Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 1996)
' ■# , Sports Thursday, January 11, 1996 Page 7 Trevor Parks Kansas already has Big Eight title locked up After one week of Big Eight bas ketball, something has become very apparent. Get out of the way of Kansas. The Jayhawks have steamrolled opponents en route to an 11-1 record one game into conference play. Only a mental lapse against Temple at the Jimmy V Classic in New Jersey prevents them from being No. 1 and undefeated. On Monday night, Kansas thrashed Oklahoma State 76-61 in Gallagher-Iba Arena, ending the Cowboys’ 24-game homecourt winning streak and showing con ference opponents how good this team is. In the process, the Jayhawks gave themselves the longest homecourt winning streak in the conference at 21 games. Bad news for future teams that have to travel into the Phog of Allen Fieldhousc. To put it in terms everyone can understand, the Jayhawks are the Nebraska volleyball team and the Comhusker football team of Big Eight men’s basketball. They arc tnat goou. Going into the Big Eight, Kan sas has played three ranked teams and beaten them all.The only other conference team to beat a ranked opponent was the Huskers. And Texas, which was ranked 23rd and coming off a win over North Caro lina, plummeted out of the rankings in the next poll. Nebraska coach Danny Nee said Kansas had more depth, more strength and overall more every thing than the other teams in the Big Eight. “Looking at Kansas, they are a cut above the rest of the other teams in everything,” Nee said. “It’s Kan sas, and then I think 2-8 will be very, very competitive. But I do believe that someone can beat them.” That leaves Nebraska, Okla homa State, Oklahoma, Kansas State, Missouri, Colorado and Iowa State fighting for those two through eight spots. All unranked, all not as tested as Kansas. With those facts, maybe the Jayhawks could sweep through the conference 14-0. The trend in the conference’s fi nal year is to have one team trounce every other team and then win a national championship. The Ne braska volleyball team did it. The Nebraska football team did it. Now it’s time for another Big Eight team to dominate everyone in the conference and win the national title. I think Kansas fits that mold. Perhaps someone can puncture the armor of the Jayhawk machine during conference play. It could happen, but only if the Jayhawks forget how to play. Parks b a senior news-editorial maj or and a Daily Nebraskan senior reporter. Scott Bruhn/Df Nebraska freshman center shoots over Colorado’s Charlie Melvin Wednesday night. Hamilton scored 13 points and had eight rebounds in the 79-74 win. NU fights off Colorado rally I By Trevor Parks Senior Reporter The third time Nebraska pulled away from Colorado proved to be the charm Wednesday night. Nebraska 7sTk CaleradaMl After blowing a 38-27 halftime lead and another eight-point first-half lead, Nebraska held on to win its con ference opener 79-74 over the Colo rado Buffaloes before a season-high crowd of 11,344 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Nebraska, 12-3 and 1-0 in the Big Eight, avenged a home loss to Colo rado from last year and handed the Buffaloes their fourth straight defeat, dropping them to 5-7 overall and 0-2 in the conference. Nebraska was led by senior guards Erick Strickland and Jaron Boone, who scored 18 points each. Strickland added seven rebounds, three assists and five steals. Center Mikki Moore shot 7 of 9 from the field and scored 16 points in 23 minutes. True freshman center Venson Hamilton pitched in 13 points and eight rebounds in 23 minutes. Cornhusker coach Danny Nee said I he knew playing against the Buffaloes would be a game of spurts. “The game went the way that I thought with Colorado making a lot of runs,” Nee said. “I was just pleased we had the glue enough to keep things together.” The Huskers made their final run at just the perfect time after Colorado took a 58-57 lead with 8:51 remain ing in the game. With 8:23 to play, Nebraska took the lead for good on a 15-foot jumper by Moore, giving the Huskers a 59 58 lead. One minute later, Moore made a layup to extend the lead to three points. Nebraska then built a 65 58 advantage on a Boone dunk. Colorado tried to erase the deficit, pulling within two points at 68-66 when Martice Moore hit a layup off an inbounds pass with 2:36 left in the game. The Huskers outrebounded the Buffs 28-15 in the first half. But in the second half, Nebraska was outrebounded 31-17. Nebraska shot just 38.7 percent in the second half after shooting 44 percent before half time. Boone extended the Nebraska lead to four points with a shot over Colo rado guard Mack Tuck with 2:06 re maining. After that, the Huskers didn’t make a field goal, but they were 9 of 14 from the free-throw line in the fi nal two minutes. The closest Colorado came down the stretch was at 73-69 when Tuck — who scored a game-high 25 points See HOOP on 8 Reputation helps draw recruits By Mike Kiuck Senior Reporter National championships help, but constant success over the years is what sells the Nebraska football program to potential recruits. rr—-rr—-1 Steve Pederson, Nebraska s asso ciate athletic di rector for football operations, said it was difficult to determine the im pact a national championship had on recruiting, out he said there was an all-time high in interest in the Comhusker foot ball program now. “Obviously, what’s been a factor over the last couple of years is that people see this as, if not the top, one of the top programs in all of college football” Pederson said. “I think, cer tainly our acceptance across the coun try has been outstanding.” The national championship has helped in creating an added interest among the recruits who visit the cam pus. Pederson said many of the high school and junior college players who visit Lincoln this time of year want to see everything associated with the Cornhuskers’ national championship, including trophies, rings, and watches. “We display the trophy promi nently, not only for our own players to see but for potential recruits to be able to see what kind of things they can win and accomplish,” Pederson said. “Players are obviously interested in the trophies, rings and watches, and those things do make a difference. It’s very exciting.” But Nebraska’s success and na tional championships have deterred some recruits from playing for the Huskers because of the perception that freshmen recruits will not be able to play immediately, Pederson said. Many opposing coaches try to lure players to other universities, Pederson said, by offering them the opportunity to come in and start immediately. The Husker coaches counter those accusations with the story of true freshman Ahman Green, who was able to work his way to a starting position by midseason and contribute a great deal to the Huskers’ 1995 national championship. “We try to convince players that you can’t predict what is going to hap pen,” Pederson said. “If you go to a good place, a good program, good coaches, you never know how things are going to happen. But chances are you’re going to be successful one way or another.” The effect the Lawrence Phillips See PEDERSON on 8 Aarden aims for med school By Mike Kluck Senior Reporter Pyra Aarden did not practice Wednesday with the Nebraska women’s basketball team. In stead, she was preparing for an interview with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Aarden, a senior with a 3.6 grade-point average in sociol^ ogy, wants to attend medical school in the fall and has aspira tions of being a pediatrician. “I’ve wanted to be a doctor for a long time now,” Aarden said. “I feel a doctor can really impact people’s lives. And it’s a See AARDEN on 8 NU wrestler prepares for Olympics By Antone Oseka Staff Reporter Tcmoer Terry didn’t expect to be wrestling for Nebraska this year. Before the season, Terry had his sights set on Atlanta and the 1996 Olympic Games in August. Nebraska’s starting 158-pounder planned to rcdshirt this season and train exclusively in freestyle wrestling to prepare for the Olympics. But he chose to wrestle for Nebraska and pre pare for the Olympics at the same time. One question plaguesTerry’s mind: “Did I wrestle well enough here to get me an Olympic spot?” So far, Terry has done just that. He is rated No. 1 nationally in his weight class, and has wrestled only 10 matches. “I want to be national champ, and I want the team to be national champs,” he said. “I think we’re go ing to be disappointed with anything less, and I think we should be disap pointed with anything less.” On Saturday, Terry and the Husk ers travel to Reno, Nev., for the Reno Challenge where their biggest compe tition is Big Eight rival Oklahoma State. Terry sees Reno as just that, a challenge. “It should be a good match for me to see where I am,” Terry said. “Hope fully, I can go in and blow them out.” After the Huskers return from Reno, they prepare to see their tough est competition before the NCAA Championships in March. Nebraska squares off against teams like top-rated Iowa and second-ranked Iowa State in the Cliff Keen National Duals here in SeeTERRY on 8 Scott Bruhn/DN Nebraska wrestler TemoerTeriy isthetop-ranked 158-pounder in tne nation.