5 Big 8 teams make NCAA tourney
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP)_Big
Eight basketball coaches have said
all season the the league was as strong
as it had ever been and could match
up with any conference in America.
Now the proof is in the pairings.
Five Big Eight teams were se
lected Sunday to participate in the
64-tcam NCAA Tournament, and
one of those — fourth-ranked Okla
homa — is the top seed in the South
east Regional. Missouri, Kansas,
Kansas State and Iowa State were
also selected.
Only the Big East, with six teams
■ selected, had more squads chosen for
the tournament.
“I think that’s another good situ
ation because there was some ques
tions there for a while,” said Okla
homa coach Billy Tubbs, whose 30
3 Sooners will face Tcnncsscc-Chat
tanooga in the first round Thursday in
Atlanta. ‘‘That shows a lot of respect
nationally for our league.
Kansas coach Larry Brown
agreed.
“I thought we deserved five
teams, but you always have to wait to
sec what other teams were automatic
qualifiers,” Brown said. “I’m just
thrilled we made it. It’s always an
honor.”
Kansas, 21-11, is seeded sixth in
the Midwest and will face Xavier in
the tournament’s opening round Fri
day at the Bob Devancy Sports Cen
ter. Kansas State, which is seeded
fourth in the Midwest with a 22-8
record, meets La Salle Thursday in
South Bend, Ind.
Missouri, which is seeded sixth in
the East Regional, faces 1 Hh-secdcd
Rhode Island Thursday in Chapel
Hill, N.C. The Big Eight’s final team
in the tournament, Iowa State, meets
Georgia Tech Friday in Hartford,
Conn.
All five teams are hoping to return
to Kemper Arena in Kansas City,
Mo., which is the site of this year’s
Final Four and the arena where Okla
homa captured the Big Eight
Tournament’s championship crown
with an 88-83 victory against Kansas
Slate Sunday.
The Sooners won in front of a
partisan Kansas State crowd that
prompted Tubbs to say, “The way the
fans responded today, with tender
loving care, I’m sure they’11 comeout
to support us.”
Tubbs said he hopes to see another
Big Eight team in the Final Four.
“I think we have some teams that
have a real shot to be back here,”
Tubbs said.
The best bet appears to be Okla
homa. The Sooners opened their
season with 14 consecutive victories,
lost two straight and then won a
dozen more in succession before
losing to Missouri in the penultimate
game of the regular season.
They
have since won four games in a row.
“If wc gel back here, we’ll win it,”
Tubbs said.
Asked what he thought about
Kentucky being the second seed in
the Southeast, Tubbs said, “I hope wc
get to play ‘cm, because that means
we’ll be in the regional finals.”
Oklahoma guard Ricky Grace
agreed.
“If we play that way we can, wc
can beat anybody,” he said. “We’ve
got to try to be up for everybody and
try to play the six best games wc can.”
Kansas State coach Lon Kruger,
whose squad ended Nebraska’s sea
son with a disappointing 13-17 mark
by handing the Cornhuskers a 75-70
loss in the Big Eight Tournament’s
opening round, said the NCAA bid
was “just a reward for our players.”
“Now we’ve got the fourth seed
and that’s a nice honor for our play
ers,” Kruger said. “But like I say, it
doesn’t mean anything because now
we’ve got to play the game.”
Brown was relieved to sec that
Kansas doesn’t play until Friday,
which gives Jayhawk guard Kevin
Pritchard more time to rest the knee
he hurt in the opening round of the
conference tournament.
“I was hoping we could get a
Friday draw to help our kid,” Brown
said. “Going to Lincoln helps us
because of our travel plans and it
allows for our fans to follow us.”
Iowa Stale coach Johnny Orr,
whose squad dropped seven straight
conference games at one point this
season, said the NCAA gave strong
consideration to the Cyclones’
schedule when making its selections.
Iowa State defeated Iowa, Purdue
and New Mexico this season.
“We must have been in there
pretty early because we’re in the top
48 teams,” said Orr, whose Cyclones
are seeded 12th in the East. “But
you’re always nervous because you
never know what they’ll do or how it
will go.”
McDermott s tears dispelled by 6-3 Cornhusker win
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
A scary situation turned into a
pleasant experience for the Nebraska
men’s tennis team during its 6-3
victory Saturday against Southwest
Missouri State in Springfield, Mo.
Nebraska coach Kerry McDer
mott said he was worried throughout
the match because the Comhuskers
didn ’ t play as welI as he wanted them
to. He said the match’s score wasn’t
indicative of the type of competition
the two teams engaged in.
“It was a close match and a lot
closer than the score indicated,”
McDermott said.
McDermott said the Huskers
gained confidence in the match by
defeating the Bears 2-1 in doubles
competition. The Huskers’ No. 1
doubles team of Steve and Stuart
Jung defeated the Bears 7-5,5-7,6-1,
but the No. 2 team lost 7-5, 7-5.
Nebraska’s No. 3 doubles team of
Ken Feucr and Brad Schcidcggcr
then defeated the Bears 7-5,4-6,6-3.
McDermott said Nebraska was
fortunate to escape the doubles
matches with the lead.
“Their doubles teams were really
strong and all three were really
solid,” McDermott said. “After the
doubles match, we knew we had a lot
of hard work to do in singles compe
tition.”
McDermott said the first singles
match didn’t go well because Steve
Jung dropped a 6-4, 6-2 decision to
Southwest Missouri State’s Hakan
Svensson. He said Jung, who was
also defeated by Svensson during last
fall’s Huskcr Invite, lost this season
because the junior from Hacienda
Heights, Calif., didn’t play his game.
‘‘Steve went out scared and with
out much confidence,” McDermott
said. “He was trying to hit winners
and going for shots he wouldn’t nor
mally go for. He wasn’t very patient
and wasn’t very confident.”
Nebraska went on to win its next
three matches and then overcame a 6
4, 6-4 loss by Schcidcggcr to the
Bears’ Rod Zemi by using a 5-7,6-3,
7-6 victory by H.C. Taylor to wrap up
the 6-3 victory.
McDermott said he thought the
Huskers could have played better
singles matches.
“I was expecting to win five out of
six singles, but 1 will settle for four
out of the six,” McDermott said. “We
were able to handle the pressure situ
ations and win the pressure matches,
ll was a good victory for us, and it
shows that we’re right in the thick of
things for a conference champion
ship.”
!■! ——— ^
Manning, Richmond top all-Big bight team
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
Kansas’ Danny Manning, Iowa
Slate’s Jeff Grayer and Kansas
Stale’s Mitch Richmond, the core of
w hat many believe is the finest senior
class in the nation, were all unani
mous choices to the Associated Press
all-Big Eight team for 1987-88.
Joining them are two seniors who
were almost unanimous picks by a
panel of media observers —
Missouri’s Derrick Chievous and
Oklahoma’s Harvey Grant
The second team consisted of
Oklahoma’s Stacey King, Mookie
Blaylock and Ricky Grace,
Colorado’s Scott Wilke and Iowa
State’s Lafester Rhodes.
Nebraska’s Henry T. Buchanan,
Missouri’s Lee Coward and Doug
Smith, Kansas Slate’s Steve Henson,
Oklahoma State’s Richard Dumas
and John Starks, and Kansas’ Milt
Newton earned honorable-mention
honors.
The five seniors on the first team
include three of the Big Eight’s top
four career scoring leaders — Man
ning, Chievous and Grayer — and
many experts believe all five could go
in the first round of this season’s
National Basketball Association
draft.
Manning has become the Big
Eight’s all-time leading scorer and
No. 2 rebounder during his four-year
career at Kansas.
Grayer is Iowa State’s career and
single-season scoring champion.
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