Shatel: Perfection not the biggest prize

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As they walked in and out of their locker room at stately Municipal Auditorium, the Nebraska women’s basketball team was greeted with a sign on the door:

“I am out to beat everybody in sight and that is just what I am going to do.’’ — Babe Didrikson Zaharias, Olympic gold medalist.

Yeah, but the Babe never had to coach the Big 12 tournament.

The Huskers won their 30th game of the season on Friday. That’s 30-0, for all of you living in a men’s hoops cave. They have this thing about winning. They like it. They want to win them all. Yes, that includes you, Connecticut.

Connie Yori likes to win, too. But she’s paid to make sure this special team gets to UConn in one piece.

Which brings us to the dilemma that is the Big 12 tourney, or whatever that word is that Yori used.

“It provides a certain conundrum,’’ Yori said.

The Nebraska coach is finding out what every coach from Roy Williams to Sherri Coale has had to deal with: The Big 12 tourney means nothing. Unless you’re on the NCAA bubble and need to win one or two games, it’s a series of exhibition games. It’s for the fans. The vendors. The people across the street who hawk $10 cups of cheer.

You don’t go 30-0 worrying about things that can go wrong. But at some point, that’s what coaches get paid to do.

“We want to play well here,’’ Yori said after her club dismissed short-handed Kansas State 63-46 to win its first Big 12 tourney game in five years. “We haven’t won here in a long time. But now our goal is to get out of here healthy.’’

Coaches of conference champions with nothing else to prove don’t mind getting out of Kansas City early. But the dilemma — conundrum? — is that you don’t want to mess with success or douse the flame that fueled the 30-0 run.

What to do? You tweak. And pray.

“We’re going to play a lot of players today,’’ Yori said. “We’re not going to go with our normal player rotations. We want to make sure we’re fresh for next week.

“This tournament is great for the fans, great for the game and the exposure it gives us. But there’s bigger things to come for this team. We’ve already won the Big 12. The Kansas men go through this all the time. It’s a tough balance.’’

That doesn’t mean Kelsey Griffin, Vonnie Turner and the regulars are going to hold anything back. But don’t look for them to go more than 30 minutes or even 25 minutes Saturday.

What about history? There’s that conundrum again. The chance to go through a college basketball season undefeated is a chance for immortality. When you have that chance, don’t you take it?

I’m with Yori on this one. In a sport where Connecticut, Tennessee and others have gone undefeated before, getting to the Final Four would mean immortality for Nebraska’s ladies.

So it’s not exactly like the Indianapolis Colts resting the starters the last two weeks of the regular season — and yes, I went there.

“But they ended up going to the Super Bowl,’’ Yori said of the Colts. “If Peyton (Manning) had gotten hurt, they may not have gone. It’s a tough deal. But we have a lot of different players who can help us. We’ll use them and see if we can win.’’

Two things will no doubt go into Yori’s thinking Saturday. One, Texas A&M is a physical, rough-and-tumble outfit. The Aggies don’t care if Griffin or Cory Montgomery get to a Final Four. Second, NU accomplished a mission already, in some ways.

“When we were setting up our goals before the season, one of our biggest goals was to win one game at the Big 12 tournament, because we hadn’t done it in so long,’’ Griffin said.

“We’re not really thinking about being undefeated. We want to win every game. But I have total trust and faith in whatever Coach Yori does.’’

Turner added, “We understand what (Yori) is doing but we don’t see it that way. We’re hungry. We want to win every game. But I know that whoever we have in there will give it 110 percent, like we all do.’’

Yori plays eight people. But a game like this, against a deep Aggie team that wants some revenge for an 11-point loss in Lincoln, won’t be easy. It’s the kind of game that might require the starters going deep into the game.

Interesting scene after the game. When asked about this season, Yori said, “This is a rarity — I might coach another 30 years and never have another season like this one.’’ But she was talking about a No. 1 national seed and a shot at the Final Four more than going undefeated.

Then there was Griffin, asked once again about the possibility of playing No. 1 UConn down the road in San Antonio: “I feel incredibly humble to be mentioned with that team. But we have so many games, scouts, practices left before that. We don’t want to overlook any other teams. I want this season to go on forever.’’

The Huskers know where they are. It will be interesting to see where they are Saturday night — driving home or getting ready to play for another trophy.

Contact the writer:

444-1025, tom.shatel@owh.com

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