Thursday, March 12, 1970
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Nine
ThurdayMarc 12,197 THEMICHGAN AIL
Paae.Nine
A
new era
in
ich igan
basketball'
By ELLIOT LEGOW
The basketball season has been
finished at Michigan for less than
a week, but speculation has al-
ready begun about the Wolver-
ines' prospects for next season,
and those , speculations center
around the expected contributions
from this year's exceptionally tal-
ented freshman team.
Among those who were favor-
ably impressed by the perform-
ances of the Baby Blue and expect
them to make varsity games more
enjoyable in the future are fresh-
man coach George Pomey and as-
sistant varsity mentor, F r e d
Snowden.
"'We'll be right in there next
says Pomey of his charges.
year . ..,we'll have strength in-
side . .. and we can run well,"
SNOWDEN was also particular-
ly impressed by the strength of
the freshmen. "In terms of phys-
ical characteristics," he main-
tains, "they are along the lines of
the Russell-Buntin-Darden teams,
but they h a v e to prove them-
selves."
The freshien did prove that
r they can handle other freshman
competition' this season as they
compiled a 9-2 record and aver-
age'd downing the opposition by
15 points.
Offense was the prime asset for
the Wolverines and when the of-
fense sputtered the team's chanc-
es for victory died, too. In only
two games did the frosh fail to
score over 90 points, and in those
two games they were defeated.
THE FIRST LOSS was an 82-
80 overtime setback to a Central
Michigan ,team which could have
been beaten. The loss which fol-
lowed three straight wins at the
opening of the season, was the
last in which erratic play marred
the freshmen's performances.
Aftr .the ter break the
freshmen came back to play one
pleaser with his court antics and
could help to spark up the var-
sity's spectators next season.
WILMORE'S best personal per-
formance was simultaneous with
the team's worst. While his team-
mateswere shooting at less than
a 30% clip and .constantly turn-
ing the mall over, Wilmore netted
a season high of 34 points in a
79-73 loss to Michigan State.
The loss dropped the Wolver-
ine's record to 5-2, but the last
four games were pure routs. The
Baby Blue averaged 105 points for
those last four encounters, and
would have scored far more if
Pomey hadn't cleared his bench
in each of the games.
Three developments w e r e in-
strumental in this final surge: the
shift of, Wilmore to forward, and
the development of John Lockard
and Greg Buss.
Wilmore spent the first half of
the season at guard but was mov-
ed to the front court to let him
concentrate on his shooting and
permit him to play closer to the
basket to take advantage of leis
inside shooting and board play.
The 6-4 New York City prep
star led the team in scoring with
a 23.1 average and finished sec-
ond in rebounding with an aver-
age of 10.6 rebounds.
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT im-
provement by any of the fresh-
men was by Lockard. Although he
is 'only' 6-5. Lockard jumps as
high as a man six inches taller. In
the early stages of: t h e season,
however, Lockard was not scoring
as w e 11 as Pomey believed he
could.
But in the last two games of the
season Lockard showed as much
as anyone ever expected of him.
Though he sat on the bench for
good portions of both of those
games, Lockard totaled 53 points
and 36 rebounds.
T h e other player whose uin-
provement pleased Pomey was,
un-heralded guard Greg Buss.
Buss moved into the starting line-
up midway through t h e season
when Tim Megge failed to live up
to expectations. Pomey said of the
5-11 guard, "he helped us a lot,
he can probably play on the var-
sity."
Buss contributed several tal-
ents that some of his teammates
were n o tso skilled at; .'amely
passing, defense, and near-perfect
free throw shooting.
POMEY doesn't believe that his
team showed any real weaknesses,
but headmits that, "if anything,
we were not real aggressive on de-
fense.
Everyone on the squadascored
sometime in the season, and all
but three of the Blue managed to
hit double figures on at least one
occasion. The victories were team
efforts in that "they (opponents)
couldn't concentrate on one man,"
but deteriorated into everyman
for himself situations in some in-
stances.
The players did not always put
out at their fullest but they show-
ed that they "had the ability to
win even when they weren't play-
ing their best."
Ne~tt season against top call-
bre opposition 100i efforts will
always be required, and Snowden
believes that "if they play the
game like the varsity did this
year, there is no limit to what
they can do."
To make prospects even bright-
er for next season is the presence
of Ken Brady, the biggest (6-11)
and possibly the b e s t of this
year's recruits.
BRADY sat out the entire
freshman season with a scholastic
ineligibility, but is expected to be
ready next season. Brady is cur-
rently being counted on to start
at the pivot for the Wolverines
next year and take over f r o m
Rudy Tomjanovich the Michigan
rebound leadership.
Speculation on the rest of the
lineup is still rather nebulous but
at least the possible combinations
seem certain. Wilmore should
start at one forward position and
Lockard, Johnson, as well as re-
turnees R o d Ford, Harry Hay-
ward, a n d Wayne Grabiec will
battle for the final forecourt spot
and/or try to dislodge Brady and
Wilmore.
L E O N ROBERTS a s'trong
guard who averaged 12 points for;
the freshmen may be able to win
a starting guard spot -and join:
Dan Fife in the backcourt.
Snowden sums up next year's
prospects in regards to the fresh-
men: "We're trying to assemble a
power basketball team, especially
in the front line. Kenny Brady,
John Lockard, Henry Wilmore,
Leon Roberts - They are t h e
physically powerful people we're
talking about."
It all starts next December.
SAMMIE
offers stimulating and unique group living
situation free from bull
3Call:
LARRY-663-1190
LES-663-9733
or drop by 800 Lincoln
After 5:00 pm.
Henry W imore
of the seasn, a 97-93 downing of
the highly-rated Ohio State frosh.
In that game, as in almost all
of the freshmen's early outings,
6-8, center Ernie Johnson paced
the Michigan attack. He poured
in 28 points and snagged 19 re-
bounds in the Ohio State game
for one of the best individual per-
formances of the season by any of
the Wolverines.-
The second half of the season
w a Es, however, Henry Wilmore's
time. to star and he put on out-
standing shows with his aggres-
sive defense, fancy shooting, and
outstanding ball handling. Wil-
more developed into quite a crowd
CAMIP COUNSELOR OPENINGS
For Men and Women (Age 20 and up)
CAMP SEQUOIA
Rock Hill, New York (85 miles from New York City)
Waterfront (W.S.l.); Pioneering; Music (piano
and choral leading); Nature; Dance; Photog-
raphy; Newspaper; Drama; Ham Radio;Tennis;
Fencing; Riflery (NRA).
On Campus Interviews Friday, March 13,
Summer Placement
Distinguished Speaker Series
SUNDAY, MARCH 15-8:00 P.M.
Dr. Amos Peri'multer
Prof. of History, Harvard Unit. Center for Inter-
national Studies. Author of Nation Building in
Israel--Roles of the Military and Civilian
will speak on
"Military and Civilian Sectors-
Policy Making in Israel"
TUESDAY, MARCH 17th
Richard Rubensine
of their most impressive
gamesI
KEEP AHEAD.
OF YOUR HAIR!
*NO WAITING
8 BARBERS
r OPEN 6 DAYS
The Dascola Barbers
Arborol ---Comous
Mooe Village
i 4
NOTICE
NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF ENGLISH
All Speakers of English as a Second Language* Are
Invited to Take Part in an Experimental Test of Eng-
lish Language Proficiency to be Given in AUDI-
TORIUM A, ANGELL HALL AT 7:15 P.M. ON THE
19th OF MARCH. You Will Receive $5.00 for Ap-
proximately 1-/ to 2 Hours of Your Time. If In-
terested You Must Call and Register at the Follow-
ing Number 764-2416, on or Before March 18th.
*NO ELI STUDENTS CURRENTLY ENROLLED IN THE INTEN-
SIVE ENGLISH COURSES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE TEST AT
THIS TIME.
MICHIGRAS DOES VAUDEVILLEd
and we need:
specialty acts
singers and dancers
trumpets, trombones, pianists, and drums
comedians, etc.
Auditions will be Sunday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m.
in the Michigan Room, League
If you have any questions, call 763-1107
f
ti
f
"Death of God" Theologian
Charles E. Merrill Lecturer in the
the Univ. of Pittsburgh. Author+
wiez will discuss
"Israel: Radical Implications of
the End of Jew as Victim"
at THE HOUSE
1429 HILL ST.
United Jewish Student Appeal March 15-22
Humanities at
of After 'Aus-
; G. PflI1eD~us-A.