Huskers pull trifecta on KU
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Well-sea
soned in the art of the comeback, the
Nebraska women’s basketball team
staged its most important one of the
season, beating No. 25 Kansas 80-67 in
the second round of the Big 12
Tournament on Wednesday.
Next step: top-seeded Iowa State,
which swept die Huskers in the regular
season. Win or lose, fifth-seeded
Nebraska probably has guaranteed
itself a spot in the NCAA Tournament
next week.
Nebraska kept the momentum of
its six-game winning streak going
almost as impressively as No. 4-seed
Kansas appeared to have stopped it for
most of the first half. The Jayhawks
held a 14-point lead with five minutes
left
But NU guard Nicole Kubik, who
had a tournament-record 32 points,
helped shave that lead down to 41-37
by halftime. Then, the Cornhuskers
(18-11 overall) outscored Kansas 43
27 in the second half. Kansas (20-9),
lost to Nebraska for the third time this
season.
“I guarantee you a lot of people did
n’t think we could beat Kansas three
times in a row” said Kulak, who scored
18 points in the first half.
“Ifl would have had doubts, if any
body would have had doubts when we
were down, we would have lost the
game. Fourteen-point leads don’t mean
anything to us.”
In front of 3,559 at Municipal
Auditorium, Kansas went up 35-21
with 5:13 left in Ae first half when KU
guard Jaclyn Johnson hit a jumper after
forward Lynn Pride’s steal, completing
a 15-3 KU run.
Nebraska was on the ropes, Coach
Paul Sanderford said, but still not dead.
“We looked a little rattled early on,”
Sanderford said. ‘Tor most of the first
half it looked like it was Nicole vs.
Kansas. I told our kids if we could get to
halftime five or six points down, we
would be able to win the basketball
game.”
Kubik responded with nearly every
Please see WOMEN on 15
Photo Courtesy of Jay Sheperd/Kansan
NICOLE KUBIK drives out of a trap set
in the backcourt by Jaeytn Johnson of
KU during the second half of action.
— .. - aeaBBaa —maaaBMMa*
Mike Warren/DN
NEBRASKA FRESHMEN gymnasts (clockwise from top) Julie Houk, A.J. lamb, Jen French and Jess Wertz are part of one of the best
recruiting classes in women’s gymnastics now competing. The freshmen have learned about competing as a team at the college level,
and the four have produced nearly half of the scores in the meets this season.
Freshmen boost NU into top ten
By Jason Merrihew
StaffWriter
Nebraska is among the elite in
women’s gymnastics because of a
freshman class that could be con
sidered among the best in the
nation.
A.J. Lamb, Jess Wertz, Julie
Houk and Jen French make up the
crop of freshmen Coach Dan
Kendig was able to convince to
come to Lincoln.
Coming from three different
states, these four women have con
tributed almost half of the total
team output by the fifth-ranked
Huskers.
“Our freshman class, in most
meets, has accounted for half our
scores. Half of our team routines
have been freshmen,” Kendig said.
The impact of the class also has
been evident after Nebraska broke
the team scoring record in back-to
back meets.
At the head of the class is
Lamb. The Lincoln native consis
tently has placed in the all-around.
Her strong event is the floor exer
cise.
The high point so far for Lamb
came during a first-place showing
in the all-around in a dual against
conference foe Missouri with a
- SPORTS OPINION -
season-high 39.425.
She has competed in the all
around seven of the nine meets this
year. The only two times Lamb did
n’t compete in the all-around were
because of an ankle injury in the
middle of the season.
“She’s the real deal. She is
explosive, she’s got the power,
she’s got performance skill, she’s
Please see GYMNASTS on 15
NU tries
to stage
miracle
By Matthew Hansen
Staff writer
The Nebraska basketball team has
had a year that senior Larry Florence
calls “easily my most disappointing.”
But Coach Danny Nee isn’t ready to
pack up the basketballs yet.
He said Tuesday that the Big 12
Tournament gives the Huskers one last
chance to salvage an 11-18 season, a
last opportunity to prolong Florence’s
and possibly Nee’s careers at NU.
But do Nee and the eighth-seeded
Huskers really think they can make a
Cinderella run at the Big 12
Championship and with it, earn an
automatic berth in the NCAA
Tournament? t
“Anything can happen,’’ Nee said.
“Anything can happen,” Florence
agreed.
NU’s first hurdle in making any
thing happen is taking care of ninth
seeded Baylor (13-14 overall, 4-12 Big
12). The matchup is the second between
the two teams. Nebraska won the first
game 69-55, and Florence said he is
confident of a victory in the rematch.
“Everybody is looking forward to
the game because this is a very
winnable game for us. We can take care
ofBaylor.”
From there, though, things get
harder for the Huskers. Looming in the
second round is regular-season champi
on Iowa State (26-4, 14-2). But Nee
said his team’s outlook on the season
could heto.
“We’ve been telling them that it’s a
new season, a fresh start,” he said “That
mental frame of mind determines how
you are going to play. If we just go down
there loose and try to have a little fan,
good things might happen.”
No matter the outcome of NU’s
tournament, Nee told reporters that no
decision would be made about his
future until at least a week after the
Huskers had played their last game.
An annual meeting with Athletic
Director Bill Byrne to evaluate Nee’s
coaching job will take place then. Until
that meeting, Nee said he will not com
ment on his job.
“I’m going to finish off the season
and show a little class,” he said. “Bill
has been doing his job, and I have been
doing mine, and it’s been like that for
weeks. That’s it, you guys. There’s noth
ing else there.”
So, for now, Nee and his team con
centrate on the task at hand a 12-team
tournament in which five of the teams
are ranked in the AP Top 25.
Florence said the team knew how
Please see NEE on 14
Husker Vering focuses on Munoz rival#, all-around persona
David Diehl
Not too many people on campus
recognize Brad Vering. If he weren’t
wearing an Adidas windsuit, you prob
ably couldn’t even tell he’s an athlete,
except for the 6-foot-2, 200-pound
frame it covers.
But not having the aura of an Eric
Crouch or Cookie Belcher isn’t
Vering’s fault. Don’t blame him for
being one of the best wrestlers in one of
the nation’s most obscure of sports.
Few even know Vering has a better
than-good chance of being a national
champion when he takes the mat a
week from today at the NCAA
Tournament in St. Louis, Mo.
But if the cliched phrase that nice
guys finish last holds true, then Vering
should come in dead last like nobody’s
come in dead last before.
Coach Tim Neumann was asked to
describe Vering with three words, pre
sumably separate adjectives depicting
how good a person he is. Neumann did
one better than that.
“A coach’s dream,” he said.
Vering frequently speaks at
wrestling camps for junior wrestlers
and is as serious in the classroom as he
is on the mat - he’s earned Academic
All-American honors. Twice.
Vering is the blueprint of a standup
guy. That’s something he traces all the
way back to his roots in Howells.
Vering easily could have ruled the
grade-school playground, had he
wished. But that’s not his way.
Vering seems more of the bully’s
bully. You like taking milk money? Now
why don't you try taking my milk
money?
“My parents did a good job of
bringing me up,” Vering said. “I tried to
stay out of bad crowds, and I had idols
I used. I liked the way that they really
represented themselves.
“I really looked up to my brother.
But I don’t pick just one idol because I
don’t think just one person has all the
qualities that I want to have,” he said.
Now Vering stands on the other
side of the fence. He is the one little
kids look up to. He is the one whom the
little kids rushto for the autograph.
They are the ones he tries to reach
when he speaks at wrestling camps.
“I always stress that you want to be
a complete person,” Vering said, “not
just a complete wrestler. You got to
work to improve yourself as a person
and not just in wrestling.”
Yes, Vering is certainly a nice guy,
but he definitely won’t finish last. Not
in anything he does and certainly not
on the wrestling mat.
At 34-3, Vering was ranked No. 1
going into this year’s Big 12
Conference Tournament. But he was
the second seed to Oklahoma State’s
Mark Munoz, who had already beat
Vering twice at that point, both times
coming from behind in die match’s last
10 seconds.
On Sunday the stage was set It was
perfect. Munoz and Vering, mano-a
mano for the Big 12 crown, and Vering
seemed to have it locked up. He had
Please see VERING on 14