'PAGE STX THE MICHIGAN DAILY SATURDAY. JANUARY 20. 19RR PAGE SIX THE MICHIGAN DAILY ~ATTTRflAV IANTTTAI?.V 9db 1G~Q ca.v---u *- u.JU'IJ JMX u , ,,FO 5 Houston vs.UCLA: Lew's Eye and'E' By The Associated Press HOUSTON, Tex.-Lew Alcindor, scratched eye and all, received word to hit the boards Saturday- making the UCLA-Houston bas- ketball game the classic everyone expects. His vision, however, still was re- ported to be less than good. The 7-foot-1 star of the undefeated Bruins spent a couple of days in the UCLA eye clinic for treatment. But when bandages same offa Friday, doctors said he was well enough to play before the largest college basketball crowd in history "-probably 55,000 in the Astro- dome. The game will be telecast nationally starting at 9 p.m. EST in some places and 9:30 p.m. in others depending on network com- mitments.w Alcindor, Player of the Year, last ELVIN HAYES season as a sophomore, can't be at TONIGHT AGAINST OHIO STATE: .,V Cers, Stewart Put to Troubled by'Star'Image, Stewart Seeks New Look By HOWARD KOHN Dennis Stewart, an enigma to many who once thought he was an All-America basketball stereo- type, doesn't understand losing. "I was used to being a win- ner," admits Stewart, who spur- red his senior year high school team to second place in the Pennsylvania state finals. He came to Michigan (the last in a long list of universities he visited) one year after the Wol- verines had been mighty, had been loyal and true blue to the credo of champions, working LEW ALCINDOR peak condition. The only practice he's had since injuring the eye a week ago is a couple of laps around the court and a few half- hearted shots at the basket:- The return of Alcindor took some of the spotlight off the Uni- versity of Houston star, Elvin Hayes, who has spent his career! OPENINGS CHILD CAR -HAWTHO1 Work-Experience Opport Disturbed Children. Hawthorn Center offers n opportunity to work direct in n crentive well-sunervi, laboring in the shadow of Alcindor. 24-20. But UCLA stalked off with their magic in every sport and But the 6-foot-8 All-America an easy 73-58 triumph. especially in basketball. He may from Houston has no animosity " h he's in there," s have expected too much. I hoe h's i thresaid for the big guy from UCLA. Hayes (the Big E) who forms the Especially in basketball. Last year in the semifinals of backbone of the attack for the Michigan didn't r e m a i n aE the NCAA national championships, Cougars. champion long, finishing last, Hayes won his personal duel with dead last, in Stewart's first year vlcindor, outscoring him 25-19 "It's not a personal thing, like on the varsity last season. Left and beating him on the boards it was the last time we played. alive was only an eight-game con- It's just that we don't want to ference losing streak, extended to play them when they're down." 10 this year. OR"We're a better team now than What happens when a team FOR M ALE we were then," Houston coach Guy starts losing? Lis said. "But they are, too. "Everyone starts playing for E WORKERS yre probably the estrcolle himself, trying to run up hisl team ever put together." totals. Nobody passes off," an- swers Stewart. Lewis pushed the Cougars But what happened to Dennis wit through a closed-door drill at the Stewart, who averaged nearly 18 unity with Emotionally Astrodome Thursday, but said he points per game until the Wol- has no secrets in preparation. verines hit their dead-end skids? "I figured it, would be hard "I guess I sort of gave up. All nature students a unique enough to keep the team's atten- of a sudden I was only scoring ly with disturbed children tion in that place even with no 10 or so a game. I deserved to get sed in- ti ti+t I one around," he said. i benched when I did. "When everything's going good, I play well. When it isn't I just seem not to care." Critics have argued, certainly, that perhaps Michigan didn't do well because Stewart didn't. But it is hardly that simple. Stewart, admittedly, is not an All-American yet. And maybe le will never be an All-American. But he isn't a self-virtuous stereo- type, either. Talking freely about himself and about Michigan, his answers bespeak the lonely courage of human honesty. "Sure, I'm having a lousy year," he acknowledges. Though he scored 21 points in last Sat- urday's loss to Michigan State, he has been benched-in a sense- for tonight's game with Ohio State. Long-maligned for his lack of aggression under the boards, Stewart has been moved out of! the pivot into the corner by coach Dave Strack. He will alternate with Bill Fraumann, a more rug- ged rebounder. "I don't like playing with my back to the basket. I think this change will be for the better," he reasons, realizing that he is officially now the sixth man on the team. "We may have hampered him' by making him play the post," agrees Strack. "If I'd have known I was go- ing to be this bad a basketball player, I would have kept on playing piano," jokes Stewart easily, reflecting on high school days when he was a well-regard- ed musician. (Now he contents himself with drinking orange juice and collecting jazz albums.) But his joking facade doesn't+ hide what he's saying. "Maybe I just can't convince myself I can be that good," he! ponders. Rated better than All-America+ Larry Miller of North Carolina, whom he played against in high school, and compared to Cazzie+ Russell and Elgin Baylor when he was recruited, he ostensibly should be "that good." "He's got a big man's size (6'6") with a little man's speed1 and agility," praised Strack when Stewart signed a letter of intent to Michigan. Stewart is still fluid and able, masking his moves with a casual- FORWARD DENNIS STEWART shows the form that brought him All-America honors as a Pennsylvania prep performer. Ac- cused of being "lazy" and "moody" by some fans, the quiet junior has been one of the Wolverines' steadiest players since earning Test Road Win Must for 'M' No sportswriter worth his salt has paid more than passing no- tice to tonight's (7:30 p.m.) game between Michigan and Ohio State in Columbus. Because Houston is hosting basketball's "Game of the Dec- ade," no one is even paying any attention to Big Ten surprise leader Northwestern's bout with defending co-champion Michigan State and Minnesota's trip to Iowa. (Exams have put the other four Big Ten teams in the class- rooms.) Ten Straight "It's a must game. If we win. we'll be in the money (Michigan plays unheralded Ball State Mon- day night and returns against OSU next Saturday in two home games)," predicts Dennis Ste- wart. "But if we don't . . ." he trails off, remembering the Wolverines haven't won a Big Ten game in their last 10 starts. Buckeye coach Fred Taylor's forte has been a stringent de- fense, predicated on 220-pound Bill Hoskett (6'7")and 218-pound Dave Sorenson (6'7"). Behind their over powering re- bounding (at times), the Bucks have jumped off to a 7-3 overall record, including a 1-1 mark in the conference. Michigan coach Dave Strack has shaken up his lineup, putting the unwavering but unpoised Bill Fraumann up front to fortify the Wolverines' defense. Because Ohio State's pre-sea- son victims included a long list of relative unknowns (e.g. South Dakota, Hawaii, UC Davis), the Bucks are not heavy favorites. Buckeyes Favored But they are favorites, and the Wolverines need desperately to prove to themselves they can win. Both of their Big Ten losses have been almost by default, hardly a panacea for the growing conviction that Michigan's short- lived champion tradition died in Yost Field House. On clear days, some old tra- ditionalists claim they hear the rafters of Yost echo and re-echo S t r a c k ' s woe-begotten words, "Where will I ever find another Cazzie?" ... on that day, nearly two years ago. --HJK III U VC, p .,UPUIV J'., pT I E uien i. Ire. men setting -- a- particularly rewarding experience for potential professional workers in Education, Psy- chology, Social Work, Medicine and related Be- havioral Sciences. Hours: 32 or 40 hours per week. Must be able to work days and weekends. Age Requirement:-Minimum-20 years. Education: Minimum-Two credit years completed .and good academic standing in third year. Salary: With Bachelor's degree-$6200-$6500 per year. Without Bachelor's degree-$5600-$6350 per year. Tmm ENTALS a starting position last season. ness that is often misinterpreted as apathy. But he is still only al- most-brilliant, still one . step away from being All-America. "I need to have somebody on my back, but not somebody who's just nagging and telling me what's wrong . . . somebody to tell me what to do right, criticism that means something," he an- alyzes. Stewart, however, doesn't in- dict Strack without an explana- tion. "We were all individuals with individual faults last year," he explains, "but Strack didn't treat us as such. I know there was a lot of pressure on him because people expected him to win and also because he was the only coach. "George Pomey (former assist- ant coach and former teammate of Cazzie) told us the right things but no one listened because he was about the same age as we. "(C u r r e n t assistant coach Johnny) Orr communicates with the players a lot more. They re- spect him," concludes Stewart. Fair and frank, Stewart pulls no punches. A self-admitted "loner," he has no aspirations for a career in coaching. He has settled on a major in psychology, after a brief skirmish with poor grades, and may go to grad or law school. "If I don't improve as a basket- ball player, there'll be no point to thinking about a job in the pros," he points out. But there is a point, because his potential lies just below a thin veneer of near misses, just a half-step behind the march to stardom. "Idon't show too much emo- tion," Stewart says, "but I'm just like ayone else. I don't like to lose. It just doesn't doanything for me." BIG TEN STANDINGS $10 per month call FREE SERVICE & DELIVERY Northwestern Illinois Purdue Wisconsin Indiana Ohio State Iowa Michigan State MICHIGAN Minnesota -0 3 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 a' 1.000 .667 .667 .667 .500 .500 .500 .300 .000 .000 Call or Write: Director of Nursing Hawthorn Center Northville, Michigan Telephone: Area Code 313- Fl 9-3000 8 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. 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