Mitch Sherman
Unique ability
earns lineman
shot at NFL
Ripped gray tank top hanging
loosely over his 303-pound body,
Adam Treu, the diplomat, calmly
strode through Cook Pavilion Tues
day, shaking hands and answering
dozens of questions posed by a slew
of NFL scouts and coaches.
Minutes earlier, Adam Treu, the
athlete, fired footballs between his
legs as the scouts stood nearby,
amis crossed with stem faces, nod
ding, talking quietly and taking
notes.
Treu and the newly hired agent
hear speculation that the former
Nebraska offensive tackle may be
among the nation’s top two deep- ;
snapping prospects as next month’s j
NFL draft approaches.
The Nebraska football pro
gram has opened a lot of doors for
me,” Treu said. “I consider myself
a pretty good offensive lineman,
and I’d like to go into the draft and
have teams look at me like that.”
But Treu’s initial ticket to pro
fessional football probably requires
him to wear his deep-snapping hat.
“I consider myself fortunate to be
able to do it, and with the limits to
the numbers of players in the NFL,
I feel like it’s a big asset.”
For this 6-foot-6 December col
“* lege graduate, who grew up in Lin
coln and attended Pius X High
School, the last few months seem
a little out of the ordinary. Treu
never expected to play in the NFL
— at least not until December,
when NU Assistant Coach George
Darlington pulled him out of a team
meeting to inform Treu he’d been
invited to the Jan. 11 East-West
Shrine Game.
He certainly didn’t expect to
play in the NFL after his sopho
more year at NU, when he had a
whole seven games of college ex
perience and the wrong mentality
to crack the Husker Pipeline. But
Treu soon learned what it takes to
play at Nebraska. He grew up on
the field and off it, and he earned
the line’s top backup spot as a jun
ior.
Last season, he started along
side Chris Dishman and Aaron
Taylor. He worked out at the NFL
Scouting Combine in Indianapolis
last month, and Tuesday, the scouts
evaluated Treu and several other
former Huskers for the second time
in the last eight days.
“I look at the NFL as a good
chance to get paid a ludicrous
amount of money to play a game
that I love,” he said. “I have a de
gree, but I can put off a job and see
ifthis works out. If it does, I’ve got \
a head start on a lot of things in
my life.”
Judging solely by his attitude
and outlook, Treu already has a
giant head start.
Sherman is a senior news-edi
torial major and a Daily Nebras
kan senior reporter.
NU rails past Wolf Pack
Huskers will travel to
UConn for quarterfinal
matchup on Friday.
From Staff Reports
RENO, Nev. — The NIT beat goes
on.
Nebraska won its seventh straight
National Invitation Tournament game
Tuesday night, cruising past Nevada
78-68 in the second round of the
postseason basketball tournament.
Now just one victory away from a
return trip to the New York semifinals,
the defending champion Comhuskers
used a balanced offensive attack and
stifled the Wolf Pack with an aggres
sive defensive effort.
Nevada (21-10) shot just 34 per
cent from the field, and the Huskers
out-rebounded the Wolf Pack 41-39
before a sellout crowd of 11,275 at the
Lawlor Events Center.
NU (18-14)
advanced to the
round of eight, in
which it will play
Friday night in
Storrs, Conn.,
against Connecti
cut. The Huskies
(16-14) defeated
Bradley 63-47
Tuesday night in
Storrs and topped MfOre
Iona in the first round last week.
In Reno, Mikki Moore led the way
with a game-high 21 points, and the
6-11 senior tied a career-best 15 re
bounds. Fellow senior Bernard Gar
ner added 17 points and seven re
bounds, and point guard Tyronn Lue
scored 18. Venson Hamilton did not
play because of an ankle injury suf
fered Sunday in practice.
“We made them look bad at times
with our physicalness,” Nebraska
Coach Danny Nee said on his post
game radio show. “Mikki Moore
looked as dominant as I’ve ever seen
him.”
In addition to the dominating post
play, NU controlled the perimeter with
its defense. Nevada’s starting guards,
Jimmy Carroll and Richard Brown,
scored just six points apiece. Paul
Culbertson led the Wolf Pack with 17
points and Faron Hand scored 16.
“We felt if we didn’t guard them
on the perimeter, we were going to
have a long night,” Nee said. “I’m just
really, really proud of our kids. I
thought we won it with defense. Our
size, our strength was a little too
much.”
Nebraska scored the first eight
points of the game and after another
8-0 run midway through the first half,
the Huskers led 28-13. Nevada closed
the first half with a five-point surge
of its own to trail 37-34. That was as
close as the Big West Conference
champion Wolf Pack came the rest of
the night.
Lue, who had just four points at
the break, came alive in the second
half, scoring eight straight and 11 of
15 NU points—capped by a 3-pointer
with 8:40 remaining — to give the
Huskers a 60-46 lead.
“There was something definitely
wrong,” Nevada Coach Pat Foster
said. “I don’t know what, it’s just one
of those things. Tonight we played a
basketball team that was very good.
Very good.”
♦ Matt Miller/DN
STEVE FISH throws a pitch against Creighton on a iess-than-balmy day at Buck Beltzer Field. Fish lasted
the entire game allowing just three runs on six hits.
! usker bats chill Creighton
By Mitch Sherman
Senior Reporter
Near-freezing temperatures
and a nippy wind chill factor failed
to ice the hot bats of the Nebraska
baseball team Tuesday afternoon
at Buck Beltzer Field.
The Comhuskers pounded 12
hits and scored nine runs in the
first four innings, chilling
Creighton 13-3, NU’s third win in
its last four games. By the game’s
end, less than 50 well-covered fans
remained as temperatures dipped
into the mid-30s and wind chills
hovered near 15 degrees.
“We’ve had to battle this be
fore,” Nebraska Coach John Sand
ers said. “It’s part of the Midwest
ern mentality. But I was very proud
of the fact that we got double-digit
runs and double-digit hits on a
non-hitting day.”
Senior right-hander Steve Fish
(3-3) hurled a complete-game six
hitter, striking out four Bluejays
and facing just 35 batters in the 3
hour, 6-minute contest.
“I’ve always been one of those
guys who likes throwing in the
cold weather,” Fish said. “I think
it’s a pitcher’s advantage.”
Tuesday’s weather did little to
help Creighton starter Brad
Erickson, who entered the game
with a perfect eamed-run average
and a 2-0 record. Nebraska (8-14)
rattled Erickson (2-1) for four runs
in the first inning, scoring a pair
of runs of a single by second
baseman Kevin Harrington.
“Our pitching staff didn’t do
it,” said Creighton Coach Jack
Dahm, whose team dropped to 11 -
6. “We were flat in every phase of
the game. We had mental mis
takes, and that tells me we weren’t
ready to play. We basically played
our way out of the ball game.”
Harrington finished 4 for 6
with three RBIs and scored two
runs, and catcher Andrew Sawyers
went 2 for 4 with a pair of RBIs
for Nebraska, which did not com
mit an error to Creighton’s three.
“I liked our execution,” Sand
ers said. “We tried to tell our guys
«
Out pitching staff
didn’t do it. ”
JackDahm
Creighton baseball coach
before the game today to make a
real concrete effort to stay away
from fly-ball outs.
“We tried to put the ball on the
ground and hit line drives, because
today the fly balls were not going
anywhere. We did a good job of
that.”
Creighton scored runs in the
first, third and fourth innings be
fore Fish held the Jays hitless un
til the eighth.
NU returns to the diamond to
day at 1:30 p.m. for a double
header with Nebraska-Omaha.
The Huskers play host to another
twin bill against South Dakota
Thursday and face South Dakota
State in a single game Friday af
ternoon in Lincoln.
Springtime
prepares
NU for fan
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Staff Reporter
For five weeks this spring, the
Nebraska volleyball team meets every
day for 2/2 hours at the NU Coliseum.
They sweat, train
and condition.
They work to im
prove their consis
tency, quickness
and endurance.
And it’s all in
anticipation for
next season.
The
Comhuskers, who „|n(M
began spring Mn'er
practice last week, will not compete
in a meaningful match for five
months. But they should have no prob
lems finding the motivation to prac
tice with intensity, NU Coach Terry
Pettit said.
in great programs, motivation is
not a problem,” Pettit said. “We lost
two players to graduation and another
to injury, so there are opportunities for
people. They know they can win spots
for the fall during the spring.”
Spring practice gives the Huskers
an opportunity to shift their focus from
team chemistry to individual improve
ment. Pettit said he places extra em
phasis on technical skills, providing
the players with a better chance to
progress individually.
“I expect people to get better dur
ing the spring,” Pettit said. “The play
ers we have are exceptional, so great
improvement doesn’t surprise me.”
The Huskers return nine players
from last season’s 30-4 team that ad
vanced to the NCAA Final Four and
lost to national champion Stanford.
First-team All-Americans Fiona Nepo
and Lisa Reitsma lead the way.
In addition, Katie Jahnice and
Denise Koziol join the team after
redshirting during the 1996 season
because of knee injuries.
All 11 players know they must con
tinue to improve individually in order
to make a strong bid for a position next
fall, when highly touted recruits Kim
Behrends, Nancy Meendering, Angie
Oxley and Jill McWilliams join the
team.
“We have different players trying
Please see SPRING on 11
