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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1993)
SPORTS Nebraska forward Terrance Badgett closes in on a Kent State player in a game earlier this year. The Cornhuskers will open their Big Eight schedule tonight at Oklahoma. Huskers to face first foe in Big Eight showdown By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter The Nebraska men’s basketball team will be thrown straight into the fire tonight. In their Big Eight opener, the ('omhuskers will lace No. lOOkla homa at 7:05 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla. Nebraska, 11-3, is the only team not to have played a Big Eight game. But Huskcr coach Danny Nee said his team was finally ready to jump into the conference wars. “I think the players arc looking lorward to the Big Eight — the sooner the better,” Nee said. He said Norman was a lough place to start. “Oklahoma is a Top 10 team in every aspect,” Nee said. ‘‘The names and numbers change from year to year, but the style of play and the type of program they have is a first class program.” Huskcr forward Bruce Chubick agreed. ‘‘I think they’re one of the top two to three teams in the league; I think a lot of teams arc going to ha ve trouble down there," Ch ubick said. “It will be a good indicator of how far we’ve come and far we’ve got to go.” Nebraska at Oklahoma 7:05 p.m. Thursday Lloyd Noble Center Norman, Okla ^_ Nebraska (11-3, 0-01 ppG Rpc A'X Eric Piatkowski F 16.7 6.7 f k.. . \ Bruce Chubick F 7.9 5.9 I AM. I J Derrick Chandler C 9.6 7.1 V IHU 7 JamarJohnson G 10.6 3.4 \ 11 If/ Jaron Boone_G 8.1 2.4 Oklahoma (11-3, 0-1) PPG RPG Jeff Webster F 18.1 6.2 Bryatt Vann F 16.6 6.1 Bryan Sallier C 14 9.7 Angelo Hamilton G 16.4 4.4 Terry Evans G 14.9 2.4 _ Scott Maurer/DN Nec said the Sooners’ 88-84 overtime loss on the road against Duke characterized how good a team Oklahoma can be. “In the Duke game, 1 think they really played a good game under adverse conditions .. .Nee said. “They got down, but they fought back and that shows me the character of a quality team.” Oklahoma is coming otfot a 96 85 defeat to Big Eight rival Kansas in their conference opener last Monday, and is looking to avoid starling the year 0-2 in their Big Eight home season. All five Sooner starters average in double figures. The Huskers would need to be able to handle many facets of the Sooners in order to leave Norman with a victory, Nee said. “It’s a tough game — every thing has to go well,” he said. “But if you’re ready for the press and you can handle their pressure and you don’t turn the ball over and you make some shots, you have a chance.” Commitments come slowly, official says By Susie Arth Senior Reporter In a year when Cornhuskcr foot ball recruiters arc trying to attract speedy athletes to Nebraska, they have been slower than usual in getting play ers’ verbal commitments, an official said Wednesday. Dave Gillespie, the football program’s on-campus recruiting co ordinator, said the Cornhuskers had received just six verbal commitments so far. National Letter of Intent Day, when most athletes sign with a school, is Feb. 3. “I’d say we’re lagging a little be hind as far as the number of verbal commitments we’ve received,” he said. Gillespie said the Huskers’ trip to Tokyo to play in the Coca-Cola Bowl against Kansas State on Dec. 6 was one reason the number of commit ments was down from past years. “We missed the first week of re cruiting, which means we missed out on a very crucial lime,” he said. But Gillespie said he believed the number of commitments would start to pick up. Gillespie said he expected the Huskers to land about 20 scholarship athletes and save their remaining five scholarships for walk-on players. Gillespie said speed and athletic ability would be emphasized in this year’s recruiting. “Every year, we focus in on offen sive and defensive linemen, and this year is no different,” he said. “For the past three or four years we’ve tried to emphasize speed as much as pos sible.” The recruiters concentrate on ath letes who are from within a 300- or 400-mi 1c radius of Nebraska, he said. So far, the Huskers have received verbal commitments from five play ers from Nebraska. Included on the list arc Matt Aden from Omaha North west, Eric Anderson from Lincoln Southeast, Tim Carpenter from Co lumbus, Fred Pollack from Omaha Creighton Prep and Jon Zatcchka from Lincoln East. But Gillespie said recruiters also had been successful in attracting out of-state players in past years. So far, the Huskers have received only one verbal commitment from outside Nebraska — that of Jason Jenkins, a junior college defensive tackle from Dodge County Commu nity College in Kansas. Track coach says NU may overcome injuries By Chris Hain I Staff Reporter Nebraska’s women’s track and field team is long on talent but short on depth this season. “We have a team of outstanding quality, some balance, but we are really thin, and not just numbers, but people who can effectively score in the Big Eight,” Coach Gary Pepin said. That lack of depth will be tested even more because of prescason inju ries. One injury of particular concern is to standout sophomore sprinter Kathy Travis who has been slowed by a fractured foot. Pepin said Travis’ sta tus for the entire indoor season was uncertain. Travis, along with juniors Kwani Stewart and Shancllc Porter, formed an exceptional trio of sprinters last season. All three were on last year’s 4 x 400 and 4 x 100 relay teams that finished second and third at last year’s NCAA championship. The Comhuskers will be without senior All-American Fran ten BcnseJ, who only has an outdoor season of eligibility left. Pepin said the Huskers would still have good athletes in dis tance events. “Probably two people that will be real important to us will be Theresa Stclling and Sylvia Veil,” Pepin said. Sidling, a junior, had the second fastest time on the team in every distance event in the 1992 indoor season. Veil a senior, was slowed by illness most of last season. Cris Hall, an All-American in both volleyball and track, returns for her senior season. Hall was second in the high jump at last year’s NCAA indoor meet, and fourth in the hcptathalon at the outdoor meet. Pepin, whose Huskers have won 13 consecutive Big Eight indoor and outdoor championships, said he was optimistic for the season. Nebraska opens its season Jan. 23 with the Nebraska Open in Lincoln. Faithful Cornhusker fans find haven in California bar Fullerton, Calif. It’s a city with all of the enjoyable qualities of your av erage Los Angeles suburb: crime, smog, overpopulation, etc. But the one thing that makes Ful lerton unique is that it has one of the largest Cornhusker bars west of Scottsbluff. Last month I was home in Los Angeles and had covered the Ne braska-Southern California men’s basketball game. And following the Huskers’ 74-64 loss to the Trojans (which I was never able to live down during my stay in LA), I was told of the Nebraska bar in the ever-exciting city of Fullerton. I never believed there could really be such a thing as a Cornhusker bar in California. But my curiosity got the best of me, and I wcnlto Fullerton (the Beverly Hills of Watts) to check out this sup posed Nebraska establishment—and was I ever surprised. Outside of the place the sign read: ComhuskerClub & Suds Pub. So far, so good. As you enter this rcstaurant-bar Husker mccca, the first thing you notice is an enormous picture of Me morial Stadium accompanied with individual photographs of Nebraska football All-Americans. If I wanted to order something to eat. I’d have to look below the pic tures of Tom Osborne and Bob Devancy and above the “Go Big Red” See SINGER on 14
