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With one week left in the Big 12
Conference season, some of the
league’s men’s basketball coaches’
thoughts have turned to the upcoming
Big 12 Tournament.
But how important is the confer
ence tournament? In the last five
years, no team that won its conference
tournament has gone on to win the
NCAA Tournament.
“I probably would not have it,”
said Kansas Coach Roy Williams,
whose Jayhawks have wrapped up the
No. 1 seed for the tournament, which
begins March 5 at Kemper Arena in
Kansas City, Mo.
“The conference tournament is
great for teams that finish in the bot
tom half of the league or struggle a lit
tle bit. It’s a large cocktail party for
about four days. The alumni love it,
and it’s been a financial success for
the conference.”
Oklahoma State Coach Eddie
Sutton said he’s glad other confer
ences like the Big Ten have added
conference tournaments.
“Once they play in a tournament,
I’m sure they will like it,” Sutton said.
“It’s like a bowl game for the fans and
a great revenue maker.”
■
With the end of the season
approaching, talk about the all-confer
ence team has also begun to heat up.
But the big question is not who
will make the five-man team, but who
will get left off?
Baylor senior Brian Skinner,
Nebraska junior Tyronn Lue,
Oklahoma senior Corey Brewer,
Texas Tech senior Cory Carr and
Kansas senior Raef LaFrentz and
junior Paul Pierce are the front run
ners for the five positions.
The end of the season also brings
a close to Texas A&M’s G. Rollie
White Coliseum.
The coliseum, which has been
home to the Aggies since the 1954-55
season, has been given the nickname
“Holler House on the Brazos” for
noise that was created when A&M
played at home.
■
Brewer was named Big 12 player
of the week, and Iowa State freshman
Marcus Fizer was named rookie of the
week.
Big 12 Notebook compiled by
staff reporter Mike Kluck.
Golf teams show their drive
Outdoor
practices
aid men
ByLisaVonnahme
Staff Reporter
El Nino has been good to the
Nebraska men’s golf team.
Because of the mild winter El Nino
has given Nebraska this year, the team
has had more time to practice outdoors
than usual and is ready to begin its
spring season.
The Comhuskers are coming off a
strong fall season that included two run
ner-up finishes and three other top-five
showings. NU will use the confidence
gained from the fall to continue its suc
cess in the spring.
“We expect to make regionals and
qualify for nationals,” NU Coach Larry
Romjue said. “I think we’re stronger
this year, and our confidence will help
us do that.”
The Huskers are looking to win
their first tournament of the spring sea
son at the Texas-San Antonio
Invitational, which began Monday. The
tournament is held at the par-72, 7,001
yard La Cantera Country Club in San
Antonio.
An attraction of the meet is the
course, Romjue said. La Cantera
Country Club is a course used for the
Texas Open and the PGA Tour.
“We’d like to win some tournaments
this spring,” Romjue said. “Whenever
you win it helps you get a good attitude
about what you can do and how far you
can go.”
NU also will use the leadership and
skill of its returning players to earn a bid
to the national tournament. Australian
native Jamie Rogers leads the team as
the No. 1 player. Rogers is ranked in the
top 10 in die country, Romjue said.
The Huskers also return last year’s
all-conference and all-district selections
Steve Friesen and Josh Madden, who
led the team with 72s in a practice dual
with New Mexico State on Feb. 15. All
of NU’s top-five players return from the
1996-97 squad.
“Our experience is going to be a def
unte advantage, Rogers said. Our mam
goal is to make nationals. We’ve got a
strong team, and I see us getting there.”
A factor that will contribute to
whether or not the Huskers make it to
the national tournament is how well
they can come out of the winter layoff,
Romjue said.
“It’s always a chore,” Romjue said.
“I’ve got six quality players, and the
problem we have is coming out of the
winter and how fast we can get back on
our games.
“To get past this period of time we’ll
do this traveling and play a lot of touma
ments.’
The spring schedule, which
includes at least eight tournaments, will
help NU come off the winter break and
get ready for competition the Huskers
will face on their way to a possible
national tournament appearance.
“We have a more competitive spring
schedule than we’ve had in the past,”
Romjue said, “but this team can only get
better by facing that type of quality
competition.
“We’re a talented team, so we’re
looking forward to the challenges.”
Women
shoot for
NCAAs
By Sam McKewon
Senior Reporter
If the Nebraska women’s golf
team is ever going to make a run at
the NCAA Championships, this
would seem to be the year to do it.
With a combination of senior
leadership and underclassman
experience, the Cornhuskers are
looking to qualify for the champi
onships for the first time ever,
which escaped them by 12 strokes
last season.
“I’m really excited about what
we could do this spring,” NU
Coach Robin Krapfl said. “We
have the talent to be a top 15 team
nationally.”
Nebraska, which started com
petition Monday at the Bruin
Pioneers Electronics Classic in
Menifee, Calif., has a roster that
goes eight deep-with players who
could contribute this season,
Krapfl said.
Heading the list are the two
seniors, Shirin Hornecker and
RachelleTacha. Hornecker is com
mg off a strong fall season where
she tied NU’s 18-hole record of 70.
Tacha stands as one of the
Huskers’ most successful career
golfers. A First-Team All-Big 12
selection last season, Tacha had a
77.80 strokes-per-round average
last fall, good for third on the team.
Krapfl said Tacha has struggled
at times trying to “hit the perfect
shot.”
“Rachelle has immense talent
and she doesn’t put too much pres
sure on herself,” Krapfl said.
“She’ll have a great senior season.”
Nebraska’s top golfer from the
fall was neither Hornecker nor
Tacha, but sophomore Hanne
Nyquist.
Nyquist was the Big 12
Please see WOMEN on 8
Matt Miller/DN
NU GOLFERS Josh Madden and Hanne Nyquist look to help the Huskers to
the NCAA Championships in May. Both the Nebraska men’s and the women’s
golf teams opened their spring seasons Monday._
Gymnast living dream as a Husker
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
For the past 11 years, Nebraska gymnast
Derek Leiter has called the Bob Devaney Sports
Center home.
For some people, training under the same
coach and in the same gyrn
a-fqfnU .WWld gftul^g
-bukflot-fcr-'Leiter, a 1996
Lincoln Southeast High
School graduate.
“I think it is great,”
Leiter said. “It means a lot to
me because I have been
around the team for a long
time.
“Nebraska has had a lot
Leiter of national champions and
Olympic champions, and I
have been here for part of that. They were all idols
of mine. It has been a dream to go here since I was
little.”
Now that Leiter is living out his dream as a
Comhusker, he is doing his best to help return
Nebraska to the NCAA Championships - a place
it hasn’t been the past two years.
This year the sophomore has been Nebraska’s
most consistent all-arounder. At the Rocky
Mountain Open earlier this year, he posted a
57.48 while winning the all-around. After that
performance, he was named the Mountain
Pacific Sports Federation men’s gymnast of the
JYgek. .
lot '
durability^rtdrsirangth-on all the events make him
a tough all-arounder.
In a triangular against Iowa and Oklahoma
last weekend, Leiter scored a season-low 56.10 in
the all-around, but Nebraska scored a season-high
230.15. Although he wasn’t happy with his score,
he was glad the team improved four points.
This team attitude is what impressed Allen
when he recruited Leiter.
“He’s always been a good team player,” Allen
said. “That is something we look for in all our
people.”
Allen knew about Leiter’s team attitude
because NU Assistant Coach Chuck Chmelka
was Leiter’s coach for nine years at the Nebraska
School of Gymnastics.
Under Chmelka, Leiter finished second in the
all-around at the United States Gymnastics
Federation national meets his junior and senior
years in high school - losing by a combined total
of 0.15 points.
Leiter always knew he wanted to be a Husker,
but he wasn’t sure he was good enough.
While Leiter may have had doubts about his
ability, Allen never did and called Leiter the top
tcro©n’s^r»jfl giftheination his senior year.
Once at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Leiter wasted little time making an impact. As a
freshman, he finished 12th in the all-around at the
NCAA Championships.
He also helped keep practices fun and loose
and set a good example for the team with hard
work and durability, Allen said.
Leiter said he is durable because he constant
ly works on his flexibility and conditioning. But
he isn’t the only one with this dedication.
“I like going in on Sunday morning when I’m
sore and seeing all the other guys there,” Leiter
said. “It is just something that most people can’t
understand”
Please see GYMNAST on 8
NU walk-ons
stride into
starting roles
By Mike Kluck
Staff Reporter
In just six games, first year Nebraska *
Baseball Coach Dave Van Horn has set the tone
for the Comhuskers.
“You don’t have to have a scholarship to
play here,” Van Horn said. “Sometimes all you
need is a chance.”
Freshman Daniel Kimura and junior trans
fer Scott Larsen have benefited from that phi
losophy.
Both are walk-ons for Nebraska this season
and have already contributed to the Huskers' 3
3 start
Kimura, the 1996 Hawaii player of the
Please see BASEBALL on 8