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