Pipe dream becomes a reality for Beranek

LINCOLN — Paul Beranek loves his son, and had coached him at Ravenna High School, but even he had to wonder.

Drake Beranek was leaving a sure thing at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he averaged 20 points per game as one of the top players in Division II. He was walking on at Nebraska, where he’d have to sit out for a year and then see if he could make a one-season contribution as a senior playing in one of the best leagues in Division I.

“He had a hankering to be a Division I player, and it was his pipe dream,” Paul Beranek said. “As parents, you’re not going to stand in the way, because a kid ought to follow his dream. But as a coach, you’re a little more realistic … ‘I hope it works out. I’m rooting for you.’

“You wonder if maybe he’s just going to be a guy who would be a practice player there.”

It’s no secret any more, though. The young fella’s hankering had some foundation.

No longer the scoring star he was at UNK, the 6-foot-4, 200-pound Beranek is nonetheless a solid off-the-bench contributor for a 6-2 Nebraska team that welcomes Alcorn State to the Devaney Center for a 7 p.m. game Wednesday.

In 13.8 minutes per game, Beranek averages 4.9 points and 1.6 rebounds while shooting 55.2 percent (16 of 29) from the field. He’s made 5 of 14 attempts from 3-point range.

If he wasn’t already sure when he arrived in Lincoln, he got a handle on what he might be able to do during practice last season.

“The year off really gave me a pretty good judgment of where I could be,” Beranek said. “The way practices were going, I felt like I had a pretty good shot of maybe seeing some playing time.”

Though the Division I phase of Beranek’s playing career is only eight games old, he’s long since earned the trust and confidence of coaches and teammates.

“Every time Drake is open, I make sure I get it to him, because I know he’s lights-out from 3,” point guard Lance Jeter said. “Getting open looks for him is going to help us even more. He left a good program to come help us and give us a chance.

“It would have been hard to sit out, practice and not play like that, but Drake had a great mind about it, a great energy about it. And that’s what you get in the real games — a senior who is going to step up. He’s a guy you can count on, and that’s how he’s been since he got here.”

Beranek showed in practices last season a strong work ethic and enough talent to get on the floor. He earned a scholarship for this season.

“He just brings positive energy,” Nebraska coach Doc Sadler said. “It’s going to take him some time (to hit his stride) — he sat out a whole year. But he brings energy and toughness — and we all know we could use somebody to step up and hit a shot sometimes. When he shoots the ball, you think it’s got a chance to go in.”

Beranek downplays the unusual route that has made him part of the Husker playing rotation.

“I think I’ve always had pretty good fundamentals, and that’s the one thing that doesn’t change when you go from one level to another,” he said. “The quickness, the speed, the athleticism ... those are all different, but the fundamentals stay the same. Put the ball in the hole, take care of the basketball and make smart plays ... that’s what I focus on.”

At UNK, Beranek certainly had the shooting and ballhandling ability required to play on the perimeter. Because of the nature of Division II — for the most part, players are smaller — he was more power forward than shooting guard. But playing strictly outside hasn’t been a major adjustment.

“Basketball is basketball, and I like playing it,” Beranek said. “It doesn’t matter which position I’m at. I’ll play 5, 1, 2 — it doesn’t matter. As long as I can throw my body around and maybe make a couple of shots, that’s fine. Scoring points isn’t a priority for me — I just want to win.”

There have been some adjustments. Matching up with players like lightning-quick, 5-8 USC point guard Maurice Jones, as he did for a while in a Nov. 27 Nebraska win, is a case in point.

“If I ever guarded anyone that small before, it was my little cousin,” Beranek said. “Now my little cousin is pretty good, but he’s a fifth-grader and he’s not quite as quick as that guy was.”

Improving his defensive work is just one part of the game on which Beranek has focused.

“If there’s one thing I’ve probably gotten a lot better at, it’s my on-ball defense,” he said. “You’ve got no choice down here ... you’ve got to defend or you ain’t playing.”

Before UNK, Beranek was a small-school star at Ravenna. He signed with UNK before his senior season. Maybe things would have been different if he’d waited.

“I don’t know if that was the right decision or not, but at the time it worked out pretty well for me and I owe a lot to the coaches there,” Beranek said of going to UNK. “I’m not going to go back and look at every choice I’ve made. … It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if I hadn’t signed.”

What does dad think about how things have turned out?

“The reality of it is, all those players are really, really good,” Paul Beranek said. “I’m pleasantly surprised at what he’s done.”