Nevada Sports Net columnist Chris Murray is known to be a bit wordy, so we’re giving him 1,000 words (but no more than that) every Friday to share his thoughts from the week that was in the world of sports.

* WHEN KOBE SANDERS was selected in the second round of the NBA draft on Thursday night, he helped Nevada athletics pull off a rare Daily Double — having an alum selected in the NBA and NFL draft in the same year. If you flash back to April, Nevada safety Kitan Crawford was a seventh-round selection by the Arizona Cardinals. And then Sanders went with the 50th pick of the NBA draft. They have similarities as one-year players for Nevada who spent the first four years at other schools. For Sanders, it was four at Cal Poly. For Crawford, it was four at Texas. Each got a second senior season due to COVID-19’s impact on college eligibility, used that year at Nevada and can now call themselves draft picks.

* HERE IS THE LIST of colleges this year to have at least one player selected in the NFL and NBA draft — Arizona, Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rutgers, Stanford, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, UConn, Washington State, West Virginia and Wisconsin. That’s 25 schools. But only four of them are from non-power conferences in Nevada, Colorado State, UConn and Washington State, and the latter two have links to power leagues with UConn basketball in the Big East and Wazzu in the Pac-12. That leaves Nevada and CSU as true mid-majors, and the Rams’ NFL pick, Tory Horton, began his career at Nevada.

* THIS MARKS THE fourth time Nevada has had a football and men’s basketball alum drafted in the same year, the first three coming in 1983 (Charles Mann in football; Sam Mosley and Billy Allen in hoops), 2004 (Jorge Cordova and Maurice Mann in football; Kirk Snyder in hoops); and 2007 (Jeff Rowe in football; Nick Fazekas and Ramon Sessions in hoops). Of those nine players, two had excellent careers (Mann, Sessions), Snyder had a so-so showing for where he was picked (16th in the NBA draft) and the rest quickly washed out. That’s how hard it is to forge a long career at the next level.

* THE NFL-NBA Daily Double highlights a strong season for individuals at Nevada. In addition to an NFL and NBA draft pick, the Wolf Pack had two conference players of the year (Aaliyah Jenkins in softball and Amahée Charrier in women’s tennis); a conference freshman of the year (Sean Yamaguchi); two top-12 finishers in the NCAA (Lilly Urban in javelin and Iver Walday Naess in ski slalom); an entry in the U.S. Women’s Open (Gabby Kano); and two additional NCAA Championship qualifiers (Youssef Kadiri in men’s tennis and swimmer Scarlett Ferris). Not to mention, two Nevada softball coaches (Victoria Hayward, Delanie Wisz) are playing in the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League season.

* THAT INDIVIDUAL SUCCESS is worth celebrating, but we also must note how Nevada finished last among the 11 Mountain West schools in the annual Learfield Directors’ Cup standings for the second straight season. It has been bottom two in the league in each of the five straight years and never higher than eighth since joining the MW in 2012-13. That’s quite bad and doesn’t make a ton of sense when you look at some of the school’s individual successes during the same time period. But if you’re still wondering why Nevada didn’t get an invitation to the Pac-12 back in September, that’s it.

* IT WAS A GREAT NBA draft for the Mountain West, which had two current players pick (Colorado State’s Nique Clifford and Nevada’s Kobe Sanders) and two former players selected (Wisconsin’s John Tonje, formerly at Colorado State, and VCU’s Max Shulga, formerly of Utah State). On top of that, a host of MW-developed players got undrafted free-agent deals, including Boise State’s Tyson Degenhart (Raptors) and Chibuzo Agbo (Spurs); San Diego State’s Lamont Butler (Hawks); UNLV’s Caleb Grill (Bulls) and Keshon Gilbert (Wizards); and Utah State’s Steven Ashworth (Pacers). Amazingly, of those 10 players, only one — Degenhart — spent his entire career at one school.

* BUT THAT’S JUST college athletics these days. You can complain about it, or you can realize sometimes it helps your school, too. Nevada’s last five NBA players have been transfers, a list that includes Sanders, Caleb Martin, Cody Martin, Jalen Harris and Cam Oliver, who never played for Oregon State but began his college career there. And when you look at the career paths of Crawford and Sanders, both spent just one of their five college seasons with the Wolf Pack. Yes, it’s annoying to have to learn a brand-new roster every year. But the Wolf Pack has cashed in on transfers, too.

Columnist Chris Murray provides insight on Northern Nevada sports. Contact him at crmurray@sbgtv.com or follow him on Twitter @ByChrisMurray.