Section A · Page 7
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, November 30, 1999
Sports
Tough win drops 'Huskers in poll
Seminoles, Hokies to play each other for championship
By Michael Rigg
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
While Nebraska escaped Colorado with an overtime victory on Saturday, the Cornhuskers didn't leave with their national championship hopes intact.
By virtue of Nebraska's slim 36-33 overtime victory against the Buffaloes, the Cornhuskers further behind Virginia Tech in the weekly Bowl Championship Series rankings. Nebraska now has 7.70 points in the standings, 1.54 behind the second place Hokies.
The top two teams — the Hokies and No. 1 Florida State — will play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 4. The BCS results rendered Saturday's Big 12 Conference Championship between the Cornhuskers and Texas virtually useless, at least for the national championship.
The rankings were decided by a formula determined by computers, and one computer expert said that Virginia Tech's lead was too great to overcome.
"There's no suspense," said Chicago-based computer expert Jerry Palm. "If Nebraska wins 50-0, I'm not sure that could overtake Virginia Tech."
While the results were disappointing for the Cornhusker community, nobody in Lincoln, Neb., could admit they were surprised.
In fact, Cornhusker kicker Josh Brown said a national championship was all but forgotten following the slim victory on Saturday.
"We're not even concentrating on the BCS right now," Brown said. "We just want wins. Our goal is to win the Big 12, and now
BCS STANDINGS
1. Florida St. 2.24
2. Virginia Tech 6.16
3. Nebraska 7.70
4. Florida 13.48
5. Tennessee 14.13
6. Kansas St. 15.59
7. Alabama 16.54
8. Wisconsin 16.67
9. Michigan 19.69
10. Michigan St. 20.26
we have to beat Texas to do that. Whatever else happens is not in our control."
Meanwhile, undefeated Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer was satisfied with the rankings. He had said nothing was set until the final rankings were released.
"There's too much invested in the BCS so that the two best teams will play," Beamer said. "I personally think one of the teams has to be Virginia Tech. With all the hard work by our coaches and players, I would be devastated if we did not make it."
The BCS standings are based on a formula that considers The Associated Press media poll, the USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, eight computer rankings, strength of schedule and losses.
Nebraska's narrow victory against the unranked Buffaloes proved devastating because the Hokies were rolling 38-14 against then-No. 22 Boston College.
Florida State and Virginia Tech are No.1 and No.2 in both the AP and coaches' polls.
The results both lowered Virginia Tech's computer average and raised the Cornhuskers' average, as the margin between the two teams is now much greater than the .63 points last week.
Kansas State is currently sixth in the rankings with 15.59 points, while fellow Big 12 members Texas and Texas A&M are ranked 11th and 15th, respectively.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
The Associated Press
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas started the season talking about the Final Four. After winning the Puerto Rico Shootout with two victories against ranked teams, that doesn't seem so far-fetched.
Texas earns highest ranking since 1982
The Longhorns (4-0) jumped from No. 20 to No. 9 in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll, their first visit to the Top Ten since 1982.
"I don't know if any of us know how good we are," said second-year Texas coach Rick Barnes, whose first Longhorns team started 0-4 before winning the Big 12 Conference regular season title.
"I knew we had a different team than last year," Barnes said. "Chris Mihm and (forward) Gabe Muoneke are two of the top players in college basketball.
Texas beat No. 8 Michigan State and No. 22 DePaul in Puerto Rico. Seven-foot center Chris Miemhi was chosen the tournament's most valuable player.
"But to get to the Final Four, the first thing you have to do is get to the NCAA tournament and that's a long way away."
In 1982, the Longhorns won their first 14 games and went to No.5, their highest ranking ever. They lost 11 of 13 games, finishing 16-11 in Coach Abe Lemons' final season.
"We won't start 14-0." Barnes said. "Our schedule won't allow it."
The Longhorns will play No. 4 Arizona (4-0) Saturday before traveling to No. 20 Utah. The Longhorns also will play at Connecticut, home of the defending national champions, in early January.
"You'd like to keep things rolling along." Barnes said. "If we were getting into early January at No. 9, I'd be feeling pretty good."
Last week's preseason tournaments caused a lot of shuffling in the rankings as all but three teams in the preseason Top 10 have lost at least one game.
Cincinnati (4-0) remained No. 1 receiving 55 first-place votes and 1,671 points from the national media panel. They were the only team from last week's Top 10 to be in the same spot this week.
This is the 36th week in its history that Cincinnati has been ranked No. 1, moving past Kansas and into sixth place on the all-time list. UCLA leads with 128 weeks and is followed by Kentucky (87), North Carolina (79), Duke (70) and Indiana (43).
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' men's basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through yesterday, total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:
MEN'S AP TOP 25
| | rec | pts | prev |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 1.Cincinnati (55) | 4-0 | 1,671 | 1 |
| 2.N. Carolina (7) | 4-0 | 1,567 | 4 |
| 3.Stanford (4) | 5-0 | 1,541 | 9 |
| 4.Arizona (2) | 4-0 | 1,511 | 8 |
| 5.Connecticut | 3-1 | 1,332 | 7 |
| **6.Kansas** | 4-0 | 1,308 | **10** |
| 7.Auburn | 2-1 | 1,248 | 2 |
| 8.Michigan St. | 3-1 | 1,202 | 3 |
| **9.Texas** | 4-0 | 1,083 | **20** |
| 10.Temple | 1-1 | 938 | 5 |
| 11.Florida | 3-1 | 918 | 6 |
| 12.UCLA | 2-0 | 911 | 13 |
| 13.Kentucky | 3-1 | 878 | 11 |
| 14.Syracuse | 3-0 | 781 | 14 |
| 15.Ohio St. | 0-1 | 736 | 12 |
| 16.Illinois | 2-0 | 657 | 15 |
| 17.Duke | 3-2 | 594 | 16 |
| 18.Tennessee | 3-0 | 569 | 17 |
| 19.Purdue | 2-1 | 449 | 22 |
| 20.Utah | 2-1 | 388 | 19 |
| **21.Oklahoma St.** | 4-0 | 371 | **21** |
| 22.DePaul | 3-1 | 357 | 18 |
| 23.Indiana | 2-0 | 250 | |
| 24.Maryland | 4-1 | 230 | 24 |
| 24.Georgia | 2-0 | 176 | 25 |
Others receiving votes: Miami 126, Jhohn 80, Okla-
tery 77. Wake Forest 73, Craighen 13, Georgia Tech
13, Ivory 10, Tulsa 9, Murray 56, St. Simon 5, Notre Dame
6, Syracuse 4, North Carolina 2, Oregon 2, Southern Miss 2, Delaware 1,avier
WOMEN'S AP TOP 25
The top 25 teams in The Associated Press' women's basketball poll, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through yesterday, total points based on 25 points for a first-plACE vote through one point for a 25th-plACE vote, and previous ranking:
rank team rec pts pvs
1. Connecticut (40) 4-0 1,116 1
2. Georgia (3) 4-0 1,069 3
3. Tennessee (1) 3-1 1,040 5
4. Louisiana Tech (1)3-1 927 2
5. UCLA 2-1 910 4
6. N.C.State 5-0 898 7
7. Rutgers 2-1 809 8
8. Auburn 4-0 746 11
9. North Carolina 3-1 736 10
10. Illinois 5-1 682 15
11. Notre Dame 1-1 613 6
12. Iowa St. 2-1 583 13
13. Oregon 3-0 546 16
14. Penn St. 3-1 541 9
15. UC Santa Barbara 3-1 508 12
16. Texas Tech 3-0 412 17
17. Purdue 4-0 358 20
18. Kansas 3-0 349 19
19. Old Dominion 2-1 271 14
20. Stanford 2-1 252 23
21. Arizona 4-0 232 24
22. Duke 4-1 230 _
23. LSU 3-1 214 _2
24. Boston College 4-2 203 18
25. Virginia Tech 2-2 102 25
26. Wisconsin 3-1 102 25
Other receiving votes: Mississippi St. 31, Marquette 26,
Tulane 23, Kentucky 19, Xavier 15, Texas 11, Kansas
9, Kentucky 8, Nigerian St. 16, Kansas 6, Uuhaf 4,
Hickman 4, Michigan 10, Bail 1, Ball 1, Florida
1, Saint Louis 1, Santa Clara 1.
Ex-Haskell standout pushes herself to make it at Kansas
Continued from page 10A
Among the things Shield must deal with is a feeling of responsibility, not just for her family and herself, but for Native Americans.
When the Crow tribe member talks about why she decided to transfer to a more academically challenging — and predominately white — school like Kansas, she talks of pushing herself, of new experiences.
But she won't go more than a few minutes without discussing her race.
"As it is, Native Americans are already looked down upon as a lower class," she said. "We have to fight that."
Ask Shield if she wishes more Native Americans would follow her lead, and she doesn't hesitate.
tive view of us, we won't be that lower class. I can already see more Native Americans doing that, and I hope that continues.
"Definitely, I think they should take school more seriously and try to make something of themselves," she said. "If do that, others will have more pos-
"One of the problems is reservations. I wouldn't say it's depressing or anything, but everything is based on the tribe, and there's no jobs but tribal jobs. It's hard and that's why I came to Lawrence. If this doesn't work out, I'll probably go back, but I'm hoping everything happens like I want."
Homeratha said the school was thrilled to see one of its athletes make Kansas' team.
"It's the first time anything like this has happened since Billy Mills," he said. "She's always been real motivated, looking for new things to do. We're just all so happy for her. She's on the right track, and I think she'll do it. This will certainly give her a better lifestyle."
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