BLUE PULLING FOR BUCKEYES:
Big
Ten
turns
By DAVE RENBARGER
If you're more than a little bit sur-
prised to see Ohio State still sitting
pretty on top of the Big Ten basketball
standings, don't feel bad because
you're not alone.
In fact, before this wacky season got
started, nobody outside of Columbus
gave the Buckeyes a sliver of a chance
to displace the defending champs,
Michigan State.
Case in point: the pre-season Big Ten
basketball predictions, where the sup-
Big Ten Standings
posedly knowledgeable media types got
together and made their selections.
Michigan State, the defending champs,
collected 45 of the possible 66 first place
votes. The remaining 21 votes, inciden-
tally, went to Michigan."
Ohio State fared no better than fourth
in the poll behind third-place Indiana.
Other predictions that the voters may
not wish to own up to are those for Iowa
and, Purdue. The second-place
Hawkeyes, currently the only team
with a legitimate shot at OSU, were
picked eighth, and the third-place
Boilermakers were tabbed to finish
seventh.
But that was long before things got
started, and how could anyone predict a
collapse as thorough as the Spartans'?
MSU's insulting 83-65 loss to traditional
Big Ten martyr Northwestern was the
coup de grace for Jud Heathcote's
team, virtually eliminating them from
title contention.
Meanwhile, Ohio State approaches
the midpoint of the Big Ten season
tomorrow at the crossroads. The
Buckeyes play two games away from
home this week -.Thursday at MSU
and Saturday at Indiana - and when
those results are in, the race will either
to Ps
t and dried or more mixed up than
)hio State sweep will just about be
gh for the Bucks to claim the
y a month early, and a split
in't be much worse. But if the
, drop two, which is quite possible
, road, just about anything can
an.
where does all of this leave the
erines?
ht now, Michigan finds itself in
aradoxical situation of pulling for
State victories. That's right. If the'
erines' dream of making the
k playoffs is to materialize,
e probably going to need some
rom the front-running Bucks.
h only a 4-4 record, the Wolverines
>ur games out of first place, and
for fourth. But they're only two
s out of second place, and the Big
unner-up goes to the NCAA's too,
now.
realistically, Michigan can con-
he title to Ohio State, setting their
on second place and the guaran-
CAA berth.
iere's two ways to look at Ohio
s situation," said Michigan
ant coach Bill Frieder. "One, they
get beat. Then everything
>le would have to work out for you
the title because the advantages
-turvy
would be the same for Purdue, Iowa,
Michigan State and Illinois.
"Then, the other thing is to have Ohio
State keep winning. Then, if you keep
winning, you'll be continually
gaining on everybody Ohio State
beats."
So it's not really that complicated at
all, is it?
"Ohio State beat Indiana on Thur-
sday, and we gained a game on In-
diana," continued Frieder. "If they
beat Michigan State on Thursday and
we win (at Indiana), we gain a game on
Michigan State. I think that with that
type of philosophy, we'll be into the
NCAA Playoffs."
So, the way it stands right now, the
Michigan coaches are officially
Buckeye fans, at least until Feb. 8,
when the Wolverines take on OSU in
Cqlumbus.
In other key Big Ten games this
weekend, Iowa hits the road for two at
Wisconsin and Minnesota, while Pur-
due visits both Northwestern and
Wisconsin.
The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, January 31, 1979-Page 9
Irish retain top spot
NEW YORK (AP) - It took 11 weeks,'but Indiana State finally lost one
- off the court, that is.
Notre Dame, despite garnering only 13 first-place ballots to the,
Sycamores' 32 and losing a game in the final seconds to Maryland last week,
retained the No. 1 position in The Associated Press college basketball poll
today.
The Irish received 1,124 points in balloting by a nationwide committee of
sports writers and broadcasters, edging Indiana State, 18-0, by a mere 13
points in one of the closest votes in AP poll history.
While Notre Dame and Indiana State were battling hard for the No. 1
spot, last week's rash of upsets created wholesale changes among the rest of
the Top Ten.
AP Top Twenty
UPI Top Twenty
Conference
Ohio State
Iowa
Purdue
MICHIGAN
Michigan State
Illinois
Minnesota
Indiana
Wisconsin
Northwestern
W
8
6
5
4
4
4
3
3
2
1
L
0
2
3
4
4
4
5
5
6
7
Overall
W L,
13 4
13 4
15 5
10 6
11 5
16 5
8 9
11 9
8 9
5 12
1. Notre Dame (15) ............... 12-2
2. Indiana State (32)............ 18-0
3.Duke (8).....................14-3
4. North Carolina (1)............15-3
5. UCLA (2)......................14-3
6. Louisville (2) .................. 17-3
7. Ohio State .................. 13-4
8. Syracuse..................18-2
9. Georgetwon, D.C............... 16-2
10. Louisana state ................. 15-3
11. Texas...................... 15-4
12. Marquette.................14-3
13. Alabama..................13-4
14. Illinois..................... 16-4
15. Michigan State.............. 11-5
16. Texas A&M................17-4
17. Maryland ..................... 14-5
18. Temple ........................ 15-3
19. Arkansas ...................... 13-4
20. vanderbilt..................... 14-3
1.124
1,111
1.025
970
957
956
851
692
623
497
484
460
355
325
324
283
251
210
169
153
1. Notre Dame (12) .............. 12-2
2. Indiana State (18).............18-0
3. UCLA (1) .................. 14-3
4. Duke (3)..................14-3
5. Louisville (2)..................17-3
6. North Carolina (2)............15-3
7. Ohio State (3) ................. 13-4
8. Syracuse ................... 17-2
9. Marquette.................14-3
10. Georgetown ................. 16-2
11. Texas ......................... 14-4
12. Louisiana State................ 14-3
13. Michigan State.............11-5
14. Texas A&M................. 17-4
15. Alabama ....................13-4
16. vanderbilt..................14-3
17. Illinois..................... 16-4
18. Temple .................... 18-2
19. Weber State ................... 19-4
+20. Purdue........................15-5
551
528
436
430
419
414
393
308
199
195
163
116
98
94
69
65
51
49
43
39
Thursday's Games
MICHIGAN at Indiana
Ohio State at Michigan State
Iowa at Wisconsin
39 B
WOMEN FA CE CHIPPE WA S
Cagers stressing offense
Minnes
Purdue:
ota at Illinois. -to win
at Northwestern7
Orr, Can ham, B Ten brass
shun proposed CA boycott
By DAVE RENBaARGER
Michigan athletic director Don Canham and coach
Johnny Orr said yesterday that they have no plans to
abide by Maryland coach Lefty Driesell's proposed
boycott of the NCAA basketball tournament.
On Monday Driesell had sent letters to coaches and
athletic'directors around the nation, urging the schools to
boycott the tournament in protest over a rule which allows
a maximum of two teams per conference to participate in
the 40-team tourney. Driesell would like to have more than
two teams/from the same conference eligible for tour-
nament bids.
Driesell had sent letters to all schools, in a conference
which had a Top Twenty team, but received no support
from Canham, Orr or Big Ten commissioner Wayne Duke.
WHEN INFORMED of the proposed boycott yesterday,
Canham scoffed at the idea. "You've got to consider the
source-he's crazy," said Canham jokingly of Driesell.
Canham went on to defend the new format of the tour-
nament, which was revised last summer to include 40
teams rather than 32. "I wouldn't change a thing. They've
got it set up just fine.
"You've got to remember that this is supposed to be a
national tournament, and all parts of the nation must be
represented. If you can't even finish second in your con-
ference, then you can go to the NIT (National Invitational
Tournament).
"NOT ONLY WILL I fire off a letter right back to him,
but I will urge others to do the same," said Canham.
Like Canham, Orr was unaware of Driesell's action
before yesterday and had not yet received the letter.
Unlike Canham, however, Orr agreed with the idea in
principle before dismissing the boycott as being
ridiculous.
"Sure, I think that more than two teams from a con-
ference should qualify for the tournament," said Orr.
"But there's no way he's going to get anything done about
it this year. These thigs take time.
"The whole thing sounds like a waste of time to me,"
Orr added. "I think Lefty's a little worried that he's not
going to make the tournament. The best thing he can do is
start winning his games."
DUKE, BIG TEN Commissioner and Chairman of the
NCAA Tournament Committee, charged that Driesell's
idea stemmed from his own narrow-mindedness, thereby
undermining the intent of the tournament.
"The domination of a select few has been one of the
biggest problems in all of college athletics," said Duke.
-"We're trying to work toward more of a competitive
equality.
"We were just thinking of the best interest of college
basketball as a whole," continued Duke, referring to the
two-team rule. "This is the perspective of an ad-
ministrator as opposed to that of a coach. The ad-
ministrator looks at the entire picture and the coach's is a
fragmented point of view."
IN DUKE's opinion, Driesell's boycott idea "will be
totally unproductive," adding that "this is nothing new.
Lefty wrote me a letter to this effect last summer."
In an interview in yesterday's Washington Post,
Driesell said, "I've been hot about this before, and I'm hot
about it again." The two-team rule has been in effect since
the 1976 tourney, and no conference has ever sent three
teams.
ffy LIZ MAC
A change from its hectic early season
pace has given the women's basketball
team (10-7) a chance to experiment
with some new facets of their game.
"We've been working on our offen-
se," said head coach Gloria Soluk.
"We're practicing getting the ball in-
side to our big girls."
"With our busy schedule, we had no
time to work on everything we'd like,"
agreed assistant coach Margo Plotzke.
"Now, we can sort of polish what we do
now. And we have a few different offen-
ses and different defenses that we're
working on."
From a three-games-per-week slate
in early January, the cagers' schedule
has slowed to a somewhat normal two
SCORES
games per week. The Central Michigan
Chippewas visit Ann Arbor for a contest
tonight at 7 p.m. in Crisler Arena.
"Defense seems to be our
stronghold," said Plotzke. "We've been
putting some finishing touches on our
press, (but) we've been working on our
offense a great deal.
"The thirty second clock is new to a
lot of the players. We're teaching-them
to have a little more patience on offen-
se."
Although there is no Big Ten women's
basketball conference this year, there
is a Big Ten Tournament in February
toward which the players are looking
now. Last Saturday's 58-57 victory over
Illinois undoubtedly helped get them
ready.
"It's like a 20-point victory when we
win on the road like that,", said Soluk,
referring to the last minute one-point
victory. "We're trying to win some road
games to get ready for-the Big Ten
Tournament."
Post-season action begins in early
March. Winners from the state tour-
nament go on to regional competition,
and the national tournament is next.
Tonight's contest may give the
Wolverines a hint of what's to come in
the state tournament. Central "has
great respectability around the state,"
according to Plotzke.
"Gimme a D *
Gimme an A
Gimme an 1 . . . L ...Y *
Give the MICHIGAN DAILY
that old college try. *
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NHL
Minnesota 5, N.Y. Islanders 4
Detroit 7, Washington 4
NBA
Washington 109, Atlanta 105
Indiana 112, Houston,106
College Basketball
Notre Dame 80, Brown 53
Fordham 76, Columbia 75
A
TTTTTTTTTTT-TTTrTTTTTTTTV
r
First in war, first in peace AP Photo
... and last in the Norris Division. Nonetheless, fifth-place Detroit cooled off fourth-place Washington, 7-4, and nemesis
goalie G*ary Inness. The win was only the 10th in 51 games for the Red Wings, and the loss was the first in six games for
the Capitals.
Wings
pop Caps
DETROIT (UPI) - The Detroit Red
Wings scored three second period goals
to break open a close game last night
and held on to beat Washington, 7-4.
Dale McCourt's goal with six minutes
left in the second period broke a 3-3 tie
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