Sports
Illinois native
trying to fit in
despite barriers
By Jeff Singer
seniuf ncpu/ic?#
It’s usually hard for a person who^
stands 6-foot-8 to go unnoticed, but
that seems to have happened to Tom
Best.
Best, a junior forward on Nebraska
men’s basketball
team, has been
overshadowed by
his teammates this
season.
In the
Comhuskcrs’ pur
Best suit of a third
straight trip to the NCAA tournament,
Nebraska has posted a 15-7 record.
The Huskers’ starters — Eric
Piatkowski, Jamar Johnson, T crrancc
Badgetl, Bruce Chubick and Derrick
Chandler — have all received their
share of publicity throughout the sea
son.
Nebraska’s touted freshman class
of Andre Woolridge, Jaron Boone
and Erick Strickland hasn’t exactly
hidden from the limelight.
And then there’s Best.
The South Holland, III., native
transferred from Toledo two years
ago after leading the Mid-American
Conference in rebounding in his sec
ond season there.
But while trying to adjust to Big
Eight competition this year as well as
suffering back spasms, he has been
practically invisible.
Then again, a lack of notoriety is
- 44
£m kind of hard on
myself, but I’m not
really having a good
year at all.
—Best
NU forward
-ff -
pretty much what he expected.
“You can be a star somewhere
else, and then you come to a bigger
school and you ’ rc just another player,”
Best said. “I’m just trying to fit in as
best as I can.”
After having back surgery in the
off-season, Best has fit into Nebraska
coach Danny Nee’s 10-man rotation
by averaging 5.7 points and 4.6 re
bounds in 17 minutes per game in his
first season as a Husker.
He has been bothered by lingering
back spasms that kept him from com
peting for a couple of weeks, but he
returned in time to take part in
Nebraska’s 68-64 upset of No. 3 Kan
sas last Sunday.
In the win, Best gave the Huskers
their first lead in the second half over
the Jayhawks when his layup capped
a Nebraska 13-3 spurt after halftime.
Nee said he was impressed with
Best’s effort following the three games
he missed.
See BEST on 14
NU women gymnasts
inch toward regionals
By Chris Hain
Staff Reporter_
The Nebraska women’s gymnas
tics team will travel to Missouri this
weekend for a triangular that Coach
Rick Walton said willhe another step
toward a possible berth- in NCAA
Regionals.
In a meet with Southeast Missouri
State andTexas Women’s University
at Cape Girardeau, Mo., Walton said
the Comhuskers would be looking to
score big.
“The name of the game now is
scoring as many points as we can,” he
said. “That will determine your aver
age, and your average determines your
seeding in regionals.”
Last week, the Huskcrs scored
plenty of points in a dual with Air
Force. The Huskers had the top four
places in the all-around — all sopho
mores — and racked up a score of
190.95.
Walton said the sophomore class
had been one of the strengths of the
team.
“Not a single sophomore in that
class hasn’t broken 38 in the alf
around,” he said.
Walton said Saturday’s meet would
give him a chance to take a look at
some of his other athletes.
“We’ll probably lake Martha
Jenkins out of two or three events to
rest her ankle,’’ he said. “A couple
freshmen have stepped up, allowing
us to do that.”
Walton said that depth and staying
healthy were the keys if the Huskers
wanted to make the trip to the NCAA
Championships that they narrowly
missed last year.
“Right now we think we could be
anywhere between sixth and 12th,” he
said. “Truthfully, if we take the rou
tines we’re doing now and hit them on
a nightly basis, we can go to the
NCAA Championships.”
Stad McKee/DN
Nebraska’s Corey Olson is currently ranked No. 2 in the country with a 20-2 record. Last
year, Olson finished as the national runner-up at the NCAA Championships.
Rollercoaster ride
i Wrestler has known success, tough times
By Susie Arth
f Senior Ruportar _
Up and down, up and down.
These are familiar feelings for
Comhusker wrestler Corey
Olson, whose career has been
marked by highs and lows..
, The highs came first, when
Olson was only a freshman.
During his first year, Olson
stormed onto the collegiate
wrestling scene by finishing third
in the NCAA Championships and
becoming only the second
Husker freshman ever to earn
All-American honors.
Olson called the year a
learning experience, and he
learned that his early accomplish
ments were enough to whet his
appetite for success in following
years.
As a sophomore, he began the
season with a 15-1 record. But
saw his season come to an abrupt
halt when he injured his right
knee.
“(The injury) was really hard
for me,” he said. “I was ranked
second, I was all fired up, and it
was a going to be a really good
year for me.”
So instead of wrestling in the
NCAA Championships, Olson
> watched the match from the
stands and vowed that he would
' come back and win the tourna
ment as a junior.
In his third year, he finished
the season with a 31-7 record and
defeated the nation’s No. J
wrestler in the semifinals of the
NCAA Championships.
Then, another low.
Olson lost to Ohio State’s
Kevin Randlcman in the finals.
This,•'Olson said, was the
lowest of his lows.
See OLSON on 14
Byrne successfully steps into the Bobfather’s shoes
There’s a new sheriff in the Ne
braska athletic department, and so far
he’s taken the bull by the horns.
Or more appropriately, the
Comhusker by the ears.
Bill Byrne, the former athletic di
rector at the University of Oregon, has
been at the helm in Lincoln for more
than a month now.
Since his arrival, Byrne has been
lauded by his supporters and has turned
his doubters into believers.
But since I’d never met the man, I
hadn’t gotten a full impression of
Byrne’s ideas and innovation.
I had always been impressed with
Bob Devaney — the legend who put
Husker athletics on the map and made
Nebraska one of the most respected
programs in the country.
aowhen Devaney’sconlractwasn’t
renewed after last month s expiration
date, I couldn’t see anyone coming
into the Husker athletic program and
filling the large shoes of the ever
popular Bobfathcr.
Sure, Byrne, an Idaho State gradu
ate, built a top-notch athletic depart
ment in Oregon, but how would he be
accepted at Nebraska?
Even before I met Byrne, I had
seen him numerous times at various
Husker sporting events: volleyball
matches, men’s basketball practices
and even at the Nebraska-Southern
California men’s basketball game last
December in Los Angeles.
Byrne showed me he was really
trying to win support of the Husker
faithful. Anyone brave enough to be
at the LA Sports Arena late at night
had to be somewhat dedicated.
Jeff
Singer
So Tuesday as I sat and listened to
Byme, I loo became a believer. One
conversation with Byrne makes you
think he’s had Huskcr scarlet and
cream flowing through him all his
life.
“I try to gel to know the athletes
and the coaches well,” Byrne said.
“Because our whole purpose is to give
our coaches and athletes a chance to
win in the best possible type of envi
ronment, and to provide a good edu
cational setting for them.
1 mink I nave lo know tnc athletes
and the coaches well, and I’m work
ing hard at trying lo gel lo know them
and have them get to know me,” he
said.
Byrne added that “it’s a big pro
gram, it’s a huge challenge and I love
challenges."
This type of philosophy has im
pressed many of Byrne’s colleagues,
including Barbara Hibner, Nebraska’s
assistant to the athletic director in
charge of women’s sports.
“Many limes when there’s change
people are apprehensive, especially
when you have a giant like Bob here,’
Hibner said. “I think Coach Dcvaney
cast a long shadow, and nobody ha:
more respect for Coach Dcvaney lhai
Bill Byrne.
it we give Dili tnc cnance 10 paint
his own picture, he’ll do a good job,”
she said.
Listening to Byrne’scommiuncnis
to his studcni-athlcics and coaches as
well as his desires to make the Ne
braska athletic department financially
prosperous makes me believe Byrne
is the right leader for Nebraska.
After all, if we gave Devancy, a
Wyoming Cowboy, the chance to
become a Nebraska immortal, we need
to give Byrne the opportunity to show
; there’s also room on the Huskcr ped
[ cstal for an Oregon Duck.
I
1 Singer is a senior news-editorial and po
l liUcal science m^Jor and a Daily Nebraskan
sports senior reporter.