Then & Now: Erick Strickland

Then & Now: Erick Strickland

Compiled By Dave Brandon

(Photo Courtesy NU Media Relations)

Erick

Strickland played at Nebraska from 1993-1996, and is

sixth in all-time scoring with 1,586 points. In addition

to being a prolific scorer, Strickland was also a great

defender, as he is second in all time steals at Nebraska

(257) and earned All Big 8 defense honors in three

consecutive seasons. (1994-1996)

Besides

being a great basketball player, Strickland also played

some minor league baseball with the Florida Marlins

organization, and currently will get ready to begin his

tenth season in the NBA, having spent time with the

Mavericks, Knicks, Grizzlies, Celtics, Pacers,

and Bucks.

Erick

recently joined HHC to talk about his times at Nebraska,

and update us on his current situation in the NBA.

HHC: First off, we want to start by telling you

that you have made the state of Nebraska very proud, and

its great to have you join us here on HHC.

ES: Hey man, no problem, and thank you. I’m

happy to do this.

HHC: We've been talking a lot about Nebraska

high school basketball on our site in recent weeks, and

you obviously had a great career at Bellevue West in

that great class of 1992. We know you’re far away from

high school basketball now, but do you feel that a lack

of Division One players being produced in the state has

hurt the Huskers in recent years?

ES: Yes, I think that it has hurt a little bit,

but I also think that they haven’t attacked the talent

pool the way they did when Danny Nee was there. I mean,

I know there hasn’t been a huge number of D-1 kids

recently, but I think that more so than not, Creighton

has been more aggressive at taking the local kids and

trying to do something with them. However, recruiting

wise at Nebraska, I think they did a good job this year

and will continue to do so; I really think that a lot of

those guys will pan out.

HHC: So will there ever be a class like 1992

again coming out of Nebraska?

ES: (Laughs) Aww man, its hard to say. I would

like to hope so, but you know, we all just got together

that year and said, “Hey, let’s stay home. Let’s build

something that nobody else has done.” And I thought that

we did a good job of that. So, if you get another

talented bunch of guys that know each other and respect

each other and want to do that, then its possible. But

who knows when that will be.

HHC: Yeah, it can be tough to judge when

you'll get great classes like those. In your freshman

year of 1992-1993, you guys made the school's third

consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. However, we

really want to hear more about your sophomore season.

Talk about the magical year of 1993-1994 when you won

the Big 8 tournament and made the school's fourth

consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. What things do

you remember most about that season?

ES: Aww man… Well, I just really remember

the hunger of everybody that summer. Everybody stayed

that summer, got in the gym, played ball all day, and as

a result, we really gelled. I think we really took it to

heart that we were going to be special and work hard and

compete. We just decided to take care of our home, and

once we took that stand, it was just like, “Nobody is

going to stop us.” 

I

remember at the start of that year, we came out in a

tournament and fought off a real good Michigan team with

the Fab 5. We actually should have won that game, and

several others along the way. But either way, we just

made sure that we weren’t going to settle for any short

cuts - We were going to play and dominate in areas that

we were strong in.

HHC: As a team, your junior season was

a little bit of a disappointment to many, as you made

the NIT and won 18 games, but fell short of the NCAA

Tournament. Many outsiders at the time said that this

team had a chemistry problem, and perhaps had some

clashing egos. What is your response to this?

ES: Yeah… I thought that too. I felt that

we didn’t reach our potential and it was because we had

a lot of inside turmoil. We did a bad and poor job of

establishing our roles for our team, and… I guess we

just really didn’t come together as a unit that year.

Leadership wise, we were young and didn’t really have

any great leadership on that team. We had lost a lot of

seniors, and guys were trying to establish leadership

roles, but we just didn’t establish them very well.

HHC: 1995-1996, which was your senior

season, is one of the most memorable in Nebraska history

for a couple of reasons. Before we get to the positive

part, talk to us a little bit about the Danny Nee

walkout. What do you remember about it, and in

retrospect, do you regret it?

ES: No, I don’t regret it. Actually, people

don’t really understand what happened with that. We

weren’t trying to cause uproar or controversy or

anything of that sort. It was actually a day that was

going to be an off day anyway, and he had ended up

calling a practice. But the players, we wanted to get

together and find out what the heck was going on,

because we knew we were better than what we were

playing.

We

really aired out a lot of things and found out what

people felt, as far as perceptions of the team and

coaching staff. And we came to find out that a lot of

the problems and controversy that was going on was led

by the coaching staff themselves.

It was

like, players would have concerns, and they would voice

them to coach, and then coach would play those concerns

off to other players, and basically it started pitting

us against each other. The coaching staff would say,

“Well, I understand what you’re saying,” and then your

teammates would find out that others went into talk

about them or the situation… It was really wild.

Once we

found out all that stuff, we just said, “Screw it man,

lets go out here and just finish our season off. We

don’t care about coaches and what people are saying,

lets just go out here and play man.”

I think

for me that was one of the lowest points of my life,

because I literally almost quit playing basketball. I

was just so disappointed with people’s work ethic and

how we were just letting everything fall apart.

HHC: Not a good situation, huh?

ES: Yeah, not at all man. (Laughs) And sorry

about going off on a tangent about that.

HHC: No, the more, the better. During that

same year, you guys overcame all odds and ended up

winning the NIT title. Talk to us a little bit about

what you remember, and which was more gratifying to you,

winning the Big 8 tournament in 1994, or the NIT in

1996?

ES: I think both of them were equal. The Big 8

was awesome, because it was a first for the school and

just an exciting accomplishment. But the NIT was also

great because we came together after having a horrendous

season, and we weren’t able to put it all together in

the Big 8 tournament that year, but we still didn’t

quit. And, we made something out of nothing, and when I

say nothing, it was really nothing. 

We

basically came out of nowhere for that NIT. I don’t even

know if we should have been in the tournament to begin

with, that’s how bad we were. It was really nice to see

us come together though at the end of that time, and we

just wish we had more time to do it all over again and

do something else different, but since we didn’t, that

was a nice way to end the season and my career.

HHC: Danny Nee was a textbook character, and we

ask every player we interview for a classic Danny Nee

story. Can you think of a funny story or two to add to

our ongoing list?

ES: Hmmm… (Laughs) Well, I’d probably say my

favorite memory of him was when Eric Piatkowski had a

party that we all went to. I think it was after we won

the Big 8 tournament, and EVERYBODY was there, including

all the coaches and Nee. Well at the party, we started

giving out Danny Nee ties, and he was just so happy. He

just hung out with us, and we all just had a ball

together. (Laughs) Man, those Danny Nee ties on all of

us were just so funny.

HHC: Roy Williams wore them for years!

Talk to us about the Michael Jordan you have in you, as

you have played both professional basketball and

baseball for the Florida Marlins organization. What does

baseball mean to you now, and how much do you miss it?

ES: To be honest, it meant a lot to me,

actually, because I got to do something that a lot of

people at first didn’t think I could do. I mean, after

playing one season of it after my senior year of college

and making it, and then having a chance to play more, it

was just a very good experience.

But,

about baseball… I think what I take from it is that I

look back and see all the players I played with in the

minors, and some of them are still in the big leagues.

To see them be successful and to know that I played with

those guys is a very gratifying thing. There were a

bunch of guys, such as Edgar Renteria, who won a

championship with the Marlins, and at the time I played

with him, he was only 16 or 17, but you could tell he

was special. I played with Tony Sanders, who is the guy

who played with his arm out of socket when he was

playing with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Dave Berg, I’ve

seen him somewhere recently. And I played against Johnny

Damon, who was always a hard out. He’d hit the ball to

shortstop, and you could barely get him out, not too

mention he used to hit so many home runs it wasn’t even

funny. Dmitri Young of the Detroit Tigers was another

worthy opponent.

It was

just awesome man, and still is, just seeing those guys

go through and make their way. It’s real gratifying for

me to follow them.

HHC: You've obviously had a very

successful NBA career, as you are about to begin your

tenth year in the league. Which teams do you have the

best memories playing with, and who are your best

friends in the league?

ES: Dallas and Boston were great years for

me, so I guess they stick out. Across the league, I’m

real good friends with Paul Pierce, Michael Redd, and

T.J. Ford.

HHC: What about Pike, Mikki, and Tyronn?

ES: Aww yeah man, yeah! Pike and I, we get

together and play golf all the time. I talk to Tyronn a

little bit too, although he moves around so much that I

haven’t seen him as much lately. I saw Mikki when he

came down to Dallas to work out, but I probably talk to

Pike more than I talk to any of them. And from college,

I still talk to Jamar Johnson, Terrance Badgett, a lot

of those guys.

In the

league though, it’s kind of weird, because it’s like a

little fraternity. Some of your teammates you’re close

to, and some of them you’re not. And, when you leave a

team, its tough to stay as close as you were with those

guys, since you were with them all the time. But, I

still stay in touch with the people who are most

important to me.

HHC: Finally, talk to us about where Erick

Strickland will be playing this season, and how many

more years do you hope to keep playing?

ES: I’m in Dallas right now in camp, and

actually pulling up to the team hotel as we speak. Here

are the keys, thanks.

HHC: What’s that?

ES: (Laughs) Sorry, I just parked my car. But

anyway, I don’t know how much longer I’ll play, we’ll

see, but maybe three or four years. Time will tell.

HHC: Any dreams of coming back to the

program at Nebraska someday in any capacity?

ES: I mean we’ll see, I’ll have to play it

all by ear, because somebody may want to hire me here in

the league. If not, my heart is still with Nebraska, and

we’ll play that by ear as time comes.

HHC: Awesome. We’ll let you go hang with your

teammates at your hotel, and thank you for taking the

time to join us. Are you cool with taking some e-mails

from Husker fans if we set you up an e-mail account

through the site at

[email protected] ?

ES: Yeah, no problem, that’s cool. And

thanks for having me and for doing the site!<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">