_:_:__
Trevor Parks
NU deserves
regional host
over Perm St
The thunder from University
Park, Penn., is rumbling again.
This time, the natives of Happy
Valley are unhappy with Nebraska
— and the NCAA — because the
Penn State volleyball team once
again has been sent to Lincoln for
an NCAA regional.
This has happened now for three
straight years and seven times since
1982. The Lady Lions should be
used to it. It seems, however, that
some think PSU got the shaft.
In a column published last week
in the Collegian, Penn State’s stu
dent newspaper, assistant night
sports editor Cameron McGaughy
blames the NCAA’s greed and its
Ratings Percentage Index, which he
calls “a stupid scientific formula
comparing schedules,” for Penn
State’s trio to Lincoln.
Penn State is 30-2 and won the
Big Ten. But the Lady Lions aver
age 1,647 fans per match at Rec
Hall and have never played host to
an NCAA Regional.
Nebraska is 28-3, dominated the
Big 12 and averages 3,539 fans per
match, the nation’s second-best av
erage. The Cornhuskers have
played host to seven regionals.
But perhaps the biggest reason
NU is playing host to a regional is
because it didn’t blow its biggest
road trip of the season—like PSU
did.
The Huskers won at Texas and
Texas A&M on the final weekend
of the season. In the Lady Lions’
tell-tale weekend, they lost at Ohio
State and at Michigan State.
Hawaii deserved a regional.
Florida deserved a regional.
Stanford definitely deserved a re
gional, and Nebraska deserved a
regional.
Sorry Penn State. The NCAA
knows what it’s doing.
And what is there to do in Uni
versity Park anyway? From what
I’ve heard, it’s a gas station, a used
car lot and a restaurant. The town
is so far away fromcivilization that
it’s known to have to world’s worst
,.. traffic jams on football game days.
/ University Park is no place for
a regional. No one wants to go there,
and people at Penn State aren’t
happy about it.
“As pissed off as I am,”
McGaughy wrote, “I can’t even
imagine how the team and Coach
Russ Rose must really feel.
“I hope they use that to beat the
crap out of the Big Red. ... Good
luck Nebraska. You’ll need it.”
Sounds like he’s spent too much
time in University Park. Sure, Ne
braska needs luck, but so does Penn
State—and every other team in the
tournament.
And according to the histcfy
books, the home court is a lucky
place for Nebraska.
Parks is a senior news-edito
rial major and a Daily Nebraskan
senior reporter.
VENSON HAMILTON and Bowling Green’s Anthony Stacey reach for a rebound Saturday in Nebraska’s 73-68 win. NU will play at
Missouri-Kansas City tonight.
NU hopes to thwart
Kangaroo upset bid
Lue returns to the
site of his last high
school game.
By Patrick Wyman
Staff Reporter
Tonight’s trip to Municipal Au
ditorium in Kansas City, Mo., will
not be a new experience for Ne
braska point guard Tyronn Lue.
Lue played his final high school
basketball game at the same site in
March 1995, scoring 30 points in
Raytown High School’s double
overtime loss to Kansas City Cen
tral in the state quarterfinals.
In tonight’s 7:30 game against
2-3 Missouri-Kansas City, Lue, who
is averaging a team-high 19.7 points
per game for the 5-1 Huskers, hopes
for a similar performance with a
different result.
“I’m going to go there prepared,
focused and ready to play” said Lue,
who was raised in Mexico, Mo., but
attended high school at Raytown, a
Kansas City-area school.
Tonight’s game will also be a
homecoming of sorts for true fresh
man guard Cookie Belcher, who is
beginning to turn heads with his
play. Belcher, also from Mexico,
Mo., was named the Big 12 rookie
of the week on Monday and trails
only Lue in scoring, averaging 13.2
points per game.
According to Nebraska Coach
Danny Nee, UMKC is better than
its 2-3 record, and the Kangaroos
have a legitimate shot to stop NU’s
_ five-game streak.
“Missouri-Kansas City is a solid
basketball team,” Nee said. “They
lost a couple of tough games on the
road. They’re a dangerous team and
they gpt a lot of new faces.”
Tonight’s game will mark the
ninth straight season in which NU
and Missouri-Kansas City have met.
Nebraska has won each of the last
eight years, but not without a
struggle, Nee said.
“UMKC has been very tough for
us in Municipal Auditorium,” Nee
said. “It’s a dangerous game.”
Nebraska beat UMKC 87-69 at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center last
season and downed the Kangaroos
63-60 two years ago in Kansas City.
UMKC will be playing tonight with
out center Tony Berg, who leads the
Kangaroos in rebounds, averaging;
11.2, and has scored 10.4 points per
game.
“They are small and quick, and
without Berg, their tallest player is _
Basketball
Starters a
_
G 30 Cookie Belcher
6-6,” Nee said. “That’s small com
pared to what we’ve been playing
against.”
The Huskers’ height advantage
Please see UMKC on 11
-—
Pettit: Schedule helped Huskers
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
The NCAA Tournament’s East Re
gional field at the NU Coliseum this
weekend is the strongest Terry Pettit
has seen in his 20
years of coaching
volleyball at Ne
braska.
But Pettit
said TUesday that
the Comhuskers
have at least one
advantage over the
previous NU
teams he has taken
Krondak to regionals.
“I’m comfortable because of the
a
Our whole season, everything that we've
worked for comes down to these last two
weeks."
Jaime Krondak
NU outside hitter
schedule this team has played,” Pettit
said. “They’ve shown character at criti
cal times.”
The Huskers have played five
matches against top 10 opponents and
own a 15-2 record against NCAA
Tournament teams this season. That
will help 28-3 NU Friday against Lou
isville (26-4), and possibly on Satur
day against 25-7 Wisconsin or 30-2
Penn State.
“The grind of the Big 12 is similiar
to a regional,” Pettit said. “It’s a tre
mendous benefit. When you’re play
ing two nights in a row, you can’t just
play on emotion. You have to make a
decision to play intensely.”
Finding intensity will not be a prob
lem for the Huskers, said sophomore
Jaime Krondak, who is seeing her first
extensive playing time in an NCAA
Tournament.
“Our whole season, eveiythingthat
we’ve worked for, comes down to these
last two weeks,” Krondak said. “We
have more incentive to come to prac
tice and work hard.
“The intensity is definitely up at the
end of the season.”
Along with the added intensity,
Pettit said he has been pleased with the
focus and personal growth of his team
Please see NCAA on 11