Coming from a small high school to the University of Nebraska hasn't fazed Nicole Kubik. In fact, she's become one of the top guards in the country. Here's how she got there.

As a point guard at the diminutive Cambridge (Neb.) High School (enrollment 99), Nicole Kubik helped lead her team to three state titles. She was the second-leading scorer in Nebraska's girls' prep history with a remarkable 2,179 points, and in her senior year, Kubik was named to the Super-State, all-state, and all-class teams. Her college career has been no less illustrious.

The point guard for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, this 5'10" dynamo capped her senior season with numerous honors. She earned first-team all-Big 12 Conference and Big 12 all-tournament honors by averaging 17.4 points per game, 5.1 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and a Big 12-leading 3.5 steals per game while leading Nebraska to its third consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. Kubik ranks ninth on the NCAA Division I all-time list with 418 career steals. She ranks second all-time at Nebraska with 563 career assists and fourth on the Huskers' all-time scoring list with 1,867 points.

In this interview, Kubik talks to Gball about what it was like to play alongside her sister, what makes a good defensive player, and the challenges of playing at the collegiate level.

I noticed that your field goal shooting percentage was down this season. Was that a concern for you? Are you doing anything to work on this aspect of your game?
You know, the funny thing is that I can sit in the gym all day and shoot, and shoot a very high percentage. But when you get into the game, when the shot clock is running down, when you have to make something happen, or the teams are keying in on you a lot, it makes it much more difficult to make a higher percentage. Yeah, it is a concern of mine, but it's just something that I'm going to have to work on during the game. I can't really practice it during practice.

I'll always believe that I'm a good shooter, though, no matter if I shoot 10 percent or 80 percent. I like to shoot, and if the opportunity is there, and if I feel I'm open, it's going up. I have enough confidence in my teammates that if I miss it, they're going to get the rebound and put it back in for me. It's just one of those things that as long as I don't lose confidence, then I'll be okay.

You were named first-team Defensive All-American by The Women's Basketball Journal. What, in your opinion, makes a good defensive player?
A lot of things go into it. I think the reason I got the honor, for the most part, was because I led the nation in steals. If you get steals, that's great. It's one of those stats that shows up. But what I think really makes a good defensive player is internal. It's taking pride in saying, "I'm not going to let my girl score. No matter what happens the rest of this game, if I don't let my girl score, then we have a good shot of winning." And it's taking pride in help-defense. I don't think people realize how important help-defense is, and you don't really get recognized for stuff like that. But as long as you realize, yourself, that what you're doing is for the best of the team, that's what makes someone a great defensive player.

So maybe players shouldn't be looking at their stats as much as where they're helping out and where they're putting pressure on.
Yeah. Because you may get a lot of steals, but you may also gamble a lot. For every steal you get, they might get a layup. So steals can't really determine whether you are a great defensive player or not. It helps, but what really determines a great defensive player is somebody who is going to put a lot of pressure on the ball and really create havoc for the other team.

Do you have any suggestions for high school players on ways that they can improve their defensive skills?
To be honest, when I was in high school I didn't really play defense. I averaged probably seven or eight steals a game, but that was also [partly because of] the talent [I had] and being better than everybody else I was playing against. But as far as improving your defensive game, I think the most important thing is wanting to play defense. You can be quick as you want to be and technically sound, but if you don't want to play defense, it's not going to happen for you. A lot of defense is heart. You might get your feet tangled up every once in a while, but if you have enough heart to get back into position, that's the number one thing right there.

Did you find that making the transition to collegiate ball was difficult?
Really, I fell into a pretty good situation. My sister played here, so when I came in my freshman year she was a junior. She showed me the ropes, helped me out with some of the concepts that I wasn't really catching on to--you know defense, help-side. I never knew what help-side was until I got to college. Just little things like that.

But the transition school-wise is tough, and it really helps if you have somebody there that you know to help you out. I think that's what teammates are all about. If I didn't have Jami, my sister, here with me, I would have gone up to one of my upperclass teammates and been like, "Hey, I'm struggling. Help me out here."

For a lot of players coming out of high school, you were the bomb. You were everything on your team. But you should really take a step back and realize that you don't know everything. Ask for help. It doesn't mean that you're stupid or that you're a bad player, it just means that you want to learn that much faster. And the faster you learn, the faster you catch on and the better you're going to be able to start your career.

What was it like playing on the same team as your older sister?
It was a lot of fun. I would not have changed anything for the world. We spent a lot of time talking basketball, which was great. That made me a better player. And I still talk to her pretty much every day. I'm always telling her, "This happened in practice. What do I need to do to get better?" And she's honest with me. She can flat out say, "Nicole you were horrible today," and it doesn't bother me that she says that, because I know she's giving me the honest truth and she's trying to help me become a better player.

Did you discover any differences between the quality of the game at the high school and college levels?
In college, the game is a lot quicker, the athletes are a lot stronger, and they're all good. And in high school, you probably had some teammates who just weren't basketball players--who were just out for the social part of it. But once you get to college everybody is good.

And what about the practices?
It's a lot more intense. I was used to practicing two hours a day in high school, and here you're on the court for at least three hours a lot of the days. Plus, you have to come in an hour early to get taped and stay a half hour afterwards to get treatment. It's just a real time consuming thing and it's something that you really have to love doing to get through it, I think.

Did you find it difficult balancing the athletics and the academics in this more intensive environment?
It was challenging, but I think if during your freshman year you learn the right way to manage your time, it works out. Like right now, as a senior, it's not a problem for me. It's just something I'm used to. It's something that I struggled with my freshman year and got out of the way, so it's natural now. If I went to being just a college student I'd go crazy. [Being a student-athlete is] time consuming and a lot of times you complain, "Man can we have a day off?" But if you have more than one day off, you don't know what to do. You're bored.

How do road trips affect your time management?
The good thing for us is that we have at least a month and a half or so before we even start practice so that you can get used to your classes. But when we're on the road, [at Nebraska] we have great academic support. There are so many people that want to help you, and as long as you're willing to ask for help, it's really hard to fail at anything. If we're on the road and I want somebody to sit in my classes, they have somebody sit in my class for me. And when I get back, they explain everything that happened while I was gone. And a lot of the professors understand. They're really content to say, "Okay, I understand that you're going to be gone. Just meet me when you get back and we'll catch up on some things." And that's really helpful.

You were originally recruited by Nebraska's former head coach Angela Beck, and then Paul Sanderford took over after your freshman year. Was it difficult thinking you'd play for one coach, then having a new coach after only one year?
I didn't get recruited by many schools, and when I was growing up, I always wanted to come here. So when I think back, I'll always be grateful for Coach Beck recruiting me here. My freshman year I came out and won a starting spot right away. But when Coach Sanderford arrived, I had to compete for that spot all over again. And I really welcomed that challenge.

I can honestly say that I wouldn't be the player that I am today without Coach Sanderford being at this university and without that competition again my sophomore year. There were tons of reasons why I could have just become complacent. I could have been like, "I've got my starting spot, that's all I need." But instead I competed all over again for it, and every year since then I've come into the season thinking I have to compete for a starting spot. And that's made me the player that I am today.

As a starting senior, do you take a leadership role on the team?
I'm trying to. It's not really in my nature to be very vocal, so it's something that I'm continuing to struggle with. For us to be a better team, I realize that I'm going to have to be more [outspoken]. I understand a lot of what is going on in the game, and I need to share that with the team.

It's just one of those things where you have to have a goal each day in practice, and the thing I'm trying to concentrate on is trying to say anything. It might be wrong, it might be off-the-wall stupid, but as long as I'm talking it's just going to make me better able to [speak up] in a game.

Do you have aspirations to play in the WNBA or in Europe?
It's really hard for me right now, because I'm trying to figure all that out. My number-one goal, of course, is to make the WNBA. And if that doesn't happen, I want to continue playing basketball. But I also want to coach basketball. And so to get a coaching job, the best decision for me might be to start coaching right away, while people still know my name a little bit. I don't exclude the possibility of going overseas. I've been overseas twice playing basketball already. A lot of people think it would be really difficult to do that, but the more I go over there, the easier it is.

What has been the best part of playing college ball and being a student-athlete at Nebraska?
I'd say one of the greatest things is that we have such a big budget and it has allowed us to take a lot of trips. I've been to France. I've been to Italy. We've been to Hawai'i twice. Places like those I really don't think I would have ever visited if it wasn't for basketball. We were in Times Square on December 30th, and then on December 31st we were in California watching it on TV. I mean it goes so fast. You're there, then you leave, and then you're seeing it [from somewhere else] that next day. That just amazes me sometimes. I've taken so many memories from everywhere we've gone.

Interview conducted December, 1999, by Gball Assistant Editor Shelly Wilson