Cincinnati needs
an extra inning
to win Game 2
CINCINNATI (AP) — Add
Oakland’s ace reliever to Cincinnati’s
hit list and give Ihe Reds a perfectly
astonishing 2-0 lead in the World
Series.
A day after beating Dave Stewart
in the opening game, the Reds’ Joe
Oliver got the third straight hit off
Dennis Eckersley in the bottom of the
10th inning to shock the A’s 5-4
Wednesday night and take a lead that
few imagined possible.
Suddenly, from thoughts of sweep
ing their second straight Series, the
A’s now go home for Game 3 Friday
trying to keep from being swept them
selves.
Billy Hatcher enjoyed his second
consecutive perfect night making him
7 for 7 with four doubles and a triple.
His triple off right fielder Jose
Canseco’s glove in the eighth inning ■
gave him the Series record for con- f
secutivc hits. He then scored the tying I
run on Glenn Braggs’ force play.
Eckersley took over to start the
10th and retired Eric Davis, but a
scratch single by pinch-hitter Billy
(Bates, a ground single to left by Chris
Sabo and Oliver’s hard single down
the third-base line gave Cincinnati its
seventh straight World Scries vic
tory. The Reds’ victory came a day
| after the Reds beat up Dave Stewart,
the A’s four-time 20-game winner.
Canseco ended Oakland’s home
; run drought in the postseason, but the
Athletics stranded 10 runners, for a
total of 21 in the two games. ■
Rob Dibble pitched two shutout I
innings for the victory. Four Cincin
nati relievers shut out Oakland for 7
1/3 innings.
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A position change will allow Nebraska’s Clifford Scales to
drive to the basket more often this season.
Husker is anxious
to be off the point
By Paul Domeier
Senior Reporter
Number 2 is No. 1 to Clifford
Scales.
Number 2 in basketball number
ing is shooting guard, also known as
off guard, as in off the point. Scales
wants to get off the point and back to
his natural position.
“I’m anxious, but still waiting,”
Scales said.
He’s waiting until the 13th game
of the season. For the first 12 games,
junior college transfer Jose Ramos is
ineligible.
When Ramos becomes eligible, if
all goes according to plan, he will
share the point guard duties with Keith
Moody, and Scales can move full
time to off guard.
In Scales’ freshman year, Henry
T. Buchanan was making the switch
from off guard to the point. For Scales’
sophomore season, Eric Johnson made
the same change. Last year, it was
Scales’ turn.
These conversions came out of
necessity, fighting the adage that point
guards are bom, not made.
Scales said he believes that maxim
because of his own performance at
point guard, “average and getting
better.”
“I became a robot,” he said.
He averaged 12.2 points and 4.2
assists per game while leading the
team in minutes played.
The time at point guard should
help his ball-handling and team lead
ership, he said.
Having two players on the court
with experience at point guard should
benefit the Huskers, too.
“1 think that it will help from the
standpoint of having two generals on
the court, and having two ball-han
dlers,” Scales said.
Scales, though, will be free to go
to the basket and play the wing in fast
breaks — something he couldn’t do
last year because of the point guard’s
defensive responsibilities.
Uncertainty about Ramos’ mid
season arrival may be one reason the
Huskers have been picked in many
polls to finish near the bottom of the
Big Eight again, even though Ne
braska returns a veteran core from
last year’s team.
Scales finds nothing wrong with
the predictions.
“I don’t think Dick Vitale or any
body is going to pick us to get to the
NCAA tournament or win the Big
Eight,” he said. “Until we prove our
selves, I don’t feel like we should be
any higher.”
More recognition this year, par
ticularly for his defensive play, is
Scales’ goal. After a season of self
sacrifice for the team’s sake, he will
be back where he is comfortable with
a chance to make up for anything he
hasn’t done so far.
“I’m looking to cram three years
into one,” Scales said.
Volleyball player understands her role
Aussie Husker says ‘no worries’ to lack of game time
By Cory Golden
Staff Reporter
The score was 9-2 in the third
game when Nebraska sophomore
volleyball player Debbie Brand
checked in Tuesday against Kansas
State. She was the next-to-last Com
husker to leave the Husker bench and,
minutes later, the match ended before
she could earn a positive statistic.
Still, Brand was happy to play at
all.
She hasn’t done much of it lately.
After a freshman season in which
Brand saw considerable playing time,
even turning in Nebraska’s best four
game dig mark with 21, her playing
time has tapered off.
All told, the outside hitter from
Adelaide, Australia, has 27 digs this
season. Her playing time has been
limited by the return to health of the
outside hitters who were injured in
1989.
Brand said she understands.
“I guess that’s just the way it is,”
she said, “but I’m glad the team’s
healthy.
“The best players arc out there.”
Every team has reserves.
“Of course everyone would like to
play — no one likes to sit the bench,”
Brand said. “1* m just glad to be part of
the team because it is such a good
team and a good program.”
Brand’s back-roll in the United
States is easier to accept than her
stagnant starring role back home was.
In Australia, Brand had gone as far as
she could, playing for the national
team.
“I wasn’t going to gel any belter if
-44 -
It was a big risk for
them to recruit me, so
Vm just having fun
now, you know.
Brand
Nil volleyball player
-ff -
I stayed there,” she said. “I just wanted
to come here and learn. So it doesn’t
bother me, because I’ve improved a
lot and learned a lot.”
Nebraska was one of several Top
10 schools she sent a videotape to.
The Huskers gave her a chance, she
said, and she remains grateful.
“it was a big risk for them to re
cruit me,” Brand said, “so I’m just
having fun now, you know.”
She’s adapted to a new job when
she does play, seeing more time in the
back row as a defensive specialist
than on the attack in the front row.
Last season, Brand peaked with 15
kills on 40 attacks against Bowling
Green. Through 19 matches this sea
son she has just five kills on 15 at
tacks.
Does the Aussie miss life at the
net?
'“Yeah, because that’s what I am
— an outside hitter,” Brand said. “But,
you know, if coach doesn’t want me
there..
Practicing harder and looking for
ward to weaker teams on the Huskcr
schedule are the best ways for her to
deal with bench-warming frustration,
she said.
She said she hopes hard work will
pay off with playing lime, but that if
nothing else she will be able to return
to Australia’s new women’s program
and get paid for her ability and the
things she’ll be able to teach.
After the three-game sweep ended
Tuesday at the NU Coliseum, dozens
of children swarmed around her ask
ing for an autograph, not caring whether
she was a starter or an All-American.
Brand smiled, and, surrounded by
her fans, said, “No worries.”
Go for the Olympic gold: Call up pros, not amateurs
A recent New York Knicks game
should end the debate over profes
sional basketball participation in the
Olympics.
A desperation three-point shot by
Gerald Wilkins helped the Knicks get
Paul
Domeier
into overtime against Scavolini Pe
saro (that’s a team) at the McDonald’s
Open in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday.
New York beat Scavolini 119-115 to
avoid becoming the first NBA team
to lose in the four-year-old tourna
ment.
Yes, New York was playing its
first exhibition game against an Ital
ian team that has been playing for a
while. Yes, New York was an NBA
team particularly vulnerable to Sca
volini’s zone, since the Knicks are
notoriously poor outside shooters.
If this happens to an NBA team,
though, 22-year-old amateurs should
never be entrusted with representing
the United States as long as someone
better is available.
Step aside, boys, this is a job for
professionals.
Even Danny Manning, a 1988
Olympian and part of the last U.S.
amateur Olympic team, agrees.
“I think that a point has to be made
that we have the best basketball play
ers in the world,” said Manning, who
was in town last week with his Los
Angeles Clipper teammates.
A college all-star team would have
been killed in Spain. Scavolini isn’t
even an Italian all-star team. The
Yugoslavian, Russian and Brazilian
national teams are belter.
The U.S. team that played in the
Goodwill Games can testify to that.
The American team, the last grasp at
amateur success, looked pitiful and
lost to the Yugoslavians and the
Russians.
Yes, coach Mike Krzyzewski can
and should be criticized for misusing
his power by starting Christian La
etlner, his center at Duke, and includ
ing Bobby Hurley, his point guard at
Duke. Yes, Krzyzewski made the same
mistake John Thompson did for the
1988 Olympics, forgetting to take along
enough shooting guards who can shoot.
Still, the U.S. had some awfully
good players. The Americans played
awfully, though — disjointed, self
ish, clueless. The international oppo
nents, who have adapted so well to
our game, looked like real basketball
teams.
This just added insult to the injury
that came from the 1988 Olympics,
where the U.S. team won the bronze
medal, small consolation for the usual
gold-medal team.
The Knicks’ struggle and this
summer’s failure show that the lousy
1988 performance wasn’t entirely
Thompson’s fault—a lot of it was his
fault, but not all of it.
Manning watched American in
vincibility shattered in 1988, and now
he sees NBA players every day.
Manning said he wasn’t surprised
by the Knicks’ near-miss.
“There are a lot of good basketball
players that are playing overseas,”
Manning said.
The Knicks got their act together
in the championship game, trouncing
POP 84 Split (that’s also a team) in
Saturday’s final, 117-101. The world’s
dreams of Toni Kukoc leading the
Yugoslavian team to victory were
dashed.
Americans still have the best bas
ketball players in the world. NBA
players arc those best players.
Manning said he wouldn’t mind a
rematch at the 1992 Olympics, which
also will be in Barcelona.
“It would be nice,” Manning said.
“Just to get a chance to go back and
accomplish a goal.”
But could Mann ing even make that
team? He couldn’t if 12 all-stars tried
out, and some are hinting that they
will.
The 1992 Olympic basketball
games will be fun to watch in the
same way that 15-car pile-ups are fun
to watch.
“Personally, I think it will be a
cakewalk,” Manning said.
A team of Michael Jordan, Magic
Johnson, David Robinson, Patrick
Ewing, Larry Bird, Charles Barkley,
Dominique Wilkins, John Stockton,
Joe Dumars, Karl Malone, Byron Scott
and Dennis Rodman could not be
beaten.
Did I skip your favorite player?
That will be the only point worth
debating.
To make things worse, the incred
ible professionalism, drive and com
petitiveness of NBA players would
make sure the U.S. team would never
let up, even when ahead by 25 or 30
points, which should come sometime
in the first quarter.
The U.S. must send NBA players
to the Olympics. Manning said send
ing pros will guarantee the gold.
“I don’t think there’s any ques
tion,” he said. “We’ll go out and
win.”
Domeier is a senior news-editorial major
and a Da y Nebraskan reporter and a colum
nist
