Colorado looks for
redemption vs. NU
By David Wilson
Senior Reporter
On the verge of not playing in a
bowl game for the
first time in 10
s e«a s o n s ,
Colorado (5-5
overall and 3-4 in
the Big 12
Conference) will
be given one last
chance to save its
season.
The
Buffaloes, who
have not finished
below .500 since 1984, will play host to
second-ranked Nebraska (10-0 and 7-0)
Friday at 1:35 p.m. in Boulder.
Colorado has not defeated the
Cornhuskers since 1990, but a win
Friday could solidify a bowl game berth
for the Buffaloes.
“It’s not very often you get a chance
to erase all your sins in one day - unless
you go to church,” Colorado Coach
Rick Neuheisel said.
Though the Buffaloes are dis
appointed in how their season
has played out, Neuheisel said,
they are not giving up hope.
“We’ve been written off for
awhile,” Neuheisel said, “but we are
going to show up for the game and
play our best. We are going to play as
hard as we can. We expect to play well.
Whether or not that’s good enough,
we’ll have to wait and see.
“I think all of us as humans would
like to go back and change history. But
that’s not reality. We have to figure out
why those things took place.”
Colorado’s first loss came against
Michigan Sept. 13, and the Buffaloes
went on to lose two of their next three
gafties.^ But the. Michigan loss,
Neuheisel siid, cotild help CU in prepa
ration for the Huskers.
The Wolverines currently rank
ahead of Nebraska in both The
Associated Press poll and the
ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll. Both
teams, Neuheisel said, share similari
ties.
“To me, they both lead with their
defense, but I think Nebraska’s offense
is better than Michigan’s,” Neuheisel
said. “We’re going to have a good idea at
the conclusion of the game - at least in
our opinion - who is the No. 1 football
team in the nation.”
Last season in Lincoln, Colorado
played then fourth-ranked Nebraska
within five points. The Huskers, who
did not score in the second half, sneaked
past CU 17-12.
NU quarterback Scott Frost threw
for 56 yards and ran for 32 - his third
worst offensive total ever at Nebraska.
But this year, Neuheisel said, Frost is a
different quarterback.
“I see him playing with so much
more confidence,” Neuheisel said. “It
was really evident watching the televi
sion during the Washington game.”
The outcome of Friday’s matchup
may change Neuheisel’s vote in the
coaches’ poll, but likely won’t change
his thinking in the accuracy of polls.
If Michigan and Nebraska both win
their remaining games, the top two
teams in the nation will not meet in a
bowl game. The Wolverine’s current
No. 1 ranking in both polls could kill the
Huskers’ chances for a national title.
“I think the polls are inherently
unfair,” Neuheisel said. “I think they’re
arbitrary as heck. But it makes for great
conversation. I just think the polls are
ridiculous on determining who the best
football team is.”
Bentz upbeat despite
second-place finishes
By Sarah Dose
Staff Reporter
Cal Bentz thinks his Husker men’s
and women’s swimming and diving
teams are still on track this season,
even after posting two second-place
team finishes Friday night at the Nike
Sprint Classic.
Ih front of an estimated 550 fans at
the Bob Devaney Sports Center pool,
the 13th-ranked Huskers finished sec
ond with 60.5 points behind Arizona
State’s winning score of 71. The No. 7
NU women scored 58 points, but were
outscored by SMU’s score of 73.
“We had some excellent swims
against some good competition,”
Bentz said. “SMU is capable to go all
the way at the NCAAs. And UCLA is
always good.”
On Sunday, Iowa won two of the
final six events to upset No. 13
Nebraska 404-394 in the Husker Shoot
Out. On the women’s side SMU won
its second consecutive Shoot Out meet
with 487, while Nebraska finished sec
ond at 351.
Bentz said it’s hard to keep work
outs pinpointed at the team in general,
so they should be more custom
designed to each individual.
“We’re working on cycling train
ing,” he said. “Different people have
different cycles because of where they
stand right now.”
Some individual performances
stood out in spite of the team’s finish.
Sophomore Adam Pine, who is in
training for the world championships,
won the 100-yard freestyle at the
Sprint Classic with a time of44.95 sec
onds and the 50-yard butterfly with a
time of 22.15, beating Ms old record of
22.17.
Pine went up against ASU’s two
time All-American rrancisco Sanchez
in the butterfly, but said he wasn’t too
nervous going into the race.
“I was wary of him at f rst because
I knew he’d be fast,” he said. “But I
wasn’t too concerned. I wanted to win,
but I didn’t really care about my time.
“As far as beating my old record,
it’s good to get in to improve my time,
but I don’t think too much of it.”
Besides Pine’s two gold medals,
diver Bert Locklin took home the gold
with 237.75 points, ahead of Iowa’s
Simon Chrisander with 212.95. Keith
Ebbert won the men’s 100-yard indi
vidual medley with a time of 51.17.
The women were unable to win a
gold medal in any event. SMU’s
Martina Moravcova won two individ
ual events and anchored two relay
teams to win the team trophy.
Moravcova beat Nebraska’s Beth
Karaica in the 50-yard butterfly, setting
a new meet record with a time of24.84.
Karaica finished in 25.58. Moravcova
also won the individual medley with a
time of56.42, also a new meet record.
First-year diver Amanda Zins, who
has enjoyed early success this season,
finished second with 200.40 points
behind UCLA’s Rose Huelskamp’s
211.35 points.
Zins, who said she had been prac
ticing well all afternoon, outscored
Huelskamp on her first dive, but “had a
problem with” her second dive, which
moved her into second place.
“When I got up there to do my third
dive, I thought, ‘I have to hit this to
have a chance,"’ Zins said.
She did hit it, and outscored
Huelskamp again, but failed to win the
event
“I wasn’t nervous,” she said. “I
dove well this afternoon in practice, so
that’s what I’m happy with.”
_? LJtfc'
13-0 Huskers
By Darren Ivy
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team is hoping history will repeat
itself tonight at 7:05 when the
Cornhuskers play Colorado State
(2-0) in the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
The last three times NU (3-0)
opened the season 4-0, it qualified
for the NCAA tournament twice
and the National Invitation
Tournament once.
To open 4-0, NU will have to
play a full 40 minutes against a
CSU team that returns all five
starters from last year’s 20-9 team.
Against New Orleans on
Saturday night, NU was outscored
36-34 in the second half.
In practice this week, NU
Coach Danny Nee and the players
addressed the importance of play
ing a full game.
“We can’t come out flat like we
always do in the second half,”
guard Larry Florence said. “Me,
Troy (Piatkowski), Andy
(Markowski), Venson (Hamilton)
and Chad (Johnson) all had a con
ference trying to come up with
ways to not be so stiff in the second
half.”
NU won’t be able to come out
stiff against CSU because the Rams
have a solid team, Nee said. CSU is
a big, quick and experienced team
that can shoot the basketball.
Nee said he is expecting a close
game and said CSU won’t be intim
idated playing in Lincoln.
Colorado State plays conference
games at New Mexico and Utah.
“We respect Colorado State,”
Nee said. “I think their record
speaks for itself.”
The Rams beat Simon Fraser
85-61 in their first game and
Northern Colorado 108-47 in their
second game.
For the season, the Rams are
shooting 53 percent from 3-point
range. Leading them is Jameel
Mahmud, a 5-foot-11 senior from
LaPuente, Calif. He is shooting
61.5 percent from behind the arc
and had six 3-pointers against
Northern Colorado.
“Mahmud is a very solid play
er,” Nee said. “It will be a good test
for Tyronn (Lue).”
Another Ram player who could
cause the Huskers some trouble is
7-foot senior Ryan Chilton.
Chilton has 118 career blocked
shots which is third all-time at
CSU. Nee said he has told
Hamilton and the other players
about him.
“He’s going to change some
shots,” Nee said. “(The Rams) are
not going to give up anything easy
around the basket.”
Nebraska will close out its
string of five straight home games
at the Bob Devaney Sports Center
on Saturday against the University
of Texas at San Antonio at 7:05
p.m.
Note:
Nebraska point guard Tyronn
Lue, who scored a career-best 34
points against Western Illinois
Wednesday night was named the
Big 12 player of the week.
Against Western Illinois Lue
connected on six 3-point field
goals. For the week he was 27 of 48
(56.3 percent) from the field
including 10 of 18 (55.6 percent)
from the 3-point range.
Lue’s 34 points tie him for third
best in the Big 12 record books.
NU eyes NCAA seeding
a +
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
Winning the Big 12
Conference is out of the ques
tion for the Nebraska volleyball
team, so the next best thing
would be to knock off the Big 12
leaders.
The llth-ranked Huskers
(23-6 overall and 14-4 in the Big
12 Conference) get that chance
this weekend when the two
Texas powers - Texas and Texas
A&M - visit the NU Coliseum.
Friday night, the 10th-ranked
Longhorns come to Lincoln
looking to become the first-ever
conference foe to defeat the
Huskers at the coliseum.
Texas swept NU in three
games in Austin on Oct. 17. The
only team to sweep the season
series against the Huskers is
Colorado, which beat NU in the
Bob Devaney Sports Center and
in Boulder earlier this season.
On Saturday night, the
Huskers will host No. 17 Texas
"A&M. The Huskers defeated the
Aggies in four games on Oct. 18
in College Station, Texas.
Despite being out of the run
ning for the Big 12 title, NU
Coach Terry Pettit said without
question this weekend is the
biggest of the season.
“It’s the matches preceding
the seeding for the NCAA
Tournament,” Pettit said. “I
can’t imagine anything being
more important than this week
end in terms of our season.”
The Huskers are on a roll of
late, winning their last eight
matches in only 26 games. Pettit
said the team has found some
new chemistry that has helped
relieve the losses of juniors
Jaime Krondak and Renee
Saunders.
“Angie Oxley now has
played about a dozen matches,
and she’s much more experi
enced,” Pettit said. “Mandy
Monson has played another
year, and players are comfort
able with each other on the
court. We’re better defensively
and we’re pursuing the ball bet
ter.”
Monson, a sophomore out
side hitter, is coming off one of
the best weekends of her young
career. Monson smashed 19 kills
against Texas Tech last weekend
and hit .478 against Baylor.
M.onson said this weekend’s
■m ....
matches are important not just
because they are against two
ranked teams but because they
will determine where Nebraska
ends up come tournament time.
“If we can win these two,
they’ll definitely help our seed
ing for the tournament which is
what were getting ready for.”
Monson said.
Note:
Krondak practiced with the
team for the first time in several
weeks. Krondak has been out of
action since Oct. 24 with a lower
back injury she suffered in early
October. Saunders, who is
recovering from a broken foot,
will not practice or play the rest
of the week.
fcfc ~
It s the matches preceding the seeding
for the NCAA Tournament. I can’t imagine
anything being more important than this
weekend in terms of our season.”
Terry Pettit
Nebraska head coach
Nebraska captures Navy Classic
By Antone Oseka
Senior Reporter
Five Nebraska wrestlers
claimed titles while the team won
the overall title at the Navy Classic
in Annapolis, Md., this weekend.
Nebraska won with 178 team
points, while West Virginia fin
ished second with 141.
Nebraska sophomore 118
pounder Paul Gomez won the meet
with an 11-8 victory in the finals.
Senior Jeramie Welder improved to
8-0 this season while winning the
126-pound class.
Nebraska Coach Tim Neumann
said he was extremely happy with
\ ;
Welder’s performance, which
included winning the Outstanding
Wrestler Award.
“He wrestled tough throughout
the entire tournament,” Neumann
said.
Two NU wrestlers squared off
in the 142-pound title. Allen
Hankins got the better of Jose
DeAnda 5-3 in the finals in a match
that could determine the starter for
the rest of the season. Hankins,
DeAnda and Dusty Morris have
been battling for the job all season.
Nebraska wrestlers also faced
each other in the finals at the 190
pound weight class and heavy
weight. At 190, Joe Flasnik
defaulted to Scott Munson for the
title, leading Neumann to call them
“co-champions” for the meet.
At heavyweight, Ryan Tobin
(the No. 1-rated wrestler at 190)
defaulted to Abe Boomer, creating
a second set of “co-champions” for
NU. Also at heavyweight, J.R.
Plienis finished in third, winning
the tournaments Most Falls Award
with three pins in 7:52.
The only Husker to reach the
finals and not win was 177
pounder Brad Vering. Vering lost to
Navy’s Greg Gingeleskis 5-3 in the
finals.
“Overall, it was an outstanding
performance by the entire team,”
Neumann said. “It was good for us
to win a team championship.”