Nebraska Huskers: Women's Sports' Historic Year Has Fans Cheering Twice as Hard

When the topic of Nebraska sports comes up, the national perception isn't about volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis, gymnastics or bowling.

That's a shame, because every one of those sports is played under the Big Red banner, all by young women, and all have advanced to their respective sports' Sweet 16 during this past athletic year.

Yes, there is still a swarm of "I wish it was football season" tweets by Husker fans, but fewer than the nation or even the Nebraska fan base as a whole might think.

While Tim Miles is still beloved, Connie Yori's basketball team reached new heights. Lindsey Moore, a member of that same squad, would later get drafted in the first round of this year's WNBA draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

Darin Erstad's suffering an up and down second season as the Huskers' skipper, but the women's softball team is headed to Eugene, Oregon to play the Ducks for a chance to represent at the Women's College World Series.

Many fans didn't know just how much the bowling team has dominated the sport until they were brought up to date while watching it steamroll its way to yet another national championship.

There's always been a hardcore contingent that keeps up with every (and I mean every) team that wears scarlet and cream, but that cluster is starting to grow.

You can thank the Big Ten conference for bringing more, if not straight up better competition in the Olympic sports and BTN for showing a variety of teams from Lincoln. Ultimately, the reason for this is the University of Nebraska's athletic department itself.

A deep pride in athletics runs through the Cornhusker State, and there are far more teammates to watch in Nebraska's capital city than the ones dishing out pain in Memorial Stadium. The commitment to ensure quality coaches were lined up in the past to cultivate the best athletes of either gender in football's shadow is paying off big time.

There's an unfortunate overall national perception that women's sports are a novelty, but there are schools that bring home title after title regardless of the team's gender. These institutions are often ones that boast excellent big money programs, too.

Yes, other fans will try to shrug off not adding more hardware to their school's trophy case due to gender, but how bitter must you be, how poor of a sport must you be to deny the fact that two teams met, the one you like didn't won, and then play that card?

Forget any complaints about Title IX for a minute (or longer if you want, not going to stop you) and enjoy that these teams have seen banner seasons all during the same athletic year.

After what Nebraska women's sports has achieved (and may still achieve - I see you, softball), that growing cluster is only going to get bigger.

Thanks to a new standard being set with all of these Sweet 16s, and especially with new facilities for so many of the programs, the amount of Husker fans that want to see if these results can be duplicated or bettered will swell.

That's not a prediction. That's fact.

Nebraska loves a winner, and all seven squads mentioned are that.