UNL considers athletic scrutiny program
By Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
The University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln athletic department is consider
ing joining a society which would
place its program under scrutiny while
providing additional benefits for stu
dent-athletes.
A1 Papik, the assistant athletic
director for administrative/academic
services, said Nebraska is interested
in instituting at least part of the op
tions offered by the Center for Study
in Sports and Society. The society
consists of four options which deal
with everything from a degree com
pletion program to a race-evaluation
project.
Papik said Nebraska is interested
in the center’s degree completion and
self-study programs. The self-study
program would require the Comhusker
athletic department to complete an
evaluation of itself, then would allow
nine other peer institutional members
to come to Lincoln and complete their
evaluations.
Papik said Nebraska could benefit
from a multitude of evaluations.
“It would help us strengthen any
areas of concern,’’ he said, * ‘because
it would focus on the whole spec
trum.”
Papik said the degree-completion
program would give student-athletes
who have not graduated but have used
up their eligibility a chance to con
tinue to go to school while still re
ceiving financial assistance. He said
that financial assistance would be in
the form of a scholarship that would
cover the costs of tuition and fees.
Currently, Papik said some stu
dent-athletes find themselves in a bind
because NCAA rules prohibit them
from receiving scholarship assistance
after they have been in school for five
years. NCAA rules state that student
athletes may receive aid for a sixth
year if they take a year off from
competing and attending school dur
ing their collegiate careers.
Papik said student-athletes would
be required to participate in an out
reach program if Nebraska joins the
center and they receive additional
assistance. He said some examples of
the out-reach program are motiva
tional speeches on substance abuse
and the importance of education.
“It’s a trade-off,’’ Papik said.
“They have to give something back.’’
Papik said the Nebraska athletic
department already has participated
in one aspect of the program, which
consists of a national student-athlete
day. He said Gov. Kay Orr joined 47
other governors from across the United
Slates by declaring a national stu
dent-athlete day last year.
Papik said athletic department
officials must meet with UNL admin
istrators, faculty and coaching staff
members and personnel from the of
fice of admissions and advising be
fore the center can be instituted. He
said he docs not know when Nebraska
will become a member.
“We don’t have any umetable set,”
Papik said.
Big Eight receives own
Vitale-style award lists
Spring is time for awards and rank
ings, and rankings have been kind to
the Big Eight this season.
For the past nine weeks the No. 1
basketball team has been from the
conference. A1 McGuire called the
Big Eight the best conference in the
country. Two or three of the NCAA’s
regional No. 1 seeds should come
from this league.
A conference that looks so good
* ‘ numbers deserves its own Dick
-style-year-end lists. Here they
are:
The John Wooden Team
The all-conference team:
1. Doug Smith, Missouri
2. Anthony Peeler, Missouri
3. Kevin Pritchard, Kansas
4. Byron Houston, Oklahoma State
5. Skeeter Henry, Oklahoma
The Gary Leonard Award
The most-improved players:
1. Nathan Buntin, Missouri
2. Rich King, Nebraska
3. Terry Woods, Iowa State
4. John McIntyre, Missouri
5. Clifford Scales, Nebraska
The Orlando Magic Award
The best newcomers:
1. Jackie Jones, Oklahoma
2. Jean Derouillere (pronounced
Delaware), Kansas State
3. Ricky Calloway, Kansas
4. Travis Ford, Missouri •
5. Carl Hayes, Nebraska
The Dave Sieger Award
The best players not among their
teams’ top four scorers:
1. Jeff Gueldner, Kansas
2. John McIntyre, Missouri
3. Mike Maddox, Kansas
4. Terry Evans, Oklahoma
5. Rodell Guest, Colorado
The Baskerville Holmes Award
The best names:
1. Justus Thigpen, Iowa State
2. Jean Derouillere, Kansas State
3. Adonis Jordan, Kansas
4. Pekka Markkoncn, Kansas
5. Keith Moody, Nebraska
The Traci Lords Award
The most fun-to-watch players:
1. Doug Collins, Iowa State
2. Kevin Pritchard, Kansas
3. Terry Woods, Iowa State
4. Byron Houston, Oklahoma State
5. Doug Smith, Missouri
The Goose Gossage Award
Players to have at the end of a
close game:
1. Steve Henson, Kansas State
2. Kevin Pritchard, Kansas
3. Anthony Pfceler, Missouri
4. Lee Coward, Missouri
5. Terry Woods, Iowa State
The Ronald Reagan Award
Players who have fallen from view
and become hard to remember when
thinking about the John Wooden Team:
1. Steve Henson, Kansas State
2. Shawn Vandiver, Colorado
3. Victor Alexander, Iowa Stale
4. Terrence Mullins, Oklahoma
5. Richard Dumas, Oklahoma State,
who was kicked off the team in mid
season for allegedly relapsing into
substance abuse.
The 1988 NCAA Final Award
The best games between confer
ence teams:
1. Missouri 92, Oklahoma 90 in
Colombia, Mo., Feb. 18
2. Missouri 95, Kansas 87 in Co
lombia, Mo., Jan. 20
3. Kansas State 93, Iowa State 90
OT in Ames, Iowa, Feb. 17
4. Missouri 72, Oklahoma State 71
in Stillwater, Okla., Jan. 16
5. Oklahoma 107, Missouri 90 in
Norman, Okla., Feb. 25
The conference’s best recognition
should come in the next four weeks in
the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma,
Kansas and Missouri all have a chance
to follow Michigan, Kansas, Indiana,
Louisville, etc., on the list of NCAA
champions.
Domeier is a junior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter and
columnist.
DaHy Nabraakan flla photo
Nebraska’s Jill Rishel slides in under the tag in action last fall.
Wolforth credits high tournament finish
to ‘fantastic’ coaching jobs by assistants
By Darran Fowler
Staff Reporter
Nebraska softball coach Ron
Wolforth credited a pair of assis
tant coaches for a second-place
finish at the Aggie Invitational this
weekend in College Station, Texas.
The unranked Comhuskers lost
to No. 8-ranked Long Beach State
8-0 in the championship game
Sunday to finish with a 5-2 record
in their season-opening competi
tion of the spring.
More than the players, the Husk
ers’ success over the weekend was
because of solid jobs done by assis
tant coaches Lori Richins and Lori
S Wolforth said.
coaches did "fantastic”
jobs of preparing Nebraska for the
tournament, he said.
Richins coordinated the Husk
ers’ defense, while Sippel worked
with pitchers Stephanie Skegas and
Marie Bowie.
With the exception of the title
game, Wolforth said defensively
Nebraska "played as well as any
team in the country can.”
Sippel’s guidance helped Skegas,
a junior, earn the most valuable
pitcher award. Skegas went 4-0 in
the tournament.
The Huskers’ five wins were by
shutouts.
“I figured that we had the po
tential to shut down people,”
Wolforth said, “but I don’t know if
I would have used the word shut
out.
“It was a combination of good
pitching and fantastic defense.”
See NEBRASKA on 8
Paul
Domeier
Tennis team reaches one goal, falls short of another
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska men’s tennis team
fell short of one goal and reached
another this weekend in a tournament
in Corpus Cristi, Texas.
The Comhuskcrs finished 18th in
the 24-team HEB Invitational. Ne
braska missed the team’s first goal, a
top-12 finish, by losing 5-1 to North
Carolina in the first round, but made
its second goal of a 2-2 dual record.
Huskcr coach Kerry McDermott
said his team didn’t play well the first
day, as it was competing outside for
the first time in months. He said North
Carolina also gave Nebraska a stiff
challenge.
“They were a lot better than I
though they would be,” McDermott
said of the Tarheels, who lost to South
Carolina in the tournament semifi
nals. “They weren’t (ranked), but
they will be.”
The Huskers’ only win against the
Tarheels came at No. 1 singles. No.
32-ranked Matthias Mueller, though
he went 2-2 for the weekend, de
feated No. 22-ranked Bryan Jones, 6
3, 6-7, 6-3, and McDermott said
Mueller should climb in the next
rankings because of that win.
With the opening loss, Nebraska
was left in the bottom third of the
bracket, battling for 17th place. The
Huskers rolled over Baylor, 8-1, in
the second round.
“Baylor wasn’t very strong,’’
McDermott said, “but it was a good
confidence-builder.’’
The Huskers downed Califomia
Santa Barbara, 5-4, on Sunday. Each
of the Husker victories came in three
set matches. The teams were tied after
the singles, and Nebraska look two of
three doubles for the win.
“It was a good team effort, and
everybody was pumped up after
wards,” McDermott said.
Texas A&M deflated Nebraska the
next day with a 5-1 win over the
Huskers. The lone victory against the
Aggies came in three sets at No. 3
singles from Steve Barley, who
McDcrmou said played well all week
end.
‘‘We had a poor effort in singles,”
McDermott said. ‘ T thought we could
win two of the lop three and one of the
bottom three.”
McDcrmoltexperimented with his
doubles teams throughout the tourna
ment, using six different combina
lions to go 5-1 in ihc matches. Only
one of the duos came from the regular
Husker lineup.
The biggest problem of the week
end was the play at Nos. 5 and 6
singles, McDermott said. Numerous
players have been battling for the two
positions, and four pla>ers combined
to go 1 -7 in Texas. McDermott said
the competition in practice may be
overshadowing the team duals for his
lower players.
“They’re not as confident as they
talk,’’ he said. “They just want to get
the spot so they play.’’