Spo rts Weeken d
'A-Dub'
gains from
tough year
Former
President
Calvin
C o o 1 i d g e
(unfortunate
ly a
Republican)
once said, , .
“Nothing in _ JOrin
the world can ^«3SkinS
take the place
of persist
ence.” Not talent. Not genius. Not
education. "The slogan ‘press on’
has solved and always will solve
the problems of the human race.”
Easy for him to say, he of the
Roaring ’20s. But the depression
hit the nation soon after he left,
and people could really live by
that slogan. They had to.
Quite a far out reference to
this year’s Nebraska women’s
basketball team, and in particu
lar its relentless senior guard
Amanda Went. But an appropri
ate one, I think.
After being a role player in the
Kubik/Schwartz/Rogers era, this
was supposed to be “A-Dub’s”
year, “A-Dub’s” team. She wanted
it and accepted it that way, and
really, she had no choice. She's the
only one of the three seniors who
have been here for four years, and
die 11 freshmen and sophomores
need the wisdom.
She has led admirably and by
example. On the court, no one
tries harder. The board crashing,
the ball diving, the floor burns.
When you watch Went play, you’d
think her heart would explode
any minute. She operates only in
fourth gear.
She’s a coach’s dream, even
though she’s
wmm—mmmm inconsistent
Fun? It’s and averases
. * just 7.7 points
nara per game. If she
when had the talent to
, match her effort,
yOU lose, she’d easily be
But she All-Big 12.
knOWS court, she's bar
they’ll none the most
polite, cordial
vym“ and under
next standing athlete
year. Ive t0- *ts
r ' not easy to get
- asked over and
over again why
your team lost. She always
answers honestly, without hesita
tion, and she’ll always send you
off with a smile and hand shake.
And what does Went get in
reward for all this after paying her
dues and licking her wounds?
What does she get for being the
glue that holds a crop of several
talented blue-chippers together?
A10-15 season. Loss after
loss.
In her final year of major
competitive basketball, she’s
playing on her first losing team,
ever, and it's nothing like what
she expected. Quite a reward.
* Ah, but she has gotten so
much more. She was asked the
old, corny, what have you learned
question.
“It’s not corny,” Went said. “I
think I’ve learned a lot about
myself. I feel like I’m a stronger
person. When you deal with
Something like this, it’s nothing
you expect. Through all the frus
trations we’ve had, we’ve still
come in with a good attitude. We
haven’t given up. I’ve learned how
to not give up.”
She’s learned persistence.
And with only four games left,
Sanderford has called on her to
strap the cape on and rally the
team behind her - not necessari
ly with points and shots - with
control and emotion. Sanderford
said she's the strongest player on
the team. They need her.
Now, it's up to her. She admit
ted she’s tried too hard some
times - so hard it affected her
play. Sanderford said she needs to
have more fun.
Fun? It’s hard when you lose,
but she knows they’ll win... next
year. In fact she thinks they’ll win
a lot next year when she’s not
around. If they do, she’ll get some
measure of satisfaction from the
success.
“It will be hard, but I'll be very
proud,” she said. “I can see it. I
know this team They are going to
be great”
No, it hasn’t been a storybook
ending, but Went can take this
home: She was exactly the kind of
person a team like this needed
this year. It will win in the future
partly because of her.
That’s her reward.
4
NU still looking for leader to stand up
BY JOHN GASKINS
She’s out there. Somewhere. A go-to
player for the Nebraska women’s basketball
team. Someone who can strap the team on
her back and take over a game when NU
gets in a bind.
On this talent-filled squad, she’s out
there, but with four regular season games
left in this "what can possibly go wrong
next?” 2000-2001 season, the Huskers
haven’t found her.
They'll search again and try to snap a
four-game losing skid in a Saturday night tilt
at Kansas State - the only Big 12 team they
beat at home this year. It will be the first
game of the easiest four-game stretch NU
(10-15,2-10) has had in conference all year.
K5U (11-12,1-11) is the only team witha
worse league record than NU and presents
as good of chance as any for the real go-to
Husker to please stand up and lead a late
season charge.
“It’s been a frustrating year, but it’s not
over,” senior guard Amanda Went said. "It’s
not over until they tell us to take our uni
forms off and hang them up for the summer.
We have no choice but to go out strong.”
The unfortunate thing is no Husker
besides 6-foot-5 senior center Casey
Leonhardt - NU’s only scorer averaging in
double figures at 13 points a game-has con
sistently given strong performances. The
center's production alone isn’t enough for
NU, especially when Leonhardt is on the
bench with fold trouble, which is too often
for the Huskers.
Only four other players have scored in
double figures two games in a row in Big 12
play. None have done so in three. In fact,
only three times in that stretch have more
than two Huskers scored 10 or more points,
and twice none of them did.
The result? NU is third to last in league
play in scoring (61.2) and dead last in scor
ing margin (-12.7). It’s enough to make
Coach Paul Sanderford go back to game
films of his first three NU teams - all of
which went to the NCAA Tournament - to
find what can possibly work.
Last year, he had seniors Nicole Kubik,
Husker guard
Margaret
Richards is one
ofabevyof
freshman and
sophomores
who haven't
emerged as go
to players from
Coach Paul
Sanderford's
rotation this
season.
Brooke Schwartz or Charlie Rogers to save
the day. When those three were sophomores
and messing up, it was Anna DeForge.
“When I needed a basket, I called
DeForge's number,” Sanderford said. “We’d
run about four sets for her, and we’d get a
shot She’d push people around and get peo
ple to match up with the right person.
“I don’t have that luxury now.”
He’s tried everything and everybody.
Sophomores Paige Sutton, Stephanie Jones
and Shahidrah Roberts and freshman
Shannon Howell have all emerged at times
but withered back into ambiguity.
Sophomore Greichaly Cepero has been
consistent but hasn’t had a break-out game.
Anyone else? Sanderford said if there is
anyone now who should take the reigns, it's
DN File Photo
Went
“She’s by far the best chance to get peo
ple to rally behind her,” Sanderford said.
"She’s probably the strongest player on our
team. She’s helped the young kids along,
and she understands people think it’s her
team.
“She just has to go for broke from here
on out”
Tough ISU greets
departing seniors
■The No.4Cyclones bring six
' top-10 wrestlers to NU's final
home match of the season.
BY VINCE KUPPIG
When defending national
champion Brad Vering steps onto
the mat this afternoon, he'll be
wrestling in his last dual as a
Husker.
Vering and the rest of the
ninth-ranked Nebraska wrestling
team (11-5) will have their hands
full when they take on No. 4 Iowa
State (17-4) today at 4 p.m. at the
Bob Devaney Sports Center to fin
ish out the regular season.
ISU features nine wrestlers in
the top 20, six of which are ranked
in the top 10, and are led by 184
pound Cael Sanderson, a two
time national champion who has
yet to lose in 110 collegiate match
es.
“ (Iowa State) is a tough team,”
NU Coach Mark Manning said.
“They have an unbelievable
wrestling tradition. We’re definite
ly probably not favored, but that’s
okay with us. We’re going to be
ready to wrestle.”
Manning said the Huskers will
need to win the dose matches and
pick up bonus points where they
can, something that didn’t happen
last weekend when the Huskers
dropped five one-point matches
in duds against Oklahoma State
and Oklahoma.
Vering, who dropped to sec
ond place in one of the major polls
with a loss against OSU, will have a
chance to go out with a bang when
he takes on 197-pound Zach
Thompson. The new top-ranked
Thompson is 0-3 in his career
against the two-time All
American.
Vering and Thompson have
not met since the finds of the2000
NCAA championships, when
Vering came out victorious with a
2-1 decision.
“This one’s not for all the mar
bles, but it’s important," Vering
sdd. “I need this one to get good
DN File Photo
The Nebraska wrestling team feces Cael Sanderson and a tough Iowa State squad today
during the intermission of the Nebraska High School State Wrestling Tournament
seeds at nationals and at the Big
12s. It’s going to be huge just
because it’s at home.”
Vering will join five other
Huskers to be honored today for
Senior Day.
One of those is 133-pound All
American Todd Beckerman who
knocked off the second and 17th
ranked wrestlers last weekend to
move up to third. Beckerman will
have another challenge when he
takes on seventh-ranked Matt
Azevedo.
Manning said today’s match,
which is being held during inter
mission of the Nebraska State
High School Wrestling
Tournament, was a great chance
for fans to see Nebraska’s seniors
for the last time.
“For our seniors, it's one of
those things where they realize
that it’s all coming to an end,” he
said, “and then we have the Big 12s
and NCAA Tournament after this
match. Reality sets in quickly, but
they’ve all had great careers here."
Husker pitchers get respite
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Nebraska stumbled out of the gate last
week, opening the season with a 1-2
record. The Huskers gave up 16 runs to
then-No. 7 Rice, 15 to top-ranked Georgia
Tech and lost both games - not what NU
fans have come to expect from a pitching
staff who posted a 3.13 ERA last season.
Luckily for the NU hurlers, the road
gets much easier this weekend at the
Applebee’s Baseball Fiesta in Albuquerque,
N.M.
The Huskers will face New Mexico,
Utah and UNLV at the tournament. All
three teams are unranked, and none have a
winning record.
Sunday's matchup against UNLV (3-4)
should be especially soothing for the NU
pitching staff after last weekend’s debacle.
As a team UNLV bats .239, almost a hun
dred points lower than the Huskers and
has only 14 extra base hits on the season.
Utah is the most intimidating of the
teams at 5-5. The Utes have won five con
secutive games, three of those against
lowly Cal-Riverside.
Nebraska also faces New Mexico (2-6).
The Lobos are led by sophomore second
baseman Troy Cairns, who leads the team
in batting average (.487), doubles (five) and
stolen bases (four).
Long layoff finally over for gymnasts
BY KRISTEN WATERS
After four weeks with no competition,
the 1-1 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team is
excited to finally get its season underway
again at today’s triangle with No. 15 Air
Force and No. 20 University of Califomia
Santa Barbara.
“We're excited about getting going,”
Coach Francis Allen said.
With no action in four weeks, this week
end will be a test for the Huskers to deter
mine where they stand in comparison to
opponents who have more meets under
their belts.
If NU performs as it did in the Rocky
Mountain Open on Jan. 19, the layoff may
be a nonfactor. The team finished second
behind No. 3 Oklahoma with a score of
200.050. Air Force also competed at the
open where they finished in third place with
a score of 194.100.
The freshmen lineup consisting of
David Hansen and Steven Friedman dis
played an impressive performance in the
season opener.
Hansen qualified for two event finals
and finished second in the parallel bar with
a score of8.550, while Friedman qualified in
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Softball heads
forVegastoface
top-ranked UCLA
STAFF REPORTS
The Nebraska softball team is headed to Sin City
and the 2001 UNLV Classic this weekend, but the
Huskers won’t have much time to live it up - their
five-game slate includes three top-25 teams.
Easily the toughest test is a matchup with No. 1
UCLA on Saturday. The Bruins have lived up to their
top ranking so far this season, posting a 9-0 record
and outscoring their opponents 82-5.
UCLA is 6-1 against Nebraska all time and
haven’t dropped a game to NU since 1987.
Earlier on Saturday, Nebraska faces another top
10 opponent Saturday in seventh-ranked
California.
Cal (2-0) features eight players batting .333 or
above. Cal and NU played twice last season, each
team winning a game.
The tournament opens Friday with Nebraska
facing unranked Fordham.
The late game Friday pits NU against No. 20
Oregon. It will be the second meeting between the
teams this season. Nebraska won 2-1 in the first
matchup at the Fiesta Bowl Tournament.
The Ducks lost two upsets at the hands of Texas
and Massachusetts and are 6-5 for the season.
Nebraska plays its last game against unranked
Cal Poly. The Mustangs are 1-3, including two losses
to UCLA.
Yo-yo NU
looks for
next win
BY JOSHUA CAMENZIND
An impressive 26-point win
over Kansas State could, begin
ning with Saturday’s game at
Colorado, be the start of a late
season run for the Nebraska bas
ketball team.
Then again, judging on
recent history, maybe not.
The Huskers haven't won
back-to-back games since a five
game streak that included wins
against Alaska-Fairbanks and
Miami and a San Juan Shootout
championship.
After an impressive win
against Texas, NU got blown out
by Kansas. A quality win over
Missouri was followed by a
defeat at Oklahoma.
7 And even breaking its road
losing streak at Kansas State two
weeks ago couldn’t propel NU to
a win against Colorado (15-10,5
7) at home.
So much for momentum.
NU Coach Barry Collier
thinks that overconfidence fol
lowing a win plays a role in the
Huskers’ subsequent losses.
"That is always a challenge
for teams that are still trying to
learn how to win,” Collier said. “It
is just human nature to be satis
fied with an accomplishment”
Overconfidence is some
thing the Huskers, now 12-12
and 5-6 in the Big 12, can't afford
to have, especially considering
their performance last year at
CU. In that game, the Buffs
jumped on top of NU 17-3 and
held on for a 70-58 win.
And the two teams’ most
recent matchup won’t bring back
many fond memories for Kimani
Ffriend and the Huskers.
Colorado stole one on NU’s
home floor back on Feb. 4 when
it managed to hold Ffriend score
less.
CU’s Jamahl Mosley domi
nated his last matchup with
Nebraska’s post players, totaling
17 points and eight rebounds,
prompting Collier to say Ffriend
“got outplayed by a better play
er.”
But Ffriend, who held his
own against the Wildcats with 17
points and 11 rebounds, isn’t
focused on the rematch.
“I’m ready, but I’m not even
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