NU basketball team taking Ganz's words to heart
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska has won three straight games, including an emotional victory against big, bad Texas. The national media is taking notice, what with ESPN analyst and former coach Fran Fraschilla giving coach Doc Sadler love at every opportunity.
Husker fans are creating a buzz, too.
“You can sense it,” Nebraska senior Ade Dagunduro said. “We’re rocking right now, in terms of our fans’ intensity and support.”
Anybody who’s followed Nebraska basketball over the last decade knows, given this situation, what’s usually around the corner.
A big thud.
Instead of wilting in the spotlight amid growing expectations, these Huskers hope to get stronger.
How?
Senior Paul Velander said he’s heeding words from Nebraska football player Joe Ganz.
Live within the team.
“I just heard him say that one time, and I was really impressed,” Velander said. “That was well put.”
Hey, the Huskers are 3-0 since a pep talk from Tom Osborne, so why not listen to what Nebraska’s team-first quarterback has to say?
“If you focus on what’s going on within your team, and live within your team, nothing outside really matters,” Velander said, recalling Ganz’s message. “If we do that, we’re going to be happy with our results, no matter what they are.”
Nebraska, 15-7 overall, is 5-4 in Big 12 Conference play, tied with Kansas State and Texas for fourth place. Up next is Saturday’s game at third-place Missouri. The Tigers, on a four-game winning streak, are fresh off an emotional victory against hated rival Kansas, and looking to avenge a 56-51 loss in Lincoln.
A Nebraska loss, and momentum falls a notch, but not completely. A victory, and the Huskers have their first four-game winning streak in Big 12 play since 1998-99.
“I think everybody understands,” Sadler said, “that we’re playing about as well as we can play.”
Sadler was watching Tuesday night’s ESPN broadcast of the Florida-Kentucky game and saw analyst Jimmy Dykes list five teams that nobody knew about at the beginning of the season but are noticing now.
Nebraska was listed second.
Then there’s Fraschilla, who helped announce Saturday’s game in Lincoln and interviewed a teary-eyed Sadler after the Huskers’ 58-55 victory against Texas.
“Watching Sadler’s team practice and play is a joy,” Fraschilla wrote on his ESPN blog, “because I honestly don’t think there are five teams in all of college basketball that play harder or get more out of their ability than Sadler’s club.”
That, Sadler said, is the biggest compliment a coach can receive. Players, too.
“That’s Nebraska. It’s way beyond our basketball program,” Sadler said. “That’s something that I understood when I came to Nebraska, is one thing that separates maybe this place from a lot of other ones is (fans) appreciate kids just giving everything they’ve got.
“Sure, everybody wants to win, but at the same time, if someone can come and support you and leave thinking, ‘Man, that team gave everything they got …’ This is still a place that they appreciate that.”
They’d appreciate an NCAA Tournament appearance, too. Nebraska, because of two nonconference losses to teams with current losing records, has plenty of work remaining to stay in that conversation.
At least there is conversation.
“A lot of people are starting to talk more tournament talk, but we’re trying to not let that go to our head,” Dagunduro said. “Obviously, that’s been our one and only goal, but we’ve still got to take it one day at a time, whether we’re winning or losing.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
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