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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1993)
Sports Three victories propel Jayhawks to No. 1 ranking By Jeff Griesch Staff Reporter Kansas became the nation ’s top-ranked team on Monday following three Jayhawk wins and losses by Kentucky, Duke, and Michigan. Kansas, 14-1 and 2-0, defeated Oklahoma 96-85, Oral Roberts 140-72, and Louisville 98 77 to take the top spot. Jayhawks coach Roy Williams said he told his players that they had earned the No. 1 ranking, but they needed to stay focused. “We’ve played very well the last two times out, but none of our goals at the beginning of the season was to play 15 games and cancel the rest of the season,” Williams said on the Big Eight coaches’ teleconference. Williams credited his backcourtduoof Rex Walters and Adonis Jordan with the Jayhawks’ ascension to the top of the polls. “Rex and Adonis have both been great,” Williams said. “They are both talented young men who arc playing very well and they arc also playing very hard.” Wallers struggled through an early season shooting slump but finally broke out of it, hitting 20 of 30 field goals, including 9 of 14 three pointers, for a total of 58 points in the three Kansas wins. For his efforts, Walters earned Big Eight Player of the Week honors. “I wish 1 could tell you that I did something great to help Rex out of his slump,” Williams said. “I did help him with some technical things, but it was just a case of him getting in the gym, working his tail off shooting jump shots and he finally just worked it out.” Nebraska began the conference season with two losses, but Coach Danny Nee is remaining positive about the play of the Cornhuskcrs. Nee said the Huskcrs showed improvement despite losing at Oklahoma 102-89 on Thurs day and Oklahoma State 78-73 on Saturday. The Huskcrs fell to 11-5 and 0-2 in the confer ence. Jaron Boone, Andre Woolridge, Erick Strickland, Tom Best, Terrance Badgett, and Amos Gregory got their first taste of playing in Conf All Kansas 2-0 14-1 Kansas State 2-0 10-2 Missouri 2-0 10-3 Oklahoma 1-1 12-3 Oklahoma State 1-2 9-3 Iowa State 1-2 9-5 Nebraska 0-2 11-5 Colorado 0-2 7-6 Scott Maurer/DN ihc Big Eight, and Ncc thinks that playing on the road early will help the Huskers later in the season. “Our young kids found out what it was like to play on the road in the Big Eight for the first time,” Ncc said. The brightest spot for the Huskers on the road trip was the play of Erick Strickland. The 6-foot-3 freshman from Bellevue scored 19 points against the Sooners and added 12 points and 5 assists against the Cowboys. According to Ncc, Strickland’s offense is improving and his defense is providing a spark to the Huskers. “I have never seen a player come in as a freshman and be so dominant on the defensive end,” Ncc said. “He gives us a defensive iden tity, and he docs a lot of little things for us.” Weekend schedule takes toll on team playing, Beck says By Derek Samson Staff Reporter_ Neither the new Friday-Sunday schedule nor assigned travel partners for Big Eight women’s basketball teams have made a good first impression on Nebraska coach Angela Beck. The new system of scheduling, adopted by the conference this summer, was designed to give the sport more exposure. But Beck said she isn’t so sure. “After two weeks now and having a 2-2 conference mark, this Friday-Sunday thing is taking its loll,” Beck said at her weekly press - (4 Iowa State — Is now down to six players. Nobody is really preparing for them. —Beck, NU women's coach -99 - conference Monday. ‘Today is really their only day off and they have school. “This weekend thing is murder because we See BECK on 8 CT— ■ ■ I Travis Heying/DN Nebraska forward Tom Best blocks a shot in a game earlier this season against Creighton. The Cornhuskers, 0-2 in Big Eight play, will resume piay in a non-league game Wednesday against Sacramento State. Nee says Nebraska fans shouldn’t fret over losses i-tusKercoacn pleased with effort on the road By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter Nebraska men’s basketball coach Danny Nee is urging Comhuskcr fans not to hit the panic button just yet. The Huskers opened their Big Eight sea son last week with a pair of losses — a 102 89 setback to Oklahoma on Thursday and a 78-73 loss to Oklahoma S talc two days later in Stillwater, Okla. Nebraska is tied with Colorado at the bottom of the conference standings, with the entire Big Eight looking up to No. 1 Kansas, which stands at 3-0 in league play. _ But Nee said it was not yet time for the • Huskers to give up their hopes of a confer ence trophy and hand it over to the Jay ha wks. “I do think there’s a lot of basketball left and it docs balance out with the home and away games, so in time we’ll handle it,” Nee said. “That will work itself out if we take care of business where we’re supposed to.” Nee isn’t sure if playing at the Oklahoma schools was where his team was supposed to start registering Big Eight wins. “If we looked back in the spring and thought of two games we were going to play in Oklahoma — if we were going to win them or if we could play .500 basketball — we would’ve been reluctant to say cither one,’’ he said. “So playing two back-to-back road games starling off the Big Eight is a difficult challenge.^ See LOSSES on~8 Despite changes, Nee-braska” lacks leadership Things have changed around here. Winter used to be a relatively quiet time, with most sports fans cither spending their time dreaming about the next year’s football team or sup porting Nebraska’s nationally re nowned gymnastics team. Sure, there were some who went to the Bob Devaney Sports Center to watch the basketball team play, but there was little passion and little en thusiasm. Our home court didn’t get called ‘Dead Dog Alley” for nothing. We had our share of good players in the good old days — Bernard Day, Dave Hoppen and Bill Jackman — but the spark was just never there. But like I said, things have changed around here. I first noticed it when I saw bumper stickers that misspelled our state’s name. “Nec-braska” was the new name, and ii brought a new style of play to Nebraska basketball. Danny Nee brought his Brooklyn heritage to the state and changed the Huskers’ style of play to fit his back ground. “Nee-braska” turned into the home of a fast-paced basketball team, one that could run with the best of them. Perhaps the idea came from Nee’s former Power Memorial High School teammate Karccm Abdul-Jabbar, who was an intcgralpart of the Lakers and their “showtime” running game, or perhaps it was modeled after the Husker football tcam’srunninggamc. Nee came to Nebraska and imme diately recruited and landed some of the country’stop athletes, and brought excitement to the Sports Center. It all started two years ago, with players like Tony Farmer, Rich King and Beau Reid. The team finished Susie Arth ninth in the UPI rankings, 11th in the AP rankings, and made an appearance in the NCAA tournament. A year ago, “Nec-braska” was the home of yet another exciting basket ball team. The running tradition was carried on by seniors Dapreis Owens and Carl Hayes, and the Huskers again appeared in the NCAA tournament. So far this year, the run-and-gun tradition has persisted with only one element missing — success. The Huskers have struggled this season, losing to USC, Michigan, Southwestern Louisiana, Oklahoma and Oklahoma Stale. They have an 11 -5 overall record, and arc 0-2 in the Big Eight Conference. The Huskers lack senior leader ship, and they lack discipline. The lone senior on the team, Derrick Chan dler, is only playing his second season as a Huskcr. Juniors Eric Piatkowski and Bruce Chubick each have three years of experience, but neither has assumed a crucial leadership role, at least not on the floor. The team is dominated by fresh men. Andre Woolridgc, Erick Strickland, Jaron Boone and Terrance Badgctt have proven that they can run in Division I basketball, but they have yet to prove they can play. The Huskers seem to prefer the Houston Oilers’ offense, the run and shoot, over the more standard route of running a half-court offense. They run down the court, pass once, maybe twice, and then shoot. Jk Bui win or lose, “Nce-braska” still . brings excitement to the state. Where else could you find a coach who would allow center Amos Gre gory to fire freely from three-point range? Where else could you find a team firing 70-plus shots a game? And where else can you find five first year players trying to imitate the Lak ers’ “showtime?” So maybe “Nce-braska” needs to help its players understand their roles better, or maybe “Nce-braska” needs to exercise some sort of discipline on its players. And if it doesn’t, “Nce-braska” could revert back to the days before change blessed the state — it could end up in the NIT. Arth is a senior news-editorial major and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter. MP