Why The College Basketball Crown Was Fun & What's Next for Nebraska

On the final After Nebrasketball of the season, Jack Mitchell and Kaleb Henry discuss the fans, the future, and more.

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary celebrates with the team as confetti falls after winning the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. | College Basketball Crown/Intersport

Jack Mitchell and Kaleb Henry had quite the time on Sunday night's After Nebrasketball, recapping the win over UCF. Throughout the conversation, they discussed reaction from fans and media, dived into the future of the program, and tried to remind people to have fun.

Below are excerpts of their conversation.

---

“If we're gonna get excited about Pinstripe Bowl wins, we can get excited about running the table in the College Basketball Crown”

Jack: It'll be a laughing stock for some. It will be a “hey, are you forgetting how the season ended for others?” It is not settling for this fan base to enjoy this. It is not some situation where they've dismissed or papered over everything that went wrong this year. It is a fanbase that has gotten almost zero joy over the years with this program. And for me, it's been over 40 years and so damn it, if I spend one night having fun after a win, it does not negate the reality of what happened at the end of this year.

And to suggest that, I mean, come on. It’s really condescending to this fan base, to be honest.

Kaleb: It was fun! Today was fun. This whole week was fun. When we did the After Nebrasketball conditionally after the first round game and we said, “okay, if Nebraska beats Arizona State, we will do an after Nebrasketball.” And we did. And we even said at the time, “Don't take this too seriously because you know that the NCAA Tournament is still going on” and they're going to crown a national champion tomorrow.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg holds up the College Basketball Crown trophy after the Huskers beat UCF in the championship game. | College Basketball Crown/Intersport

But if you accept what this is and it's a chance to watch these guys play and for some of the players, it's a chance to see [if you] can you go do something with another opportunity ahead of next year? Like a Cale Jacobsen, like what happens with Connor Essegian, who scored 21 points today. Like a Berke. When you can see some of these guys and go, “okay, are there glimpses of something happening here at the end of the year.” And you get one more chance to watch Brice and Juwan; Just enjoy the week for what it is. And I think a lot of people did that. There are a few poo pooers out there, but I think a lot of people enjoyed what this week was.

Obviously, there were Husker fans that made the trip to Las Vegas. Think about that. There was a was a fun trip to be had out of this. If we're gonna get excited about Pinstripe Bowl wins, we can get excited about running the table in the College Basketball Crown for a week and having the fun with it without it having to be, “what did that mean for the end of the season?” I don't care right now. It was fun on Monday and it was fun on Wednesday and it was fun yesterday and it's fun right now.

Jack: Let’s be fully honest about this, right? Of course, the preference would have been to be in the NCAA tournament, right? Last year, Nebraska went to the NCAA tournament, they lost. It was bitter when they lost. It was sad. This is more fun, right? This was more fun and I'm not saying that means that's all I want for next year. You can say this was fun and honestly, Kaleb, if anybody says they aren't a little jealous, if they’re not Houston or Florida, you're a little jealous.

You’re glad you ended up in the tournament but you're a little jealous that you don't get to have a party at the end of the year. We do. You can say it all that you can say it you're blue in the face, but you're a little jealous. It's true. It's okay. It's true.

Kaleb: It's fun to lose the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. It's also fun to cut nets down and wear a crown, get a bedazzled basketball, and spend a week in Vegas.

Nebraska guard Brice Williams shoots a free throw against Arizona State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Nebraska Athletics

Jack: I don't know what to tell you. You had a better season. You had a better accomplishment after it's all over, but I don't think you had more fun. I don't think you had more fun. It’s okay if you're jealous.

Kaleb: Look at the celebration for the guys after. How much joy those guys had; Juwan and Brice and everyone's celebrating that Fred Hoiberg, the first ever person to wear that crown after winning the tournament is Cale Jacobsen. Fred put it on his head. Team absolutely loved him up for it. That's the stuff that you got out of this week. I feel like the lasting impression of this is there was fun that was had; Winning is fun. Seeing this team go get to play a little bit more. 

Juwan Gary being named King of the Crown. Brice Williams passing James Palmer Jr. for the single-season scoring record. There are things that happened because of this week that were fun. Yeah, you're losing some people. The portal is going on. You're gonna have to figure out what the roster even looks like next year. But this week was fun. It was a fun way to go into the off-season.

Jack: Yeah, would I trade what we just went through for making the NCAA tournament, losing the first round? Now? No, I wouldn't! Does it mean that I want this instead of the NCAA Tournament next year? Also, no.

---

“This was for the fans”

Kaleb: For there to be a fun week around this program and it to end in a fun way that like that, can't be discounted going into the offseason.

Jack: That's a great point, Kaleb. This matters not because it rectifies what went wrong this year or it means next year is a guaranteed success. One of the assets that this program has is its fans, right? The fact that it's fans keep coming out that for better or worse, man, I'll tell you what we are loyal. We keep coming in there. You show the top 20 attendances and college basketball, we're in there, despite the fact we got very little to show for it.

Nebraska center Braxton Meah dunks the ball against Boise State in the College Basketball Crown semifinals in Las Vegas. | Nebraska Athletics

And if nothing else, man, this rejuvenates a little bit of that strength this program has. It’s a good place to play a home game. It's a fan base that will live and die with you even though there's been very little joy given back to them. And will that be the difference between having success or not? I don't know; Maybe, maybe not, but that's one of the things. Giving us something matters, because it's a strength of the program.

It doesn't really make it a whole lot more likely or less likely that you go into [next] season and end up having success, but you go in just a little bit different now then you did if that Iowa game was the last game of the year

Kaleb: Yeah. Imagine if you were only losing Brice and Juwan. And I know there are other pieces that came in knowing that it was going to be one year, I get that. But you would look at next year and go, “OK, there's so much of this roster returning. What did Vegas mean for that?” To look at the way the season ended and then get to the College Basketball Crown and know that you're losing at least seven guys. You know, those guys that walked on senior night. You already knew, no matter what happened here, it's not necessarily a launching point. If they would have lost against Arizona State, it wasn't, “here's a sour note going into next year.”

You already weren't having that because you're replacing most of your roster going into next season, where potentially [Monday, April 7] we learn about the House settlement: rev-share, roster limits, and how all of that gets implemented. It's going to be a new world next year anyway, on top of… a different team next year. But the biggest part of all of this is that this was for the fans.

Yeah, there's the $300,000. Ultimately, the fans clearly had a fun week. They were the fanbase in Vegas. No one else was down there. So, shout out to everyone.

---

“Nobody knows the depths of the failure better than all of us”

Jack: Jordan says, “I would say this result actually pisses me off more about how the regular season ended.” Which is fine. All that to say, let's get this like ridiculous take out of here that this fanbase has now dismissed, forgotten or excused the failures of this year.

Let me go on a rant, Kaleb. I am so tired. Some of it is trash talk from fanbases of other teams, but a lot of it is from media members who are, you know, neutral, fine media members, but they have taken it upon themselves to, [what] I would call fail-splain to Nebraska basketball fans the situation. They’ve put it upon themselves to explain in Nebraska basketball fans that they haven't accepted or understood or been critical enough of their own failure, right? And they should be they should handle it in a different way. 

"King of the Crown" Juwan Gary sits with the MVP ball on the throne after helping Nebraska beat UCF and win the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. | College Basketball Crown/Intersport

This isn't a new thing whatsoever. It happened this week but it's happened before. It's happened for years. I will say this. If you’re watching this again, you're a fan. We all know. We know better than anyone from the outside because you know why? Because we've lived it. We've cared about it. We’ve been through the entire process and we want it more badly than anyone who is a neutral observer does. So please, please, please stop telling us that we are not dealing with failure in the way that you want us to.

And that includes minimizing what happened this weekend in Las Vegas and this week in Las Vegas. I'm so tired. I am so exhausted of that. Nobody knows the depths of the failure better than all of us. Nobody wants it. Nobody excuses it. None of us are excusing it. Quit explaining it to us. We got it. We got it and we are sick of outsiders coming in and trying to tell us that, “we don't know. We don't understand it. We don't know how to handle it. We're not reacting in the right way.”

I've been done with that for years but I guess it's an easy way for a media member to come across as sort of hard-nosed when they maybe don't have a lot of opportunities to that otherwise.

Kaleb: “Look, I'm not just pumping sunshine because I’m tough!”

Jack: “Nebraska basketball fans!” Exactly.

Kaleb: There are so many times that men's basketball can be the low hanging fruit of “look how tough I can be on a Husker program.” Because the success historically isn't there or Nebraska loses to Texas A&M in Memphis. “Well, did you guys know Nebraska men's basketball has never won an NCAA tournament game?” Yeah, nobody knows more than we do. Nobody knows more than those of us covering it every day or talking about it.

Brice Williams shoots during the first half against Central Florida. | Nebraska Athletics

Jack: You don't get it. You don't get it and you don't. Don't tell me you get it because you don't get it. OK, you don't. You don't get it, right? And I get it better than you do. And we, and I don't mean I, I mean all of us, 135 people who are watching this, we get it better than you do. We are pained by it. We want it to change more than you do.

So don't tell us how to handle it. I'm sick of it. I'm so tired of it.

---

What’s next?

Jack: Let's talk about next year real quick.

Kaleb: Since we had our last After Nebrasketball, they won three more games and actually got transfer portal commitments. One on Friday with Pryce Sandfort; 6’6 wing, kind of shooting guard more, from Iowa. And then the Lithuanian [Ugnius Jarusevicius] from Central Michigan. 6’11. Big dude shot like 56% field goals, 30% from three. Lives at the free throw line gets their draws fouls quite a bit. So you've got your size coming in as Andrew Morgan and Braxton Meah are on the way out.

So that’s where you're at with the additions that we know of right now. And since nobody has hit the portal, you're also looking at Berke. You're looking at a healthy Rienk Mast. So, you still have that coming back next year.

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary dunks the ball against Arizona State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown at MGM Grand Garden Arena. | Nebraska Athletics

Jack: Which is interesting with a 6’11 scorer.

Kaleb: Yeah, what's the rotation going to look like?

Jack: Yeah, that's fascinating how the new guy. Do you play Rienk and [Ugnius Jarusevicius]? Do you start them both? They on the floor at the same time? That’s fascinating.

Kaleb: As we just talked about what it's looked like developed for multiple years. He only has one year of eligibility left. So, he'll only be one year in Lincoln. So, I don't know with the one year between Berke, Rienk and UJ, what is that rotation going to look like at the at the big spots? It's be really intriguing to see what happens there.

Jack: I'm not convinced that Berke is sticking around. We'll see. I think there's a chance he's not, but I don't feel super confident either direction in that whole thing, but we'll see. And then, what do you think the starting lineup is next year? Because then if you got Pryce who is 6'7 as well, how does he fit in?

Kaleb: Well, and it's so tough because you have at least five other guys you're going to bring in without anyone leaving. I don't know how any of this is going to go. I don't know if Cale Jacobsen wants to go play somewhere else where he's going to get minutes. I don't know any of that for these guys.

Nebraska guard Brice Williams shoots against Boise State in the College Basketball Crown semifinals in Las Vegas. | Nebraska Athletics

So, you already have without any departures, five more guys you have to replace to come in next year. And you have 15 roster spots, scholarship or not, doesn't matter. You've got 15 spots. So, to look at what the starting lineup is going to be is so tough, not knowing what a third of the roster is going to be. Because it's not like you're replacing backend of the rotation guys.

---

“That's where those can turn into definite hits compared to what they were this year”

Kaleb: You brought up Connor [Essegian] and he goes 4-8 from three today. And that puts him at 78 made threes for the year. And he passes what Keisei made last year. So Keisei last year went 76-202 and Connor goes 78-207.

Jack: That's crazy. I just thought tonight he played more like Keisei did last year. I don’t know how many twos he had tonight, but he had several.

Kaleb: Yes. It's not the three-point shooting because that's the big part in all of this. For him, he has to make threes. That's your job. You got to make threes.  But where he's at in being a scorer early on, you didn't see that from him. And it's not necessarily what he is, but he's being the Keisei replacement. You weren't seeing getting to the rim. You weren't seeing pulling up for 10 to 12 footers. But today he took eight shots inside the three-point line. And he made four of those. That’s where he gets to 21 points, shot 50% from the floor, 50% from three. That's the part that had been missing for long stretches this season when you were looking for that. It's not Brice. It's not Juwan. Do you have Connor Essegian?

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary sits in front with his MVP ball as the team poses after winning the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. | College Basketball Crown/Intersport

And there were so many times where it’s like, “he missed his first two threes. He's not on it.” And I know we saw that with Keisei sometimes too, but you also weren't getting Connor going back door on stuff the way Keisei was. We also need to say this; Keisei a played with really good passing bigs the way this offense is designed.

Jack: Rienk Mast plus Connor Essegian next year? I cannot wait to see.

Kaleb: Yes. So, you get year two Connor Essegian. He's been here. They've had time. They've developed a chemistry. I know it wasn't on the floor, but there's stuff going through practice and they'll get the offseason and you hope that Rienk’s healthy. But you get Mast next year with these guys? You spread that floor out with your incoming guys that can shoot threes plus Connor Essegian? I think that's where you look at this team and say, “that's the next step because you have what makes this offense work really well under Fred Hoiberg.” You have that piece back. You don't have Brice. You don't have Juwan. I get that, but you have a piece that you didn't have this year plus the shooting.

And think about a year ago with the team that made the tournament. What were you saying? Well, you were hoping whether it was J Law or at times CJ, you were like, “okay, you needed that other scorer; that other guy that was going to hit threes in the way the offense was running.” I think you got a lot of guys that can do that coming in next year with five still to add.

Jack: Yep. And don't forget Pryce Sandfort, a freaking 6’7 shooter, man. You may say you know who he is but boy, you get him in Fred's system. We'll see. We will see.

Nebraska forward Juwan Gary celebrates with the team as confetti falls after winning the College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas. | College Basketball Crown/Intersport

Kaleb: I'm excited for it.

Jack: Creighton got Dix and they got Owen but the 6’7 shooter is pretty interesting to me.

Kaleb: With multiple years of eligibility. I think that that that is a big deal. I think that is going to be the key to looking at guys as hits or misses. Because, as we talked about, misses for this year could turn out to be hits in the long term. Could turn out to be hits in their time at Nebraska, because it was half a hit type of a thing for Connor Essegian. But other than right before he got hurt, it was largely a miss for Berke. It was a miss for Gavin Griffiths. It was a miss for Meah and Morgan overall, for what you wanted to get out of those guys. But there were stretches where they looked good and they were definitely helpful in wins.

But if you get to next year and if Gavin Griffiths is back and he's moved into the rotation and he can score, and come off the bench and score. Maybe he's figured out defense a little bit and Connor Essegian takes stuff to another level and Berke does come back; That's where those can turn into definite hits compared to what they were this year.

---

Watch the entire episode here!

---

More From Nebraska on SI

• 4-Star IOL Albert Simien Recaps Husker Visit
• 2027 Edge Isaac Miller Recaps Husker Visit
• There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Nebraska Football
• We’ve Entered the Post-Hype Era of Husker Football
• Nebraska Claims $300K, Wins College Basketball Crown on Second-Half Comeback Over UCF

---

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.