The year was 1978. Bishop was a young Husker fan growing up in Fremont. The reason was his favorite announcer, a guy named Kent Pavelka.

On Dec. 9, 1978, Nebraska traveled to the Civic Auditorium in Omaha to play Creighton. The game was televised on KETV. The Jays won. NU coach Joe Cipriano got ejected.

“It was my introduction to college basketball,” Bishop said. “I’ll never forget it.”

Bishop didn’t know much about Creighton. Why would he? CU didn’t play football. And from 1932 until 1977, Nebraska and Creighton didn’t play each other in basketball.

But the noise and passion from Omaha that came through his TV set that night wrapped itself around Bishop’s heart. He was hooked.

“This game has always meant something to me because of that,” Bishop said. “I think Joe Patrick was calling games for Creighton. I would follow them.

“I never harbored those feelings that I can’t stand those guys because I always thought it was cool that we have another school that plays a sport. In football it was Nebraska and that’s it. What would it be like if we had a Nebraska State?

“I would root for Creighton if they made the tournament. I thought it was neat that we had these other options. I was always fascinated by this game.”

Bishop and Pavelka will be court side on Friday night for the latest installment of this passion play. CHI Health Center will be a powder keg.

The Jays have turned out to be more than just another option. Creighton basketball has become a brand that dominates the Omaha market. And this series.

CU has won 20 of the last 25 meetings with Nebraska, 11 of the last 13. The Jays are 21-9 in the last 30 years. Anyway you want to slice it, Creighton has been on top.

They’ve played better basketball. But how much of that edge has been passion?

Does Creighton care more about this series than Nebraska?

That’s why I called up the two voices of Nebraska and Creighton.

This will be the 41st game in the series (he’s done 50 Husker basketball seasons overall) for Pavelka, who lives in Omaha. This will be the 12th straight for Bishop, the Jays’ play-by-play voice who lives in Lincoln.

It would be hard to find someone with a better handle on this series than these two. What makes it tick? Does Creighton really want it more?

What I found out is this game is about a lot more than basketball. It’s not necessarily a hoops rivalry. It’s a rivalry played out on a basketball court.

Big school. Smaller school.

Blue State. Red State. Who’s state is it?

“One of the things I remember most vividly, back before we played them in 1978, was talking to Joe Cipriano (former NU coach) about why they didn’t play Creighton,” Pavelka said.

“Nebraska didn’t want to play. They felt like they had nothing to gain by playing. Because everybody would have expected them to win. And if they won, so what? Politically they were forced to do it.”

That attitude made its way into the 21st century. Former Nebraska coach Barry Collier once said he didn’t think NU should play Creighton at all. His successor, Doc Sadler, said the Jays were the 13th most important game on the schedule.

Now it’s the No. 1 game for both. If a Husker fan says it’s not, don’t believe them, Pavelka said.

“I think it means the same for both,” Pavelka said. “There’s a lot of phoniness between Creighton and Nebraska, with people saying ‘You guys are going to be pretty good this year, blah, blah, blah.’ You turn your back and it’s not so pleasant.

“It just means more than any fan wants to admit. Because if you admit to it, you’re giving credibility to the other guy.”

Bishop, who is around Husker fans in Lincoln, says Creighton cares more. He sees a program that has dominated NU and become a Sweet 16 regular and still thinks Nebraska is the game of the year.

“From a wins and losses standpoint, Creighton is the big brother, Nebraska is the little brother,” Bishop said. “But from a perception standpoint, size of the school, coverage they get, attention they command, Nebraska is the big brother. It’s that little brother rivalry. You want to beat them more than they want to beat you.”

Bishop has seen how head coach Greg McDermott gets fired up the week of the Nebraska game. He remembers former CU assistant Darian DeVries running intense practices the week of the rivalry.

“I know Mac wants to win these games, really, really, really bad,” Bishop said. “It’s not that Nebraska doesn’t want to win. They absolutely do. But I think back to what Doc Sadler said. I’m not saying Nebraska fans think that way. I just know there are a lot of people at Creighton who say this is the one. We have to have this.”

The idea of the Jaysker, Bishop says, goes back a long way.

“I think it has to do with Lincoln vs. Omaha and the rivalry that the cities have had going back to the founding of the state,” Bishop said. “Omaha has always kind of been its own thing vs. Lincoln and the rest of the state.

“This is my theory. Nebraska football was really good and because it’s the only thing going, everybody attached itself to it. Once you got into baseball season, the folks in Omaha wanted their own thing. And Creighton basketball brought a lot of notoriety to Omaha.

“And for younger generations, Creighton has been the better program. If you wanted to follow college basketball, you followed Creighton.”

Nebraska has made strides under Coach Fred Hoiberg. Last year was the first time NU and CU both made the NCAA tourney together since 2014.

The teams are coming off two years where they won on the other’s home floor.

It’s become a sporting event unlike any other in the state of Nebraska. It’s the state’s rivalry game.

It’s a beautiful thing.

“It rivals, for me as a broadcaster, the best football games I ever did,” Pavelka said. “There’s no analogy. In football, there’s no in-state team to play.”

“I grew up a Husker fan. I became the voice of Creighton,” Bishop said. “I tell you: UConn, Villanova, Providence, Xavier…I would take this game every game. Every year.

“This is the game I want most. Going into the Vault (Pinnacle Bank Arena) is always the most intense, loudest, meanest that we get all year long. When the fans are flooding out, and I’m standing up and pumping my fist and gesturing….

The rivalry lives this week in Bishop and his good friend Jack Mitchell, a long-time radio host at KLIN in Lincoln and a Husker Hoop fanatic. The two trade barbs and jabs all week, then face the music on the other’s show on Monday.

“Jack’s one of the guys who says we need rivals,” Bishop said. “He wants the Iowa game and Wisconsin game in football. I really think having an Oklahoma helped Nebraska (football) become Nebraska.

“That’s why I like this rivalry. I’m glad it has the passion it does. And I hope it never goes away.”