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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2001)
I s r v i, 1?V- -*fc*V* 5 it. • y. ‘1 •'* • <••*.' "% *>• V » ; /• . ■■» * > . ? .7!V9P r>.. --j;-IT-- -T i _ Daily Nebraskan Monday, February 19,2001 Missing the days of Pistol Pete Where have you gone, Pete Maravich? Basketball purists love you more than you will Brian know. Christopherson Or at —mmm1— least as much as the Duke-North Carolina rivalry. Maravich averaged a whop ping 44.2 points per game at LSU and did it without a three-point line. He used his flashy moves, sound fundamentals and an automatic jump shot When he shot he was money. Disease gave Pete an early death, and it seems the death of the jump shot followed. Flip between a classic sports game of a few decades back and a present-day game, and you will see die difference. Today's game is full of muscle, full of big men who can throw down dunks and scowl in the camera, but not full of guys who can consistently hit a jump shot, let alone a free-throw. Look no further than the Nebraska basketball team to see how difficult a 15 foot free-throw can be. Oh, it’s never free when NU steps to the line. The Huskers have made 58 percent of their attempts this season. It’s a war. Big man FQmani Ffriend drib bles the ball, sweat streaming down his face, takes a deep breath, prays, dribbles again, shoots and^w Yeah, he went 4-of-ll against Colorado in Saturday's win and missed four freebies down the stretch to help CU send the game to overtime. He’s a big man. Give him a break, you say. Sure, but what about Kevin Augustine, a point guard, who got one of six free throws to fall against the Buffs. Luckily for Nebraska, many teams are just as horrid at the free throw line. Colorado’s Jose Winston makes 48 percent of his free throws. Very Shaq-like, only he's a point guard as welL The bad free-throw shooting carries oyer to the jump shots. If you can’t hit a shot with no one in your face, how are you going to hit it while being defended? Often, players today don’t Nebraska shoots a solid 49 percent from the field, but the high percentage is mainly gar nered on dunks and lay-ups, not jump shots. i ms is DasKeioau ioaay, spec tacular at times with jaw-drop ping moves by great athletes and then utterly ugly with clanked shots and bricked free-throws. The jump shot is not just gone in college ball, it’s long gone everywhere. Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson might be on his way to MVP of the NBA this season averaging 30.5 points per game but still only shooting 42 percent from the field. NBA games that used to be decided by scores of 120-116 are now down to 80-76. But kids growing up across this country don't care. They watch SportsCenter, see Iverson’s crossover and emulate it the next day on die playground. High school bailers see Vince Carter cram home a windmill dunk in the All-Star game, and they try to do die exact same thing in their game Friday night Recreational center hoopsters see Sacramento’s Jason Williams pass the ball off his elbow, and they find it pretty cool. Why practice your jump shot when you can try to be like Allen, Vince and Jason? Why practice your jump shot when college bas ketball games seem to be decided by giant men in die paint? Why practice your free throws or jump shots? Fundamentals aren’t cool today, anyway. It’s much hippgr to stare*down the poor sap you just dunked over and then make offensive gestures to the crowd. Now, say you’re in junior high, and you’re a young bailer asking yourself these questions right now If you’re this little kid, there seems no reason for you to shoot 100 jumpers, but instead you should try to jump up and touch that rim. After all, ESPN loves the dunk, and who remembers Pete Maravich anyway? . w-: v—u. Former Huskers highlight invitational BY DtRK CHATELA1N When Dalhia Ingram stood at the end of the runway preparing for a jump on Saturday, she made sure everybody was watching. Ingram, who was one of several for mer Huskers to compete in Saturday’s Prairie Wolf Invitational as an unattached competitor, grabs people’s attention. The meet, featuring mostly smaller colleges from around the state, was a tuneup for Nebraska in preparation for the Big 12 conference meet next weekend in Lincoln. Ingram’s pre-jump routine starts with loud clapping that increases in frequency as she takes off. As the tension builds, some crowd members join in to encour age her. Either way, Ingram’s presence is known. "Most people think track is boring,” said Ingram, who won both the triple jump {41-8 % feet) and long jump (19-1 Vz feet) at the meet. “I think that me clap ping gets the crowd excited. They’re watching me so I have to put on a per formance.” Another former notable Husker star that competed on Saturday was thrower Melissa Price. Price won the 20-pound weight throw with a toss of 62-11 Vz feet. Both Ingram and Price were multiple time All Americans at NU from 1997 2000. Though Ingram has moved on, her track career is far from over. She is part of the Midwest Olympic developmental team. Ingram has competed in events in Arkansas and Kearney in preparation for the USA Indoors. She said the pre-jump routine is all part of the show. “If I'm not clapping, nobody's paying 7 think that me clapping gets the crowd excited. They’re watching me so I have to put on a performance” Dahlia Ingram ex-Husker jumper attention because of all the running that’s going on,” said Ingram, who began her crowd-pleasing efforts during her sopho more season at NU. “Now I start clapping, and people are like ‘Where's all the clapping coming from?’ and they watch me,” Ingram said. “It makes me a better jumper.” In other meet news: Nebraska was once again led by sen ior sprinter Lesley Owusu. The All American won both the 200- and 400 meters, recording an automatic qualify ing time in the 400 (53.00). Her 200 time . of 23.86 is a provisional time. NU got provisional-qualifying per formances from shot putter Leann Boeremat and Shelley-Ann Brown in the 200. Eric Eshbach won the pole vault with a provisional mark leap of 17-3 % feet. Senior thrower Erin Wibbels placed second in the 20-pound weight throw with a provisional throw of 58-11 Vi feet. Wibbels said her technique was where it needed to be for the rest of the season. “What’s going to be the difference between a 58-foot throw and a 62-foot throw is a matter of holding my shoulders in,” Wibbels said. “It’s knocking on the door. Next week is conference, and it’s going to come.” NateWagner/DN Dalhia Ingram completes a triple jump attempt. Ingram, a UNI graduate, for mer All American and nowa member of the Olympic Development team, competed independently in Saturday^ Prairie Wolves Invitational at theDevaney Center. David Clasen/DN Mark Knauer, Iowa State heavy weight, forces Pat Miron, Nebraska heavyweight, to the mat on Friday dur ing riie ninth-ranked Huskert 22-13 loss to fourth ranked Iowa State. Miron lost the match 8-3. Three nab top seeds for NU BY DAVID DIEHL With the regular season now behind it, ninth-ranked Nebraska (11-6) can look forward to the Big 12 championships as it closed its season dropping six of its last eight duals. Wrestling before a boisterous 3,574 at the Devaney Center track, Bryan Snyder, Todd Beckerman and most likely Brad Vering each claimed No. 1 seeds for the conference championships with their wins in NU’s 23-13 set back to No. 4 Iowa State on Friday. v The only other Nebraska wrestler to pick up a win in the dual was Ty Malia at 125-pounds. He was wrestling in place of fourth-ranked Jason Powell who was rest ing up for the conference meet while Malia dismantled a 1-18 opponent. After the matches, Nebraska Coach Mark Manning said the negatives of the loss outweighed the positives. Vering’s win, Manning said, was a positive, as the defending national cham pion at 197-pounds came back from last weekend’s upset to OU’s Waymon May to thoroughly dominate ISU’s first and sec ond-ranked Zach Thompson. "He really wrestled well in all three positions,” Manning said. “That’s what we wanted our team to do today, but not all of our guys are doing that.” Winning 4-0 against Thompson, who Vering defeated in double overtime for the NCAA title last season, the Howells native controlled the last two periods. Vering rode Thompson for the entire sec ond period and earned a takedown in the third to complete the shutout. As he rode out the win, Vering smiled to the crowd and saluted them with a thumbs up. Vering, a senior, said the large crowd, on hand in between sessions of the Nebraska High School State Wrestling Tournament, was a big lift. Coming out before the matches began, Vering said he was aghast at seeing the entire bleacher section full and fans around the mat. “This was the last time I’ll wrestle in Nebraska,” Vering said. “It's been great here. I’ve been treated well, and I wanted to go out with a bang.” Vering’s spot as a No. 1 seed isn't set in stone as Snyder’s and Beckerman’s are because of his losses to conference foes May and Oklahoma State’s Mark Munoz, who he is 1-1 against this season. Both Snyder and Beckerman are undefeated in conference matches. Beckerman defdy handled ISU's Matt Azevedo, ranked seventh, in an 8-2 deci sion. Snyder fought back from a 2-0 deficit in his match with sixth- ranked Cole Sanderson to notch a takedown with 26 seconds left to seal a 6-4win. Besides the three big wins, Manning said he was very pleased with the effort of 141-pounder Dusty Spaulding, an unranked freshman, who took sixth ranked Zach Roberson into double-over time but couldn’t notch an escape for the win. With the regular season complete, Manning said, focus will shift to working with individauls in preparation for the Big 12 and NCAA meets that take place in March. “We’ve got 29 days until the NCAA tournament,” Manning said. "We have to get better. If we get a little better every day, then we’ll be ready.” • Leonhardt keys road win at Kansas 5t. BY LINCOLN ARNEAL MANHATTAN, Kan. — Senior Casey Leonhardt took the women’s basketball on her back and carried the Comhuskers literally and figuratively against Kansas State. Leonhardt carried the Huskers as she scored a career-high 29 points to go along with her 17 rebounds and four blocks. She also shouldered sophomore Paige Sutton as she jumped on the 6-foot-5 center in celebration of their first win in five games as NU (11-15, 3-10) downed Kansas State (11-13,1-12) 77-69 in front of 6,217 fans in Bramlage Coliseum. “(Leonhardt) really came to play,” Coach Paul Sanderford said. “I thought the four people on the perimeter really did a nice job keeping the spacing, keep ing the ball moving and taking away the help (side defense).” Please see K-STATE on 9 JL Swimmers place third Two qualify for NCAA's at the conference meet BY TOBY BURGER Two members of NU’s swimming {earn know that there is a tomorrow, or at least nationals. Sophomore Elvira Fischer and fresh man Rebecca Wolfe, posted NCAA quali fying times at this weekend’s women’s Big 12 championships in Austin, Texas, as Nebraska finished third in the team race. Fischer, who also placed second in the 100-yard breaststroke, won the 200 yard breaststroke in 2 minutes, 12.19 sec onds, her third conference title of her career. Both times qualified Fischer for NCAA competition in each event. Wolfe claimed her first Big 12 tide in the 200-yard butterfly with a NCAA quali fying time of 1:57.94. Wolfe also placed third in the 400-yard individual medley and fifth in the 500-yard freestyle. Interim Coach Paul Nelsen said for both to qualify was nice, but more invita tions might be coming, namely Keri Hehn in the 200-yard breaststroke and Carmen Cosgrove in the 100-yard butterfly, he said. Interim assistant Jon Haggerty said there were also others. Jackie Lobdell in the 500-yard freestyle and Beth Karaica in the 50-yard freestyle were strong candi dates for NCAAs, he said. Automatic qualifiers have met NCAA standard times in order to ^qualify. Swimmers with “consideration times,” fast times that are just shy of the auto matic cutoff, are invited to nationals by the NCAA. Even with three automatic NCAA qualifying times, it wasn t enough as Nebraska finished third behind Texas A&M. Texas claimed its third consecutive championship. Nebraska did hold a slight lead over A&M entering the closing diving and relay events. A&M, however, moved past NU into second place. But not all was lost in the third-place finish. Lobdell made an impressive show ing in her first championship. After swim ming to a third-place finish in the 1,650 yard freestyle, she turned around and gained another third place finish, this time in the 200-yard backstroke. She also placed second in the 500-yard freestyle and third in the 800-yard freestyle. Lobdell said the weekend was a rewarding experience both individually and as a team. “This was a very good weekend for me,” Lobdell said. “I got all (personal) best times, and I have improved person ally a lot. I think the whole team did really well.” NU’s relay teams also had its share of success. The 200 and 400-yard medley relay teams both finished second. Nebraska also garnered third place fin ishes from the 200- and 800-yard freestyle relay squads. Nelsen was overly pleased with the way his team swam saying they did every thing possible to win and competed almost without mistake. "I feel we did pretty well,” Nelsen said. “Really, we did everything we had to do in the pool. It was one of those meets where we hit everything.” Seniors boost NU past Buffs BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND BOULDER, Colo. -Although Nebraska's senior day doesn't come until Feb. 28 against Texas A&M, its five seniors sort of threw a*pre-party against Colorado. NU’s five seniors combined for 70 of its 87 points in an 87-82 overtime victory in front of8,430 at the Coors Event Center. With the victory, the Huskers (13-12,6-6) won back-to-back games for the first time since their late December trip to Miami and the San Juan Shootout. “That’s a winning streak,” was a chant heard by anyone within earshot of the NU locker room afterwards. Kimani Ffriend led the Nebraska sen ior charge with a career-high 24 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots and Cookie Belcher had 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Steffon Bradford, coming off the bench for the second straight game, had 18 points and nine rebounds. Rodney Fields had nine points and three assists. But the hero of day for the Huskers, Craig Wortmann, totaled only two points in five minutes of play. But the senior walk-on’s bucket provided NU’s most important points. With NU down 82-81 in OT, Belcher found Wortmann cutting down the mid dle of the lane and the senior walk-on promptly laid it in over two Buff defenders with 34.5 seconds remaining. “We are going to cause problems for opponents because our strength is down low." Kimani Ffriend NU center “He usually doesn’t shoot with his left hand but if he didn’t, it would have been up in the crowd,” said Belcher, who missed a potential game-winning 3 pointer at the end of regulation, but made four free throws ate the end of overtime put the game away after his assist to Wortmann. Wortmann said chances like the one he got don’t come along very often. “I couldn’t hesitate,” he said. “I was trying to get open and this was my biggest shot of the season.” Nebraska Coach Barry Collier said Wortmann was put into the game to pro vide a spark for Ffriend, who was lacking the aggressiveness and confidence he desired after the center committed one of his eight turnovers. But Ffriend, who was held scoreless in CU’s 60-57 defeat of NU on Feb. 3, didn’t lack those two elements before and after being taken out of the game. Please see BUFFS on 9