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Home , Danny Nee, Doc Sadler, Harry Good, History of Nebraska, Jerry Bush, Moe Iba

HISTORY and . Hisfirst Husker basketball team won 14of15games, itsonlylosscoming points against asaWisconsin basketball player in1908,coached bothfootball made again. in thewest,’’ theSombrero concluded. Itwould beseveral years before suchaclaimcould be similarly decisive victories, “thebasketball team for thisyear was undoubtedly superiorto any outclassed, thescore being48-8.’’ Basedonthevictory against andfour other wrote: “A closelycontested game was looked for. TheJayhawkers were, however, completely school andthefirst matching present-day Big12Conference institutions. for aJayhawk team andwas thefirst for eitherschoolagainst apresent-day NCAADivisionI defeating theUniversity ofKansas, 48-8,at Lincoln. That game still ranks astheworst loss championship. Thenext season,Nebraska played anout-of-state opponent for thefirst time, games against Nebraska Wesleyan andoneagainst Doaneenroute to theunofficial state advantage was infavor ofOmaha.’’ Thenasnow, overly aggressive play haditsdrawbacks. with alooseinterpretation oftherules.Theofficials were strict andofcourse theresulting great difficulty oftheUniversity team was mere recklessness. Ourboys have beenplaying as to why Nebraska finished1-3that season.According to TheHesperianaccount: “The two games A16-12lossagainst withtheOmahaYMCA. theOmahaYMCAprovided evidence and the1996National Invitation Tournament championship. including sixNCAATournaments, whileaddingaPhillips66BigEight Tournament titlein1994 since 1980.Inthat span,NUhasearneda504-379record and18postseason appearances, but duringthesecond halfourboys took abrace andsomeexcellent work was done.’’ newspaper, reported: “At the endofthefirst halfthescore stood 9to 6infavor ofthevisitors as NUwon 23-14.Nebraska hadto rally inthesecond game. TheHesperian,astudent opened in1926.Thesameteams played inGrant Hallthree weeks later withasimilarresult, at Grant MemorialHall,thehomeof Huskers for allbuttwo seasonsuntil theColiseum rules ofthegame at theInternational YMCATraining SchoolinSpringfield,Mass. men’s basketball team onFeb. 2,1897,just sixyears after Dr. Naismithset downthe JamesA. By Mike Babcock Training Complexisnamed afterWhitehead,whopassedawayin2010. Bus Whiteheadwasatwo-timeAll-BigSevenselection in1949and1950.ThecourtattheHendricks Nebraska hired itsfirst full-timecoach in1911.E.O. “Jumbo’’ Stiehm,whoscored 24 The Kansas team was coached byDr. Naismith.TheNebraska student yearbook, Sombrero, Nebraska played teams from otheruniversities for thefirst time in1899,winningtwo Nebraska doubleditsschedulein1898,losingtwiceto theLincoln YMCAandsplitting Such was themodest beginningofaprogram that hasenjoyed itsgreatest success A team from theLincoln YMCAwas theopponent, andNebraska posted an11-8victory As nearasanyone can determine, theUniversity ofNebraska was first represented bya 2018-19 HISTORY OFNEBRASKABASKETBALL NEBRASKA BASKETBALL 174 were Kinginourday,’’ ClaudeRetherford oncetold anewspaper reporter. were firing “They and Kansas State. That marks thelast timetheconference hadathree-way tieat thetop. “We NCAA Tournament. P.’s went Aggies onto finishsecond to Kentucky, coached byAdolphRupp, in the Oklahoma A&M,theMissouriValley Conference champion,52-35,at Kansas City, Mo.Coach and theCornhuskers neededto winthat playoff to advance into theNCAAfield.They lost to to for qualify anNCAAplayoff game. TheNCAATournament was structured differently then, Seven regular-season championshipanddefeated theSooners, 57-56,inaconference playoff Nebraska’s fortunes around. In1948-49,Good’s Huskers went 16-10,tiedOklahoma for theBig Maclay was theBigSixscoring leaderin1930,scoring 112points in10leaguegames. guard Steve Hokuf in1933,guard George Wahlquist in1936andguard Robert Parsons in1937. tied Kansas for theBigSixchampionship,after finishingsecond to theJayhawks in1936. back-to-back campaigns underCoachW.H. Browne in1935-36and1936-37.The1937team All-American in1928-29.Inthenext 19seasons,theHuskers hadjust two winningrecords, to play homegames there until theNUColiseumopened. seasons, theCornhuskers returned to Grant Hall,whichhadbeenremodeled, andcontinued Grinnell 31-10before anaudienceof1,500,according to newspaper estimates. After two Grant Hall. Cornhuskers played two seasons at theFairgrounds Coliseum,whichhadawidercourt than at theState Fairgrounds Coliseumin1921,order to accommodate more spectators. The nowstands.Sheldon ArtGallery about afourth asmany fans astheColiseumandwas located just to thenorthofwhere the basketball. Priorto that, Nebraska played most ofits homegames inGrant Hall,whichseated first game at theirnew home,whichwas builtat acost of$445,000andseated 8,000for was dedicated onFeb. 6,1926.TheCornhuskers dropped a25-14decisionto Kansas inthe like amedicineball,whichcontributed to somedullgames. requirement to cross mid-court in10seconds orless.Theballwas alotdifferent, too, more most part,undistinguished. Frank replaced Schisslerasbasketball coach. Theremainder oftheRoaring 1920swas, for the Valley Conference). Nebraska returned to theMissouri Valley Conference in1921,andOwen in 1919.Conference rulesprohibited suchgames (Oklahomahadnotyet joined theMissouri Valley Conference because ofadecisionto play afootball game against OklahomainOmaha but didn’tgo. but to noavail. TheCornhuskers alsowere invited to apostseason AAU tournament inAtlanta Schissler. After the1919-20season,Schisslerchallenged theUniversity ofChicago to agame, combined record of29-23.Nebraska was 22-2in1919-20and11-31920-21underCoachP.J. Board decidedto replace him. before leaving to become coach andathletic director at Wisconsin. ButtheNebraska Athletic before givingway to Waugh, hadplanned to remain at Nebraska through thebasketball season as theCornhuskers’ coach for oneseason.Stiehm,whocoached thefirst game oftheseason Valley Conference scoring leaderwith66points in10conference games. and CarlUnderwood ledtheHuskers to 17victories in19games. Underwood was theMissouri game. Guard SamCarrierbecame Nebraska’s first All-America basketball player in1913.He lasted 40minutes (thoughthat wasn’t always thecase), andNebraska averaged 30points per It was describedasa“-a-minute’’ team, whichwasn’t quite accurate. Typically, games “so fast ittook amoviecamera to catch ‘em,’’ according to theCornhusker student yearbook. 1914 andwon thetitleoutright in1913underStiehm’s leadership. The1913-14team was were inpartjustifiable.’’ visitors, incompetent work onthepartofreferee andinterruptions by theaudience,which years. Lincoln in1912provides evidence that somefans’ behavior hasn’tchanged muchover the Nebraska’s inabilityto adjust to theGophers’ “100-foot floor.’’ at Minnesota, 40-15.Thestudent newspaper, TheDailyNebraskan, blamedthelosson In 1949-50,Nebraska again won 16games andshared theBigSeven crown withKansas Harry Goodwas hired asheadcoach in1946andafter two losingseasons,turned The 1930sproduced four more Cornhusker All-Americans: center DonMaclay in1931, Nebraska endedthedecade withan11-5seasonunderCharlesT. Black,aformer Kansas The first game there was played onJan.14,1921.Nebraska defeated conference opponent Athletic Director Fred Leuhringarranged for Nebraska to play itshomebasketball games The most significant event duringthe1920swas thebuildingofColiseum,which Basketball was rough andtumble.There was acenter jumpafter every basket andno Schissler’s teams played asindependents. Nebraska lost itsaffiliation withtheMissouri Waugh was “Doc’’Stewart, succeededbyE.J. whosethree Cornhusker teams hada Nebraska won anotherconference titleoutright in1916,after SamWaugh replaced Stiehm Nebraska shared theMissouriValley Conference championshipwithKansas in1912and game asawholewas entirely“The unsatisfactory, beingmarred byrough tactics ofthe A DailyNebraskan account ofNebraska’s 29-28season-endingvictory against Kansas at 2018-19 NEBRASKA BASKETBALL HISTORY OF NEBRASKA BASKETBALL

football coaches left and times, from 1974 through 1976. With Fort’s leadership, Nebraska began a string of 14 winning right, but we packed seasons. ‘em in. Oh, people were In the fall of 1976, Cornhusker basketball moved out of the Coliseum and into the state-of- interested in football, the-art Bob Devaney Sports Center. Located on the State Fairgrounds, the $13 million athletic but basketball was THE complex was financed by a special cigarette tax. game on the Nebraska Cipriano coached Nebraska to another 20-victory season in 1977-78. The Cornhuskers, led campus when we played.’’ by All-Big Eight guard Brian Banks, finished with a 22-8 record and advanced to the second Retherford earned All-Big round of the NIT. Despite failing health – a battle against cancer that he finally lost – Cipriano Seven recognition in shared coaching duties with his assistant, , in 1979-80, and took Nebraska to the NIT 1949 after leading the again. For their efforts, the duo shared United Press International Big Eight Coach-of-the-Year conference in scoring with honors. a 12.4 points-per-game Cipriano brought Nebraska into the modern era, coaching 17 seasons and 450 games. His average. record was 253-197, and those 253 victories represent nearly one-fifth of Nebraska’s all-time The Cornhuskers had total. Following Cipriano’s death, Iba was named head coach, and he continued Cipriano’s another first-team All-Big winning ways. In Iba’s six seasons on the bench, Nebraska was 106-71 and advanced to Seven performer in 1949, postseason play four times. Milton “Bus’’ Whitehead. Center Andre Smith was the 1981 Big Eight MVP and twice earned All-Big Eight honors. The 6-10 center from However, it was the late Jack Moore, a 5-10 playmaker from Muncie, Ind., who captured the Scottsbluff, Neb., also hearts of Nebraska fans from 1980 through 1982. Moore earned All-Big Eight honors in 1982, earned all-conference when he won the Naismith Award, given annually to the nation’s top player under 6-feet tall. honors in 1950, when he The first three-time academic All-Big Eight pick in Nebraska history, Moore scored 1,204 points averaged a then-school- and hit .901 from the free throw line during his career. record 15.7 points per The cornerstone of Iba’s teams from 1983 through 1986 was Omaha, Neb., native Dave Claude Retherford was the leading scorer on NU's 1949 Big Seven game. Whitehead was Hoppen, a three-time All-Big Eight center and the first Nebraska basketball player to have Championship team. named to the District his jersey number (42) retired by the school. In 1982-83, Hoppen’s freshman season, the V All-America team by Cornhuskers were 22-10 and won three games in the NIT before losing to DePaul in the Collier’s Magazine. Whitehead also was the first Cornhusker selected to play in the East-West semifinals at Madison Square Garden. The Cornhuskers returned to the NIT each of the next All-Star Game in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. When he graduated, Whitehead two seasons, advancing to the second round both times. held nine school scoring records. Nebraska basketball experienced another drought beginning in 1950-51, with 15 consecutive losing seasons. Despite playing for a team that finished last in the Big Seven in 1952, Husker guard Jim Buchanan earned All-America and all-conference honors. And even though the late , dubbed the “Big Bear of the Coliseum,’’ never produced a winning team in his nine seasons as head coach at Nebraska, his colorful personality and uncanny ability to fashion upsets kept Cornhusker fans entertained. The most dramatic upset during Bush’s tenure as coach came on Feb. 22, 1958, against Kansas. The Jayhawks featured 7-foot center Wilt Chamberlain and were ranked fourth in the nation when they came to Lincoln. Earlier in the season, the Jayhawks had defeated the Huskers, 102-46, at Lawrence, Kan., with Chamberlain matching Nebraska by scoring 46 points. Nebraska scored a 43-41 victory in the rematch, when 5-9 guard Jim Kubacki hit a 15-foot jump shot with two seconds remaining. But that’s only part of the drama. Kubacki, a senior from Toledo, Ohio, spent all but the final 6:53 of the game sitting on the bench in street clothes, forced there by a knee injury and the kind of fate from which legends are built. When the Cornhuskers’ captain, Gary Reimers, left the game with leg cramps, Kubacki convinced Bush to let him suit up. Four minutes and seven seconds later, Kubacki went into the game. Two minutes and 44 seconds after that, he hit the winning shot. Bush also had the distinction of coaching the school’s first 1,000-point scorer, guard Herschell Turner, who came from Indianapolis, Ind., where he was rated the second-best high school player in the state as a senior, behind only crosstown-rival . Turner earned All-America honors in 1959 and followed with All-Big Eight honors in 1960 and ended his Cornhusker career with 1,056 points. Following the 1962-63 season, Bush was replaced as head coach by Joe Cipriano, who brought the nickname “Slippery Joe’’ and up-tempo basketball to the Coliseum. His teams pressed full-court and ran a fast-break offense, which led the Big Eight in scoring average in 1966, 1967 and 1968. Cipriano’s first two teams had a combined record of 17-33. But his third team, in 1965-66, was one of the most successful in school history, finishing 20-5 and second to Kansas in the Big

Eight. All-Big Eight guard Grant Simmons, the first Cornhusker to earn academic All-Big Eight HISTORY honors, was the team’s leader. The 1966-67 team finished 16-9 and made the school’s first appearance in the 16-team National Invitation Tournament, played at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. Guard Stu Lantz was a two-time All-Big Eight pick and led the Cornhuskers in scoring and rebounding in both 1966-67 and 1967-68. Guard Marvin Stewart and center Chuck Jura earned All-Big Eight honors for Cipriano in 1971 and 1972, respectively. Guard Jerry Fort, who finished his career with a then-school- record 1,882 points, was the first Nebraska player chosen first-team all-conference three Andre Smith was the Big Eight Player of the Year for Nebraska in 1981.

175 HISTORY tournament title. struggled downthestretch butwas backintheNITandcapped itsseasonwitharunto the postseason streak alive withanNITberth,advancing to thesecond round. The1995-96team tournament championship. Cornhuskers defeated Oklahoma, MissouriandOklahomaState, inthat order, to earnthe team madehistory bywinningtheschool’s first Phillips66BigEight Tournament title.The recording back-to-back 20-victory seasonsfor thefirst timeinschoolhistory, Nee’s 1993-94 the BigEight. In 1992-93,theHuskers registered theirhighest leaguefinishunderNeebytyingfor second in 22), to have hisjersey number(52)retired. assists (322).In2006,Piatkowski became thethird Husker, joiningHoppenandStuLantz (No. he istheonlyNebraska player to finishwithat least 1,900points, 600rebounds (669)and300 honors twice.Heranks second ontheCornhuskers’ career-scoring list with1,934points, and freshman EricPiatkowski. The7-2Kingwas thetallest player inCornhusker history. Tournament, losingto Xavier 89-84inthefirst round oftheregionals at Minneapolis,Minn. the BigEight Tournament championshipgame for thefirst timeandadvanced to theNCAA won aschool-record 26games, withonlyeight losses,in1990-91.TheCornhuskers reached with a17-16record in1988-89andadvanced to thesecond round oftheNIT. seven seasons.Inhisfirst season,Nebraska was 21-12andfinishedthird intheNIT. basketball was beginning. coach. Duringanews conference Neesaida“newera” to announcehishiring, inCornhusker Following thegame, Ibaannouncedhisresignation. berth. Nebraska lost to Kentucky inthefirst round oftheSoutheast Regional, 67-59. Iba’s team regrouped andwent onto earntheschool’s first-ever “official’’ NCAATournament points andbroke ortied19schoolrecords duringhisfour-year stay. After Hoppen’s injury, at onFeb. 1,1986.Hefinishedastheschool’s all-timescoring leaderwith2,167 the Huskersreachedat leasttheNITsemifinals. Nebraska wonthe1996NITtitleatMadison Square Garden.Itwasthethirdtimesince1980that The Huskers won two games ontheroad andscored more than80points infour oftheir Nebraska’s NCAATournament runendedat four in1994-95,buttheHuskers kept their In additionto reaching theNCAATournament for afourth consecutive seasonand Three more NCAATournament appearances followed therecord-shattering 1991season. Piatkowski, Nebraska’s sixth-manin1990-91,went onto winfirst-team all-conference The 1990-91team includedtwo first-round NBA draft picks, seniorRichKingandredshirt Nebraska missedtheschoolsingle-seasonrecord for lossesbyonein1989-90(10-18),then After a13-18record inhissecond season,theCornhuskers got backover the.500mark Nee’s 14teams appeared inpostseason play 11timesandtopped the20-victory markin On March 27,1986,Danny Neewas officially introduced asNebraska’s 24thbasketball Hoppen’s college career, though,was hesustained endedbyakneeinjury inagame 2018-19 HISTORY OFNEBRASKABASKETBALL NEBRASKA BASKETBALL 176 straight overOklahoma,No.3Missouriand23OklahomaState. Nebraska wonitsonlyBigEightTournamenttitleduringthe1994seasonasHuskersthree final team finishedwithan11-19record. The19losses tiedfor themost inschoolhistory. victory No.254to passJoeCiprianointheCornhuskers’ finalhomegame against Colorado, his far shortofexpectations. redshirt. TheCornhuskers were off-balance almost from thebeginningofseasonandfell of guard CookieBelcher, whowas sidelinedbyawrist injuryandforced to take amedical for asecond consecutive season,andHamilton was namedBig12Player of theYear. and advanced to thesecond round oftheNIT. Intheprocess, NUreached the20-victory mark postseason runto eight. The bidwas theCornhuskers’ fifthduringthe1990sandextended theschool-record 20 years, Nee’s 12thteam finishedfourth intheBig12andreturned to theNCAATournament. appearance. leadership carried the1996-97 Cornhusker team, thefirst to play intheBig12,to anotherNIT leading scorer inschoolhistory, andheranked inthetop 10in12othercareer categories. His what was to come. Thelightning-quick, 6-0point guard finishedhiscareer astheseventh- leading rebounder andshot-blocker. freshman Venson Hamilton, whowould finishhiscareer in1999astheschool’s all-time backcourt. Andtwo otherplayers ontheteam scored 1,000career points, Jaron Booneand future NBA players, ErickStricklandand1998first-round draft pickTyronn Lue,were inthe Nee saidafter theremarkable run.“Idon’tcare what anybody says, itwas domination.” Square Garden. five postseason games. They finishedwitha60-56victory against St.Joseph’s at Madison With then-Director ofAthletics BillByrne setting hissites onbringingNUbasketball back Even thoughNeebecame thewinningest coach inschoolhistory in1999-2000,getting The optimismthat preceded the1999-2000season,Nee’s last, quicklyfaded withtheloss The streak reached ninein1999,astheCornhuskers just missedanNCAATournament bid Behind alate-season run, whichincludedNebraska’s longest conference winningstreak in Lue’s contributions asafreshman to theNITchampionshipteam were onlyapreview of The 1996NITchampionshipteam was oneofthemost talented inschoolhistory. Two NITrunwas incredible whenyou lookat“The theteams we beat andhowwe beat them,” 2018-19 NEBRASKA BASKETBALL HISTORY OF NEBRASKA BASKETBALL

Venson Hamilton was the second Husker to be named conference player of the year when he earned Aleks Maric finished his career ranked fifth all-time in scoring and second in rebounding, becoming the award in 1999. only the third player in Big 12 history to record at least 1,600 points and 1,000 rebounds in a career. to national prominence, he hired Barry Collier as the Cornhuskers’ new coach on April 5, 2000. room, team lounge, offices as well as strength and nutrition areas, giving Nebraska one of the In Collier’s first season with the Huskers, Nebraska finished with a 14-16 mark as Belcher best facilities in the nation. returned to the lineup and earned second-team All- honors while finishing In March of 2012, Nebraska moved in a different direction as then-Athletic Director Tom third in NCAA history for career steals with 353. Osborne chose to run the basketball program. Miles guided a short-handed roster to In Collier's fourth season, Nebraska ran to an 18-13 record and its first postseason bid in 15 wins in his first season, including the program's first-ever Big Ten Tournament win, and has five years. Nebraska won its first two games in the 2004 NIT, including an exhilarating 71-70 worked tirelessly to build Nebraska's basketball brand. road victory over in-state foe Creighton in the opening round. After a home-court victory over The 2013-14 season was a rebirth for the Husker program. Nebraska moved into the $179 Niagara, the Huskers' season came to an end three days later in a valiant effort at Hawaii when million dollar Pinnacle Bank Arena in downtown Lincoln in August of 2014 and presold the NU came back from 17 points down at halftime to tie the game at the first media timeout of entire season six months before the opener. The Huskers flourished in their new home, going the second period before eventually falling by a point. 15-1 including a win over ninth-ranked Wisconsin in front of a record crowd of 15,998. The Nebraska struggled the following season but an influx of young talent helped the Huskers Huskers went 19-13 on the season and earned their first NCAA appearance in 16 years. Terran move forward. Aleks Maric made an immediate impact as he broke the NU freshman rebounds Petteway earned consensus All-Big Ten honors while Miles was named Big Ten and National record and ranked in the rookie top 10 for blocked shots. Maric was a force in the paint as he Coach of the Year after leading the Huskers to the NCAAs following a 1-5 start in Big Ten play. tied the school freshman record for double-doubles. It was a sign of good things to come as Since the opening of Pinnacle Bank Arena, Husker fans have been coming out in record he finished his four-year career ranked fifth all-time in scoring and was only the second Husker numbers, as the program broke its attendance record for the second straight year in 2014-15 ever to record at least 1,000 career rebounds. and is one of nine NCAA programs to average at least 15,000 fans per game in each of the past NU made its second postseason appearance in three years in 2006 before finishing with a five seasons. 19-14 record. It was the most wins under Collier and the first time his Huskers won a game at In 2017-18, the Huskers exceeded expectations, winning 22 games, including a pair of the Big 12 Championship as NU reached the semifinals of the conference tourney for the first wins against ranked Big Ten teams, and finished fourth in the conference with a 13-5 mark. time since winning the Big Eight Tournament title in 1994. The 13 conference wins was a school record while the 22 wins were the most since 1990-91. Collier looked to have a solid base in place for 2006-07 before abruptly resigning in early Newcomers James Palmer Jr. and Isaac Copeland both earned All-Big Ten honors, as Palmer August to take the position of athletic director at his alma mater, Butler University, ending his garnered first-team accolades by averaging 17.2 points per game to rank fifth in the Big Ten. career at Nebraska with an 89-91 overall record. The late opening posed little challenge for Nebraska as one week later, on Aug. 8, 2006, Kenneth 'Doc' Sadler was introduced as the 26th head coach in program history. Nebraska finished first in the Big 12 and 18th nationally in scoring defense in 2007-08, allowing just 60.7 points per game. Sadler's specialty was highlighted again in 2008-09 as the Huskers proved it was no fluke, claiming another first-place defense in the league while ranking 22nd nationally by giving up just 60.4 points per contest. It was the second-lowest total in the Husker record book since 1951, giving Sadler-coached squads three of the top four Husker scoring defenses in the past half century.

The Huskers' 20-13 record in 2007-08 included a 7-9 record in league play, after starting the HISTORY Big 12 campaign with an 0-4 mark. In 2008-09, Sadler helped Nebraska continue its upward trend with eight league victories, marking NU's first .500 record in conference play in a decade. Nebraska's 2010-11 season was highlighted by wins over three ranked teams, including No. 3 Texas, as the victory over the Longhorns was marked the highest ranked team Nebraska had defeated since 1994. The 2011-12 season began a new era for Nebraska basketball, as the Huskers joined the . That season also marked the opening of the Hendricks Training Complex, an 84,000-foot facility for the Husker basketball program which includes practice courts, locker A crowd of nearly 2,500 were on hand to celebrate with the Huskers on their first NCAA berth since 1998.

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