Sam McKewon
Nee ranks
well with
top coaches
It’s becoming a yearly ritual
around campus: Basketball sea
son’s over, and it’s time to call for
NU Coach Danny Nee’s head.
This season, Nee took his team
back the NCAA Tournament and
won 20 games, both unexpected
feats.
Still, there are plenty of Husker
fans out there (most of whom
know nothing about basketball)
who want to see Nee go simply
because he can’t seem to win an
NCAA Tournament game.
For those who believe that, let
me put it this way: If Danny Nee
gets canned, then so should Roy
Williams.
Anybody who saw Roy s Boys
of Kansas bow out once again in
the NCAA Tournament knows
Williams got outcoached. Here’s a
guy who couldn’t take two All
Americans and beat Rhode Island.
But guess what? Williams is con
sidered a coaching guru.
Nee would have taken that
same Kansas team to the Final
Four - only because he’s smart
enough to realize that if you have a
Tyronn Lue or a Paul Pierce, you
don’t take them off the floor. As
Nee said so correctly: “What are
we saving him for?”
But Williams, with his inces
sant substitution policy that sits his
star players from time to time, out
smarted himself. For the
umpteenth time in the Big Dance,
KU went cold because they could
n’t develop a rhythm.
No, Williams isn’t considered a
great coach because he’s so bril
liant on game day, it’s because the
Jayhawks have big-time talent. If
Nee had a Raef LaFrentz every
year, he’d be pretty dam good, too.
Nebraska has some talent, but
not on the level like so-called “bas
ketball schools” KU, North
Carolina and Duke.
Guys who have that kind of tal
ent can literally sit back and bask
in the glory. Take Bill Guthridge at
UNC. Being a huge Tar Heel fan, I
can safely say I’ve seen most of
North Carolina’s games this year,
and Guthridge does little more
than drink Gatorade and chat with
his assistants.
He doesn’t have to do anything
else: UNC has little depth so he
doesn’t have to substitute much.
When he does, it’s like telling
Hank Aaron to go in for Babe Ruth
in right field. That’s how talented
UNC is. By the way, Guthridge
was named coach of the year by
several publications.
Now don’t get me wrong,
Williams and Guthridge are both
good coaches, but they look better
with great teams. All things con
sidered, Nee can hold his own on
the court if given the right players.
Remember, it’s not always the
destination that matters, but the
journey. And Nee’s journey with
NU this season was a pretty good
one.
Sam McKewon is a sopho
more news-editorial and politi
cal science major and Daily
Nebraskan sewfdrt^jortcr: 01
I Valparaiso’s success inspires fans
VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP)
- Talk about jumping on the
bandwagon.
Steve Menis started out
with one buddy beside him in
his blue-and-white pickup
truck and a “Go VU!” sign on
the grille. They drove through
the Valparaiso campus, honk
ing the horn, howling and
stopping to pick up anyone
who wanted a ride.
It seemed everyone want
ed to get in on the celebration
of tiny Valparaiso’s magical
run toward the regional semi
finals.
By the time the Crusaders
rolled into campus, the back
of Menis’ truck was full,
stereo speakers were blaring
from atop the cab, and some
of the guys in back had
stripped off their shirts and
painted their chests. About
1,500 people danced in the
street in front of them. One
student even clutched a sign
touting Coach Homer Drew
for president.
It took five minutes to
clear the crowd and get the
door open. As the players got
off, they slapped hands with
anyone who could get a hand
near them.
“We’re a small team with
big dreams. It’s a Cinderella
story,” said Joel Guinane, a
senior from Milwaukee and
Menis’ first passenger. “I
can’t believe we’ve done it
yet.”
Believe it, Valparaiso
fans. And that’s Val-puh
RAISE-oh, not Val-puh
RISE-oh.
Better learn how to pro
nounce it, because the tiny
school (3,500 students) in
northwest Indiana - 55 miles
southeast of Chicago - with a
feel-good father-son story is
the talk of the NCAA
Tournament.
Rhode Island? No prob
lem. People are already
thinking Final Four.
“In the Cinderella story,
the clock struck midnight,”
said Aaron Thomason, a
sophomore forward. “It ain’t
struck midnight yet. We’re
still dancing.”
The ride started Friday
when Bryce Drew, son of
Coach Drew and brother of
Assistant Coach Scott Drew,
hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to
upset Ole Miss in the opening
round. On Sunday, the
Crusaders beat Florida State
in overtime.
“People didn’t even know
who Valparaiso was,” said
Jamie Sykes, whose three
quarter-court pass set up
Drew’s game-winning shot
Friday. “Now everyone wants
to be part of what we are.”
And if you can’t imagine
this team winning it all, think
back to the movie
“Hoosiers,” with Homer
Drew as Gene Hackman and
Bryce as Jimmy Chitwood.
Against all odds, Hackman
coaches Hickory High to the
state championship.
It just so happens that
“Hoosiers” is Bryce Drew’s
favorite movie.
“It’s about a small school
having a dream,” he said at
the raucous pep rally for the
team Monday afternoon.
The younger Drew knows
something about having a
dream. As the 1994 Mr.
Basketball in a state where
basketball is practically a
religion, he could have gone
anywhere. Big-time schools
like Stanford and Syracuse
came calling.
So did his dad. And it just
so happened that Bryce want
ed to play in an NCAA
Tournament with his father
on the bench. He also wanted
to hit the game-winning shot
that he’d been practicing in
the back yard all his life and
make a small school famous.
So he gave up the big
names and the television time
- the Mid-Continent
Conference isn’t exactly a big
draw - and stayed in a place
where loyalty and good deeds
never go unrewarded.
“If you’ve ever talked to
Bryce, he’s the nicest guy you
could ever meet,” said Eric
McMullan, a clerk at BRQ
Quickprint near the town’s
main square. “It’s nice to see
them have some success.”
This is, after all, an entire
town’s team. Everyone is on a
first-name basis with the
players, whether they know
them or not. Drew’s jersey is
more popular than Michael
Jordan’s.
It’s the kind of place that
everyone who’s ever dribbled
a basketball in their back yard
is embracing as their very
own - at least for this week.
“It’s a small-time commu
nity. It really is like the movie
‘Hoosiers,’ just on a bigger /
scale,” said Lee Kleist, sales
manager at B&E Honda,
across the street from cam
pus.
“This is what the tourna
ment is all about.”
Fresno State players
face more legal woes
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Fresno
State center Avondre Jones was
kicked off the team Tuesday after he
and a top recruit were arrested and
accused of pointing handguns at a
man and poking him with samurai
swords.
The arrest of Jones and Kenny
Brunner came hours after the
Bulldogs beat Memphis in the NIT
Tournament and a day after Fresno
State officials slammed CBS’ “60
Minutes” for focusing on the legal
and drug problems of the school’s
athletes.
“I was devastated to hear this,”
Coach Jerry Tarkanian said in a state
ment. “I couldn’t even enjoy one
night after a big victory.”
Besides kicking Jones off the
team, Tarkanian suspended Brunner
indefinitely.
Jones and Brunner were booked
for investigation of assault with a
deadly weapon and grand theft.
Police said the players and Colin
DeForrest were drinking at Jones’
apartment when an argument broke
out over a TV program.
“Jones allegedly produced two
handguns and pointed them at the
victim,” Chief Ed Winchester said.
“Jones and Brunner then picked up
two large swords and began beating
and poking the victim.”
DeForrest, 23, initially thought
the players were joking, but he quick
ly became concerned when they
pulled out “what were described as
samurai swords,” Lt. Jerry Davis
said.
When DeForrest tried to leave the
apartment, Jones grabbed his back
pack and stole $230 in cash and a
$500 camera, Winchester said.
DeForrest left and later called
police, Davis said. DeForrest,
described as an acquaintance, suf
fered minor abrasions and scratches
but didn’t need medical attention.
On Monday night, Jones played
in the Bulldogs’ last-second 83-80
victory over Memphis. Fresno State’s
next game is Thursday night against
Hawaii.
Brunner recently was recruited
after leaving Georgetown and was
eligible to play in the middle of next
season.
Jones was suspended earlier this
season for violating school rules. He
was among eight scholarship players
who missed games because they were
suspended, ineligible, in rehab or quit
the team - incidents that “60
Minutes” focused on Sunday night.
Only two scholarship players -
Larry Abney and Demetrius Porter -
have been eligible for every game.
“Avondre was playing under strict
conditions, required by a Code of
Conduct panel,” Tarkanian said.
“There is no excuse for behavior like
this, and I will not tolerate a few indi
viduals continuing to give black eyes
to our program and our university.”
Tarkanian felt the “60 Minutes”
report Sunday night was unfair, and
university President John Welty was
angry because it didn’t say that
Fresno State has one of the nation’s
strictest student conduct codes.
But The Fresno Bee said in an
editorial Tuesday that “it is time to
stop making excuses for these players
and demand that they be held
accountable for their behavior.”
“The worst of it all, perhaps, is
that the behavior of the team mem
bers and the coach gives subtle sanc
tion to poor character, poor self-disci
pline and criminal behavior in the
minds of our community’s children,”
the newspaper said.
Michigan State’s Tom Izzo
named NCAA coach of year
NEW YORK (AP) - Tom Izzo,
who led Michigan State to a share of
the Big Ten regular season title and to
the NCAA Tournament regional
semifinals, was honored Tuesday as
national coach of the year by the U.S.
Basketball Writers Association.
Izzo, in his third season at
Michigan State, led the Spartans to a
22-7 record after being picked to fin
ish in the second division of the Big
Ten in almost all the preseason polls.
Last weekend, the fourth-seeded
Spaftaiis beat Eafsterft Michigan and;
Princeton in the opening rounds of
the NCAA Tournament.
Izzo will be presented the Henry
Iba Award at the Final Four by
Frontier Communications, the spon
sor of the award.
The other finalists were Bill
Carmody of Princeton and Bill
Guthridge of North Carolina.
Izzo is the third-straight coach
from the Big Ten to win the award,
following Gene Keady of Purdue and
Clem Haskins of Minnesota. ,
ifKJn
Injured NU gymnast
anticipates comeback
GYMNAST from page 10
needed to do,” Drass said. “And
the girls respond well because they
respect her opinion.”
While Dillman helps the
coaches with practice, the Katy,
Texas, native said she sometimes
feels guilty asking for their atten
tion when it gets close to meets.
“I want the coaches’ help, but I
don’t ask because I know the other
girls need their attention more,”
Dillman said.
Even without help from coach
es late in the week, Dillman has
worked hard and gotten herself to a
point where she was ready to
return for an exhibition perfor
mance against BYU March 9.
However, that meet got snowed
out, and then came her surgery on
March 12.
In three weeks, Dillman thinks
she will be back to where she was
before the surgery.
She said a lot of people encour
aged her to take a medical hardship
scholarship and end her gymnas
tics career, but she won’t listen to
them.
“I want it bad enough that I
won’t listen,” Dillman said. “The
only way I won’t do it is if my leg
gets hurt again. I think I can do any
event I want.”
Drass also thinks she has a^
bright future because of her talent
and work ethic.
“When we lost her in 1996, it
took us from a fourth-place team
to a sixth-place team,” Drass said.
“She’s one of the better dancers if
not the best on our team.”
Dillman said observing rou
tines from the outside has taught
her a lot, and she looks forward to
returning to competition next year.
“I’ve learned a lot being a spec
tator,” Dillman said. “My gymnas
tics and mind-set will be better
because I’ve learned so much.”