The NCAA Division I tournament is now in its Sweet 16 stage. Numerous incredible matchups await the fans, who might finally be able to differentiate title contenders from the pretenders. Keeping that in mind, the Nebraska Huskers have already established themselves as one of the favorites to win the title. Their amazing run in the regular season, where they were defeated only twice already proved this.

The team reinforced this point during the first two games of the tournament, where they comfortably beat Florida and Miami. It really does seem now that they’re on the road to the title. But in sports, things can change pretty quickly. Nebraska’s Goliath could very well find it’s David soon. This could be their next opponent, Dayton University, who have a decent side. They could very well ruin the Huskers’ party. However, it will be a very hard task to do so, and their coach is under no delusions at all.

Dayton coach speaks glowingly about John Cook’s Nebraska side while acknowledging own limitations

In a press conference ahead of the Nebraska Dayton game, the coach of the latter, Tim Horsmon, was asked about the difficulties he believes he might face against the Huskers. The coach showed a very graceful side as he heaped huge praise on his opponents. Tim specifically pointed out that John Cook’s side possibly has one of the best squads in the whole tournament.

He said, “I think so many schools have a lot of great players, and maybe they have two or three really, really strong players on the floor at any time, but every one of their players is really good. My guess is, and I’ve shared this, that their whole team is probably a top 10 to top 15 recruit in the country.” Tim then started talking about the noticeable gap between his squad and John Cook’s. The coach said that the only player in his team that could be considered a top recruit was Lexie Almodovar.

He said, “I fell into Lex when we recruited her as a bro, and I’m not sure she could bro for us, but she sure can be an unbelievable outside hitter. So we got a little bit lucky in who she became, and that’s how we’ve had to build this.” The coach then said that even though they’ll go into the match as underdogs, they still have a great squad, which they assembled with a lot of effort. Thus, the Lexie Almovodar-led side would give everything to defeat John Cook’s Nebraska in the Sweet 16. But the Huskers coach was already aware of this.

John Cook has acknowledged the challenge presented by Lexie Almovodar

Nebraska’s longtime coach John Cook doesn’t shy away at all from acknowledging his opponent’s strengths before facing them. Despite the fact that Nebraska most definitely goes into the Dayton game with a definite edge over their opponents, Cook refuses to take the game lightly. Not only that, he also knows exactly the player, which could provide him with the most problems in the game.

It is Lexie Almodovar. Talking about her in a press conference, Nebraska’s coach said, “She reminds me a lot of our Arkansas girl last year. She’s just undersized, but man, she’s a heck of a player; she does everything great.” This is high praise for the outside hitter coming from one of the best coaches in the NCAA. The outside hitter has proven her legitimacy to him after performing exceptionally well throughout the season and her whole career, with her catalogue carrying more than 2000 kills.

Lexie has undoubtedly been Dayton’s standout player for quite some time, and her contributions will be crucial if the team hopes to challenge Nebraska. For the spectators, hopefully, Dayton succeeds in their efforts, delivering an exciting and memorable game.