Scrimmage shows more
trouble with NU defense
FOOTBALL from page 16
The three offenses combined to
produce eight touchdowns in 15
drives along with the 698 total yards.
A 35-yard field goal try was botched
on another drive.
To put the total offensive output
into perspective, the 698 yards were
more than twice as much as
Nebraska’s most productive oppo
nent in 1999, Kansas, gained.
The three quarterbacks - Lord,
Joe Chrisman and Brett Lindstrom -
did much of the damage as they
combined to run and pass for five
touchdowns. I-Back Chris Butler
added 90 total yards.
Coach Frank Solich said that the
offensive production was in contrast
to many years where the offense
struggled to even make first downs.
Solich added that he would be trou
bled if the defense didn’t stiffen by
the end of spring workouts in two
weeks.
“Well, you’d be concerned at the
end of spring ball if your defense is
not playing to the point where
they’re not qllowing ouf offensive
team to move up and down the field
on them,” Solich said. “We’ll see
how it works. I got a lot of confi
dence in those guys. They’re work
ing hard, and I think it will all come
together for them.
“I think they’ll continue to
improve and be a good defense by
the end of spring ball. And we hope
they’ll be a very good defensive
team by the end of fall camp.”
Notes
Nine players missed Saturday’s
scrimmage. Vanden Bosch missed
because of an academic commit
ment. Eric Crouch, Matt Davison,
Toniu Fonoti, Correll Buckhalter,
Loran Kaiser, Jon Bowling, Jeremy
Slechta and Chris Kelsey all sat out
with injuries.
In the scrimmage, Josh Davis,
Jason Schwab and Kyle Ringenberg
all suffered injuries, but Solich said
none of them should miss consider
able time.
Vanden Bosch was named lifter
of the year for the second straight
year on Friday. He becomes the third
player in Husker history, along with
Rik Bonness and Donta Jones, to
win the award twice.
Three Husker gymnasts
gain All-American honors
By John Gaskins
Staffwriter
In a sense, the performances by the
Nebraska men’s gymnastics team
members at the NCAA
Championships reflected the season.
There was plenty to be proud of from
those who competed, but many will be
playing the “what if” game when look
ing back days and years down the road.
After the team failed to qualify for
Friday’s team title, three Huskers
earned four All-American honors on
Saturday. Senior Derek Leiter finished
his career earning two All-Americans
by placing fifth in Friday’* all-around
competition (57.825) and third on the
vault (9.3735) in Saturday’s individual
event championships.
“I realized it was my last event of
m/career and thought it was fine,”
said Leiter, who was the nation’s No. 2
all-arounder and No. 1 vaulter coming
into the meet. “I won’t look back on
being on this team with much regret. I
wanted to do well for everybody.”
Senior Asher Lichterman, a trans
fer from New Mexico, bowed out by
tying for fourth on the vault (9.7125),
while sophomore Dusty Jakub took
home fifth (9.6625) on the parallel
bars.
Lichterman said winning All
American was a nice send-off to a
career that saw injuries and the cutting
of New Mexico’s program after last
season, while Jakub surprised himself
I
with his performance, which followed
a career-high 9.8 the night before. The
Lincoln native’s best prior score on the
parallel bars was an 8.9.
Friday was a qualifying day for the
individual event titles. Along with
Leiter, Jakub and Lichterman, sopho
more Grant Clinton (high bar), senior
Blake Bukacek (pommel horse) and
sophomore Martin Fournier (parallel
bars) qualified for Friday by virtue of
Thursday’s scores but failed to make
the cut for Saturday.
The gymnasts agreed not having
the entire team competing made scor
ing tougher.
That’s where the what-ifs kick in.
What if national champions Jason
Hardabura and Marshall Nelson were
competing instead of watching from
the bench with injuries (with the
exception of Nelson’s performance on
the pommel horse)? What if Clinton
and Bukacek had been healthy for
most of the season and the meet?
“I think we would have made a run
for the title with the power that we
had,” Coach Francis Allen said.
“There’s no doubt the guys who com
peted (Friday and Saturday) would
have benefited with their teammates
out there. But I’m happy with how they
did”
Penn State won Friday’s team title,
edging defending champion Michigan
231.975-231.85. Jamie Natalie of
Ohio State took the all-around title
with a 58.375.
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Huskers lose to Baylor
in first sweep of season
From staff reports
During a chilly weekend in
Waco, Texas, the Nebraska baseball
team’s offense went cold against
Baylor.
The Bears (24-10) swept the
Comhuskers (18-11), winning by a
total margin of four runs.
The Huskers (7-8 in the Big 12)
hit a frigid .140 in the first two
games this weekend, before record
ing 12 hits in a 7-6, 10-inning loss
Sunday.
Fans who huddled under blan
kets as temperatures dipped into the
low 50s saw a series packed with
solid pitching.
Baylor ace Chad Hawkins shut
down the Huskers 4-2 on Friday,
allowing just one earned run and
three hits over 7 and 1/3 innings.
In the game, NU pitcher Shane
Komine (4-3) suffered the loss,
allowing three runs and five hits in
nearly five innings of work.
First baseman Dan Johnson and
BEARS 437
HUSKERS2 2 6
third baseman Brant Vlieger drove
in the Huskers’ two runs.
Saturday, the Huskers suffered
another tough loss, falling 3-2 to the
Bears.
The Huskers jumped to a 2-0
lead in the first inning after catcher
Justin Cowan drove in outfielder
Adam Stern and Johnson drove in
Cowan.
But NU pitcher Jaime Rodrigue
couldn’t hold the lead. Rodrigue (4
2) was pulled in the third inning after
allowing three runs on five hits.
Reliever R.D. Spiehs shut down the
Bears from there, allowing four hits
and no runs over the final six
innings, but it wasn’t enough.
The Huskers recorded just three
hits and no runs after the first
inning.
NU Coach Dave Van Horn was
disappointed with the loss.
“This is a tough loss to take,”
Van Horn said. “R.D. (Spiehs) gave
us every chance to compete in the
game. He was outstanding out of the
bullpen, but we just couldn’t come
up with the big hits to help him out.”
Nebraska’s attempt to avoid their
first sweep of the season was erased
Sunday, as Baylor rallied to beat the
Huskers 7-6 in 10 innings.
Baylor jumped to a 6-2 lead in
the fourth inning, knocking NU
pitcher Scott Fries out of the game.
But behind the pitching of
relievers Trevor Bullock and Chad
Wiles, the Huskers rallied to tie the
game by scoring one run in the sev
enth inning and three runs in the
eighth.
Baylor pinch-hitter Steve
Dorneman singled to drive in the
winning run in the bottom of the
10th. NU pitcher Thom Ott (1 -1) suf
fered the loss.
Vlieger had a big day on offense
going 3-for-5 with four RBI. Stern
was also 3-for-5 with two RBI and
two runs scored.
NU sweeps rival Red Raiders
From staff reports
The Nebraska softball team con
tinued its winning ways this week
end with a sweep over conference
rival Texas Tech.
After an 11-inning, 2-1 victory
in the first game, the Cornhuskers
took the second game 5-1 to
improve their overall record to 28-15
and 4-0 in the Big 12 Conference.
The pair of victories over the
Red Raiders (12-27, 1-3) helped the
Huskers extend their season-best
winning streak to 14 games.
HUSKERS 2 5
RED RAIDERS11
In the first game, NU benefited
from a stellar pitching performance
from senior pitcher Jenny Voss.
Tech’s Amanda Renfro matched
Voss pitch for pitch for much of the
contest.
The game was scoreless after
nine innings. In the 10th, the
Huskers pushed across a run, but the
Red Raiders also got on the board in
the bottom half of the inning, tying
the game again.
NU freshman Amanda Buchholz
scored the go-ahead run in the top of
the 11th off a Tech throwing error,
and the Raiders were unable to
match the run.
In the second game of the dou
bleheader, the Huskers dominated
the Red Raiders. Two home runs
from junior Jamie Fuente and senior
Jennifer Williams keyed the Husker
victory. Junior Penny Cope earned
the win for NU.
Nebraska will next be in action
April 7 against in-state rival
Creighton.
Spartans, Gators to meet in final
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -
Michigan State and Florida both start
ed the season in the Top 10 and never
dropped far below. Now they’re the
only teams left.
Similarities over.
While the Spartans are most effec
tive in a half-court game, where they
can crash the boards and be physical,
the Gators prefer to play at warp speed,
using a 10-man rotation and ftill-court
pressure.
Michigan State (31 -7) was the only
No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four and
has lived up to the role in its bid for the
national championship. The Spartans
won every game in the NCAA tourna
ment by at least 11 points, including
Saturday night’s 53-41 victory over
Wisconsin.
Florida, seeded fifth, got a first
round scare from Butler before wear
ing down higher-seeded teams -
Illinois, top-ranked Duke and
Oklahoma State - with its hectic pace.
The Gators (29-7) used the same style
to end North Carolina’s surprising run
with a 71-59 win Saturday night.
“We like to run, too,” Michigan
State Coach Tom Izzo said. “Maybe
some of that is our style also.... I think
we have an understanding for that. I
think these guys want to run, too.”
The Spartans can get up and down
the court, having scored more than 80
points nine times this season. In the
tournament, however, they have aver
aged 68.2 with the five starters averag
ing between 27 and 35 minutes a game
and only two reserves averaging more
than 10.
Florida has averaged 79.4 points in
the five tournament games, just off its
84.1 mark for the season. The 10
Gators who create all that havoc on the
floor average between 13 and 31 min
utes a game.
Michigan State starts three seniors,
while Florida has one on the team and
U Were going to play our guys like we
normally have, and I don V know if we 71
be able to wear Michigan State down. We
have to just try and play our style.”
Billy Donovan
Florida basketball coach
plays seven sophomores and freshmen
in the rotation.
“Our youthfulness has won us a lot
of basketball games this year,” said
Kenyan Weaks, Florida’s lone member
of the Class of 2000. “I don’t know if
that’s going to be a big problem in this
game.”
The Spartans were going to use an
age-old method to prepare for Florida’s
full-court press on Monday night.
“We always go against six or seven
guys in practice, and I’m sure we’ll
have a bunch of players out there
today,” Michigan State forward Andre
Hutson said Sunday.
Florida Coach Billy Donovan
believes people are getting the wrong
impression about his team.
“People think it’s just running and
jacking up 3-point shots,” Donovan
said. “We put a tremendous emphasis
on guarding the 3-point line. Basically,
every team in the country, when they
go to practice, is going to practice th|ir
half-court offense. We try to be as dis
ruptive as possible and take teams out
of what they practice on a regular
basis.”
One of the keys to breaking
Florida’s press will be senior point
guard Mateen Cleaves.
“You never have a chance to relax,”
he said. “The main thing for the game
is you can’t change your attitude.”
Florida’s subs have scored 175
points in the tournament, 132 more
than Michigan State’s.
“I do think we need to get more
scoring out of our bench, and I think
we have the potential,” Izzo said. “As
far as wearing us down, I think we’ll
utilize our bench enough so it doesn’t.”
Donovan won’t change a thing.
“We’re going to play our guys like
we normally have, and I don’t know if
we’ll be able to wear Michigan State
down,” he said. “We have to just try
and play our style.”
Michigan State is trying to become
the fust Big 10 team to win the nation
al championship since Michigan in
1989. The Spartans’ only national
championship came in 1979.
The Spartans are in the Final Four
for the second straight year. They lost
to Duke in the semifinals last season.
“That was cool, but we went home
empty-handed,” Cleaves said. “It’s
great to get here, but you’ll always be
remembered as a national champion.”
Florida is looking for its first
national championship while keeping
alive the Southeastern Conference’s
even-year streak. Arkansas won in
1994 and Kentucky won in 1996 and
1998.
Donovan, one of six men to play
and coach in a Final Four, will try to
join even more select company.
Only Bob Knight and Dean Smith
have played in a Final Four and
coached a national champion.