UNO Gets It's First NCAA Basketball Tournament Bid

UNO Gets It's First NCAA Basketball Tournament Bid

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We are going to chat with a guy who has
I mean, you want to talk about just changing a
culture and achieving some things that have just never been achieved.
On our phone line is the head men's basketball coach
at the University of Nebraska Omaha and on his way
to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, Chris Crutchfield, coach. Thanks
so much for being on our show today, Emery.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Thank you for having me on on. Thank you for
having me on. We're excited and we've.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Talked a few times throughout the season because I really
fell in love with this team early. You know, I
do a lot of work for the hockey team, but
I also was like, I'm a big basketball guy and
I want to go and watch the basketball games. And
I was like, man, they got some great athletes. They
play really cohesive as a unit. You know, this team
in the last couple of years. You know, the record
indicates so maybe not. They're a non conference didn't go

(00:47):
so well, they were picked finish eighth in the conference.
What in the world changed, because now you are kind
of the bell of the ball as far as mid
majors are concerned in the country.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Well, I think it took us a little bit more
time to jail. And it took us to you know,
right around Christmas time to figure some things out where
our team and uh figure out some roles. And normally
when you have that many new guys come in that
that does take time. And I thought the key was,

(01:18):
you know, putting JJ White back into the starting lineup
and h Kevin having some meeting with some guys make
sure they understood what their roles were. And so once
we did that, we had complete buy in. And and
this day it may sometimes that don't happen. And I
credit those kids for their belief and our vision, belief

(01:39):
in our system, the buy in after we made some
changes to the lineup, made some changes to people's roles,
and they was one hundred percent bought in. And that
was the key that changed it all.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Well, it was that, but also it just felt like
this team, you know talking about geling. It wasn't just
on the court, it was off the court as well.
We talked about this, I think, you know, before the
conference tournament and all that stuff began when we chatted
about all this crazy trash can business and it got
to a point Coach where you had aew wrestlers come

(02:13):
into town because they wanted to get a piece of
the trash can. You got given the Summit League Championship trophy.
They pulled it out of a trash can like as
part of the trophy ceremony. This has gone viral. It's
gone viral around the entire country. Everybody knows of your
program because of this trash can thing. How did this
start for people who may not know? And what has

(02:34):
this meant to the program itself?

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Well, what has done is given us some national attention
on a different scale than what we've ever had before.
But it goes back to Cayrian Brown really really trying
to get our guys fired up for a game with
Kyle Potty where we was counted down and had lost
a bunch of games in a row and really had
no juice. We had nothing going for our team right

(03:00):
there in mid December, and you know, he kind of
went into a locker room and didn't fill the juice.
So he created some juice by kicking the trash can
and the rest is history, and we won eighteen out
of twenty one games since. So I don't know if
it's a trash can. I don't know if it's our
guys just figured out they was better than what they

(03:22):
was playing. But it's been fun to get the attention
and it's really been fun to just put tvse guys
confidence grow Emory the way he's growing over the last
two months.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
And it's such a fun team. Head coach Chris Crutchfield
joining us from the University of Nebraska Omaha. The Mavericks
winning the Summit League a challenge, I think a little
bit because coach, you won the regular season championship, which
you know it's important you guys cut the nets down
and everything. That's a very important thing to have the
outright championship of a conference in NCAA basketball, But that

(03:57):
doesn't give you the automatic berth. It kind of did
this time though, because by the time you got the
championship Sunday, you were playing a team in St. Thomas
that already we knew couldn't make it to the tournament
because of NCAA rules. You still were able to motivate
the guys though, to win that championship game and to
get those nets cut down a second time this time

(04:17):
as the automatic qualifier for the league was what was
the emotions that week? How much did you celebrate Saturday
knowing you had already made the tournament, and how did
you get the guys ready to stay locked in on
that Sunday game.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, it was funny because we sat around in a
hotel room conference room watching the rest of the game
against Saint Thomas in North Dakota. And once the game
was over, you know, the guys all knew the staff
ue what was at stake. We knew that we would
get a birth if we had to play Saint Thomas
in the championship game. But it was funny. The guys

(04:50):
all clapped, but it wasn't a really really glass for
check Clapp. It was like happy, yeah that that were
But at the same time, I think they wanted to
go out and validate by winning it outright and not
having the asterisk by ore n b it. So they

(05:12):
was motivated. The guys were motivated, and you know, they
kind of got it done. They got it done. They
was They came into the game part up and finished
it off pretty good.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
It's it was a great performance. I mean, really looked
great in all of the games in the Summing League tournament.
So now we move on. I want to talk about
a couple of your guys. You mentioned JJ White, who
became your lead guard, really the facilitator. But he's a
great shot maker. Hit a buzzer beater shot to get
a win earlier in the season as well. But the
conference player of the year was Markel Sutton, and I

(05:45):
just love his game, like the aesthetic right he's he's
he's a great athlete. He's tall, he's long, but he's
got like a muscular build. He's got like kind of
the Michael Jordan, you know, leg band and wristband. He
just looks like he's a good basketball player before you
even see him play. What made this guy so special

(06:05):
this year to where he wins the conference champion or
the Conference Player of the year, And now he's going
to be a guy that's going to be a real
problem for whoever you play in the first round in
the NCAA Tournament.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
No doubt, no doubt, he has some physical attributes that
allow him to be a really good basketball player, but
he's worked at it. He wasn't a shooter when he
got here, just the athlete that really played around the rim.
After Frankie transferred, we had to talk about him stepping
into a bigger role. And becoming our team guy and
being a guy that we could close out games with.

(06:38):
And it took him, it took him a little bit
in in an on Coon to figure out how to
do that. But once we got into conference play, uh,
he figured it out. And we moved him around a
bunch of different places, Henry, just to make sure defenses
couldn't set on him. And what he really he went
to the when the rebounded basketball at the high rate,

(06:59):
then he ran the transition at a high rate. And
you know, other than that, we ran a through stats
for him to get him spots where he's really really
good at it. I mean he's capitalized on every situation
that we put him in. And he stepped into the
role that that Frankie left and he was damn good
at it.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, I gotta tell you, coach, I love watching him play.
He's just like one of those players like man, I
just love seeing him, especially when he's in the open floor.
Coach Chris Crutchfield joining us from the Omaha Mavericks. So
you have a week off, I mean you wait until
Sunday to get an idea of who you're gonna play
and we'll talk about that just in a second, But

(07:39):
what is a coach who's really been after it since Christmas?
I mean, you guys have had a couple of games
a week every single week since the Christmas break. Like,
what do you do with yourself now that you have
a week off?

Speaker 2 (07:50):
Oh? Man? And this is rest time. Man, I'm exhausted.
Our team is exhausted. And this couldn't be better timing
because we took you know, yesterday off of what we
take today off and we'll come back and practice you know,
Wednesday and Thursday, and we'll give them Friday off and
practice on Saturday and Sunday and get to see what
we played. And of course next week will be a

(08:11):
regular week in our normal game prep getting ready for
whoever we play in the tournament. So we're excited. But
this is a well needed, well needed break and our
guys can get some recovery. Now.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
I'm looking at all the different bracketologists, and I'm sure
that as a coach, you know, that's like such a
terrible dirty word to say, but I love looking at
this and trying to figure out matchups. And you guys
have been projected as a sixteen seed either like on
the playoff play in line in Dayton or actually drawing in.
Everybody has you drawn into the actual big bracket now

(08:46):
and nobody has you playing in the Dayton games. But
I got to ask you know, from your perspective, is
that a preference for you? Would you have liked to
kind of play in a NCAA tournament game against another
sixteen seed and had all that attention on the program
and have a chance to win a tournament game. Do
you are you comfortable going against one of these presumed

(09:07):
number one seeds like Duke or Houston, or do you
think your team deserves even a higher seed like a
fifteen or even a fourteen based on the way they've
played the last few months.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, some some could argue we probably deserve a fifteen
based on where the Summer League is ranked in the nation.
Some people could say we deserve fifteen just by the
way our team have finished in our last twenty one games.
We won eighteen out the last twenty one, So people
could argue your case that we deserve to be a fifteen.

(09:38):
We shouldn't be a sixteen, But our guys are so
happy just to get in Emory, like we will take
whatever they give us. If the seventeen seed. We'll take that.
We happen to be in and have a chance to
be on that platform that in that tournament.

Speaker 1 (09:54):
Last thing for your coach, and this is a personal
question for you. You did go to the University of Nebraska,
so you were familiar with the campus in the town
before you came back as a coach a couple of
years ago. Things are really good for so many different
sporting you know, teams there. Obviously hockey has a home,
you know, playoffs coming up this weekend. You have softball
nationally ranked, baseball is beating the top five team this year.

(10:16):
There's all sorts of other success stories there. But how
much does it mean to you to be the guy
who was able to turn this thing around? And especially
with the team of guys that were either written off
or nobody knew who their names were. And now all
of a sudden, you guys are showing up on Sports Center.
You guys are getting all this, you know, millions of
views on social media with some of the stuff that

(10:37):
you're doing with the trash Cans. You're in the NCAA
tournament for the first time. What does this mean for
Chris Crutchfield.

Speaker 2 (10:43):
Well, it's an exciting time for not just me, but
I mean, I'm excited for our players. I'm excited for
all the former players that warded Jersey that was Mavericks.
I'm exciteds for our city, for all the alumni that
that your team get to play on the big stage.
And you mentioned all the other teams that have had success,
and we're just want to be a part of that.

(11:04):
I mean, Omaha has a winner. There's a winner over
here on sixty even Dodds, and hopefully the city can
recognize it and join in forces with us and make
it a partnership and we can continue this for years
to come. But I'm excited because what we started from,
and of the biggest thing is where we started, and

(11:25):
we started, you know, in the bottom of the league
and was able to extend to the top of the
league in a short amount of time. And I'm just
proud that we had guys to stay around, a court
group of guys to stay around, believe in the vision,
believe in our coaching staff, believing what we were doing,
that what we were doing was righting, it was going
to work, and they put in the work and fell

(11:46):
in love with the process. And that's what makes it
so enjoyable is the journey to get here.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
And I got to tell you, I cannot wait to
see what happens. And this has been just such a
fun team to watch been the several of the games.
Thank you and dude, it's been just an absolute joyous
season to see what you guys have turned into as
the season goes on. So congratulations coach, Congratulations to the
entire program. Thank you so much for giving us some
time today, and good luck with selection Sunday and wherever

(12:14):
you guys land next week.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
Thank you, hermy, thank you for having me go math.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
How awesome is that? Great guy? Big thanks to head
coach Chris Crutchfield for joining us today three point fifty.
We'll be back with more on this Tuesday. Dues Radio
eleven teen KFAB, Emrie sunger On News Radio eleven ten
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