Sports
Tuesday, April 2,1996 Page 7
Derek Samson
College hoops
best, worst
shine through
Now that the college basketball
season is over, it’s time to name the
winners and losers of the NCAA
Tournament.
Best Conference: Southeastern
Conference. The SEC qualified four
teams for the tournament. All four
made it to the Sweet 16. Half of the
Final Four was from the SEC, in
cluding national champion Ken
tucky. Georgia could have been the
SEC’s third Final Four team, but it
lost to Syracuse on a last-second
shot in overtime of the West Re
gional semifinals.
The other best conference: Big
East. Not only did the Big East own
the rights to three of the four best
players in the country (Villanova’s
Kerry Kittles, Georgetown’s Allen
Iverson and Connecticut’s Ray
Allen), it also proved to have four
of the best teams. The conference’s
fourth-best team, Syracuse, played
for the NCAA title Monday night.
Syracuse, Connecticut and
Georgetown all made it to the Sweet
16, and all five Big East teams in
vited to the tourney won first-round
games.
Worst conference: This one
was too easy — the Big Ten. Once
again, this conference proved its
worth right away. Like last year
when only Purdue escaped the first
round, the majority of the Big Ten
was gone after the opening round.
Three of the Big Ten’s five teams
were beaten, leaving only Purdue
and Iowa. Purdue proved what a
joke it was to award a No. 1 seed to
a Big Ten team by getting routed
by eighth-seeded Georgia after
barely escaping Western Carolina in
the first round. And it took Iowa
until the second round to realize
what state it was from.
Second-worst conference: Big
Eight. This year’s NCAA Tourna
ment proved that Kansas and Iowa
State deserved bids. Oklahoma and
Kansas State should have been bat
ding Nebraska for rights to claim
No. 65 at the National Invitation
Tournament. Both the Sooners and
Wildcats were massacred in the first
round, and Iowa State proved how
overrated it was with a loss to Utah
in the second round. Kansas was
competitive, but even the Big
Eight’s best team was no match foi
the Big East’s fourth-best team in
the West Regional final.
Best coach: Another easy one
— Tubby Smith, Georgia. After
leading Tulsa (a Missouri Valley
school in Oklahoma) to two straight
Sweet 16 appearances, Smith took
his talents to Georgia. Without
Smith, the Bulldogs were 18-10 last
year and actually lost a first-round
NIT game to Nebraska. This year,
Smith led the Bulldogs to the Sweet
16, where they were beaten in over
time by Syracuse. That makes it
three straight Sweet 16 appearances
with two different schools for
Smith. It’s too bad Nebraska
couldn’t realize he wanted to move
on from Tulsa.
Samson is a senior news-editorial
major and a Daily Nebraskan sports coi
amnist.
Wildcats
finally
get title
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)
— Kentucky earned the title Monday
night that it was expected to win all
season.
A 76-67 victory over Syracuse
gave the Wildcats their sixth national
title in school history and the
Orangemen the respect few gave them
going before the game.
“We’re a little bit like the Green
Bay Packers,” Kentucky coach Rick
Pitino said. “The entire state of Ken
tucky owns our basketball team.”
Kentucky’s senior guard Tony
Delk, voted the outstanding player of
the NCAA Tournament, finished
Monday with 24 points and tied the
championship game record with seven
3-pointers.
Freshman future star Ron Mercer
added a career-high 20 points and the
deep Kentucky bench enabled the
Wildcats to keep up the defensive pres
sure. Syracuse finished with 24 turn
overs, 19 more than it had in the semi
final win over Mississippi State Sat
urday.
Orangemen senior John Wallace
finished with 29 points and 10 re
bounds but fouled out with 1:06 to
play and Kentucky leading 72-67.
After Kentucky built a 59-46 lead,
the Orangemen came up with a 12-3
run, cutting the lead to 62-58 on a
Wallace three-point play with 7:58
left. Wallace later hit two free throws
with 4:46 left to trim Kentucky’s lead
to 64-62, but Syracuse could get no
closer.
Derek Anderson and Antoine
Walker had 11 points apiece for Ken
tucky. Syracuse forward Todd Burgan
finished with 19 points.
Syracuse couldn’t have asked for
more from its 2-3 zone in the first half
as Kentucky struggled with its shoot
ing from everywhere. With the excep
tion of Delk’s hot shooting from be
hind the 3-point arc, the Wildcats were
missing layups, drives, short jumpers
and long ones.
With the score tied at 28 after a
Wallace 3-pointer with 3 minutes to
play in the first half, Mercer and Delk
combined for 12 points over the next
1:49 to build a 40-30 Kentucky lead.
Mercer started the spurt with a
three-point play, and his second 3
pointer of the game was sandwiched
between two Delk 3-pointers. Otis
Hill’s three-point play got Syracuse
within 40-33, but Walker made two
free throws with 36 seconds left to put
the Wildcats up 42-33 at the half.
“I’m proud of my guys,” Syracuse
coach Jim Boeheim said. “They came
back. My kids had so much heart all
year and in this tournament, and I
think they gained respect.”
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska freshman Corey Millerwillpitchtonight against
No. 21 Oklahoma. Miller, normally a second baseman, is
making his second appearance of the season on the
mound.
NU freshman aids
team at two spots
By Nikki Markota
Staff Reporter * •
Success as a freshman at the col
legiate level is quite an accomplish
ment.
To do it at two completely dif
ferent positions is even more im
pressive.
So far this year, that is cxactl)
what freshman Corey Miller has
done. Before last week, Miller had
started every game of the season ir
the infield for the Cornhusker base
ball team.
But Nebraska’s everyday seconc
baseman tried his luck as a pitchei
last Wednesday against Peru State,
holding the Bobcats to no runs and
three hits in 3 2/3 innings. Tonight
at 7, Miller will pitch again.
This time, however, the compe
tition will be much stiffen The
Huskers are playing host to 21st
ranked Oklahoma, a team that won
the national title only two years ago.
“I love playing second and pitch
ing,” Miller said.
But the 5-foot-ll, 170-pound
right-hander from Oakhurst, Calif.,
said he might be a bit partial to the
mound.
“The best thing about pitching
is that you are always in the game,”
he said.
See MILLER on 8
___i
NU searches for pitching
oy uavia wuson
Staff Reporter
After posting a 10-17-1 record in
the first half of the season, the Ne
braska baseball team wants to improve
in one area.
“Our goals this week arc to stabi
lize on the mound so we can gain some
momentum,” Nebraska coach John
Sanders said Monday. “It all stops and
starts on the mound. We want to show i
a better second half with respect to our '
pitching.” 1
The Comhuskers play host to No.
21 Oklahoma today in a 7 p.m. game 1
at Buck Beltzer Field. j
Oklahoma, 20-10 overall and 7-2 j
in the Big Eight, is second only to 7-1 1
Oklahoma State in the conference. The i
Sooners lead the Big Eight with a .351
batting average. <
“Oklahoma is a good team,” Sand- <
ers said. “They’re in the top 10 in bat- i
“It all stops and starts on the mound. We want to
show a better second half with respect to our
pitching. ”
JOHN SANDERS
Nebraska baseball coach
ing average in the country. They’re a
^ery explosive offensive team. We
lave a tremendous challenge.”
Freshman second baseman Corey
filler, who has started all but one
;amc in the infield this season, will
itart on the mound today against the
>cst offense the Huskers have seen all
eason.
Miller made his collegiate pitching
lebut against Peru State last Wednes
lay, throwing 3 2/3 innings and allow
ng no runs on two hits.
“I think he’s a competitive young
man,” Sanders said. “He’s someone
who has done well, and it gives us a
chance to go out there with someone
different. Corey’s someone who hasn’t
had a lot of innings, so why not?”
Offensively, the Sooners are led by
senior first baseman Damon Minor.
Minor, one of four Oklahoma players
to start every Sooner game, is batting
.383 and leads the Big Eight with 10
See SOONERS on 8
Alberts
eager for
new season
By Todd Walkenhorst
Staff Reporter
Former Nebraska All-American
and ButkusAward winner Trev Alberts
returned to Lincoln Monday for the
fifth annual School Is Cool Jam.
The return to Lincoln is a chance
r . for Alberts tn oive
back to the com
munity that sup
ported him during
his colle
giate career from
1989-1993, he
saiu.
Alberts told the
14,000 children in
•.. attendance at the
Alberts Bob Devaney
Sports Center to give a 100 percent
effort in everything they do.
“Winning isn’t everything,” he
said, “it’s how you play.”
Alberts has learned from personal
experience. As a senior at Northern
University High School in Cedar Falls,
Iowa, Alberts lost in a state champi
onship game.
As a senior at Nebraska in 1993,
the Cornhuskers lost the Orange Bowl
by two points to Florida State in a
game that decided the national title.
And in January, his current team,
the Indianapolis Colts, fell one play
short of earning a trip to the Super
Bowl in Alberts’ second NFL season.
“It’s not always winning,” he said.
“Even if you get a B in a class, it’s all
right as long as you gave 100 percent.”
For the first time since leaving Ne
braska, Alberts — who was the fifth
overall pick in the April 1994 draft —
has been able to participate in off-sea
son training without the burden of re
See ALBERTS on 8
NU radio
affiliates
announced
From the Associated Press
University of Nebraska sports have
a new home on the radio.
News-talk station KKAR (1290
AM) and rock station KDGE (101.9
FM) were named Monday as the
Omaha affiliates to the Comhuskcr
Sports Network, said Paul Aaron of
Great Plains Media, Inc.
Both stations arc owned by
Mitchell Broadcasting Co. of Omaha.
Last month, Great Plains Media
won the five-year contract to the
Huskcr network with an $8.5 million
bid.
Omaha station KFAB has carried
Nebraska sports exclusively since
1983 and has broadcast Nebraska
football games since 1926.
KKAR General Manager Marty
Riemcnschncider declined to disclose
Mitchell Broadcasting’s bid. KKAR
will broadcast Nebraska football, vol
leyball, men’s and women’s basketball
and a few baseball games. KDGE,
called The Edge, will only broadcast
football games, Riemenschneider said.
Great Plains will begin its broad
casts in August. Aaron said the net
work would expand to include more
stations.
New technology, including field
microphones to pick up the sound of
tackles, will be used during football
game broadcasts, Aaron said.
The Lincoln AM affiliate — ex
pected to be 1400 KLIN — will be
announced Thursday, Aaron said.
He also said play-by-play radio
announcer Kent Pavelka would be
