Sports
Wheelchair team looking up
Founders want to include disabled athletes
By Susie Arth
Staff Reporter_
Two UNL students have started a
new sport, now they need teammates.
Doug Stutheit and Eric Kingery
arc the founders of ai wheelchair bas
ketball team at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, but the team is
short a few players.
“Our plan,” Stutheit said, “is to let
the student population Know that there
arc people who arc eligible to play on
the team but don’t know it.’’
Stutheit, a senior finance major,
said students did not have to be regu
lar wheelchair users to play. Anyone,
he said, who had a disability that kept
him or her from playing able-bodied
sports was eligible.
Wheelchairs, he said, could be
supplied for students who didn’t have
them.
Stutheit, who plays wheelchair
basketball for a local team sponsored
by Handicapped Recreational Serv
ice, said that team had players who
weren’t wheelchair users. Unfortu
nately, he said, only three members
of his local team were UNL students.
Stutheit and Kingery said their I
ultimate goal would be to get wheel- I
chair basketball on a varsity level, I
which means the university would
give scholarships to encourage the
best players to come to Nebraska.
Several universities, Stutheit said,
already had established wheelchair
basketball as a varsity sport.
The first step, they said, was to get
the sport approved as a club sport on
campus.
“We need to get enough people so
See WHEELS on 8
Photos by Al SchabervDN
Clockwise from right:
Eric Kingery makes a shot
at the Campus Recreation
Center basketball courts
Tuesday afternoon.
Kingery laughs after play
ing basketball in the Lincoln
City Wheelchair Basketball
League at Lefler Junior High
School Monday night.
Doug Stutheit (left) and Kin
gery plav at the Campus Rec
reation Center every Tuesday
and want to form a college
team.
Stutheit laughs as he and
Kingery race for a rebound
Tuesday afternoon.
NU shooting for winning tradition, Nee says
By Nick Hytrek
Senior Editor
Regardless of the outcome of the
game against Connecticut Thursday,
the Nebraska men’s basketball team
will end this season a winner. Coach
Danny Nee said.
When the Huskcrs were selected
to the NCAA Tournament last Sun
day, it marked the first time in school
history that Nebraska had qualified
two consecutive years.
Last season, Nee guided his Husk
ers to a 26-8 record and their first
NCAA bid since the 1985-86 season
— the season before he arrived.
And he said he was more than
happy to make a return trip to the
tournament.
“Since we’ve come here, we’ve
been trying to build this winning tra
dition,” Nee said. “Getting to the
NCAA two years in a row is helping
solidify the tradition.
“I think the significant thing is that
Nebraska’s done it two years in a row.
I think that’s a major accomplish
ment for this team.”
His team’s success against tough
competition this season has solidified
the program’s newfound winning
tradition, he said.
“Our only loss to an unranked team
was at (Kansas) State and that’s pretty
significant,” he said. “We think we’ve
done a lot of things right.”
The Huskers’ wins over high-ranked
teams have helped that tradition grow
even more. Nee said.
“We beat Oklahoma Slate when
they were 20-0,” he said. “We beat
Kansas when they were No. 2 in the
country. We beat USC that’s a No. 2
seed (in the NCAA Tournament).”
Nee said those wins established
the winning legacy he wanted to in
still at Nebraska.
“A lot of good things happened,”
he said. “The teams we’ve beaten
have great win-loss records. Some of
them have the highest (winning) per
coinages in the country.”
Oklahoma State finished the regu
lar season with a 26-7 record, Kansas
is 26-4 and USC is 23-5.
Nee said his program would bene
fit from the recent success and it
would expand into different areas.
“It’s had a ripple effect,” he said.
“We feel that last year’s NCAA bid
and the success that we had helped us
in our recruiting last fall.”
See TRADITION on 8