1996 Walkout

[HuskerActuary]

I'm only 30 and didn't start following the basketball team until the early 2000s. I've seen references to the 1996 walkout on here and would love to hear the full story as best we know it. Why the walkout? Sounds like it was everyone on the team but Lue and Garner. Did the team just felt like they were underperforming (Nee's fault)? Was the walkout widely reported at the time? And if the situation was so bad, how did Nee last four more years?

[atskooc]

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/five-years-later-specter-of-walkout-still-haunts-nebraska-basketball/article_e0ac0f4c-ca9f-500e-9c0d-05dc3b3e7b25.html

[Blindcheck]

That NIT run was so unexpected, it probably was one of the most fun runs Nebraska had during the Nee era.  

 

Nee had better teams, but that NIT run was a blast.

[tcp]

I still view that as one of the great recoveries ever AND one of the most disappointing seasons ever, probably right behind this one. 

This year reminded me so much of that one. 

 

I still see that as the mark of a generational sea change for players. They were becoming much more assertive of their individual interests than players traditionally had been. And that sense of self-interest---and I'm not using this term pejoratively here--is still a major force in coach-player relationships to this day. Even more so. 

 

 

 

 

[royalfan]

That team was playing elite 8 type of basketball at the end of the season.  

[AuroranHusker]

Nee's right-hand man, Gary Bargen, was no longer coaching beside Nee. And Nee kind of struggled to coach on the sidelines. I think the players knew that Nee was a bit in over his head corralling the talented parts in 1995-96. That's the team that lost 9 straight games toward the end of the regular to deep-six a Great Team, going from 16-5 to 16-14. Then the team pulled off the miraculous by winning 5 in a row to take the National Invitational Tournament, even beat the great Tarkanian on the road to get to NYC.That's my view of the situation. Nee took a real bad deal and made a gem of it in the N.I.T. Danny Nee had many faults, but giving up wasn't one of 'em (and Bill Byrne backed him, then, but made his leash shorter...). Dude who played alongside Lew Alcinder seemed to have 9 lives, as I recall. Nee could write a book on all the places he's been, since.

 

[Silverbacked1]

check out the names of the co-writers of the article.  One will look familiar.

[AuroranHusker]

24 minutes ago, Silverbacked1 said:

check out the names of the co-writers of the article.  One will look familiar.

 

Both Hansen & McKewon work for the Omaha World-Herald, by the way.

[Blindcheck]

3 hours ago, royalfan said:

That team was playing elite 8 type of basketball at the end of the season.  

I have always viewed the teams that win the NIT as equivalent to a sweet 16 team...

 

Most call them 69th place team, but to go on a run against teams that are often as good or better than most teams (higher seeded teams) First round match up in the NCAA...is pretty significant.

[royalfan]

49 minutes ago, Blindcheck said:

I have always viewed the teams that win the NIT as equivalent to a sweet 16 team...

 

Most call them 69th place team, but to go on a run against teams that are often as good or better than most teams (higher seeded teams) First round match up in the NCAA...is pretty significant.

 

Yeah me too.  And the way we just destroyed the field in that thing, I bumped it up a peg.  Sweet 16 for sure.  

[jimmykc]

Just got around to reading the OWH article and had forgotten about Leif Nelson, although one of my sons once got his autograph at a preseason signing session. On googling his name I discovered this tidbit from the LA Times preseason forecast for the '98-99 season for Washington State: " Center Leif Nelson has used the summer to provide the Cougars with a larger target in the middle by eating his way to over 300 pounds." 

[Huskerpapa]

You always tend to absorb fact vs. fiction stories that emanate from situations like this.  I once heard that Garner was going to be part of the walk-out but instead fell asleep and missed the meeting.  Other stories bounced around about Mikki and Chester, but again, only the participants and those within that inner circle can actually provide the real facts. 

 

As a fan, I can restate the word used in the article, it was surreal. 

 

That said, there sure were a lot of "stories" that evolved from the Nee era.

[Handy Johnson]

If you can guess what Mikki Moore, Tony Farmer & Dave Hoppen all have in common (other than playing UNL) without using the Google machine, I'll give you a $1.00. 

[cipsucks]

12 minutes ago, Handy Johnson said:

If you can guess what Mikki Moore, Tony Farmer & Dave Hoppen all have in common (other than playing UNL) without using the Google machine, I'll give you a $1.00. 

None ever won an NCAA Tourney game.

All played in the NBA.

All think Kearney Man is a tool.

[fr8-train]

All have a combined 10 letters in their first and last names.  

 

[trickey]

They are all taller than me.

[AuroranHusker]

4 hours ago, Handy Johnson said:

If you can guess what Mikki Moore, Tony Farmer & Dave Hoppen all have in common (other than playing UNL) without using the Google machine, I'll give you a $1.00. 

 

All played in the NBA for the Golden State Warriors.

[Handy Johnson]

The Auroran Huskie wins a dollar. They all played for the Golden St Warriors! I’d be hard pressed to name all the teams Mikki played for, but I was lucky enuff to see Hoppen play for the Charlotte Hornets back in 1990.

[Nighthawk]

On 4/26/2019 at 7:04 AM, atskooc said:

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/five-years-later-specter-of-walkout-still-haunts-nebraska-basketball/article_e0ac0f4c-ca9f-500e-9c0d-05dc3b3e7b25.html

 

God that is hard to read...not that anyone would remember...but was that actually one solid paragraph back in the day? maybe it's just the way it's appearing on my screen. 

Edited April 29, 2019 by Nighthawk

[atskooc]

16 minutes ago, Nighthawk said:

 

God that is hard to read...not that anyone would remember...but was that actually one solid paragraph back in the day? maybe it's just the way it's appearing on my screen. 

Heck, I didn't even look at it when I found it.

 

You're right, it's brutal!

[hhcmatt]

25 minutes ago, Nighthawk said:

 

God that is hard to read...not that anyone would remember...but was that actually one solid paragraph back in the day? maybe it's just the way it's appearing on my screen. 

 

No it's just the text with all the formatting taken away.  You can see there were individual headers in there that just appear as a few words in front of sections

[Searching 4 Chester Surles]

On 4/26/2019 at 7:04 AM, atskooc said:

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/five-years-later-specter-of-walkout-still-haunts-nebraska-basketball/article_e0ac0f4c-ca9f-500e-9c0d-05dc3b3e7b25.html

 

Two other players, Moore and forward Chester Surles, were "unaccounted for," Nelson said.

 

 

[Bugeaters1]

I just found a 1996 football program that has most of the 96 basketball teams autograph's. What would it be worth, anyone have any idea?

 

[Searching 4 Chester Surles]

9 minutes ago, Bugeaters1 said:

I just found a 1996 football program that has most of the 96 basketball teams autograph's. What would it be worth, anyone have any idea?

 

Approximately 12¢.

 

 

On 4/26/2019 at 6:35 PM, Huskerpapa said:

Other stories bounced around about Mikki and Chester, but again, only the participants and those within that inner circle can actually provide the real facts.  As a fan, I can restate the word used in the article, it was surreal.

 

I saw probably 85% of the team, together, just wandering around campus that day. Obviously found out later why that was, and why they all looked rather distraught.

[Searching 4 Chester Surles]

Quote

Nelson said many of the players on the team were frustrated with their lack of playing time or unfair treatment. "For me, it was lack of playing time," Nelson said. "But every player had their own little individual beef with Coach Nee."

 

Also remember seeing Chris Sallee out at house parties on the regular. Which, was kinda weird, since I think he was like 29 when he showed up at NU (he could've easily gone to the bars instead). Also saw Leif Nelson and Chad Ideus a few times. Andy Markowski maybe once or twice.

 

I guess what I'm saying is*... maybe these guys should've been at Mabel Lee getting some shots up instead, and perhaps they would've gotten a bit more run.

 

* I'm not really saying that. I doubt it would've helped.