The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 17, 1992, Page 7, Image 7
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.