‘We aren’t playing the AD’: Nebraska basketball teams respond Texas A&M draw

You have to feel like it wasn’t a coincidence that BOTH Nebraska basketball teams were paired up with Texas A&M in the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.

That was done on purpose. I’m not saying the two committees talked about the pairing, but on their own accord, they acted to create a juicy matchup with added headlines. With a bunch of administrators running the NCAA selection committee, it’s not that surprising.

The NCAA is all about ratings after all, and this will probably help draw Nebraska basketball fans, as if that was needed. We are already among the most passionate fans in any sport.

“We aren’t playing the AD”

Both games should have a little extra emotion, from the fans more than the players. Whether it was Amy Williams, Rienk Mast, or another Nebraska basketball player on the men’s or women’s team, the response was basically the same: “We aren’t playing the athletic director.”

Nebraska forward Rienk Mast on the #Huskers first round game against Texas A&M, who hired Trev Alberts as its AD four days ago:

"We're not playing the athletic director. We're playing the men's basketball team."

Player interviews from Selection Sunday: https://t.co/rruiRmphCu pic.twitter.com/9oThQJ1j3K

— Kevin Sjuts (@kevinsjuts) March 17, 2024

Trev Alberts is a huge storyline for Nebraska fans. It would give me great pleasure to see the Huskers get their first NCAA tournament win in men’s basketball over Alberts’ new school. Hell, I’d love to see both Nebraska basketball teams skunk A&M.

But it’s essential that the players not get caught up in “revenge.” They need to focus on doing their job. It’s incredibly hard to win in the NCAA tournament and distractions don’t help.

That’s why I don’t love that the selection committees took this action. On the men’s side specifically, it feels like A&M was seeded higher just for this matchup. Trev Alberts even got a chuckle out of it and posted this on X before it was deleted.

Trev Alberts has deleted this tweet, but here’s a screenshot from the former Nebraska athletic director and current Texas A&M athletic director. pic.twitter.com/L9ak6fRz1L

— Amie Just (@Amie_Just) March 17, 2024

Hoiberg also said this can’t be about Trev Alberts. The Nebraska basketball head coach also described “getting emotional” after the Huskers were selected for the first time since 2014.

"Everybody was downstairs hooting and hollering. I was up in my room by myself. I'll be honest, I got a little emotional."

Fifth-year head coach Fred Hoiberg leads the #Huskers to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2014.

Full Hoiberg Interview https://t.co/M4LLFcY56x pic.twitter.com/hpgK56RygM

— Kevin Sjuts (@kevinsjuts) March 17, 2024

The next goal is winning the first-ever NCAA tournament game. Beating Trev Alberts would just make that history taste even sweeter.

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