Allen says Huskers
can conquer injuries
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
Injuries have plagued the Ne
braska men’s gymnastics team all
season.
This weekend’s Mountain Pa
cific Sports Federation Champion
ships in Santa Barbara, Calif., will
be no different for the No. 4
Comhuskers.
Husker all-arounder Jim Koziol,
recently healed from a tom bicep
muscle, will be questionable for the
two-day meet because of chronic
back problems.
Nebraska coach Francis Allen
said Koziol would have to be healthy
for the Huskers to be successful in
the nine-team field that includes
No. 3 California, eighth-ranked
Oklahoma and No. 10 New Mexico.
1995 national champion Stanford
also will be at the meet, which runs
Friday and Saturday.
“If Koziol’s out,” Allen said,
“we could be in trouble. If his back
is bothering him at all, I’ll take him
out and save him for next week. We
may take a beating, but I don’t think
that’s going to happen. I think the
guys will rally if he’s out.”
Koziol has emerged as the Husk
ers’ most consistent all-arounder
this season, ranking ninth in the
nation in all-around standings with
a 56.43 average.
The sophomore from Omaha was
named the MPSF athlete of the week
for hiscareer-high 56.95 all-around
score against No. 1 Ohio State in
Lincoln on March 23.
Senior all-arounder Jason
Christie will be counted on to pick
up most of the slack if Koziol
doesn’t compete, Allen said.
Christie, fully recovered from a si
nus infection, will use a different
dismount on parallel bars at the
meet.
“He’s very comfortable with it,”
Allen said. “I think he’s going to
have a good meet this weekend.”
Christie ranks 11th in the coun
try in the pommel horse, ninth in the
parallel bars and sixth in the hori
zontal bar.
Allen said California would be
the team to beat this weekend. The
Golden Bears are led by all
arounder Trent Wells, who shared
this week’s MPSF athlete-of-the
week honors with Koziol.
California leads the country in
the horizontal bar (39.06) and is
second in the parallel bars (38.21).
The Huskers arc second in the
pommel horse (38.71), fourth in the
parallel bars (38.03) and seventh in
the horizontal bar (38.18).
Freshman J.D. Reive will pro
vide a needed boost for the Huskers
on the vault and the parallel bars,
Allen said.
Reive only competed on the still
rings against Ohio State on March
23 after missing the season’s first
eight meets with a back injury.
All nine teams in the MPSF are
also members of the NCAA Mid
west region. The NCAA will select
the six teams from that field with
the highest three-score average to
compete in the Midwest Regional
meet April 13 in Lincoln. The top
three teams at the regionals will
advance to the NCAA Champion
ships in Stanford, Calif., April 25
27.
- The Huskers and Oklahoma
joined the Mountain Pacific Sports
Federation last year because they
were the only two Big Eight teams
still sponsoring men’s gymnastics.
Harriman
Continued from Page 9
gram after making a visit to Lincoln on
Feb. 3 and attending the Huskers’ 75
65 loss to Iowa State.
“This was the team he felt most
comfortable around,” Homer said.
“The coaching staff handled things
very professionally, and he was im
pressed with that.”
Harriman, who is left-handed,
helped lead Mason City to a 22-1 record
and a state championship in Iowa’s
largest class.
He was named first-team all-state
and was a member of the Class 4A
state tournament team. For the season,
he averaged 16.3 points, 11 rebounds
and four blocked shots per game.
Harriman also set a state record by
making 69.7 percent of his field goal
attempts and had a school-record 68
blocks.
Harriman said he chose Nebraska
because he liked the school, the facili
ties and the coaches.
“I decided to make an early com
mitment, so I was not distracted by the
recruiting process next season,”
Harriman said.
Other schools that showed interest
in him were Iowa, Northwestern and
Tulsa.
Homer said Harriman had quali
fied under NCAA academic guide
lines, carrying a 3.4 grade-point aver
age.
Before coming to Nebraska,
Harriman said he needed to work on
his upper-body strength as well as his
footwork. He considered his good
shooting touch, quickness and defen
sive rebounding his strengths.
Homer agreed with Harriman’s as
sessment.
“He needs to work on the weights
and build that upper-body strength,”
Horner said.
As a senior next season, Harriman
will be playing alongside Iowa recruit
Dean Oliver. Oliver, an all-state point
guard, committed to play basketball
for the Hawkeyes following his sopho
more season., ,
The early signing period for bas
ketball recruits begins Nov. 13.
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NIT win gets Huskers
on right foot for future
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter —
Not long after winning the National Invita
tion Tournament, the Nebraska basketball team
was looking forward to next year and better
things.
Despite losing five seniors, four of whom
were among Nebraska’s top seven players this
season, the Cornhuskers expect to make it to the
NCAA Tournament next season.
Coach Danny Nee said winning the NIT with
a 60-56 victory over St. Joseph’s last week was
a major step for the Nebraska program.
“Our guys playing into March and playing
35 games and having to play through spring
break and all, that knocks all that crap off for
next year,” Nee said. “They know what they
want to do for next year. I’ve already started
talking to them about that.
“I was saying it to them out on the court about
being in the other tournament.”
Of the four teams to make the 1995 NIT
Final Four, all made the NCAA Tournament
this season. Virginia Tech, the winner of last
year’s NIT, beat Wisconsin-Green Bay in the
first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament
before losing to Kentucky in the second round.
Marquette, which lost in the NIT title game
last year, also made it to the second round of the
NCAA Tournament this year.
Canisius and Penn Slate, also in the 1995
NIT Final Four, lost in the first round of last
month’s NCAA Tournament.
Holes in Nebraska’s starting lineup are left
with the departure of the team’s top two scorers,
Erick Strickland and Jaron Boone. The Husk
ers’ top two players off the bench, Terrance
Badgett and Tom Wald, also will be gone next
fall.
Overall, 52 percent of the team’s scoring and
39.6 percent of its rebounding will be missing
next year.
But like Virginia Tech last year, Nebraska
used the NIT to gain valuable experience. Start
ing point guard Tyronn Lue, a sophomore next
year, returns after starting 34 games as a fresh
man. Lue was named to the Big Eight’s all
freshman team and to the NIT all-tournament
team. He averaged 8.5 points and a team-high
4.1 assists per game.
Winning the NIT will be a springboard for
next season, Lue said.
“Everybody would have been down on the
program if we hadn’t made postseason play,”
Luc said. “I think we are going to come out and
have a better season next year.”
Senior-to-be Mikki Moore started 27 games
and averaged nine points and 5.6 rebounds per
game. He also shot a team-high 58 percent from
the field. In the NIT championship game, Moore
had a double-double with 11 points and 13
rebounds.
* Senior forward Bernard Gamer started 34
games after transferring from Western Nebraska
Community College. He averaged 10.7 points
and 6.3 rebounds per game, both team highs
among returning players.
Another post player, Venson Hamilton, also
returns. Hamilton played in 32 games, averag
ing six points and five rebounds per game.
Sophomore forward Andy Markowski, who
cracked Nebraska’s nine-man rotation as a
redshirt freshman, is coming back, and sopho
mores Leif Nelson, Chad Ideus and junior
Chester Surles also arc slated to be back next
season.
The Husker lineup should receive a boost
from three players who were academically in
eligible this season.
They are: 6-foot-6 forward Larry Florence
ofPhenix City, Ala.; Alvin Mitchell, a 6-1 all
state guard from Omaha Burke; and Troy
Piatkowski, a 6-5 forward from Rapid City,
S.D. Piatkowski’s brother, Eric, now with the
Los Angeles Clippers, is a former two-time All
Big Eight forward for Nebraska.
Nebraska, which now has one scholarship
available and is looking to sign a guard later this
month, nabbed Lue’s cousin, 6-3 guard Cookie
Belcher of Mexico, Mo., in November.
Nee said the talent for next season might be
better than any of his first 10 years.
“I like it,” Nee said. “I think we have a good
base.”
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