FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1966
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
PAGE SEVEN
tRDY FBURY1,198TlEMCIGNDIL AE EE
Dill Charges Ou t of Doldrums
By RICK STERN
In the Indiana home basketball.
game Craig Dill set the only Big
Ten record which he now holds:
"Most Charging Fouls in the
Shortest Possible Period of Time."
He notched three in a two-min-
ute span and this is not the eas-
iest thing in the world to do.
A few weeks later he tied an
all time Michigan record for "Most
Glass Backboards Smashed to
Pieces in a Single Season." This
dubious distinction (which he
shares with freshman Willy Ed-
wards) Dill gained by going up
for a dunk shot and coming down
with the backboard around his
shoulders, cutting himself in the
process.
Neither of Dill's records are real-
ly in the books, nor are tpey like-
ly to ever appear there. But they
are significant - for a different
reason. They symbolize the low
point of Dill's career, an apex
which has hopefully been reached
for the first, last and only time.
Question Mark
Craig Dill started the 1965-66
season as Michigan's starting cen-,
ter, a question mark, but none-
theless expected to play one of
the five major roles in the Wol-
verines' bid for Big Ten and
NCAA championships. In the early
part of the exhibition season he
turned in fair performances but
was a long way from any star-
dom.
Unfortunately for Dill in the
Duke game, Michigan's sixth of
the season, Jim Myers registered
the first of his five consecutive
outstanding efforts and gained the
starting role. -
Says 'Coach Dave Strack, "It
wasn't that Craig was playing
badly. It's just that Myers, after
two years, decided it was about
time he earned a starting posi-
ps-tion."
Scoreless
But at the beginning of the Big
Ten season Dill helped ;Myers to
sew up the' center slot by play-
ing perhaps the worst ball of his
career. In first five conference
games he played for increasingly
shorter amounts of time and net-
ted a grand total of nine points.
In the previous 11 he had scored
92.
Dill explains it ,best himself. "I
Vas frustrated at losing the start-
ing job and consequently got
down on myself. This made things
worse instead of better. The In-
diana game didn't help.'
Nor were the Wolverine fans
much help to Dill. Heckling be-
came a favorite pastime of a few
disgruntled students and the lan-
ky junior was the favorite target.
"It doesn't bother me when I'm
playing because I don't even hear
it," says Craig. "But if you're sit-
ting on the bench, it can get to
jyou."
Symbolism
The day before the Illinois game,
Dill broke the backboard. In a
symbolic sense this was the low-
est point of all; he spent the
night in the hospital and dressed
for the game with his ears taped
up, perhaps another record.
But he played well, picking up
four points and a couple of clutch
rebounds in a brief span of ac-
tivity. Against Indiana away, he
increased it to five. Then, last
Saturday, he exploded for 18
points, helping Cazzie to bury
Wisconsin.
The 18 points which Dill netted
against the Badgers equalled his
total output for the previous seven
Big Ten games.
Metamorphisis
Why the sudden change in Craig
Dill? "I just decided I was gonna
stop worrying and play basket-
ball. I stopped thinking about
my shots and tried to just lose
myself in the game. This last
game sewed up my confidence."
Says Strack, "Last year Craig
was playing behind Bill Buntin
and I think that early this sea-
son he may have been trying to
live up to Bill's image. Now he
has realized that he will do bet-
ter just playing his own type of
ball, just being Craig Dill and
nobody else."
Dill won't start any more games
this year but Strack plans to give
him plenty of action, based on
his continued improvement. "He's
my first front line replacement
and will play a major role in our
remaining six and plus games."
Veritable Toothpick
Dill is 82 inches tall and most
men of this height lack the co-
ordination 'to take advantage of
it. This isn't so with Dill. "He
has excellent speed and agility
for a big man," says Strack, "not
to mention his fine shooting
touch."
But Craig himself would like
to use his height to greater ad-
vantage, as is very necessary in
the Big Ten. "I'm trying to work
on using it more. In high school
I didn't really have to and this is
part of the problem. But in this
league you have to work well un-,
der the basket."
Metaphorically, Dill has been
described as "a beanpole with a
hook shot." Poetic license granted,
the statement contains an ele-
ment of truth. Craig is listed as
210 pounds in the Michigan press
FROM DETROIT
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In Detroit*
CONCEPT EAST THEATER
CRAIG DILL (40), Michigan's 6'10" center, attempts to block
a shot by Ohio State sophomore center Bill Hoskett (25) in
action earlier this season. Dill netted 18 points against Wisconsin
Saturday in a substitute's role, representing his best effort in
Big Ten play.
401 E. Adams
presents
Harold Pinter's "THE CARETAKER"
booklet. "Actually I'm closer to
220," he says, "and I'm not really
worried about my weight. I'd like
to maybe play at 230 next year
but I don't regard lightness as a
significant handicap."
The hook shot reference is more
literal. Four of Craig's baskets
against Wisconsin were hooks.
"The hook shot is one of the best
weapons that a center has. Coach
Jorgensen (Tom) worked with me
a lot on mine the past two years,
though I had it in high school
too."
Dill looks back on his senior
year in high school as the turning
point of his whole career. "Up
until then I didn't even know if
Grapplers Test Rising Rockets:
By CLARK NORTON
Michigan's wrestling squad, for-
tified with aspirin, Bufferin, and
Vick's Vapo-Rub, will try to con-
quer the common cold tonight
when it travels to Ohio to meet
Toledo's Rockets. Coach Cliff Keen
has witnessed four of his charges
struck by viruses of various mag-
nitudes this week, which range
from three head colds to one strep
throat.
The victims have been Captain
Bill Johannesen, Burt Merical
Dave Porter and Bob Fehrs. Each
was. forced to miss at least one
practice this week, while Fehrs
has been hospitalized with strep
throat, compounded by a case of
swollen tonsils and an impacted
wisdom tooth. But Johannesen,
Merical and Porter are expected
to suit up tonight as the Wolver-
ines venture out of the confines of
Big Ten action into the wrestling
hotbed of the Mid-America con-
ference. The Rockets have fash-
i6ned a 100-25-3 mark in the past
15 years, an .800 percentage, un-
der present Coach Joe Scalzo.
Rocket Rockets
According to Keen, this year's
Toledo delegation would be a wor-
thy 'opponent even with a healthy
pack of Wolverines. "This should
be a good meet," the coach em-
phasized. "Toledo has improved a
great deal since we saw them
wrestle earlier this year - they
have been seasoned by some fairly
rugged competition."
The Rockets have, in fact, fash-
ioned a 5-3 record overall, in-
cluding matches with three Big
Ten schools, and have put to-.
gether a respectable 3-1 slate in
their own conference, having re-
cently defeated highly regarded
Miami of Ohio.
The Wolverines and Rockets
participated in the same quadran-
gular meet in Ann Arbor early
in January, although they did not
face each other. Toledo knocked
off Iowa on that occasion, but
was felled by Indiana 22-5. The
Wolverines, incidentally, also clip-
ped Iowa and managed to axe the
Hoosier grapplers as well. The
Rockets have dropped decisions to
Ohio State and Bowling Green
this season, the latter defeat com-
ing only last week.
Heavyweight Headliner
A pair of undefeated sophomores
spearhead the Toledo attack.
Heavyweight Paul Elzey is ex-
pected to provide a good deal of
competition for Dave Porter.
something the Michigan 220-
pounder has not had in recent
weeks. Elzey, a former Ohio state
high school champion, has captur-
ed eight straight matches this
year. The other undefeated soph-
omore, Herm Perchner, will com-
pete in the 152-pound class against
Cal Jenkins of the Wolverines.
Tino Lambros, who has drawn
Fehrs' normal assignment in the
123-pound division, will have to
face Don LeFevre, the reigning
M.A.C. conference champ, who is
returning to action after sitting
out the start of the season due to
ineligibility. Gordon Weeks will
get the starting nod at 130
pounds for the Wolverines, and
will be pitted against Bob Capet-
tini, whom Keen terms another
fine grappler.
Michigan's Dave Dozeman and
the Rockets' Jerry Vincent will
tangle in the 137-pound battle,
while Johannesen will test his
strength against Tom Kwiatkow-
ski at 145 pounds. Joe Scalzo, Jr..
the son of Toledo's coach, will
meet the Wolverines' Burt Merical
in the 160-pound class.
'Not Enough Practice'
Rounding out the night's action,
167 pounder Fred Stehman of
Michigan will face Jim Koenig of
the Rockets, and Wayne Wentz
will represent the Blue at 177
pounds against Don Wyper.
If the Wolverines can overcome
their health problems, Coach Keen
is hopeful they will be able to
maintain the form they showed in
the victory against Wisconsin
Monday night. "We wrestled our
finest match of the year against
the Badgers," Keen pointed out.
"But we've only had three days
to prepare for Toledo and haven't
really had a good practice session
this week."
I would play college ball. But my
shooting finally improved and I
had a real good season, which
really turned the tide."
Averages 30
Dill averaged 30 a game senior
year for Saginaw Arthur Hill,
which went all the way to the
state semifinals without losing a
game. He planned to attend Michi-
gan State University where his
dad had gone to school. "But I
came down here and decided that
academic factors were most im-
portant. I intend to go to law
school and Michigan seemed to
offer the best preparation. I was
also quite impressed by the
coaches and the players, especially
the freshman team that was here
(the present seniors)."
Problems Vt'.
Additional problems for a,'boy
who was 6'9" as a high school
sophomore and wears size 15
shoes? "There are a few. People
laugh sometimes and I'm the butt
of a lot of jokes, but I've gotten
completely used to it."
"In Egypt last summer we ran
into some equipment problems and
I was wearing shoes two sizes too
small for me for a while."
Craig denies vehemently that he
has trouble finding dates, amazons
or otherwise. "I go out with girls
5'7" or so and this is OK."
Craig's goal for next season is
"to work like heck over the sum-
mer and get in there and take
over next season." Listening to
him, you get a feeling that he
means it. There may be some
records set next year, and not in
charging fouls, either.
SCORES
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
New York Univ. 102, Notre Dame 78
Georgia Tech 99, Tulane 85
Louisville 64, Tulsa 50
Syracuse 83, Pitt 73
Rhode Island 84, Providence 61
Cincinnati 88, No. Texas State 63
Drake 75, St. Louis 59
Wichita 98, Bradley 79
Houston 111, Miami 96
SPORTS NIGHT EDITOR:
JOHN SUTKUS
STAN KEMP
WALLY GABLER
JOHN O'REI LLY
BOB WALSH
Bring you Ann Arbor's most complete,
on-the-spot, coverage
of all U of M home basketball games
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