In Minneapolis, the Big 10 men’s basketball tournament had a huge and eventful Friday. And not huge in a good way as far as the Hoosiers were concerned. In 6th-seeded Indiana’s late-night matchup with 3-seed Nebraska, the ‘Huskers blitzed the Hoosiers with 12 3-point buckets in the first half, and never looked back, building a 50-27 lead at intermission. In the second, Nebraska extended the lead to more than 30 points with a little over 4 minutes remaining, and Indiana couldn’t physically or emotionally recover, as the ‘Huskers easily prevailed, 93-66. Former Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg now leads Nebraska, and he led the ‘Huskers to the Big 10 semi-finals for the first time, where they’ll meet Illinois this afternoon. The Illini got there by edging Ohio State’s Buckeyes, 77-74.
The other Big 10 semi today will feature top seed Purdue facing number 5 Wisconsin. The Boilers advanced with 7’4″ Big 10 Player of the Year Zach Edey scoring 29, pulling down 12 rebounds, dishing off 3 assists and blocking 2 shots, on the way to a 67-62 win over 8th seed Michigan State. The Badgers made their way to the semi-final by topping 4th-seeded Northwestern, 70-61.
And the NBA Pacers narrowly lost to the Bulls in overtime Wednesday, 132-129. They’re back at it tonight, hosting the Brooklyn Nets.
In the diamond life, Cactus League baseball for the Reds finally got rained out after an extended delay Friday. So Cincinnati will try again today… preparing to face the Mariners this afternoon. The broadcast with play-by-play man Tommy Thrall begins at 3:50 today, only on 103.9 FM, WRBI.
Off-field, the Reds are rallying around one of their own, outfielder Jake Fraley. Jake says this’ll be the most challenging season of his life, after he and his wife Angelica learned their 5-year-old daughter Avery had leukemia. The great news about that bad diagnosis is that they got her treatment and chemo right away, and doctors told them in January no more cancer was detected in Avery’s bone marrow. Jake says Avery’s going through all the necessary treatment, having to complete the protocol since leukemia can reproduce if you don’t get it all right away. He says his little girl’s doing great, and she’ll keep getting treated the next couple months.