SportsWednesday
Atale
of two
Colliers
Halfway through Christmas
break, after listening to the syrupy
voice of play-by-play man Warren
Swain gift wrap a Nebraska bas
ketball win over a good Miami
team and take the championship
in the San
Juan
Shootout this
space was
going to be
reserved for
one neat little
sentiment
This Barry
Collier guy is
good. ,
Matthew
Hansen
Several weeks later, after
Collier insulted in-state little
brother Creighton, then proceed
ed to lose ugly to the Bluejays at
home, then watched an NU upset
bid sour late against erratic
Missouri, the sentiment was
slightly darker, as in:
Do you think Creighton's
Dana Altman wants to move west
down 1-80?
Strangely enough, both senti
ments are accurate. For being
your basic God/Family/Country
pillar of strength, or, as I like to call
him, the and-Nee, Collier sure has
seen some peaks and valleys in
his first months as NU's basket
ball coach. Here’s a quick look at
the two faces of Barry.
Good: Collier has most of the
Huskers playing hard. The same
players who sleepwalked through
most of last season have appar
ently bought into Collier’s system
of intense defense coupled with a
slowdown offense.
NU gave up less than 25
points to both Creighton and
Missouri in the first half before
slipping a little in the second.
Which, of course, brings us to...
Bad: NU lost both games. This
is entirely excusable at this point
Both the Bluejays and the Tigers
will partake in the Big Dance in
March. Nebraska won’t be there,
primarily because...
Bad: Collier, like every other
coach before him, can't seem to
get Kimani Ffriend to live up to his
enormous potential. Lincoln’s
tallest Jamaican has played like
the Big 12’s best center at times. At
others, he hasn’t played at all
Against Creighton, a team he
could’ve scored 30 points on,
Ffriend sat fuming on the bench,
because, Collier said, he hadn’t
played very well in the games pre
ceding the CU match-up.
Right, Coach. Ffriend wasn’t
playing because he hasn’t bought
into Collier’s system. He plays
hard at times and loafs at others.
Ffriend has more talent than any
other Husker but can’t, or won’t,
harness it
It’s dear that Ffriend will have
some very good games against
Big 12 opponents. It’s also clear
that he’ll be in Collier’s doghouse
a time or two. That’s really too
bad, since...
Good: Nebraska has some
guards. Thie, the Huskers often
handle the basketball poorly. But
additions Kevin Augustine and
John Robinson, both able point
guards, along with vastly improv
ing Rodney Fields and Cary
Cochran have turned NU’s guards>
into at least adequate.
Cochran is hitting every shot
he takes. Fields plays like a rabid
dog on defense; on offense, he’s
transformed from the Human
Himover into a decent player.
Collier deserves a large part of the
credit for these improvements.
Good: Collier is not, never was
and never will be Danny Nee.
Double good. Of course...
Bad: He’s made some basket
ball decisions that make Nee look
like a mastermind.
After shutting down
Creighton by playing physical
man-to-man defense for most of
the game, Collier inexplicably put
NU into a l-3-i zone. Nebraska
had no idea how to play it. At
times, all five defenders were on
one side of the floor, allowing CU
to set up easy jumpers and layups.
Remember this is Creighton.
Collectively, they don’t have as
much brawn as Steffon Bradford.
But they’re 12 smart guys, who
know how to eat up a zone.
Against Missouri, Robinson
didn’t play for the first34 minutes
of the game. He then played the
last six with the contest hanging
in the balance. Strange, indeed.
The final tally is Collier: 3-3,
Nebraska: 7-7.
It adds up. And it’s early. So
Nebraska’s newest coach has
plenty of time to put some more
in the win column.
Football player dons a new uniform
■After the Alamo Bowl,the
sophomore split end joins the
basketball team as a guard.
BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON
Wilson Thomas couldn’t
resist the temptation. He had to
comeback.
“It’s my first love,” Thomas
said.
It’s tough to walk away from a
first love. Thomas couldn’t
So Thomas, a sophomore
split end for the Nebraska foot
ball team, went back to get reac
quainted with the game he grew
up with, pulling his best Bo
Jackson/Deion Sanders imita
tion by joining the Husker bas
ketball team.
The wide receiver turned
roundbaU guard is ready for the
challenge that juggling two
sports will bring.
“When I came out of high
school I expected to be doing
this,” he said. “My freshman year,
I got injured and decided to con
centrate on football. Last year,
things just didn't work out
"This year, though, I finally
did it”
It was last summer when
Thomas asked Nebraska Coach
Barry Collier for a chance to play
basketball for the Huskers after
NU’s bowl game.
“I just told him I was going to
come out and work hard, and if I
wasn’t going to play there was no
point in me coming out,” Thomas
said.
Collier was impressed with
what he saw from Thomas.
TWo days after NU disman
tled Northwestern in the Alamo
Bowl, Thomas was running wind
sprints in the gym with the bas
ketball team.
“It’s just about getting in
Nate Wagner/DN
Wilson Thomas, who will likely be the football team's starting split end next season, decided to trade his deats for high-top sneakers for the winter.Thomas, NU's newest two
sport athlete, played 15 minutes against Missouri in hb first basketball game Saturday.
shape,” Thomas said, "getting
your legs under you.”
Collier has liked what he’s
seen from his newest player.
“What’s impressed me on the
court is his demeanor, his tough
ness, his athletic ability, his bas
ketball intelligence," Collier said.
“And he’s made it an easy transi
tion due to his attitude.”
Collier was confident enough
to play Thomas 15 minutes in a
68-66 NU road loss against
Missouri last Saturday.
Thomas played a major role
too, spending most of his time on
the floor guarding Missouri’s
Kareem Rush, a sophomore for
ward and future NBA player.
“There was nothing to be
nervous about," Thomas said of
his first action. "You just go out
there and play the game.”
Thomas was up to the chal
lenge, forcing Rush into a big
missed shot with under a minute
in the game and the Huskers trail
ing by two.
"I thought he held his own
defensively against a very good
player and made it difficult for
him to score,” Collier said. "He
can improve even more when he
becomes more familiar with how
we play.”
Thomas said that he is also
beginning to figure out things on
the offensive end.
“There’s a lot of intricate
parts, but after practicing those
things for a while, things will be
fine,” he said.
Thomas said things are
already fine chemistry-wise on
the team, even with his mid-sea
son appearance.
“We're all athletes ... We see
each other around all the time...
We blend well, so we’ll just go
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DN File Photo
NU's Shahidrah Roberts looks to lead the Huskers past
Kansas State tonight at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Roberts scored a career-high 21 points in NU's 67-65 loss to
Texas A&M on Sunday.
Sanderford: Focus is on K-State
Huskers want a break out performance against the Wildcats.
BY JOHN GASKINS
A home game against Kansas State
tonight couldn’t have come at a better
time for the Nebraska women's bas
ketball team. *
The Cornhuskers (8-6, 0-1 in the
Big 12 conference) need a win like a
George W. Bush Cabinet appointee
needs a background check. NU has
plenty of reasons to lick its chops as
the Wildcats (10-3, 0-2) roll into the
Bob Devaney Sports Center for a local
ly-televised, 8:05 p.m. tip-off.
The KSU visit is sandwiched
between three consecutive losses and
three consecutive games against top
15 teams with a combined 35-6 record
- Saturday at No. 7 Iowa State (11-1),
home against No. 11 Texas Tech (11-2),
then at No. 14 Texas (13-3).
NU’s first two games in Big 12 play
were supposed to be the easy W’s to
offset its brutal upcoming stretch.
Instead, NU collapsed in the wan
ing minutes in a 67-65 loss at Texas
A&M Saturday, which makes beating
KSU - a team that suffered two beat
ings in a row at home to open its con
ference slate - that much more crucial.
“It’s too early to talk about what
games are more important than the
other,” NU Coach Paul Sanderford
said. “We’re practicing for Kansas
State. In this league you have to play
with resilience every game.”
What will give NU the most trouble
is K-State’s shooting. The Wildcats are
ninth in the nation in 3-point shooting
(41.3 percent), and senior guard Kim
Woodlee -the all-time KSU 3-point
leader -is fifth nationally.
But, if they miss their shots, the
Wildcats bring a much-needed oppor
tunity for the Huskers to improve their
rebounding, which Sanderford said
cost the Huskers the A&M loss. KSU is
last in both offensive and defensive
rebounds in the Big 12.
Nebraska has owned K-State the
last four years. KSU Coach Deb
Patterson is 2-6 against NU and has
"We’re right there. Coach
says he can taste it.
...We’re going to break out;
we’re just looking to find
the day."
Amanda Went
_ senior guard
lost all four games she has coached in
Lincoln. NU swept KSU last year.
Senior Amanda Went said the
Huskers’ chops are getting awfully wet
for a breakout performance.
“We’re right there,” Went said.
“Coach says he can taste it. We have 15
games left. We’re going to break out;
we’re just looking to find the day. It
could be tomorrow, it could be at Iowa
State, it could be against Texas Tech. I
wish I knew when.”
Winter
Season starts injury-free
■ The men's gymnastics team
ready to rebuild with the return
of Jason Hardabura.
BY KRISTEN WATERS
The Nebraska men’s gymnas
tics team will be looking to make
a 180-degree flip in 2001 after a
disappointing 2000 season,
marking a place in the record
books as possibly the worst year
in NU history.
The Cornhuskers struggled
last year after team leaders Jason
Hardabura, Marshall Nelson and
Blake Bukacek sustained
injuries. Nelson was national
champion in 1998 and
Hardabura won the title in 1999,
while Bukacek earned All
American honors.
"Last season, if we had not
had the injuries that we did, there
is not a doubt in my mind that we
would have been a top competi
tor for the national champi
onship,” Coach Francis Allen
said.
Instead, despite recording its
second highest score of the sea
son at 226.4 and finishing the
qualifying meet for the nationals
in fifth place, Nebraska couldn’t
do enough to qualify for the team
competition at nationals.
“We finished in ninth place
nationally, but we would have
finished a lot higher had it not
been for the injuries,” Allen said.
With a little luck this time
around, this season’s squad is
looking to improve on last year’s
instability.
“Last season made us
stronger as a team,” junior Jeff
Kelly said. “We had a lot of guys
picking up events that they nor
mally don’t do. We just had to pull
through.”
Hardabura, the 1999 NCAA
all-around and floor exercise
champion and MPSF gymnast of
the year, returns after sitting out
most of last season with a torn
labrium muscle in his shoulder.
Hardabura is coming back
after a quick recovery from a sur
gery that fixed the tendon that
connects his right shoulder to his
socket. Though he is not 100 per
cent healthy, he will lead the way
for NU as co-captain and is
expected to be an all-around
competitor.
“Jason is headed the right
way, but he is still recovering
from his shoulder surgery,” Allen
said.
Junior Dusty Jakub will also
play an important role for the
Huskers in the 2001 season.
Jakub concentrated on master
ing the pommel horse and paral
lel bars last season. His hard work
paid off as he took home All
American honors after finishing
in fifth place in the parallel bars
at the NCAA Championships in
April with a score of 9.662.
Senior co-captain Grant
Clinton, who sat out most of
February 2000 with shoulder and
back soreness, will compete in
five events this season. Last sea
son, Clinton advanced to the
NCAA finals in the high bar
where he placed a score of 9.6. He
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Kendig:Team will
be fine sans Brink
BY LINCOLN ARNEAL
Coming off its most success
ful season in team history, the
women’s gymnastics team is not
content to bask in last season’s
glory. The Huskers have bigger
and better plans to improve on
their fourth place finish at last
season’s NCAA championships.
“Outside looking in, people
are going to go ‘What are they
going to do?”’ Coach Dan
Kendig said. “But if you know
our team, you know what is
going on: This team has the
capabilities to have even a bet
ter team then last year.”
It won’t be an easy taskas
there are several hurdlestKe'
Huskers must clear.
One hurdle is the lack of
upperclassmen. The Huskers
have only one senior and one
junior on their squad.
"We hope (the lack of upper
classmen) won’t be a problem,”
Kendig said. “Maybe leadership
initially because there aren’t a
lot of upperclassmen, but some
of the sophomores are starting
to fill those rolls.”
The deficiency of older gym
nasts may not be as big of a
problem for Nebraska as it
could be for other schools.
“It is not like we have a team
captain, we’ve done things by
committee here forever it seems
like,” Kendig said.
Stacked on top of the lack of
upperclassmen, the team will
be facing a difficult task in try
ing to replace last season's
national all-around champion
Heather Brink. However, the
team is confident that it can do
so.
"Heather was only one per
son on this team, but she wasn’t
the team,” senior Amy Ringo
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