Huskers Celebrate 2008-09 at Year-End Banquet

Lincoln --- The Nebraska men’s basketball team gathered one last time to celebrate a successful 2008-09 campaign on Wednesday at the Huskers’ year-ending banquet. The 325 people in attendance, including Rebounders Club members and fans, joined the team and support staff at Lincoln Station in Haymarket Park to honor the Husker squad that reached the postseason for the second consecutive year under coach Doc Sadler.

Some of the team’s highlights this season included:

?         Earning a postseason berth in consecutive seasons for the first time in a decade

?         Reaching the 18-win plateau for the second straight year

?         Recording five victories over postseason teams (15-of-31 games played were vs. postseason squads)

?         Posting an 8-8 record in Big 12 Conference play, the first time NU has reached .500 in league action since 1998

?         Leading the Big 12 in scoring defense for the second straight season, including the best defense in conference-only games

?         Ranking among the top 25 in the nation for scoring defense, turnover margin, turnovers per game and steals per game

 

During Wednesday night’s program, Sadler singled out the 2008-09 senior class of Ade Dagunduro, Steve Harley, Nick Krenk and Paul Velander as the foundation behind the Huskers’ success, not only this season but throughout Sadler’s three-year tenure.

“During my time here at Nebraska, the players have worked so hard to build this program and leave it on solid footing when they graduate, and this senior class is no different,” Sadler said. “These guys will have as much to do with our future success as anyone playing next year or down the road.

“Each of them brought something to the court, but more importantly they all combined to provide the leadership we needed and they showed others how to go about their business the right way. Husker fans may remember them for the wins, but I’ll remember them just as much for being good people who worked hard every time they stepped on the court.”

Dagunduro led the team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and was a third-team All-Big 12 selection in 2008-09. He (coaches) and junior Ryan Anderson (sports writers) were each selected to Big 12 All-Defense teams, while Velander was honored by the writers as he was part of the Big 12 All-Bench Team.

Velander was also honored Wednesday by Sadler as the winner of the Jack Moore Award, given annually to team’s most valuable player.

Velander paced the Huskers’ long-range effort in 2009, which included the fifth-highest team total (206 3-pointers) in school history. NU also ranked in the top 10 in school history by hitting 36.1 percent from 3-point range as a team, including Velander’s team- and career-best 40.0 percent from beyond the arc.

On the season, Velander finished with career bests in treys (60) and 3-point percentage (40.0) to rank among the Big 12 leaders. The Blacksburg, Va., native also ended his career ranked in the NU top 10 for 3-pointers (128) and 3-point percentage (38.9).

Maximizing his playing time as a senior, Velander posted 717 minutes on the court in 2008-09 after entering the season with 777 minutes played over the previous four years. He scored 221 points on the year (7.1 ppg), nearly matching the 247 points he had scored entering his senior campaign.

Velander led by example as a senior when he finished the year by taking 27 charges, half of the team total of 54 charges on the season. If the statistic were officially recognized by the NCAA, it’s likely he would have led the nation in charges in 2008-09.

The Huskers’ MVP award is named for the late Jack Moore, a 5-9 playmaker who set 17 NU school records in a career that ended in 1982. Moore was presented with the 1982 Francis Pomeroy-Naismith Award as the best collegiate player in the nation under six feet tall. A consensus All-Big Eight performer in 1982, Moore was killed in a plane crash in March of 1984. Nebraska honored Moore’s memory earlier this season, as it held Jack Moore Day on Feb. 7, when the Huskers defeated No. 16 Texas on ESPN.