Sports
Tuesday, January 31,1995 Page 7
Emphasis
on guards
changing
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Before the season, the play of the guards on
the Nebraska basketball team was not supposed
to be a problem.
The Comhusker perimeter players were
prepared to stake their claim as the best
backcourt in the Big Eight.
Four games and three losses into the confer
ence season, starting guards Erick Strickland,
Jaron Boone and Tom Wald are certainly con
tributing their share of points to the offense —
perhaps too many points, forward Terrance
Badgett said.
“Whatever you are going to do,” Badgett
said, “you have to get your big men the ball.
That’s kind of the heart of the team.”
In conference play, Wald, Strickland and
Boone have accounted for 58.8 percent of the
Huskers’ scoring. Starting post players Mikki
Moore and Badgett are scoring only 16.5 per
cent of the team’s points.
“I think Strickland and Tom and Jaron will
realize that you have to get the ball in.”
They already have.
“We have got to use our big men more,” said
Boone, whose 16.3 points per game rank sec
ond to Strickland’s 17.1. “I think we have got
to recognize when they are in the game and get
it down to them more. Sometimes we get so
guard-oriented that our offense isn’t so hard to
See BASKETBALL on 8
Coaches face
heavy stress
during season
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
With college basketball becoming a big
business, coaches are being placed under a
tremendous amount of pressure.
The same follows for Big Eight coaches who
know that no matter how much success they’re
having, they'are always under scrutiny.
Kansas coach Roy Williams said the pres
sure to win was immense.
“I have always felt no one has put pressure
on me like I do on myself,” he said. “It’s not
going to bother me as much as I bother myself.”
This season, two NCAA basketball coaches
See PRESSURE on 8
Waiting it out
Nebraska basketball player Emily Thompson catches a pass while shooting around last week. Thompson tore her
anterior cruciate ligament and is redshirting this season.
Center works hard to play another day
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
Emily Thompson wants to help the Ne
braska women’s basketball team.
The Comhuskers have been plagued with
injuries all season and could use a fresh set
of legs to spark a turnaround after a 2-5
conference start.
Thompson would love to be the player to
ignite the Huskers, but one of her legs isn’t
strong enough.
The 6-foot-3 sophomore center from
Springfield, Mo., tore the anterior cruciate
ligament in her right knee Sept. 14 in a,
pickup game and has missed the entire
season.
Thompson should be healthy enough to
return to practice next week, but she will not
play.
Instead, Thompson will continue to work
on improving her leg strength while
redshirting.
She knows that rehabilitating her leg
slowly will help her in the long run, but
Thompson said she was mentally, ready to
play right now.
“I feel like I can be playing and running
and doing everything today,” Thompson
said. “My mind thinks I can do more than
my body is letting me do. It is kind of
frustrating. I want to be out there.”
Last season, Thompson averaged 5.1
points and 4.0 rebounds per game, and
Nebraska coach Angela Beck said she would
like to have Thompson back.
“Having Emily would make a huge dif
ference,” Beck said. “She is a true center
who could pound the boards and get us some
big rebounds. Having her would be big, but
we’re not going to risk bringing her back to
save our season.”
Although Thompson may have lost any
chance to play this season, her season has
not been a total loss.
While she sits, she learns.
“I have learned a ton this season just
watching the games,” Thompson said. “I
feel like I have a whole new perspective on
the game.
“I have learned to see the game from the
guard’s point of view. Instead of being on
“My mind thinks I can do
more than my body is letting
me do. It is kind of
frustrating. I want to be out
there. ”
■
EMILY THOMPSON
Sophomore center
the inside and looking out, I have been on
the outside looking in, and it gives you a
better understanding of the whole offense
and the whole game.”
Although she has gained new insight,
Thompson said she also felt like an outsider
on the team.
“I really don’t feel like I am a part of the
team,” Thompson said. “They are out there
working and struggling and I am over here
stretching. It makes me want to get back out
there even more and be a part of it.”
Fresh fish fetish inspiration forfreshman track star
I was lounging with Mookie, my
pet gerbil, confidant and now lead
counsel for the O.J. Simpson
defense, when he brought it up.
We were indulging in our
favorite snack, Cheerios and
Tabasco sauce, when Mook said,
“So what do think of that Nora
Shepherd?”
I replied that I knew the name,
but I did not really know that much
about her.
“And you call yourself a sports
writer and a man, Dr.
Chumpenstein?”
“Dr. Chumpenstein” is the name
Mookie christens me with when
I’m especially ignorant.
He continued.
“She’s only a track superstar for
Nebraska,” Mookie retorted with
that snide rodent tone that only he
has. “She is going to be regarded as
the greatest runner in the whole
friggin’ history of the school.”
I then told my enlivened com
panion to perhaps settle down a bit.
I told him if he could accomplish
enlightening me on Shepherd
without using expletives and
derogatory statements as to my
manhood, then he should do so.
He proceeded to slug me in the
gut while simultaneously yelling
out, “shut up, sissy boy!”
But he did calm himself enough
to tell me about the greatness that is
Nora Shepherd.
Nora Shepherd is a freshman
sensation on the Comhusker track
team. She currently specializes in
the 800-, 1600-, and 3200-meter
runs as well as the 100-meter
backstroke. Wait, that’s not right.
Aw, screw it — I’m rolling.
But don’t let that freshman
status fool you — this is a woman
that has led a difficult and heroic
exigence, negotiating each hurdle
that has positioned itself in her
incredible ascent to track greatness.
Or something like that.
Shepherd was bom in Juneau,
Alaska. Actually she’s from York.
But this is my story.
In fact, the name “Nora” is
Beau Finley
Eskimo for “she who prances above
the snow swiftly with large reptiles
strapped to her hips.” An apt name
for this track wunderkind.
Nora realized early in life that
she would have to use her talent not
only to forge an identity, but
literally to survive.
So what was Nora’s biggest
motivation to run when she was
younger? That’s an easy one —
fresh fish.
You see, Nora came from a
family of 18 brothers and sisters
and six step-half cousins, and if she
wanted to get the good fish for
dinner, she had to be there first.
Nora learned early on that the
fresh stuff was gone if she was
slow. Upon this realization, Nora
was always first to the table. Nora’s
a special athlete and fresh fish is a
big reason why.
Actually she won 10 Nebraska
State Class B Championships in
cross country and track.
Now, I know what you’re
asking. Just how fast is this Nora
Shepherd?
Well, my vast readership, let me
tell you, um, well, she’s ... she’s,
you know, really pretty fast.
In fact, Nora has been clocked in
the 40-yard dash in a faster time
than Brook Berringer. Wait, I’ve
been clocked in the 40 faster than
Brook Berringer.
No, no, no — I’m kidding. I
love Brook. Why do you think I’m
getting my hair cut just like his?
Perhaps the most interesting
aspect of Nora Shepherd, however,
is her Greek affiliation. Shepherd is
a recent initiate into the Delta
Gamma sorority, the same house
that is the home of Husker golf
great, Molly Hallett.
For those of you who have
somehow forgotten the transcen
dency of Hallett, she was unani
mously chosen as 1993 Big Eight
female athlete of the year by ... well
... by Mookie and me.
Also, Hallett is currently able to
bench press more than Brook
Berringer. I am JOKING.
C’mon, Brook —you got a
national championship, baby. All I
got is a rat.
Anyway, don’t let this fraternal
commonality confuse you. Nora is
very much her own person. She
follows in no one’s footsteps.
No, this is one fish-eating
Alaskan trackster that’s going to
create her own name for herself.
And that name is going to be
Nora Shepherd, Big Eight cham
pion.
Finley b a second-year law student and a
Dally Nebraskan sports cainmalst
