The No. 8 seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers are preparing for their opening round March Madness matchup against the No. 9 seeded Texas A&M Aggies and the program recently gave head coach Fred Hoiberg a contract extension. Throughout the 2023-24 college season, it wasn't always clear that the Cornhuskers were going to make the NCAA Tournament, but here they are. A big part of the reasons Nebraska is in March Madness is the play of standout guard Keisei Tominaga.

During practice before the Huskers opening round matchup, Tominaga wowed onlookers by nailing an insane shot from halfcourt that he took with his back turned and one-handed.

That shot is sure to fire up Keisei Tominaga and Nebraska heading into Friday when they face off against Texas A&M. A native of Japan, Tominaga is in his third season at Nebraska. He began his college career in the junior college ranks at Ranger College in Texas.

After two seasons at Ranger, Tominaga transferred to Nebraska. He left Ranger as a highly decorated junior college player having been named a second-team Division 1 NJCCA All-American and helping lead Ranger to the Final Four of the NJCCA Tournament in 2021.

Tominaga was able to return to Nebraska this season despite already playing two years of junior college and two years of NCAA Division 1 due to having been granted an extra year of eligibility due to COVID-19. Last year, Tominaga was named to the All-Big 10 Second Team. He declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, but ultimately decided to withdraw his name and use his final year of college basketball eligibility.

He has improved each season he's been at Nebraska with the 2023-24 season being his best year yet. He became a full-time starter for the Huskers at 26 minutes per game. He averaged a career-best 14.9 points per game, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists with splits of 46.8 percent shooting from the field, 37.2 percent shooting from the three point line and 87.2 percent shooting from the free throw line.

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Tominaga is also a member of the Japanese national team and has competed for Japan at the FIBA 3×3 competition. A year ago was when he made his debut for the national team during the 2023 FIBA World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

For the Huskers to advance past the first round and into the round of 32, they'll need continued strong play from Tominaga. This is the first winning season and first NCAA Tournament appearance the Huskers have had in the Fred Hoiberg era. Since he took over back in 2019, Nebraska had never finished over .500 to this point.

Going back to 1986, this is the eighth time in school history, including this season, that the Huskers have made it to the NCAA Tournament. They have never won a game in the tournament and are the only Power 5 conference school with that unenviable label.