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Wednesday, February 16, 1983
Daily Nebraskan
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By Kevin Warncke
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The Nebraska men's basketball team
will be out to secure their sixth victory of
the conference race when they invade
Kansas Slate territory tonight.
j Nebraska had no difficulties with the
Wildcats in their initial matchup at Lincoln
cailier in the season. Sparked by Dave
Hoppen's 27 points, the Huskers cruised to
a 59-43 victory.
But Nebraska Coach Moe Iba said play
ing in Manhattan will be a different story.
"I think they (Kansas State) have a hard
time playing on the road," lba said. "When
1 look at films of when they've played at
Manhattan and then on the road, they look
like two different teams."
lba said Kansas Stale defeated Iowa
State at home 81-55 but then lost 59-40 on
the road.
Kansas State, which has lost four
straight games, has seen its lineup go
through a juggling act. On the bench in
recent games has been the Wildcats' lead
ing scorer and rebounder center Les Craft.
Craft, who averages 10.2 points a game,
and IZddie Elder, who pulls down an aver
age of 5.3 rebounds a game, have been
regulated to reserve duty in the past games.
This lineup change is not a weakness
that Nebraska can take advantage of, lba
said.
"I don't think it's a weakness," lba said.
"It's a situation where he (Jack Haitman)
has to do what he can to get his team to
play."
Although Kansas State is sixth in the
Big Eight with a 3-5 conference record, lba
said that they are a good ballclub, especial
ly at home.
"Kansas State is a very well organized
team," he said. "They play very well offen
sively and defensively.
"It's just as hard to play Kansas State in
Manhattan as it is to play Oklahoma State
in Stillwater."
lba said theie will be no lineup changes
for Nebraska against Kansas Stale. This
means that forwards Claude Renfro and
Stan Cloudy, guards David Ponce and Greg
Downing and center Dave Hoppen will get
the starting nod.
Hoppen is the one Kansas State will
reed to control. Kansas State Coach Jack
Haitman said.
"They have an outstanding big freshman
in Dave Hoppen," Haitman said. "We'll be
giving away some sie to him."
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Kelley welcomes Husker challenge:
continues 'class' recruiting tradition
Staff photo by Craig Andresen
By Randy Wymorc
Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne
is famous for a lot of tilings, one of which
is the brand of people he recruits. Always
clean - cut boys next door, Osborne con
tinually gets the cream of the crop.
Lincoln Southeast High School senior
Jon Kelley is no exception.
Kelley, a 6-2, 205 -pound running
back joined Maryland's Novell Jackson as
the only running backs to receive Corn
husker scholarship offers.
Southeast Coach Chuck Mizerski was a
coach in St. Louis before coming to Lin
coln four years ago. Mizerski says that Kel
ley is an original talent.
"I coached in the St. Louis area for sev
en years," lie said. "And Jon is as good a
back as I've ever seen in St. Louis."
Kelley was recruited by Oklahoma, Wy
oming, Iowa State and Army. But even
with a West Point appointment, there was
no doubt for Kelley as to where he belong
ed. He only made one visit -and that was
to Nebraska. He said he didn't feel it was
fair to "play around" and visit the others
without a sincere intention of going there.
"I wanted to go here (Nebraska) since I
was pretty small," he said. "So it wasn't
that big of a decision."
Outside of the opportunity to go to
West Point, which Kelley considered "an
honor," Iowa State did the most talking.
"They (Iowa State) talked about my be
ing able to start there sooner than I would
here," he said. "But I liked Nebraska's
program so much and the coaching staff
that I didn't think that was enough to
make me want to go there."
Kelley cited the Huskers' program, tra
dition and "great weight program" as oth
er deciding factors in his move to put his
name on the national letter of intent.
The fact that he is one of only two run
ning backs that were offered Nebraska
Jon Kelley works out in the Lincoln Southeast weightroom Tuesday. Kelley is one of
only two running backs offered scholarships by Nebraska.
scholarships could make a lot of recruits
sit back and forget 3bout any possible com
petition from other newcomers. Not Kel
ley. "At the beginning of the year, he (Os
borne) told me that he'd probably only re
cruit two or three running backs," he said.
"He kept his word on that and that's goou
and everything, but there's still going to be
a lot of walkons from out of town so that
doesn't mean we'll be the only two shoot
ing for that spot."
Rest assured that a little extra competi
tion doesn't scare Kelley away. He looks
forward to the challenge.
"I like competition, so that will be all
right with me."
During the press conference to an
nounce those who had accepted Nebraska
scholarships on Feb. 9, Osborne said that
Nebraska athletes were at a disadvantage
because Nebraska isn't close to metropoli
tan areas. Osborne went on to say that if
Kelley would have come from a place like
Dallas, he would have been approached by
30 to 40 schools. Mizerski agrees with this
assessment. Kelley passes it off.
"That's nice of Coach Osborne to say
and everything," he said, "But I guess I'll
never really know if that's true."
Kelley added that even if he had come
from someplace other than Lincoln, or Ne
braska for that matter, and the Huskers of
fered him a scholarship, he still would have
put his name on the line.
With a list of high school honors that in
cludes being named to the Lincoln Journal
Star's All - State, Super -State and AH -City
teams, the High School Coaches Asso
ciation All-American team and rushing for
just under 1,000 yards, Kelley carries a
high market value.
He also carries something much more
valuable on the Cornhusker market.
Class.
By Jack Denker
Angela Thacker just seems to keep
winning, even though it isn't her upper
most priority.
Throughout Thacker's high school and
UNL track career, she has been victorious
in virtually everything she has set out to
do. But by Thacker's standards, steady
improvement takes precedence over
winning.
"The best part of track is after you
finish the race," she said. "I just like the
self-satisfaction of running better times and
possibly winning."
This doesn't mean that Thacker, a fresh
man sprinter and long jumper for the
Huskers, doesn't take great pride in achiev
ing victory, it's just that for her, winning
isn't everything.
"I want to win the long jump at the Big
Eight meet," Thacker said, "but as long as
my times keep coming down in the other
events, that would be OK, too.
All this may seem somewhat unusual
coming from an 18-year-old woman, who
was named Female Athlete of the Meet at
the Husker Invitational Saturday, where
she won the long jump, the 300-yard dash
and placed second in the 60-yard dash.
"That meet will probably stand out as
my first big college track meet, because it
was so competitive, and I did well in it,"
she said.
As evidence of her success at her events
at the Invitational, Thacker came home
with two watches, a clock radio and a
duffle bag, rewards for a high finish.
Thacker said the awards add to the
competition but, "I don't get nervous be
fore a race knowing that if I lose I won't
get a watch," she said.
In addition to all those accomplish
ments, she also broke a Bob Devaney
Sports Center and school record with a
2 1 -2 Vi long jump two weeks ago.
"She is a tremendous athlete," Nebra
ska women's Coach Gary Pepin has said of
Thacker on various occasions.
Thacker grew up in St. Louis. At
Roosevelt High School, there she was a
state champion in the 200-, 300- and 400
meter dashes her junior year, plus the 100
and 200 her senior year. She also placed
second in the long jump both of those
seasons, earning national recognition in
1981 as one of the top freshman recruits
in the nation.
Consequently, she was heavily recruited
her senior year by Nebraska, Houston,
Arizona State, Tennessee State, Georgia
and New Mexico.
Initially she said she didn't plan on
going to Nebraska. Instead, she was all set
to go to Arizona State. But when the
Huskers won the indoor National Champ
ionship last year, Thacker said she began
considering going to UNL. She said she
didn't decide to enroll at Nebraska until a
telephone conversation with Coach Pepin
that convinced her to come.
Thacker said she is extremely pleased
with that decision because she is now a
member of a very talented team and is
learning a lot about the sport from the
Husker coaching staff.
"He's (Pepin) a great person and a great
coach because he knows what he is doing,"
Thacker said. "Sometimes our practices are
really hard, but you know that's good for
you. You really look up to him because
he's one good coach."
Learning the proper running techniques
was instrumental for the success of her
first indoor season, she said. The long jump
and 300 are her favorite indoor events,
while the 200 is her favorite outdoor event,
she said.
"It's my potential and the right coach
ing that have helped me peak in track,"
Thacker said.
Despite the fact that setting long range
goals is not one of her practices, Thacker
did admit that the 1984 Olympics are al
ways in the back of her mind.
"But right now I'm just concei.trating
on getting my times down and having good
indoor and outdoor seasons," she said.
