Page 6
Daily Nebraskan
Tuesday, November 26, 1985
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David CreamerDaily Nebraskan
Oklahoma's Stacey King tries to block a shot of California-Santa Barbara's
Khris Fortson during the Sooner's 107-92 victory against the Gauchos Friday
night in Norman. King, playing in his first college game, scored 22 points, two
more than Wayman Tisdale scored in his first varsity game for Oklahoma.
Analysis by Bob Asmussen
Senior Editor
NORMAN, Okla. In Wayman Tisdale's first
game as an Oklahoma Sooner, he came off the
bench to score 20 points against Nevada-Las
Vegas.
In Stacey King's first game as an Oklahoma
Sooner Friday night, King, a freshman forward
center from Lawton, Okla., came off the bench to
score 22 points against California-Santa Barbara.
At this point, King is two points better than
Tisdale.
Before the 1985 basketball season began,
everyone figured that without Mr. T, the Sooners
would be dog meat. With Tisdale, the Sooners
would have been a preseason No. 1 in 1985.
Without Tisdale, everyone figured, they'd battle
Nebraska and Iowa State for second place in the
Big Eight. Everybody should change their minds
on the second count.
The Sooners defeated Santa Barbara 107-92 in
their opening game at Lloyd Noble Center. They
looked anything but a second place team.
Tim McCalister scored 30 points, mostly from
long range, and showed, that if he remains
healthy in 1985, he could be one of the best
guards in the country.
The Sooners were not a one-man team with
Tisdale. They certainly aren't a one-man team
without him. Darryl Kennedy scored 16 points
against the Gauchos, David Johnson scored 23
points. Anthony Bowie, who was one of Oklahoma's
leading scorers last season, was held to four
points, but he wasn't needed
And there was King. King is listed as a 6-10,
215 pound center. Like Tisdale, King is an
Oklahoman. King is from Lawton; Tisdale gradu
ated from Tulsa Washington High School. Like
Tisdale, King has the soft jump shot that is most
effective from the baseline. Unlike Tisdale, King
might be able to contribute to defensive play
significantly.
Wayman wasn't a terrible defensive player, it
was just that he had such a tremendous offensive
burden on him that it was impossible for him to
expend that much energy on defense.
King was known in high school as both an
offensive and defensive force. Because of his
quick leaping ability, he is an outstanding shot
blocker and defensive player. One thing King
will have to avoid, especially when he is mat ched
against a center with similar height, is foul trou
ble; he had four fouls in 24 minutes.
Because of his physical similarity to Tisdale,
King is going to be faced with the comparisons
the whole season, maybe even his entire career.
In addition, like Tisdale, King has a happy court
demeanor that only gives him more appeal to
both the fans and the media.
"I was kind of nervous," King said of his first
game as a collegian. "There was a lot of pressure,
not just on me, but on our entire team. People
came to see how well we'd do without Wayman. I
think we gave them their money's worth tonight."
King's play Friday against the Gauchos
impressed Oklahoma coach Billy Tubbs.
"Stacey King you really couldn't ask for any
more from him," Tubbs said. "At this point, he's
two points better than Wayman. Strike that."
But it's likely that at season's end, Tubbs
won't want the press to "strike" comparisons
between Tisdale and King. The development of
King as a player and as a personality can only
help the Oklahoma basketball program. With
Tisdale, the Sooners lived in the limelight for
three years. You could tell Friday that the
leftovers, Tubbs included, missed being in the
media spotlight.
Evidently, Oklahoma fans missed Wayman
too. Only 8,117 folks showed up for the opening
night in a building that seats 10,871. The actual
crowd might have even been less. The Oklahoma
fans, like the rest of the conference, were wait
ing to see what Oklahoma sans Wayman would
be like. They got their answer.
Without Wayman, Oklahoma will be the run
ning, gunning, scoring, no-defense bunch that it
always has been. Wayman's points will be spread
out between Kennedy, McCalister, Johnson and
King and the Sooners will give Kansas a good run
for the Big Eight crown. Second is locked up at
least.
Despite his greatness, and Tisdale is great, he
was never able to get the Sooners to the NCAA
Final Four. With as much talent as they have this
season, and the number of different ways they
can attack a team offensively, the Sooners could
be headed for that promised land.
The Sooners, led by King, might be Kings.
Basketball team challenges young S. Illinois
ByJeffApel
Staff Reporter
Southern Illinois coach Richard
Herrin will be taking on a new chal
lenge when the Salukis face the Nebraska
men's basketball team tonight at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Herrin, who is in his first year at SIU,
previously coached at Benton High
School in Chicago for 25 years.
During that time span, Herrin won
more regional titles (21) than any other
Chicago high school coach ever, and
also sent over 60 players to the college
ranks.
But, the thought of facing the 1-0
Cornhuskers, Herrin said, is somewhat
mystifying since it will be only his third
collegiate game.
"Coming from the high school ranks,
I'm taking this season as a great chal
lenge," Herrin said. "I'm really excited
about it."
Only five returnees
Herrin said that his first season with
the Salukis has been compounded by
the fact that SIU lost it's top eight
players of last season to graduation.
The remaining five players, Herrin
said, scored only 105 points all of last
season between them while averaging
just under four minutes per game.
"We're real inexperienced, there is
just no way around it," Herrin said.
"Aside from our five returning players,
we have got a host of junior college
transfers and freshmen."
Included on the SIU roster, which
has only one senior, is one walk-on and
6-8 Grant Martin.
Martin, a freshman, never played
basketball in high school but enlisted
in the Army after his graduation and
grew nine inches.
"Grant has got a lot of ability but,
like most of our team, he doesn't have
much experience," Herrin said. "We're
trying to think positively about this
season, but we realize it is going to be
difficult with our age."
Herrin said he will probably use a
starting lineup that includes 6-2
sophomore Stan Middleton and 6-3 jun
ior Brian Welch at the guards, 6-5 junior
Don Novsek and 6-7 Ken Dusharm at
the forwards and 6-9 Todd Krueger at
center.
Krueger, a freshman, will face his
greatest challenge ever, Herrin said,
when he plays against Nebraska's Dave
Hoppen.
Knows about Hoppen
"I know all about Dave Hoppen
because a couple of years ago (former
Nebraska basketball assistant) coach
Spoonhour was trying to recruit a cou
ple of my kids (out of Benton High
School) and he told me about him," he
said. "To ask a freshman like (Todd)
Krueger to face him (Hoppen) is a tre
mendous challenge."
Assistant husker basketball coach
Tom Baack said that the greatest chal
lenge Nebraska will be facing in their
game with the Salukis is the things
that they are not yet aware of.
Baack scouted SIU's season opening,
58-56 victory over Chicago State.
"Since it was their first game of the
season (that I scouted) we really don't
know what to expect from them," he
said. "I thought that they showed a lot
of spunk in their game with Chicago
State because they were down by 19 in
the first half and came back to win on a
last second shot."
Baack said the Huskers will have to
give a better effort than they gave in
their 83-64 victory over Wrisconsin-Stout
to win.
"One thing I did notice about
Southern Illinois is that they definitely
had better players," he said. "They
showed some inexperience, but, over
all they looked to be a pretty good
team."
NU diving teams sport talent, experience
By Jeff Apel
Staff Reporter
Defending Big Eight champion Heidi
Hecker leads afield of three experienced
competitors on this year's Nebraska
women's diving team.
Hecket, a junior from Des Moines,
Iowa, captured the Big Eight cham
pionship on both the one and three
meter boards in last year's conference
meet.
This season, Hecker has already
competed against what Cornhusker
diving coach Jeff Huber said are two of
the nation's top divers, Arkansas' Diane
Dudeck and LSlfs Anne Barnett.
Although Hecker came out on the
short end of the competition on both
occasions, Huber said she is definitely
an AH-American candidate.
"Heidi has tremendous ability, she
is a great athlete," Huber said. "With
the loss of both Anne Biggs and Cathy
Lundy to graduation she is the premier
diver on this year's women's team."
Hecker will be joined on this year's
women's squad by teammates Sherri
Birmingham and Julie May. Huber said
that both Birmingham and May are
quality divers, but that May is being
hindered by weight loss.
"Julie (May) lost a lot of weight over
the summer and it has really affected
her strength," he said. "She is starting
to gain both her weight and her strength
back, though, so I'm confident that she
will continue to improve as the season
goes on."
Huber said that for the first time in
his eight year coaching career at Neb
raska he has elected to compete with a
three person women's squad rather
than the usual six member team.
What the Cornhusker women won't
have in numbers, Huber said, they def
initely make up for in terms of all
around talent.
"I feel very good about this year's
team," he said. "The reason I have
decided to use three divers is we only
tried to recruit two divers last year and
ended up not getting either one of
them. So, rather than settle for an indi
vidual who didn't have the type of tal
ent I was looking forrI decided to go
with the smaller team."
For the first time ever, Huber said
that this year's Big Eight champion
ships will have both the men's and the
women's teams competing in the same
facility at the same time.
Huber said he is looking for this
year's Nebraska men's diving team to
be just as strong as the Husker women's
squad.
Although Ail-American Reynaldo
Castro has graduated, Huber said this
year's squad will be a little stronger
than last year's team.
"We were relatively young last year
so the year of experience will definitely
help us," he said. "We will be equally
balanced in both the one and three
meter boards, although we will key on
the three meter board because that is
how you qualify for the U.S. nationals."
Huber said he has so much confi
dence in this year's Husker men's div
ing team that he has decided to red
shirt sophomore Alvin Spencer.
"Alvin (Spencer) has only been div
ing since he was in the ninth grade,
which is almost unheard of," Huber
said. "He's got a lot of talent but I don't
think the decision to redshirt him was
a difficult one because of the strength
of this year's team."
The key individual on this year's
squad, Huber said, will be Eric Ognibene.
Ognibene captured the Big Eight
championships on the one meter board
in 1983 but was redshirted last season
so that the freshman trio of Matt Clark,
Lewis Meyers and Spencer could
develop.
"Ognibene spent this summer com
peting for the U.S. national team so
that shows you that he is one of the top
eight divers in the country," he said.
"Overall, though, I feel we have excel
lent divers on both the men's and
women's teams, so I'm looking for
excellent seasons from both."
Sports Shorts
Full-time students can buy Fiesta
Bowl tickets at the Athletic Ticket
Office, South Stadium 1 17 on Dec. 2,
3 and 4. The student allotment will
be divided equally all three days
and will be sold from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
each day or until the day's allot
ment is gone.
Each qualified student can buy
one ticket, two if married. Current
full-time student identification
cards will be required, and married
students must show their marriage
certificates (or a certified copy).
Groups will be limited to six
seats. Students who want to sit
together as a group must all be
present at the time of ticket
purchase.
The price is $25 a ticket. Each
student's personal check should be
made payable to the University of
Nebraska and show a Lincoln
address. Cash payment must be the
exact amount.