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Texas A&M Men’s Basketball
Coach Tony Barone will be dis
missed as the Aggies’ coach after
this season, A&M Athletic
Director Wally Groff said in a
statement released Monday.
Barone, who took the head
coaching job in 1991, is 75-116
at Texas A&M and has posted
just one winning record in seven
seasons.
Groff said Barone will be
reassigned as his special assis
tant.
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With six teams tied for fourth
place in the league and all six
battling to qualify for the NCAA
Tournament at the end of the sea
son, fifth place for the Big 12
Tournament may be a more desir
able position.
“The fifth seed would give us
an opportunity to win an extra
game,” Texas Tech Coach James
Dickey said.
“It may help us with how the
(NCAA) committee is going to
view our lead as far as our
strength is concerned.”
The Big 12 Tournament will
take place March 5-8 at Kemper
Arena in Kansas City, Mo. The
top teams from the North and
South divisions of the conference
as well as the next two teams with
the best record get a bye in the
first round, while the other eight
teams play games on the first day.
“I’ve always said that the fifth
seed would be beneficial,”
Baylor Coach Harry Miller said.
“Especially for guys like us who
are not four or five games over
.500. Any chance for us to play
more games give us better posi
tion for postseason play.”
■
Many of the Big 12 coaches
feel the conference isn't getting
national respect.
Only Kansas is ranked in this
week’s USA/ESPN Coaches Poll
and the Jayhaw'ks dropped from
third to fourth despite winning
both their games last week.
“Nationally, the media has
been unfair to the Big 12,”
Oklahoma State Coach Eddie
Sutton said.
■
Oklahoma first baseman
Casey Bookout has had a stellar
start to his season.
In Bookout’s first 14 at bats
he hit five home runs. Currently,
Bookout is 14 of 18 at the plate
and owns a .778 batting average
with six home runs and 14 RBIs.
■
Suits and ties or turtleneck
sweaters?
Oklahoma Coach Kelvin
Sampson said he doesn’t pay
attention to what he wears for
games.
“I’m not a real fancy guy,”
Sampson said. “First year I wore
a denim shirt, which wasn’t that
bad. What was bad was I wore the
same shirt for two months. It did
get me a deodorant commerical.”
Big 12 Notebook compiled
by Staff Reporter Mike Kluck.
Gophers sweep doubleheader
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
MINNEAPOLIS - Being swept in a
three-game series to open the season is
not the way first-year Head Coach Dave
Van Horn envi
sioned his
Comhusker debut.
The Nebraska
men’s baseball
team had several
opportunities, but
were unable to pro
duce as Minnesota
van Horn swept a double
header from the Huskers 11 -4 and 6-4
before 276 at the Metrodome.
The Huskers (0-3) couldn’t hold on
to one-run leads throughout the series
and in game three, NU just couldn’t
keep pace with the Gophers.
“I’m used to winning,” Van Horn
said. “I think right now on this side,
Nebraska players need to learn how to
win.”
NU scored first in game two
Monday as shortstop Bryan Schmidt
blasted a solo home run to left-center
Matt Miller/DN
NU’S COURTNEY BROWN scored season highs on the balance beam and floor
exercise Sunday despite suffering an injury to her quadriceps in practice
last week.
a
I’m used to winning. I think right now ...
Nebraska players need to learn how to win.”
Dave Van Horn
NU baseball coach
giving NU an early 1-0 lead.
But the lead didn’t last long as
Minnesota (3-0) answered with two
runs on the bottom of the first.
Gopher designated hitter Jim Egan
led the charge going 3 for 3 with one
RBI.
“I was seeing the pitches well,”
Egan said. “I think we all were. It felt
really good to hit the ball well to start the
season.”
The Gophers were aided in the
inning by a throwing error charged to
NU third baseman Cliff Durham.
Please see SWEEP on 8
Brilliance on the beam
Season-high score highlighted meet
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
A mere slip or minor lapse of con
centration is all it takes to fall off the
4-inch-wide by 16-foot-long balance
beam.
But none of Nebraska’s six gym
nasts had a problem Sunday against
Iowa State as NU scored a Bob
Devaney Sports Center record 49.150
in the event.
The record-breaking beam score
helped No. 20 Nebraska erase a .025
deficit en route to a 194.950-193.775
victory
Cyclones.
“When you struggle on your 6est
event (uneven bars) and then come
back with a high score on a weaker
event, it definitely is the key to the
meet,” said NU Coach Dan Kendig.
In addition to a record beam score,
NU also improved its season-high
vault score and several individual
scores in its season-high score of
194.950.
For the Huskers, a week made a
big difference.
Going into the beam last week
against Oklahoma, NU trailed by .575
points. But they fell apart on the
beam, scored 46.525 and never could
recover.
“(The beam) is what makes or
breaks you,” said Misty Oxford, who
won the all-around against ISU with a
career-best 39.30.
So important is the beam that
Kendig made his team do two inter
squad meets this week to improve.
After poor performances at
Wednesday’s practice, Kendig gave
his gymnasts an ultimatum for
Thursday: “You don’t leave until you
hit seven beam routines in a row.”
To Kendig’s excitement, the gym
nasts passed the test on the first try.
NU carried over its confidence from
practice into the meet to score five
9.80 scores or higher on the beams.
Laurie McLaughlin tied for first with
a 9.875.
The beam wasn’t the only event
the Huskers improved on.
NU vaulted to a season-high
48.60 score, which bettered the previ
ous high of 48.05 set against
Missouri.
Oxford, who tied for first with
NU’s Heather Brink and Nicole
Wilkinson on the vault, said starting
well on the first rotation was impor
tant for NU.
“When you start well, it gives you
momentum for the whole meet,’’
Oxford said.
The vault score possibly could
have been higher, but Courtney
Brown, a career-best 9.775 vaulter,
injured her quad in Thursday’s prac
tice and didn’t compete in the event.
“With Courtney, we are a 196
team,” Kendig said.
Although Brown couldn’t com
pete in the vault, she scored season
highs in the balance beam, 9.85; and
floor exercise, 9.85.
Brown wasn’t even going to do the
floor exercise, but NU’s Amy Ringo
and Brink, an All-American, fell on
their routines.
“I was last on the floor and wasn’t
going to go unless somebody missed,”
Brown said. “(The coaches) wanted to
have me scratch and save me for next
week, but the team needed me.”
Brown wasn’t the only Husker
who provided a needed boost on the
floor exercise. Wilkinson and Jess
Swift both scored career-best 9.85
marks, while tying for second place.
Brown said having other gym
nasts step up helps everyone’s confi
dence.
“It lets us know we can count on
everyone - even under pressure.”
Huskers set sights on 20th victory
By Jay Saunders
Assignment Reporter
Twenty wins is what every college
basketball team strives for at die begin
ning of the season. The 20th win usual
ly ensures a trip to
the NCAA
Tournament.
After a 101-72
win at Oklahoma
on Saturday, the
No. 25 Nebraska
women’s basket
ball team put itself
into position to
reach the 20-win
plateau. NU (19-7 overall and 8-4 in the
Big 12 Conference) gets its first chance
at win No. 20 tonight at 7 at Missouri.
“In basketball, (20 wins) is what
coaches think and dream about,” NU
Coach Paul Sanderford said.
The Cornhuskers travel to
Columbia, Mo., to face a Tiger team
that has struggled to find conference
wins. Missouri (10-12 and 2-10) lost
66-57 to Kansas State on Sunday.
When NU and MU met Feb. 4 in
Lincoln, the Tigers did something that
only one other team has done all season:
outrebound the Huskers.
“I was impressed with Missouri
when we played them the first time,”
Sanderford said. “They just can’t seem
to get over the hump.”
NU is riding a two-game winning
streak that has put the Huskers back into
the race for a bye in the first round of the
conference tournament. But to earn a
bye, the Huskers will have to do some
thing they have done only twice this
season: win a conference game on the
road.
Trips to Oklahoma and Kansas
State have resulted in Husker wins this
season, but NU has not won two con
secutive road games all year.
Sanderford said the Huskers shouldn’t
focus on the fact that this is a road game.
“We feel we can be successful on
the road if we play well,” Sanderford
said. “I think the road is one of the
things that can be looked at as an
excuse. I’m not interested in excuses, I
am interested in results.”
If the Huskers can win a second
straight game on the road, Sanderford
said it would help NU’s cause when the
NCAA selection committee picks the
64-team field.
“If there is such a thing as a magic
number,” Sanderford said, “(20) is one
of those numbers for the NCAA com
mittee. It is not automatic, but it would
sure help.”