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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1993)
Nebraskan Thursday, Fsbrtiary 28, 1983 Sports Big Eight indoor titles winnable, coach says by unns nam Staff Reporter__ It’s crunch time for the Nebraska track and field team. Friday and Saturday, the Huskers head into Ames, Iowa, for the Big Eight Indoor Championships. Both the men’s and women’s teams are returning champions in what Coach Gary Pepin calls one of the most important meets of the year. “This meet and the national meet —for the team—are the only ones we point toward,” Pepin said. For that reason, Pepin said he hoped to see a great meet from his whole team. “On both sides, to win the meet, we’re going to have to have a good - « jff„5a.\e3.°.od athletes that are capable of scoring In almost every event, think both teams have a good chance to win the meet. - Pepin NU track coach team effort across the board,” Pepin said. He also said the depth on the men ’ s side and the talent for the women were key reasons to expect a lot from the Huskers. “We have good athletes that are capable of scoring in almost every event,"Pepin said. “I think both teams have a good chance to win the meet.” The teams that could challenge the Huskers for the men’s title, according to Pepin, are Iowa State, Kansas State and Oklahoma. Pepin said the better women’s teams in the conference besides the Huskers were Kansas State and Kan sas. -77 But the Huskers certainly have re cent history on their side. The men have won four out of the last six indoor titles, and the women have won the last 13 indoor and out door championships. And this year’s Husker teams have a number of athletes poised to take home individual crowns. “We’ve got quite a few people on both sides that have a chance for an individual victory,” Pepin said. Men who have the best perfor mance in the conference going into the meet are Pat Trainor in the 600 meter run, Isaac Carson in the 55 meter hurdles, Robert Thomas in the long jump and triple jump, and Kevin Coleman in the shot put. •For the women, Shanelle Porter has the best conference performance in the 55-,200-, and400-meter dashes. Chrystall DeNaeyer leads the confer ence in the 800-meter run; Theresa Stelling in the 1000-meter run, the mile and the 3000-meter run; Kwani Stewart in the 55-meter hurdles ahd long jump; and Nicola Martial in the triple jump. Sluggish Huskers get by Buffaloes despite mistakes Nebraska cantor Derrick Chandler caps an undefeated career against an old teammate. See story on Page 14. By Jeff Singer Senior Reporter If the Nebraska men’s basketball team plays to us opponents’ abilities, it couldn’t have been better proven than on Wednesday night. The Comhuskers and Colorado combined for 41 turnovers and 56 fouls, but Nebraska was able to overcome thesloppy play by beating the Buffaloes 76-67 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Husker win, which came in front of 13,626 fans, improved Nebraska’s Big Eight record to 6-5 and overall mark to 18-8. And although both teams were mistake prone throughout the game, several Husker players were happy just to get the victory, their sixth in the last eight games. “It was kind of like a rugby game,” Nebraska forward Terrance Badgeu said. ‘‘But when it’s all done and said, you’ve got to realize that we still won the game.” Fellow Husker forward Bruce Chubick agreed. “U probably was an ugly game to watch,” Chubick said. “But when we play pretty well and we play together, we’re a pretty good team.” The game started off well for Nebraska, as the Huskers raced out to a 27-14 first half lead, capped by a dunk by Husker guard Eric Piatkowski. But turnovers started to plague Nebraska, and the Buffaloes went on a 13-1 run at the aid of the first half. The Huskers did manage a six-point lead at halftime, but Colorado was again able to capi talize on Nebraska mistakes to tie the game at 44 midway through the second half. However, the Huskers were able to turn their game up a notch as the second half progressed, and Chubick scored 11 points following the tie to put the game out of reach. Nebraska coach Danny Nee was happy to get his team over the .500 mark in league play for the first time this season. “There’s nothing pretty about a game like that, the bottom line is that we won,” Nee said. “I was happy with the win — that’s all I can ask for.” The Buffaloes shot a dismal 30.4 percent from the field and dropped their records to 2-9 in conference play and 10-13 overall. Colorado coach Joe Harrington said a sloppy game like Wednesday’s should have turned out to be a blessing for the underdogs. “We could’ve snuck up and won this,” said Harrington, whose team has now lost 12 straight games »n Lincoln. "This was a winnable game for us; I’m not trying to put Nebraska down, they just weren ’t as fired up as we thought they would have been.” The Huskers were paced by Piatkowski’s team-high 16 points, while Chubick added 14 points and center Derrick Chandler had 12 points and led all players with 14 rebounds. Chubick said his performance, especially his 11 second-half points, were crucial for his individual play. He said he was trying to make up for a turnover he committed in Nebraska’s 76-75 win over Missouri last Sunday that nearly cost the Huskers in the game’s final seconds. “I always hear the quote you’re always as good as your last game, or in my case it’s your last play, because I traveled down there,” Chubick said. “I haven’t heard the end of it since, and I was trying to look to redeem myself. “I think I was trying a little bit too hard; in the second half, I finally relaxed a little bit,” he said. A lack of enthusiasm might have also worked against Nebraska, according to Piatkowski. “I was worried, because before the game, it didn’t seem like people were very fired up for the game,” Piatkowski said. “I can kind of see why it’s hard to get fired up for a team that’s only won one of their last 70 road games in the Big Eight,” Piatkowski said. “But that’s one of those things when some of the older guys have to go up to the younger guys and help lift them up and tell them ‘Hey, we’ve got to go.’” _y Robin Trimarchi/DN Amos Gregory fights for the rebound against Sands Golgart during Tuesday night’s 7W7 win over Colorado. Sense of humor gives anchor the edge over competition Mix CBS news anchor Dan Rather, NBC sports broadcaster Bob Costas and comedian Rodney Dangerfield. And although most might picture this mixture as someone who has a bad toupee, has a boring late-night television show for insomniacs, and someone who “doesn’t get any re spect,” it actually would better repre sent ESPN’s newest star sports an chor, Keith Olbermann. Olbermann, whose professional ism, sports knowledge and witty hu mor has helped him become notori ous in sports broadcasting, is ESPN’s No. 1 sportscaster on the network’s Popular SportsCcnter. Anyone who’s ever seen Olbermann on ESPN knows what I’ve seen ever since his days as a sports anchor on a small TV station in Los Angeles, and that is simply that Olbermann is hands-down the top sportscaster in the business. Olbermann’s level of popularity has soared with an aspect of sports broadcasting that most try: spicing up his broadcasts with humor. In California, that’s what drew him a large following, myself included, at first at a tiny station called KTL A and then to Los Angeles’ CBS affiliate KCBS, before making the move to Bristol, Conn., and ESPN to the ben efit of all outside of the Golden State. All it takes is to see Olbermann on one episode of SportsCenter to show how his humorous antics can add a bit of laughter to the typically humorless sports world. Jeff Singer Here are just a few examples of Olbermannisms from an average SportsCentcr last Tuesday: An unexciting fight breaks out in a Utah Jazz-Houslon Rockets game in which Olbermann comments: “(Steven) Howard and Vernon Max well get into a slap fight, which is always an exciting thing to see in a NBA game— ‘hold me back, hold me back. ’ After Kansas State upset Oklahoma 67-63, Olbermann said: “One for 21 on three-pointers were the Sooners, who couldn’t hit one sooner, later or in between.” In Baylor’s 76-75 loss to Houston, a Bear player ended up losing the game for his team when he dunked the ball and celebrated by hanging on the rim that discarded the two points nec essary to lead Baylor to victory. Olbermann joked: ^Baylor loses the ballgame by virtue of premature jocu larity ” Olbermann adds about the game: “And the real question has to be is Baylor’s Willie Subleta low-rent ver sion of Colorado's Rodell ‘House’ Guest from last year?” In an interview with Olbermann earlier this week, he was his usual wiuy self. He said he enjoyed doing SportsCenter because its audience was primarily sports fans. “You know that everybody watch ing wants to hear about sports; you don't have to dress it up and put chicken feathers on it or put it in a chicken suit to make it interesting, it* s there already,” he said. “The only thing you have to do is keep them there/ Olbermann said people occasion ally complained about his humor at others’ expense, but sometimes he had to take more blame than he de serves. See SINGER on 14
