SportsFriday
Da/()Nebraskan
(as compiled by
Joshua Camenzind
& David Diehl)
1. Kansas - The Jayhawks are
loaded up front and should
benefit from rules changes
limiting physical play, but
steady play from the point guard
position and depth at the two and
depth at the two and three pos
itions will be needed for KU to
contend nationally.
2. Missouri - The border war with
Kansas is back with Quin
Snyder’s squad led by guards
Clarence Gilbert and Kareem
Rush and backed by young
athleticism across the board.
3. Oklahoma - OU lost its heart
and soul with the graduation of
Eduardo Najera, but Kelvin
Sampson finds a way to win year
in and year out.
4. Iowa State - Larry Eustachy's
squad discovered gold last
season, and it all started with a
guy named Marcus Fizer. Fizer
is gone, and that will hurt, but
Jamaal Tinsley will help the
newcomers mesh quickly.
5. Oklahoma State - Three return
ing players equals a major
coaching job for Eddie Sutton
this year. If Sutton is up to the
task, he has the layers to make
it happen. But they will take time.
6. Texas - UTs front line was
devastated by the loss of Chris
Mihm and Gabe Muoneke, but,
like OSU, the Longhorns are
the proud owners of a new
Cadillac full of young players.
7. Nebraska - NU has the talent
and potential to be placed from
No. 4 to 10. Husker hopes are
riding on Kevin Augustine and
John Robinson to provide new
Coach Barry Collier with the first
true point guard in Lincoln since
a guy namd Lue.
8. Colorado - Ricardo Patton’s
bunch has finished the past
three seasons at No. 7, and they
give no reason to move into
the upper-echelon in 2000-2001.
Patton said his team is the best
of the worst, and he is right.
9. Texas Tech • Tech is stacked
up front with Andy Ellis and Cliff
Owens but lack depth behind
them. New guards equal grow
ing pains and losses in confer
ence play for James Dickey.
10. Baylor - Dave Bliss has him
self two solid players in Terry
Black and DeMarcus Minor
and an intriguing newcomer in
Greg Davis. What he doesn’t
have is a go-to-guy, and that
will hurt the Bears in close
games.
11. Texas A&M - Youth is the word
in College Station with Big XII
Freshman of the Year Bernard
King and freshman Nick
Anderson, who will contend for
the same award. A&M will rely
on those two players too much
and won’t go anywhere again.
12. Kansas State • The Wildcats
find themselves in a similar sit
uation to Nebraska with new
Coach Jim Woolridge. But
while the Huskers have talent
to work with, KSU doesn’t
have much of it. Expect a
rough first year for the new
coach.
Big XII First Team
Jamaal Tinsley, Iowa State
Kareem Rush, Missouri
Nic Collison, Kansas
Chris Owens, Texas
Kimani Ffriend, Nebraska
Coach of the Year
Eddie Sutton, Oklahoma State
Player of the Year
Tinsley. Iowa State
Can OU 'pass' its No. 1 test?
BY JOHN GASKINS
Pull out the old
Herbie Husker outfit.
Dust off the model
Boomer Schooner. And
say the words “wish
bone” and "fum
blerooskie” all you want.
The moment college
football fans have been
waiting far too long for
will finally arrive at 11
a.m. on Owen Field in
Norman, Okla., on
Saturday.
Welcome back the
bone-chilling rivalry of
No. 1 Nebraska versus
No. 2 Oklahoma.
Welcome back Sooner
Magic versus Husker
Power.
For the first time in 13
years, the two teams are
ranked No. 1 and No. 2
and are undefeated. For
the first time in seven
years, both teams are
ranked, period. For the
first time in 12 years, the
teams are the top two in
their conference, and the
national championship
rides on this game.
“The blood’s been
flowing faster than it usu
ally does,” preseason All
American NU offensive
lineman Dominic Raiola
said. “This game is huge.”
Said linebacker and
Butkus Award semifinal
ist Carlos Polk, a
Rockford, 111., native, “I
grew up in the Big 10
area, so I didn’t know
much about the
Nebraska-Oklahoma
rivalry before I got here.
But when I got here, I was
quickly informed and
reminded.
“To me, this is the
national championship
game.”
The national media
have swarmed Norman
and Lincoln all week.
Owen Field/Memorial
Stadium will be filled
with more than 75,000
fans and about 600
media members, 475
more than usual, accord
ing to OU Sports
Information Director
Mike Prusinski.
ESPN and Fox Sports
Net have been running
gobs of reports and
sound bites from both
teams all week. Sports
Web sites and sports
pages have been
splashed with scarlet and
crimson.
“Certainly, this is a
great, great thing for col
lege football,” NU Coach
Frank Solich said.
“There’s a lot of great tra
dition between two great
teams. You don’t have to
be playing or coaching in
the game to get excited
about it.”
Solich played in
many NU-OU classics in
the 1960s and coached in
them in the ’80s. His
coaching counterpart
Saturday, Bob Stoops,
grew up in Youngstown,
Ohio, as a fan of the game
and an admirer of the
Switzer regime that won
Please see 0U on 11
NU Football
Coach Frank
Solich and his
Husker Power
will try to
deflect Sooner
Magic on
Saturday in a
return of the
OU-NU rivalry.
r J DN File Photo
Christine Latham and NU soccer look to take care of Iowa State on Friday, moving one step closer to home-field advantage throughout the NCAA
Tournament.
Soccer playing
for home field
BY JAMIE SUHR
While the Nebraska soccer team’s game at Iowa
State may not mean much in terms of the Big 12
Conference standings - NU has already clinched the
conference crown - Coach John Walker said his team
will treat it like an NCAA Tournament game.
“We need to win to be seeded high,” Walker said
If Nebraska (17-1,8-1) wants to play host to tour
nament games until the Final Four, it will need to beat
the Cyclones and win in the Big 12 Tournament
“The weather come November is very unpre
dictable,” defender Jenny Benson said. “When you
bring in an East Coast or West Coast team, it’s defi
nitely an advantage."
ISU (7-9-2,3-5-1) needs to win just to qualify for
the conference tournament. The Cyclones also need
losses by Oklahoma and Missouri to advance. The
teams with the eight best records qualify, and the
Cyclones are tied for ninth with Kansas.
“They’ve had some good wins,” Walker said.
“They beat Oklahoma at home, which we didn’t do. I
think they’re better than some of the teams ahead of
them in conference.”
Early in the Cyclones’ season, they were forced to
play without midfielder Annie Henley and defender
Angie Portincaso. ISU struggled with chemistry when
the two returned to the lineup.
But ISU is coming on, going 2-1-1 in its past four
games with last season’s conference freshman of the
year Katie Antongiovanni leading with two goals.
“This is one of the biggest games of the year,”
Benson said. “We have to be prepared because they’re
a decent team, so we’ll have to fight for 90 minutes.”
While Benson and Walker look at the game as a
springboard for postseason play, goalkeeper Karina
LeBlanc isn’t so concerned.
“We’re going to go in Friday like any other game,”
LeBlanc said. “It’s a game that can hurt us in NCAA
seeding, so we’re not going in overconfident or look
ing beyond them.”
Let's not get physical:
Hoops rules toughened
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-Those who love
physical play in the Big 12 Conference
might be a little turned off by “round
ball” this year.
Because of rule changes that will be
implemented this season by the NCAA
Men’s Basketball Rules Committee, ref
erees will focus on rough play in 2000
2001.
Kansas Coach Roy Williams, who
heads the committee, said his Jayhawks
and other teams must adapt to the
changes. The KU coach said officials
would only be enforcing rules that have
been on the books but have not been
enforced strictly in the past.
“We always had the basic guide
lines,” said Dale Kelley, Big 12
Coordinator of Officials. “We just have
backed off, and now it is time to go
back."
The only major change to the rule
book that will affect rough play is that
only six - instead of eight - players will
be allowed in the lane during a free
throw.
While Williams is in favor of the
changes, some of his colleagues aren’t
taking too kindly to the new style.
“It’s the officials that I worry about
and how they are going to call the
game,” Texas Coach Rick Barnes said. “I
look at the tape and what they are
emphasizing, and you could blow the
whistle every time down the floor."
Barnes said the rule changes affect
everybody, even Williams’ KU team,
which has the reputation of being a little
soft.
“In the end, your players determine
how you play the game,” said Barnes.
He said his team had a play called
"pinball,” and now he might have to
Men’s Basketball
change the name to “air hockey.”
Larry Eustachy, whose Iowa State
team relied on physical play last season,
said he is worried about when players
who the fans pay to see foul out.
Eustachy said basketball is much
like a concert, and if people come to see
Barbra Streisand, she isn’t going to leave
at intermission and only do half a show.
“Basketball is not a ballet, and it is
for the tough,” he said. "We have all
these new weight rooms. Should we sell
them all?”
Nebraska’s Barry Collier said one of
his players, Steffon Bradford, would be
hurt by the rules and that the changes
wouldn’t become as severe as officials
are threatening.
“It is never probably to the extent
that is best served,” he said. "The top
leagues in the country play that way, so I
don’t want to see it disappear.”
Oklahoma’s Kelvin Sampson joked
that the rules video shown outside the
Big 12 Conference Media Days included
a majority of Sooner examples, pointing
out what will not be tolerated this year.
Sampson’s and Eustachy’s teams
both rely on physical play as their win
ning style, but now they must find other
ways to go about their business. They
weren’t happy about that and neither
were some players.
“I like to play physical,” said OU’s
Nolan Johnson, one of several players to
speak about the issue. “I don’t know
about the other teams in the Big 12, but
that is the way I like to play.”
Expectations high at KU
BY DAVID DIEHL
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-An
old cliche says there are
some things one can’t have
enough of: money, fun and
good looks.
But in the case of Kansas
basketball, Roy Williams’
team may have too much of
one thing-talent.
As the overwhelming
favorite to win the Big 12
Conference, the Jayhawks
have a stacked seven-deep
roster highlighted by pre
season All-Big 12 picks Drew
Gooden and Nick Collison.
Along with post players
Gooden and Collison,
guards Kenny Gregory, Jeff
Boschee and Kirk Hinrich
and frontcourt players Luke
Axtell and Eric Chenowith
compose the core of a
Kansas team that was
picked by 11 of 12 coaches in
the conference to finish on
top.
“I think Kansas has a
chance to be one of the bet
ter teams in the nation,”
Oklahoma Coach Kelvin
Sampson said.
So do other people. The
Jayhawks were picked as
high as No. 3 in preseason
publications, and Athlon’s
college basketball preview
selected KU as a Final Four
participant.
But with all the talent
that Williams’ 2000 squad
has, are there enough bas
ketballs in Allen Fieldhouse
to utilize it all?
The Jayhawk players
said it shouldn't be a prob
lem.
“Coach’s plan and goal is
Men’s Basketball
to score in the nineties,”
Chenowith said. “Take 90,
and divide it by six or seven
guys, and that’s a lot to go
around.”
Ninety points distrib
uted among seven players is
about 12 points a game, a
balanced scoring attack that
the Jayhawks would be no
stranger to. Last year KU
had six players average
between 8.5 and 12.8 points
per game, and each one is
back in Lawrence, Kan., this
year.
With the talent it had last
year, much of which it still
possesses, Kansas was a
scoring machine. It led the
Big 12 in scoring, averaging
just under 80 points a game
and hit 90 points on seven
different occasions.
Williams said his teams
don’t sprint up and down
the floor like the Billy Tlibbs’
teams at Oklahoma in the
’80s. They’re just good at
what they do, he said.
“Coaches, when talking
about Kansas, say they don’t
run a lot,” Williams said,
“they run effectively.”
The Jayhawks have lost
five letter winners but only
one that averaged more
than four points per game;
so, with their up-tempo
pace, Gregory said scoring
and distributing points and
opportunities among the
talent won’t be hard.
“If we keep the game as
‘The best position
to be in is to have
experienced talent.
That’s the situation
we’re in.”
Roy Williams
KU men’s basketball coach
fast as possible, and Coach’s
goal is to try to score as
many points as possible,”
Gregory said, "so if we keep
the game up-tempo and get
enough good looks and
shots, everybody’ll be satis
fied.”
After leading the confer
ence in rebounding, allow
ing the Jayhawks to get
down the court and score,
usually at will, Kansas
returns that front-court tal
ent in Chenowith, Gooden
and Collison.
Williams said it was
tough to judge where this
team fits in talent-wise with
others. He’s had so many
good teams it’s hard to tell,
Williams said.
But the best part about
this group, Williams said, is
that it has had time to play
ball together. The group has
three seniors, one junior
and three experienced
sophomores who started a
combined 54 games in their
freshman years.
"The best position to be
in is to have experienced tal
ent,” Williams said. “That’s
the situation we’re in.”