There’s a lot of angst in Huskerville about why the Nebraska men’s basketball team failed to reach the NCAA Tournament despite a 22-10 overall record, a 13-5 conference record in the Big Ten and a 16-1 record at home.
From this uneducated vantage point about 250 miles south of Lincoln, Nebraska’s slide from the Big Dance to the National Invitation Tournament — as a No. 5 seed, mind you — comes down to five of the nine regular-season losses. I’m excluding the Big Ten Tournament beat-down by Michigan because, based on the fact NU was not a First Four Out, the Big Red would likely have had to win the tournament and gain the automatic qualifying bid. And, as you can see, the five losses on this list fall in two categories — tough losses to NCAA teams and losses to teams NU should have beaten:
Nov. 23: UCF 68, NU 59. Shooting 25 percent in the first half and trailing by 18 at half was too much to overcome for the Big Red. It didn’t help the Huskers’ Big Dance chances that the Golden Knights finish the regular season 19-13, with their best win Dec. 3 against then-No. 24 Alabama (an NCAA Tournament team). UCF, by the way, did not make either the NCAA or NIT brackets.
Dec. 9: Creighton 75, NU 65. Huskers held a five-point lead at half, built the advantage to eight early in the second half and trailed by three with just over 1 minute left but couldn’t seal the deal…a mantra in several close losses for Nebraska, both on this list and off. Had NU won here and, I think, any of the next three games on this list, Creighton AD and NCAA Tournament Selection Committee Chair Bruce Rasmussen would have had a lot more pause before leaving the Cornhuskers out of the NCAA Tournament (and putting Oklahoma in the tourney…but I digress…).
Dec. 16: Kansas 73, NU 72. Nebraska’s best of several chances at the coveted Q1 win anywhere on its schedule, and it goes to the very last second before coming up short. At the time, it was Nebraska’s third loss in four games, including an 86-57 thumping by Michigan State to start the early-season skid. Had either Anton Gill’s 3-pointer or James Palmer’s follow-up in the final 20 seconds gone in, this win could have been enough to push NU into the Last Four In category. If it hadn’t been for the next two defeats…
Jan. 22: Ohio State 64, NU 59. The third loss on this list to an eventual NCAA qualifier, and much like the Creighton game, the Huskers battled toe-to-toe with the then-No. 13 Buckeyes before Ohio State pulled away in the final four minutes. The loss offset a career game for Palmer, who went off for 34 points.
Feb. 18: Illinois 72, NU 66. Nebraska came into the game on a six-game winning streak following the Ohio State loss and verbally marked the Illinois battle as a game it had to have with questions about its post-tournament direction already swirling…and then it just could not shake Illinois. In fact, the Illini were the team with the finishing kick, outscoring NU 14-5 over the final six minutes to pull the upset. NU then won its final two regular-season games, but in my mind this is the game that sealed the Huskers’ fate as a non-NCAA Tournament team.
While the NCAA’s decision to leave Nebraska out of the 2018 tournament may have surprised a lot of people, those that saw an NIT Tournament bid as at least a decent possibility were shocked the Huskers fell all the way to a 5-seed, meaning no first-round home game and a likely second-round battle with a top seed — in this case Baylor — if they get past Mississippi State on Wednesday night. The general statistics — no Q1 wins, a 2-3 overall record against Q2 teams, six wins against teams with plus-.500 records — don’t help, but I think NU becomes an NIT top seed just if it can beat UCF and Illinois. And I think NU gets into the Big Dance by winning one of the other three games.
Instead, Nebraska goes to the NIT for the 18th time and the first time since 2011. Hopefully, the Huskers feel spurned and roar through the tournament, getting their first title since 1996. My guess is the season ends well before that, capping a year of disappointment on several levels for the Big Red. At least it looks like Nebrasketball is trending up — finally — after a couple years where the so-called eyeball test had NU starting to circle the drain like it has done so many times in the past.
Those of us in Tornado Alley can be prepared for activity like what we got across the Kansas Flint Hills on Sunday — basically a host of EF-0 or EF-1 tornadoes that didn’t cause a ton of widespread damage.
I don’t care if you are a Tornado Alley veteran or not. Nothing can prepare you for what hit Moore, Okla., shortly after 3 p.m. May 20.
Block upon block of what once was, now blasted into kindling. Two schools and a hospital ripped apart. Thousands of lives shredded. Dozens of dead. Dozens.
This isn’t supposed to happen in 2013.
It wasn’t supposed to happen in 1999, either, when Moore was hit by arguably the strongest tornado to date in American history. Winds were estimated at 318 mph, one mph shy of being the only F-6 ever.
Forty-four died in 1999. And then Moore was hit in 2003. And again Monday.
How shellshocked must you be now if you live in Moore? If you live in the Plains, especially Oklahoma and Texas, you know what you’re in for when winter turns to spring. But Monday’s storm and EF-4s and EF-5s are on such a different level, such a different plane, that it’s hard to wrap your mind around such total devastation even from afar. It must be unimaginable to deal with when it’s your home, your school, your workplace, your favorite restaurants.
Phrases like “our hearts go out to the victims” and “say a prayer for the victims” may not do much if anything to comfort those whose lives have been wrenched apart in 200 mph winds, but they are true.
Our hearts do go out to those of you in Moore, Okla. And we are praying like mad you never have to go through this again.
Back when I wrote “Twistering the Night Away,” I knew there was a risk of severe weather for Sunday, May 19. Officially, the damage locally will be categorized as minor, but the activities of the day should remind people of just how fast a severe weather situation can change.
Sunday, May 12
The start of Mother’s Day indicates a chance of storms all week beginning May 15. The prospect of heavy rain is mentioned, especially for Wednesday, but any severe risk is limited to the upcoming weekend. However, the Storm Prediction Center mentions “some severe potential” for Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19 — with the greatest threat for Sunday. SPC also hints outlook areas (the slight, moderate and high risk areas) could be issued for “multiple consecutive days.
Monday, May 13
Short-term, the forecast still calls for thunderstorms and heavy on Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday are now dry and Wednesday’s rain chances have dropped noticeably. Longer-term, the SPC issues a risk area for Saturday, saying the models agree better for activity Saturday than for Friday or Sunday.
Tuesday, May 14
Wednesday’s rain chances are done. Thursday and Friday look to be dry. However, it now appears the Midwest could well see two days of severe weather. The SPC says Saturday’s event would be pushed north of original projections into Nebraska, and it sets a possible Sunday event across the eastern fifth of Kansas along with parts of Missouri and Iowa. Isolated tornadoes are possible both days.
Wednesday, May 15
Troubling trends for east central Kansas, according to the SPC, which has extended its forecast for Saturday further south — back to where it was Monday — and the Sunday risk is now further west of its original map.
Thursday, May 16:
Well, what do you know. Day 2 (Saturday) is now pushed northwest into central Nebraska and south-central South Dakota. SPC continues to mention isolated tornadoes for Sunday. Now it mentions “very large hail” as a concern.
Friday, May 17
SPC issues a wide slight risk area for Sunday, and while it doesn’t mention a possible upgrade in words it does give a 30-percent risk percentage almost across the slight risk area. It also hatches the area, meaning a greater potential for a significant severe weather event within 25 miles of a given point. A cap, or air layer where temperatures increase with height instead of decrease, will help suppress any updrafts…but only for a while before it breaks. Hail larger than tennis balls is a possibility. And “strong tornadoes” are mentioned as a concern by the SPC, although the National Weather Service says large hail is the main concern at the moment.
So, in other words, Sunday is not looking good. And we have graduations all over the place Sunday afternoon.
Saturday, May 18, 12:54 a.m.
Moderate risk issued for the day west of Interstate 135.
1:11 a.m.
Moderate risk also issued for Sunday affecting the eastern half of Kansas and decent chunks of neighboring states to the north, south and east. SPC still calling for hail the size of tennis balls or larger and now is looking for a cluster of tornadoes in southeast Kansas and central Oklahoma. Possibility of severe weather across the Sunday moderate risk area is now at 45 percent.
11:35 a.m.
National Weather Service Topeka office says storms are possible in east central Kansas by late evening. Severe risk unknown, but the main show is designated as central Kansas.
12:09 p.m.
Little change in SPC’s Sunday outlook other than to say the projected shear and instability will support strong tornadoes.
8 p.m.
Storms erupt in central Kansas and push east, prompting tornado watches and supplemental watches for Morris and Chase counties in our area.
10:35 p.m.
Tornado watch issued for Lyon and several surrounding counties. Main reason is low-level shear. Strong storms now enter KVOE listening area in far west Morris and Chase counties; line stretches southwest to Wichita and continues to backbuild as storms push northeast.
10:58 p.m.
Line begins breaking up and thinning out, right before a severe thunderstorm warning is issued for Morris County.
Midnight
Line of storms is down to showers with embedded thundershowers. Ride home is soupy.
Sunday, May 19, 1 a.m.
SPC Day 2 (Monday) outlook effectively pushes the core risk area for hail and tornadoes southeast of the KVOE listening area. There is a slight risk from Elmdale to Topeka and on southeast, but it’s clear now. For the Flint Hills, the main show is today.
7:33 a.m.
SPC outlook calling for strong tornadoes and hail up to baseballs — if the capping inversion blows up as expected. Main tornado risk basically from US-75 to the east, with wind from Emporia to the east and hail from K-177 eastward. Timing is adjusted about an hour later than first expected.
9:06 a.m.
Our dog, Holly, insists on enhancing our crop of poopgrass, so I let her out. It’s already humid outside. It’s sunny. The wind is howling out of the southeast, stretching the flag of the nearby Baptist church. Mother Nature is greeting us with one hand to shake and the other behind her back with the first two fingers crossed.
10:30 a.m.
Weather Channel severe weather gurus Mike Bettes and Dr. Greg Forbes are shown in Wichita with videos from Saturday night and their Tor.Con indices — 6 or 7 for much of Kansas. Forbes and Bettes are then on TWC in Salina a half-hour later. Amazing, the magic of TV.
11:53 a.m.
I check the latest SPC Day 1 outlook. Looks like storm initiation will be between 1-2 p.m. Just in time for dance recital. Great.
1:50 p.m.
Storm Prediction Center issues Tornado Watch No. 181 for almost the entire eastern half of Kansas until 10 p.m.
2:40 p.m.
Day 1 outlook says cap has eroded across Oklahoma, with storms developing and heading into a warm, moist and unstable atmosphere across eastern Kansas. Long-lived supercells are expected, but strong tornadic activity depends on whether storms can “couple” with the moist boundary layer. Severe storm approaches west edge of Wichita with quarter- and half-dollar-sized hail but looks like it will pass to the west. Scattered showers developing in west Chase and Morris counties.
3:04 p.m.
Rapidly rotating wall cloud noticed near Milton, a small town south of Wichita. Tornado warning issues shortly thereafter for Sedgwick, Sumner and Kingman counties.
3:09 p.m.
Unconfirmed — and brief — tornado touchdown reported near Viola, Kan. Storm begins curling to the right, taking it more towards Wichita proper.
3:20 p.m.
Storms start to get rooted in the atmosphere across extreme eastern Morris and western Wabaunsee counties. More touchdowns reported near Viola and Clearwater. KVOE spotters told to come in for positioning.
3:37 p.m.
Massive tornado reported on the ground near Mid-Continent International. NWS Wichita staffers take cover shortly afterward. Debris ball, where storm debris can be seen on radar up to 5,000 or 10,000 feet or higher, is noted a few minutes later.
3:52 p.m.
Power poles reported downed in Wichita.
3:57 p.m.
Severe storm warning issued for northeast Wabaunsee, followed quickly by a tornado warning for central Butler County.
4:11 p.m.
Debris noted near Wellington, just before trained spotter confirms rain-wrapped funnel and persistent wall cloud near the town.
4:17 p.m.
Tree, outbuilding and power pole damage confirmed in Wichita. Damage doesn’t seem consistent with statements of a wedge on the ground. Torn ado warnings spread to nearby Butler County and re-fire for Sumner, Sedgwick and Harper counties as storm cluster finally starts significant movement to the northeast. KVOE is now well into wall-to-wall severe weather coverage, with Roger Hartsook at Emporia High and Kyle Thompson originally set to go to the I-35/Merchant Street interchange but shifted south to the Municipal Airport. Ryan Schmidt, Scott Hayes, Charlie Allen and Jake Ryan are all in studio fielding phone calls and monitoring for any engineering issues.
4:30 p.m.
Northwest Chase County now in severe thunderstorm warning as storm cluster grows in size to the north. Additional warning issued shortly thereafter for southeast Chase and northwest Greenwood counties. Main cluster now a line and starting to bow noticeably to the east, with lead edge approaching Saffordville.
5:02 p.m.
National Weather Service Topeka office issues severe thunderstorm warning for Lyon County. Initial thought is 70-mph winds and penny-sized hail will be the peak concerns. Bow echo now prominent on KVOE’s WeatherTAP.com radar.
5:15 p.m.
Reports come in of quarter-sized hail near Strong City. Multiple reports of heavy rain in Lyon County. National Weather Service Wichita office starts canceling western counties from tornado watch.
5:31 p.m.
Severe storm warning now impacts northwest Lyon County and eastern Wabaunsee County.
5:32 p.m.
Neighbors of Jay and Nancy Mayer scramble to repair house damage after a small tornado hit the home on Sunday, May 19. Kyle Thompson photo.
Kyle calls in from the Municipal Airport reporting a funnel touchdown nearby — and, later, he would say near him. During his report, civil defense sirens begin screaming in Emporia. Seconds later, NWS Topeka issues a tornado warning for northwest Lyon County. Touchdown is brief but effective, destroying a barn and partially de-roofing a house. Scramble is on full-bore in studio to field and relay all the listener and Storm Team spotter reports.
Before 6 p.m.
Twin funnels loom ominously near Emporia on May 19. Sara LaMarra photo.
Reports of tornado or tornado-like damage are called in as photos start streaming in to kvoe@kvoe.com. Power lines and a barn are reported hit about three miles northwest of Emporia, while trees are twisted off and a roof is reported damaged in the far southeast corner of town. Storm damage is also reported near Reading, which was sliced open by an EF-3 tornado two years ago almost to the day.
5:43 p.m.
Tornado warning canceled for Lyon County. Cleanup starts almost immediately at Roads 110 and J, where the first damage was reported on air, and also in southeast Emporia, where eyewitnesses would ultimately report a second touchdown. On-air coverage continues as bow echo starts to re-bow and continue shoving off to the east.
6:09 p.m.
Coffey, Osage counties added to severe storm warning list. Severe storms start firing in central Kansas, prompting a new wave of warnings as storms initially look like they could impact KVOE listeners late in the evening.
6:15 p.m.
Wave of listener damage reports appears to be cresting. Southern Greenwood County re-warned.
6:35 p.m.
KVOE signs off. I start news stories for on-air Monday and for KVOE.com. Ryan heads to the 700 block of South Weaver for damage assessment, pictures and interviews.
6:40 p.m.
Kyle returns from stops at the airport and the 1500 block of Road 205, the second immediate report of damage — and lets us know just how close he was to the twister. According to Kyle, the tornado touched down less than a mile away from him and former Municipal Airport manager Don Tevis, lifted and came down almost to ground before dissipating. Not bad for his first time as a KVOE spotter. Dangerous — highly dangerous — but not bad.
6:45 p.m.
Quick coverage plan finalized with hourly updates through 9 p.m. in addition to our normal overnight headlines.
6:55 p.m.
Tornado warnings issued for Chataqua, Cowley and Elk counties.
7:05 p.m.
First update. Choppy but it capsulates what we had.
7:15 p.m.
Lyon County Sheriff Jeff Cope (center) takes down eyewitness reports after a tornado struck far southeast Emporia on May 19. Ryan Schmidt photo.
Ryan calls from southeast Emporia. Considering he didn’t have a recorder — I left mine at home and Roger took Ryan’s — we work a pair of makeshift cell phone interviews for later. Ryan then returns to start processing our Photo Showcase.
8:05 p.m.
Lyon County Emergency Management Coordinator Rick Frevert joins us live, noting scattered damage from the airport to Reading, all but confirming the second touchdown in southeast Emporia and mentioning there is no way Lyon County would qualify for federal or state relief because the damage won’t hit minimum threshholds. As most everybody takes a deep breath here, tornado warnings are sounded for Allen, Woodson and Wilson counties.
8:45 p.m.
Wrap-up stories finished for KVOE.com. Hail the sizes of tennis balls and baseballs falls across southeast Kansas with tornado warnings still in play.
9:35 p.m.
NWS Wichita gives preliminary rating to twister near MCI as EF-1. Despite the fact the damage path was half a mile wide.
Recently, Jason Collins became the first current player in America’s major sports to come out as gay. With that cultural marker now past, a lot of attention is turning to racially sensitive sports nicknames as the next hurdle to clear.
Daniel Snyder’s comments saying the Washington Redskins would never change their nickname may be popular and based in team history, but the statement is a dumb one when you look at the bigger cultural picture.
Let’s start by stating one absolute, obvious fact. The nickname is racist.
Let’s follow that by stating an absolute, obvious observation. Americans don’t do the racist thing anymore, at least not in public. Unless you’re the Redskins and a handful of other college, high school or youth-level athletic programs who haven’t gotten with the program.
Over the past 20 years, names with Native American ties — some honorable, some questionable, some blatantly derogatory — have disappeared. In the cases of the derogatory, congratulations were deserved for leaders recognizing the negative impact of those names and working to remove them.
In some cases, the logos were just as offensive as the names. Witness the dopey caricature fostered by the St. John’s Redmen as Exhibit A:
While the Redskins catch the most flak for their stubbornness on this matter, other teams still aren’t immune for legitimate criticism. Not so much for the nickname as for the logo or team’s visual identity.
This was borne out during Major League Baseball’s spring training, when the Atlanta Braves broke out the Way Back Machine and returned with hats emblazoned with Chief Nokahoma.
I have always been ambivalent about Nokahoma. It’s a much more accurate picture of a Native American than, say, the Redmen logo or Cleveland’s Chief Wahoo…
…but there’s something unnervingly wrong about the logo that I have never been able to place.
And don’t get me started on Chief Wahoo. That branding campaign should never have been launched.
Being part Choctaw, I really don’t have a problem with certain Native-related nicknames. Maybe I should have a problem with tribal names being used (even those like Fighting Sioux indicating a warlike mentality), but I don’t. Nicknames like Braves and Chiefs and Warriors? I don’t have a problem with those.
I do have a problem when nicknames are blatantly offensive but still widely supported.
When Americans look back at the 1800s and think of Native Americans, they think cowboys and Indians, Custer’s crew wiped out at Little Bighorn and (possibly) reservations. We give lip service reverence to the individual giants like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse of Chief Joseph. As a culture, though, we totally have blocked out the treaty upon treaty broken to gain land. And aside from Wounded Knee, S.D., we turn a blind eye to massacre after massacre.
Case in point: the Choctaws were moved from Mississippi and Alabama to Oklahoma thanks to the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek in 1830. Choctaws were given a choice of submitting to U.S. laws or keeping their legal structure and moving — and giving up some 11 million acres of land in the process. The treaty was the sixth one involving both parties in some capacity, each meaning huge chunks of territory were handed over as settlers demanded more and more land (this started well before the Treaty of Hopewell in 1786, which among other things said Americans could never live on Indian land and Indians could punish violators as they saw fit. We see how well that went over.). The Treaty of Doak’s Stand in 1820 said boundaries wouldn’t change until the Choctaw were “civilized and enlightened” to become U.S. citizens…only to see the boundaries change with the Treaty of Washington City in 1825 and complete removal in 1831.
Back when I was a kid and John Riggins became a household name against the Dolphins, I wouldn’t have cared. Now, when I hear Daniel Snyder’s comments, Snyder’s in-your-face defiance, this litany of disrespect is what comes to mind. Not fourth-and-six from the other team’s 18 with under two minutes to go and trailing by a field goal.
No gathering of 50,000 to 80,000 people chanting and waving the Tomahawk Chop will ever honor the deaths incurred at Wounded Knee or Sand Creek or the displacement of thousands of people thanks to Dancing Rabbit Creek and other similar threads of broken treaties woven into a quilt of nationwide marginalization. Snyder’s dismissive comments continue that marginalization, whether he sees it or not.
So many things are considered offensive these days, and when those concerns are voiced, we take steps to make amends. Except, inexplicably, in this case and with this segment of humankind.
The Redskins name is racist and has to go. People adjusted to talking about the St. John’s Red Storm instead of the Redmen. We can think of another suitable nickname for the Washington Redskins.
Looking deeper, though, what a lot of us need to consider is whether the push towards tolerance includes Native Americans as well as most of the rest of humanity. The fact we’re having this discussion indicts us. It says we’re not where we should be as a culture even though other landmarks are now past.
Free Samples of a Sleep-Deprived Brain 