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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 7, 1991)
Defense upsets Kins By Paul Domeier Senior Editor LAWRENCE, Kan. — Rich King scored 25 points Wednesday, 19 in the first half, but all he wanted to talk about was defense. “Our defense wasn’t very good in the first half,’’ he said. “It wasn’t very good for the whole game.” It was bad enough, at least, to let the Jayhawks beat Nebraska 85 77. He was asked about the offense. “It wasn’t the offensive end. It was the defensive end the whole game,” he said. But it was King’s offense that kept Nebraska in the game in the first half. With a4- to 7-inch height advantage over any Jayhawk guard ing him, King hit 8 of 10 shots in the half. King dominated the last half of the period. He scored 14 points in the half s final 9:05, including a dunk on a Keith Moody lob for Nebraska’s final basket of the half. In the second half, King didn’t get the ball as much, hitting 3 of 5 attempts. King said it wasn’t anything the Jayhawks were doing to him in side. “They turned up the pressure on the perimeter, making it tough for those guys to even see around it,” he said. With the win, Kansas put the pressure on Nebraska’s hopes for a Big Eight regular-season champi onship. “The way it looks right now, it’s a two-team race with OSU and KU,” King said matter-of-factly. But King refused to count the Huskers out of the race. He said Nebraska’s recent schedule, play ing at Oklahoma, Missouri, Okla homa State and at Kansas probably was the team’s toughest stretch of the season. The pressure will sub side Saturday afternoon, when the Huskers take on Colorado at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Huskers won’t see Kansas again until March 3 in the final game of the regular season. “When they come to Lincoln, it’s going to be the same type of game,” King said. And he wasn’t taking comfort in the eight-point loss. “It’s better to lose by a little than by a bunch,” King said. “Other than that, I don’t think we gained anything.”__ FANTASTIC FEBRUARY! I (Kronos Quartet | Sat., Febr. 16 8:00p.m. Kimball Hall ! Tickets: $20, $16 UNL Students & Youth: S10, $8 Back by popular demand, the dynamic Kronos continues to present the freshest, most innovative programs in music today. From Beethoven to Jimi Hendrix and James Brown- it s the sounds of todav by the quartet of tomorrow! I English Conceit Orchestra Wed., Febr. 20 8:00 p.m. Lied Center Tickets: $24. $20. $ 16 UNL Students & Youth: $ 12, $ 10. $8 The incredible English Concert Orchestra creates a w hole new sound in early music using original ancient instalments and long-buried playing techniques. Directed by iniemationally-renow ned Trevor Pinnock at the harpsichord, this ensemble brushes off the dust on 17th and 18th century masterpieces to reveal new riches in music. Program nia) include ll.ic.h s Siiifonni in / iikijor. H\\ l 1071: l.cclair'x Com irio in i. iniiioi for violin uml slrniii on In'slni. Op 10. Mo 5; Bach s Ciinhilii Mo 202 "Wciclwi inn . heiruhh' Sc luillrn: and Handel's Vi <//<•/ Mn\n Sinn- in /■ imiioi Ihv St Hi ri-sl I- t rust Good seats still available! Call 402/472-4747 1-800/432-3231 Lied Center Box Office 12th &‘R’Streets OpenMon.-Fri. 11a.m.-5:30 p.m. UNIVOOTY or pmNUJKA LINCOLN LIED CENTER FOR PERFORMING \KfS i Hoopla hides worthy news _ —- « _ f 1 frvf rn/\rtc TKot Too bad you can’t get any news around here on anything but men’s basketball. Pretty soon, we’ll start getting letters telling us we should cover those sports that always get ignored, like swimming, golf and football. But seriously, some worthwhile ne ws has been hidden by the euphoria enveloping the 15th-ranked Husker men. • Some of the luster seems to have gone off the football team’s recruit ing this year. Signing day was a huge event when Nebraska obviously was going to challenge for the national champion ship in the fall. The high school stars signing letters-of-inicnt were embraced as future Cornhuskcr All-Americans, destined to star in the Nebraska foot ball machine. This year, the Nebraska football machine is rusty, and the program has questions that must be answered. Will the Huskcrs be able to defend against the pass, especially after los ing most of the defensive backfield? Is the offensive line ever going to be great again? Can a quarterback estab lish himself fastenough to beat Wash ington in September? The 1991 recruits won’t answer those questions. Those answers must come from spring football, from the coaches and from the season itself. • Angela Beck and Danny Nee need to work on their timing. Last year, the coaches of the Ne braska men’s and women’s basket ball teams each suffered through dis mal 10-18 seasons. This year, each program has turned itself around. Nee would have been better off last year if Beck’s team had won 22 games and gone to the NCAA to ' divert attention. And the women’s team is lost in the shuffle this season as the men’s team lives its dream season. I Paul Domeier The Husker women are as good any team in the conference. Nebraska still has a chance to win 20 games and make the NCAA tournament. Any advance past the first round is un likely, but even one NCAA game would be great experience for the young Huskers. Nebraska will return a ton of tal ent, especially sophomore Karen Jennings and freshman Meggan Yedsena. Yedsena is the likely Big Eight newcomer of the year and Jen nings will battle Liz Brown of Okla homa State and Diana Miller of Kan sas State for conference player of the year. • Le Andre Anderson’s presence on the Nebraska wrestling team, in addition to giving the team some extra rKmilH lirrht a firr» iinH/*r heavyweight Sonny Manley. If Manley starts winning consis tently, the Huskers might be the na tion’s best team. That’s been hard to tell recently with the team’s four injuries, but the Huskers may spring out of their train ing-room hiding place and shock second-ranked Oklahoma State at the the NCAA tournament. • The elimination of the junior varsity football team should have been no surprise. Gary Fouraker, the assistant ath letic director who watches the Com husker bank account, kind of tipped it off last week when he told Daily Nebraskan senior reporter Chuck Grccn that he thought an easier way to save money woufd be to reduce the num oer 01 pmycis uui basically means cutting down the football walk-ons. The loss of the J V team is kind of sad. The JV team, the weight pro gram, the training table and the walk ons were the extra cogs that made the Huskers a machine, not a team, some thing I’ve bragged about from Ne vada to North Carolina. “No, you haven’t seen football obsession until you’ve seen Nebraska football,” I used to say, “with a maga zine devoted to the team, 20,000 people at the final spring scrimmage, sell outs since before I was born — even a few thousand people watching fresh men walk-ons play a junior college team on a Monday afternoon.” Losing the program makes Ne braska football more normal, some thing no Busker fan wants. • The Baseball Hall of Fame ef fectively has banned Pete Rose from the Hall. Fine. If you think his permanent suspension from the game should exclude him from the Hall, you won. If you are like me and think that the key wordsarc “Baseball” and “Fame” and that should be the only criteria for acceptance into the “Hall,” we lost. But why do so many people act like this has any importance? In 2091, kids all acioss the country will know who Pete Rose was. “Sure, I know Pete Rose. He’s second on the all-time hits list behind Wade Boggs. His nickname was Charlie Hustle, and he played on some great Cincinnati Reds championship teams. “And he got kicked out of the game for gambling.” Those kids will know Pete Rose whether he is given a plaque in Coop erstown or not. Domeier is a senior news-editorial major and the Daily Nebraskan sports editor. Officials: Steinbrenner in left field again NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball apparently is turning a deaf ear to ward George Stcinbrenner’s latest foul claim. On Wednesday, it was learned that Steinbrenner’s attorneys filed a 135 page petition with baseball’s execu tive council four months ago, criticiz ing the investigation that resulted in Steinbrenner’s banishment from the New York Yankees. “I think it’s probably long since been filed in the circular file,” deputy commissioner of baseball, Steve Greenberg, said. The petition accuses commissioner Fay Vincent of orchestrating and overseeing “a totally biased and un fair investigation” in order to “gather damning, negative, and one-sided information” against Steinbrenncr. Boston Red Sox general partner Haywood Sullivan, an executive council member, said baseball’s ownership stood behind Vincent and the investigation. “1 think it’s time that some of us stand up and be counted,” Sullivan said from his Boston office. “There are reports that some people say there has been a vendetta to get George. I think the majority of ownership thinks that Fay Vincent has done an excel lent job.” Paul Curran, a Steinbrenncr attor ney who helped draft liic petition, said he had not spoken to any member of the executive council since the document was sent out on Oct. 9. “But my understanding is that they arc looking into it,” Curran said. “Certainly, we have not been told by anyone that they are not considering it or that they have rejected it.” The council is made up of four owners from each league and the two league presidents. “Its role is solely as an advisory body,” Greenberg said. “It has no jurisdiction over this matter or any other disciplinary matter.” Greenberg said the circulation of the petition, along with another 400 or so pages of substantiating docu ments, served only two purposes. “One, to help deforest the Pacific Northwest ... and, two, and more seriously, to perpetuate the fictionali/cd version of the George Steinbrenner story.” Curran said the petition, which was accompanied by “fairly volumi nous” substantiating documents, “docs not seek” Stembrenner’s reinstatement. Instead, its purpose was to point out the “unfair, improper and in some instances illegal actions” taken dur ing the investigation. And, to help baseball “take appropriate action to review its rules and procedures to assure this doesn’t occur again.” The attorney said there was a “significant legal question as to whether” the executive council could overturn Vincent’s suspension “even if it wanted to.” Steinbrenner has accused Vincent and baseball’s chief investigator, John Dowd, of being biased against him. In the petition, Dowd is said to have called Steinbrenner “a career crimi nal.” An executive summary of the peti tion reads: “Vincent’s personal bias against Mr. Stcinbrenncr’s involve ment with baseball is not just a matter of compelling inference ... he has expressly characterized Mr. Stcinbren ncr as a ‘blight on baseball’ who docs not belong in the game.” Sullivan, from his office in Bos ton, however, said he thought Vin cent “and particularly his investiga tors, have handled the situation with the utmost care, and they’ve done an efficient job It has been handled in a correct way. The commissioner has done a respec tful and creditable job.” Steinbrenner signed an agreement that he would give up any day-to-day involvement in operating the Yan kees after it was learned he had paid Howie Spira, an admitted gambler, $40,000, allegedly to supply him in formation on player Dave Winfield. Huskers Continued from Page 15 after the game. “I am pleased with how Nebraska played in all phases of the game,” he said. Nee gave credit to the crowd that coaxed Nebraska into 54-perccnt free throw shooting, concluding a com bined 0-for-5 for Reid and Jose Ramos, each of whom normally shoot better than 80 percent. Nee also lauded the Jayhawks, who remain tied with Oklahoma Stale for the Big Eight lead. “They play that way all the time,” Nee said. Nebraska. 39 38 — 77 At Kansas .... 45 40 — 85 Nebraska—Farmer 4-8 4-7 12, Hayes 2-80-04, King 11-153-4 25, Reid 3-50-2 7, Scales 2-6 0-0 5, Piatkowski 5-9 3-4 15, Ramos 0 00-3 0, Moody 2-4 1-2 5, Chubick 0-00-00,Owens 1-1 2-24 Totals30-56 13 24 77. Kansas—lamison 2-12 2-5 6, Maddox 2-7 0-0 4, Randall 7-10 2-3 16, Brown 5-11 0-0 14, Jordan 2-4 3-6 8, Wagner 2-2 2-2 6 Tunstall 2-5 2-4 6, Richey 2-3 0-04, Scon 5 64-4 14, Woodberry 1-12-2 5, Johanning 1 2 0-0 2, Totals 31-63 17-26 85 3-polnt goals—Nebraska 4-11 (Farmer 0-1, Reid 1-3, Scales 1-1, Piatkowski 2 5, Moody 0-1). Kansas 6-14 (Brown 4-7, Jor dan 1-3, Tunstall 0-2, Richey 0-1, Woo dberry 1-1), Rebounds—Nebraska 37 (Farmer, King 8), Kansas 32 (Jamison 10) Assists—Nebraska 11 (King, Reid, Scales 31, Kansas 20 (Jordan 7). Turnovers— Nebraska 22 (King 5), Kansas 15 (Randall 4) Total fouls—Nebraska 24, Kansas 18 A—15,800 Recruits Continued from Page 15 ness for how big he is.” • Robert Smith, OL, 6-3, 280, East Chicago, Ind.: Smith was an All State lineman in Indiana his senior year. He chose Nebraska over Michi gan, Michigan State and Illinois. • Tom Steer, Athlete, 5-11, 185, Crete: Osborne said Steer was the fastest player to come through camp this year. He is a good all-around athlete and could possibly play wing back or cornerback. • Tony Veland, DB-QB, 6-1,180, Omaha: Veland possesses good speed, Osborne said, and could plry defen sive backorquartcrback for the Husk ers. Osborne said Nebraska’s location and population makes it difficult to get really good players. “The distance is often a great hurdle,” he said. “The weather is sometimes a problem, too. Heavily populated areas have become very attractive to players these days. “One thing Nebraskans need to realize is this is the best we can do."