Sports
Tuesday, February 13,1996 * Page 7
Notebook
• When Kansas State guard Elliot
Hatcher complained of chest pains
while boarding the team plane af
ter the Wildcats’ 83-60 loss to Okla
homa State on Saturday, Kansas
State coach Tom Asbury called the
paramedics immediately.
“It’s not something from my per
spective you take lightly,” Asbury
said. “We’ve learned from Hank
Gathers, and I was there the day he
died.”
Gathers, a forward for Loyola
Marymount, collapsed and died
during a semifinal West Coast Con
ference tournament game in 1990.
Asbury, who was the head coach
at Pepperdine at the time, was pre
paring his team to play in the fol
lowing game.
Hatcher was checked out at a
Stillwater, Okla., hospital. Asbury
said the problem wasn’t serious, but
Hatcher was going to get a full di
agnosis this week.
♦ * +
• The Kansas women’s basketball
team set an NCAA record for high
est free throw percentage with a
minimum of 30 attempts. The
Jayhawks made all 31 of their free
throws in their 94-85 victory over
Nebraska on Saturday.
The Jayhawks’ 21-of-21 perfor
mance from the line in the second
half surpassed the Big Eight’s mark
for most attempts without a miss in
a half.
* * *
• Nebraska senior guard Kate
Galligan was named Big Eight
player of the week Monday in a
split vote over Kansas junior
Tamecka Dixon. Galligan averaged
31 points in the Huskers’ losses to
Kansas State (81-75) on Friday
night and to Kansas on Sunday.
Missouri senior guard Jason
Sutherland won the men’s player
of-the-week award in a split vote
over Oklahoma’s Ernie
Abercrombie. Sutherland averaged
23 points last week in two games,
wins over Nebraska and Kansas.
+ + +
• Kansas State’s suspension of
women’s basketball coach Brian
Agler has brought former Wildcat
men’s coach Jack Hartman back to
the Kansas State sidelines. Hartman
coached the men’s team from 1971
to 1986 and won his first game with
the women on Friday against Ne
braska.
* + *
• Ironically, Bramlage Coliseum,
where the women play their games,
is on Jack Hartman Drive.
Hartman’s return marks the third
time in Big Eight history that a
min’s coach has returned as a
women’s coach. Doyle Parrack of
Oklahoma coached the men from
1956 to 1962 and the women from
1978 to 1980. Colorado’s Sox
Walseth directed the men’s team
from 1957 to 1976 and the women’s
team from 1981 to 1983.
+ + *
• Nebraska quarterback Tommie
Frazier won an ESPY award Mon
day night for his 75-yard touch
down run against Florida in the Fi
esta Bowl. Frazier’s run earned col
lege football’s play-of-the-year
award. Frazier was also up for col
lege football player of the year, but
the award went to Eddie George of
Ohio State.
ttg Eight Botebooh compiled by w
■ior reporter Mike Khrck.
Leading the way
Travis Heying/DN
Nebraska right fielder Mel Motley takes a lead off first base Monday afternoon at Buck
Beltzer Field during Husker baseball practice. Nebraska will play in Phoenix this weekend.
Motley a mentor for Huskers
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
Although the Nebraska baseball
team opened its 1996 season with
five new faces in the starting lineup,
three returning seniors gave the
Comhuskers much needed support
in the middle of the order.
“We lost some good people with
good numbers but return three solid
players, (Matt) Meyer, Mel Motley,
and Todd Sears,” Nebraska coach
John Sanders said. “Those guys are
going to be called upon to be stable
and have the kinds of years they had
last year — if not better.”
In the Huskers’ opening series,
Motley led the way, (hiving in eight
runs with six hits and helping Ne
braska outscore New Mexico State
47-30 in the three-game series.
Despite his performance and se
nior status, Motley, Nebraska’s
starting right fielder, said he did not
see himself as a leader. The 2-1
Huskers will play in the Adidas
Classic this weekend in Phoenix
against Texas Tech, Arizona State
and Northwestern.
“I talk to a lot of the young guys.
We just talk baseball,” Motley said.
“I don’t feel a lot of added pressure
on myself to try and do anything
more.”
Sanders said if Motley put up big
numbers this season, the younger
players would look up to him for
that reason alone.
“He just needs to do what he can
do — put up numbers,” Sanders
said. “If you start thinking, 'I’m a
leader,’ then you forget about put
ting up numbers. And all of a sud
den you’re not a leader.”
Motley has been drafted twice
over the course of his baseball ca
reer and turned down both offers.
In 1992, he was drafted in the
32nd round by the New York Yan
kees after his senior year at River
side Poly High School in Riverside,
Calif. But Motley decided to attend
Riverside Community College.
During his sophomore year in
1994 at Riverside CC, Motley hit
.301 and earned honorable mention
honors in the All-Orange Empire
Conference. He was drafted in the
39th round by the Cincinnati Reds.
Once again, Motley turned down
the chance to play professional
baseball and transferred to Ne
braska.
“I was drafted twice, and they
never really offered me anything I
could get excited about,” Motley
said.
In his first season with the Husk
ers last season, Motley finished with
a .357 batting average, ninth in the
Big Eight. After an 8-fbr-13 perfor
mance at the Big Eight postseason
tournament, Motley was named to
the all-tournament team. Despite an
outstanding performance with a
Division I team, Motley was not
drafted.
“Not getting drafted last year
made me realize how important
school is,” Motley said. “Right now,
I just want to do well in school and
play baseball.”
Sanders said Motley’s skills had
earned him the interest of profes
sional scouts. But name recognition
alone, Sanders said, would not
guarantee him a spot in the ama
teur baseball draft this year.
“I certainly think that he can
play at the next level” Sanders said.
Motley said he had set some per
sonal goals for this season but was
not concerned about getting
drafted.
“The one thing he can take care
of is how hard he works and how
hard he prepares,” Sanders said. “If
he works harder than he did last
year, there is no reason he can’t
have as good, if not a better, year.”
Huskers
hope to
regroup
By Vince D’Adamo
Staff Reporter
Everything that could have gone
wrong for the Nebraska basketball
team in February has gone wrong.
And Comhusker coach Danny Nee
said he felt the pain.
“It hurts,” Nee said Monday. “When
you keep losing, things become mag
nified.”
Nebraska’s 74-59 loss to Iowa State
dropped its record to 15-9 overall and
3-6 in the Big Eight. The Huskers have
lost five straight for the first time since
1989-1990.
Before losing to the Cyclones, the
Huskers lost a 99-98 heartbreaker
against Missouri on Wednesday night
and dropped games to Iowa State, Kan
sas State and Kansas.
Nee said a few breaks along the way
could have left Nebraska in an entirely
different situation heading into its fi
nal five conference games.
“We gave such a great effort at Mis
souri,” Nee said. “If we could have held
on to it, it would have been a different
story.”
Nebraska rallied from a 20-point
deficit in that defeat.The Huskers now
have the rest of the week to prepare
for Saturday’s 8:05 p.m. contest
against Oklahoma State at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
“We need the five days,” Nee said.
“We feel now we can regroup.”
The five-game losing streak has put
the Huskers’ backs against the wall.
The Huskers, who held a team meet
ing Monday but did not practice, are
sixth in the Big Eight and only a half
game from the conference’s cellar.
Nebraska defeated Oklahoma State
66-57 in Stillwater, Okla., earlier this
season. But a return to full strength has
helped the Cowboys win two of their
last three games, including a 23-point
rout of Kansas State on Saturday in
Stillwater.
“They’ve improved tremendously,”
Nee said of the Cowboys.
The Huskers are not the only Big
Eight team to go through a slump this
season. Several schools accustomed to
winning began the conference season
poorly. But Oklahoma State, Okla
homa and Missouri — unlike Ne
braska — are making midseason runs
at the NCAA Tournament.
The Cowboys lost six of nine games
at one point. Oklahoma State coach
Eddie Sutton said the team never lost
hope.
“For the first time this season,
everybody’s in good health,” Sutton
said. “We’ve got good people. I never
See BIG 8 on 8
merman s career as a Husker ends
By Mike Kluck and
Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter and Staff Reporter
It was announced Monday that
Nebraska wrestler Mike Eierman’s
eligibility has expired and he will no
longer compete for the Comhuskers.
Eierman, a forma1 All-American
and NCAA qualifier the past two sea
sons, wrestled twice for the Huskers
on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4 against Oklahoma
and Oklahoma State. He pinned both
of his opponents.
The senior 150-pounder from Chi
cago will have to forfeit both matches,
which will change the result of the
Oklahoma match. Nebraska defeated
the Sooners 19-17, but will now lose
23-13. Oklahoma State defeated the
Huskers 22-16 and will now win 28
10.
Nebraska senior associate athletic
director A1 Papik said no further pen
"/ haven’t really thought about not being a part of
the team anymore. ”
MIKE EIERMAN
former Nebraska wrestler
alties were contemplated.
“My understanding is (Nebraska
coach Tim) Neumann submitted a let
ter requesting a hardship in 1993-94,”
Papik said. “He (Eierman) would not
meet the requirements.”
According to NCAA rules, if an
athlete competes in fewer than 20 per
cent of the team's competitions and
doesn’t compete in the second half of
the season, he can be eligible for a
hardship. Eierman’s 1993-94 year had
been in question.
Neumann said he thought Ne
braska Faculty Representative James
O’Hanlon submitted to the NCAA a
letter of appeals to grant Eierman a
hardship for the 1993-94 season.
O’Hanlon, who was out of town Mon
day, did not submit such a letter.
Eierman won his first 14 matches
of the 1993-94 season, but did not
compete the second half of the season
because of personal reasons. He fin
ished the year with a 19-5 record and
4-4 dual record.
“I wish it wasn’t the way it was,”
Neumann said.
Eierman was dismissed from the
HUSKer team ai me oegmnmg oi me
1995 season for disciplinary reasons.
He was reinstated at the beginning of
the second semester.
Neumann said Eierman would train
with Husker assistant coach Brad
Penrith to wrestle freestyle. He also
will work to completing his degree in
human development and family sci
ence.
“Four years ago getting his degree
wasn’t a priority,” Neumann said. “I
told him last week that it didn’t look
good on him receiving a hardship.”
Eierman said he was surprised on
Monday when he learned he had not
received a hardship.
“I haven’t really thought about not
being a part of the team anymore,”
Eierman said. ’The coaches suppos
edly told me I got the hardship two
years ago.”