Sports
, . Michelle Paulman/DN
Nebraska middle blocker Stephanie Thater kills a ball earlier this year against Kansas. The
Comhuskers will play Colorado tonight in Boulder, Colo.
Huskers aim to clinch share
of conference volletball title
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter _
A win by the Nebraska volley
ball learn lonighi will mean less
room in the NU Coliseum’s rafters
for years lo £pmc.
A Comhusker victory woulden
ablc Nebraska to hang up another
banner,as the Huskers would clinch
at least a tic for their 17th consecu
tive Big Eight championship.
But Colorado's Buffaloes would
also like a share of the title.
The Huskers and Colorado will
square off at 7:30 p.m. (MST) in
Boulder, Colo., to determine how
the Big Eight will be won.
Nebraska beat the Buffaloes less
than two weeks ago in Lincoln 15
5,15-9,15-12 to hand Colorado its
only Big Eight loss of the season. A
Buffalo win tonight would pulColo
rado back in the hunt for at least a
piece of the conference champion
ship.
Nebraska volleyball coach Terry
Pettit said he was expecting
tonight’s match to be a lest for the
filth-ranked Huskers.
“It’s going to be a good match,”
said Pettit, whose team has a 15-2
overall record and a 9-0conference
mark. "It will come down to good
passing and selling. We’ll need lo
be assertive and not make unforced
errors.”
Husker outside hitter Laura
Luther said Nebraska must play
like the Huskers did in Lincoln to
beat the 13lh-ranked Buffaloes, 17
4 and 7-L
“1 think we know we’re going to
have loplay real well,” Luther said.
“Our passers have lo come out real
aggressive and get the ball to (Ne
braska seller) Nikki (Strieker).”
TheColoradocoaching staff ex
pects another tough match from the
See COLORADO on 8
Jay hawk sold
on contending
for Big 8 title
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Staff Reporter
Before this year, nol too many
people knew much about Kansas foot
ball.
When he came to Lawrence in
1988, senior tailback Maurice Dou
glas, aColumbus, Ohio, native, didn’t
know much about the Jayhawks ci
ther.
“I really hadn’t heard of Kansas
football,” Douglas said. “Coach (Glen)
Mason did a good job of selling the
program to me.”
The Jayhawks have done as good a
job selling their program to the nation
this year.
Kansas is No. 13 in The Associated
Press poll and will make its speond
appearance on national television this
year when the Jayhawks come to Lin
coln to play the Cornhuskcrs. Kansas
is 7-1 overall and leads the Big Eight
with a 4-0 record.
Douglas said contending for the
Big Eight championship was a goal
the Jayhawks set for themselves at the
end of last year.
“That's what we’ve been shooting
for, ever since last year ended,” he
said. “We felt we had the talent to
battle for a Big Eight championship,
and that is what we arc going for this
year.”
A step toward that goal came Oct.
24 when the Jayhawks beat perennial
Big Eight power Oklahoma for the
second time in 16 years.
“I think if you include Oklahoma
as part of the big two or three (teams
in the conference), we did tackle a big
step in beating part of that trio,” he
said. “I think you at least have to lake
us more seriously now.”
Despite their newly gained respect,
Kansas is a 13 1/2 point underdog to
the Huskcrs this week. Douglas said
that spread did nol surprise him after
Nebraska’s defensive performance
against Colorado Saturday.
“I don ’ t know it’ s as m uch as we’ re
nol getting respect as people arc re
specting the heck out of Nebraska,”
he said. “Obviously, Nebraska showed
When Kansas plays Nebraska on
Saturday, the Big Eight's top four
rushers will be showcased. A
look at the averages of the
league's top five rushers:
Yards Yards
_per Gam*
Calvin Jones, NU 752 107
Derek Brown, NU 707 101
Maurice Douglas, KU554 66
Monte Conans, KU 527 65
they had a really good defense, but I
don’t know if Colorado emphasizes
the run as much as we used to.”
Colorado was held to eight rushing
yards in the game. Douglas said the
Jayhawks would need a much better
performance on the ground to beat the
Huskcrs.
“We hope we can run on them,” he
said. “If we can’t, we probably have
as much chance as Colorado did.
“(Nebraska) looks strong — it’s
very difficult to run on them. I only
got to sec them one lime. If they do to
everybody what they did to Colorado,
they’re good.
“We’ll just have to sec.”
One advantage the Jayhawks will
have going into the game, Douglas
said, is having already appeared on
national television this year. The
Jayhawks lost that game to Califor
nia.
“I think it would have made us as
a team a lot more nervous if we hadn’t
had the California game under our
belts,” he said. “We feel a little more
comfortable with it now.”
Weather hampers practice
From Staff Reports
Snow caused Nebraska to switch
gears and head indoors Tuesday in
what coach Tom Osborne called a
“fair practice.”
The offense had planned to stay in
the stadium for theentire practice, but
as conditions got worse, so did the
practice.
“It got pretty slippery so we just
came in,” Osborne said. “It’s nice to
have this place (Cook Pavillion)or we
wouldn’t have gotten much done.”
Osborne also expressed concern
over fan celebrations going too far in
ripping down both goal posts after the
win over Colorado.
“I think we have to be concerned
about Iiabilily,”Osborne said. “In our
society, people wan t to do c ra/y thi ngs
and then sue you if they get hurt. It
seems like we have to protect them
from themselves.
“We were very fortunate we had
extras.”
Dog days ofNU basketball over; program hits big time
Nobody was barking ai the Ne
braska baskclbal 1 team’s first prac lice
of the season.
I looked around the Bob Dcvancy
Sports Center, and it was more like
Memorial Stadium on a Saturday af
ternoon. A huge contingent of red
clad old people had gathered to watch
the Nebraska basketball team’s first
practice of the season.
But, strangely enough, the old cod
gers weren’t alone.
There were normal middle-aged
people there. Normal people who at
any other time would be home catch
ing the end of “Saturday Night Live.”
Normal students, loo.
And then, about the time Jamar
Johnson hit a three-pointer and people
actually cheered, it all became clear:
Dead Dog Alley is gone forever.
Thank God.
You remember the basketball pro
motion of the late ’80s, the one that
tried to pack people in to sec guys like
Richard van Poclgccst and Ray
Richardson.
The idea won about as many fans
as the H uskers won basketball games.
But watching “Haunted Husker
Hoops” on Saturday, it was obvious
that the program had turned a big
comer.
At the scrimmage Saturday, there
was plenty ol evidence that Nebraska
basketball has put the days of the dog
pound behind.
Firstofall,thcrcwcrc5,714lansin
attendance. The Dcvancy Center was
far from packed, but coaches like Tim
Neumann and Angela Beck would
kill for that kind of crowd at their
John
Adkisson
biggest events of the year.
Second, the spectators were actu
ally hungry for basketball. Somewhere
during the firstof two 15-minute scrim
mages, a guy silling behind me yelled
at the referees to “call it both ways.”
True, the guy may have been a little
demented, but the enthusiasm was
still a welcome sight.
Lastly, the scrimmage —^4or tnc
most part — was well-orchestrated.
The Chicago Bulls-like darkness and
the spotlights that surrounded the play
crs’ entrance was an added attraction
that would be welcomed permanently.
There were still flops: One of the
refs looked more like Nebraska coach
Danny Nee than the actual winner of
the coaches’ look -alike contest held
earlier that evening.
And two of Nebraska’s walk-ons
— Chad Jaeger and Jeremy Glenn —
were introduced before public ad
dress announcer Steve Johnsen an
nounced “the 1992 Nebraska basket
ball team.”
Oh well. We’re not Duke yet.
But Nee and the Cornhuskers arc
making strides by biding lime. Nee
knows his team wasn’t the biggest
show in town on Saturday, and he also
knows they won’t be until football
season is over.
Until the football team finishes,
Ncc will quietly be preparing his team
for the basketball explosion that hits
this state in January.
Believe it or not, a dale with pre
season No. 1 Michigan in Hawaii is
less than two months away. With a
solid nucleus of returners and three
talented freshmen, the Huskers have
the raw talent to stay with the Wolver
ines for awhile.
That kind of December test can
ready the Huskers for teams like Kan
sas and Oklahoma — and the ABC
and ESPN television cameras — that
will storm into the Devancy Center in
1993. When the time comes, Nebraska
and its newly cfassy program will be
ready to roar. i_ ,
And the dogs will be dormant.
Adkisson is a senior news-editorial major
and the Daily Nebraskan sports editor.