John Cook calls Nebraska’s morning NCAA Tournament match ‘ridiculous’

The Sweet 16 game against Oregon kicks off at 11am ET in Louisville, Kentucky. That means fans back in Nebraska have to head to TV at 10am. The match will be on his ESPNU.

Early start times allow more games to be televised.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Cook said on a Nebraska volleyball radio show on Monday. It’s hard for working people, I don’t understand why they can’t figure this out, like doing half one day and half the other day.”

Cook said it might be better if the Sweet 16 games could be split between Thursday and Friday and the Elite Eight games could be split between Saturday and Sunday.

To acclimate to the early start time, Nebraska practices Tuesday morning. Teams typically start practice around 3pm.

But Cook expects Nebraska to be ready.

“I’ve played weird this year,” Cook said. “It’s a 12:00 and 8:00 p.m. match on Sunday, so we’re used to being out of rhythm and out of sync. I think our team is on fire. I know I have to play a game of

Cook was impressed by the Oregon Setter: The Nebraska and Ducks games will feature the teams finishing second in the Big Ten and Pac-12 respectively.

It is also a match between the nation’s No. 1 defense (Nebraska) and the No. 4 offense (Oregon).

The Ducks are led by former libero outside hitters Mimi Collier and Brooke Nunebiler, who are just 5 feet 11 inches.

Cook was most impressed by Oregon setter Hannah Puquis.

“The best player is the setter. She’s really good,” Cook said. “She gets it done, they run quick attacks. She always puts them in great positions. How to slow her down and slow down the outside hitters is a challenge. They still have a lot of good hitters, but their setters are elite.”