Sports
Wednesday, November 15, 1995 Page 7
ToddWalkenhorst
Two legacies
come to end
in last game
Something just does not seem
right.
I’m walking through the union
yesterday, and I’m noticing these
signs.
“Oklahoma ticket for sale. $ 100
or best offer.”
In fact, I saw one that asked for
$250 for a pair.
My curiosity rose. I got on the
phone and gave them a call.
To no surprise of my own, 1 was
her first inquiry for the ticket mark
up scam.
“I was kind of asking that price
as the high end of what I thought I
could get,” the ticket holder said.
No kidding.
I called another person who
asked for $ 115 a ticket. He tried to
tell me he already had an offer for
$100. (Yeah right).
“I haven’t sold them yet,” he
said, “I’m waiting to get more.”
You’ll probably be waiting
awhile.
Maybe these students have been
attending UNL for a long time and
are still remembering the glory days
of 1987 when they got absurd prices
for their tickets.
Of course that year, the contest
had larger implications. Nebraska
was ranked No. 1. Oklahoma was
No. 2.
Or maybe these students have
not been in school long enough to
actually acquire enough intelligence
to figure out that this game is pretty
much worthless.
Let me help you wanna-be ticket
scalpers out.
If you want to get big money for
your tickets, wait for a big game.
Like against a team that’s ranked.
Sure Oklahoma is a long-time
rivalry, but that will pretty much
end after Nov. 24.
It’s time to wake up. Here’s the
facts.
Sooner Nation is dead.
Oklahoma has posted a less than
sparkling record of 5-4-1, and
dropped a 12-0 decision against
Oklahoma State last weekend. The
Cowboys’ victory was their first
against the Sooners since 1976.
Yes, this was the same Okla
homa State team Nebraska beat 66
21.
Even Gary Gibbs used to beat
Oklahoma State and Kansas.
If you believe that Oklahoma is
a top-notch team, ask coach Howard
Schnellenberger about the quality
of his squad.
“Our biggest downfall is the fact
that we have not played with the
confidence and consistency I
thought we would,”
Schnellenberger said. “We have not
found a way not to lose.”
Don’t expect the Sooners’ win
ning ways to start in Memorial Sta
dium.
The Sooners’ 2-4 mark in the
Big Eight ensures them of their
first sub-.500 conference record
since 1972. That year Oklahoma
forfeited three conference games.
In 1965 the Sooners finished with a
3-4 conference record.
See WALKENHORST on 8
Nee benches problem players
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Because ofa new disciplinary point
system, three Nebraska basketball
players will miss
Thursday night’s
final exhibition
game against
Pella Windows.
Center Mikki
Moore and guards
Jaron Boone and
Chester Surles
will sit out be
cause of the new
team point sys
tem. Moore also missed the first game
because of disciplinary reasons.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee in
stalled a point system because he
wanted his players to become more
responsible this season both on and
off the court.
In the system, if players accumu
late enough points, they will miss a
game.
Nee said he hoped Moore would
learn what it took to be disciplined
now so he doesn’t miss any games
during the regular season.
“If Mikki doesn’t get the picture
now, he never will,” Nee said. “I’m
not mad at Mikki; I’m not down on
Mikki or any of the men involved, but
accountability and responsibility,
those type words, they’ve got to do it.
“In the long run it will help.”
Last year, the Cornhuskers some
times didn’t react in the manner Nee
wanted. The frustration of an 18-14
season set in often, and Nee said that
had shown through in the wrong way.
“We went through growing pains
last year,” Nee said. “The growing
pains were: Here’s a player that was
playing at a high level of ability indi
vidually, but his team wasn’t perform
ing to it. Those gestures, a lot of them
were frustration and personal unhap
piness with what was happening.”
One player who often showed the
frustration of last season was Boone.
Even though Boone averaged 17.5
points and 3.3 rebounds a game last
year, Nee said, it seemed as if he
didn’t know how to act on the court.
“I think Jaron’s on-the-court man
nerisms and gestures distracted from
his basketball ability,” Nee said. “He
could be the best and most consistent
player in the Big Eight, but because of
his decorum with referees, with calls,
with teammates and with the coach,
everyone noticed it.
“It was a non-productive juvenile
behavior, and I think he’s aware of
that.”
To try and curb that from happen
ing again this year, senior guard Erick
Strickland said he met with Nee at the
end of last season to try and set up
some kind of discipline system.
And now he’s glad discipline is
being enforced.
“Last year it seemed like we were
in a little disarray, and we needed a
little structure to help guys along,”
Strickland said. “I think it keeps guys
on their toes and on their p’s and q’s
knowing they have to get the job done
to get on the court and play.”
See NEE on 8
Atlanta dreams
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Nebraska first baseman Todd Sears recently participated in the Fall Baseball Trials in
Homestead, Fla. The trials are the first step in the journey to making the Olympic team.
Sears participates in Olympic trials
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Nebraska baseball fans have
grown accustomed to seeing first
baseman Todd Sears take the field
wearingthe traditional red and white
ofthe Huskers. Next summer, how
ever, they could see him wearing
the red, white and blue of Team
USA in the 1996 Summer Olym
pics in Atlanta.
Sears recently took part in the
1995 Fall Baseball Trials, Oct. 27
29, in Homestead, Fla. The three
day camp is the first step in choos
ing the lineup for Team USA.
The 6-foot-6,185-pound sopho
more was one of 66 top amateur
baseball players chosen to partici
pate in the trials.
“I think it went pretty well,” Sears
said. “It was a lot of fun down there,
just meeting some of the guys, and
playing with the best players in the
nation, that’s experience alone right
there, just playing with the best
/ players and getting to know some
f of them.”
\ In nine at-bats at the trials, Sears
hit .444 with three doubles and four
RBI.
“I wasn’t there, so I can’t say
exactly how he did,” Husker coach
John Sanders said. “But I know that
he did well, obviously, from his
stats, you can tell he held his own.”
Sears said the biggest learning
experience of the trials was more
mental than physical.
“Everybody down there had a
different way of playing the game
and getting ready for things,” he
said. “It was interesting to see
everybody’s methods.
“I think it showed me where I am
and where I stand and what I need
to do to get better so I can improve
myself that way.”
USA Baseball, the governing
body of American baseball, will
narrow the field of 66 players down
to 40 after the 1996 season, and
from there, 20 to 25 players will be
selected.
The fall trials were more of a
“get to know them type thing,” Sand
ers said. “It wasn’t a make or break
thing. What it did was give these
guys a chance to meet the players
up front.
“In Todd’s case, it gave them a
chance to really see him play, be
cause he was pretty much shut down
after 43 games last year because of
injury.”
The nagging staph infection to
which Sanders was referring didn’t
stop Sears from hitting .346, nail
ing 10 home runs, and having 50
RBI for the Huskers last season.
Sears said the thought of making
Team USA would be in the back of
his mind this season.
“It wil 1 be hard not to think about
it,” he said. “Of course, that’s a
great opportunity, to play for the
Olympics. But the best thing for me
to do will be to not think about it
because that will be just a little
added pressure that I don’t need.”
Sanders said that Sears had a
great chance to make the team.
“If it was up to me,” Sanders
said, “I’d vote for him.”
Huskers
honored for
great years
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Christy Johnson guarantees she will
cry before the Nebraska volleyball
team’s match Wednesday night.
Johnson, along with fellow seniors
Billie Winsett and Allison Weston,
will be honored tonight before the
7:30 match as Nebraska, 24-1 and 11
0 in the Big Eight, plays host to Mis
souri, 6-23 and 1-9 in the conference,
at the NU Coliseum.
Together the
three players have
combined to play
in 344 matches and
helped the
Cornhuskers win
23 matches in a
row this season.
Johnson said it
would be an emo
tional time before
the match against
Missouri.
“It’s amazing to me that I’m still
here grinding away,” Johnson said.
“I’ll be really sad, but I’ll be really
happy about what the team has ac
complished.”
In her five years at Nebraska, the
Huskers have established a lot. Ne
braska has participated in five NCAA
Tournaments in that span and the
Huskers have won four Big Eight titles.
Assistant coach Cathy Noth, who
played for the Huskers from 1981 to
1984, played her final regular-season
home match against Iowa State Nov.
7, 1984, and she said the experience
tonight would be one the three would
never forget.
“It’s going to be emotional because
it happens so quick,” Noth said. “It
won’t hit them until senior introduc
tions, but I’ve talked to Christy
Johnson, and she said she was going to
cry.”
But that probably won’t be the se
niors’ last appearance at the NU Coli
seum. Being ranked No. 1, Nebraska
probably will play host to three NCAA
Tournament matches.
Johnson said the crowd at the NU
Coliseum would help Nebraska tre
mendously in the NCAA Tournament.
She said she found out how important
the crowd could be Sunday against
Florida.
“I couldn’t hear what my hitters
were saying, but we’re used to the
atmosphere,” Johnson said. “It’s a big
advantage.”
The setter from Millard North said
her most memorable matches at the
Coliseum were last Sunday’s win over
Florida, the 1992 match against Colo
See MISSOURI on 8