Beranek biding his time at Nebraska

LINCOLN — Drake Beranek doesn't get to suit up for Nebraska men's basketball games this season. Or sit on the bench. Or travel.

But the transfer from the University of Nebraska at Kearney was required to take part in Wednesday's 5 a.m. practice after a loss to Colorado, and in Friday's 5:30 a.m. practice before the Huskers left for Saturday's regular-season finale at Oklahoma State.

Sound unfair?

Just try to get a complaint out of the senior from Ravenna, Neb., who says he is living a dream since forgoing a scholarship at UNK last summer to walk on with no promises at Nebraska.

“I heard a pretty good quote the other day — life is about minimizing regret,'' Beranek said Friday. “So far, this has been a good decision in minimizing regret.

“It was a tough decision. But things are good, and I hope they continue on into next season.''

Beranek sparkled in Division II basketball for three seasons at UNK. The 6-foot-4, 185-pounder was a three-time all-conference pick and two-time all-region. Last year, he was 11th nationally in scoring at 21.9 points.

Still, the lifelong Nebraska fan wondered how he might do as a Husker, so he got in touch with coach Doc Sadler.

“I didn't know anything about Drake when he showed up,'' Sadler said Friday. “Since he has been here, I've been nothing but impressed.

“He's probably the best thing that has happened to us all year.''

Sadler said Beranek's enthusiasm and ability have helped in practice during a long season at Nebraska (14-16, 2-13).

“He has worked extremely hard,'' Sadler said. “And with not many seniors next year, I'm not for sure he won't be a leader.

“Drake is a lot like Paul Velander. Not to put any pressure on him, but people seem to follow guys like that.''

Velander, a walk-on guard the previous five years, earned the Huskers' most valuable player award in 2008-09 for his 3-point shooting, his dirty work on defense, his smarts and his sunny disposition. He is still on campus taking graduate courses.

“I made a point to meet Paul Velander,'' Beranek said. “I have some buddies who are big Nebraska basketball followers, and I'd hear from them, ‘Man, Paul is stroking the 3 and taking all these charges.'

“That's something I hope I can bring to the team next year. I don't want to say I'm going to be Paul Velander Jr. But I wanted to meet him so I could see how he took those charges and where he got open 3s.''

Husker coaches say Beranek has more than held his own in practice this season.

“I've learned a lot from seeing how hard everybody works,'' Beranek said. “I had heard rumors about, ‘Hey, Doc's a crazy man in practice.'

“We had some pretty intense practices at Kearney, but this is a couple of notches up. That 5 a.m. practice Wednesday was tough, but it was needed. We got some toughness, and everybody responded well.''