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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1999)
Sports w————lii t'llWii'H'lfill_1 Sam McKewon UM dishonor bad sign for college sports Sunday marked yet another sad and discouragmg sign that the world of college athletics is going straight to hell. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported further violations involving the Minnesota men’s basketball team, beyond original accusations that a tutor. Jan Gangelhoff, did the work for up to 20 athletes over 15 years. This time, a former player - a play er that was thrown off the team - alleges that UM’s coach, Clem Haskins, gave him money to buy Christmas gifts for his mother. It is the cardinal sin of NCAA rule violations. Furthermore, the sister of Gangelhoff Jeanne Payer, confessed that she, too, helped athletes with term papers and assignments while an acad emic tutor. She provided the Star Tribune with a disk - a disk! - con taining sample term papers on it. This is bad. Not only for the Golden Gophers, but for the rest of college athletics, because it proves one thing: People are walling to cheat to keep athletes in school. Consider Payer’s comments in Sunday's Star-Tribune: “As far as the typing of the papers or helping (the players) reason, think, I thought that was part of my job." nei comments iegaruing /vionzo Newby, the academic counselor in charge of the men's basketball team: “I feel sorry for Alonzo. He’s our friend. He was overwhelmed. This thing evolved out of friendship. Sometimes, he’d be drowning in work.” Such is an academic department that, like Nebraska, instead of being its own entity, falls under the athletic department. As it falls under the athlet ic department, these tutors and coun selors have one goal: to keep players eligible by any means necessary so they can generate dollars and pride for the university. Imagine the pressure these people are under. If an athlete slips behind, at least at UM, it's the tutor's fault. They can lose their job. Under those circum stances, who isn’t going to write those papers? Don’t tell me athletic departments don’t care whether an athlete is eligi ble. If a tutor or a counselor were to suggest to a respective coach that an athlete sit out a year to catch up on studies, what do you think the response would be? Not a good one. The responsibility of academic tutors should have nothing to do with athletic departments. Athletic depart ment should not be allowed to hire them. Including NU. They should not be able to monitor them. They should not be able to pay them, or coerce them or pressure them. It only corrupts the system and hurts the athletes. And it sets up the atmosphere for what happened at UM. It could, and probably does, occur in a lot of places. Sam McKewon is a junior news-editorial and political sci ence major and a Daily Nebraskan senior editor. Huskers notch 15th at NCAAs DN File Photo REDSHIRT FRESHMAN BRAD SNYDER finished fourth at the NCAA Championships last weekend. Snyder, along with NU sophomore Brad Vering, had the highest finishes for Nebraska. Snyder, Vering get fourth in meet, DeAnda is eighth From staff reports The Nebraska wrestling team came out of the NCAA championships in State College, Pa., in 15th place with 37 points and three wrestlers earning All-American status. Fifth-year senior Jose DeAnda, sophomore Brad Vering and freshman Bryan Snyder earned the honors for NU. Snyder earned a fourth-place finish after los ing to fourth-seeded Larry Quisel of Boise State 8-2 in the consolation final Saturday. Snyder’s was the second-highest finish at the national champions for a freshman in NU history. He is the third freshman in school history to pick up All-American honors. Snyder finished the sea son at 32-5. NU Coach Tim Neumann said Snyder per formed the best he could in the meet and ran into a buzzsaw in Quisel, who lost his first match of the meet and won eight straight matches from there. “Bryan got caught in his final match.” Neumann said. “Quisel was on a quest. Nothing that happened could diminish what Bryan accomplished, though.” Vering finally fell to No. 3 seed West Virginia’s Vertus Jones in the 184-pound weight class. The loss in the consolation final went into the third period when Jones gained 9 quick points and the victory. “I came in here to win this tournament and thought I had a legitimate chance to do it, but it didn’t happen,” Vering said. DeAnda finished eighth in the 141-pound weight class after losing to No. 5 seed Damian Logan of Michigan. In his first NCAA appear ance, DeAnda picked up his All-American hon ors and finished his senior season at NU 18-9. “I don't think there’s ever been an All American at Nebraska that deserves it more than Jose does,” Neumann said. “He’s worked five years for this chance - this weekend. It was an emotional thing for all of us.” At the 149-pound weight class, Joe Henson finished 1-2 in the tournament and 20-11 overall after losing in a second-round consolation Please see WRESTLERS on 11 NU women fall out of Big Dance in L. A. By Jay Saunders Staff writer The Nebraska women’s basketball team received a spring break vacation to Los Angeles courtesy of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee. But the Comhuskers, the 11th seed in the West Region, didn’t enjoy the California sun for long, as they lost to No. 6 seed Kentucky 98-92 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The high-scoring affair was led by the Huskers for nearly 37 minutes. Junior Nicole Kubik again paced Nebraska on offense with a game high 32 points. The scoring onslaught was Kubik’s 10th consecutive game scoring in double figures. Kubik was joined in double-digit scoring by juniors Brooke Schwartz and Charlie Rogers* / Schwartz had 11 points, five rebounds and a game-high five steals. Kentucky 98 Nebraska 92 Rogers chipped in 10 points. The Huskers had several double digit leads, but Nebraska (21-12) was not on top when it counted. A pair of Rubik free throws with one minute and 55 seconds left in the game gave the Huskers an 87-86 lead. The score remained that way until UK’s Kaye Barnes hit a layup with 1:27 remaining. Barnes finished the game with 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds. Barnes was just one of six Kentucky players who scored in dou ble figures, led by point guard Erica Jackson. All of Jackson’s 18 points came in the second half. The 92-point performance was Nebraska’s third-highest offensive output of the season. Those 92 points would have won every one of the « ...The same thing that kept us from winning games during the regular season happened to us tonight.” Paul Sanderford NU women’s basketball coach Huskers’ games prior to the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats were able to do something no other team was able to accomplish this season: score 90 or more points. The 98-point perfor mance was the most points allowed by a Husker team since 1993. UK scored 64 points in the second half, which was a tournament record for points scored in a half of a first round game. The Huskers also lost the battle of the boards. Kentucky had a 37-31 rebounding edge, which NU Coach Paul Sanderford said made a differ ence. “We rebounded fairly well in the first half,” Sanderford said. “But the same thing that kept us from winning games during the regular season hap pened to us tonight. We ended up los ing the rebound battle by six.” Kentucky advanced to the second round, where it was defeated 87-63 by No. 3-seeded UCLA.