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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 31, 1998)
Melvin Watkins, who led North Carolma-Charlotte into the second round of the NCAA Tournament earlier this month, is expected to be named the new basketball coach at Texas A&M Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Watkins will replace Tony Barone, who was reassigned after the Aggies 7-20 season. The Big 12 Conference has three teams in the top 30 in both the men's and women's MasterCard Collegiate Golf rankings this week. Oklahoma State is ninth in the nation, trail ing No. 8 Georgia by only two points. Oklahoma is No. 20, and Nebraska is No. 30. Edward Loar of Oklahoma State is currently ranked fifth in the country. The Big 12 also has seven golfers in the top 45 in the MasterCard individual rankings. On the women's side. Texas A&M is No. 10, followed by Oklahoma State at No. 11. Texas Tech is at No. 25. ■ The Nebraska men's golf team broke the top 30 for the first time this season. The highest NU had been ranked was 34th. The Huskers fin ished sixth in the Dr. Pepper Intercollegiate Tournament in Pottsboro, Texas with a score of 901. Minnesota won the tournament with a score of 893. “We are certainly deserving of a top 30 ranking,'' NU Coach Larry Romjue said. “We are going to prove that the rest of the spring. 1 don't get bent out of shape about it. but we deserve to be in the top 30." ■ Soccer Buzz magazine recently released its college soccer postseason awards. Texas A&M’s Bryn Blalack was named an All-American. Blalack was also the Central Region’s player of the year. A&M's Claire Elliot and Nebraska’s Kim Engesser and Kari Uppinghouse were honor able mention All-Americans. Nebraska Sports Information Graduate Assistant Jeff Greisch was third in the nation and first in the central region for the Sports Information Award of Excellence. “It’s great to see that all my hard work paid off,” Greisch said. “But I couldn’t have done it without the help of a great team. They practically promote themselves.” m The Baylor women’s bas ketball team lost 59-56 to Penn State in the finals of the women’s postseason National Invitational Tournament. Baylor guard Lara Webb led the Bears in scoring with 26 points. Big 12 Notebook compiled by Assignment Reporter Jay Saunders By Sam McKewon Senior Reporter Tyronn Lue knows his basketball. He knows the names of players all over the college ranks. He knows the players who have succeeded and - die ones who haven't. And judging by his 21.3 points per game last season for Nebraska, Lue knows how to play. Lue also nas a pretty good idea of where he stands if he were to forego his senior season of basketball at NU and declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft, held June 24. He’ll make his intentions clear today at a 1 p.m. news con ference at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. A source in the Athletic Department told the Daily Nebraskan Monday that Lue will declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft. “It’s a tough decision to make,” Lue said. “I want to make the right decision; 1 don't want to be hasty.” Since the Comhuskers' 1997-98 season began, there has been speculation it would be Lues last sea son if he stayed healthy and performed well. He did both, starting every game and being named First-team All-Big 12 while helping NU finish 20-12 and quality for the NCAA Tournament. Now Lue is faced with a decision that has com Jay Calderon/DN NEBRASKA POINT GUARD Tyronn Lue will announce today at a 1 p.m. press conference whether he will stay in Lincoln or declare himself eligible for the NBA Draft. Sources say he will enter the draft. Top Possible NBA Draft Picks *denotes underclassmen #denotes high school player > Player Pos. HL Wt. School Ppg Keon Clark F/C 6-11 220 UNLV 14.8 ' Pat Garrity F 6-9 230 Notre Dame 23.3 Antwan Jamison* F 6-9 222 North Carolina 23.1 Raef LaFrentz F 6-11 240 Kansas 20.5 Michael Olowokandi C 7-0 265 Pacific 21.4 Paul Pierce* F 6-7 220 Kansas 20.3 Robert Traylor* F 6-8 300 Michigan 15.8 Korleone Young# F 6-7 220 Hargrove Academy N/A Toby Bailey G 6-5 205 UCLA 16.9 Mike Bibby* G ^ ^ 180; // * Arizona 17.5 Vince Carter* Q/F < 6^6 208 ' North Carolina 15.6 Cory Carr Tech 23.9 Baron Davis’ G 6-2 190 UCLA 11.7 Tyronn Lue* G 6-0 170 Nebraska 21.3 Miles Simon G 6-5 199 Arizona 17.4 Wheeler and Hawaii's Anthony Carter, Lue said. Lue said his decision could be affected if more underclassmen were to declare themselves eligible for Mike Garber/DN “Do you think Td tell Tyronn Lue to come out of college? Hell no, that's ridiculous," Blake said. “He's not readv for the NBA. pemng arguments to stay in college or jump to the NBA. To hear Lue say it. there has been plenty to think about. Draft status is one important factor con cerning Lues departure. Lue said the consensus from NBA scouts is that he would be the second point guard selected after Arizona sopho more Mike Bibby. “They've said Bibby Do you think 1 d telj Tyronn Lue to come out of college? Hell no, that's ridiculous?' Marty Blake NBA director of scouting the NBA Draft before he did. "Guys like (UCLA's) Baron Davis and (North Carolina's) Ed Cota could change things because they're more good point guards," Lue said. But Lue said he thinks he couid play in the NBA right now. He said NBA scouts have told him that his quickness is good -- as is his explosive ness to the basket. Among his weaknesses, Lue said, is his perceived height - or lack thereof. "Everybody thinks Em 5-foot-9,” Lue said. “1 keep telling them Em 6 foot. Em not making up my height." " 1 lm Duncan was ready after his junior year. But he stayed in college. And so did Keith Van Horn. And they’re better because of it.” But Lue said he may be a higher draft pick now than he would be after next season. Lue talked to Toronto Raptors' point guard Chauncey Billups, who left Colorado after his sophomore season, and said he got some good advice from his fotmer opponent. “Chauncey said get out while you're hot.” Lue said. “ He said pro basketball is a full-time job. but he loves it. He said 1 might get hurt, too.” So what could keep Lue at NU? “We’d have all five starters back,” Lue said. “1 think we'd be pretty good, and we could make a run in the tourney. I’d still like to win an NCAA Tourney game.” is a top-rive pick, Luesaid. 1 hat puts me anywhere in the 6th to 15th pick range. I’d love to be a lottery pick.” Among the other point guards who could be picked high in the draft are Rhode Island's Tyson But not every one thinks Lue is ready for the pro fessional ranks. NBA Director of Scouting Marty Blake said he encourages every underclassman to stay in school and was adamant about Lue staying in. A pending NBA lockout in the summer also could deter Lue from coming out. Labor negotiations on a Please see LUE on 8 Solich happy with first practice By Sam McKewon Senior Reporter In front of numerous television cameras and a horde of newspaper reporters, Frank Solich admitted the first mistake of his first spring foot ball practice as head coach. He forgot his whistle. “I had to run back in and get it,” Solich said. “I’m not used to that.” The rest of NU’s opening day of spring football practice at Memorial Stadium wer\J as scheduled as the Cornhuskers went through the prac tice without pads, as they will on Wednesday. Solich said he was happy with the production of his players in the two-hour, 10-minute workout despite not being able to have full contact. “There’s not a lot we can get done without the pads, but I thought we worked hard,” Solich said. “The important thing for us is try to stay as injury-free as possible.” Taking over for the retired Tom Osborne, Solich said there were plenty of differences with Monday’s opening practice than in springs past. One was directing practice. Instead of just working with the run ning backs, Solich had to roam from group to group to oversee the running of the team. “You have to keep track of the watch in terms of when stations need to be changed,” Solich said. “That was an adjustment.” Wide Receivers Coach Ron Brown said he saw little difference between a Tom Osborne or a Frank Solich-run practice, calling the day’s activities “business as usual.” “My real curiosity was: where was Coach Osborne today?,” Brown said. “You know he knows practice is going on. I was looking up in the press box to see if he was spying on us.” From a player’s standpoint, wing back Lance Brown agreed with his position coach, although the post practice talk felt different. “We don’t get to hear Coach Osborne’s sarcasm,” Lance Brown said. “I’m sure Coach Solich has it, though, and we’ll see it here pretty soon.” I-back DeAngelo Evans, who has been recovering from a pelvic injury that kept him out last season, partici pated in practice Monday. Evans begins the spring as the starting I back. Solich said Evans looked good in his return to the practice field. “I even had to tell him to slow down a little,” Solich said. “He was making some hard cuts out there.” Overall, Ron Brown said the first practice was a good beginning to NU’s quest to fourth national champi onship in five years. “We’ve got a long season ahead of us,” Brown said. “We don’t have any time to reminisce right now.”