Nebraska basketball making run for NCAA tournament

I’m a college football junkie from way back. But I learned long ago that college basketball offers something that football can’t touch. An addiction. An unbelievable rush.

There is nothing like having a basketball team in the mix of making the NCAA tournament.

Two games a week. The drama. The anxiety. And that’s just checking the NET rankings after every game. Not to mention the Bracketology websites.

These late days of February, the Bracketmeisters update them every other day. How do they expect anyone to sleep?

The speculation. The highs. The lows. All that.

Then if your team gets in the Dance and wins a game, or two. It’s over. You’re hooked.

And finding a coach who can take you on this thrill ride every winter? There’s nothing better.

It’s been too long. But the fever is back in Nebraska.

How do I know? Because on a late Sunday afternoon on Feb. 25, downtown Lincoln was clogged with traffic.

The Big Ten loves Sunday basketball, and it sent Minnesota to play Nebraska at 5:30 p.m. on Sunday. Not exactly an optimum time for college basketball.

The game was sold out last week.

Husker fans have the fever. Their team on the bubble cleared a high hurdle last Wednesday, taking victory out of Assembly Hall in Indiana.

They flocked into PBA on Sunday to see how they would follow it up. And the joint was jumping. The reward was watching Nebraska handle the Gophers, 73-55. And now it no longer seems like an “if” but a “where” and a “when” the Huskers will dance.

They have 20 wins on Feb. 25 and their analytics keep rising along with their confidence. They’re in position to get a top four seed and “double bye” in the Big Ten tournament.

Moreover, this looks like a team that can end the drought of droughts, the largest desert in NCAA history.

There are still three weeks until the dance begins. There are three Big Ten regular-season games left. So much time for hype and hope, paranoia and potential. The cocktail of the month.

Fred Hoiberg was hired to deliver Husker fans to this crazy, beautiful place.

It sure seems like that Hoiberg is here.

Oh sure, Hoiberg was charged with getting the first NCAA tourney win and they say if and when that happens, they could build a statue of the Lincoln native.

But if and when that happens, forget the tributes. You’ll want to win the next one. And the one after that.

And the next season after that.

That’s why Hoiberg is here, to lead Nebraska to a place where February lives every year.

He wasn’t hired to win one postseason game. He was hired to make this a habit. Chasing the tournament. Doing the dance. Making a run.

Hoiberg knows the drill…