Travis Haying
Nebraska guard Jaron Boon# looks for an open lane during
the Buskers’ first exhibition game.
Unwillingness to fight
hurts OU’s chances
By Trevor P«i«
Staff Reporter
Oklahoma volleyball coach Miles
Pabst said his team hadn’t had the
will to fight all season.
That lack of fighting spirit might
be dangerous as the 16-15 Sooners
play No. 1 and 27-0 Nebraska in the
first round of the Big Eight tourna
ment Friday in Omaha.
After his Sooners lost 15-8, 15-3,
15-2 at the NU Coliseum Saturday,
Pabst was left scratching his head,
wondering where his team’s spirit
had gone.
“As a team, it’s not been there all
season, and that’sthe reason for where
we are,” Pabst said. “Some of the
players want to fight, but some of
them maybe can’t.
Pabst said unlike the Comhuskers,
the Sooners just hadn’t found a chem
istry that works.
“Theirchemistry is superb,” Pabst
said. “We can work for 100 million
years, and we could never get that
chemistry with the personnel we have
on the team.”
Although the Sooners are strug
gling, they have given Nebraska
trouble in the Big Eight tournament.
In last year’s Big Eight tourna
ment, Nebraska defeated the Sooners
in four games, but in the regular
season the Huskers lost to the Soon
r ~ 1 1 ' i
ers 3-1.
At the tournament in 1992, Okla
homa and Nebraska battled for five
sets before the Huskers won.
In 1987, the Sooners defeated the
Huskers at the Big Eight tournament.
“We’ve had a history of getting in
their face a little bit at times,” Pabst
said. “If my kids really truly believe
they can beat these guys, then we can
make a match out of it.”
Pabst said his team believed it
could beat Nebraska last season, and
that was a major factor in the Soon
ers’ matches against the Huskers.
“We were able to elevate our level
of play last season,” Pabst said. “We
have not been able to do that against
anyone this year, and that’s been
disappointing.”
With Nebraska being undefeated,
Pabst said, he could never imagine
how any team could do that.
“I’d like to go through that, but 1
would probably screw everything up,”
Pabst said. “They have all the right
ingredients.”
Pabst said all was not lost from his
team’s loss to Nebraska; however,
his team’s psyche will still be a con
cern.
“I think it will be better in Omaha,”
Pabst said. “Once the will to be suc
cessful fades in any sporting event,
it’s over.”
I
NU aims to build on Big 8 title
Communication key for Huskers
By Pw»k Samson
Senior Reporter
For a coach that lost three senior
starters who combined to average 44
points a game on last year’s 20-10
Nebraska basket
ball team,
Cornhusker
coach Danny Nee
is extremely opti
mistic for this sea
son.
But Nee isn’t
left exactly
empty-handed in
his ninth season
at Nebraska, which will tip off Friday
at the San Juan Shootout.
Nebraska returns juniors Jaron
Boone, Erick Strickland and Terrance
Badgett from a team that gave Ne
braska its fourth consecutive NCAA
Tournament appearance last season.
And if the first few weeks of prac
tice and two exhibition games are
any indication, Nee might be headed
for a fifth straight trip to the “Big
Dance.’’
One reason Nee is optimistic is the
transition from having good teams to
a good program.
“Communication on this team is
as high as it’s ever been as far as
coaching staff, head coach and the
players,” Nee said. “I think it’s be
cause the people in the program are
comfortable with their roles ... 1 call
this a program, and now the program
feeds off itself, and the other guys
“Things look like they’re not complete, but that will
come. We’re ready for a game situation and get a
real test to see how we’ll be. ”
m
ERICK STRICKLAND
Nebraska guard
come in and find their role.”
Despite dropping a90-80 decision
to Pennsylvania in the first round of
the NCAA tournament last season,
Nee said Nebraska would build on its
Big Eight Tournament Champion
ship victory last March.
“Once they’ve done it, they have
the inner confidence,” he said. “That’s
what this team is going to be based
on. It’s from the neck up — it’s a
mental approach much more than a
physical approach.”
But the team is working on the
physical approach, Strickland said.
“This team has, by far, the best
work ethic of any team I’ve played
with,” Strickland said. “Things look
like they’re not complete, but that
will come. We’re ready for a game
situation and get a real test to see how
we’ll be.”
For Boone, the difference has been
both physical and mental.
“Considering we haven’t put ev
erything in yet, I think we’re further
along than last year, just forthe simple
fact of team unity,” Boone said. “Ev
eryone wants to learn, and everyone
wants to get better. That’s going to
help us when it’s crunch time, so I
think we’re further along than we
were last year.”
Nee said he hoped the Huskers
were far enough along that the San
Juan Shootout might provide the same
spark this year that it did in 1990.
“I felt the turning point in our
program was the start we got in San
Juan in 1990-91,” Nee said of his 26
8 team that year. “The way we came
out of San Juan, grew as a team and
just won. That was the most talented
basketball team that I’ve coached at
Nebraska.”
Nee said it was too difficult to
compare that team to this year’s
Husker squad.
“The stress on that team was more
the frontcourt with (Rich) King,
(Tony) Fanner and (Beau) Reid,”
Nee said. “Then we had more comple
mentary players in the backcourt.
This is a guard-oriented team that has
more complementary players in the
frontcourt. We had a couple NBA or
Ero-type players on that team, and we
ave the same on this team.”
Nee hoping for NU repeat in San Juan
By PfkSwwon
Senior Reporter
In 1990, the Nebraska basketball
team traveled to the San Juan
Shootout, won the tournament cham
pionship and finished the season with
a 26-8 record, the most wins recorded
in school history.
When Nebraska returns to Puerto
Rico for the first time since 1990 this
weekend, Coach Danny Nee is hop
ing his team will duplicate the feat it
accomplished four years ago.
“We have to have a purpose down
there, and our purpose will be to play
three games at a high level, have no
injuries and win it,” Nee said. “That
would be perfect. Realistically, I
know with the team we’re playing,
that if we’re not focused on Northeast
Louisiana, we won’t be in the second
round.”
Nebraska will face Northeast Loui
siana Friday in the first round of a
tournament Nee said was loaded with
talent.
Along with Nebraska and North
east Louisiana, other schools com
peting in the eight-team tournament
include Illinois, Virginia Tech, Ala
bama-Birmingham, College of
Charleston, Montana State and
NCAA Division III team American
Puerto Rico.
But Nee is only worrying about
Northeast Louisiana, which finished
last season with a 19-9 record.
“It’s a very good field,” Nee said.
“Five or six of those teams are post
season. The one thing I noticed (about
Northeast Louisiana) is that they’re
very successful.
“They’ve won their conference
fourofthe last five years.and they’ve
averaged 22 wins a season the last
five years. We have a lot of respect
for them. They are a good, solid
basketball team.”
Nee said there was plenty more
than just basketball that the Huskers
can profit from at San Juan.
“The travel experience is one
thing, but I think the guys need to
spend the time together,” Nee said.
“We try to make it a fun-type atmo
sphere. When we arrive on Tuesday,
that will be their off day, and it will
be their day. So it’s a nice experi
ence.”
“We have to have a
purpose down there,
and our purpose will he
to play three games at a
high level, have no
injuries and win it. ”
■
DANNY NEE
Nebraska basketball coach
Nebraska guard Jaron Boone
agreed a trip like this unified the
team.
“One of the things it can do for us
is bring us closer together,” Boone
said. “We’re going on the road, and
we have nothing to do but concen
trate on basketball. I think that’s go
ing to be our main focus. Everybody
is going down with the same attitude
and that’s to win.”
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