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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 1999)
Sports Jayhawks adapt to so-so year Coach says KU can reach goals By Jay Saunders Staffwriter LAWRENCE, Kan. - Something is going on at the University of Kansas that current students have never seen before. That something is a 13-5 record for the Kansas men’s basketball team through 18 games this season. “It is just different around here,” KU sophomore Sarah Marty said. It’s different on Mount Oread (where the university sits) this season in a lot of ways. Last season, the Jayhawks tied a school record with a 35-4 finish. This year’s KU team has already lost five games. Most Division i teams would love to. have a 13-5 record this deep into the season, but senior guard Ryan Robertson said that doesn’t fly in Lawrence. “It is more of a good season for a typical university,” Robertson said. “We don’t like to think of Kansas as a typical university.” Kansas hasn’t been a typical bas ketball team for the last few seasons. KU compiled a 69-6 record in two years. That includes two Big 12 Conference tournament titles. For 70 consecutive weeks, the Jayhawks were ranked in the top 10 in the Associated Press Poll. N6 current player had lost a game at heralded Phog Allen Fieldhouse. That all came to a crashing halt when Iowa was aware of the “Phog,” but won anyway. They handed Kansas their first home loss since Feb. 20,1994. “This is a tough environment to win in,” senior center T. J. Pugh said. “I never expected to lose a game here.” Not only has Kansas lost one game in Phog Allen Fieldhouse, but arch-rival Missouri made it two loss es Sunday. reople have quickly jumped on the KU bandwagon, and they are calling this a “down year.” Kansas Coach Roy Williams said he doesn’t want to draw comparisons. “This group, so far, hasn’t reached the goals we’ve set,” Williams said. “Some people will call it a rebuilding year. I’m con cerned what this group is doing this year.” This year’s team is still playing in front of capacity crowds at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, but the students who attend those games admit things are not the same. “I think it is recognized they are not at their level,” KU junior John Keller said. “There is probably more apathy towards the team.” A loss to Nebraska in Lincoln tonight could create even more apa thy among the Jayhawk faithful, and it could knock Kansas out of the top 25 for the first time since 1991. Kansas has won nine straight times against the Comhuskers. Pugh, a Nebraska native, said this could be the game that puts the spark back into the program. “It’s a significant game,” Pugh said. “But you don’t know what to expect. That’s a bit scary, but it’s also exciting.” Huskers try to solve fan shortage Editor’s note: This the third in a three-part in-depth look at the Nebraska men s basketball team, both where it has improved and current problems sur rounding the team. Today, the focus is on NU’s attendance problems. By Adam Klinker Senior staff writer Take a ride across the tracks on the north side of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus, and there it is. Like a great granite rock of pasty grayish-white, the Bob Devaney Sports Center sits, its back slouched to the world, a curtain hanging in the skyline as one drives down 16th Street. Here, away from the hurried com motion of central City Campus, the sky seems a little darker, a little quieter and lonelier against the starched backdrop of a mid-January sky. There aren’t many stops to the Devaney Center. There isn’t any need, unless it’s the weekend. Then the place comes alive for a few hours before sinking back down into silence; look ing out across the horizon.lt is the for gotten child of Nebraska athletics when compared to the gems that are the NU Coliseum and Memorial Stadium. And the increasing number of bar ren seats inside the arena serve as testa ment to the falling number of visitors that go there. Simply, attendance is down at men’s basketball games at the Devaney Center. The issue has become a hot topic for the media as well as for NU students, who seem to be putting the greatest strain on attendance figures. “I don’t know why the student body isn’t more involved in supporting their team,” Husker Coach Danny Nee said. “It perplexes me, but I don’t know. I’m not 18 years old.” This year, 454 students hold season tickets, down from the 1996-97 season total of 1,641. That season, tickets were The attendance report The following is a Daily Nebraskan survey of 315 UNL students concerning attendance at Nebraska men’s basketball games. The survey was conducted by several members of the DN staff and does not reflect the attitude of staff members at UNL or members of the outside community.* Have you attended a Nebraska Did you attend any games last game this season? season? { i Or Yes, 126 40.0% On average, how many games do you attend each year? 0 Don’t care, 112 35.6% 0 Dislike basketball, 22 7.0% 0 Dislike Nebraska basketball, 26 8.3% 0 Nebraska does not win enough, 35 11.1% 0 Games are boring, 22 7.0% 0 Tickets are too much, 9 2.9% 0 Can’t find tickets, 1 0.8% 0 Schedule conflicts, 40 12.7% 0 Other, 46 14.6% # All, 13 4.1% #10+, 13 4.1% #5-10,31 9.9% # Less than five, 64 20.4% # One*, 194 61.5% ’includes responses of zero This survey is not scientific. sold in four packages. However, in 1997 with tickets sold in two packages, one for eight games and the other for nine, sales fell off to 492 student tickets. Just 37 students took advantage of the eight-game dis tribution while 204 chose the nine game package. Only 251 students opted for both packages. Athletic ticket office manager John JonFrank/DN Anderson said it is baffling to see the numbers fall while student season tick ets remain the best value. A student season ticket package costs $60, which translates into $3.50 per game, compared to single-game ticket prices of $7, S9 and $11 per game. “I don’t know what it is,” Anderson said. “There is no better deal than a stu dent season ticket and for some reason, the students aren’t taking advantage of that.” In an unscientific Daily Nebraskan survey of 315 NU students, 112 stu dents, or 35.6 percent, cited that they do not care about the exploits of the Husker basketball team. The next leading cause for lack of attendance was schedule conflicts with games, followed by the fact that NU doesn’t win enough. “It’s a shame,” NU Athletic Director Bill Byrne said of the decline in student attendance. “It takes away from the contest and the fun - our games are fun.” Byrne said students may lose then advantage in floor seating to non-stu dents who want good seats and are willing to pay more for them. But find ing those people may also mean closed avenues, because the aggregate atten dance figures are also down. Since the 1992-93 season, when NU went 14-2 at home and set a single season attendance record with an aver age of 13,357 fans per game, atten dance has decreased, while the Husker home-win percentage has remained steady at 81.8 percent over the last seven seasons. Last season, the Huskers hit a low in attendance. Despite a 13-2 home record, just 9,431 fans showed up per game. It was the first time attendance had fallen below the 10,000-mark since the 1985-86 season, the year before Nee arrived at NU. The conference attendance average of 10,883 was the lowest since the 1976-77 season. Thus far, the 1998-99 season is on pace to become the new low. Home attendance is averaging just 7,744 fans per game and has broken the 10,000 mark only once, with 10,851 against in-state rival Creighton on Dec. 9. “Heck,” Byrne said. “We won a Big Please see ATTENDANCE on 8 Cochran finds role in Husker offense u I used to sit on the bench: Id look up, Id see Coach Nee, Id look down, Id look up again - I wouldn’t know when I was going in.” Cary Cochran NU guard By Adam Klinker Senior staff writer During the Nebraska men’s bas ketball practice Monday at the Bob Devaney Sports Center, a day Cary Cochran received off as a result of a goose egg over his right eye, the guard passed his time shooting free throws. He didn’t put much time into them, just drib bled a few times, smoothly straight ened his body and flicked his wrist - Cochran swish. He did it again, same rou tine - swish. And another. And anoth er. One by one, the cameras pressed in; still, he did not miss. Reporters gathered - Cochran didn’t bat an eye (not that he could after taking an elbow to the forehead against Colorado on Saturday). He continued shooting. Ten in a row, 11 ... 12 ... 13. Ball after ball flowed freely through the net as if being placed sys tematically, methodically but gently, by a machine. The cameras turned away. The redshirt freshman missed. Nobody noticed. The ball boy tossed the ball back to him. Cochran examined it as if it had betrayed him; he spun it in his hands and dribbled it quickly a few times. The electric eye of the cameras came back, and Cochran gave a little smile. The machine again revved up. Granted, Monday practices aren’t exactly a pressure-laden, 64-63 game with 2.8 seconds left and no timeouts. But with a sudden media crush upon him, curious as to his role in the Cornhuskers’ four-game winning streak, Cochran seemed to thrive on the tension. “I don’t really feel any pressure at all,” Cochran said. “I just want to play. I want to win.” And right in the flurry of interest that has descended upon the young Husker 3-point wizard, NU’s four game winning streak and the upcom ing game with Kansas Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., Cochran is just settling into his role as the Huskers’ sparkplug off the bench. Earlier in the year, Cochran was used sparingly, less and less until at Missouri on Jan. 2. He didn’t play at all in NU’s 80-57 loss to the Tigers. “I doubted myself a lot,” Cochran" said of the early games in the season. “Deep down, I knew I could do it, but until I actually did, I never knew for sure. I didn’t have an answer to my question.” Following the loss and the subse quent Husker demise against Texas, Cochran said he grew even more despondent, but he kept the faith with his NU teammates and Coach Danny Nee. “You have to earn that playing time,” Nee said. “Cary got beaten out in the preseason, but then he came on strong in December, and when he got his minutes he really capitalized and has done well.” And ever since, Cochran’s epiphany has gradually been revealed - to himself and to the rest of the Husker entourage. Following the UT game, he is averaging 10 points per game over the winning streak and is shooting 10-17 (.588) from the 3-point arc. Cochran isn’t shy about his num bers (“My 3-point percentage? I will be above 50 for my career”), but he also gives the credit to his teammates; he said they look to him for the big shots. Nee said he feels it, too. “Cary has stepped up,” Nee said. “Anytime he scores from the perime ter, it seems that his shots have just lifted us. He’s hit the open shot to give us a few extra points off the bench and that’s been the difference between mediocrity and winning.” And the difference for Cochran has been more minutes and a concrete understanding of what his role off the bench will be. “The way I’m coming off the bench now is a lot better than it was earlier,” Cochran said. “I used to sit on the bench: I’d look up, I’d see Coach Nee, I’d look down, I’d look up again - I wouldn’t know when I was going in.” These days, there’s not much question about that. Cochran said by the 16-minute mark, he’s almost assured of being in the game - and that’s just fine by NU senior center Venson Hamilton. “I like him in there,” Hamilton said. “He opens it up a lot for me under there because they have to respect him.” Now, with Kansas coming to town, Cochran said he’ll see just how much respect has come due. “This is one of the reasons I signed,” Cochran said. “So I could play Kansas, so I could play Missouri, so I could play Texas. I’m not going to backdown.”