Nebraska basketball has completely changed what its very own school stands for. Over the years Nebraska has never been labeled a “Basketball school” solely relying on its football to do the work. But after the 2025/2026 Cinderella season ending with a 28-7 record breaking multiple school records in the process. After this season the struggling people of Nebraska and Lincoln have gone through a change, a sudden but surprising change.
The result of this basketball season can be felt throughout the whole state of Nebraska, after 50 years of mediocrity this 1 season has changed the whole culture of Lincoln, it has done so much for the people of Nebraska just like sophmore Brody Busing.
“This Nebraska basketball season has meant a lot to me as a fan and as a person living in Nebraska. I’ve seen this team just lose and lose and lose some more, and finally seeing this team win has meant so much to me. And the way they did it was amazing, by not get star players with NIL but they created their very own stars is great, I mean the only big change was getting Pryce Sandfort from Iowa and Iowa sucks so yeah.” Busing said.
But why this sudden change in the program? A lot of fans like sophmore Maggie Apetese credit coach Fred Hoiberg, who completely flipped the system on its head leading to this Cinderella season, another thing Fred Hoiberg brought with him was his son Sam hoiberg a walk on to the program who quickly became a fan favorite.
“This Nebraska ball season has been amazing, especially because of Coach Hoiberg. He completely changed the team, and doing it with his son Sam Hoiberg has been so cool. But it’s sad because he’s a senior, so he won’t ever play again for Nebraska. He’s my hero though, like he walked on to the program cause he wasn’t good enough to get a scholarship but then he works so hard to finally start his senior year, its beautiful.” Apetese said.
Nebraska basketball’s rise has also brought families together. And the Fosters are one of those family’s, Senior Karma Foster says her family has really connected through Nebraska sports but with the sudden decline of Nebraska football she’s been left with a mediocre football team, but with the sudden flip of the basketball program her familys passion of Nebraska sports has been revived!
“Nebraska sports has always been a part of my family. My family has been watching Nebraska football since before I was even born. It’s a big thing for us, so to see basketball come out of nowhere and be this good is awesome. And now it gives my family something to be excited about every week, and the thing I like about it most is we invite family friends over to watch games, and it hasn’t really felt the same since our football kinda became mid. So now it’s actually fun again and I’m so thankful for it. hopefully we can keep this momentum.” Foster said.
