Huskers to face Georgia in NIT first round
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
The NCAA streak is over. Welcome to the
NIT.
Thursday at 7:05 p.m., at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center, the Nebraska basketball team
will play host to Georgia in the first round of the
National Invitation Tournament.
The 17-13 Comhuskers are making their
first NIT appearance since 1989. Nebraska has
participated in the NCAA Tournament every
year since 1991, losing in the first round each
time.
The Huskers, who lost to Oklahoma State
Friday in the first round of the Big Eight Tour
nament, have dropped three strai ght games since
beating Missouri 78-75, Feb. 22, in Columbia,
Mo.
Nebraska appeared in the NIT eight times
between 1967 and 1989, posting an 11-8 record.
In 1987, Danny Nee’s first season as Husker
coach, Nebraska advanced to the NIT Final
Four at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Nee said Sunday night that he knew very
little about Georgia, which finished 18-9 and
the 9-7 in the Southeastern Conference.
“We don’t know anything about them,” he
said. “We have films that we’re watching now
and trying to get ready as quick as possible.
They are a good team from a greit conference.
It’s a name-brand school.”
Nebraska is 9-0 in NIT games played at the
Devaney Center.
“The history of our record in the NIT,” Nee
said, “and the fact that we have great fan support
were beneficial.”
The Bulldogs and Huskers have met once, a
67-63 Georgia win in Lincoln on Dec. 20,1985.
Nee said his team, despite its recent losing
ways, would be well prepared for the NIT
contest.
“We had a team meeting earlier tonight, and
we basically told them the season is over,” he
said. “Now, the postseason begins. Everybody
was real positive. We hope this can turn us
around and get some postseason experience.”
A quick look at Nebraska’s first-round op
ponent, Nee said, caused him to become con
cerned with Georgia’s inside game. The Bull
dogs’ offense features Charles Claxton, a 7-foot
senior center who averages 12.2 points, 7.9
rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game.
Carlos Strong, a 6-8 junior power-forward
averaging 14.7 points and 6.9 rebounds per
game, is the Bulldogs’ leading scorer.
Two other Georgia players average double
figures m scoring: bhandon Anderson, a 6-6
junior forward who averages 13.1 points and 5
rebounds per game and Katu Davis, a 6-2 junior
guard who averages 10.8 points and 3.3 re
bounds per game.
“They are a very big, strong physical team,”
Nee said. “That is something we have had
problems with, so we’ll spend some time work
ing on their inside game.”
The Huskers were one of two Big Eight
teams selected to participate in the NIT. Colo
rado, which ended the season 15-12 after losing
to Oklahoma Friday in the conference tourna
ment, will play at New Mexico State.
NIT tickets will be sold Monday and Tues
day at the Devaney Center ticket office and the
South Stadium ticket office from 8 a.m. to 8
p.m.
Gerik Parmeie/DN
Chris Sallee, right, covers his head with a towel as Jaron Boone, center, and Tom Wald watch Nebraska’s 68-48 loss to Oklahoma
State in the first round of the Big Eight Tournament Friday in Kansas City, Mo.
OSU spurt
helps defeat
Huskers
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the
first 13 minutes of Nebraska’s first
round game against Oklahoma State
Friday, the Comhuskers looked like
they were picking up where they left
off at last season’s Big Eight Tourna
ment.
But the differences between last
season—when the Huskers won the
conference tournament — and this
season became obvious when die Cow
boys went on a 22-0 run on their way
to a 68-48 victory over the Huskers at
Kemper Arena.
Junior guard Erick Strickland
scored eight points in the first four
minutes as Nebraska jumped out to a
17-6 lead and led 24-17 on Strickland’s
12th point with 7:21 remaining in the
first half.
But Oklahoma State scored the next
22 points, without a Nebraska timeout,
to take a commanding 39-24 lead.
The only break during the Cowboy
run was a media timeout after Okla
homa State had already scored 20
unanswered points.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
he thought the media timeout would
come earlier than it did.
“I was told that a media timeout
was coming and it didn’t come,” Nee
said. “It felt like an eternity, but I think
that run was broken up by a media
timeout. I don’t think they got all 18
points straight in a row.
“But if they did, I’ll take full re
sponsibility for it.”
See BIG EIGHT on 10
Devaney doing well,
undergoing therapy
By Jeff Griesch
Senior (Reporter
Bob Devaney is doing much better
than he was one week ago, former
Nebraska running back Johnny
Rodgers said Sunday night.
Devaney was admitted into the Ma
donna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lin
coln Thursday to begin therapy for a
stroke he suffered Saturday, March 4.
The former coach of the Nebraska
football team and athletic director
emeritus began therapy Friday in the
hospital’s acute rehabilitation unit.
The average stay in the unit is 25
days but can vary widely depending
on the severity of the injury.
Devaney, 79, was admitted into
Bryan Memorial Hospital on March 4
for what was reported to be a sudden
elevation in blood pressure.
His blood pressure was brought
under control, but doctors and
Devaney’s family have confirmed that
the Hall of Fame coach suffered a
slight stroke.
Rodgers visited Devaney Saturday.
“He has made tremendous strides,”
Rodgers said. “He was walking and
getting around by himself. He couldn’t
get around on his own at all initially,
so he is doing much better. His speech
was slurred a little bit but that is get
ting better too. I guess he couldn’t talk
at all when he first entered the hospi
tal.”
Devaney led the Huskers to back
to-back national championships in
1970 and 1971 before retiring to be
come Nebraska’s full-time athletic
director after the 1972 season.
Cards and letters may be sent to
Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital,
5401 South St., Lincoln, Neb., 68506
or Bob Devaney, c/o University of
Nebraska, south Stadium 103, Lin
coln, Neb., 68588.
Kansas gets a top NCAA seed
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) —
UCLA, which last won the national
championship 20years ago in Coach
John Wooden’s last game, was
made a No. 1 seed Sunday in the
NCAA college basketball tourna
ment along with Kentucky, Wake
Forest and Kansas.
The Bruins go into the tourna
ment as the top team in The Associ
ated Press poll, and it’s the first
time they’ve gone in ranked No.l
since winning the title in 1975.
The final AP poll will be re
leased Monday afternoon. UCLA
got 65 of the 66 first-place votes in
the current poll and won all its
games this week.
Kansas got the lone remaining
first-place vote.
The Bruins (25-2), the Pac 10
, champion and the No. 1 seed in the
West Regional, play their first game
Friday against Florida International,
winners of the Trans America Ath
letic Conference with an 11-18
record.
Kentucky (25-4) was made the
No. 1 seed in the Southeast after
defeating defending national cham
pion Arkansas 95-93 in overtime to
win the SEC championship. Kan
sas (23-5) was the top seed in the
Midwest despite losing in the Big
Eight conference tournament. Wake
Forest (24-5), which beat North
Carolina 82-80 in overtime to win
its first ACC title since 1962, headed
the East region.
Kentucky plays Mount St.
Mary’s of Maryland (17-12), while
Kansas takes on Colgate (17-12)
and Wake Forest plays North Caro
lina A&T (15-14), all on Thursday.
Three of the four No. 1 seeds
went to schools with long histories
of success in the NCAA Tourna
ment. UCLA has a record 10 na
tional titles, while Kentucky’s five
titles are tied for second-best with
Indiana. Kansas has won the NCAA
championship twice.
Wake Forest is the only one of
the four No.l seeds without a na
tional championship.
The No. 2 seed in the East went
to Atlantic 10 champion Massa
chusetts (26-4). The second seed in
the Southeast was North Carolina
(24-5), while Arkansas (27-6) got
the No. 2 seed in the Midwest.
Connecticut (26-4), which lost the
Big East title game to Villanova,
will travel to the West Regional as
the No. 2 seed.
The Big Ten led the way among
conferences with six teams making
the tournament. The SEC, Big Eight
and Pac 10 each had five tourna
ment teams while the ACC and Big
East got four bids.
Among the teams missing the
field were Georgia Tech (18-12) of
the ACC, Iowa (19-11) of the Big
Ten and Georgia (18-9) of the SEC.
