Weekend
Friday, March 8,1996
Page 7
SPOKI S OPINION
Mike Kiuck
Season goes
right for NU
women’s team
Angela Beck stood in the locker
room last Saturday and spoke to her
Nebraska women’s basketball team
the same way she has before 26
previous contests this season.
She talked one more time about
matchups, what needed to be ac
complished on the first offensive
series and what was at stake for the
Huskers in their first-round game
against Missouri in this final Big
Eight Tournament.
A win against the Tigers, and the
Huskers were virtually assured of a
spot in the NCAA Tournament. A
loss and the hopes and dreams of
this season were over.
But then something different
happened—something that hasn ’t
happened in her 10 years as the
Comhusker coach.
As tears filled her eyes, she
started talking about what this team .
has meant to her this season. And
then she said it.
“You guys are my all-time fa
vorite squad.”
I’d bet the same scene won’t be
evident today in Danny Nee’s locker
room.
And the only question is why.
Both teams were very similar at
the beginning of the season.
They both came off of disap
pointing seasons last year. Both had
nigh hopes for this season. And
both had quality seniors and return
ing players with experience.
With a balanced conference,
both teams had a strong opportu
nity to finish in the upper echelon of
the Big Eight race. Only one of
them did.
On Sunday afternoon, the
women will be sitting around the
Hewit Center waiting to find out
where they will be going in the
NCAA Tournament. Barring a
miracle in Kansas City (which is
possible), Nee will be hoping for a
phone call to leam his team made it
into the NIT.
Why have these two teams taken
different paths? Why did the Kan
sas women need an outstandingper
formance to deny the Huskers a
championship contest, while the
Nebraska men needed a win against
Kansas State to avoid a finish in the
cellar?
Whatwent right for the women
this season?
Total commitment, according to
senior Lis Brenden. Sophomore
Jami Kubik said it was a total ac
ceptance of roles by everybody on
the team. Senior Kate Galligan said
unity and Loyalty between the
coaches and players helped, while
sophomore Anna DeForge said a
100 percent effort from every player
on every night made a difference.
With all the differences, maybe
Beck said it best.
“Discipline was the foundation
of our squad’s moral and team
unity,” she said.
Without that foundation, the
walls or the whole season crumble.
Kluck Is a graduate student in Jour
nalism and a Dally Nebraskan senior
reporter.
Track teams set sights on titles
By Andrew Stmad
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska
men’sand women’s
track and field teams
will try to add to the
Comhuskcr collec
tion of national
championship hard
ware this weekend.
Competition be
gins today at the
NCAA Indoor Track and Field Cham
pionships at the RCA Dome in India
napolis. Nebraska is sending 23 ath
letes.
The Husker women won the indoor
title in 1983 and 1984. They will be
chasing their first championship.
Coming off their dominating per
formance at the Big Eight Champion
ships last month, the Husker women
are 1 isted among the favorites in India
napolis. Nebraska coach Gary Pepin
said this year’s team might be his fin
est in his 16 years as the Husker coach.
“We have an extremely strong team
with a lot of good athletes,” he said,
“Some good jumpers and some
throwers are sprinkled in there, too.”
The Huskers have their strongest
teams since the early 1980s, said Pepin,
who was selected as indoor men’s and
women’s Big Eight coach of the year
this season. He said both teams were
capable of a high finish.
“We have everybody healthy going
into the meet,” Pepin said, “and I think
we have a chance for certainly a top 10
finish or higher.”
The Huskers are sending five in
door All-Americans from a year ago.
Pepin said experience would be a fac
or in the meet, which will run until
Saturday afternoon.
“We have a lot of people on both
sides that have been to the meet be
fore,” Pepin said. “I think that will be
a big help to us as well.”
Individually, the Husker men have
two of the top three long jumpers in the
nation, Joe Laster and Robert Thomas,
and the country’s fastest distance med
ley relay team of Alex Lamme, Miklos
Roth, Jonah Kiptarus and Balazs
Tolgyesi.
See TRACK on 8
Nebraska senior guard Kate Galligan and the rest of the Cornhuskers will find out their fate
Sunday at 5:30 p.m., when the pairings for the NCAA Tournament are announced.
Huskers want NCAA bid
By Jason Brunz
Staff Reporter
Sunday is judgment day for the
Nebraska women ’ s basketball team.
The Cornhuskers, 19-9, have a
good chance of making the NCAA
tournament after finishing fourth at
the Big Eight Tournament last week
end in Salina, Kan. The Huskers
will meet Sunday at 5:30 p.m. to
discover their fate.
Nebraska has played in two
NCAA Tournaments, 1988 and
1993. The Huskers lost in the first
round in 1988 and the second round
in 1993.
Nebraska coach Angela Beck
said at least three Big Eight teams,
and possibly four, would be se
lected. Colorado, 25-8, and 20-9
Kansas are sure bets.
And even if only three confer
ence teams are selected, Oklahoma
State, also 19-9, won’t necessarily
be the third pick, Beck said. The
Cowboys and the Huskers were both
8-6 in league play, but Oklahoma
State won a tie-breaker over the
Huskers and earned the third seed
in the Big Eight Tournament.
“Our last seven games, we’ve
played better than Oklahoma State,”
Beck said. “We have identical
records.
“We’d obviously be disap
pointed in not making the NCAA
Tournament,” she said. “But we’d
accept an NWIT bid if that were to
occur.”
Senior guard Kate Galligan said
the team was confident it would get
into the tournament because of its
ranking in a tough conference.
“I really think that our record
speaks for itself in the conference
that we play in,” Galligan said.
“We’ve beaten some quality teams.”
Galligan agreed with Beck that
no matter what happened Sunday,
the Huskers would continue to play
hard in the postseason.
“If we don’t get into the NCAA
Tournament, we will definitely get
invited to the NWIT,” Galligan said.
“That’s a tournament we can defi
nitely go down and win.”
Beck commended her players
for their desire to go out and win
games. She said Nebraska needed
to combine that heart with execu
tion and cut down on its turnovers
to be successful in the postseason.
See NCAA on 8
Frazier is
treated for
blood clot
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Former Nebraska quarterback
Tommie Frazier left Bryan Memorial
Hospital on Thursday with his NFL
career on hold after
being treated for a
blood clot in his
right leg.
Dr. Deepak
Gangahar, a cardio
vascular surgeon at
Bryan, said it was
determined shortly
after Frazier en
ridZIcr iuuiw iiuapufli
I Feb. 26 that a clot had formed behind
the football player’s right knee.
Gangahar treated Frazier in Octo
ber 1994 when he had surgery to re
move a blood clot in his right leg and
missed seven games of his junior sea
son.
Frazier will be restricted from any
contact for at least three months, leav
ing his future in football questionable.
“Once the clot has disappeared and
it is healed and there is no sign of it
coming back, we’ll evaluate that ques
tion at that time,” Gangahar said. “To
day, he cannot play pro football. I will
tell you that.”
Gangahar said 10 percent of the
blood clot remained. Frazier will be
treated with blood thinning medicine
for at least three months. Before enter
ing the hospital for a sinus infection,
Frazier told his doctors his calf had
hurt for two or three days, Gangahar
said.
“I called for a test, and it showed
that a clot had occurred,” Gangahar
said, “notin the same place as before,
but nevertheless the clot had come
See FRAZIER on 8
Healthy NU primed for Iowa State
*
By Trevor Parks
Senior fteporter
After the Nebraska basketball team
practiced at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center on Wednesday afternoon, the
Comhuskers broke their post-practice
huddle with a new chant.
“Big Eight champs,” they shouted.
Wednesday’s practice was the
team’s last in the Bob Devaney Sports
Center before the Huskers headed to
the Big Eight Tournament in Kansas
City, Mo. Nebraska, 16-13, plays No.
, 23 Iowa State, 20-8, at 6:10 tonight at
Kemper Arena.
The Huskers believe they can win
the final conference tournament ever,
senior guard Erick Strickland said.
“It’s a lot of fun staying three days
down there and playing against those
high caliber teams,” Strickland said.
“It’s March Madness, and that makes
it more exciting. We just want to get
down there, have a little more fun and
win it the last time.”
If Nebraska gets by Iowa State, the
Huskers will face the winner of the
Oklahoma-Missouri game. The Husk
ers are a combined 1-3 against the
Sooners and the Tigers this season.
But two of those three losses came by
a total of four points, and the other
game was a triple-overtime defeat at
Oklahoma.
Against the Cyclones, however,
Nebraska hasn’t had much success.
Iowa State has beaten the Huskers
twice this season, 75-65 in Lincoln
and 74-59 in Ames, Iowa.
But Cyclone coach Tim Floyd said
it was difficult to beat any team three
times in a season.
“Certainly it’s difficult, but I would
See ISU on 8
Basketball Starters^
Kemper Arena
Kansas City, Mo.
Friday, 6:10 p.m.
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