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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1999)
Sports Huskers respond to Van Horn’s coaching By Adam Klinker Senior staff writer Looking at Nebraska Baseball Coach Dave Van Horn creates thoughts of a quiet, reserved man coaching the laid-back game of baseball. Think agam. Since Van Horn took over the Comhusker pro gram last Jan. 8,425 days ago, his players have said things are changing for the better on die NU squad, and Van Horn s arrival was the watershed moment. He does it, they’ve said, with his intensity, his willingness to teach and his stress of the mental game - and of course, with his firebrand diamond demeanor. Compared to his predecessor, John Sanders, Van Horn has brought about something of a revo lution in thought for Husker baseball. In short, as most players will agree, things are better now. “I don’t want to put Coach Sanders down at all, but this program has changed around,” junior first baseman Ken Harvey said. “It’s made people recognize that, hey, there is a baseball team here.” Following Sanders’ firing just before the beginning of the 1998 season, most players were excited about the prospect of getting some new « Ifpn Harupv blood circulating into the " program. They got a perfect match with Van Horn. Coming in from Northwestern (La.) State, where Van Horn was 106-65 in three seasons as the Demops’ skipper, the 38-year-old brought with him a staff of young coaches and a new philosophy. It meant a new lease on life for Husker base ball, something NU pitcher Jay Sirianni said Sanders had stifled in his years as coach. “The expectations are so much more now,” Sirianni said. “Back then it was, ‘Hey, let’s just go compete, see if we can win a few ballgames.’ Now, we go out everyday to win, no doubt about it.” From the beginning, Harvey agreed, Van Horn's attention to detail and most importantly, winning, has paid huge dividends for the Huskers. “It was big,” Harvey said. “The first day Coach Van Horn came in, he was installing in us the mindset that we can win. Everyday he told us we were just as good as any other team - maybe better. Once you start thinking that, hearing that everyday, it’s going to make you start thinking and applying it.” Harvey and Sirianni said that from the first t practice, Van Horn stressed defense and pitching to the offensive game that Sanders preferred. He was upbeat and on the go and, most of all, he com manded respect from his squad. “Coach Sanders was a real offensive-minded coach,” Sirianni said. “His plan was to beat every one 19-f8, whereas now, we’re still an offensive team, we’ll still score a lot of runs, but we probably concentrate two-thirds of our practice on defense and pitching.” And, Sirianni said, Van Horn’s come in and done it with a flair that has surpassed that of Sanders - a fiery disposition that has ignited a fire under his players and served as a beacon for them to follow. It’s a throwback to Van Horn’s own playing days in college at Arkansas. Please see VAN HORN on 8 Matt Haney/DN WILLIAM AVERY, Chris Burgess, Elton Brand, Trajan Langdon and Shane Battier join Coach Mike Krzyzewski as part of a powerful C-/ clX! ^ m i mmmx n ■ v Duke team. AnybodyB eatDllke? The mighty Blue Devils play the role of favorite in NCAA Tournament By Sam McKewon Senior editor So Duke hasn't been seriously challenged since January. So the Blue Devils have beaten then opponents by an av erage of 25.4 points this season. The top-ranked and seemingly inv incible boys clad in royal blue and white could lose in the NCAA Tournament. They reaLly could. But how9 And to whom9 Those could be the questions of the 1999 Tournament, which starts Thursday around the nation and culminates with the Final Four at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg on March 27 and 29. They're questions that haven’t been answered definitively yet. Indeed in a year that saw few' superlative teams and a slight fall from grace for certain basketball superpowers (see Kansas), the Blue Devils, with their 32-1 record and their performance of perfec tion through the Atlantic Coast Conference gives them the tag of the team to beat in March. Duke, fresh off its perfect 19-0 ACC season after a 96-73 thrashing of North Carolina in the conference tournament, now gets to play out of the East Region, a relatively innocuous collection of teams led by No. 2 seed Miami (Fla.), which was n’t ranked at the beginning of the season. And even if there were formidable foes, it’s hard to claim any could stack up with the Dukies, who boast as impressive a resume as the last “Can they ever be beaten9” team, the Larry Johnson-led 1991 Nevada-Las Vegas Runmn' Rebels. The Blue Devils have shooting."They have size. They have guards and forwards aplenty. And they have depth, so much so that starting guard Trajan Langdon could sit out most of the ACC Tournament and have ffosh Corey Maggette fill in. But Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski knows there's vulnerability in every team. He ought to know. It was his outfit of blue-collar underdogs that upset UNLV in 1991. “I think the message would be the same that it s been all year long, and that's to focus on one game,” Krzyzewski said Monday at Ins press con ference. “I know (the media) hates to hear that, but basically that's what this team has done.” Ironically, the one team that did beat Duke (and one of the few to not get completely run out of the gym) is in the same region. Cincinnati(26-5), which upset the Blue Devils 77-75 in the Great Alaska Shootout m November, is the No. 3 seed. The Bearcats went to the Final Four in 1992 and have flirted with it a couple of times since. UC features the size and speed to match up with Duke. “I think it’s a very athletic region,” Krzyzewski said. “Cincinnati is athletic as you get.” Bearcats' Coach Bob Huggins wasn’t all that happy with a No. 3 seed, but he’ll have to take it. “We hurt ourselves by losing 4 of our last 10 games,” Huggins said. “But you have to beat everyone anyway if you’re gomg to win the thing.” Still it'd be fair to say Duke has one of those teams that is not only athletic, but just plain hard to I think the message would be the same that its been all year long and that's to focus on one game. I know (the media) hates to hear that..." Mike Krzyzewski Duke basketball coach stop. Six players average more than 9 points per game, four in double figures. The Devils have made more free throws than the opposition has attempted. Elton Brand is a big but acrobatic forward. Point guard William Avery can create and score. Langdon's a deadly shooter, and forward Shane Battier, when given the chance (and he was m the ACC tourney) can fill a role much like Ron Mercer did once upon a time for Kentucky m 1996. And here’s the scary part: Out of the six top scorers, only one is a senior. It’s scary to oppo nents. It scares Krzyzewski, too. “I'm not sure you listened to announcements when they announced the starting lineups in Charlotte, but if you did and paid attention to class, we started a junior, three sophomores and a fresh man,” Krzyzewski said. “What I'm saying is, they can improve.” And improv ing through the tournament would be good because there is danger out there from various parts ot the tournament. The least menac ing region figures to be the South, where Auburn is the No. 1 seed. The Tigers are 27-3, but haven't beaten a better team than Tennessee all season. The more likely candidate to win the South could be No. 2 seed Maryland (26-5) or No. 3 St. John's (25-8), which lost 92-88 to Duke in January. No. 4 Ohio State (23-8) and No. 5-seeded UCLA (22-8) could all make serious runs. Terrapins Coach Gary Williams said the region is wide open and even considered No. 7 seed Louisville (19-10) a threat. “Louisville, obviously they hit a real surge when they found out they were eligible for the NCAA Tournament,” Williams said. “And Auburn, being the No. 1, has had a great year. I think they were the people’s favorite team.” The Midwest region could be where the battle tested team comes from. It's a loaded slate, with Please see DUKE on 8