Tonight, Paul Velander will play in his first NIT game for Nebraska, which hosts Charlotte at 8 in a first-round game.
BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 7:00 pm
Paul Velander gave a quick inspection of the Devaney Sports Center court before Tuesday’s practice. Missing, as of early afternoon, was an NIT emblem.
“We’d better get one,” Velander said, smiling.
Funny what people remember about college basketball when they were 9.
For Velander, a Blacksburg, Va., native, those memories include a court decorated with NIT logos.
That was in 1995, when hometown Virginia Tech won the postseason men’s basketball tournament. Velander attended a couple of those home games.
“As a kid, I didn’t really know what the difference was between the NCAA and NIT,” Velander said. “I thought it was the best thing.”
Tonight, Velander will play in his first NIT game for Nebraska, which hosts Charlotte at 8 in a first-round game.
That’s not even the best part. When Sunday’s NIT brackets were released, Velander’s eye quickly zoomed to the top of Nebraska’s quarter of the 32-team bracket.
Virginia Tech.
“We have to take care of business, but …” Velander said, careful to blurt out his wishes.
Nebraska and Virginia Tech, the No. 1 seed in the region, would meet in Blacksburg, should both teams win two games.
“I’m not going to lie. I’ve thought about it,” said Velander, who still has some family and friends around Blacksburg. “But that obviously can’t come true unless we win and they win.”
Velander figures to have a say in holding up Nebraska’s end of the deal.
A junior walk-on guard, Velander has given the Huskers a spark from long range over Nebraska’s last six games. In that stretch, he’s 14-of-30 from three-point range (46.6 percent).
In Nebraska’s 10 games prior to that, Velander had only two three-pointers, on 14 attempts.
Velander pointed to two factors in his emergence — coaches’ offensive sets in getting shooters open looks, and improved confidence.
“As a shooter, you have to have confidence,” he said. “Sometimes, throughout the course of a season, when you miss a few shots, the next one you become tighter on because you missed the last one.
“If you’re feeling it, it’s a lot easier to let them go. Obviously, as a shooter, you want to have that mentality regardless of whether you missed the last one.”
Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said “messed up” rotations often times meant Velander was the odd player out. That changed when Cookie Miller was injured Feb. 23 at Texas A&M and missed three games.
Before Miller’s injury, Velander was averaging seven minutes a game in Big 12 play. He’s averaged 19 minutes since.
“I’ve always said Paul is an unusual kid and brings so much to this team with shooting the basketball, and we had to find ways to get him the minutes,” Sadler said. “He deserved to play all along.”
Of course, a hotter hand helped Velander see more time, too. Even with Miller back in the lineup, Velander logged 22 minutes and five threes against Colorado, and 19 minutes and three threes against Kansas.
“Coach is going to go with what works,” Velander said. “If something’s working, then that’s what it’s going to be.”
Briefly
* Gates will open at 6 p.m. to allow fans to pick up tickets. That’s 30 minutes earlier than normal. As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, roughly 8,100 tickets had been sold.
* With a victory tonight, Nebraska would play at Mississippi or host UC-Santa Barbara in the second round. That game would be Friday, Saturday or Monday.
* Nebraska has 16 home victories, but only 15 at the Devaney Sports Center, two short of the season school record. The Huskers’ neutral-site victory over Oregon counted as a home game.
n Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz, on 49ers senior guard Leemire Goldwire, who has 126 three-pointers this season: “He wants the big shot. He doesn’t shy away from big situations, and he comes through more times than he doesn’t.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.