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    Then & Now: Bruce Chubick

    Then & Now: Bruce Chubick

    Compiled By Dave Brandon (Photo

    Courtesy NU Media Relations)

    Chubbick.jpgBruce

    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">




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