Tuesday, March 3, 1970
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
_ J
Tomjanovich
lauded
as
cage
season
ends
on this and that
Rudy Tom janovich, what
more can you say.
erie siegel
JH NAME OF Rudy Tomanovich has appeared often on
these pages during the past three years. Win or lose, good
game or bad, Tomjanovich has been the man to analyze, to talk
to, to write about. In three varsity seasons, he has completely
dominated the sport of basketball at Michigan and has added a
second story to The House That Cazzie Built.
So much has been written about the big man from Ham-
tramack that, with one more home game in his career left this
Saturday against Indiana, it almost seems superfluous to say
anything more. All the superlatives have been exhausted by
now: great rebounder ... . tremendous competitor . fantas-
tie shooter .. . real All-American ...
In a sense, though, the superlatives don't really tell the
story of the college career of Rudy Tomjanovich. The same
words have been used to describe the.college career of countless
other basketball players; in some cases they have been justified,
in other cases, the players simply 'haven't'warranted that type of
praise.
No one can say that the praise 'hasn't been justified in
Rudy's case, though. Just look at the stats. Tomjanovich has
scored 1743 points in 70 games over a three year span, an aver-
age of almost 25 points a game.
IN ADIATION TO his scoring, Tomjanovich has pulled
down 1009 rebounds, 28 shy of the Michigan career mark held by
two-time All-American Bill Buntin.
Last year, Rudy was second in scoring in the Big Ten be-
hind Rick Mount, but he also led the conference in rebounding.
That combination of scoring and rebounding is something that
Mount for all his 61 point games, or, for that matter, few other
college players, never achieved.
But one doesn't have to measure Tomjanovich's achieve-
ments against those of Mount or anyone else to get an indica-
tion. of his greatness. Rudy can stand completely on his own
merits, thank you. Again, look at the stats. This year he has
been scoring at a 30 point a game clip, and has also been cred-
'ited with over 15 caroms a contest.
Only once all season has he pulled down less than 10 re-
bounds; in every game, he has been the team leader in that
category. He' has also scored 30 or more points in 13 games this
season; only once has he failed to lead the team in scoring.
Tomianovich has played so well this season that during one
three game -stretch, when he scored 65 points and hauled down
47 rebounds, everybody, including Rudy, was talking about The
Great Slump.
COMPARED TO SOME of his other games, though, it was a
great slump. Against Notre Dame, he collected 30 points and 17
rebounds; against Utah, it was 42 and 11; Princeton, 33 and 16;
Iowa, 37 and 12; Purdue (here), 30 and 16; at West Lafayette,
36 anld 21; 37 and 24 against Minnesota; 35 and 19 against Wis-
consin.
As impressive as these figures are, they do not represent the
finest efforts of Rudy's career. Those efforts came further back
in his career. Against Indiana last year, he hit '21 of 31 field
goals and added half a dozen free throws to tie Cazzie Russell's
mark for Most Points, One Game. And way back on December
r 2, 1967, when he was "just" a sophomore, Rudy showed that oldr
Adolph Rupp doesn't know everything about keeping a big man
away from the basket, as he dragged down 27 rebounds from the
Events Building backboards.
Happily, Rudy's talents have not gone unnoticed. He was a
second team All-American selection his sophomore year, and a
unanimous choice for the conference's first team last year. He
was named to the All-American teams announced by Sporting
News, Basketball Weekly, Basketball News and the Helms Foun-
dation, and he received honorable mention in the AP poll.
STILL, THE STATISTICS and paper placards do scant jus-
tice to the job Tomjanovich has done in his three years in a
Wolverine uniform. For all their impressiveness, they simply
can't capture the way Tomjanovich has blocked a shot at one
end of the court and then come down to the other end in time
to pop in a 30 foot jump shot. Or the number of times lie's
missed one of those 30 footers, but has still moved up in time
to tap the ball in the basket over the heads of taller opponents.
At this point, a few -days before the final home game of
Rudy's career, it seems ridiculous to recite the old standbys
"Think of how much more publicity he would have gotten if
." and "Think how many more points he would have scored
if only .,
Those comments seem as superfulous as a reiteration of the
superlatives that have, been applied to Rudy over the years.
They seem as superfluous as trying to sum up his three year
career by saying, When former Michigan basketball coach Dave
Strack first saw Rudy play and said, "He's got a great future
ahead of him," he knew what he was talking about.
They seem as superfluous as trying to condense three years
of basketball brilliance by saying, It's a long way since Rudy's
first intercollegiate game as a freshman, when he was pulled
from the line-up midway through the first period because of
cold shooting.
Let's just say Rudy Tomjanovich is a great basketball play-
er, and leave it at that.
M' five closes with
Minnesota, Indiana
By ELLIOT LEGOW
All chances are gone for a win-
ning season, or a first division Big
Ten finish, but Michigan basket-
ball goes on for two more games
this week. Tonight the Wolverines
travel to Minneapolis to take on
Minnesota, and Saturday the Blue
close out their somewhat disap-
pointing season with a home game
against Indiana.
The one remaining item of in-
terest for Michigan fans is the
continued assault of Rudy Tom-
janovich on Michigan records.
Tomjanovich pulled into second
place in all-time scoring, trailing
only Cazzie Russelll, with his 35
point performance last Saturday.
Now within Rudy's grasp is the
career rebounding mark, present-
ly held by the late Bill Buntin.
Only 29 more rebounds separate
Tomjanovich from the record, and
with his 15.6 rebounding average,
that mark should fall Saturday in
his final game.
MINNESOTA, on paper, 1 o o k s
like a team that could hold down
Rudy's rebounding figures, as the
Gophers boast a front line of
6-7, 6-6, 6-6. However, Tomjano-
vich had his top rebounding per-
formance of the season with 24
against Minnesota in the Wolver-
ines' 95-87 thumping of the Goph-
ers ten days ago.
For the Gophers a finish as high
as third place in the Big Ten is
possible so they may be "up" for
today's game. They would also like
to avenge their earlier loss to the
Wolverines.
The Gopher's scoring attack is
Rudy in action
see p. 8
led by a pair of hot.shooting
guards, Eric Hill and Ollie Shan-
non, who combined for 48 against
Michigan.
Hill, who scored 33 in that game,
is the Gophers' leading scorer.
The junior has great moves, great
shooting ability and can also hit
the boards.
Hoping to contain Tomjanovich
on the boards will be Larry Over-
ski, Jerry Pyle, and Larry Mikan.
Mikan, who is Minnesota's lead-
ing rebounder, probably will again
have the difficult chore of de-
fensing Tomjanovich. Rudy man-
aged 37 against the Gophers in
Ann Arbor in one of his b e s t
shooting performances of the sea-
son.
TO MAKE Michigan into a win-
ner this year, a prime factor was
always considered to be the de-
velopment of a consistantly high
scorer to complement Tomjano-
vich. No such player ever devel-
oped. Bird Carter, Rod Ford, and
Dan Fife have all hit for 20 points
on occasion but none has been
consistent enough to take the of-
fensive burden off Tomjanovich.
These same three, along w i t h
Mark Henry, will again join Tom-
janovich in the starting lineup to-
night, and hopefully, a balanced
attack can be generated.
Against Indiana Saturday Tom-
Rudy All-Big Ten,
NBA All-American
By The Associated Press
Rudy Tomjanovich, Wolverine superstar, for the second
straight year, headed up the list of athletes named to the
Associated Press All-Big Ten basketball team yesterday. Also
named to the team were Purdue's sharpshooting Rick Mount,
Iowa's Jerry Johnson, MSU's Ralph Simpson, and Ohio State's
Dave Sorenson.
Tomjanovich, Mount, and Johnson each missed being
a unanimous choice by one vote. Both Mount and Tomjano-
vich were unanimous picks on last season's All-Big Ten squad.
-Daily-Sara Krulwlch
Rudy-the plaudits keep on coming
janovich will be making his final
appearance in a Michigan uni-
form, but certainly not his last on
a basketball court. The Big 'T' has
already been offered $300,000 by
the Los Angeles Stars of the ABA
and an equally high bid is expect-
ed from the NBA team lucky
enough to draft him.
FOR FIVE other graduating
seniors, Saturday will mark the
close of their basketball careers.
Carter,_! Henry, Rick Bloodworth,
Bill Fraumann, and Steve Fi s h-
man will all be wearing the maize
and blue for the last time.
Saturday will also provide the
Wolverines an opportunity to
avenge one of their earlier losses.
They were downed by Indiana
102-93 in a wild scoring battle.
Neither team showed any defense
in that game and the same can be
expected in their return engage-
ment.
Indiana had four players with 19
or more points in that game, and
generally rely on a balanced at-
tack. Their top scorer against
Michigan was Toby Wright with
24, followed by Jim Harris and
Ken Johnson with 22 each, and
Rick Ford who netted 19 with
only three field goals and 13 of
13 from the charity stripe.
Saturday's game will get under
way at 8 p.m.
Big Ten
Standings
Simpson, Tomjanovich, a n d
Mount are among the top ten
scorers nationally.
Tomjanovich, the 6-7, 220-lb.
forward from Hamtramack, Mich.,
is Michigan's second leading all-
time scorer behind the New York
Knicks' Cazzie iRussell, and the
Wolverine captain is rapidly zero-
ing in on the all-time Michigan
rebounding record. He is also the'
leading rebounder in the Big Ten,
and seems certain to retain the
title he won last year.
Mount, currently third in the
nation in scoring, is a 6-4 senior
guard from Purdue and holds the
Big Ten three year scoring record
with 1,402 points. His 61, points
against Iowa last Saturday set a
Big Ten single game scoring
record.
MOUNT IS closing in on the
only other Big Ten scoring record
left, Don Schlundt's all-time four
year scoring record of 1,451 points.
Mount needs only 50 points total
in his next two games to eclipse
that mark.
MSU's Ralph Simpson, the only
sophomore named to the team,
recently broke the Spartans' sin-
gle season scoring record. He is
currently sixth in the nation with
a 30.1 scoring average.
Hawkeye star Johnson, the 6-7
forward from Milwaukee, is cur-
rently pacing Iowa to the Big Ten
championship for the first time
since 1956 and perhaps the first
unbeaten season for a Big Ten
champ since Ohio State in 1961.
If they manage to beat Ohio State
and Northwestern in their finali
two games of the season, it will
be only the second time it has
been accomplished since Illinois'
"Whiz Kids" did it in 1943.
In addition to being named to
the All-Big Ten team, both Tom-
janovich and Mount were picked
for the NBA All-America team.
Rounding out the squad are "Pis-
tol" Pete Maravich of LSU, Bob
Lanier of St. Bonaventure, Char-
lie Scott of North Carolina, and
Dan Issel of Kentucky. Lanier and
Maravich were unanimous choices,
while Tomjanovich and Issel tied
for the fifth spot.
MARAVICH, who recently set a
new all-time major college scoring
mark, was named for the thirdi
time to the team, and along with
Mount, were the only repeaters
from last year. He sports a 47.6
scoring average.
The Bonnies' Lanier, known as
"Buffalo Bob,'' is currently eighth
in scoring. Former Wolverine and
NBA All-America Russell says of
Lanier, "Lanier could hold his own
in our league now."
Issel leads the No. 1 ranked
Kentucky Wildcats at the center
position with a 33.4 average. Scott,
a 6-5 guard from North Carolina,
was one of the stars on the U.S.
Olympic basketball team in 1968.
daily,
sports
NIGHT EDITOR:
LEE KIRK
j
i.
Iowa
Purdue
Illinois
Ohio State
Minnesota
Wisconsin
MICHIGAN
Mich. State
Indiana
Northwestern
V
12
9
7
7
6
5
4
4
3
3
L
0
3
5
5.
6
'7
8
9
9
Pct.
1.000
.750
.583
.583
.500
.417
.333
.333
.250
.250
TODAY'S GAMES
MICHIGAN at Minnesota
Illinois at Indiana
Ohio State at Iowa
Northwestern at Wisconsin
Purdue at Michigan State
SATURDAY'S GAMES
Indiana at MICHIGAN
Michigan State at Illinois
Iowa at Northwestern
Minnesota at Purdue
Wisconsin at Ohio State
'"}",. : ^ . .A'..i .s.'. .:K'k..,"',i ' S,,' ". ~'~rA v :0 1
. .
Professional Sta ndings
1
d:V
-Daily-Thomas R. Copi
Bird Carter
AND THEN TO NATIONALS
New York
Milwaukee
Baltimore
Pitiladeiphi,
Cincinnati
Boston
Detroit
NBA
Eastern Division
W L
54 15
49 22
43 29
ia 37 34
31 39
30 40
29 45
Western Division
Pct.
.783
.890
.597
.521
.431
.429
.392
GB
6
12'A
18
23Y2
24Y2
27h
Pittsburgh2
Miami l
Western i
Denver3
Dallas3
Washington3
New Orleans
Los Angeles2
Yesterday'sB
No games scheduled.
21 40
17 46
vision
35 25
35 26
35 29
31 29
28 35
Results
.344
,270
.583
.574
.547
.517
.444
241/
29%
2
4
81/
Gymnasts seek Big Ten title
Atlanta 40 33 .548 -
Los Angeles 39 33 .542 2
Phoenix 34 40 .459 6%
Chicago 32 40 .444 7Y/
Seattle 31 41 .431 84
San Francisco 27 44 .380 12
San Diego 23 44 .343 ,14
Yesterday's Results
Baltimore vs. Cincinnati at Memphis,
inc.
By BOB ANDREWS
The Wolverine gymnasts finish-t
ed on top in Big Ten competition
this year with a perfect 7-0 rec-
ord, with their nearest rivals be-
ing Illinois (6-1) and Iowa (5-2).
All of this is just fine, but is now
only history and this Friday night,
all records except one will be dis-
carded as these three teams in ad-
dition to f i v e other Big Ten
teams, will compete in the Big
Ten Championships to be held at
the University of Minnesota.-
The one record that is still con-
sidered is the team's won and lost
record in dual meet competition.
The team with the best record has
already won half the competition
and a first or second place fin-
ish in the tournament would wrap
up at least a tie for that team.
It just so happens that Michi-
gan has won every dual meet this
season (and 32 straight during
the last three years) and a first
or second place finish, which ap-
pears likely,pcould very well give
the Wolverines the title and an
opportunity to compete in the Na-
tional Championships which will
be held at Temple University in
Philadelphia April 2-4.
The Wolverines, who will be out
to avenge their loss to Iowa last
year, have an attack which ap-
pears strong on all fronts except
in the side horse competition.
ALL-AROUNDERS Sid Jensen,
who was a inember of the Can-
adien Olympic team in 1958, and
Rick McCurdy have consistently
been a powerful one-two punch
for the Wolverines and are the
principal reason for the h u g e
amount of success t h a t Coach
Newt Loken and his team has en-
foyed this season. Consistently
they have scored 53 or 54 points
per meet which is very welcome,
as in the case of last week when
the Wolverines just squeaked by
Iowa in their last regular season
meet.
Besides the all-around perform-
ances by these two men, the team
is staffed, with many individuals
who score nine-plus in their spe-
cific event.
In t h e floor exercises, which
possibly is Jensen's strongest ev-
ent, George Huntzicker consist-
ently breaks the nine point bar-
rier. His work along with Jensen's
has made the Wolverines virtual-
ly unbeatable in that event.
In the parallel bars, there is
nothing more that can be said
about Captain Ron Rapper than
"Wow!" He runs through his rou-
tine with a minimum of flaws and
This Week in Sports
TODAY
BASKETBALL-at Minnesota, 9 p.m. (radio-WUOM, WAAM)
F RIDAY
HOCKEY--Minnesota at Colesium
WRESTLING-Big Ten Championships at Crisler Arena
GYMNASTICS-Big Ten Championships at Minnesota
SWIMMING-Big Ten Championships at Indiana
TRACK-Big Ten Championships at Michigan State
SATURDAY
BASKETBALL-Indiana at Crisler Arena, 8 p.m.
HOCKEY-Minnesota at Coliseum, 8 p.m.
WRESTLING-Big Ten Championships at Crisler Arena
GYMNASTICS-Big Ten Championships at Minnesota
NHL
East Division
W L T Pt. GF GA
Boston 34 13 14 -32 231 177
New York 34 14 13 81 211 144
Montreal 31 16 13 75 196 153
Chicago , 33 20 7 73 -92 140
Detroit 30 18 11 71 183 155
Toronto 24 25 11 59 184 191
West Division,
St. Louis 29 23 8 66 175 143
Pittsburgh 22 29 8 52 146 188
Philadelphia 15 25 20 50165182
Oakland 17 34 9 43 132 198
Minnesota 11 30 -18 40 164 202
Los Angeles 9 42 8 26 126 231
Yesterday's Results
No games scheduled.
I
Indiana
Kentucky
Carolina
New York
* * * *
ABA
Eastern Division
46 16
32 28
30 31
33 35
.738
.533
.492
.485
13
15Y2
16
has averaged close to 9.5 this sea-
son.
Another strong p o i n t of the
Michigan team is the high bar.
Murray Plotkin, Ed Howard and
sophomore Ted Marti have given
the Wolverines a distinct edge in
this event against any opponent.
Marti began the season slowly but
picked up speed and has become
a mainstay in Loken's attack.
ALTHOUGH t h e Wolverines
send a strong team to the com-
petition, all will not be easy go-
ing. Illinois and Iowa, the defend-
ing national champions, won't be
push-overs; and after the fall of
the Buckeyes last November, any-
thing can happen.
BAGATTAWAY!!:
Stickmen open spring tour
By RANDY PHILLIPS
To be right to the point, La-
crosse is a grueling sport that
involves "the hitting of foot-
ball, the finesse of basketball,
and the excitement of ice hock-
ey." That's how offensive coach
Skip Flanagan evaluates this
spring sport that opens its 1970
season on Thursday, March 5,
against VPI.
For those interested in an-
cient Indian history, it should
be noted that lacrosse had its
origin in warfare. between In-
dian tribes. The object was to
carry a human skull in the la-
crosse stick and throw it into
the enemy chief's hut. The win-
oia. ,nmlr yadthf +i llca arnd
major powers include John
Hopkins, West Point, Maryland,
and Yale.
THERE ARE two types of la-
crosse widely played. Bax la-
crosse is an indoor game play-
ed on a hard wood floor about
the size of a hockey rink. This
game is very popular in Can-
ada. Field hockey, which Michi-
gan competes in, is played out-
doors on a field similar to a
soccer field.
Michigan has been compet-
ing in lacrosse for four years
now as a club sport, but this
year marks the first time that it
c a n actually be considered a
varsity snnrt ThP schedule has
the UM-MSU victor. The trophy
will be called the 'Bagattaway'
trophy after the Indian name
for the game.
PROSPECTS look g o o d for
this season as Coach Flanagan
expects the best season in his-
tory. This year there are six
players returning from last
year's team, but more import-
ant is the increased interest in
the sport. At first practice, 43
players showed up, and a cut in
the squad had to be made.
The Wolverines are 1 e d by
captains Bob Gillon, attack-
man; Dick D e a n, midfielder;
and J o h n Synhorst, defense-
'Mtramp
men place
one-twol
Former Michigan gymnast
Wayne Miller and present Michi-
gan gymnast George Huntzicker
placed first and second respective-
ly in the qualification trials to
decide who will represent the
United States in the World Tram-
poline Meet. The meet, which will
be held in Berne, Switzerland. in
mid-June is comparable to the
Olympics in the Trampolines
There were 35 participants in
the first qualifying trials which
were held in New Orleans this
past weekend. Of those 35, the top
20 qualifiers will go on to Mem-
phis, Tennessee to compete in the
final trials. From those twenty,
three men, three women, and a
synchronised team of two men
and two women will be chosen.
The trials at Memphis will be held
April 18.
In the last four out of five years,
Michigan has had a qualifier go
III +nmh S~rdM ppf ns r ...na.-m
l
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Illinois, which only los t one
A nnouncercontest this year, that to Michi-
gan, is led by Ken Barr, who has
performed unbelievingly in the
side horse averaging 9.8. Som e
other stars for the Illini are Bob
Swonick, Tom Kalin, a n d all-
arounders Ed Raymond, and Lar-
ry Butts.
The Hawkeyes, who just lost out
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (P) - Paul to the Wolverines this past week-
Christman, former All-American end will be out to repeat as both
football player from Missouri and Big T e n champs and National
well-known television commenta- champs. The men who will lead
ter, died of heart seizure in Lake the Hawkeye charge are R i c k
Forest Hospital yesterday. Scorza, Barry Slotten, Tom Liehr'
Attendants said the 51-year-old and Phil Farnum.
Christman ehtered t h e hospital
482-9533
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