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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2000)
Healthier physique ruins swing ■ Golfer David Duval’s current rut blamed on his new-found vanity. CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) - David Duval is not the same man when he looks in the mirror. It isn’t the new duds. Duval gave up traditional golf clothing for a tight, chic style, one of mock turtle necks that look as though they belong on a 20-something executive in a dot-com board meeting. It has nothing to do with taking out that pinch between die cheek and gum. Duval gave up smokeless tobacco in October and hasn’t touched the snuff since. The sleek, sculpted body? The biggest change for sure, one that turned heads when he made his debut this year and has caused reporters in every city to ask so many questions about fitness and diet and reps and body fat that Duval wonders whether he should write a book. But for all the cosmetic changes, what the mirror also reveals is a plky er who has gone 11 months and 18 tournaments without winning. Tom Lehman ended a 2'/2-year drought by winning in Phoenix. Phil Mickelson bagged his first victory in 18 months a couple of weeks ago in San Diego. Justin Leonard is still try ing to win for the, first time since The Players Championship in 1998. None of them, however, had won 11 of their previous 34 events on the PGA Tour. Duval used to win with such alarming ease that he replaced I Tiger Woods as No. 1 for three months. Now, fie could be a lifetime away from catching him. All of that raises a couple of questions. Is the biggest change in Duval his desire? Is he more obsessed with working out than he is with win ning? “At some point it becomes vanity, too,” Duval said, a concession that*he has never looked so good - and knows it. Duval takes pleasure out of a punishing regimen, running or lifting 13 out of every 14 days. “You enjoy the high of it,” he said of his pursuit to build a body for life. The only low point is his golf. Before anyone starts talking about a “slump,” remember that his results are vaguely similar to what Woods was getting about a year and ^ 10 victories ago. The difference is that Woods was retooling his swing. Duval is reshap ing his body. The assumption is that heavy lift ing has taken a toll on the effortless, powerful swing that brought Duval the only final-round 59 in PGA Tour history and four victories before the Masters last year. Duval insists his mechanics are as good as ever, that the difference between a 70 and a 64 lies only in the number of putts that refuse to fall. On Thursday in the Nissan Open, he had seven birdie putts inside eight feet and made one. In the Mercedes Championships, he finished four strokes out of the thrilling playoff between Woods and Ernie Els, but lapped the field in blown birdie opportunities. “The most disappointing thing about everything going on is that' people are going to want to draw con clusions that it’s hurt my golf, which is ludicrous,” he said. “If you watch me play every round, all you would say is, 'Damn, he hasn’t got a putt to go in.’ “I just feel things will all come together here, and maybe I’ll stop being asked about it because they’ll realize it has been beneficial.” Big 12 teams looking good By Matthew Hansen Staff writer In the feel-good atmosphere of the Big 12’s annual preseason Media Day last October, coach after coach raved about the power of the conference. With only weeks left in the regular season, the coaches haven’t stopped. Now, they have numbers to back up the praise. Five Big 12 teams have been rated in the Top 25 for most of the season. Experts predict six squads to make the NCAA tournament. And, according to Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton, the league never has seen better days. “The top half of our league is the best it’s ever been,” Sutton said. “The teams at the top are all extremely good basketball teams.” The top half of the conference includes traditional powers Kansas and Texas, which, along with senior-laden Oklahoma State, were expected to make noise in the NCAA Tournament. But it is Oklahoma, young Missouri and upstart Iowa State that have exceeded expectations and given the conference a good chance of six NCAA tournament teams. In the RPI rankings, the power strength index used by the NCAA ^ The top half of our league is the best it’s ever been.’’ Eddie Sutton Oklahoma State Coach Tournament selection committee, all six teams are in the Top 30. The Longhorns lead the way at No. 6, followed by KU at No. 12. The Cowboys, Sooners and Cyclones are all sandwiched at Nos. 17, 18 and 19, respectively, and Mizzou is ranked 29. The RPI also predicts all six teams will gamer between a No. 3 seed and a No. 7 seed in the NCAA tournament. Texas Tech Coach James Dickey said the teams in the upper division deserve their high-power rankings. He said no matter what happens in the weeks leading up to the NCAA tournament, the teams have already proven themselves. “I think we deserve six teams in the tournament. If you look at some of the non-conference ■Schedules those teams have played and look at the beating they are putting on each other now, 1 don’t think there’s any question about it. Nationally, this is the toughest conference in the country.” While the USA Today Sagarin conference rankings say the Big 12 is actually the fifth-best confer ence, the league does have a high er rating than in years past. One factor keeping the Big 12 from moving higher may be the second division of the league. The lowest five teams in the Big 12 fail to crack the top 100 places in the RPI index. Baylor is highest at No. 108 and is the only team still sporting a winning record (12-11). And then there is Colorado. The Buffaloes (15-10), currently seventh in the conference and No. 58 in the RPI, are the only Big 12 team that can truly be termed “on the bubble.” Coach Ricardo Patton said his team was deserving of an NCAA bid. “I think our goals still go beyond the NIT (National Invitation Tournament) right now. If you look at our schedule, we have won some good games. We’ve done all that can be expect ed of us to this point, and it’s up to somebody else to decide whether we make it or not.” NU nets close win over OSU OSU from page 20 ing. Crow hit the free throws that sent the game into overtime. “This team won’t let me do anything easy,” a sweat-drenched NU Coach Paul Sanderford said after the game. “We’re too smart to dig ourselves into the hole and fight out of it like we did tonight. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t textbook. We played badly, but we found a way to win.” NU trailed 34-27 halftime thanks to a defense that allowed the Cowgirls to shoot 54 percent from the field and left Big 12 scoring leadef Crow cut loose for 14 of game-high 30 points. Things didn’t look any better for most of _ the second half, either. But with Kubik and Peterson in foul trouble and the frontcourt giving little help most of the game, NU man aged to come back by grabbing several of its 19 offensive rebounds and forcing some of OSU’s 27 turnovers. And down by eight with only a thinning rope keeping them from hitting the ground, Schwartz said NU never looked down. “If (losing) does go through any of the players on this team’s minds, they shouldn’t be on our team,” Schwartz said. “We did not play to lose. 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