Nebraskan SPORTS
Wednesday, March 31,1993 ^
Two men verbally commit to play for NU
By Susie Arth
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska men’s basketball
program is bringing its focus back to
the future.
Gary Bargen, assistant basketball
coach at NU, said there were talented
players available who could step in
and contribute to the program.
Center Derrick Chandler was the
only senior on this year’s team.
Bargen said the Comhuskers were
especially interested in recruiting big
players.
Two athletes who have said they
will sign with Nebraska on April 14 fit
that description.
Both Clinton “Mikki” Moore of
South Carolina and Herb Baker of
Paris (Texas) Junior College have
verbally committed to come to Ne
NU to start
eight-game
week with
Creighton
By Derek Samson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska softball team is hop
ing a rain-soaked surface won’t pre
vent its two games with Creighton
tonight in Omaha.
“They have Astroturf, so hope
fully we will play, but if it was to be "
played here, there would be no chance
of playing,’’Comhusker coach Rhonda
Revelle said.
Although bad feelings between
Creighton and Nebraska have arisen
in baseball, Revelle said the rivalry
had been much tamer in softball.
“It has become a much more
friendly rivalry than it was in the
past,” Revelle said. “I wouldn’t say
they arc our biggest rival, just because
they’re not in our conference, but they
are definitely right up there.”
The 7-7 Cornhuskers placed fifth
at the National Invitational Tourna
ment last weekend in Sunnyvale, Ca
lif. Nebraska’s doubleheader with
Creighton tonight begins an eight
game week for the Huskers.
“It is always a good battle when we
play. It is a real fun rivalry to have
with us both in the state,” Revelle
said. “We’re both really struggling
with injuries.”
The injuries have hit the Huskers
hard. Pitcher Deanna Hudson, in
fielder Karla Kniccly and outfielder
Lila Kephart are all out for the season
with knee injuries.
Revelle, who is a former Nebraska
player and in her first year as the
Huskers’ coach, said she wanted her
team to improve on the mental as
pects of the gamp._
See SOFTBALL on 8
braska.
The most recent commitment came
from Moore,acenter from Blacksburg
High School.
Jim Touchberry, coach at
Blacksburg High, said Moore would
bring great skills to the Comhusker
team.
“He will be an asset to any program
because I know he’s going to im
prove,” Touchberry said.
Moore has been playing basketball
for only three years, Touchberry said.
Moore, a 6-foot-10, 200-pound
center, will bring strong defensive
play to Nebraska, Toucnberry said.
His leaping ability and agility make
him an excellent shot blocker, he said.
“I’d say he’s the biggest and the
most dominant shot blocker I’ve
seen,’’Touchberry said. “Defensively,
he made a lot of things happen for us.”
' -. .
-44
Herb Baker always has
a big smile on his face.
He's got the biggest
smile in the nation.
—Cox
Paris (Texas) JC
assistant coach
-99 -
Touchberry said he thought Moore
would need to hit the weights at Ne
braska so he could use his height to his
advantage and develop mgre offen
sive skills.
“He needs to get on a strength
program,” Touchberry said.
Moore averaged 14 points, 12.8
rebounds and five blocked shots a
game for Blacksburg.
But Touchberry said he was cer
tain Moore’s offense would come
around.
“He’s still young. He’s still devel
oping, and one of the last things to
develop as a player is offens ivc skills.”
Moore chose Nebraska over San
Diego and Virginia Tech.
Baker, who gave Nebraska his ver
bal commitment after attending the
Feb. 27 Husker game against Iowa
State, averaged 13 points and seven
rebounds a game for Paris Junior Col
lege.
Jeremy Cox, an assistant basket
ball coach at Paris Junior College,
said Baker was looking forward to
attending Nebraska.
“Herb is very enthused about com -
ing to the University of Nebraska,”
Cox said. “He wanted to play in the
Big Eight.”
Baker, a 6-8, 260-pound center,
played at Baylor for one year before
transferring to Paris JC.
He chose Nebraska over New
Mexico State and Murray State.
Cox said Baker needs to learn how
ttf use his strength better.
“He’s very strong, he’s got a big
old body, and he’s a real good ath
lete,” Cox said. “He needs to learn to
use his strength offensively and on the
boards.”
And Cox said he was certain Ne
braska fans would take a liking to
Baker.
“He’s a good kid,” he said. “Herb
Baker always has a big smile on his
face.
“He’s got the biggest smile in the
nation.”
■ l
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska’s Doug Garland swims in the 200-yard freestyle in a meet earlier this season. The Cornhusker men ended their
season with a No. 20 finish at the NCAA meet in Minneapolis.
NCAA showings please NU coach
By Tony West
Staff Reporter
Performances by Nebraska’s
swimmers and divers at the NCAA
Championships in Minneapolis left
Comhusker coach Cal Bentz ex
cited for the future.
The men’sand women’s squads
both finished No. 20 in the champi
onship meet, the first time in his
tory both squads finished in the top
20 at the NCAA meet in the same
season.
“I was pleased that both teams
finished in the top 20,” Bentz said.
Although a disqualification in
the 400-yard freestyle relay ham
pered the men’s hopes for a higher
finish in the meet, Bentz said he
still was pleased with the outcome.
“We had hoped to be in the top
15 for the men,” he said. “But we
were pleased to be in the top 20."
Several Huskers earned personal
bests to highlight the meet.
Sophomore Allan Kelsey topped
the Husker performances with his
seventh-place Finish in the 100
yard freestyle with a time of 43.94
seconds. That mark moved Kelsey
to second on Nebraska's all-time
best chart.
Justin Finney and Kevin
McMahon also established new
career bests at NU in the 100-yard
freestyle and the three-meter div
ing competition, respectively.
McMahon placed third in three
meter diving and was Nebraska’s
highest individual finisher.
“The men performed well,”
Bentz said. “I was pleased with the
performances.”
Bentz said having both teams
emerge with top-20 finishes pro
vided a good building block for the
future.
“We have talented athletes com
ing back,” he said. “We have at
least as good or better athletes com
ing back next year."
Byrne sfrankness jeopardizes Creighton, JMU programs
When Bill Byme went public with
the news that Nebraska’s athletic de
partment has asked the NCAA to in
vestigate possible rules violations by
Creighton’s baseball program, he cost
Nebraska any chance of winning three
of this weekend's baseball games.
' But he could have cost the athletic
department much more than that.
Put simply, he risked the Nebraska
athletic department’s reputation.
Byme clearly damaged Creighton ’ s
reputation by simply answering an
Omaha World-Herald reporter’s ques
tion Friday.
Byme told the World-Herald that
Nebraska had reported possible rules
violations by Creighton’s baseball
program to the NCAA.
“We have sufficient reason to be
lieve,” he told the World-Herald, “that
there were enough allegations con
cerning the Creighton Umvcrsitybase
ball program that we asked the NCAA
to make inquiry of that sometime
after the first of the calendar year.”
That statement alone is enough to
damageCreighton’sreputation. Byrne
would have done best by just keeping
the allegations private — between
Nebraska, the NCAA and Creighton.
Simply because the allegations are
public — whether they arc true or not
— they’ll no doubt hurt Creighton’s
recruiting this year.
And maybe it deserves to be hurt.
If Creighton did blatantly violate
NCAA rules and gain a substantial
advantage over other programs, in
cluding Nebraska’s, then Byrne had
an obligation to report it to the NCAA.
' He didn’t have a right to report it to
the world.
By making the statement that Ne
braska has “sufficient reason to be
lieve” that Creighton did comm it these
violations, he hung Creighton’s pro
gram before it could be tried.
Todd
Cooper
Byrne would have been wise lo
have responded lo the questions with
a “no comment,” then let the NCAA
do its dirty work.
As Byrne told the World-Herald,
“It’s best that this be examined by the
NCAA as an impartial third party.”
Exactly, Mr. Byrne. And until the
NCAA has a chance to make its find
ings public, the investigation should
be between Creighton and the NCAA.
Privately. That way, Creighton ’ s repu
tation remains intact if the NCAA
finds out that the allegations were
false or frivolous.
As Kevin Sarver, Creighton’s
‘ V
sports information director, said Tues
day:
“It is unfortunate that this issue has
become public. The NCAA enforce
ment process is designed (o protect
schools’ reputations from unproven
allegations.’’
Byrne set a dangerous precedent
by letting the news slip to the media
before the NCAA could investigate.
Now, based on Byrne’s actions,
any athletic director can mar another
program if he has “sufficient reason to
believe’’another program has cheated.
So, Creighton basketball coach
Rick Johnson, if you think Danny Nee
has cheated, shout it out. Whether he
has or not doesn’t matter. It’s the
accusation that counts. And, no mat
ter whether your accusations are true
or not, they Ml hurt his program.
Just like Byrne’s words hurt
Creighton.
Obviously, Byrne isn’t going to
report rumors. He probably spent a
long time talking to Nebraska base
ball coaches John Sanders and Tim
Seaton about the allegations before he
made the decision to forward the re
port to the NCAA.
That alone is scary.
Instead of worrying about other
programs, By me should spend his
lime making sure every one of
Nebraska ’ s programs is sq ueaky clean.
Because if they aren’t, he has just
risked making Nebraska look like a
huge hypocrite. And, worse yet, he
has opened the whole program up to
damage, should anyone have “suffi
cient reason to believe” one of
Nebraska’s programs is crooked.
A simple “no comment” from
Byrne when asked about the allega
tions would have precluded a lot of
controversy this past weekend. It
. See COOPER on 8