Thoughts on Nebraska football, basketball and baseball

And I wasn’t here for much of it, as I spent Tuesday through Friday hiking in the Black Hills and the Badlands of South Dakota.

The news never stops around here. Not even for vacations.

My thoughts on some of the happenings in Lincoln while I was out:

Dylan Raiola and Daniel Kaelin both took the podium earlier this week, speaking to the media for the first time since they stepped foot on campus.

For one, good on Nebraska for having them speak. A no-brainer decision, but so many other programs around the country have a long-standing rule that freshmen aren’t allowed to speak to the media, even if they’re the starting quarterback. (Looking at you, Johnny Manziel-era Texas A&M).

For two, they’re incredibly poised for guys who should be finishing out their senior years of high school. You heard it in their answers. You also feel that from how head coach Matt Rhule and offensive coordinators Marcus Satterfield and Glenn Thomas speak about them.

“We were watching them two days ago (in) practice 4 completing a bunch of balls and you sit there and forget sometimes that it’s Dylan and Danny’s fourth practice in college going against these guys,” co-offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield said.

Another quote from Satterfield: “They’re ahead of schedule. The good thing about those guys is that they’re competitive and work their butts off.”

Through the first five practices, Thomas estimated that they’ve both gotten 150 total snaps. That’s a ton of work — with credit going to the new “Nebraska Spring League” format. If you do the simple math there, that’s an estimated 360 reps for spring without counting the reps from the three scrimmages they’ll do the next three Saturdays.

Can’t wait to see what they look like in the spring game. But also, know that it’s their first spring and nothing will be set in stone until July/August. This three-way battle between Heinrich Haarberg, Raiola and Kaelin will last for a while, so reading too much into what happens at the end of the month is a futile endeavor. Just let it be fun.

The legend of the Polar Bear only continues to grow.

Just days after competing at the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Hutmacher was at football practice and was participating. Not only that, but he was participating probably more than his coaches would have liked, as Rhule and defensive line coach Terrance Knighton have said.

“He’s a guy right now that we have to pull out of practice as coaches just knowing the rigors he went through,” Knighton said this week.

An update from Saturday? Hutmacher wants to practice more.

But they’re not there yet.

“Nash and Terrance got into a fight today almost because Nash wanted to go in,” Rhule said. “I love that about Nash.”

Earlier this week, Hutmacher said he’s at about 295 pounds — up 10 pounds from what he wrestled at this season, but still down significantly from the 330 he played at last football season.

Keisei Tominaga’s final game in a Nebraska uniform was the Texas A&M game, but that wasn’t the last time he got to rep the Husker threads.

Tominaga electrified the nation this week with his 3-point prowess, winning the college 3-point contest — doing so with not one, not two, but three turnaround buzzer-beating money ball shots.

That’s how I want Tominaga to be remembered. Not the tears after the A&M loss, but his 30 for 30s and his Japanese Steph Curry-esque shot selection.

Co-Big Ten Coach of the Year is nice, but National Coach of the Year has a good ring to it, too.

For Hoiberg, that came true earlier this week when he was named the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year.

The Phelan is one of five National Coach of the Year awards that get handed out to Division I coaches at high-major programs. The others are Associated Press, NABC, Naismith and Henry Iba. The winner of three of the others was Houston Kelvin Sampson (AP, Iba, NABC). The men’s Naismith awards have yet to be announced as of Sunday afternoon.

As I outlined in a previous column for Big Ten Coach of the Year, Hoiberg absolutely deserved to be in consideration for these. They’re hard to win. Glad the 10-person Phelan committee thought highly enough of Hoiberg and Nebraska’s accomplishments from this season.

It’s been an eventful offseason for Nebraska basketball.

As it stands, the Huskers have seven open scholarships with six transfer portal entrants. I’m aware that seven doesn’t equal six. Here’s the quick math.

Those in the portal: Ramel Lloyd Jr., Eli Rice, Blaise Keita, C.J. Wilcher, Jamarques Lawrence and Matar Diop.

Three are out of eligibility: Tominaga, Josiah Allick, Boogie Coleman. Two are incoming freshmen: Nick Janowski, Braden Frager.

Three Huskers have officially said they’re coming back: Brice Williams, Juwan Gary and Sam Hoiberg. One, Rienk Mast, is still mulling his options.

Whatever Mast chooses to do — play professionally in Europe or stay at Nebraska — wouldn’t surprise me. The Dutchman could make quite a bit of money if he were to choose the professional route, but he could continue to improve his game if he were to stay at Nebraska for his final season of eligibility.

The right-handed pitcher has had an incredible season as Nebraska’s Friday starter. Before the Ohio State game, he had a 1.36 ERA, WHIP of 0.67 and a 5-0 record through seven starts.

But the gem he threw against Ohio State was another level. A complete-game shutout. Ten strikeouts. Zero walks. The two hits he gave up? A blooper and a swinging bunt.

Now with an ERA of 1.14, the former junior college All-American ranks third in that metric behind Florida State’s Jamie Arnold (0.94) and East Carolina’s Wyatt Lunsford-Shenkman (1.13). His WHIP of 0.67 ranks No. 1 overall.

“After the eighth inning, I didn’t even have to look at Brett,” Nebraska coach Will Bolt said after the Huskers’ 3-0 win. “He just said, ‘I’m not coming out of the game.’ There was no decision to be made — he was rolling. Glad to see him finish.”

The next-closest Big Ten pitcher to Sears in terms of ERA? Michigan State’s Nick Powers, who’s at 2.57. That’s No. 65 nationally. The next-closest Big Ten pitcher to Sears in terms of WHIP? Rutgers’ Justin Sinibaldi, who ranks 27th nationally at 0.92.

Nebraska’s next Friday home game: April 19 against Maryland. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.