Page 6-Thursday, November 30, 1978-The Michigan Daily
-w - - --~-- __- -w -
Page 6-Thursday, November 30, 1978--The Mcia al
GARNER BATTLES FOR STARTING SLOT
Hardy facing competition
The Michigan Daily-Thursday, Nc
WORKING ON HIS OFFENSE .
Staton shuns the aII-D l
By GEOFF LARCOM
It's a whole new ballgame this year
for Alan Hardy.
The lanky senior from Detroit started
all 27 games for the Wolverines last
year after two seasons as a frontcourt
substitute. Preseason speculation
would have gotten you better than even
money that Hardy would start at for-
ward along with Phil Hubbard at center
and Mike McGee at the other forward.
Enter Thad Garner.
Garner has been truly impressive in
preseason practice, throwing new light
on coach Johnny Orr's plans for the two
players. In fact, both players are given
an even chance at starting.
So what does Hardy, a three-year let-
terman, think of the freshman's in-
trusion? Sour grapes?~Or does he sim-
ply clam up and refuse to discuss the
matter?
Not at all. It appears Hardy and Gar-
ner enjoy an excellent relationship,
both on and off the floor. In addition,.
both highly respect their coaches
judgment, and neither would be overly
upset at having to watch the other start.
The result is an optimal situation for
both player and coach.
According to Hardy, "Thad's alright,
his personality fits right in with the
team. If he starts, I'm going to help him
out all that I can."
It appears Hardy has already made
quite an effort to help out the 6-7 fresh-
man, as Garner readily attests to.
"Al has been the main one helping
me. He knows the ropes. When I get
burned, he'll jump right in and tell me
what I should've done. He's par-
ticulary helped me with my defense."
Counsel of this sort is imperative for
someone like Garner, who was a totally
dominating player in high school ball.
No longer can he float in for a lazy in-
side layup among a bunch of six-
footers. Try that amongst the
Wolverines and the ball winds up in the
stands.
The situation works to the advantage
of both players however; the added
competition has also served to make
Hardy an improved player.
"Alan's worked harder this year than
ever-he has had to, due to the depth of
our program," said assistant coach Bill
Frieder. "they play extremely hard
against each other. Hardy has gotta
work hard against Garner or Thad will
make Alan look bad. For us as coaches,
it's a healthy situation."
Orr and Frieder are both hoping that
Garner's intensity and hustle will rub
off on Hardy, enabling Hardy to realize
his full potential.
"Hardy has the ability to be all-Big
Ten. What he needs is a challenge,"
said Orr. "If he gets that, he'll rise up to
meet it. He's done a great job for us at
times, but never over a whole season
with consistency.''
Along with Hardy's improvement
both coaches are also delighted with the
progress that Garner has shown. His
overall ability along with his desire
conjure up memories of other frosh
phenoms.
"Garner reminds me of (Steve)
Grote and (Phil) Hubbard when they
were freshmen. Grote (graduated two
years ago) was a wild man. Garner
plays the same way, he has had more
steals in practice than anyone else. Also
Garner can do a lot of things well right
away, as could Hubbard," said Orr.-
The comparison with Grote says
much for Garner's abilities. Grote
came in while two quality guards, Joe
Johnson and Wayman Britt ruled the
roost. In two days Britt was playing
forward, with Grote working in his
vacated guard slot.
The same solution cannot apply now.
Neither Garner nor Hardy would make
much of a guard. Nevertheless both are
assured of a good deal of playing time.
In fact, the player who starts may not
play as much as the one who comes in
off the bench. If the Wolverines run the
ball as much as Orr has predicted,
frequent subsitution will be necessary.
Thus the forward who comes in later
will hold the key to Michigan's success
in many games.
According to Orr, "We're trying to
find out who'll give us a lift when
they're inserted into the lineup. It's
vitally important that the substitute be
able to inject something into the
game."
Both Garner and Hardy are content
to let their play speak for themselves,
trusting Orr's and Frieder's judgment
as to how to best use their respective
talents.
"Their record speaks for itself. Sure I
want to beat Garner out. I'll leave it up
to the coach whichever way it goes. I'll
take their decision and make the best out
of it," said Hardy.
Garner echoed Hardy's sentiments.
"We're naturally competitive. Of cour-
se I expect to play a lot. I don't believe
normally a guy would be as interested
in helping as Al, but I guess that's his
personality."
Garner of Hardy? It's a tough choice
to make, but one Orr and Frieder don't
mind having to make.
Michigan co-captain Tom Staton is
considered one of Michigan's most versatile
players, and his past performances have
shown that to be true. As a freshman, Staton
filled in admirably at both forward and
guard, p/ayving his best basketball during
Michigan 's stretch drive in the NCCA
tournament. As a sophomore, Staton started
20 games at forward, and last season started
ai guard in all 27 games. He has twice won
the Defensive P/aver of the Year award, and
as a sophomore won A cademic A l-Big Ten
honors. This season, his last at Michigan,
finds him starting at guard again, but in a
mor involved role. In this interview wit/
D~aily reporter Gary Kiciniski, Staton airs his
views about the upcoming season, his
personalrole and his prospective future.
The Daily: Could you tell us
something about your high school
background and how you ended up at
Michigan?
Staton: Let's see-I'm from Ferndale
High School, which is a pretty : big
suburban Class A school right outside of
Detroit. I played varsity basketball
there for four years. Academically, I
was pretty well off - I was in the honor
society and won the John F. Kennedy
award. I came up here mainly because
my father went to fire college up here at
Michigan. He always wanted one of his
sons to attend school up here and that
was, probably along with the
academics and the sports situation up
here, my main criteria for coming.
The Daily: In your four years here,
you've always been looked on as a
leader. Last year, you were elected co-
captain along with Phil Hubbard. What
kind of function do you serve as co-
captain?'
Staton: Well, .playing guard-I must
take up the role of controlling the ball a
little bit more when the play gets hectic
- knowing which plays to run, listening
to the coach, getting the input from the
coach and providing a little input of my
own. Along with Phil we both - well,
we're not really vocal in our captain-
team relationship. It's mainly that we
are a part of the team and the more ex-
perienced players. Therefore, we can
help out a little bit more in some ways.
It's really no great undertaking. It's
kinda like what I've been doing all
along since I've gotten the experience.
The Daily: Let's talk about the team
this year a little bit. I would imagine
any comparison of this year's team
with last would have to begin with the
center, where you've got Phil (Hub-
bard) coming back. What kind of dif-
ference will it make to have Phil in
there?
Staton: The difference between Phil
and Joel (Thompson) I guess would be
that Phil always was more of a center.
Joel was always-a forward during his
stay at Michigan until his senior year.
With Phil in there, you have somebody
who is a little more experienced at
going to get the ball and kicking it out.
He knows the inner-workings of inside
posting and a lot of things like that. Phil
is probably one of the best inside people
in the game which would be evidenced
probably by his high draft coming up
this season or next. He just reacts to the
-T VVin
Player
G-S FG
Alan Hardy
McGee ................ 27-27
Thompson............27-27
Baxter ................ 27-26
Hardy ................. 27-27
Staton ................. 27-27
Johnson ............... 20-0
Lozier ................. 24-1
Bodnar, Mt ............ 21-0
Bergen ................ 22-0
Heuerman........... 25-
Robinson ............. 14-0
Bodnar, Mk..........20-0
Team & others .......
MICHIGAN..........27
Opponents........ ..27 8
21
18
15
14
9
2
16
14
15
16
Last year 's stas
-FGA Pet. FT-FTA Pct. Rbs. Avg A
7-439 .494 97-122 .795 132 4.9 3
6-344 .541 51-78 .654 234 8.7 2
9-320 .497 46-58 .793 75 2.8 1
4-319 .451 31-46 .674 169 6.3 5
'5-205 .463 22-40 .550 90 3.3 8
9-59 .492 10-17 .588 16 0.8 1
6-45 .356 11-17 .647 1 0.8 2
4-22 .636 9-12 .750 14 0.7
5-35 .429 7-12 .583 46 2.1
0-19 .526 17-28 .607 37 1.5 1
6-1!i .600 3-7 .429 11 0.8
8-19 .421 2-3 .667 7 0.4
162 6.0
A
39
24
178
54
87
10
25
7
4
11
2
8
2
Sti
16
28
44
15
45
9
7
3
7
1
0
5
PF-D
85-5
97-6
72-2
69-2
80-5
12.0
33-0
13.0'
27-0
32-0
4-0
4.0
3-0
Pts
531
423
364
319
212
68
43
37
37
37
15
18
Avg
19.7
15.7
13.5
11.8
7.9
3.4
1.8
1.8
1.7
1.5
1.1
0.9
Hi
38
29.
33
24
20
18
12
6
8
6
8
4
117
96
ball very quickly and just goes after the
ball with the determination that every
ball is his. When he gets it, he'll hurt
you by putting it in the bucket. He's just
physically very aggressive and tough
and if you get in his way, like I say, he'll
hurt you. Not on purpose or whatever,
but that's just the style of game he,
plays - much like Mike McGee's. -
- The Daily: Does it look to you like
Phil is fully recovered? Is he playing
without any fears or unusual caution?
StatQn: Well, in the scrimmage the
other day, he was just tremendous. This
summer I stayed with Phil and I played
with Phil the entire summer. I saw him
injure himself and kinda play hesitan-
tly but I feel he's not hampering himself
at all with the knee.
But when Phil is on the court, in a
game situation, he gets the ball, he goes
to the hole. Lately he's been getting on
the end of a lot of fast-break situations,
which we wanted him to do his
sophomore year. I think he's fine.
The Daily:_ When you were in high
school, you were known as a complete
ballplayer, one who was a tremendous
offensive threat as well as an excellent
defensive player. Yet all the while
you've been at Michigan, all everybody
says is, "Well, Tom Staton's a great
defensive player". How do you explain
the difference?
Staton: Well, the same thing hap-
pened to Waymann Britt. You get.
classified in a role, and what happens is
that once you get classified in that
"Well, he's a great defensive player"
role, it's a two-fold thing. One, on the
part of the coaches, where every game
you're always assigned the other
team's toughest offensive player. The
guys will run off of four picks to get a
twelve-foot jumper and you have to
come off the picks and make sure you
have a hand in his face, which takes a
hell of a lot of energy.
Secondly, once you run through all
those picks, you pay for it on the other
end of the floor. You can't do as much,
because it takes that much more
energy. So you just tend to slack up and
kind of rest on the offensive end
because you know you have such a job
on the defensive end. That's why a lot of
players are classified as either "great"
offensive players or "great" defensive
players.
That's one of my goals this year - to
be in such good shape that I can go at
both ends, for the whole game if
Alan liardvs Varsity Record:
Yr. G FG-FGA Pet. FT-FTA
Fr. 29 11-83 .194 I11-19
So. L9 47-104 .45? 15-2:5
JIr. 27 t14-319 .451 31-16
TIot. 85 132-5411 . 159 56-89
necessai
on my ji
criticisn
shoot, be
just a r
one sho
there's i
and rhyl
Those t'
Pct.
.:526
.6 71
,629
Ast.
lx
x
5!
slit
1'pg.
3.2
3.x
6,01
I
8991836 .490 306440 .695 l01l 37.4 451
822-1677 .490 375-537 .698 1077 39.9 370
181 531-20 2104 77.9
128 477-16 2019 74.8
I I
Tom Stator
Yr. G FC
Fr. 22
So. 30
Jr. 7
Tot. 79
shooting
time and
way that
The D
Ten this
team to
runner,
Staton
the tean
and beca
the gam
get the b
I think
coming
they had
us if we
properly
Indiana,
Iowa, w
back. Fri
clusion c
stronges
think it's
The Da
for Tomi
Baxter's assist total set a Michigan record; McGee's point total, average and high game were Michigan
freshman records.
AVERAGE MINUTES PLAYED: Baxter 35:11; McGee 32:58; Thompson 32:49; Hardy 32:47: Staton 31:31:
Lozier 7:29; Bergen 6:40; Heuerman 6:29; Johnson 5:42; Bodnar, Marty 4:18; Bodnar. Mark 2:33;
Robinson 1:07
BLOCKED SHOTS: Thompson 33; Hardy 21; Staton 10; Bergen 7; Baxter 5; Heuerman 5: McGee 4:
Johnson 2: Lozier 2. TOTALS: Mich. 89; Opp.,52.
DUNKS: Thompson 30; Hardy 19; Staton 7; Johnson 1: McGee 1
TOTALS: Mich. 58; Opp. 37.
TURNOVERS: Mich. 445; Opp. 545. DEAD BALL REBOUNDS: Mich. 65; Opp. 75
MICHIGAN RECORDS: 16-11 (Big Ten 11-7)
Home: 10-4; Away: 5-6; Neutral: 1-1
./
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CO-CAPTAIN Tom Staton is back for his fourth year at Michigan. This year the
versatile Station will be one of the starting guards, although he may be seeing
some action as a forward in certain situations. Staton, long recognized as Mich-
igan's top defensive player, hopes to contribute more offensively this year as well.
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