Sports
psborne doubts validity of OU allegations
Jy Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne
discredited statements by a convicted
felon that could lead to the suspen
sion of the Oklahoma football pro
gram.
Osborne said Wednesday that he
* doesn’t put much stock” in the alle
gations by Otha Armstrong III, who is
serving a five-year prison sentence
for breaking into the home of former
Oklahoma football coach Barry
Switzer and stealing 25 champion
ship rings, shotguns and beer.
Armstrong told the Dallas Morn
ing News Tuesday that Oklahoma
freshman tailback Dewell Brewer
received illegal benefits that in
cluded at least one unofficial paid
visit to Norman, Okla. Armstrong
also said he delivered packages of
money to former Sooner quarterback
Charles Thompson.
Thompson was sentenced to a
two-year prison term after pleading
guilty to a charge of conspiracy to
distribute cocaine.
Osborne said Armstrong’s allega
tions have been blown out of propor
tion.
The allegations would subject
Oklahoma to “the death penalty” if
they are proven true because the
Sooners are in the midst of a three
year probation, stemming from re
cruiting and various other violations.
Teams receive the death penalty if
the NCAA discovers rule violations
that occur within five years of a pro
bationary period.
“A lot of this has been over
blown,” Osborne said. “I doubt if
there’s a whole lot of truth to this.”
Richard Van Horn, president of
the University of Oklahoma, denied
the allegations.
‘‘The allegations of Mr. Arm
strong were called to the attention of
the NCAA months ago, and the
NCAA and '"U have looked into the
charges,” Van Horn said. “On the
basis of all the available evidence, we
believe the allegations are incor
rect.”
Osborne said the allegations
would hurt Nebraska if they arc
proven true because they would force
the Comhuskers to find another op
ponent for their schedule. He said
finding a suitable opponent is a diffi
cult process because most teams al
ready have their schedules made.
Osborne said Nebraska was forced
to find a substitute opponent this
season when Tulanc asked to be re
leased from its two-year contract to
play Nebraska. Tulane was replaced
by Northern Illinois, a team that
Nebraska defeated 48-17 ttys season.
Osborne said the allegations are
damaging to the Big Eight because
several conference teams are in the
midst of serving NCAA probations.
In addition to the sanctions imposed
against Oklahoma, the Oklahoma
Stale football program is on proba
tion, while the Kansas men’s basket
ball program just completed a proba
tionary period that kept it out of the
NCAA tournament last year.
The Missouri men’s basketball
team currently is being investigated
for alleged recruiting violations.
Osborne said the Big Eight would
not be helping itself if Oklahoma was
given the death penalty.
“It would be very bad for the
conference,” he said. “It certainly
would hurt its image.”
Gary Fouraker, the assistant ath
letic director for business affairs, said
the death penalty also would hurt
Nebraska financially. He said the
Huskcrs received an additional
$350,000 in revenue by increasing
ticket prices for this year’s Ncbraska
Oklahoma game.
General admission tickets cost
$25 for the Oklahoma game. Those
tickets normally cost $18.50.
Fouraker said he doubts that Ne
braska could raise the ticket prices for
a lesser-known opponent and achieve
the same type of success.
“That’s the general assessment,”
he said.
Beck s recruits give NU safety in numbers
The Nebraska women’s basket
ball team has had only one win bigger
than its 110-61 romp over Oral
Roberts Tuesday, and this win came
well before the season started.
In November, during the early
letter-of-intent signing period, Meg
gan Yedsena took pen in hand and
committed to join the Comhuskers
next season.
At the time, Nebraska coach
Angela Beck fell all over herself
praising her recruit, a 5-foot-9 guard
from Mahanoy City, Pa.
“We believe that we have turned
the comer as far as signing Meggan, ’ ’
Beck said. “She is the most-heralded
recruit in Nebraska history, meaning
she was voted by several coaches and
a lot of magazines as the lop point
guard in the country.”
And this signing came just as Beck
was practicing with her best-ever
recruiting class.
The women’s team is going to be
good for the next few years. Beck has
proven she can recruit, and college
coaching IS recruiting.
Look at men’s basketball. Bill
Frieder won 25 games a year at
Michigan with great talent before
getting waxed in every NCAA tour
nament, while Kansas Stale’s Lon
Kruger, who could take a junior high
school basketball team and go .500,
won’t crack the top 10 until he gets
more than mediocre junior college
players.
This year’s Husker class was rated
the seventh-best in the nation by Dick
Vitale’s Basketball.
Of course, that was with junior
college Player of the Year Kristi
Kincaid, who left school early in the
semester, but Nebraska still has a host
of solid newcomers.
Karen Jennings, rated the No. 5
freshman in the country, led the
Huskers in scoring in the first five
games this year. Freshman LeeAnna
Hiestand has come out of nowhere to
grab a spot in the starting lineup with
her athletic ability and effort.
Junior-college All-American
Kristi Dahn provides stability. Fresh
man Sara Offringa, who has been in a
shooting slump, has had trouble get
ting any court time.
Even without Yedsena, Beck has a
strong foundation. It’s not like she
has been losing every game, cither.
The fourth-year coach has posted a
55-37 record and won a Big Eight
championship in 1987-88.
This year’s team is 3-3. Nebraska
played No. 4 Georgia tough and
could challenge for another confer
ence title if the younger players con
tinue to improve.
And the Huskers are hustling.
Tuesday they played the closing
minutes like they had spotted Oral
Roberts 50 points.
That sort of hard work and the
competition of having 11 players
hauling for court time only can make
the youngsters better.
All the freshmen can look at Kim
Yancey as an example. Yancey
earned more and more minutes as the
season went along as a freshman last
year, and she has begun to come
around at point guard in the past few
games.
Beck has said Yancey, the team’s
primary outside threat, is better than
former Husker star Amy Stephens
was as a sophomore. With her shoot
ing touch, Yancey may follow
Stephens’ example and switch to the
off-guard position.
With all the returning talent, Beck
can ease in her new recruit. Plus, the
coach demands so much of her point
See BECK on 17
Veteran player injured
on inexperienced team
By Paul Domeier
Staff Reporter
The already inexperienced
Nebraska women’s basketball
team will play without one of its
veterans tonight against Georgia
State.
Nebraska women’s basketball
coach Angela Beck said junior
forward Kelly Hubert will miss
tonight’s game because of tom
ligaments in her ankle. Hubert
suffered her injury during Ne
braska’s 110-61 win Tuesday
against Oral Roberts and will be
out for six to eight weeks.
The Comhuskers will make
their first appearance of the season
without Hubert at 7 p.m. in the Bob
Devancy Sports Center. The game,
which is free to all University of
Nebraska-Lincoln students who
present their student ID cards, will
be broadcast by KRNU (90.3 FM).
Beck said Sarah Muller will
replace Hubert in the starting
lineup. She said Muller was given
the starting nod because of her
tough defensive ability.
With Muller moving inside,
guard Sara Offringa will get some
minutes, Beck said, and either
Rissa Taylor or Sue Hesch will get
more time at forward.
Beck said Hubert’s injury could
help if the young players respond
and improve, and if Hubert can
come back strong.
“The negative of that is I’ll be
giving freshmen more minutes,
and I wanted to keep more experi
enced players in,’’ she said.
Hubert and Ann Halsne are
Nebraska’s most experienced
players. Muller is a sophomore,
Offringa a freshmen, Taylor a re
dshirt freshman and Hesch a
sophomore who is in her first year
on the team.
Beck said it is time for the
young players to start producing.
“I’m not going to look at the
freshmen all year and say,
‘They’re freshmen,”’ she said.
Georgia Stale also has prob
lems with inexperience. The 1-1
Lady Crimson Panthers haven’t
played since Thanksgiving week
end, when they dropped a 102-71
decision to Alabama in the finals
of their own tournament.
Georgia State coach Brenda
Paul said her team has been idle
while wrapping up the academic
quarter.
‘‘We just finished finals yester
day,” she said. ‘‘It hurts having
finals, with kids staying up all
night.”
Beck said her team is still ex
cited from its win Tuesday. The
Huskers were led by guard Kim
Yancey, who scored a career-high
16 points against Oral Roberts.
Five other Huskers scored in
double figures.
Beck said she was surprised
Nebraska blew out the Titans so
easily. The Huskers led 44-36 at
halftime.
‘‘I thought we could be kind of
tired and relaxed, and we scored 66
points (in the second half)/’ she
said.
Beck said the Huskers will
continue to employ the up-tempo
style that worked against Oral
Roberts. She said her bench is deep
even though it has been strapped
by the loss of Hubert.
“Wecan run when (opponents)
gel tired because we play so many
people,” she said.
David Hansen/Daily Nabraskan
Nebraska’s Karen Jennings’shoots over a Georgia de
fender. '
I bxtended allotment
of football tickets
already sold out
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter
There’s a home-away-from-home
situation developing for Nebraska
football fans.
Sun Devil Stadium in Tcmpc,
Ariz.., which will be the site of the
Fiesta Bowl matchup between Ne
braska and Florida State, will become
a home away from home for at least
14,000 Comhuskcr fans who want to
see their team compete in the New
Year’s Day contest.
Joe Sclig, the Nebraska ticket
manager, said Wednesday that the
14,000 requests he received by the
Dec. 1 deadline was 3,000 more than
the 11,000 allotted toboth teams. He
said he solved his dilemma by obtain
ing 3,000 tickets that Florida State
fans did not purchase.
“We will get enough tickets,”
Sclig said. “As of this morning, we
have enough to accommodate all the
requests made by the Dec. 1 dead
line.”
Sclig said the ticket demand for
this year’s game is a sharp contrast to
the 1989 Orange Bowl, for which the
ticket office sent 3,900 of its 12,500
allotted tickets back. He said the rea
son for the increase is that the Fiesta
Bowl traditionally has been more
attractive to Huskcr fans.
Sclig said that in 1987, Nebraska
purchased an extra 1,000 tickets from
Florida Stale. The Huskcrs also
bought additional tickets for the 1985
contest against Michigan, he said.
Nebraska dropped a 31-28 deci
sion to Florida State in the 1987 Fi
esta Bowl, and the Huskcrs lost 27-23
to Michigan in 1985.
“We’ve always had a good re
sponse to the Fiesta Bowl,” Selig
said. “I’m just speculating as to why,
but there are a lot of ex-Nebraskans in
Phoenix and they want tickets.
“There are a lot of Nebraskans
See TICKETS on 17
