1 he Bear
Sanderford’s team reflects him
BY JOHN GASKINS
Walk anywhere near the main arena
of the Bob Devaney Sports Center on a
winter afternoon, and you’ll immedi
ately hear die growling.
It’s a booming, hard-hitting south
ern drawl full of repeated commands
and constructive criticism.
“Push it! Push it! Push id Start over.
Again! You're notlisteningto what I said.
Do it again. We’re gonna keep doing this
until we get it right!”
The growl, via the loud PA system,
comes from a stout man with a red face
and veins popping out of his forehead,
with hair and arms flying all over the
place.
This scene has earned him the nick
name “The Bear.”
“He says he’s not trying to embar
rass anybody,” said senior guard
Amanda Went of boisterous Coach Paul
Sanderford, who has made a name for
himself and his program over the past
four years greatly through his bold
demeanor.
“But you can hear him all over
Devaney. Other athletic teams come in
and just watch because it’s just crazy.”
The scene seems the same at
women’s basketball practices as it has
been for four years. Bayers are running,
banging, shooting around as if prac
tices were actual games, or wars.
Sanderfbid, their field general, seems the same, as well. So are the goals the team has set every year he s been
here: to be a force in the Big 12 and qualify for die NCAA tournament
But in the fourth year of the Paul Sanderford era of women's basketball at Nebraska - an era marked by
advancement in winning attitude, popularity and respect for the team-things have changed.
For the first time since he’s been here, this is truly Sanderford’s basketball team. The days of former Coach
Angela Beck's run-and-finesse game are over, and those players are gone.
And although he’s lost die top three scorers from last year’s team, for die first time all of Sanderford’s players
know no other NU coach, and almost all ofhis players were recruited by him
“It’s always been my team,” Sanderford said. “But I like the makeup of it I like the personality.”
The personality is his personality, and it’s different from past NU teams; a team, in his words-he hopes-will
“make winning ugly stylish.”
“Competitive and physical,” saidWent, a veteran leader who, judging by appearance, hits the weights and the
boards with die brute force Sanderford demands.
“These girls are strong. They’re real physical If you don’t come to practice with your hard hat everyday, you’re
probably not going to play. You see bruises all over us, and it just comes with the territory.
“We’re trying to do something different with the kind of athletes that we have this year In die past, we’ve had
great ballplayers but not the kind that can get done what these kids can get done.”
They are the kind of athletes Sanderford feels he needs to recruit for Nebraska to become a national-tide con
tender because being a national-tide contender is what Sanderford wants. He feels the tools are in place for NU
to start a run after three years of 20-win basketball and three NCAA Tournament appearances.
However, a rollercoaster ride is expected in 2000-01, considering NU has 11 freshmen and sophomores on
the roster and no clue who its starting lineup will be. Such a situation has left experts to predict a below
Sanderford-standard seventh-place finish in the Big 12 this yean
Sanderford-who takes pride in the spotlight and enjoys having a powerful image - says that's a reasonable
pick, but that doesn’t mean he plans to change any team goals.
The Bear doesn't have much patience for “rebuilding” anything, not after leading Western Kentucky to near
the top of the women’s game for 18 years before he arrived at NU in 1997.
“If we’re not going to play in die postseason, I’m not going to be a happy camper,” Sanderford said. "I’ve been
fortunate enough to get 15 (NCAATournament) watches and three Final Four rings. I’m too old to lower my goals.
“Let’s face it I came here to win a national championship, and we’re not there. Ifyou can't get it done or be on
the way in four or five years, you’re probably not going to do it”
So this crop of youngsters has a hard task. Haying for Sanderford is not for the faint of heart
The epitome of the Sanderford style is NU sophomore Stephanie Jones, who tore her ACL last season while
diving for a loose ball and crashing into the scorer’s table.
“When he comes push to push, he’s got two or three people behind you,” said Jones, a former blue-chip prep
ster from Omaha Benson who chose Nebraska over powerhouse UConn. “So, if you’re not getting it done, some
body’s going to get it done for you.
“We’ve got the kind of girls that they compete so hard, they’re not willing to give up because they’re not let
ting you take their spot It forces a lot of us in practice to compete at a level they’ve never seen.”
As restless as Sanderford gets, his growl is actually heard at a less frequent rate nowadays. Sanderford said he
pushed so hard with last year's underachieving team - which squeezed into the NCAA Tournament after a mis
erable start-that he stopped enjoying coaching for maybe the first time in his life.
With his system at NU now firmly in place, Sanderford has instilled a lot more confidence in his assistants to
let them do more of the coaching. Fourth-year assistant JeffWalz runs the defense. Third-year assistant Steve
Curtis works the new motion offense. Third-year assistant Michelle Clark focuses on rebounds.
Sanderford now refers to himself as the “coordinator.”
“When you come in and start a program, you have to establish that its your program,” he said. “I probably did
90 percent of the coaching my first year, 95 percent of the individual work.
“Now, I’ve got a more veteran staff, and I’m trying to allow them to coach,” he said. “I think the kids now when
I stop and interject have a tendency to hear more what I ti say. Everyone’s heard me so much for three years, they’d
probably shut me up if I kept going at the rate I was going.”
What hasn’t changed about Sanderford as a coach is how he is able to get his players to go to war for him. That
isn’t all by being a mean bear on the court What many don’t know about the often-parodied madman is the teddy
bear he is off the court
Team dinners at Sanderford’s house and long one-on-one conversations are commonplace and a major part
ofhis persona, said Jami Kubik, a former NU four-year letterwinner who helped lead Sanderford's first team to 23
wins in her senior season. Kubik is now an administrative assistant for Sanderford.
“His door is always open,” Kubik said. “It might not seem like it off-hand, but he's much more a people per
son (than Beck was). He really takes the time to get to know the kids and what they are like.”
Said Sanderford: “As soon as we leave that floor, I try to leave it on the floor.
“You can’t ask your players to run through a wall or dive on the floor after a loose ball or step in front of some
body going full speed and take a charge if you’re not willing to get involved in their lives. I want (the players) to
know if they’re hurt, or sick, or in trouble, I'll be the first one there.”
And the players recognize this, he said.
“I think the players see me as more than that red-faced guy screaming for them to go harder. There’s a little
more substance there, I hope.”
Maybe the flailing arms and flying hair and growling voice won’t get Nebraska a national championship, no
matter how hard Sanderford tries. Maybe this young and unsettled team of2000-01 won’t be any better than mid
dle-of-the-pack Big 12 material.
But that won’t stop The Bear from growling.
“I think this year I'm excited every day to come back to practice because nobody expects very much,”
Sanderford said.
“It’s like your parents telling you that you can’t go to the beach, oryou can’t go on spring break to Cancun -
you’re going to find a way to get it dona That’s kind of my makeup. Ifyou tell me I can’t do something, I’m very
motivated to find a way.”
That’s what he hopes his first true Nebraska team does this year.
Women’s team deep but untested
BY JAMIE SUHR
In his 18 years of pacing
Division I sidelines, Nebraska
women’s basketball Coach Paul
Sanderford has never had it quite
like this.
With the season quickly
approaching, Sanderford has no
idea who his starting five will be.
And with the Huskers' “strength
in numbers,” he may not know
for the rest of the season.
“Starting isn’t gonna be a big a
key on this basketball team,”
Sanderford said. “We’re probably
gonna get at least 10 people dou
ble figure (minutes of) playing
time.”
Sanderford said 15 players
will battle for the team’s top 10
spots in the rotation, and the
starters will be determined game
by game.
“A lot of it depends on
matchups and who steps up
defensively,” Sanderford said.
This much is clear - Casey
Leonhardt will be the team’s
starting center. Everything else is
surrounded by a cloud of uncer
tainty.
NU must replace three
starters: Nicole Kubik, Brooke
Swartz and Charlie Rogers. Each
graduated with more than 1,000
points in their careers. Another
starter, Melody Peterson, left for
personal reasons, and Naciska
Gilmore, the team's first player off
the bench, also graduated.
Those five players started a
collective 125 games last season.
Besides Leonhardt, who started
24 games last season, NU
returnees combined to start just
six games last year.
Leonhardt, NU's top return
Please see WOMEN on 8
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
Cookie Belcher feels that no one player could be
blamed for the 19-loss season that Nebraska endured
last year.
And that includes himself
“I tried to help all I could,” Belcher said. “It got to
the point where I was so frustrated with how we were
playing and the losing that I shut down and may have
hurt the team by doing so.”
After playing in four out of Nil's first eight games,
Belcher and his injured wrist were designated to a
spectator role, rendering him helpless on the bench.
But Belcher is back, hungry as ever to make up for
last season’s struggles - and those around him are
paying attention.
"I think my teammates listen to me today,”
Belcher said. “I don't know what it was last year, butit
has changed from everybody wanting to be the top
dog. They know that I am the veteran and know what
I am talking about”
Under former Coach Danny Nee, NU had little
structure, equaling disaster with five contributing
newcomers.
Belcher said that new Coach Barry Collier has
brought what the Huskers have been needing- disci
pline.
And for that reason, along with last year’s new
comers getting a full season under their belts, Belcher
is thinking big. The fifth-year senior is talking of con
ference championships and NU’s first-ever NCAA
Tournament win.
Belcher badly wants to win and is in the best
shape ofhis life to do it He set six Husker performance
marks in offseason testing to prove it
“I came in fresh because I was out and I was hun
gry to prove that I did something this summer,” he
said. “By coming in and testing the way I did, it
showed me that I was in good shape - the best shape
since I have been here.”
For the first time in more than a
year, Belcher is happy with his situa
tion, happy die ups and downs of last
year are behind him.
Belcher entered last year with
hopes of playing at full speed at
some point agreeing to help Nee
win games even while he wasn’t
100 percent
But the more he
played, the more he
realized that he
hurt his team,
hurt his wrist
and most off
all, hurt
himself.
But he
fought
through it all in the beginning, telling Nee he would
give it his best shot
Nee was supposed to use him sparingly at first,
but Belcher found himself starting against Creighton
and Pittsburgh and logging major minutes. He also
found his wrist hurting more as time went by, which
made him doubt his ability to play the entire yean
Still, Belcher would be pressured to play by Nee,
whose inexperienced team was 4-4 after Belcher’s last
game of the year against Pitt
Shortly after the 69-57 win against the Panthers, it
became public that the NCAA, because of die way Nee
dealt with Belcher’s status, may not grant Belcher a
medical redshirt
“At that point it kind of opened my eyes to what
was really going on with my situation,” said Belcher,
who averaged six points and 3.8 rebounds in four
games last yean “I didn’t know if I was going to get that
year back, and I was hearing things from different
people that I might not get it back.”
After deciding not to make a go of it Belcher suf
fered through the losses on the bench and the scruti
ny that went along with it
“A lot of times people were saying that die team
was losing because of me not playing, and some of my
teammates were saying, ‘We need Cookie back,’ "
Belcher said. “I just wanted them to realize that if they
just play and not worry about me, then they would be
all right”
While dressed in street clothes on the bench,
Belcher said, he began to recognize things about his
teammates that he could not see while on the floor. He
also took on a coach’s role, pulling players off to the
side to give instruction and motivation.
But being a vocal leader this season is still in the
works for Belcher - something he is working at
because he knows his leadership will go along way in
determining how many wins Nebraska produces.
As vocal as Belcher is, teammate and roommate
Rodney Fields said the real example that Belcher sets
for the team is in his actions on the court
And everybody knows that will start on the defen
sive side of the ball, on which Belcher has been a
dominant force since his freshman year.
“I kind of realized that I had a knack for getting
steals and knowing when the other player is going
to pass the ball,” Belcher said. “I just kind of plfy
with the offensive guy’s head and go with it”
Collier, who makes no secret of his commit
ment to defense, said
Belcher is vitaL
“Right
now, we have a
combination
defense where
Please see
BELCHER on 9
Collier stresses discipline to team
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
Nebraska junior guard Cary
Cochran heard that new basket
ball coach Barry Collier would run
a tight ship, but this was border
line crazy.
Cochran was pulling down a
solid 3.19 GPA in communication
studies and certainly makes it to
class way more than many of the
backpack wearers who trod across
the UNL campus.
However, Collier thought
Cochran was slacking ever so
slightly, and he let his player know
it in their first meeting.
“He laid down the law right
when he got here,” Cochran said.
“He looked down on my grades,
looked at me, and said: ‘I see you
missed this one class two times
during the year. What's the deal?' ”
Cochran attributed one of his
absences to sickness but couldn’t
offer an explanation for the sec
ond absence.
“So you blew it off,” Collier
said.
“I can’t remember,” Cochran
retorted.
“Then, you blew it off,” Collier
said.
“He sent the message right
away that we do things right,”
Cochran said. “I think that's the
big thing, thatwe do things right in
our program.”
Welcome discipline and fun
damental-loving Barry Collier, the
new coach of the Cornhuskers.
Collier took Butler University from
obscurity to three NCAA tourna
ments, including a 23-8 season
last year that ended only on a
buzzer-beating shot by national
runner-up Florida in the first
round of die tourney.
NU fans are now hoping
Collier will be the savior of a team
that lulled through a 11-19 season
under the direction of Danny Nee.
Collier understands that all
eyes are on his first Husker edi
tion, and he welcomes the high
hopes of the Nebraska faithful
“I have those same expecta
tions to have a successful season
and push for the post-season/'
Collier said. He said early-season
success could depend on how
quickly the team can grasp the
offensive and defensive sets.
Cochran has seen the team
improve its grasp on Collier’s sys
tem every day in practice.
“I think it's important to get
better defensively and I think we
are doing that everyday” Cochran
said. “Learning the plays and exe
cuting the offense is the easier
part.”
Nebraska senior center
Kimani Ffriend said the team and
coaches are coming together as
the regular season approaches.
“Everybody’s been gelling well
and starting to know their roles
and recognize each other’s skills
and talents on the court by just
being together more,” Ffriend
said. “There wasn’t that unity last
year. Having that unity is going to
help us win games.”
The Huskers should be solidi
fied by the presence of senior
guard Cookie Belcher, who sat out
last season with a medical iedshirt
for a hurt right wrist
The Huskers did lose three sig
nificant contributors from last
season: Larry Florence (13 ppg);
Louis Truscott (8.2 ppg); who
transferred to Houston; and
Danny Walker (9.6 ppg), kicked off
die team for disciplinary reasons.
In preseason All-Big 12 pick
Ffriend, returning starter
Bradford and significant bench
contributors Rodney Fields and
Cary Cochran, NU does return a
solid nucleus from last season's
squad. Add a healthy Belcher, and
Cochran thinks this year’s team is
solid.
“There’s not as many question
marks,” Cochran said. "Last year,
there were so many question
marks about who was going to
play, who was hurt, who was going
to miss a meeting.”
Ffriend also said the team is
showing much more confidence
at this time in the season com
pared with last year, and it has
much to do with NU's new head
coach.
“With (Collier), it's basketball
now and fun later. We're here to
win, and we need to do things to
get better as a team and reach our
potential,” Ffriend said. "We
needed discipline, and that’s what
we were lacking last year.”
Collier thinks that philosophy
will work. The first-year Husker
coach said that if his players
improve as he hopes, he doesn't
think he will be vacationing in
mid-March.
"We want to make progress
and take things one game at a
time, but we have plans of being in
the post-season and the NCAA
tournament,” Collier said.
