Daily
Nebraskan
Friday, February 20,1994
Sports
Probable Starters
Nebraska vs. Kansas State
Bob Devaney Sports Center, 3:10p.m. Saturday
TV: Raycom (Channel 7) Radio: KLIN 1400
Nebraska (15-8/5-6)
Kansas State (17-8/4-7)
Pos. Player
G Anthony Beane
Ht.
5-10
PPg
11
rpg
2.9
Ron Lucas
6-7
5.5
3.6
Demond Davis
6-4
_6J_
ON graphic
Huskers closer,
not finished yet
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Editor
One down and two to go.
At least that is the way the Nebras
ka men’s basketball team is approach
ing the remainder of its season.
I he Comhusk
ers got a crucial
96-87 win over
Kansas on Wed
nesday night, but
Coach Danny Nee
said the Huskers
still needed two
more wins to re
ceive an invitation
to the NCAA tour
nament.
Nee
Nebraska will be looking for win
No. 2 at the Bob Devaney Sports Cen
ter Saturday against a Kansas State
team that is playing with the same
motivation as the Huskers. The 3:10
game will be televised on Raycom
(Channel 7).
Like Nebraska, the Wildcatsare on
the NCAA tournament bubble.
Kansas State is 17-8 and 4-7 in the
Big Eight and has won three straight
games, including a 89-76 win over
Oklahoma last Saturday.
The Wildcats had lost four straight
games before breaking out of their
slump against Western Kentucky.
Kansas State used the momentum
from its win over the Hilltoppers to
pummel the Sooners at Manhattan,
Kan.
The Wildcats hit a Big Eight-record
16 consecutive field goals against
Oklahoma—a feat that caught Nee’s
attention.
“1 was impressed with the way
Kansas State played against Oklaho
ma,” Nee said.
The Wildcats also have a two-game
winning streak in Lincoln. Kansas
State beat the Huskers 66-64 last sea
son and 70-66 two years ago at the Bob
Devancy Sports Center.
But Nebraska guard Eric
Piatkowski, who scored 33 points and
grabbed 11 rebounds in the Huskers’
win over Kansas, said Nebraska was
focused on ending the Wildcats’ streak.
“I don’t think there is anything to
worry about Saturday,” Piatkowski
said. ‘‘We are going to be ready for
them because we have to beat K-State.”
NU swimmer looks ahead
to new goals, new places
By Tony West
Staff Reporter
From having people look at her
differently to driving on the other side
of the street, Melanie Dodd has done
a lot of adjusting.
Dodd, a sopho
more from
Sydney, Austra
lia, came to Ne
braska in the sum
mer of 1992 to
swim for the wom
en’s team and
Coach Cal Bent/..
Nebraska took
some getting used
to, Dodd said.
Dodd
It was very much a culture shock.
People look at you weird when you
talk with an accent. You have to change
your language around to talk to other
people. And just how people drive on
the right side of the road is different.”
After almost two years at Nebras
ka, her life has become a bit more
normal, Dodd said.
“I’m getting to know a lot more
people. And I feel more comfortable.”
While it took her some time to
adjust to college life in Nebraska, it
didn’t take Dodd long to get into the
flow of college swimming.
She is the returning 1993 Big Eight
Women’s Swimmer of the Year. Dodd
set conference meet records in the 50-,
100- and 200-mcter freestyle events last
season, and she holds the Nebraska school
record in the 100 and 200.
Dodd and the Huskcr swimming
and diving teams will try to add to
their success at the Big Ei^ht Cham
pionships in Oklahoma City, which
See DODD on 8
Sandy Summers/DN
Nebraska’s Eric Piatkowski said he wasn’t looking ahead to a possible shot at the
NBA. “I have tried to block that out as much as possible,n he said.
As scouts watch...
Piatkowski keeps his mind on NU games
By Mitch Sherman
Staff Raportar
No player in the history of Ne
braska basketball has played on
more NCAA tournament teams
than Eric Piatkowski.
But the 6-foot-7-inch forward
from Rapid City, S.D., isn’t satis
fied.
As the Comhuskers charge down
the stretch run of the season with
three regular season games remain
ing, Piatkowski has decided it is
time for him and the rest of the
seniors to take matters into their
own hands.
“We’ re the ones that have to step
up and make the big plays,”
Piatkowski said. “We’re not going
to have another chance. There’s a
lot riding on this.”
Against Kansas on Wednesday,
Piatkowski, the No. 3 scorer in
Nebraska history, did his part to get
the Huskers rolling by scoring 33
points in Nebraska’s 96-87 win.
The 1993 All-Big Eight first
team selection is also the Huskers’
all-time leading three-point shoot
er and ranks in the top five in assists
and blocked shots.
NBA scouts pile in to watch him
play almost every game, but
Piatkowski remains quiet — yet
confident — about his chances of
making it in the NBA next season.
“I have tried to block that out as
much as possible,” he said. “I really
have no control over that, and if I
start to worry about that or think
about that, it will hurt my game.
“Right now, I am just going to
enjoy my last few college baskctbal 1
games and hope for the best from
there.”
As far as Huskers in the NBA,
Piatkowski is staring at a deck that
is not stacked in his favor.
Only four Nebraska players have
been drafted since 1980. Rich King,
the former Huskcr center who has
been on and off the Seattle Super
sonics’ injured list during the past
two seasons, is the lone Husker
currently playing in the NBA.
Piatkowski said he had been able
to stay focused, and with only three
regular season games remaining,
he was putting everything on the
line.
After Saturday’s game at home
against Kansas State, the Huskers
play host to Oklahoma State next
Wednesday and travel to Missouri
next Saturday.
“We feel comfortable that we
can win these games,” Piatkowski
said, “especially the ones at home.
We still feel that we have a very
good chance to make the NCAA.”
“I f we can make a run, then go to
See PIKE on 8
NU track teams look to capture Big Eight indoor titles
By Trevor Parks
Staff Raportar__
The Nebraska men’s and women’s track and
Held teams are looking to keep a season — and
a tradition—of success going as they compete
at the Big Eight Indoor Championships in
Oklahoma City this weekend.
The women are looking to win their 15th
consecutive Big Eight championship, and the
men are going for their sixth championship
under Coach Gary Pepin.
The women’s streak has motivated them for
the meet, Pepin said.
“I think it gives a little confidence to the
team. Somebody is going to have to be pretty
good to beat us."
The women arc led by defending Big Eight
champions Shanelle Porter
and Kwani Stewart. Porter,
the 1993 Big Eight Indoor
Championships MVP, will
be defending her 55-, 200
and 400-metcr titles.
Stewart will try to repeat
her first-place finishes in the
long jump and 55-metcr hur
dles. This year, Stewart has
the sixth longest jump in the
country and leads the Big
Pepin
Eight in the event. She also leads the conference
in the 55-mcter hurdles.
The only other champion from last year is
Nicola Martial, who won the triple jump with a
leap of 40 feet, 2 inches.
Kathy Travis, who redshirted last year, won
the 55- and 200-metcr dashes in 199z. She has
the fastest 55-meter time in the Big Eight this
year at 6.9 seconds.
“We have a team that is very well-balanced,”
Pepin said. “If we can go down there and
perform the way we have all year, I think we’ll
be in good shape.”
The men are looking to win their first confer
ence championship since 1992.
The only individual champion returning for
the men is Pat Trainor. Trainor won the 600
yard run last year. He also helped the 4-by-400
meter relay team to victory.
Shot putter Andy Meyer, who finished third
at last year’s championships, has the longest
throw in the Big Eight this season at 60 feet, 1/
4 inch.
This will be the first year since 1976 that the
conference meet will be held on a neutral track.
Pepin said the track was a small bank-board
track that would make the meet interesting.
“The facilities at Oklahoma City will make
it a bit different meet than we’ve had before,”
Pepin said.
Events start Friday at 3:30 p.m. Saturday,
the meet begins at 11:30 a.m.