Cuban opener to test Husker experience
By Jeff Singer
Senior Reporter
When the Nebraska men’s basket
ball team opens its 1992-93 season
tonight, it will face a pair of oppo
nents.
Not on I y w i 11 the Corn h uskers have
to battle the Cuban National team, but
they will also be trying to follow new
NCAA guidelines.
Nebraska will square off against
the team of Cuban all-stars at 7:05
p.m. at the Bob Devancy Sports Cen
ter.
The Huskers have only been able
to practice since Nov. 1, compared
with the traditional Oct. 15 starting
date in previous years.
~ NetraskXmcn’sBas^ctbalTcoacTi
Danny Nee said the lack of practice
time had hurt his team.
“With the new legislation, we’ve
been practicing for two weeks,” Nee
said. “We usually get a month before
our first game; we’re not prepared to
play.”
Nee said that even though the H usk
ers weren’t in mid-season form, some
good things should come out of
tonight’s game.
“We’ll use it as a teaching experi
ence,” Nee said. “It will be a good
measuring stick of what we’ve learned
in two weeks.!’
Experience will be the key for
Nebraska against the Cubans, as they
will start four players from last
season’s 19-10 team that played in the
NCAA tournament.
Center Derrick Chandler, forwards
Eric Piatkowski and Bruce Chubick
and guard Jamar Johnson will start for
the Huskers tonight.
The fifth starter has yet to be deter
mined. Leading candidates for the
shooting guard position include fresh
men Jaron Boone and Andre
Woolridgc and sophomore Jason
Glock.
Nee said it didn T matter who started
tonight, because the majority of the
team would be getting playing time to
determine a regular starting lineup
before Nebraska’s regular-season
opener Dec. 4 against Colgate.
Terrance Badgett and Tom Best,
two forwards who both sat out last
season, will also see their first action
as Huskers tonight.
But even though the game will not
count on the Huskers’ record, who
ever play against the Cubans will be
ineligible to redshirt this season.
Nee said he was looking forward to
dcoh Maurer/uin
givingthcCubansatastcofNcbraska
stylebaskctball, while giving his team
a chance to compete against a formi
dable opponent instead of each other.
“It’s a good way to put us in game
conditions, and it will be nice to put
them all on one team.” Nee said.
Nebraskans
at Iowa State
celebrate win
By Tim Pearson
Staff Reporter
Iowa Slate’s upset Saturday of
seventh-ranked Nebraska gave the
1 entire Cyclone team a sense of
satisfaction.
But for the 14ISU players from
Nebraska, the victory was espe
cially satisfying.
IowaStateupsctthcComhuskcrs
19-10 in front of 42,008 fans at
, Cyclone Stadium.
For the players from Nebraska,
it was a win that they can go home
and brag about to friends and fam
i »iy
Kicker Ty Stewart from Omaha
said, “I’ve never felt better.”
“It was a great feeling,” he said.
Center Scott Armbrust, a senior
from Omaha, said that this was the
I Cyclones’biggest win since he had
been at Iowa Stale.
“Wc’^c been trying for the last
four or five years to beat them,” he
said. “This outdoes beating Okla
homa a few years ago.”
In 1990, the Cyclones upset the
Sooncrs 33-31 to stop a 28-ycar
losing streak against Oklahoma.
Artis Garris, a freshman from
Bellevue, said he was glad to have
thechancc toplay against Nebraska.
“This is one of the games I’ve
really been wailing forand looking
forward to,” he said. “When I knew
I was going to get in to play, I
practiced hard all week.”
Garris’ practice paid off, as he
ran for 66 yards against a Nebraska
defense that was only allowing just
over 117 yards per game.
“This is really going to make my
year that we beat them,” Garris
said.
See NEBRASKANS on 8
Jeff Haller/DN
Iowa State freshman running back Artis Garris rushes the ball in Saturday’s Cyclone win
over Nebraska. Garris, from Bellevue, rushed for 66 yards against the Cornhuskers.
Coaches
commend
Cyclones’
staff, team
I
Walden says give
ISU defense credit
By Jeff Griesch
Staff Reporter
Iowa Slate football coach Jim
Walden was still beaming Monday
over the Cyclones’ 19-10 upset win
| over Nebraska on Saturday.
“I’m elated, and I’m tickled to
death for all my players,” Walden
said during the Big Eight coaches’
weekly teleconference. “This ranks
up there with the feelings I have had
in coaching where I didn’t think I
could feel any better.”
Walden credited the Cyclones’
defensive intensity for keeping the
team in the game against the Huskcrs
and giving Iowa Statcachance to win.
“We were totally intense on Satur
day,” Walden said. “Our defensive
people played lights-out, the kids
threw their bodies around and stacked
things up so their backs didn’t have
anywhere to go.”
Iowa State quarterback Marvin
Seiler also played a key role in the
Cyclones’ victory and was named Big
Eight Offensive Player of the Week
for his performance against the Husk
crs.
Sci ler, a fifth-year senior who made
his first start for the Cyclones, rushed
for 144 yards on 24 carries.
Nebraska coach Tom Osborne
commended the Cyclone players and
See COACHES on 8
Sulking NU fans to flood editors with letters
\_/ t/ t/ _* i___i.»„ i to a
You could hear the wind whistling
down the streets of Lincoln Saturday
night.
And if you were to go to any town
in the slate, the wind would have
whipped through your clothes with
the severity of, let’s say, a cyclone.
But the streets were deserted.
Comhusker football fans have gone
into early hibernation this year. The
only evidence that these fans still
exist will be the letters they write to
sports sections in newspapers through
out the state this week and the weeks
to follow.
They’ll be writing clever things
such as “A lot of programs would be
happy to win nine games a season,”
and “To all those Husker bashers out
there, why don’t you just move to
Colorado?”
Yes, the unlikely loss to Iowa State
will undoubtedly bring out the best
(or is it the worst?) in Husker fans.
And the funny thing about it is that
many ol them will be the same people
who were chanting “Bring on Mi
ami!" after Nebraska pasted Colo
rado and Kansas.
But that’s what happensevery time
Nebraska starts beating up on over
rated teams such as the Buffaloes and
Jayhawks.
Need proof? Take a look at the
sports section of last Thursday’s
Omaha World-Herald. Letters from
the various Aristotlcs and Platos of
Nebraska filled the section.
The first of these letters said Ne
braska deserved some first-place
voles. Sorry, buddy, but the No. 1 spot
is reserved for teams that don’t lose
two games in a season.
Another reader said he could think
of 50,003 reasons why Nebraska
should be rated No. 1.
“The first three,” the reader wrote,
“arc Tom Osborne, the entire Ne
braska team and the fans. The last
50,(XX)? Well, go ask Washington’s
i
Mills lot llobori "
The 50,000 refers to the amount of
money the Washington quarterback
received in a loan from a private
businessman.
Well, maybe wccouldgoask Billy
Joe about the numbers 283 and 155 —
the number of yards he had passing
against Nebraska in last year’s and
this year’s Nebraska-Washington
games. Or how about 36-21 and 29-14
— the scores of those two games.
But Husker fans would rather for
get the fact that Hobert has trounced
Nebraska twice. Now that he’s in
trouble, it’s OK to make fun of him
and the Washington program—never
mind that the Huskies will end the
season ranked far ahead of Nebraska.
While we’re on the subject of
rankings, there will undoubtedly be
several readers complaining about
how Colorado is now rated ahead of
Nebraska.
“The pollsters all hate Nebraska,”
fans will whine. “We beat Colorado
and now they’re ranked ahead of us. It
just isn’t fair."
Well, until there’s a playoff sys
tem developed, no method of rankings
or determining a national champion
will be fair.
But if it’s unfair that Colorado is
ranked ahead of Nebraska, isn’t it
equally unfair that Iowa State isn’t
ranked ahead of Nebraska? After all,
the Cyclones won convincingly, but
didn’t even get one vote.
And using the We-Beat-Thcm-So
We-Should-Bc-Rankcd-Highcr
Than-Thcm logic, how can you jus
tify Nebraska being rated higher than
tt asimi^iuii m ia.Ni w vsviv a ujn i w
DAY/CNN poll?
Those dirty pollsters must not like
anybody.
And it will probably geteven worse
the rest of the season. Should Ne
braska beat Oklahoma and Kansas
State—both winsarchighly likely—
the Huskcrs will probably rise back
into the Top 10 and Nebraska fans
will once again be brimming with
optimism going into the Orange Bowl.
But after Nebraska gets blown out
in yet another bowl game, the papers
will be filled once again with letters
from the Huskcr faithful pouting about
Nebraska not getting credit for win
ning nine games and another vicious
cycle of hope and crushed dreams will
be set up for next season.
Thank God basketball season starts
today.
Hytrek is a senior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan senior sports reporter.
