Big
Notebook 1
With the birth of the Big 12 Con
ference in August, Iowa State’s 56
55 victory over Kansas in the Big
Eight Tournament championship
Sunday was the last-evcr Big Eight
basketball game. It was also the
Cyclones’ first league tournament
title. In the 20-year history of the
tournament, only Colorado failed to
win a championship.
* * *
The Big 12 will not change the
configuration of the Big Eight’s
wrestling championships. Because
none of the Texas schools have a
wrestling program, Nebraska, Iowa
State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
and Missouri still will be the only
schools in the league tournament
next season.
* * *
The last Big Eight Tournament
at Kemper Arena in Kansas City,
Mo., set a record for attendance as
70,617 fans watched the three-day
event. The mark surpassed last
year’s record of 69,059.
* * *
Kansas and Iowa State domi
nated the all-tournament roster.
Named to the team were Dedric
Willoughby, Kenny Pratt and
Kelvin Cato from Iowa State. Kan
sas landed Jacque Vaughn, Racf
LaFrentz and Ryan Robertson.
* * *
Four Big Eight men’s teams
were selected for the NCAA Tour
nament. Kansas (26-4) received a
No. 2 seed in the East Region and
will face South Carolina State (22
7) in the first round in Tempo, Ariz.,
Friday. Iowa State (23-8) received
a No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region
and will face 12th-seedcd Califor
nia (17-10) in Dallas on Thursday.
In the Southeast Region in Orlando,
Fla., Oklahoma (17-12) received a
10th seed and will face seventh
seeded Temple (19-12) Friday.
Kansas State (17-11) also received
a 10th seed and will face New
Mexico (174) in the first round of
the East Region in Richmond, Va.,
Friday.
AAA
Four Big Eight women’s basket
ball teams, including Nebraska,
received bids to the NCAA Tour
nament.
The ninth-seeded Comhuskers
(19-9) will face Colorado State (25
4) in the first round in Palo Alto,
Calif., Saturday. Colorado (25-8)
received a No. 3 seed and will play
host to 14th-sccdcd Tulane (21-9)
Friday in Boulder, Colo. Fourth
seeded Kansas (20-9) also will play
host to a first-round game in
Lawrence, Kan., against Middle
Tennessee State (24-5). Oklahoma
State (19-9) received a seventh seed
and will play lOth-sceded Rhode
Island (21-7) Saturday in Athens,
Ga.
♦ + *
Missouri and Nebraska were in
vited to the men’s National Invita
tion Tournament. Nebraska (16-14)
will face Colorado State (18-11) in
Fort Collins, Colo., Thursday. Mis
souri (17-14) will play host to
Murray State (19-9) on Wednesday
in Columbia, Mo. Oklahoma State
received an invitation but declined
the offer.
Big Eight Notebook compiled by «e
■ior reporter Mike Klack.
Sky’s the limit
e;.| i:;
Brown sets the pace for Huskers
d 'vv
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Performing a scries of flips and
handstands on a 4-inch-wide bal
ance beam suspended 4 feet above
the ground is not easy.
But for freshman Cornhuskcr
gymnast Courtney Brown, it comes
as second nature.
“She’s a great beam worker,”
Nebraska assistant coach Teresa
Ijams said. “She’s really clean
form-wise. She doesn’t have any
form breaks, and she moves well on
the beam. She just has good skills.”
But Brown’s Torfn and naturaf
talent arc not as valuable as her con
fidence, Ijams said, which has
helped her claim the leadoff role for
Nebraska on the beam.
“It’s very, very important,” Ijams
said, “because what the first person
docs has a great deal to do with how
the rest of the team docs. It kind of
sets the pace for the other competi
tors.”
Husker coach Dan Kcndig said
the leadoff position is one that few
gymnasts covet, but Brown volun
teered for the spot earlier this year.
“She asked for the role,” Kcndig
said. “Courtney’s great on the
beam. We had her at a later spot in
the lineup for intra-squad practices,
but she didn’t like that.
“We feel like we’ve got a qual- .
ity person there to get us-going. And
nobody is harder on herself when
she misses than Courtney.”
Brown, a native of Fishers, Ind.,
has fallen only twice on her beam
routines this year. She scored a ca
rccr-high 9.85 in the Masters Clas
sic Feb. 25, good enough for third
“ place.
“I really like it,” Brown said,
“because it gives me a chance to
lead the whole team off. I feel like
I can have a big impact.”
One of five freshmen in the
eighth-ranked Huskers’ starting
' lineup, Brown also competes on the
vault and in the floor exercise.
At the Masters Classic, she also
scored a career-high 9.875 on the
floor, sparking the Huskers to a
v come-from-bchind 193.8-193.2
victory over No. 4 Michigan.
“I didn’t think we were going to
have as much impact as we have,”
Brown said, “but all the upperclass
men kept tel ling us that we were go
ing to be good. I don’t really think
that any of us believed it until we
actually started performing, and we
were like, 'Wow, we can actually
do this.’”
Ijams said she was also surprised
at the impact that Brown had made
this season. ?.
“You don’t usually think of a
freshman as the type of competitor
that would start out an event,” Ijams
said. “But she’s done awesome.”
Brown said she hoped to add an
uneven bars routine to her reper
toire and compete as an all
arounder.
That adjustment, Brown said,
will be an easy one. But she said
the adjustment to college life had
not been as simple.
“It’s a lot different,” she said. “I
had to change a lot. I had to change
my time management and just my
whole schedule.”
Freshman wrestler inspires NU
By Antone Oseka
Staff Reporter .
/
STILLWATER, Okla.—Freshman
Dusty Morris entered the Big Eight
Wrestling Championships as the fifth
seed in a five-man bracket.
He had a losing record at 15-16 and
__was supposed to
be the weak spot
in Nebraska’s
lineup.
He proved
everyone
wrong.
Morris
wrestled his way
to third place in
«■—■ — • : : * me i^z-pouna
Morris weight class Sat
urday afternoon
;at Gallagher-Iba Arena on the Okla
“The kid's got a big heart. He gives you everything
he's got all the time. ”
TONY DEANDA
Nebraska wrestler
' _
homa State campus.
He beat third-seeded Rod Jones of
Oklahoma 2-1 in overtime when Jones
was called for stalling. And most
important of all, Morris qualified for
the NCAA Championships, which will
be March 21-23 in Minneapolis.
“Dusty gave us a chance to win the
tournament,” Nebraska coach Tim
Neumann said.
Morris’ team points weren’t
enough for Nebraska to win the title.
though. The Comhuskcrs finished six
points behind Oklahoma State, which
won the meet with 70 team points.
Morris scored team points with a
first-round 3-2 win over Matt Webster
of Missouri. That victory pitted Morris
against top-seeded Derek Mountsier
of Iowa State. Morris lost 6-1, drop
ping him into the match against Jones.
Morris, who is from Cody, Wyo.,
not only earned the praise of his coach
after the meet, he also served as a
model for his teammates, Neumann
said.
“We got to get these guys to wrestle
like Dusty Morris, as far as letting it
all hang out,” Neumann said.
Tony DeAnda, a senior 134
poundcr, said the secret to Morris was
his determination.
“The kid’s got a big heart,” DeAnda
said. “He gives you everything he’s got
all the time.”
DeAnda said he remembered when
Morris started the season for Ne
braska. Then, DeAnda said he could
beat him easily, but now Morris, who
redshirted last season, has earned a
chance to wrestle for the national
championship.
“It’s a great feeling,” Morris said.
See MORRIS on 8
