daily nebraskan
friday, december 1, 1978
sports
page 14
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s. te-' 111!
y" V v "
Photo by Ted K trie
Senior guard Brian Banks harries Minnesota's James Jackson in Nebraska's 5848
win Tuesday. UNL plays its second straight Big Ten Conference opponent Saturday
when Purdue University comes to Lincoln.
Purdue height, star center
may give Huskers trouble
By Jim Kay
Sports editor
No one should be accusing UNL head
basketball coach Joe Cipriano of schedul
ing college basketball's wallflowers this
year.
When Cipriano's team jumped out to a
10-0 start last season, critics of the team
pointed to a schedule which included
Missouri Southern State, South Dakota,
Nevada-Reno and Montana State. The
Huskers beat those four teams by a com
bined 78 points.
But this season's schedule includes in
state rival Creighton again, along with the
University of Nevada-Las Vegas and two
Big Ten Conference schools in one week.
UNL took care of the University of
Minnesota Tuesday night with a 5848 win
and Cipriano's team must return to the
Bob Devaney Sports Center Saturday to
take on Purdue University.
Nebraska was worried prior to the
Minnesota game about the height advant
age the Gophers would have. Purdue will
provide Nebraska with a similar concern
tomorrow night.
One star
'They have one exceptional player in
their big center Carroll from Denver,"
Cipriano said. "Well have to worry about
our inside play all night.
"Our center, Carl McPipe, will really
have his hands full with Carroll, although
his quickness usually makes up for what he
lacks in height, so it should be a good
matchup."
The Boflmakers were paced by 7-foot-l
junior center Joe Barry Carroll in their
opening game victory over Southwest
Louisiana, 81-72. Carroll had 27 points, 1 1
rebounds and six blocked shots.
Also starting were freshman forward
Mike Scearce. 12 points and six rebounds
and senior guard Jerry Sichting. 14 points
and three steals.
Purdue was dropped by Indiana State,
63-53, in their second game this season and
beat Xavier (Ohio) Wednesday night, 66
58, to raise their record to 2-1 .
Purdue not only has a young basketball
team (two sophomores, two juniors and
one senior start) but a first -year head coach
as well.
Lee Rose came to Purdue after a three
year tenure at North Carolina-Charlotte. At
UNCC, Rose led his team to the National
Invitational Tournament final in 1976 and
to the NCAA final four in 1977. His 12
year coaching career mark is 254-85.
"We struggled through our first game,
which could be characteristic of the
season," Rose said. "We're a team of
unknowns and we really don't have a set
starting lineup yet. Well play a lot of
people.
"In our first game, we had eight players
who performed over 10 minutes.
Three top scorers
Nebraska has three players averaging in
double figures prior to the Purdue game.
Sophomore Andre Smith is the team's
leading scoring with 13 points per game,
followed by McPipe at 12 points a game,
and senior guard Bob Moore with 1 1 .3
points a game.
Curt Hedberg is the leading rebounder
for UNL with 16 through the first three
games.
Cipriano said he may realize his team's
worth in the next few games.
"Playing two fine Big Ten teams in a
week is a real challenge for our team,"
Cipriano said. "This part of the schedule is
where well find out if we really are worthy
of all that preseason press.
"And they don't seem to get any easier.
Well have to play them one at a time. Well
concentrate on Purdue and then get con
cerned with Creighton."
UNL wfll have a week off after the
Purdue game before taking on Creighton in
Omaha on Dec. 9.
Basketball squad hopes
recent publicity isn't jinx
Nebraska athletics-men's football and
basketball, that is-are receiving big time
publicity. In the last two weeks, Sports
Illustrated magazine has devoted a cover
photo, eight pages of copy, nine color
photographs and one art illustration to the
football and basketball teams.
It is enough to put a smile on Athletic
Director Bob Devaney's face even though a
national championship slipped away from
the football squad. Devaney, Basketball
Coach Joe Cipriano and Husker basketball
fans may be crossing their fingers now,
hoping the basketball squad doesn't react
to the publicity the way the football team
did.
kevin schnepf
A six-to-seven-page story accompanied
with nine photos which told a nationwide
reading audience of Nebraska's victory over
number one ranked Oklahoma spelled
doom for the Huskers. The old Sports
Illustrated jinx of a cover photo-in this
case Rick Berns "shredding" Oklahoma's
defense-turning sour the next week
proved true. Nebraska lost to Missouri the
next week after being exposed nationally
as a team sitting in the driver's seat for a
trip to the national championship.
In the latest issue of Sports IllustratedTs
college basketball preview, Cipriano's
Huskers are rated number 16 only two
spots behind Big Eight rival, Kansas. Over
a half page of copy describing the celebra
ted Husker defense and an illustration
showing closed-eyes and yawning Nebraska
players snoozing on the bench is what is in
cluded in the magazine's top twenty list.
Like the football players, except perhaps
on a smaller scale, the basketball players
must live up to the publicity.
Consider these words which assuredly
have been read by every member and coach
of the basketball team. Sports Illustrated
compared Kansas and Nebraska matchups:
"The renowned Jayhawk fast break against
the celebrated Cornhusker defense; big
Kansas Center Paul Mokeski against agile
Nebraskan Pivotman Carl McPipe; Jay
hawk playmaking Guard Darnell Valentine
against Cornhusker smoothie Brian Banks."
The "Hammond Hustlers," as Banks
and McPipe are so cleverly named because
of their Hammond, Ind., hometown, are
given quite a bit of attention.
"If he can stop being so aggressive, Mc
Pipe should be the best center in the Big
Eight," the article reads.
"Then there is Banks, a ball hawk, play
maker and shooter extraordinaire."
Both players have lived up to their
Sports Illustrated descriptions so far, as the
pair led the Huskers to a 5848 victory over
a young and talented Minnesota team last
Tuesday night. McPipe, with a fingerless
golf glove protecting the five-stitched cut
on his shooting hand, scored 14 points and
snared eight rebounds. Banks led the Hus
kers in scoring with 15 points, had five
steals, and drew his usual charging foul by
falling to the floor.
After beating Alabama-Birmingham
with a case of the opening season jitters,
the team flew back 1 ,200 miles the same
day they edged unknown Arkansas Tech.
Against Minnesota, the Huskers appeared
to play like Sports Illustrated said
they should.
The Huskers held the Gophers to 48
points, consistent with their eighth-ranked
defense of last year, and substitutes played
an important role. 5 quoted Cipriano as
saying the Huskers won't wear down like
last year because players like Banks and
Bob Moore will get rest when Mike
Naderer, Gerard Myrthil and freshman Jack
Moore check in.
But as SI points out, Kansas is a favorite
over Nebraska because of the Huskers'
tendency to fold. Last year, Nebraska had
a 19-3 record and ended up with a 22-8
mark. When ranked in the Top 20 on three
occasions, they lost their next game each
time.
This year, it is a strong possibility that
Nebraska will be undefeated again entering
the Big Eight Preseason Tournament-the
tournament's last hoorah. Strong chal
lenges will come from Big Ten Conference
power, Purdue, the Huskers' Saturday
night opponent at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center; the rematch with Creighton played
in Omaha this year; and high scoring Uni
versity of Nevada-Las Vegas if both
Nebraska and UNLV win their first round
games in UNLV's holiday tournament.
And in the Big Eight, Kansas and Iowa
State will be rigid tests for the Huskers
especially when they play each other twice.
Iowa State returns the nation's third
leading rebounder, Dean Uthoff, and Big
Eight scoring champion Andrew Parker.
The defense-oriented style of play Ne
braska coaches have preached the past
decade has received its share of fan
criticism. Fans who want a more exciting
brand of basketball may be in for another
disappointment. Against Minnesota, Ne
braska proved that defense prevails, and if
it can do the same trick against UNLV, the
Husker's deliberate attack may gain a few
praises instead of criticisms. What a dif
ference a winning record has. on not only
the players, but the fans as well.
Perhaps the SI illustration of sleepy
Nebraska players indicates that their de
liberate attack is boring. But, more impor
antly, the illustration may indicate
Nebraska has the sleeper team other teams
may not be prepared for this year.
Upsets could change bowl bids
Predictions by Rick Huls
There are enough "Ifs" going into the
final week of the college football season to
keep some bowl representatives biting their
nails until the final play.
If Auburn beats Alabama, the Sugar
Bowl will no longer have a matchup for
the national championship between Penn
State and Alabama. Georgia, not even in
this week's top ten would win the South
eastern conference championship and the
Sugar Bowl bid. And the Bulldogs, 8-1-1,
must face rival Georgia Tech Saturday in
the season finale.
If Texas Tech beats Arkansas and Rice
upsets Houston, the talked-about Cotton
Bowl matchup of Notre Dame and
Houston will not happen. Texas Tech.
Texas and Houston would finish in a tie
for the Southwest conference title and
Texas Tech would get the bid because they
haven't been to the Cotton Bowl as recent
ly as the other two.
Here's how the "Ifs" are expected to
come out :
Auburn at Alabama -Bear Bryant isn't
about to pass up a shot at the national title
and the Crimson Tide has had three weeks
to prepare for this one. . .Alabama 31,
Auburn 14.
Georgia Tech at Georgia-The Bulldogs
get caught in between. Either they're still
upset over the 22-22 tie with Auburn
(which would have given them at least a
tie for tne conference title and the Sugar
Bowl bid) or they're too busy rooting for
'Bama to get beat. . .Georgia Tech 24,
Georgia 20.
Texas Tech at Arkansas-Tech's six
game winning streak finally halts against
the Hogs. . .Arkansas 24, Texas Tech 14.
Rice at Houston -The pressure is on
Houston to win the conference title and
Cotton Bowl berth. But there's no pressure
in playing Rice to end the season. . .Hous
ton 48, Rice 22.
In other games: Navy 23. Army 14;
Florida 27. Miami. Fla. 17; Tennessee 34,
Vanderbilt 14 , LSI' 41 , Wyoming 7; Texas
24. Texas A &. M 17; Southern Cal 49.
Hawaii 7. Bngham Young 35, Nevada Las
Vegas 25. San Diego State 21. Utah 17.
last week's poor percentage of .615
dropped the season's mark to 357-123-8
for 740 percent accuracy.
