Sports

Omaha Chancellor Flaunts Championship Belt After Watching Hoops Coach Bodyslam A Trash Can

#College Basketball
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Omaha basketball coach Chris Crutchfield on the sidelines.

iStockphoto / © Reese Strickland-Imagn Images


The Omaha basketball team has implemented a wrestling theme to its 2024-25 season. This weekend, they took it to the next level.

The Mavericks beat Summit League rival Oral Roberts on Saturday to improve to 13-3 in league play. They secured a regular season championship in the process.

The Mavs flexed their muscle in that matchup, going on a 21-0 second half run to blow what had been a close game wide open. They’d go onto win, 80-57.

Omaha booked its first Summit League championship when the buzzer sounded. It was the first regular season title in 20 years, with the last coming as a Division II member of the North Central Conference. History in the making!

Players and coaches celebrated after the fact. The locker room scene was incredible. Assistant coach Keenan Holdman joined in on the celebration in epic fashion.

Keeping with the wrestling theme, he emphatically announced his team’s No. 1 status by beating up a trash can. Holdman was seen frog splashing from a chair after crunching the waste bin with a few heavy stomps.

Omaha basketball continues to abuse trash bins in celebration.

This is far from the first time a trash can’s been the victim of violence in the Omaha facility. Earlier this year, the program invited a pair of pro wrestling stars to celebrate with them at a waste basket’s expense.

The theme unexpectedly emerged after associate head coach Kyan Brown kicked a trash can in an attempt to light a fire under his team. It worked. The Mavericks, who were 4-9 at the time, won nine straight games. They’re 14-3 since the kick. The ritual stuck.

On Sunday, the school chancellor got involved. She posted a video of her repping a championship belt while popping out of a trash can on the basketball court.

The theme lives on! The Mavericks will play next as the one-seed in the Summit League Tournament. They’ll hope to destroy a few more trash cans on their way to the Big Dance.