UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 24, Page 3
March 19, 1992
Positive attitude;  Seniors say Hens have a few more games to play

     The large crowd in the Scrounge was breaking up Sunday night, after the
announcement and press conference on Delaware's match-up Friday with the
Bearcats of the University of Cincinnati.
     As senior Steve Lubas looked up at the big screen television, the names
of major college basketball powers-like Notre Dame, Villanova and Virginia-
were being displayed. They had not made the NCAA tournament, and this year
they were staying home while the Blue Hens were making their travel
arrangements.
     "Big names don't mean anything," said the 6'2" business administration
major. "It's how you play that counts, not what your team did in the past."
     If school hoop history were the deciding factor, the Blue Hens would be
waving good-bye at the station, but this year's team and its ever-increasing
laundry list of records put the Hens on the right track to make the 64-team
tourney.
     While microphones and television lights were being packed away, Lubas
and fellow senior captain Rob Jackson spoke with calm confidence about the
team's intention to give its fans a few more surprises.
     "It's good to be going somewhere," Jackson said. He and Lubas are the
only two seniors who are not part of the starting five.  "Every year since
I've been here, we've wanted this. Our goal is to go to the NCAA and play
like we did in the NAC ([North Atlantic Conference)]."
     But can the Hens win in the big leagues?
     "Oh, yeah!" Jackson replied. "It's all in your attitude. If you have a
losing attitude, you might as well not even go."
     Referring to the Blue Hens'  seed, Lubas said, "Thirteen is my lucky
number. Good things happen to me when that number shows up, so I'm happy with
our seed. I'm glad for two reasons: first that we're going, and second that
everybody will be able to see what athletes from the U. of D. can do."
     "We're just going to keep playing well, and we're not going to change
anything," Jackson said. "If it's not broke, don't fix it. That's gotten us
to where we are today."
     The present not only includes the longest winning streak in the 64-team
tournament-at 20 in a row-but a 27-3 season and matching the highest seed of
any NAC team, which was Northeastern in 1987.
     When the two players were asked to remember the last time they had lost
a game, their perplexed looks gave way to smiles.
     "Rutgers," Jackson stammered, searching for the correct answer. "I don't
even know the date or the team."
     "Bucknell," Lubas offered with hesitation. "But I couldn't tell what
month it was."
     "It's a great feeling not to know," Jackson added.
     The correct answer is the 101-78 Jan. 4 road loss to Rutgers University.
     Both players agreed that the Delaware State game, in December, was the
low point of the season.
     "But it seems like years ago," Jackson said."It doesn't even seem like
we played them this season."
     "It doesn't even seem like it happened," Lubas said.
     As second-level seniors, the two young men comfortably acknowledge that
a large proportion of their time has been spent on the bench. But, they
added, that's the case only during the game.
     According to Lubas, he and Jackson and the rest of the team have been
playing against the NAC champions every day in practice.
     "Starting is not the most important thing," Lubas explained. "Sometimes,
you have to realize there is always someone better than you, but those people
need to be helped, and we do that by pushing them, every day in practice."
     The quality of the bench also shows the depth of the players at
Delaware, Lubas explained. He recalled conversations with other team members
who realized they would be starters if they were playing instead for some of
Delaware's opponents.
     Jackson said you never know when you'll be called off the bench. "You
have to be ready at all times. You never know what night is your night. You
have to always be prepared and work hard."
     "You can't quit on yourself," Lubas said. "You have to play every day in
practice, and work your butt off, to show the coach that you have what you
need in order to play."
     "Whenever you get in, it's a total rush. And when the coach calls,"
Jackson said, "you're a little bit pumped, but you have to calm down. But at
the NCAAs, I'll be more than pumped."
     Lubas attributes the successful season to talent, a positive attitude
and the team's ability to focus on one game at a time. He said he was so
confident of winning the conference that he wore a tuxedo to the Field House
the night of the Drexel game.
     "It was a given," he said. "I didn't know by how much or by what
circumstances, but I knew we would win."
     Both players wanted to thank the fans for rooting them on throughout the
season. Lubas said, "Tell them to come to the Scrounge and watch the game,
and tell them, 'Thank you.' "
     During the press conference, another of the team's senior captains Mark
Murray told the crowd, "We've still got a couple more games to play this
season."
     The campus will find out the accuracy of that prediction at 3 p.m.,
Friday, on CBS-TV.  Rumor has it that Lubas has packed his tuxedo, and he
plans to put it on more than once.
     -Ed Okonowicz