just kind of the side job for many of them. I mean no disrespect to women in college basketball, I hope this should show as a sign of respect really to the ones who do play and have quality careers who put their love of the game and carry out for success. My wife mentioned at her high school, the basketball team had 7 players (throughout 3 different classes) go play division one, but none of them went on to play basketball. It was a second thing for all of them. My wife averaged 5 steals a game as a freshmen on varsity, and ended up playing college softball over basketball (although Belmont tried to get her to play her 5th year of eligibility for the basketball team, she beat the team in a scrimmage three point competition, Remy Davenport also has the same form on her shot as my wife as a FYI) With no parody in the sport, it creates situations in which the # 5 team in the country cruises past the # 15 team in the country by 30 points. So yes, rebuilding, especially in transition, is no easy situation in women’s basketball. It takes a committed coaching staff and patient athletic administration to get through the tough times, two things that UNO seems to have.
By the way, my wife is in her high school’s athletic all of fame for softball and basketball. The high school athletics program has apparently gone down hill in the last couple of years with some new high schools opening up and taking away some of the high level athletes. We went to her award ceremony which was at half time of the boy’s basketball game. We sat through girl’s game which was before the boy’s game. One of the teams scored a total of one point in the third quarter. It was the 6th layer of hell for me. If any coach is ever reading this, I urge you to not go recruit for girl’s basketball in the Vancouver, Washington area (Vancouver is the Council Bluffs of Portland, Oregon).
It did seem to take a little while to find a consistent lineup this season, but after finally settling in with a lineup, the Mavs seemed to pick things up, along with improving some fundamentals and especially their free throw shooting. Before the month of February the Mavs went 6-15, but were able to get to double degit wins by going 4-3 in the month of February. The Mavs were able to pick up wins against Western Illinois (finished 3rd in Summit League), North Dakota State (6th), Fort Wayne (9th), and Denver (T-7th with UNO) in the month of February, they also play competitively against the two top teams in the conference South Dakota and South Dakota State. So yes, the lady Mavs were able to end transition on a positive note.
With a more consistent lineup, the Mavs were able to get going, but the Mavs were able to move through the month by huge performances from sophomore Mikaela Shaw. How big? 23.1 points per game and 8.7 rebounds throughout the month of February big. Those are superstar numbers, like Other Teams Are Going to Stick Their Hands in Their Armpits and Then Smell Their Hands When Shaw Comes to Town, Because They Are Going to Be So Nervous type of superstar.
Looking ahead to the future, it may be comforting knowing that Mikaela Shaw (as of before the start of post season) led all sophomores in the Summit League in scoring, as well as rebounding. The only player that averaged more points than her that will be returning for next season will be Western Illinois’ Ashley Luke (assuming neither of these players leave for some reason). I would also like to extend this and point out that Madi Robson led all sophomores in assists. And yes, teams can pick up some stellar junior college players, and transfers from Florida that can just dominate the conference.
So the Mavs had their best season during transition with Frauendorfer and Nash leading the show. Having your power forward and point guard as your main characters is never a bad thing. Yes, I know Shaw is listed as a guard, but seriously, come on, she plays the 4. When your 4 and your guard are your main characters, you can utilize the pick and roll game a ton, look at any team that had Jerry Sloan as their coach.
Mikaela Shaw’s Twitter handle is shawesome_43, and I do not think I have ever seen a more appropriate twitter handle for a young college person, she is freaking awesome. She can score in a variety of ways, she can drive left, drive right, score on the baseline, knock down a 15 footer, knock down a three, I would not be shocked if she could dunk.
Shaw has easily become a star over the last two years. Let me just throw a few numbers out at you.
I mentioned that she led all sophomores in points and rebounds this season, right?
Her 38 points is the most by any lady Mav since transition, it was also the most by any woman in the Summit League this season
Her 721 is the most career points in the transition period, Frauendorfer had 755 and Ericka House had 732, Shaw did that in her freshman and sophomore seasons, Frauendorfer and House scored their points as juniors and seniors
After her sophomore year she already ranks 38th on the career overall scoring chart
After her sophomore year she ranks 27th on the career rebounding chart
And that is just the scoring, she can rebound, pass the ball, block shots, defend the post, defend the perimeter, and her three point shooting has gotten better and better. I watched a play where she was on defense and went up to contest a shot, and she did not even block the shot, she literally just grabbed the shot out of the air and started a break down the floor. Is Grab Shot Out of Freaking Air a statistic? If it is, she at least averaged 0.1 this last season.
Like I said, rebuilding anywhere is difficult, especially for a women’s team in transition, by the way, have we praised Brittany Lange for taking this job over? Rebuilding a team in the middle of transition, that has to be a coach’s worst nightmare, especially taking the risk of starting your career with that. With basically an entirely new roster in her first season, Lange essentially got a job at one of those start up companies. Anyway, it is difficult to rebuild a team, and someone like Mikaela Shaw is a great marketing tool…no, no, no I am not saying we use her, it will just come naturally.
The smaller schools have to rely on that one above the rest of the conference player to market their program. The outsiders who essentially know nothing about the the smaller teams, they need to hear something is interesting is happen to pay attention. At this level, people want to hear about someone like Mikaela Shaw doing great things and they want to go see it for themselves. They want to sit around and talk shop afterwards and feel better about themselves and ponder real philosophical stuff like “yeah, she can score at UNO, but could score at a bigger school?” The high school kids want to learn from that player. If you went to high school in Omaha from 2001-2003, you would have seen every high school kid wearing their socks real high, growing their hair out (high school kids tend to grow their hair out anyway), trying to become a knock down three point shooter trying to be Creighton’s Kyle Korver. Go to a UNO softball game. If you went and saw UNO take on the Huskers last year, the middle school girls were there to watch Nebraska’s Tatum Edwards pitch, and they were there to learn from UNO’s Allie Mathewson. Every time Mathewson stepped up to the plate, the younger kids were up at the fence, studying her batting stance, wanting to be the next Allie Mathewson. The younger kids see the Mathewsons and the Shaws as the heros. The Nebraska girls that go in and dominate. The Nebraska Cornhuskers did not exist to those girls in those games between the Mavericks and Huskers.
Should it be amazing that she even came to UNO? I do not know. Per press releases from athletics and the Omaha World Herald, I have not seen any other offers she picked up other than a walk on role at Nebraska, but I have to tell you, a walk on offer to a small town Nebraska kid might be a better thing than a full ride some place else from a sports stand point. I do not know for sure if Deweese, Nebraska is a small town, but I am just just going to go with my Omaha instincts on this one and say yes it is a small town.
Let’s not look at this like it is the Omaha Shaws, it is still the Omaha Mavericks. If you would have gone to a women’s game, you could have seen the other pieces of the future.
I am going to take a side step before moving on. The players who never got to play after transition, should not be forgotten. Taijhe Kelly’s blocks, Nash’s ridiculous amount of steals and assists, House’s threes, Bough’s ability to do a little bit of everything, Frauendorfer’s…just Frauendorferness, and everyone else. They all helped the UNO program move on, I am simply just looking at what we have moving forward. If anything the players moving forward have a little bit of the past in them. Barajas has signs of playing like Kelly, Shaw has similarities to Frauendorfer, Robson to Nash, and so on.
So it is not just Mikaela Shaw that we have to look forward to. Madi Robson, if you are a point guard, you will have nothing but respect for her. If you love a score first point guard, then I always think there is something wrong with you, and her career average of 5 points per game will not impress you. If you watch her though, you will take notice of what she does for the Mavericks. She keeps the team moving, keeps communication up, finds players in their spots, sets screens on bigger players to get her teammates in a better position to make a play.
I have not seen if UNO has a +/- stat for games, I know North Dakota State does (just sayin’), but the second to last home game of the year against IPFW, I cannot stress to you how important she was in that game. If there was a +/- stat, I am pretty sure the Mavs would have been up 15 points whenever she was on the court. There was a stretch in the second half when she was on the bench where IPFW had dwindled down UNO’s lead to one possession, and I was thinking to myself – Where the Heck is Robson? Then what do you know, Robson comes into the game, and controls everything to a point to where the Mavs get back up by a few possessions.
She scored 15 points that game, and most of it were free throws as IPFW was fouling to try and get back into the game, but I swear she was capable of scoring much more. No matter what guard got on Robson, she would break that player down, IPFW could not stay in front of her. I was sitting next to some older gentlemen, who I assume were former UNO players, and every time Robson would break down their defender they would just laugh and cry out, “they have no chance at guarding her.” She would get by, and find the open player, or bring it back up to the top of the key so the Mavs could set something else up. You could tell that she had that game completely under control. While on the bench, the team was talking less, the defense was breaking down. It is not like they just muted themselves, I am just saying that while Robson was on the court, you could clearly hear the players better and more frequently. Taijhe Kelly was probably the second most talkative on defense, calling out whatever she saw. Not saying no one else was talking, those were just the two players that were clearly keeping up the talk. When Robson was on the bench, she was like a undergraduate coach, yelling whatever she could out to players, scolding them for mistakes. Scolding may be the wrong word, from everything I have seen, Robson does not have a mean bone in her body. I have not seen a college player (in person) take over an entire game without the need of scoring since Tyler McKinney at Creighton. Also, just a little bit ago when I shot out some numbers about Shaw, after Robson’s sophomore year, she is 16th in program history in assists.
So you take Robson and Shaw, you have Davenport coming off screens as the three point specialist, Vanessa Barajas as the rim protector, add transfer Marissa Preston to the crew, as well as incoming freshman Caroline Hogue, who is apparently a block specialist herself, and you have the recipe for a quality basketball team. So there is some hope for this improving basketball team that showed promise down the stretch of transition, and we know anything could happen, like (this is where some hypothetical situation is mentioned, something so horrifying, you vomit and crap yourself and cry out “no player deserves that”). Add that in with a committed coaching staff, and athletic administration that wants to put in their support, and you have a girls team that can climb the standings in the conference. and who knows what the limits are.
It seems that the Mavericks have had the same story to each loss so far this season. Mavs get off to a great start, Mavs turn the ball over a bit and let the other team into the game, game gets close, CJ Carter and/or Marcus Tyus do what they can to keep the game close, Mavs miss some key free throws while the other team becomes incapable of missing free throws, and then I leave home sad. Even though last night’s game ended with a loss, it was refreshing to see a little bit of a different story.
The Mavs did not get off to the greatest start in this one. There were some poor decisions in the beginning, bad turnovers, bad luck, bad shots, and a lot of fouls. Then they fought to get back into the game a bit, kept it at a close game, got down by a few possessions, then cut it back down to a position, and even take a lead. It became a back and forth game, rather than watching than a runaway bride game. Jake White, Randy Reed, and Kyler Erickson all came off the bench to give the team a much needed jump start. Each played with great energy that has been needed of the Mavs bench all season, we saw a few lineups that we had not seen all year due to Tyus being out, Mike Rostampour in foul trouble, and CJ getting stitched up.
I brought my wife to the game, my wife does not get to many games due to a busy work and school schedule, but it is like having the world’s most critical commentator next to you. I have gone to sporting events with women in the past and they point out the things that you do not typically see as a dude, like, hey that player has stupid hair, he should cut his hair. My wife on the other hand played basketball for several years and is also coaches high school, so yes it can be emasculating at times.
Anyway, at her first game my wife sits down and asks “who is their best player”? I tell her that each of the key players brings something different that puts them in as the best at something on the team. Mike Rostampour is the best post defender and rebounder, Marcus Tyus is the best shooter, CJ Carter is the best slasher at getting to the basket, and Devin Patterson is probably just the most important player. If he has a 2-7 shooting performance, the Mavs are not going to have a good time. If he gets into foul trouble or rolls his ankle, the Mavs are not going to have a good time. 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists at Marquette, the Mavs had a good time. 2 of 8 with 7 points and 7 turnover against Kansas State, the Mavs did not have a good time. MmmmK. Things got bad for the Mavs this season when Patterson basically had to sit for 2 and a half games due to injuries, and you could tell he was still at least a little bit slowed down after that for a number of games.
My wife was a point guard, and her number in high school and in college was 3, so she has an instant respect for the junior point guard. The coach in my wife points out every miscue by the Mavericks: they are not moving, that was not the best shot available on that play, that player needs to figure out how to box out, that asshole does not want to play defense, I hate players who cannot catch the ball, but not as much as I hate players who pass an uncatchable pass, that idiot keeps dribbling the ball into traffic and he has three turnovers because of it.
So a lot of that was from the South Dakota loss, my wife did not have all of those complaints on Thursday against Oral Roberts. Mike Rostampour picked up three quick fouls and you can tell some energy is taken out of the crowd. Rostampour is the energy provider, best post defender, and it is also his senior day and he has to go sit down for 16+ minutes, so yeah there was some energy taken out of the crowd. Jake White comes in and provides some energy, but Randy Reed really brought it last night. My wife asks, we did not see him against South Dakota, why does this guy not play more? I have no answer, I do not know why really, I have felt he has needed more minutes all year.
With Rostampour limited with foul trouble, and already with no Marcus Tyus, and with CJ Carter only having 4 points at half time, many of the fans around me felt like the game was over. If you have watched the Mavs all season and seen that the story is much of the same game after game, I could see people feeling that, but this was not the typical game. The game never got so out of hand that you could see the players giving up, they fought through everything, even though the game did not end the way the Mavs wanted to, you have to proud of the effort and the fight.
I think the most frustrating thing as a player in a close loss like that is after the game you will find yourself sitting there thinking, if I would have just not turned it over on that one play, or missed that one shot, or driven right instead of left on that play with a few minutes to go in first half, we could have won that game. I can think of one play that me thinking, had that gone down differently, maybe they could have won that game. With much of the team returning for next season, the team can learn from these moments and fix a lot of the mistakes.
I never like to the blame the officials for a loss, and I still do not blame them for last night’s loss, but they were confusing and knit picky at times last night. Mid-major officials being inconsistent? Get out of here, that never happens… The Summit League officials seem to always want to keep Mike Rostampour in check, which they should do with any player, but at times it seems like they are singling him out. A double technical foul in the game AND a double foul of a block on the defender and charge on the offensive player tells you that the refs are afraid to look like bad guys. I officiated basketball for a few years, you can tell the refs that do not want to be the bad guy and the guys who do not care what you think about them. The refs that don’t want to be the bad guy call make up calls, and it makes people want to punch them in the face.
Refs are people too, they typically do not like being yelled at, and it is not like they get to explain themselves like an annoying Customer Service agent with some BS lingo. You want the refs who forget about what a player did five games ago, the Summit League has officials who want to make sure the players know they have things in check. Take Garth Algar’s advice on wanting expensive guitars, LIVE IN THE NOW! They do not look at it play by play, they look at is as Well This Guy Was a Jerk Last Month, I Will Give Him a Foul For Rolling His Eyes at Another Player. Don’t get me wrong, if some player caused a huge fight a month ago, yeah you want to make sure that guy does not do that again. Rostampour has not been out there punching dudes, there is no reason to “keep him in check” just because he plays like he cares. You want the refs that take thirty seconds of their life to proactively tell a player that they will call a foul if do that one bad thing again, there is a reason why Karl Hess is now only officiating basketball games at Nazi Summer Camp. Watch an Atlantic 10 game some time, ALL of their refs are Look at Me and I’ll Cut You refs, their players are basically not allowed to play with emotion, a guy like Mike Rostampour would only play 5 minutes a game and average 5 fouls a game in the Atlantic 10.
Mickey Gordon wanted to be the first to say farewell.
My wife and I were in Kansas City for a UNO at UMKC game in 2012-2013 and we sat directly behind the UMKC bench…we were even seen in the picture that UMKC used as the photo for the presser of the firing of Matt Brown. Anyway, there was one ref, and Matt Brown would have a complaint and try and talk to the guy, and the guy would come over and make some stupid joke and have a stupid shit eating grin on his face every time and laugh like it was the appropriate time for his failure of a comedy routine. I wanted to yell at this ref for Matt Brown. How much would that mess up that ref? He’s incompetent and trying to be a comedian for a pissed off coach, and the guy sitting behind the bench with the opposing team’s shirt gets up and calls him out as an idiot? I have not seen that ref work a Summit League game since that year, and I watch a lot of them thanks to ESPN3 replay options. If he got promoted I will be really upset. Mild mannered Derrin Hansen was even out at center court yelling at the refs that game because they were unorganized and messing things up. Comedy Ref stood there with incompetence the entire time, he just wanted to be everyone’s buddy. The Mavs won that game, I think it was their first Summit League road win, but they won that game partly with learning to deal with incompetent refs. This reminds me, why the hell is UMKC in the WAC?
A three paragraph tangent about refs might be a new record for myself. Where was I? Last night, yeah that’s right. It was a frustrating loss, but what loss is not frustrating? The most frustrating are the ones where you realize you deserved that loss due to not working hard. The ones like last night, you can actually learn something and move one, so we will do that, we will move on. We will lose two great seniors that helped set the ground work for division one, and who will not be forgotten. Last night when both were sidelined, we were shown that we will be in great hands in the future. The seniors to be, and sophomore Tre’Shawn Thurman, showed great energy and that they are ready for next year. We are in great shape because of what the two of them provided.
I say that Devin Patterson is the most important piece of the team, and that is because he keeps things moving (among other factors). Not only on offense, but on defense he can great so many bad situations for the other team. My wife averaged 4+ steals a game as a freshman in high school, and her favorite thing about basketball was being “the little girl” but also being able to install so much fear into her opponents that they would shit their pants. I have not verified if she made anyone literally shit their pants, but those were her words. Devin Patterson does that for the Mavericks, he creates fear for the opposing team and they try to keep the ball away from him, but they cannot do it. We can see that Mike Rostampour brings energy and gave the Mavs heart when they desperately needed it, and Devin Patterson brought that too when he came to Omaha.
At one point the Mavs were literally not moving, just four dudes standing around (while one picked up his dribble) like they were in a Jurassic Park film trying to not be seen by the T-Rex. You could see Patterson yell at them after that. I am not sure if he was scolding them for not moving, but they started moving around more and more after that. I have seen him yell at players before for making poor choices, and they typically listen and respond, or end up on the bench for not listening to what he had to say. He had this just ridiculous array of moves for the Mavs first basket last night, most NBA players would not have been able to defend it. My wife who was frustrated by the first few minutes of the game, instantly put down her drink and clapped for him with respect. Post game, she said “I can completely see what you mean by saying he is the most important player on the team.” When things got bad, he made things happen for the team last night.
So after last night’s performance, even though it did not end up as a win, I hope that Carter and Rostampour can feel confident about Patterson, White, Tyus, and the rest of the crew to carry on what they worked hard to help build as a positive future for the Mavericks basketball team.
Don’t forget though, they still have three games left. One game is even on ESPN3
After playing the two teams in the Summit League with the best defensive field goal percentage, the Mavs will now have to play Oral Roberts, who has the 4th best defensive field goal percentage (Western Illinois is 3rd). Then they have to play wildcard IUPUI.
The Mavs came close to North Dakota State and not so close to South Dakota State last week. They know they need to move on, but now they have a road test against, historically, one of the best teams in the Summit League. The coaches and players know and feel that they were a couple plays away from starting out conference play at 3-0, and Mike Rostampour is just pissed, and the senior leader should be. Nothing comes easy in any conference and after starting league play at 1-3, now is the time to make those plays that would have put the Mavs at 3-1 now. It is not the time to press the panic button. NO BODY PANIC! Actually, I’m not really sure if there is a panic button. Other than possible CBI and CIT seedings and births, there is not really much of a difference if the the Mavs finish this year in the Summit between placing 2nd and 9th in the standings. If the Mavs win the regular season, they do get some hardware, but it is not like they are going to get a participation medal for coming in 9th in the conference. Mom, this is literally a medal for sucking. But morally, we want to prove ourselves, that we know we belong here. We’re not quite at the point of trading away all of the assets and tanking for the draft. I am sorry, I am a Celtics fan, so I am bitter about some NBA things at the moment…
Oral Roberts
Okay, I am going to throw something at you here. The Mavs are going to have to go deep into the bench in this game. Why would the Mavs have to go deep into the bench on a team that has the worst field goal percentage in the entire Summit League? The Golden Eagles get to the line more than any other team in the Summit League, they shoot nearly 26 free throws a game. They have the second worst three point field goal percentage in the league at 32.5%, so they are a team that needs to get to the basket, and with two of the best wings in the Summit League, they get to the basket. Mike Rostampour will pick up a foul in this game, maybe even two, or maybe even five… So the Mavs may have to get Daniel Meyer, Rylan Murry, and Randy Reed on the court more than they usually get out there. In case you are curious, when the Mavs win Murry shoots 57% from the field, 55% from downtown and in their losses he shoots 35% from the field and 25% from long range. So he might actually be a little more of an X-Factor than you might think. Just saying.
RPI wise, Oral Roberts had the best win of the season against Tulsa to open up their season. Maybe similar to the Mavs, they realize this was a long time ago, and now that they are 8-8, they have something to prove themselves. Maybe the Mavs should not run the typical Mavs pace in this one. The Golden Eagles average 65 points per game (not including their win over Haskell). When Oral Roberts gets above 65 points they are 7-1. Maybe UNO does not need to slow down the pace, but clearly, they need to play strong defense for all 40 minutes.
Obviously the Mavs need to shoot better coming off their two worst shooting performances of the season. Oral Roberts may be in the top half of the league as far as defensive field goal percentage goes, but they have had a few poor shooting nights themselves so far, so here is an incredibly generic thing to say. The Mavs need to play better on offense and defense. That’s simple. Well we are done here.
Here are some other random Mav numbers for you (not counting Iowa Wesleyan):
The Mavs are 5-1 when they hit more threes than their opponent, only loss to North Dakota State
The Mavs are 1-6 when they hit less threes than their opponent, only win to South Dakota
The Mavs are 0-3 when they hit the same amount of threes than their opponent
Hey, remember how Oral Roberts has the 2nd worst three point field goal percentage in the League? They have also made the 2nd least amount of threes in the Summit League. But again, they get to the line, A LOT.
The Mavs are 0-4 when 40% or more of their field goals taken are three point field goals
So it’s not exactly like they should just start jacking up threes, especially after a 1 of 16 performance, but they need to hit the open shots that they found against South Dakota State but could not convert on. Seriously, how generic sports talk can this get?
With the talent they have, I am not even sure if they could beat Kentucky right now. Crap, I am thinking about the Celtics again.
The Mavs do need to contain the wings for Oral Roberts. Obi Emegano in his last five games has averaged 23 points, 3.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 3.6 steals, and he has shot 50% (36-72) from the field. He has also made 10 threes overall in the last 5 games after going 9 games in a row without a three. Korey Billbury in the last five games has averaged 17 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.6 steals, and shot 39% from the field. Billburry also made a total of 9 threes in the last 5 games, after only hitting a total of 5 in the Golden Eagles’ first 11 games.
This game is a homecoming for Tim Smallwood, a Tulsa native, so maybe he will play better. Is that dumb to think that? Seems like guys play better in situations like that, or on their birthday. Seriously, you should see my career averages on my birthdays. I was a quadruple 2 guy my whole life, 2 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals per game. On my birthday, I averaged about 14 points and 5 rebounds a game. Not to brag, okay I am bragging, but in intramurals at UNO, I had to guard a guy that had played at Midland University and he was about 5 inches taller than me, but I had 17 points with 5 threes that game. It was literally my birthday.
Like Opponents?
Lost 72-66 to North Dakota State in Fargo.
Won 66-57 at Western Illinois
IUPUI
Seriously everyone was sleeping on the IUPUI Jaguars before the start of the season, and many still are trying to wipe the morning fog out of their eyes. They lost 6 in a row at one point, but now have gone on a win a game, lose a game pattern for their last 7 games. If they continue the pattern, they would lose to South Dakota State and win at UNO. That is how stats work, right? They are 2-1 in the Summit with a wins over preseason league favorites IPFW and Denver, so this should have caught the attention of people…who pay attention. They also took that team I was just talking about, Oral Roberts, to overtime.
There is not much size to the Jaguars, nor is there much experience, and their best players are currently sitting out due to transfer rules. They do not make many threes, they have made the least amount of total threes in the conference, and they have the worst three point field goal percentage in the league. They are just a little better than UNO at free throw percentage at 70% to UNO’s 69% but they do not get to the line nearly as much, UNO shoots 27 free throws a game, while IUPUI shoots 18 per game. They average the second least amount of rebounds per game, after Denver who they defeated, but IUPUI has picked up more rebounds as of late. The Jaguars also average the most turnovers in the league, so UNO who averages the most steals in the conference should be licking their chops. Is licking chops still a saying? What are chops?
None of their wins have been a beat down. Of their 6 wins, the biggest amount of points they won by was 6 points to South Alabama. One thing I have noticed about the Jaguars as compared to other Summit League teams, they have not played an opponent that was not division one. So that whole thought process of In Order to Get Better You Have to Play the Best Competition might be coming together for IUPUI, as they are finally starting to pick up some wins.
One thing I notice while looking at all 6 of their wins, a low amount of threes taken. Their three point attempts on wins, 10.6 attempts per game. Their three point attempts on losses, 17.2. Clearly, with the poor percentage and total number of made three point field goals, it is an area they struggle in, so they desperately need to get to the basket. The Mavs need to keep them on the outside, just let them take threes.
UNO has yet to lose to IUPUI as Summit League opponents, and if the Jaguars pick up a win against the Mavericks this year, given how bad their roster is, I may just lose it. They defeated IUPUI by 28 and 22 points last season. CJ Carter has averaged 15.6 points, 4 assists, 2.3 steals, and has shot 19-30 in 3 career games against IUPUI. In his sophomore season, Marcus Tyus averaged 15 points, 3.5 rebounds, and shot 12-22 against the Jaguars. Mike Rostmapour has 18 and 9 in his first meeting against IUPUI and 9 and 8 in his second match up with IUPUI, and he also shot 9-13 on those two games. Devin Patterson averaged 11.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.5 steals, and shot 9-18 versus IUPUI last season.
For real, why do they think tanking for the draft is a good idea? Has it ever worked out for them before? Drafting players is not their thing, draft day trades is their specialty! Aw crap, sorry, the Celtics, they are getting to me.
A suggestion from a guy that has no business giving suggestions to a college athletics program:
Bring Marcus Tyus off the bench.
Okay, I hate the idea of it too. I think Marcus Tyus has been the Mavs most efficient player this season, and has been huge. It is nothing personal against Marcus Tyus, in fact, I hope this is a compliment. Really, it should not matter to a player if you start the game or come off the bench, as long as you are on the court at the end, or your team has won. This team does need a high energy guard off the bench, and Marcus Tyus is definitely a high energy player who can bring a spark off the bench.
You can not really put Patterson on the bench because of his ball handling ability, and for his control of the offense. No one wants to put Carter on the bench, who has started all but three games in his career, and is the teams’ top scorer. So unfortunately, Tyus is the nomination.
The 2013-2014 season, the best season for the Mavs so far in division one, Marcus Tyus came off the bench for half of the season. With injuries to Justin Simmons, Tyus got the nod to start, and he played great, there is no question of that. Last season, UNO was 8-8 with Tyus coming off the bench and 7-7 with Tyus starting, so it’s not like any of this makes sense with that in mind. Four of the losses that he came off the bench though: @ Iowa by 8, @ UNLV by 3, @ IPFW by 4, vs. IPFW by 1.
Whether Jake White gets back into the starting line up or not, the Mavs will have either he or Tre’Shawn Thurman coming off the bench in the post for a key role, but the Mavs do not really have a guard to come off the bench that has produced enough for that second wave of energy and activity. If Justin Simmons was starting last season, Tyus and Phillips were both coming off the bench. If Simmons was hurt and Tyus was starting, Phillips was still providing some energy off the bench. Matt Hagerbaumer was always providing defensive energy in the post off the bench. Reed and Smallwood have not produced as advertised, Rylan Murry has slipped in the last month, and walk on/great guy Kyler Erickson has been the guy to step up off the bench. I am not sure who to start between Reed, Smallwood, and Murry. Reed or Murry would provide more height, and the Mavs could start the game contesting the shots other teams’ 6’4″ – 6’6″ wings a little better, then BAM, Marcus Tyus off the bench for 8 quick points. I am not saying this is a big time solution to anything, it is just a thought.
Some milestone notes:
Marcus Tyus is 11 points away from 700 career points
Mike Rostampour is 18 rebounds away from having the 2nd most rebounds since transition
Matt Hagerbaumer – 401
John Karhoff – 384
Mike Rostampour – 366
Marcus Tyus is 4 steals away from having the 3rd most steals since transition
CJ Carter – 128
Devin Patterson – 90
Caleb Steffensmeier – 73
Marcus Tyus – 69
Justin Simmons – 69
Tre’Shawn Thurman is 22 points away from having the 2nd most points in a season by a freshman since transition
CJ Carter – 303
Marcus Tyus – 185
Tre’Shawn Thurman – 163
Tre’Shawn Thurman is 3 rebounds away from having the most in a season by a freshman since transition
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