April 4, 2025 • 12 mins
Sean Callahan calls in to the Emery Songer Show to discuss a moment in the College Basketball Crown that basically sums up the entire tournament. Let's hope the Huskers win this tourney, because the PBA needs that banner in it's rafters.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sean, how's it going today.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm doing great. Yeah, a big win last night in
the Crown. I mean, I think the most fascinating thing
I still saw was there was a Nebraska fan that
had a courtside ticket in between the Georgetown coaching staff.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
How did that happen?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They sell tickets, I guess there's four tickets for sale
on the bench side, but Georgetown's they must not have
sold them all because Georgetown's coaching staff took over those
seats right in between this gentleman who was a Nebraska
fan that the literally I took a picture. He's always
sitting next to Ed Cooley during the game.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The longer they start to make goes, the more I'm
kind of a fan, you know, I'm actually like, there
seems to be some genuine joy and fun happening. And
of course the nil money that's there, so then getting
into the semi finals here, that guarantees some nil money
for the program, right.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, they got fifty thousand last night with the wind,
you know, in the game, and that doesn't go right
to the players, It just goes towards Nebraska's operation and
then Nebraska can utilize it towards the ranile how they
want to do it quarterly, but if they win again,
it's more. And I think the winning prize is like
three hundred thousand dollars is what they end up getting
(01:17):
as the team that would win it. But they got
a tough game on Saturday. They'll play Boise State. It's
just it's crazy. Nebraska is playing on Saturday, the day
of the final four games.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Don't just don't don't tell anybody where they're playing. And
then like, wow, what a season for Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Huh you got Gus Johnson and now these games. It's
just all of it. Is it just you know, they
really Fox has gone all in on this deal, and
I do think there's a place for it. It might
the timeline might need to be moved up a week.
They got to figure out something. I just feel like
this is being played awfully, very late in the calendar,
(01:57):
you know, for the future, but for the first I mean,
it's been all right, and I'm sure we'll see more
Nebraska fans out in Vegas for Saturday in possible Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. So most of
these are Power Conference teams. They did have a couple
teams that kind of snuck in from smaller conferences. Boise State, technically,
I guess is a mid major as far as like
the Mountain West Conference is concerned, but George Washington was
in there. You had smaller Power conference teams like the
Paul Central Florida and they play tonight. A lot of
(02:28):
these teams have, you know, barely five hundred records, very
much like Nebraska. It's very strange to see this group
of teams playing in a tournament for actual dollars. But
that was gonna be my next question. Like this, it
feels like it's supplanted. The NIT is kind of the
you know, second tournament based on how the players are playing.
(02:50):
We're already kind of deep into the transfer portal. So
it feels like everybody who's playing on these teams, if
they're eligible to come back, they're coming back to this school.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
What is it about this that makes like I can't
explain it.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
It just feels like this is a bigger deal than
the NIT now, and I feel like this is actually
a really solid alternative if you're a Power conference team.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, I think the ni C being three weeks long.
If you make the final four just it's a long
tournament for you know, being out of it. And then
I do think the relationship that the Big Ten, the
Big East, and the Big Twelve half with Fox, they've
kind of banded together and created this thing where each
of those three leagues I believe, got two auto bids
(03:30):
to kind of solidify the base of the invites, and
then they went out and added, you know, more teams
to fill the rest of the spot and you know,
more Big Twelve. I think there's three or four Big
Twelve teams in the event. And I mean, I just think, yeah,
the way it laid out, really it's just the SEC
and the a SEC who didn't take part in this,
and the SEC had fourteen of its sixteen in the
(03:53):
NCAA tournament and the other two opted not to play
in any forum postseason. So yeah, they they they rated
the n I t for all intents and purposes, and
I would imagine it's going to only continue. And you
wonder about the long term viability in it because it
used to be a little bit bigger deal, especially when
(04:14):
it was in Madison Square Garden. There's a lot of
history of that. They don't play at Madison Square Garden
in the finals anymore Final four, so it's just not
the same. And then I believe it's like you see
Irvine versus like North Texas for the Chammis that help.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You didn't get I was gonna quiz you, pop quiz Oh,
I were on it. Who's playing in the final of
the n I t the answer. You see Irvine ant
Eaters against the Chattanooga Mocks, which.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Does nothing for anyone. I mean, look like I would
rather watch Nebraska play Georgetown and have some Georgetown Nebraska
fans sitting with the Georgetown coaching Stepp and you know,
having Gus Johnson, and I mean, so we'll see. Yeah,
Nebraska's got some time in Vegas now the next few days,
and I'm sure it'll get pretty busy in Vegas Saturday
(05:00):
when they're playing is it the final four? I mean
a lot of people just go to Vegas to gamble
in the Final four.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, And that's a good point, by the way. That
game is tonight Chattanooga, and you see Irvine tickets as
low as three dollars, So that tells you how the
Indianapolis crowd feels about Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And you see Irvine in the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
N it we could talk basketball all we want, and
hopefully the Huskers give us something more to talk about
because that game, by the way, on Saturday at twelve
thirty pm Boise State and Nebraska and the semi finals
in Vegas of the College Basketball Crown will find out
who the other semi final will be coming up tonight.
But football, what do we know about football today? Because
(05:37):
I know that you know, spring practice continues and it's
you know, it feels like there's a lot of talk about,
you know, the development that some of these guys have
actually made in just a few months that we've been
in the offseason. What have you learned here in the
last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, it was a lighter day to day. We talked
to quarterbacks coach Glynn Thomas, off atline coach Don Royola,
backup quarterback Jalen Graham stat I think, honestly, of the
things we learned, he's probably the best story today because
you think about like his story. He showed up to
a tryout camp in June last summer as the national
player of the Year at Northwestern in Orange City, Iowa,
(06:13):
in AIA power and just joined the team in July,
and you know was able to earn a travel spot
last year, and then by the end of the season,
when Danny Kalen left and Kyder Carberg moved a tight end,
he became the number two quarterback for the bowl game,
and he still is the number two quarterback. And I
just think stories like that you have to appreciate them
(06:35):
because we're probably not going to see as many in
the new game of college football with nil and roster limits,
because you just won't be able to take a guy
like Jalen Graham's said in the future because of how
the roster limits and things work. I mean that tryout
camp Nebraska did, They're not scheduled to have one of
those this year because it just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, And like you said, right, it's just Nebraska still
feels like it's got a little bit of that magic
of kind of tradition into it. I know that this
coaching staff is still relatively new and you're doing everything
that you can to develop this team. But it's kind
of nice to have like the Harburg's of the world
that you know you also can kind of lean on.
It's just like, hey, that makes you feel good. And
(07:13):
then you have a Jalen Grahamstad, like you said, that
comes from very humble beginnings as far as his Division
one career, and here he is as the backup to
Dylan Ryola. What do you kind of anticipate, Sean when
we kind of get into the next couple of weeks,
because spring practice looks so different now, is there anything
that you're really looking forward to or is there anything
(07:34):
that you're hoping news wise, you know, gets a bit clarified.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What's kind of on your radar here?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, scrimmages, and they're not open on the media or
the fans, but I believe the next two Saturdays is
when you'll see Nebraska kind of conduct their major spring
scrimmages because they're not going to practice on Easter weekend.
So this Saturday and then a week from Saturday will
be probably two of their bigger practices that they if
they keep that scrimmage schedule they've done in the past,
(08:02):
and you know, this Saturday would be the seventh practice,
so this will be kind of the mid term practice
of the spring because April twenty six, when they get
together for that fan festival, that will actually be the
fifteenth practice for them. So this is kind of the
midway point, if you can believe it that they've gotten
through here on Saturday when they when they probably scrimmage
here for the first time and kind of see where
(08:24):
things are at with this team.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, we will find out.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And our guy that's going to tell us all of
it is Sean Callahan, Husker Buzz, the Husker Online Show. Ay,
before I get you out of here, the Big Final Four.
You know you got your eyeballs on this four one
Seeds Florida, Auburn, Houston and Duke. Who do you like
to come out of this thing with the title.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It's hard not to pick Duke right now. I mean
they have elite I mean I probably have three literally
like top ten, top fifteen lottery picks, and they're starting five.
And you know, Cooper Flag is a generational talent, you know,
with what he's done. And you know, I can only
image if Cooper Flag was able to stay in college
for two or three years. I mean, Duke could go
(09:04):
on run. I mean, he's that good. He makes everybody
around him that much better. His defense, his ball movement,
everything he does is elite. And if they play like
they played the first four, that ribo is probably Houston
I just think their style causes problems for people. And
that's probably the team that would be my sleeper in
the field before.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, and I'm rooting for Houston just because of that,
because I don't want an SEC team to win.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
In Gosh, it's Duke. It's he wants to see Duke winn.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But I guess my other question here's conspiracy theory time,
because you know, like the college athletics base, especially for
a school like Duke, there are people saying like, if
the Wizards or the Hornets or a team like that
gets the number one pick, that Cooper flag should just
stay in college another year and hope to get luckier
the next year, that a better situation or a better
(09:57):
team or a bigger market has a chance to take
him if the lottery balls fall the right way. Are
you buying into that there's not enough money for him
based on that versus being the number one pick in
the NBA draft.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Right, I'd be shocked. Yeah. I think if you can
be the number one pick, you got to take that.
I mean, I don't you always have a risk of
injury and other things a year later that could change
things for you. And then what happens if it's the
worst team the next year, right, I don't. I mean
it is one of The lottery is such a hard
(10:29):
thing to predict. I'll never forget. The one I always
remember is when Shaquille O'Neil went number one, and then
the next year, the Orlando Magic had the fewest amount
of lottery balls in the lottery because they were like
the first team out of the playoff field and they
still got the number one pick, and that's when they drafted.
Chris Webber traded that for Pinny Hardaway. You know, the
lottery is so unpredictable. You just don't know how that
(10:51):
thing's going to fall and who's going to fall where.
But you know, I can't imagine him holding out. That
would be a big time surprise. But the nil money.
If he stayed in college, he can pull the Kalem
Clark route, and I'm sure he'd be paid very lucratively
on the open market if he came back our year.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I guess we'll watch that.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I'm with you, though, I mean, the money is so
drastically different, it's not surprising maybe for a guy that's
like marginally going to get maybe drafted in the second
round or something if they want to stay in college now.
But it definitely seems to make a big difference when
you're talking about the number one pick in the NBA.
Sean Callahan, how about next Tuesday?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Sound good? Yeah, that sounds great, and enjoy the basketball weekend.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah that is for real, my guy, Sean Callahan joining
us A Husker Online does some great work there and
we really appreciate him joining us here.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On our show today, Emery Songa on news radio Oka
SAB
Sean, how's it going today.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm doing great. Yeah, a big win last night in
the Crown. I mean, I think the most fascinating thing
I still saw was there was a Nebraska fan that
had a courtside ticket in between the Georgetown coaching staff.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
How did that happen?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
They sell tickets, I guess there's four tickets for sale
on the bench side, but Georgetown's they must not have
sold them all because Georgetown's coaching staff took over those
seats right in between this gentleman who was a Nebraska
fan that the literally I took a picture. He's always
sitting next to Ed Cooley during the game.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
The longer they start to make goes, the more I'm
kind of a fan, you know, I'm actually like, there
seems to be some genuine joy and fun happening. And
of course the nil money that's there, so then getting
into the semi finals here, that guarantees some nil money
for the program, right.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah, they got fifty thousand last night with the wind,
you know, in the game, and that doesn't go right
to the players, It just goes towards Nebraska's operation and
then Nebraska can utilize it towards the ranile how they
want to do it quarterly, but if they win again,
it's more. And I think the winning prize is like
three hundred thousand dollars is what they end up getting
(01:17):
as the team that would win it. But they got
a tough game on Saturday. They'll play Boise State. It's
just it's crazy. Nebraska is playing on Saturday, the day
of the final four games.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Don't just don't don't tell anybody where they're playing. And
then like, wow, what a season for Nebraska.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Huh you got Gus Johnson and now these games. It's
just all of it. Is it just you know, they
really Fox has gone all in on this deal, and
I do think there's a place for it. It might
the timeline might need to be moved up a week.
They got to figure out something. I just feel like
this is being played awfully, very late in the calendar,
(01:57):
you know, for the future, but for the first I mean,
it's been all right, and I'm sure we'll see more
Nebraska fans out in Vegas for Saturday in possible Sunday.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, I was gonna ask you that. So most of
these are Power Conference teams. They did have a couple
teams that kind of snuck in from smaller conferences. Boise State, technically,
I guess is a mid major as far as like
the Mountain West Conference is concerned, but George Washington was
in there. You had smaller Power conference teams like the
Paul Central Florida and they play tonight. A lot of
(02:28):
these teams have, you know, barely five hundred records, very
much like Nebraska. It's very strange to see this group
of teams playing in a tournament for actual dollars. But
that was gonna be my next question. Like this, it
feels like it's supplanted. The NIT is kind of the
you know, second tournament based on how the players are playing.
(02:50):
We're already kind of deep into the transfer portal. So
it feels like everybody who's playing on these teams, if
they're eligible to come back, they're coming back to this school.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
What is it about this that makes like I can't
explain it.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
It just feels like this is a bigger deal than
the NIT now, and I feel like this is actually
a really solid alternative if you're a Power conference team.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, I think the ni C being three weeks long.
If you make the final four just it's a long
tournament for you know, being out of it. And then
I do think the relationship that the Big Ten, the
Big East, and the Big Twelve half with Fox, they've
kind of banded together and created this thing where each
of those three leagues I believe, got two auto bids
(03:30):
to kind of solidify the base of the invites, and
then they went out and added, you know, more teams
to fill the rest of the spot and you know,
more Big Twelve. I think there's three or four Big
Twelve teams in the event. And I mean, I just think, yeah,
the way it laid out, really it's just the SEC
and the a SEC who didn't take part in this,
and the SEC had fourteen of its sixteen in the
(03:53):
NCAA tournament and the other two opted not to play
in any forum postseason. So yeah, they they they rated
the n I t for all intents and purposes, and
I would imagine it's going to only continue. And you
wonder about the long term viability in it because it
used to be a little bit bigger deal, especially when
(04:14):
it was in Madison Square Garden. There's a lot of
history of that. They don't play at Madison Square Garden
in the finals anymore Final four, so it's just not
the same. And then I believe it's like you see
Irvine versus like North Texas for the Chammis that help.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
You didn't get I was gonna quiz you, pop quiz Oh,
I were on it. Who's playing in the final of
the n I t the answer. You see Irvine ant
Eaters against the Chattanooga Mocks, which.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Does nothing for anyone. I mean, look like I would
rather watch Nebraska play Georgetown and have some Georgetown Nebraska
fans sitting with the Georgetown coaching Stepp and you know,
having Gus Johnson, and I mean, so we'll see. Yeah,
Nebraska's got some time in Vegas now the next few days,
and I'm sure it'll get pretty busy in Vegas Saturday
(05:00):
when they're playing is it the final four? I mean
a lot of people just go to Vegas to gamble
in the Final four.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, And that's a good point, by the way. That
game is tonight Chattanooga, and you see Irvine tickets as
low as three dollars, So that tells you how the
Indianapolis crowd feels about Chattanooga.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And you see Irvine in the.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
N it we could talk basketball all we want, and
hopefully the Huskers give us something more to talk about
because that game, by the way, on Saturday at twelve
thirty pm Boise State and Nebraska and the semi finals
in Vegas of the College Basketball Crown will find out
who the other semi final will be coming up tonight.
But football, what do we know about football today? Because
(05:37):
I know that you know, spring practice continues and it's
you know, it feels like there's a lot of talk about,
you know, the development that some of these guys have
actually made in just a few months that we've been
in the offseason. What have you learned here in the
last couple of days.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, it was a lighter day to day. We talked
to quarterbacks coach Glynn Thomas, off atline coach Don Royola,
backup quarterback Jalen Graham stat I think, honestly, of the
things we learned, he's probably the best story today because
you think about like his story. He showed up to
a tryout camp in June last summer as the national
player of the Year at Northwestern in Orange City, Iowa,
(06:13):
in AIA power and just joined the team in July,
and you know was able to earn a travel spot
last year, and then by the end of the season,
when Danny Kalen left and Kyder Carberg moved a tight end,
he became the number two quarterback for the bowl game,
and he still is the number two quarterback. And I
just think stories like that you have to appreciate them
(06:35):
because we're probably not going to see as many in
the new game of college football with nil and roster limits,
because you just won't be able to take a guy
like Jalen Graham's said in the future because of how
the roster limits and things work. I mean that tryout
camp Nebraska did, They're not scheduled to have one of
those this year because it just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Yeah, And like you said, right, it's just Nebraska still
feels like it's got a little bit of that magic
of kind of tradition into it. I know that this
coaching staff is still relatively new and you're doing everything
that you can to develop this team. But it's kind
of nice to have like the Harburg's of the world
that you know you also can kind of lean on.
It's just like, hey, that makes you feel good. And
(07:13):
then you have a Jalen Grahamstad, like you said, that
comes from very humble beginnings as far as his Division
one career, and here he is as the backup to
Dylan Ryola. What do you kind of anticipate, Sean when
we kind of get into the next couple of weeks,
because spring practice looks so different now, is there anything
that you're really looking forward to or is there anything
(07:34):
that you're hoping news wise, you know, gets a bit clarified.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
What's kind of on your radar here?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Well, scrimmages, and they're not open on the media or
the fans, but I believe the next two Saturdays is
when you'll see Nebraska kind of conduct their major spring
scrimmages because they're not going to practice on Easter weekend.
So this Saturday and then a week from Saturday will
be probably two of their bigger practices that they if
they keep that scrimmage schedule they've done in the past,
(08:02):
and you know, this Saturday would be the seventh practice,
so this will be kind of the mid term practice
of the spring because April twenty six, when they get
together for that fan festival, that will actually be the
fifteenth practice for them. So this is kind of the
midway point, if you can believe it that they've gotten
through here on Saturday when they when they probably scrimmage
here for the first time and kind of see where
(08:24):
things are at with this team.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Yeah, we will find out.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
And our guy that's going to tell us all of
it is Sean Callahan, Husker Buzz, the Husker Online Show. Ay,
before I get you out of here, the Big Final Four.
You know you got your eyeballs on this four one
Seeds Florida, Auburn, Houston and Duke. Who do you like
to come out of this thing with the title.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
It's hard not to pick Duke right now. I mean
they have elite I mean I probably have three literally
like top ten, top fifteen lottery picks, and they're starting five.
And you know, Cooper Flag is a generational talent, you know,
with what he's done. And you know, I can only
image if Cooper Flag was able to stay in college
for two or three years. I mean, Duke could go
(09:04):
on run. I mean, he's that good. He makes everybody
around him that much better. His defense, his ball movement,
everything he does is elite. And if they play like
they played the first four, that ribo is probably Houston
I just think their style causes problems for people. And
that's probably the team that would be my sleeper in
the field before.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yeah, and I'm rooting for Houston just because of that,
because I don't want an SEC team to win.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
In Gosh, it's Duke. It's he wants to see Duke winn.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
But I guess my other question here's conspiracy theory time,
because you know, like the college athletics base, especially for
a school like Duke, there are people saying like, if
the Wizards or the Hornets or a team like that
gets the number one pick, that Cooper flag should just
stay in college another year and hope to get luckier
the next year, that a better situation or a better
(09:57):
team or a bigger market has a chance to take
him if the lottery balls fall the right way. Are
you buying into that there's not enough money for him
based on that versus being the number one pick in
the NBA draft.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Right, I'd be shocked. Yeah. I think if you can
be the number one pick, you got to take that.
I mean, I don't you always have a risk of
injury and other things a year later that could change
things for you. And then what happens if it's the
worst team the next year, right, I don't. I mean
it is one of The lottery is such a hard
(10:29):
thing to predict. I'll never forget. The one I always
remember is when Shaquille O'Neil went number one, and then
the next year, the Orlando Magic had the fewest amount
of lottery balls in the lottery because they were like
the first team out of the playoff field and they
still got the number one pick, and that's when they drafted.
Chris Webber traded that for Pinny Hardaway. You know, the
lottery is so unpredictable. You just don't know how that
(10:51):
thing's going to fall and who's going to fall where.
But you know, I can't imagine him holding out. That
would be a big time surprise. But the nil money.
If he stayed in college, he can pull the Kalem
Clark route, and I'm sure he'd be paid very lucratively
on the open market if he came back our year.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, I guess we'll watch that.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
I'm with you, though, I mean, the money is so
drastically different, it's not surprising maybe for a guy that's
like marginally going to get maybe drafted in the second
round or something if they want to stay in college now.
But it definitely seems to make a big difference when
you're talking about the number one pick in the NBA.
Sean Callahan, how about next Tuesday?
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Sound good? Yeah, that sounds great, and enjoy the basketball weekend.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
Yeah that is for real, my guy, Sean Callahan joining
us A Husker Online does some great work there and
we really appreciate him joining us here.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
On our show today, Emery Songa on news radio Oka
SAB
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