Fred Hoiberg was still feeling confident about his team at Saturday’s postgame presser after the heartbreaking loss in the Big Ten Tournament 2024 semifinal.

Nebraska was 1 win away from competing for the B1G Tournament title before the 98-87 loss to Illinois. The Huskers battled with the Fighting Illini for most of the game, but Illinois pulled away late in the 2nd half. Keisei Tominaga (18) and Brice Williams (23) led the way for Nebraska in scoring, but Illinois’ Terrence Shannon Jr. put up a record-setting 40 points.

Regardless of what happens, Hoiberg knows what team he’ll be backing throughout the postseason. One thing that Hoiberg regretted after last season’s loss to Minnesota in the B1G Tournament was not being able to continue teaching that team.

“I like where we are heading into this week, heading into tomorrow, where we will find out our fate.

“As I told the guys in the locker room after, one thing that still — it was such a pit in my stomach last year at this time, a couple days earlier when we lost, because I just had a feeling we wouldn’t be able to play again and I wouldn’t be able to coach that group, and I loved that group that we had a year ago,” Hoiberg said. “It was such a fun group to coach.”

The Nebraska coach is grateful for the extra time he gets with this year’s group. Selection Sunday awaits the Huskers as fans wait anxiously to find out where and who the team will be playing.

Fortunately, there will be no anxiety about if the Huskers will play in the NCAA Tournament. Nebraska is a lock for the field, and fans can track all the postseason odds with Tradition’s Ohio betting apps.

“The blessing we have is we’re going to be playing next week,” Hoiberg said. “Whether that’s Thursday or Friday, we’re going to have the opportunity to continue to compete and hopefully make a little run right here and continue to do things that have never been done with this program.”

It has been a long time since Nebraska played in the NCAA Tournament. The 2013-2014 season was when Cornhuskers last saw their team in March Madness. The 2013-2014 season for Nebraska ended with a 2nd round loss to Baylor.

Hoiberg also coached the Huskers to their 1st winning season since 2018-2019 this year. It has been an incredible turnaround for the program under Hoiberg in Lincoln.

As of Saturday, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had Nebraska as a No. 7 seed in his latest bracketology update. Under that scenario, the Huskers would draw a 10-seed in the Round of 64.

Meanwhile, the B1G Tournament final will be between Wisconsin and Illinois. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS live from the Target Center in Minneapolis.