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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Well, that was interesting. Anyone care to explain what happened?
A. The basketball gods have a soft spot in their hearts for last-place teams that are told to practice at 5 a.m. the morning after a Senior Day loss.
B. The Nebraska women's team suited up against Missouri on Wednesday.
C. Doc Sadler finally let the Huskers practice with a basketball before the Big 12 tournament.
Let's go with A. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Nebraska's 75-60 first-round victory over Mizzou at the Sprint Center had karma written all over it. The kind of karma that comes when one of the players spends the night in the locker room after a game so as not to miss the 5 a.m. practice.
Brandon Ubel did that last week. Immediately after NU's home loss to Colorado on March 2, Sadler told the players they would be returning to the Devaney Center for a 5 a.m. session. While most of the team left for the night, the freshman from Kansas City looked for a place to lie down.
“I didn't want to take a chance of missing my alarm and being late,'' Ubel said. “I pulled a couple of couches together and fell asleep.''
What was it like to practice at 5 a.m. in an empty arena?
“Pretty brutal,'' freshman Ray Gallegos said. “He made us go over and over stuff until we could execute it.''
“Very intense,'' senior Ryan Anderson said.
“Quiet, dark,'' Ubel said. “We didn't have a basketball. We went over our core principles of defense. We came to work that day. We got a lot done. The results look pretty good now.''
Indeed. For the first 32 minutes Wednesday, NU executed its offense better than it had all season. The result was that the lowest-scoring team in the Big 12 scored 75 points for only the eighth time this season.
Maybe they'll get to sleep in Thursday.
“Don't make that 5 a.m. deal out to be a big deal,'' Sadler said. “First, they had the ladies (Nebraska state girls) tournament at the Devaney that day. And I had to go out recruiting that day. It wasn't so much about punishment as it was a time to practice.''
We'll hold off on the genius labels because going 2½ hours any time of the day — much less 5 a.m. — this late in the season goes against what they teach you in Coaching 101. Fresh legs and minds function better in the postseason.
The problem is, Nebraska was 2-13 in the league and running out of season. The coach was running out of buttons to push. And Sadler knew he was rolling the proverbial dice with an early wake-up call that might have knocked his team out.
“I was worried about how they were going to handle it,'' Sadler said. “We went 2½ hours without picking up a basketball. When you've had the kind of season we've had, you have to be concerned about losing the team. When you're 2-11, you don't want to go to practice. You don't want to walk across campus.
“But these guys have worked hard and never given up all year.''
Perhaps that's what Wednesday was all about. Good things happen to good people who wake up early and don't quit.
Why not? The Huskers, who have shot 43.5 percent from the field this year, made an uncanny 55.8 percent (24 of 43). They attacked the basket like never before. They had clean, crisp bounce passes for backdoor layups.
Missouri, with an NCAA bid wrapped up (good thing for the Tigers), was sluggish at times. But when the Tigers did press the matter, NU would answer. No play was bigger than Brandon Richardson completing a four-point play — 3-pointer and the foul — after MU had closed to 61-51 with 3:36 left.
The whole thing raised the question, “Where was this all season?'' But there was no point to it, especially when Sadler said he actually expected the execution to be sharp Wednesday.
Huh?
“Because I was prepared to sit people on the bench if they didn't run the offense,'' Sadler said.
Why not make that threat during the season? Apparently, as Sadler said, because he didn't want to lose the team. Maybe when you're one game from an offseason where some players might be back, some might not, losing the team is the least of your concerns.
“There's not much room between their back and the wall,'' Sadler said. “I don't know, a person that has his back to the wall maybe listens a little more.''
Out in the hallway, former NU assistant Scott Spinelli — now at Texas A&M — was saying how the Huskers were better than their record. And others were saying that Doc knows how to coach against Mike Anderson (though MU won the first two games this season).
The thing to do may have been to just enjoy the moment. Nebraska hasn't been pretty this year. But the Huskers showed up for work on what could have been their last day of work — and were rewarded.
“We've had a tough year, but we've fought through it and never quit,'' Ryan Anderson said. “Now we're all on the same page.''
Why now? Why not last month?
“Who knows?'' Anderson said with a grin and shrug. “Basketball gods might be feeling sorry for us.''
Contact the writer:
444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com
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