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LINCOLN — The Nebraska men's basketball team may soon acquire some homegrown offensive punch through a rarely seen transfer path.
Mitch Albers out of Papillion-La Vista, who averaged 15.7 points a game last season as a sophomore at UNO, said Tuesday night he has given up his scholarship with the Division II Mavericks and will try to walk on at Nebraska.
The 6-foot-4 guard plans to meet this morning with NU coach Doc Sadler about chasing his dream of playing Division I basketball at the Devaney Center.
“I'm a huge Husker fan and always have been,'' Albers said, “but I didn't really get any looks out of high school.
“If I'm going to transfer, now is the time to do it. I'll have a redshirt year and two years to play after that. Doing this, I'll never have any regrets.''
Renouncing a scholarship was difficult, Albers said.
“But on the other hand, money doesn't buy happiness,'' he said. “After talking to my family for the longest time, there really is no price you can put on how you feel.''
Asking UNO coach Derrin Hansen for his scholarship release, Albers said, was stressful. He would have been the Mavericks' top returning scorer.
Albers' brother, Tyler, a senior at UNO, also is leaving the team to concentrate on academics and his career path, Mitch said.
“I have absolutely nothing but good things to say about the UNO program,'' Mitch Albers said. “I love the coaches and the guys. It wasn't me moving because there was something wrong that went on at UNO.
“It's just an individual thing. I'm kind of being selfish. But 10 years from now when I look back on it, I don't want to have any regrets about not trying it.''
Hansen, when reached Tuesday night, politely declined to comment.
Basketball transfers from Division II to Division I are rare, but it's not unprecedented at Nebraska.
In 1993-94, guard Tom Wald transferred to Nebraska from what then was Mankato (Minn.) State.
Wald, who was first-team All-North Central Conference, eventually started six games and was a regular contributor for two seasons, playing on the Huskers' 1995-96 NIT championship team.
Another Division II transfer to Nebraska was forward Andrew Drevo from Morningside College. He started regularly in 2002-03 and 2003-04, averaging a combined 12.3 points a game.
Albers, who averaged 11.5 points as a freshman at UNO, was an honorable mention all-conference pick last season in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association.
He was eighth in the league in scoring (averaging 17.1 in MIAA games), fifth in field-goal shooting (47.6 percent) and fifth in 3-point shooting (43.4 percent).
In high school, Albers led the state in scoring as a senior at 23.6 points a game and was captain of The World-Herald All-Nebraska team.
He signed a letter of intent with UNO in November of his senior year at Papillion-La Vista.
Albers knows that he won't have a scholarship at Nebraska for the coming season because the Huskers already are one over the limit of 13, which must be reached by the start of the fall semester.
As for earning one in the future, more detail on that could come at today's meeting with Sadler.
“I'm going to work my tail off and try to prove to everyone that I can get on scholarship,'' Albers said. “I'm just looking to be a contributor.
“Whatever Coach Sadler wants me to do, I'll do it. I just want to help the Huskers win some games.''
Contact the writer:
444-1024, lee.barfknecht@owh.com
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