Tourney brings out unpredictability
DUim trom page /
Big Ten champion Michigan State (29
4) as the No. 1 seed, national runner-up
Utah (27-4) as the No. 2, defending
national champion Kentucky (25-8) at
the No. 3 and Arizona (22-6) as the No.
4 seed. Kansas clocks in at the No. 6
seed.
It’s figured that the Midwest is the
toughest region, and, with a team that
had two or three tough games in them
already, a chance to upset Duke in the
Final Four would be there.
UK’s Tubby Smith dismisses the
notion.
“The Midwest certainly looks to be
a strong region with a lot of big name
teams,” Smith said. “But I’m sure
everyone can make a case for their par
ucuiar region.
The West Region could shape up as
a three-horse race. No. 1 seed
Connecticut (28-2) , No. 2 seed
Stanford (25-6) and No. 3 seed North
Carolina (24-9) are the three.
UConn and the Cardinal have
already faced off once this year with
Connecticut winning 70-59.
While the West and the other two
regions should provide more excite
ment than Duke’s region, it’s hard to say
if anyone can stop the Blue Devils’
march through March. On paper,
Duke’s the best team. But the best team
on paper doesn’t always win.
It didn’t win in 1986, when
Villanova shocked the world by upset
ting Georgetown for the title. It didn’t
in 1997, Mien Arizona beat three No. 1
seeds to capture its national title.
And that ’s all part of the seduction
of the Big Dance. It gets new moves all
the time and doesn’t always follow die
music. And then there’s the “p” word:
pressure. It can nail any team, any time.
The team that resists it die best usually
ends up wearing the crown.
Just for the record, Krzyzewski
thinks he’s got a team that fits the bill.
“The word ‘pressure,’”
Krzyzewski said. “I don’t think it’s real
ly existed on our team all year long, and
I don’t think it will if we keep going.
“I don’t think any pressure will get
to these guys. These kids want to get
better, and, as a result, they are getting
better, individually and collectively.”
Duke peaking? That might be the
scariest prophecy of all.
Van Horn pushes NU with intensity
vain nuitrs from page /
“It’s just his demeanor,” Sirianni
said “He’s a pretty quiet guy, but when
he wants to get something across, he Is
going to get it across. But he’ll always
be the guy on your side, ready to go to
war for you.”
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mental changes, Van Horn has also
made sure that he knows where to draw
the line for his players. He has made
them recognize their own talents and
appreciate him as their leader, demand
ing a respect that the players said was
not easily established for Sanders.
J. D. Edwards Day
Tuesday, March 9, 1999
C. Edward McVaney, co-founder and Chairman of
J.D. Edwards & Company and donor for the J.D.
Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and
Management, will be speaking on
“Excellence in Information Technology”,
on the UNL Campus. Mr. McVaney's talk will be
broadcast on Channel 8 via closed circuit monitors
around campus at 9:45 a.m. on
Tuesday, March 9th.
i
Paul Barker, Director of Technical Marketing, *
will be speaking on
“The Business of Software: Creating Problems or
Solutions?” at 3:45 p.m. in Room 217,
Ferguson Hall
^oacn van nom gets a 101 more
respect with this team,” Moore said.
“The way to gamer respect is to respect
your team, and he respects us, we
respect him. Coach Sanders didn’t real
ly get that”
Coupled with his other philoso
phies, the respect and stress on die little
things have helped the NU chib.
In his inaugural season last year,
Van Horn led the Huskers to a 24-20
overall record and a 10-13 maxk in the
Big 12 Conference. Thus far into the
1999 season, the Huskers are 10-6, and
2-1 in the conference following a three
game weekend at Oklahoma.
Moore said it feels good to be win
ning, especially in the conference,
where the Huskers have not had a win
ning season since 1993, when they
were 16-12 in the Big Eight
“Just going off our series with
Oklahoma, we’re 2-1,” Moore said.
“I’ve never started off (the conference
season) at 2-1 in my career here. We
can’t wait for the next series to come,
and we can get rolling in the Big 12.”
And, while winning and getting
recognized, the team is also having a
great deal more Am in the Van Horn era.
“He still wants to play,” Sirianni
said. “You can tell. He’s feisty. With
that, it’s easy for us to go out and want
to play. It’s not, ‘Oh no, we’re at the park
again,’ itls more like ‘Oh yeah, we get to
go out and play again today.”
IUNL Sample Ballot
ASUN Student Government j
Run-off Election
March 10,1999 j
1. To vote, Blacken the square ( □ ) to the left of each name you select!
2. Do Not Cross Out- if you change your mind, exchange your ballot I
for a new one. j
President / Vice President j
Select one (1) by marking the square ( □) to the left of the name
j □ Paul Schreier / Jon England j
□ Andy Schuerman / Rachelle Winkle
1
I 2nd Vice President J
Select one (1)
J □ Trisha L. Meuret j
□ Vernon Miller j
Big 12 squads must face
role ofnot being favorite
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
It’s a role many teams in die Big 12
are unaccustomed to: underdog.
Yet, that’s the role the five Big 12
teams in the NCAA Tournament -
Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma,
Texas and Missouri - will have to play.
Not one team is seeded higher than No.
6 in the tourney.
In order to compensate for a lack of
power, die Big 12 schools in the tourney
are making up for it in terms of excite
ment.
“Our chib is excited, about as excit
ed as any group of guys I’ve coached,”
Missouri Coach Norm Stewart said
about the 16th NCAA Tournament
squad. “We worked hard all year, and
this is a great time of year in basketball.
When you get to postseason play, it is an
exciting time of year.”
For the Big 12 schools to make
some noise in the tournament, they will
have to play the underdog role.
In a balanced conference with no
prohibitive favorite, Texas rose to the
top of the regular season standings by
virtue of a 13-3 conference record. Bid
that was only good enough for a seventh
seed in the tourney.
Kansas has toe highest seed and is
sixth amongst the conference teams,
low for a conference of the Big 12’s
stature. But as OU Coach Kelvin
Sampson said, getting into toe tourna
ment is all that matters.
“You’ve got to be a good team to be
in there,” Sampson said. “We get to go
to the greatest show on earth-that’s the
NCAA Tournament Itfc an opportunity.
We’re used to toe role of toe underdog.”
No. 13 seed Oklahoma (20-10) has
perhaps toe toughest draw opening in
the Midwest region against fourth
seeded Arizona (22-6), a team that won
the national title two years ago. Arizona
is led by senior Pac-10 player of the year
Jason Terry.
Sampson said his team needs to
find a way to match up with the
Wildcats.
“They are athletic, strong and very,
very deep,” Sampson said. “And they
really love to run. This is a tough
matchup for us.”
Kansas, the Big 12 Tournament
Champion, is also in the Midwest
bracket and is coming from an unusual
position for them, toe No. 6 seed, after
being seeded first the past two seasons.
Coach Roy Williams knows his
team will have to come to play early this
year.
‘It is different when you are a one or
two seed,” Williams said. “You’re
always going to get someone who’s hot
as gifted or doesn’t have die same num
ber of scholarships. We ’re not in that sit
uation now”
Kansas (22-9) will take on 11 to
seeded Evansville (23-9), die Missouri
Valley Conference tournament runner
15).
After disappointments in
Lawrence, Kan., the last few seasons, in
which KU was expected to make the
Final Four and underachieved, senior
Ryan Robertson said the young squad
is going in with nothingto lose.
“The best teams play their best bas
ketball in March,” Robertson said “The
last couple of years everyone expected
us to be in the Final Four or national
champions. Now we have a chance to
go in without those expectations and do
something.”
Oklahoma State (22-10), weary
after four games in four days, was the
conference tourney runner-up, good
enough to gamer a ninth seed and a date
with Syracuse (21-11), the eighth seed.
Coach Eddie Sutton sees an even
battle in the South Region. If OSU
wins, it will most likely play No. 1 seed
ed Auburn.
“We’re just happy to be in the tour
nament,” Sutton said. ‘Tdon’t know that
much about Syracuse except that they
have a very good program.”
Eighth-seeded Missouri (20-8)
returns to the NCAA tournament fray
after a three-year absence in the West
Region to face ninth-seeded New
Mexico (24-8).
Albert White, a first team All-Big
12 selection, will be the spark plug for
the Tigers. He scored 16.6 points and
pulled down 8.5 rebounds per game.
Regular-season conference cham
pion, No. 7 seed Texas (19-12), travels
to the East Regional to face the No. 10
seed, Purdue, which is also 19-12.
All-conference selections Chris
Mihm and Gabe Muoneke will lead the
Longhorns against the Boilermakers.
Coach Rick Barnes said the best
thing about this time of year is the
unpredictability.
“One thing basketball does is it
gives you new life,” Barnes said. “In
tourney play, the best team doesn’t
always win. In a 40-minute game, any
thing can happen .”
In the rush to meet graduation
requirements, don’t get
trampled underfoot. If you
missed out on a class, there’s
still a chance to get your degree
on time with UNL’s College
Independent Study Program.
Enroll now and complete the
course by April 19th to ensure a
seat at commencement.
Call UNL’s College Indepen
dent Study at 472-432110
avoid the agony of defeat.
Nebraska
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA - LINCOLN
DMtion of Continuing Stud**, Dept, of Distance Education
www.unl.edu/conted/disted
The University of Nebraska is an affirmative
action/eoual opportunity institution