Sports
Tuesday, February 21,1995 Page 7
Husker NCAA hopes teeter on final four
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
If the Nebraska basketball team
loses one of its final four regular
season games, odds are the
Comhuskers won’t qualify for the
NCAA Tournament without winning
the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas
City, Mo., next month.
At 3-7 in the conference, one more
loss would assure Nebraska of a los
ing regular-season record in Big Eight
play.
Since 1985, when theNCAA Tour
nament expanded to 64 teams, only
two Big Eight teams, Iowa State in
both 1988 and 1992, finished with
sub-.500 conference records and
earned at-large tournament berths.
The 1988 Cyclones went 6-8 in
the Big Eight and 20-12 overall, los
ing in the first round of the NCAA
Tournament to Georgia Tech. In 1992,
Iowa State finished 5-9 in the confer
ence, 21-13 overall and lost to Ken
tucky in the second round of the
NCAA Tournament.
Nebraska, currently sixth in the
Big Eight, has an overall record of
16-9. Remaining on the Husker sched
ule are games at Missouri Wednes
day night and Kansas State March 1.
The Huskers will face Colorado Sat
urday and Iowa State March 5 at
home.
Husker coach Danny Nee said the
players and coaches were not worry
ing about counting victories or past
tournament results. '
“We have this one-game-at-a-time
mentality,” Nee said. “We still feel
that we have some winnable games
left. If things go right and we get
going in the right direction, we feel
that we can win all four.”
Emotionally, Nee said, the Husk
ers were reeling after a 40-point loss
at Oklahoma State Saturday. Before
being blown out by the Cowboys,
Nebraska was beaten 91-68 by Kan
sas in Lincoln and lost in overtime
72-69 at Iowa State.
The Huskers have dropped six of
their last eight games dating back to
a 17-point loss at Kansas on Jan. 23.
“It’s really hard,” Nee said, “to be
in a position like we are coming off
these losses. You have to handle the
kids and talk to them and keep things
simple.”
Last year, Nebraska took a 17-9
record into postseason play, won the
Big Eight Tournament and earned
the league’s automatic berth in the
NCAA Tournament. Last year’s trip
was the Huskers’ fourth consecutive
appearance.
“We are not worrying about the
tournament right now,” Nee said. “We
have to stop the bleeding and the
wins need to start coming. That’s all
we can think about right now.”
NOTES:
• Oklahoma State center Bryant
Reeves was named Big Eight Player
of the Week Monday in a split vote
over Iowa State guard Fred Hoiberg.
Reeves, a 7-foot, 292-pound senior
from Gans, Okla., shot 73 percent
from the field and averaged 23 points
and 7 rebounds per game in victories
over Iowa State and Nebraska.
• Cowboy senior guard Randy
Rutherford hit 5 of 8 3-pointers Sat
urday against Nebraska, bringing his
season totals to 102 for 235.
Rutherford is shooting a league-best
43 percent from 3-point land. He is
nine 3-pointers shy of former Kansas
guard Terry Brown’s conference
record, set in 1991, and needs 25 3
pointers to break former Oklahoma
guard Terry Evans’ career record of
259.
Gymnast sets
season-bests
by hard work
By Trevor Parks
Staff Reporter
Nebraska gymnast Shelly Bartlett has
finally gained something she has worked
hard to obtain — consistency.
In the last two meets, Bartlett has set five
season-highs in all four events and the all
around, including three last Thursday at
Iowa State.
Bartlett set season-bests with a 9.75 in
the vault, a 9.825 in the uneven bars and a
9.875 in the floor exercise.
The sophomore from Spokane, Wash.,
said she was pleased with her recent perfor
mance.
‘Tve stayed a lot more consistent than
I’ve ever been,” Bartlett said. “That’s one
thing that I’ve really been working hard to
improve.”
Bartlett had a season-high score of 39.2
in the all-around at the Hearts Invitational
at Raleigh, N.C., on Feb. 10.
That is an improvement from her previ
ous high of 38.325, set last year against
Iowa State.
In that same meet, she set a season-best
9.875 on the balance beam.
Bartlett said her success may be attrib
uted to her hard practices.
“I work on consistency a lot in the gym,”
Bartlett said. “I think what has helped me a
lot is mental preparation, and I work out as
if I’m in a meet.”
As a team, the 7-2 Huskers are looking to
See SHELLY on 8
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska gymnast Shelly Bartlett performs on the vault against Oklahoma.
Bartlett set a season-best last Thursday in the vault with a 9.75 against Iowa
State.
:
Swim teams
prepared for
championships
By Todd Walkenhorst
Staff Reporter
Nebraska men’s and women’s swimming
coach Cal Bentz said his teams were ready
going into Tuesday’s Big Eight Champion
ships in Oklahoma City, Okla.
But if Bentz had his way, his women’s team
would be ranked higher than its current No. 14
national ranking.
“I think that’s a little underrated,” Bentz
said. “We have five NCAA qualifiers for the
first time this early (in the season).”
The Comhusker women are 4-1 in dual
meets this season, including three straight
victories over Iowa State, Missouri and Kan
sas.
On the other hand, Bentz is satisfied with
his men’s No. 18 ranking despite the team’s
performance over the past few weeks.
“The men are ranked 18th,” Bentz said. “If
you look at our record the last few weeks, it’s
not that stellar.”
The men have an overall 2-5 record in dual
meets.
Bentz said the men’s team’s weak record
did not mean too much when conference cham
pionship time came.,
“That dual meet record does not look that
strong,” Bentz said. “When you get to the
conference championships, it doesn’t really
mean that much. I think we’re on the right
track.”
Bentz said he believed conference rivals
Kansas and Iowa State might be two of the
premiere men’s teams in the country. Since
they are rated so high, he said many teams
would be trying harder against them.
“In the polls, we can’t vote for ourselves,”
Bentz said. “When you put a target on, that’s
what you’re going to shoot at, and we’ll take
our shot at them.”
Huskers' lackadaisical effort to sink Nee's holey ship
I’ll always remember the
hamburgers at Eskimo Joe’s.
For those of you who haven’t
heard, Eskimo Joe’s is a jumpin’
little joint about a fourth of a mile
from Gallagher-Iba Arena in
Stillwater, Okla.
And Eskimo Joe’s is always
packed before Oklahoma State
sporting events.
You may have heard Dick Vitale
mention it a couple of hundred
times during Okie State’s Big
Monday win against Kansas Feb. 6.
I’m sure Eskimo Joe’s was
packed when he ate there with a
team like Kansas in town.
But this time it was just Ne
braska.
Nebraska doesn’t compare to
Kansas this season — not even at
the Bob Devaney Spirts Center.
There’s nothing like driving
more than 800 miles round trip
from Lincoln to Stillwater, Olda.,
and back again to see the Nebraska
basketball team get pulverized.
It’s a trip I’ll always remember.
arid one I’m sure the Comhuskers
would like to forget.
I’ll remember Nebraska losing
by the most points I’ve ever seen
them lose by.
I’ll remember how the only
suspense was whether Renee Harris
would accept a marriage proposal
from Oklahoma State public
address announcer Larry Reece at
halftime.
And whether Big Country —
Bryant Reeves — would hit a 3
pointer.
But Eskimo Joe’s will be the
only lasting memory.
And there was only a 3 5-minute
wait to eat at Joe’s. The Cowboy
fans were hungry for a victory, and
they knew Nebraska wasn’t going
to stand in Oklahoma State’s way.
Maybe the Cowboy fans knew
something I didn’t.
They knew that the Nebraska
basketball program is coming apart
at the seams.
Coach Danny Nee has lost
control of the team.
Trevor Parks
That was evident last week
when the team’s two superstars,
Jaron Boone and Erick Strickland,
questioned Nee’s substitution
patterns.
It was evident when, during a
timeout in the second half, Boone
sat two chairs away from the team
huddle.
It was evident when Tom Wald
laid the ball down with six seconds
left in the game and walked off the
court.
This team is searching for
answers and hasn’t found any.
On Saturday, Nee could have
substituted little-used Lee
Steinbrook and received a better
effort.
He would have given the effort
no matter what the score.
But Nee is confident the
Nebraska ship hasn’t sunk, but it
has a lot of holes in it.
Addihg to those holes was the
Huskers’ terrible shooting perfor
mance Saturday.
Thirty-three percent shooting for
the day.
The shooting Saturday was
about as cold as I’m sure Eskimo
Joe is.
Call me fickle, call me critical,
but at least they should try — no
matter what the score is.
I don’t care if they are down by
100 points.
It makes you wonder why this is
happening.
I know Bruce Chubick wouldn’t
have quit last year. He would have
kept on getting court bums.
Chubick wouldn’t have let
Nebraska lose by 40.
And everybody knows this
year’s Husker team is not 40 points
worse than Oklahoma State.
But if Nebraska keeps it up, the
Huskers could be 40 points worse
than any team.
It is not a pretty sight in Husker
basketball land.
The children are not happy with
their leader.
The assistant coaches have been
left dumbfounded.
The fans are scratching their
heads and checking their wallets
for NIT home game ticket money.
I’m also left scratching my head.
After Saturday’s debacle, it’s not
too hard to jump on the bandwagon
of bashers.
I should have stayed at Eskimo
Joe’s on Saturday.
And I’m sure Dick Vitale would
have stayed, too.
Parks is a juior news-editorial major
and a Daily Nebraskan staff reporter.
