There's no other way to explain the way she toys around whenever it is state basketball tournament time in Nebraska.

Last year, traveling to the girls state tourney in Lincoln from Grand Island took longer than the new two-game sessions. You had to be happy just to get there without being called for traveling sideways across a couple of lanes on Interstate 80, if you were lucky enough to get on it before it closed.

Then take this year. The day of the championship (oh, yes, and consolation) games saw temperatures soar to near 70 in much of the state. Not exactly basketball weather there. It was conditions that most spring sports athletes would love to have for their title time.

No matter what the forecast says, you've got to wonder if Mother Nature has a trick up her sleeve for the boys' outing this week.

Other thoughts from last week's girls state tournament:

* It was unfortunately a short stay for teams in the area. Out of the 44 schools in the Independent's coverage area, only Grand Island Central Catholic and North Loup-Scotia qualified. They both exited in the first round with double-digit defeats.

But both teams had solid years and shouldn't let the disappointing ending dampen what they did accomplish.

* It seems like the days where certain schools are always good in every boys sport or every girls sport are limited, at least around central Nebraska.

The two girls state basketball qualifiers come after 10 teams made it in state volleyball in November, including four to the championship round.

While no area team made it past the quarterfinal round of the football playoffs in the six NSAA-sanctioned classes in the fall, eight boys teams will be headed to Lincoln on Thursday hoping to come back with a basketball title.

Maybe it's the disappearing three-sport athletes, especially in the larger classes. Maybe it's just a weird one-year aberration. Maybe it's just an odd stat that only interests sports writers.

* Biggest shocker of this year's state tournament? It has to be South Sioux City winning Class B.

Other shockers in sports include people in Nebraska being interested in the Husker football team in March, the Yankees and Red Sox having the highest payrolls in baseball, and someone might fill out a bracket or two for the NCAA tournament this year.

It remains remarkable what coach Kelly Flynn has done for the South Sioux City program. The Cardinals now have 11 state titles, all since 1995. They'd only qualified for state twice before that first title.

* Norfolk Catholic got a long-awaited first title in Class C-1. The Knights have finished runner-up three times in the previous five years and had lost on buzzer-beaters against Broken Bow in 2003 and to Crofton last year.

That has to make it that much sweeter to get the first state title with a two-point win over Bishop Neumann.

* The first year of consolation games seems to have mixed to negative reviews. The one-year experiment by the NSAA will be reevaluated, so the boys tournament gives the test one more chance.

For surprise teams in the final four, it might be a good thing to get one more game in.

For teams like three-time defending champion Crofton, which had to be devastated not to be playing at the Devaney Sports Center on championship Saturday, a game in Pershing Center can't be a thrill.