Players pressured to close Kansas’ lead
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter___
Nebraska men’s tennis coach Kerry
McDermott said his players realized
last weekend the importance of every
individual match in conference ac
tion.
TheComhuskers started Big Eight
play by beating Missouri, 9-0, and
losing to Kansas, 5-4. Kansas has
swept Missouri and Iowa State, giv
ing the Jayhawks a 10-point lead over
Nebraska for the conference title.
“We can’t afford to give up points
at this time, especially this week
end,” McDermott said.
The Huskers will play Iowa State
and Colorado on Friday and Saturday
at the Cather-Pound courts. Both
matches will start at 10 a.m.
“I just can’t believe Kansas beat
Iowa State 9-0,” he said. ‘‘That makes
it a lot tougher on us.”
This weekend the Jayhawks have
the same chance to pul pressure on
the Huskers, playing Oklahoma and
Oklahoma State, Nebraska’s oppo
nents next weekend. But the Huskers
can return the favor by badly beating
Colorado, Kansas’ last conference foe.
McDermott said he occasionally
stresses to his team its position in the
Big Eight, though he wants the play
ers to concentrate on their own ef
forts.
And motivation is no problem.
McDermott said he feels like going
back onto the court and playing.
“Heck, if I feel that way, I’m sure
they feel that way,” he said.
In addition to losing to Kansas,
Iowa State has beaten Missouri, 9-0.
McDermott said that after looking at
the results of the Kansas-lowa State
dual, the Cyclones could have taken
two matches.
Former Husker Mark Naprstek is
playing No. 3 singles for the Cy
clones. McDermott said he is glad
Naprstek, who transferred after last
season, is fitting in better at Iowa
State than he did at Nebraska, where
he did not crack the lineup.
“I think some players don’t re
spect me as a coach,” McDermott
said. “Then they don’t feel likeapart
of the team.”
He said Naprstek has related better
to the Iowa Stale coach.
Colorado has lost twice in the Big
Eight, 8-1 to Oklahoma and 5-4 to
Oklahoma State. The Huskers and
Buffaloes split two duals last fall.
“They’re as good as we are if
we’re not playing well,” McDermott
said.
The Huskers should at least win 7
2, he said. Anything less would open
the door for Kansas, he said. The
Jayhawks go to Boulder, Colo., next
weekend.
Nebraska gets to play its last four
duals at home. McDermott said less
travel always is better, and playing in
Lincoln could make a difference in
the conference.
“It should help us, especially with
the closeness of the competition,” he
said.
Big Eight once scraped sky in poll,
foundations now in danger of collapse
The blueprint was simple.
Great coaches like Billy Tubbs,
Norm Stewart and Larry Brown pro
vided the foundation. Great big men
like Steve Stipanovich. Wayman
Tisdale and Danny Manning latched
onto the coaches and became the frame
work.
Mookic Blaylock, Anthony Peeler
Paul
Domeier
and other great guards and forwards
filled in the walls, and the glossy
finishings were an NCAA champion
ship for Kansas and national-recogni
tion for the Big Eight as one of the
nation’s top-five conferences.
The Big Eight scraped the sky this
year when Kansas, Missouri and
Oklahoma held the lop-three spots in
The Associated Press men’s basket
ball poll. The foundations of the
conference’s glorious structure,
though,arc shaking,and the Big Eight
is in danger of collapsing into the
second-rate conference it was a dec
ade ago.
The walls and framework have to
be replaced every two or four years,
and now the foundation is cracking.
Three Big Eight coaches have left
since the end of the year, and a fourth
program may be put on probation.
First look back to the conference
prc-Stipanovich days, and remember
how lousy the good ol’ days were.
Overrated coaches like Ted Owens,
Jack Hartman and Joe Ctpriano were
the only nationally known names, and
the occasional All-America selection
always was a guard, like Darnell
Valentine and Rolando Blackman.
The annual excuse for being bad
was that football dominated and no
one eared about hoops, so the confer
ence could not be great in both sports.
But the league is great, and the
conference broke its attendance rec
ord this season. Only a lack of coach
ing ability could cause the Big Eight
to drop back to Sun Belt or Missouri
Valley conference status.
The Big Eight big three is totter
ing. Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas
were bounced early in the NCAA
tournament, and those three probably
won’t see the lop-10 again for years.
Missouri started the collapse in
mid-season. When playing well this
season, the Tigers were the best team
in the country.
But Peeler all but disappeared and
Mizzou lost its last three games to
Notre Dame, Colorado and Northern
Iowa.
Tiger regulars Lee Coward, Nathan
See CONFERENCE on 14
Graham brothers’ friendship will last
longer than their Cornhusker careers
By Sara Bauder
Staff Reporter
Friends until the end.
That is how twin brothers Frank
and Harald Graham describe their
relationship. The end of their college
track careers is near, and their last
home meet as Comhuskcrs is Satur
day at Ed Weir Track.
The meet, they say, will be a
“goodbye” run for their family, friends
and fans.
Flow docs it feel to have only one
meet left in Lincoln?
“Amen,” Frank said.
Harald, though, was more conser
vative. Collegiate competition, he said,
is so intense that he and his brother
are looking forward to competing after
college, when team scores and con
ference meets do not add pressure to
races.
Frank and Harald, both distance
runners, have lived together for all 24
years of their lives. Their closeness,
they say, has helped them develop
athletically.
Frank said they often will dream
the same things, and Harald said they
have the same kinds of goals and
ideas.
“The other night, we both had bad
dreams about fire,” Harald said.
“Except Frank, the capitalist, was
making money with the lire, and I
was losing my portfolio.”
The two started their track careers
together, as pole vaullcrs when they
were freshmen at Nebraska City.
Harald said all the tracksters, regard
less of their events, had to do condi
tioning runs.
* ‘We were always the last ones out
of the loekerroom and the first ones
back,” Harald said. “So they de
cided we should become distance
runners.”
Harald became a steeplechaser
when he arrived at Nebraska, but Frank
did not learn the event then because
of an injury. Instead, Frank ran other
distance races.
This year, both Grahams arc stee
plechasers.
Harald said his goals are to qualify
for the national meet and place in the
top four this season. Frank said he just
wants to qualify for the meet.
Harald’s long-term goal is to make
it to the 1991 Olympic trials in the
steeplechase. He plans to work in
graphic design for a printer in Ger
many after graduating in May.
Frank will marry fellow trackster
Lisa Darlcy in August, then student
teach as he works toward graduating
in December 1990
Both Grahams plan to keep run
ning when their college careers end,
in road races with fast times as their
only goal.
Whatever they do, they say, they
will stay “friends ’til the end.”
Coach: Team needs win to build momentum
ay Jeff Apel
Senior Editor
After missing out on a record-set
ting performance, the Nebraska
women’s golf team will travel to
Columbia, Mo., to compete in the
Missouri invitational this weekend.
Nebraska women’s golf coach
Robin Scherer said she is looking
forward to the competition because
the Cornhuskers arc coming off their
best performance of their spring sca
; son. Nebraska won the Hawkcyc
invitational over Spring Break by
j shooting a 925 total, which was its
second-best team score in history.
The Huskers recorded their best
team score during the NU women’s
invitational last fall, when they fin
isnca witn a mark.
Schcrcr said Nebraska wants to
continue to perform well when it
competes in the Missouri meet Satur
day and Sunday at the par-72,6,100
yard A.L. Gustin Jr. course. Satur
day’s portion of the invitational be
gins at 10 a.m., with Sunday’s action
starting at 9 a.m.
Joining Nebraska and Missouri for
the 36-hole competition arc Dartmouth,
Southwest Missouri State, Mississippi,
Northeast Missouri State and South
ern Illinois-Carbondalc.
Scherer said Nebraska “opened
some eyes” by winning the Hawkcye
invitational in near-record fashion.
She said the Huskers must win the
Missouri invitational if they want to
continue to build momentum for the
U|>C Willing Wig w^iil iv;umamviiio.
The Big Eight tournament will be
held April 21-24 in Lawrence, Kan.
Scherer said Nebraska has to be
the favorite entering the Missouri
invitational. She said the Huskcrs main
competition will come from Missouri,
which finished second to Purdue at
the 1987-88 meet.
Missouri is led by Barb Blanchar,
a senior from Columbia who was the
individual medalist during the 1987
88 meet. Blanchar has a team-best
78.5 stroke average this season.
“Barb Blanchar . . . what can I
say?” Scott said. “She continues to
play well. She won the tournament
the last time wc had it, and it would be
great to go out with another win right
here in her hometown.”
William lauer/Daily Nebraskan
Nebraska junior varsity football coach Shane Thcrell
(front left) poses for a picture with his cousins, Greg
(front) and Billy.
Thorells, Cornhuskers
benefit from family ties
By John Adkisson
Staff Reporter____
Many high school seniors arc
afraid that their frst year in college
will be one of loneliness and home
sickness.
But Billy Thorell wasn 't one of
them. He felt like he was coming
home.
Billy joined his older brother,
Greg, and cousin, Shane, when he
came to Nebraska two years ago
from Denver. Billy’s arrival was a
double homecoming of sorts, as it
united the Thorcll’s bloodlines and
also strengthened the family's lies
with Nebraska’s athletic program.
Billy and Greg play for the
Comhuskcr baseball team. Billy is
a switch-hiuing outfielder, and Greg
plays second and third base. Shane
coaches Nebraska’s junior varsity
football team.
Shane sai.d the situation has its
benefits.
“I’ve gotten to know them both
a lot better, he said.
The three agreed that they have
grown much closer since Greg and
Billy arrived in Nebraska.
“Shane has helped me out a
lot,” Billy said. “You can gel
homesick pretty easily your first
year, anJ I spent a lot of time
talking to him.”
Greg and Billy were high school
standouts m three sports at Den
ver’s Thomas Jefferson High School.
In football, Billy played quarter
back and Greg was a wide receiver.
Although they had a coaching
connection a‘ Nebraska, Greg and
Billy were not recruited to play
football in college, and opted in
stead for baseball.
“Neither of us arc very big, so
wc probably would’ve had trouble
playing (football) at Nebraska,”
Billy said.
SeeTHORELL on14