The March 2023 issue of Hail Varsity is out now. To preview the issue, here is this month’s letter from the editor. Make sure you don’t miss a future issue by subscribing today.
March is a great time in the sports calendar, and it’s not all because of the Madness (though the NCAA Tournaments remain the main event). This month stands out as one where beginnings and endings intersect.
For our latest issue, we camped out at that intersection to see what we could see. There was plenty.
Hot Reads offers a brief recap of a satisfying ending to the indoor track season, for the women and men, with the beginning of the outdoor season arriving at the end of the month. Wrestling closed out the Big Ten season with a strong showing at the conference tournament, and sent seven to the NCAA Championships with four earning top-four seeds.
Endings and beginnings? Basketball experienced both. The Husker women missed out on the Big Dance but started WNIT play as this issue headed to the print. The men didn’t get their NIT bid, but this month’s cover story by staff writer Jacob Padilla is proof that some endings don’t have to be sad.
Forward Derrick Walker should be remembered fondly for his time at Nebraska. I thought that before reading this month’s feature, but the story helped me better understand why I did.
You learn about Walker, the person, via the quotes like this: “(Fred Hoiberg) genuinely cares for everyone and he generally cares for the program and winning games and doing the right thing. So for that, I wanted to just give my all for Coach because he gave his all for me.”
You learn about Walker, the player, through Jacob’s understanding of basketball and ability to convey that through the numbers that best tell the story. Did you know that Walker went from a lightly used freshman reserve at Tennessee to an All-Big Ten player at Nebraska while attempting just 10 jump shots over five seasons? Me either.
Good stories leave you with something you don’t forget.
Baseball and softball are still near the beginnings of their seasons, when the Nebraska weather cooperates. Softball was well-covered in our February issue, but you can find our just-launched softball podcast, Behind the Plate, for weekly analysis of the Huskers. Staff writer Drake Keeler recaps the baseball season so far, one that’s showing some promise, particularly at the plate, after a rough opening weekend.
Then there’s football, which whirs to life for Matt Rhule’s first spring in Lincoln. There’s sure to be plenty of intrigue—though that’s sort of a given around here—so we did our best to identify three of the biggest questions facing the Huskers in the weeks ahead. They’re the sort of questions that can’t necessarily be answered over 15 practices, but Nebraska can at least begin forming answers.
We’ll have all of that and more well-covered in these pages and at HailVarsity.com. Thanks for reading.
Brandon is the Managing Editor for Hail Varsity and has covered Nebraska athletics for the magazine and web since 2012, Hail Varsity’s first season on the scene. His sports writing has also been featured by Fox Sports, The Guardian and CBS Sports.
