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Tuesday, December 7,1999__ Page 9
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■ The six teams will try
and improve upon last
year’s 3-4 Big 12 record.
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
The. Big 12 Conference will find
itself bowling six times over in the
1999-2000 college football bowl sea
son.
Oklahoma, Kansas State,
Nebraska, Colorado, Texas and Texas
A&M all will try and better the 3-4
record compiled by Big 12 teams in
bowls last postseason. Texas Tech was
the only Big 12 bowl-eligible team
that did not get invited to a bowl.
Oklahoma (7-4) will face
Mississippi (7-4) in the Independence
Bowl on Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. The bid
marks the first bowl for the Sooners
since 1994.
uu uoacn hod stoops saia ne is
pleased with leading his team to a
bowl in his first year as a head cdach.
“We realize that being in a bowl is
an award for having a solid year,”
Stoops said. “I am appreciative of our
seniors and the leadership on our
team iirour first year here.”
Ole Miss running back Deuce
McAllister is looking forward to
playing'the Sooners.
- “They have great tradition at
Oklahoma,” McAllister said. “You
usually think of the wishbone offense
-SSly tSSt
out.
“Their coach (Stoops) knows a lot
about defense and has done a great
job out there. It is going to be a great
challenge for our offense against their
defense”
Kansas State (10-1) will play
Washington (7-4) in the Holiday
Bowl on Dec. 29 at 7 p.m. after being
snubbed by the Cotton Bowl.
Wildcat Coach Bill Snyder said
his team is looking forward to playing
an improved Washington team,
coached by former Colorado Coach
Rick Neuheisel.
“We have looked at Washington,”
Snydetsaid. “I see a team that has
made vast improvement throughout
the course of die season. That is what
you would expect with a new staff
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Lane Hickenbottom/DN
COLORADO WIDE RECEIVER John Minardi and the rest of the Buffaloes will face Boston College in the lnsight.com Bowl. Colorado finished with a 6-5
season, including a 33-30 overtime loss to the Itaskers.
and players becoming accustomed to
each other.”
Snyder’s team is a big favorite (11
points) against the Huskies, just as it
was against Purdue last year in the
Alamo Bowl.
Purdue beat KSU 37-34, but
Snyder said he does not see similari
ties in the two games.
“Last year’s ball game is just dif
ferent from this,” Snyder said. “It is a
ball game we need to prepare well for.
Last year was a little different sce
nario because we were coming off a
loss to Texas A&M. That was a
tremendously punishing loss emo
tionally for this football team.
“We were not well enough pre
pared to win the Alamo Bowl. It was
an emotional and mental thing
because there was so much residue
left from the Big 12 Championship
game.”
Texas (9-4) will meet Arkansas
(7-4) in the Cotton Bowl. The game,
in Dallas, will be played at 10 a.m. on
Jan. 1.
The Longhorns and the
Razorbacks will renew a border rival
ry that climaxed 30 years ago in the
“Game of the Century,” won by Texas
15-14. UT went on to win the nation
al title.
Arkansas won the last matchup in
1991 14-13, but the rivalry ended
when UT left the Southwest
Conference. The rivalry will be
renewed again in 2003 when
Arkansas travels to Austin.
Texas Coach Mack Brown said
his team will have no problem build
ing emotion for the game.
“When you are coaching at the
University of Texas, you need to win
your bowl games,” Brown said.
“There is not a game that is not
important to you. We would like to be
a top 10 team.
“Arkansas has beaten Tennessee
and Mississippi State. They have had
some big wins this year, so it will be a
hard game for us. To play the emo
tional game against Texas A&M, and
then the game against Nebraska and
this will be an emotional game
because it is a renewed series with
Arkansas.”
Please see BOWLS on 10
NU ekes out win over Huskies
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Using a “mad dog” like effort, the
Nebraska women’s basketball team
ended a two-game home losing streak
against Washington.
By opening the second half in a 1-2
2 “mad dog” press, which was keyed by
Stephanie Jones, Brooke Schwartz and
Nicole Kubik, NU went on a 25-3 run to
take a 67-48 point lead after trailing at
halftime 45-42.
But the Comhuskers proved that no
lead is safe, by turning a sure blowout
win into a nail-biter as they defeated
Washington 89-86 at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center on Monday night in front
of3,020 fans.
Coach Paul Sanderford said he was
concerned that his team didn’t close out
the win on their home court when they
had a sizable lead. ,
“I was frustrated because we didn’t
finish,” Sanderford said. “I thought we
were in control of die game,and then we
couldn’t finish. We just couldn’t mate
adjustments.”
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the second half were controlled by
Nebraska.
With Jones as the “mad dog” - the
main trapper at the top of the defense -
and Schwartz and Kubik in a tandem
behind her, NU had several easy baskets
off of UW turnovers. On the night the
Huskies lost 30 turnovers, but the
Huskers weren’t much better with 27 of
their own.
Kubik said the increased tempo
caused by the press was to Nebraska’s
advantage.
“I think so,” said Kubik, who nar
rowly missed a triple double, finishing
with 23 points, 10 assists and nine steals.
“Once we got the game sped up, the
crowd got into die game. Faster play is
what players like to play and what the
fans want to watch. When the crowd
gets into it, everyone on the team gets
hyped up.”
A 20-second time out for
Washington and a layup by UW’s
Megan Franza, who finished with a
; The Huskies then chipped away at
the Huskers’ lead, cutting it to four on a
Jumper by Kelfie O’Neil with 43 sec
onds left. After a free throw by Husker
Amanda Vfent, Franza hit a layup with
| Nebraska 89
| Washington 86
five seconds left to cut the lead to three.
Husky Coach June Daugherty said
the comeback in this game can serve as
a learning experience for her young
team.
“I’m proud of us being able to get
back in the game with us being so
young.” said Daugherty of her team that
doesn’t have a senior on the roster. “I
told them the way we played during the
comeback is the way you have to prac
tice and play for 40 minutes. This game
was a great lesson for us.”
Washington then fouled freshman
Isha Kelley with 1.7 seconds left. She
missed two free throws, then UW called
a time out with 0.7 seconds remaining.
But UW couldn’t get a shot off, as
Schwartz intercepted a three-quarter
court inbounds pass.
Kubik stud to get a victory in this
game is a big relief.
for our confidence. We needtogetthat
hunger back at home. Hopefully we’ll
dominate at home now.^% J; |p
NU examines weaknesses
By Matthew Hansen
Staffwriter
Six weeks ago at the season’s first
press conference, Head Coach Danny
Nee talked at length about the depth of
the talent on his team. He also cau
tioned unbridled optimism, saying that
much work needed to be done before
his inexperienced team could realize
its potential.
“That’s the biggest question marie
of Nebraska basketball,” Nee said at
the time. “How will the new people
blend with the old people? They cer
tainly have die talent, but now can we
pull it together in a team-oriented
offense and defense?”
Six games into the season, after
blowout losses to Southern
Mississippi and Rutgers and a shock
ing defeat at the hands of largely
unlaiown Western Carolina, it’s safe to
say the problems Nee outlined in
October haven’t been solved.
Nee doesn’t deny it Neither do his.
players. After NtJfc 63-47 win over
theAmeritas Classic on Saturday,
he was pleased with his team’s perfor
mance. He also said they had a long
way to go.
“Obviously we didn’t patch every
thing up (in the win),” Cochran said. “I
think we made a small step, though.
It’s evident that we still have about 150
paces left to go, but at least we got one
step out of the way.”
Nee said the reasons for the
Huskers’ win Saturday night were the
same reasons for their subpar play in
the previous five games. He pointed to
good foul shooting, better shot selec
tion and only four turnovers in the sec
ond half as keys to the win.
The statistics show these things
haven’t been happening on a regular
basis for Nebraska. The team is aver
aging 20 turnovers a game contrasted
with only 10 assists. Through six con
tests the Huskers are shooting only 25
percent from beyond the 3-point arc
and 56 percent from the free-throw
line.
' i The coach recognized the prob
lems and said improvement in die
areas would need to continue - and
quickly.
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Please see ET1_3 on 10