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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1974)
doilu nhfoskort soorls Ul MLcagers expected to be Big 8 contenders Tuesday marks the traditional opening of the basketball season with the Red-White intrasquad game, and Husker sports fans might find it worthwhile to divert their attention from the Nebraska-Oklahoma foot ball match. This year's basketball squad is expected to be a contender in the Big 8, and one of the newcomers expected to play a big role is junior college transfer Steve Willis. Willis, the smallest player on the team at 5 ft 10 in., is battling it out with senior Kent Reckewpy for the starting guard spot opposite Jerry Fort. Although still learning the Husker system, Willis believes he has the upper hand. dermis onnen press box review "If i work and do everything all right, I'm pretty sure I'll start," he sid. According to Willis, his strong points are leadership, quickness, defense and "decent parsing ability." ' And I can shoot a little bit, too," he added Honorable mention All-Americar. T hat is def inite y an understatement. In his two seasons at Northern Idaho Junior College, he averaged 22 and 21 points a game, m: king honorable mention All America both years. He said he hopes to continue his high scoring, "at least in double figures." "But as long as we win, that's all that counts," he said. He pinpoints the Huskers' team defense as the factor which should contribute the most toward those hoped-for wins. "We're not that big and strong, but we're awful quick," he said. "If we gel and play cur defense all the time, we'll be a top contender." A weakness which he sf id may hurt the team is a relative lack of rebounding strength. ' We're going to have to outwit a lot of big teams, ' ' he said. Defensive adjustment difficult The most difficult adjustment Willis said ie has had to nrake in the jump from junior college to major college basketball is in the defensive phase of the game. He said there are fewer zone defenses and more movement here. An added complication is the Big 8's 30 -second clock, which requires the offensive team to shoot the ball within 30 seconds, preventing stalls. Willis also said the players are generally quicker and bigger at the major college level. j Although basketball is overshadowed by football on the UNL campus, he said that doesn't bother him. He pointed out that football has a winning tradition and deserves fan support. "People want to see people winning," he said. "If we start winning, people are going to come and watch us." The Red-White game starts at 7:35 p.m. in the Coliseum, and besides Willis, fans will get their first look at the other newcomers junior college transfer Ernie Martin and freshmen Eric Coard, Terry Novak and Curt Hedberg. Regular season play begins with a home contest against South Dakota State, Nov. 30. The Alpha Xi DeltaAlpha Gamma Rho co-rec football team had its championship hopes dashed in the final playoff game Nov. 6. For four years in a row, the team has won its league title, only to lose in the playoffs. ( The winner this year was a squad called Loser's Lost, which overcame a 22-6 halftime deficit to win 23-22 in the championship game. On the last play of the game, Vicki' Maseman hit Larry Wetterberg with a touchdown pass to tie the score. The winning extra point came on a pass from Laura Carsc. to Kathy Hawkins. ! I The win enabled the firet-year team to post an 11-0 season record, an amazii.g feat,', considering the fact the players conducted no' practice sessions. ! i Fiodeo Club tries to 'round-up' student interest By P Je Wegman. Or - e rodeoing gets Into a per sen's blood "it's kind of hard to quit." said Jack Fudge, team cantain of the University of Nebraska Rodeo Assoc. (UNRA). Fudge, a senior from Ashland who has been rodeoing for four years, said he is trying to build up student interest in the rodeo club Trere are six male members ard one female in the club this fall. "It seems like the fall is busier for students and not too many have time to rodeo," he said. According to Fudge, interest picks up in the spring, as students have more free time and the number of rodeos increase Team makei p A complete rodeo tfam con sists of six males and three females. Men participate in bareback, saddle bronco and bull-riding, steer wrestling; and calf and team roping. Barrel racing and goat tieing are the women's events. Fudge said h-? considers the sport to fall in th? amateur class but conceded that most partici pants at the college level belong to the Rodeo Cowboys Assoc., a professional organization. He said the UNRA is a nonprofit group 'which raises most of its money frcn a rodeo held at the State Fairgrounds Cotiseum in the spring. He added that the club received a small amount this fall from the student activities fees. The club has participated in three rodeos tms semester. In the first, held at the University of Wisconsin at River fa! is, John Mundorf finished fourth in bull riding. At the Black Hitls State College rodeo in South Dakota, team memers didn't fare qt ite as well, Fudge said. First place However, at the oict recent rodeo at th 3 University of North Dakota-Fargo, Mur.dorf finished first in bull riding. Fudge said the number one rodeo school in the area is the National College of Business b Rapid City, South Dakota. Team members there receive rodeo scholarships and have ail travel expanses paid by the school. While Fudge said he wishes for much of the same a. Nebraska, he added that it is more realistic to work on getting more club members for next spring. The next rodeo the club will send a team to is at Michigan State in East Lansing in February. Following that rodeo, there will be a series of about ten others throughout the Midwest,' ending in Montana in June with; the national championships. ( In the interim between now; and the trip to East Lansing,. Fudge and the other club members will be rounding up' support for the organization and searching for new members, he said. i hk LI ; Women's rugby: 'definitely better' By Steve Taylor. Chris Frudyma didn't hedge when asked to compare the women's rugby team with the men's squad. "The men are pretty good," conceded Frodyma, who is the captain of the women's team. "But we are definitely better." This might seem a fairly bold analysis, especially since this is the first year for the women's team and they don't even have uniforms. 3-3-1 record The squad just completed its fall season, posting a record of 3 3-1 . Frodyma and teammate Jo Williams said they hope to have the uniform matter cleared up before they begin their spring schedule. "We hope the university 'will chip in and .help us get the uniforms because we plan to be great by next fall," Frodyma said. "We advertise pretty well," pointed out Williams. "Next spring we'll have more people and a bigger team." Wii' ams, who also participates in sw.mming, basketball, tennis and boxing, said there are numer ous benefits in playing rugby. Meeting people One of them is the opportunity to meet people, she said, and the constant running the sport requires keeps rugby players in good enough shape "to run the Boston Marathon." Both women mentioned a third place finish in a tournament at Kansas City as the highlight of the fall season. Besides the benefits and oppor tunities it provides, rugby also has its share of hazards, they said. "In the tournament at Kansas City, one girl broke a vertebrae and was paralyzed for a while, " Frodyma reported. "People are always getting knocked out." Quick, aggressive players Despite the injury risk, Frodyma and Williams agreed that a good rugby player has to be quick, aggressive and not afraid of being hurt. Frodyma, a 21 year-old senior from Omaha, says the women's athletic program has made great strides since she was a freshman. In her estimation, the Women's Physical Education Bldg. is one of the finest women's facilities in the nation, she said. A student assistant on one of Abel's coed floors, Frodyma sees similarities in her roles of rugby player and floor overseer. "They are both new adventures and both are really challenging," she commented. "In both cases you have to work with people." However, she added, "People on the floor aren't quite as under standing when you tackle them." page 16 daily nebraskan thursday, novernber14, 197 a , V V. V V V ft ' . r