Then & Now: Bruce Chubick

Then & Now: Bruce Chubick

Compiled By Dave Brandon (Photo

Courtesy NU Media Relations)

Bruce

Chubick was a four year letterwinner for Nebraska from

1991-1994, and along with Eric Piatkowski, holds the

distinction of playing in four NCAA tournaments.

Bruce recently joined Husker Hoops Central for an

exclusive look at his life, both then and now.

HHC: Bruce, thanks a lot for taking

some time out and updating us on your life.

BC: No problem. The update may be kind

of boring, though. I've already done most of the

exciting stuff.

HHC: You had some amazing

accomplishments while on the floor at Nebraska, but

before we get into that, tell us how in the world you

balanced winning on the court with making three

consecutive Phillips 66 All-Big Eight Academic

appearances.

BC: My dad is a coach, and like every

other kid on the planet, my dream was to play

professional sports. My dad was a big proponent of

having a "Plan B", so to speak. His argument was always

that you should work towards your dreams, but that

accidents can happen to anyone. Therefore, he really

stressed getting good grades. If I wasn't pulling my

weight in the classroom, I was pretty much resigned to

hearing about it at home. I wanted to make sure I had as

few of those conversations as possible.

HHC: What were your favorite classes at

UNL, anyway? And since you’re a History major, History

doesn't count!

BC: Actually, I had several. I had an

excellent professor for Military History. The professor

conducted the class like a narrative and he painted an

excellent picture with his words. I also had a

Shakespeare class that I enjoyed as well as a Hemingway

and Fitzgerald course (English was my minor) and I had

an excellent Spanish instructor named Marie Blair.

HHC: Nice...Now, onto the court - a lot

of people remember you as a warrior on the glass, as you

averaged 7.3 rebounds per game your senior season...

However, many forget that your offensive game really

developed by your last season, as you were third on the

team in scoring at 11.7 per game. What made the

difference in your offensive game developing as your

career moved on?

BC: I always had the capability to

score. I was always asked by people who knew my game why

I didn't shoot more throughout my career, and the best

answer I can give is that it wasn't really my role to

look to score a lot during my career. My modus operandi

has always been about winning. I wanted to do whatever

it took to win games. If my coach didn't feel like my

role was to score points, I needed either to accept that

role or find a new school, I guess.

HHC: To remind us of what era you

played in, and no, we're not trying to date you, name

some of the better players you ever played with and

against?

BC: I played with and against a lot of

great players. I guarded Byron Houston, Chris Webber,

Jawon Howard, Bryant Reeves, Greg Ostertag and Julius

Michalik from Iowa St. I played with some great players,

too. Some of the names were Beau Reid, Clifford Scales,

Rich King, Carl Hayes, Derrick Chandler, Eric Piatkowski,

Jamar Johnson, Jaron Boone, Terrance Badgett, Eric

Strickland and Keith Moody. There were a lot of other

names, but those are probably some of the names your

readers are most familiar with.

HHC: A lot of great names from the

past...Hey, speaking of Eric Piatkowski, you and him are

the only two players in Nebraska history to have both

played in four NCAA tournaments. What was that like?

BC: When we took our on-campus visit to

Nebraska, there was this anticipation and hopefulness

that I think Eric, myself, and a third recruit by the

name of Jamie Cole could feel. Nebraska has always been

and probably always will be, all about the football

team, but there was this sense that the people wanted to

see a winner in one of the other typically high-revenue

sports. When we were able to reach the tournament in

each of our years, it was a special feeling, however, it

is tainted for me by the fact that we were never able to

win a game there.

HHC: Now be honest, how many times have

you gone back and watched those ill-fated games, and in

retrospect, what do you think made Nebraska "choke" to a

certain extent?

BC: I don't think that "choke" would be

a relevant term for all of those teams. I think we did

choke to a large degree when I was a freshman. We were

seeded 3 and lost to the 14 seed, Xavier. We were

outmanned the next two trips against UConn and New

Mexico St. The final appearance against Pennsylvania

wasn't so much a choke as it was a bunch of guys trying

to supersede their roles. If we could have put

selfishness aside as we had the prior week when we won

the Big 8 Tournament, I think we would have won that

game. Keep in mind, though, that Philadelphia is only 3

hours from the site of where the game was played, in

Long Island. That made it feel like a road game as it

was a very pro-Penn crowd. Also, that team had two

future NBA players in Jerome Allen and Matt Maloney.

HHC: Sorry to bring back bad

memories...On a positive note, and outside of the NCAA

Tournament, what are your best memories of playing

basketball at Nebraska?

BC: Winning the Big 8 Tournament would

have to be first as it was an unprecedented

accomplishment and has never been matched since. We had

a last second win against Michigan St. on a Beau Reid

jump shot as time expired during my freshman season. We

never lost to Kansas at home and we won 7 out of 8 games

against Iowa St. during my playing years.

HHC: How many of your past teammates do

you still stay in touch with, and when is the last team

you spoke with Danny Nee?

BC: I see Terrence Badgett and Keith

Moody on an almost weekly basis and I spoke to Eric

Piatkowski about three years ago. It is tough because he

is gone most of the calendar year. Coach Nee and I

haven't had any contact in the last 4-5 years.

HHC: Very nice...Don't worry, almost

done, but before we go, we need to get an update on

you... First, the last many of us heard of you in 1994,

you were playing professional basketball overseas. How

long did that go on for, and where did it take you?

BC: I played professionally for 8

years. Seven were spent overseas in Belgium, Portugal,

and Israel, and one was spent playing in Omaha for the

now defunct Racers organization.

HHC: And since this is called "Then &

Now," we should probably ask that - what is Bruce

Chubick doing these days, both personally and

professionally?

BC: I have a seven year-old son named Trey

and I have been married to my wife, Wendy, for 10 years

this July. I work for Security National Bank in Omaha.

HHC: Sounds like everything is going

well in your neck of the woods - Hey, if you don't mind,

we'd love to give our readers a chance to correspond

with you and say hello. Would you be interested in

taking some e-mails at

[email protected]?

BC: Yes. That would be fine.

HHC: Great, our readers can send you

e-mails either through here or on our Contact Us page.

Thank you for spending some time with us, and we hope

you feel honored to be the first former player

interviewed on Husker Hoops Central.

BC: It's my pleasure. I hope that people

still care enough to be curious as to what I'm doing.<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">