John Cook calls Nebraska's morning NCAA Tournament match 'ridiculous'

The Sweet 16 match against Oregon begins at 11 a.m. eastern in Louisville, Kentucky. That means fans back in Nebraska will have to try to get to a TV at 10 a.m. The match will be on ESPNU.

The early start time allows more matches to be on TV.

“I think it’s ridiculous,” Cook said on Monday during the Nebraska volleyball radio show. “Are they going to play the college football playoff at 10 in the morning? No. I don’t know. It makes it hard on our fans, people that work. I don’t know why they can’t figure this out to do half on one day and half on another day.”

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

In order to get acclimated to the early start time Nebraska will practice on Tuesday morning. The team usually begins practice at about 3 p.m.

But Cook expects Nebraska will be ready to go.

“We’ve played some weird times this year,” Cook said. “These 12 o’clock Sunday matches, and 8 p.m., so we’re used to being out of rhythm and out of sync. I think our team is fired up. They know we’re going to have to play our best match of the year.”

Cook impressed with Oregon setter: Nebraska’s match with the Ducks is a matchup of the teams that finished second place in the Big Ten and Pac-12, respectively.

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

The Ducks are led by outside hitters Mimi Colyer and Brooke Nuneviler, who is just 5-foot-11 and a former libero.

Cook has been most impressed by Oregon setter Hannah Pukis.

“The best player is their setter. She’s really good,” Cook said. “She makes it go and they run a fast offense. She puts those guys in great positions every time. That’s going to be a challenge how we slow her down, and slow those outside hitters down. They still have a lot of good hitters, but their setter is elite.”