Postin Up with Lance Jeter

With a roster full of new faces, what better time to bring back Huskeronline.com's weekly feature Postin' Up, where we get to know players on the Nebraska basketball team off of the court. This week we start with junior point guard Lance Jeter. A native of Beaver Falls, Pa., Jeter has a taste for the finer things in life, particularly regarding fashion. He also talks about getting his high school jersey retired this year as well as the chances of playing two sports.

HI: I've been told you're somewhat of a shoe aficionado. How many pairs do you actually own at the moment?

LJ: "Well, I couldn't take them all on the plane (to Lincoln), but right now I've got 15 at my apartment here. Back home, it's over 30 pairs. Definitely more Jordans than anything. I love Jordans. I just bought some a couple days ago. Two pairs, actually. I just love shoes. I love every type of shoe. If it fits my fashion, then I'm going to get it."

HI: How does a guy start liking shoes that much?

LJ: "It started just where I'm from. Where I'm from, you've got to look good. You want to look good. I've got some teammates like Eshaunte Jones, he's like me. He loves to shop, and we shop together. Chris Balham loves to shop. We're just trying to get on our grown and sexy, I guess."

HI: I see. So I'm assuming when you guys went out to L.A. to play USC earlier this year you took advantage of some of the shopping out there. What was the first thing you did when you guys got off the plane?

LJ: "We wanted to look for the malls, but we had to play the next day so we couldn't go to no malls. But in Vegas (for the Las Vegas Classic), we was out and about. We was at the Louis (Vuitton) store, the Gucci store. We was everywhere in Vegas. It's just fashion. I love to shop. It's habit I can't get rid of."

HI: One last fashion-related question. Tell me about the importance of having the right baseball hat to match your shoes.

LJ: "Oh definitely. You always got to have the shoes match with the hat, match with the shirt and match with the jeans. It's just something that me, Bear (Jones) and all them always do. I love hats. When I've got the money, I buy at least three hats at a time. I've got enough hats in my room right now, it's ridiculous. In my free time, if it's not basketball or school work, I'm at the mall."

HI: A few months ago you had your No. 34 jersey retired back at Beaver Falls High School. You joined some pretty elite company there, right?

LJ: "Joe Namath got his retired for football and I got mine retired for basketball. That's just an honor to have my name next to his like that. I'm grateful and very pleased that I got a chance to get that done. My little cousin, I gave him a chance to get the number this year, and he's doing the number proud and hopefully he can do something with it."

HI: They put on a pretty nice ceremony for you, I assmume?

LJ: "Before a high school game, I was on the field and they showed the jersey in a case next to a Nebraska jersey to show where I was going. It was just a big thing. My whole family was there, and I was very thankful it happened."

HI: Considering you and Broadway Joe are the only two athletes to have your jersey retired, you must have been a pretty big deal out there by the time you graduated?

LJ: "I definitely was. There were a lot of big games when I was in high school, and we came out on the good end in some of them, so that was a big part of it. But also just being a part of the community - playing with the little kids or just doing things for the community. That's what I try to do when I get back home, because that's where I'm from and I love that place to death. Every time I go back I'm trying to do stuff in the community and help the people that have been supporting me since I was little."

HI: Some people might not know you originally signed with Cincinnati to play football as a wide receiver. Do you ever miss football?

LJ: "Oh yeah, I miss it all the time. I missed it when I watched Cincinnati play Florida. Even though the outcome was bad, it just showed the hard work they put in the whole year to go that far. I'm really proud of the them, because they really worked hard for that."

HI: Do you still keep in touch with any of those guys at Cincy?

LJ: "Oh yeah, I definitely talk to them, especially on Facebook. I talk to them a lot. It was unfortunate with the coaching situation. It happened to me my freshman year, and that's one of the reason why I left. So they were already used to that, and it just showed the will power and what they are mentally. They went out there and gave there all for Cincinnati."

HI: Ever thought about walking on here at Nebraska?

LJ: "We'll see."

HI: You've seriously thought about it?

LJ: "Yeah. I've got to wait until all this basketball stuff is over. This year's getting close to being over and I've got next year, and after that we'll see. Right now, I'm just focused on playing basketball, because I want to get the basketball team to the tournament."