Saturday, January 22, 1972
rHL MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Nine
Saturday, January 22, 1972 [HE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine
...
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out to lunch
mort noveck
Stubborn
icers
blanked
Michigan Basketball:
Disgraceful exhibitions
IT WAS OBVIOUS to anyone that saw them play. Something
was wrong with the Michigan basketball team.
It wasn't just that they were losing. It was the way they
lost. Only one team can win, so it's no disgrace not to win when
the other team is better. But the Wolverines were getting beaten
by teams that didn't have half the talent they did. And the
two good teams they played didn't even extend themselves to
win.
Michigan players would go out on the floor and stand
there doing nothing. Or they would forget everything they
ever learned about the game and make some of the dumbest
plays ever seen on the court. When Henry Wilmore was
injured they didn't bother to play at { all. They just went
out on the court and waited for the clock to run down.
It was expeited when they lost to Marquette. They could nave
given tne Warriors a better game, but no one expected tne
Wolverines to win. To an extent the same was true of the
Ohio State game. It's been a while since Michigan won anything
in Columbus.
However there is no excuse for the losses to Toledo, Wash-
ington and Washington State. Michigan even without Wilmore,
has more talent than any of those teams.
But this talent wasn't doing the team any good. Wilmore
was trying as hard as ever and John Lockard made vast
improvements but the rest of the squad didn't seem to be
very interested in playing.
Especially disappointing were the sophomores. It was be-
lieved that some of the sophs, like Sam Brady Mike Weaver and
John Bridges would be valuable assets to the team. But
they didn't help at all. When they played they disrupted more
than they benefitted. It appeared that they just couldn't fit into
the team, that they just weren't willing to run the plays.
The immediate reaction was to blame Johnny Orr for the
mess. The easiest explanation was that he didn't teach them
ayt;A0g. TIow could they play a team game if no one told
them wha:: o do? After all if he recruited them they must
have some ability and if he couldn't do anything with it he must
be a lousy coach.
In a way it is Orr's fault. But not for failure to try. His
misake until Thursday was to let them stay on the team.
They didn't want to play and they didn't get along with the
other players, so why should they stay?
It would seem that an athlete who accepts a scholarship
would want to play. It is understandable when basketball players
don' go to class. Many of them have no academic motivation
and are only in college to play. But at least most of these play
as well as they can.
As long as they stay eligible no one will complain if they
are not exactly scholars. Then there are a few players who want
to go to school. They only play for fun or for the scholarship.
But as long as they try they are welcome on most teams.
By BILL ALTERMAN
The Michigan Icers made it six
in a row last night; unfortunately
it was their sixth consecutive loss,
a 3-0 shutout at the hands of
powerful Michigan Tech. For
Huskie coach John MacInnes it
was particularly sweet; it marked
his 300th victory as a , college
coach.
Michigan did notl
game. Indeed, Coach
afterwards said, "We
ter than any other
Christmas break. Our,
well, it's Just that
played better."
play a bad
Al Renfrew'
played bet-
game since
team played
their team
Tech, in fact, looked like thej
daily
sports.
NIGHT EDITOR:
SANDI GENIS
some time coming around but last
night they appeared every bit as'
good as last year's Huskies.
Last year's Freshman of the
Year in the WCHA, Mike Usitalo,
did much of the damage for Tech,
scoring their first two goals.
But for the first 20 minutes, it
was a scoreless duel as Wolverine
goalie Karl Bagnell and his Tech
counterpart Morris Trewin made
several spectacular saves. That
doesn't mean, however, that the
Huskies were unable to light up
the red light. They did at 13:30
of the opening period but their
momentary joy was turned to de-
spair when referee Don Wilkie
signaled no goal. He indicated that
a Tech player had been guilty of
being in the crease just as Huskie
Gary Crosby shot the puck by
Bagnell. Tech complained but to
no avail.
by Tec
A few minutes earlier a Tech
shot hit the crossbar and bounced
down, inches outside of the red
line. Then too, Tech thought they
had broken the ice but the referees
ruled otherwise. .-
But Tech was not to be denied
and scored almost immediately
after the faceoff opening the sec-
ond period.
Michigan was a man down at
the time and the fancy passing
Huskies worked the faceoff into
Usitalo in all alone on Bagnell.
Usitalo managed to fake Bagnell
off his feet and then effortlessly
shot it in the unprotected net.
Tech capitalized on another
Michigan mistake to open the
third period and make the score
2-0. A shot by Crosby was deflect-
ed by Bagnell and knocked down
in front of the net by Wolverine
defenseman Jerry Lefebvre where
Usitalo picked it up and easily
slapped it by Bagnell.
Tech wrapped it up two-thirds
of the way through the period
when a slap shot by Graham
Wise got through Bagnell who
was. screened by teammate Jean
- - ~ -
h,
Cartier.
The Huskies had numerous oth-
er opportunities but Bagnell had
another excellent night in goal,
Huskies howl
FIRST PERIOD SCORING: None.
PENALTIES: 1. Tech-Bob Loriner
(high sticking) 2:15; 2. Tech-Crosby
(roughing) 9:56; 3. M-Skinner (rough-
ing) 8:56; 4. Tech-Coates (charging)
t11:02; 5. M-Connelly (charging) 11:02;
6. M-Connelly (charging) 11:02; 7. M-
Cartier (charging) 19:56.
SECOND PERIOD SCORING: 1. Tech-
Usitalo (Crosby, Hartviksen) :10.
PENALTIES: S. M-Werner (tripping)
4:00; 9. Tech-McPhail (holding) 8:37;
10. M-Cartier (inters.) 9:28; 11. Tech-,
Lorimer (tripping) 10:14; 12. M-Gag-
non (Interf.) 12:04; 13. Tech-Nahrgang
(tripping) 12:38; 14. M-Paris (Interf.)
15:06.
THIRD PERIOD SCORING: 2. Tech-
Usitalo (Crosby, Hartviksen) :25; 3.
Tech-Wise (Chestolowski, Mott) 14:01.
PENALTIES: 15. Tech - Hartviksen
(InterE.) 1:02; 16. M-Cartier (roughing)
1:44; 17. Tech-Cartier (roughing) 1:44;
18. M-Straub (high sticking) 7:19; 19.
Tech-Crosby (high sticking)' 7:19; 20.
M-Lefebvre (tripping) 10:48; 21. M-
Falconer (rough) 16:35; 22. Tech-Lori-
mer (rough) 16:35; 23. M-Jarry (rough)
16:35; 24. M-Jarry (rough) 16:35; 25. T-
Crosby (rough) 16:35.
GOALIE SAVES
Michigan Bagnell 18 14 16-48
Tech-Trewin 14 9 14-37
- - - - - -
30
Huskies of last year who
through the WCHA en route
25-6-2 record. Graduation
hard, however, and Tech.
tore
to a
hit
took
I S CORES
NBA
Detroit 107, Baltimore 102
Golden State 113, Atlanta 111
Chicago 113, Buffalo 93
Boston 110, Houston 103
Milwaukee 120, Cleveland 91
ABA
Dallas 129, Utah 116
Carolina 122, Pittsburgh 98
Kentucky 108, Indiana 88
Wilmore gets two more
"JANUARY CLEARANCE" FOR ORR
it
g
n
t
c
h
c
R
p
t
e
s
Cl
t
But the Michigan sophomores don't want to do anything.
Brady and Weaver haven't shown much desire on the court e
C
and they are academically ineligible at the moment. Terry 0
Tyler and Bridges are eligible but they don't want to, play.
It's a puzzle.
Orr hasn't found the key to onlock it yet bot he has decided g
to try something. Johnny Orr might not be the greatest bas-
ketball coach in the world but he cares about his team and is t
deeply worried by it's failure to respond to his efforts. 1
So he has suspended Tyler and Bridges. And if and when 1
Brady and Weaver get eligible he'll consider the same for them. i
"It was more or less their attitude. at practice," he ex- p
n
plained. "Just a lack of enthusiasm, desire to improve and to f
make a positive contribution to the success of the team."b
"We've asked them time and again to do certain V
things," Orr continued "and they haven't respond'ed the way c
we wanted them to.".We have not been able to get them to
fit into our concept of the game."
The sophomores idea of basketball from the way they play-
ed, was strictly one on one. . They didn't seem to believe in %
working as a team. However at le st they had some idea. Orr s
doesn't claim to have problems with the rest of the squad, but h
they haven't been that good a unit either. Michigan has far too
much trouble against the zone and the press to be considered n
a well coached team. A good deal of baskeball is raw talent, j
but enough of it is polish. And the Wolverines don't look very 1
smooth.
Orr says that some of the problems can be explained by Ib
the sophs. "I think the problem has affected the play of some p
of the others," he claims. But even Orr doesn't think the
suspensions will make an immediate difference. "We'll have to E
wait and see," he said. "I have no idea what will happen."
Of course, nothing might happen due to the suspensions
because Orr could be his own problem. He and Fred Snow- w
den recruited these players. They wanted them on their team a
and they thought that they could help. It's possible that the V
coaches made a mistake in their recruiting. Maybe these r
players should be kicked off the team now that their true V
character is discovered.
But maybe the problem is that Orr just doesn't know how
to handle -them. None of them seem to be interested in school so
they must have come to Michigan to play basketball.
It's too soon to tell who's right. If team spirit picks up
then Orr made the right move. But if nothing happens then he
may have needlessly driven four players out of the game.
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By BOB ANDREWS
The problem - ridden Wolver-
ne cagers (2-1) will host the
Northwestern Wildcats (1-3) in a
game at Crisler Arena this after-
noon. Not only must Michigan win
o maintain any hopes for the
onference championship, but
lead coach Johnny Orr will have
o contend with the loss of four'
of his players.
As of Thursday, guards Sam
Brady and Mike Weaver were de-
clared ineligible while Terry Ty-
er and John Bridges were tem-
porarily suspended for lack of
eam play.
Fortunately for Orr. Northwest-
ern has also had their share of
etbacks and should pose no ser-
ous threat in the Wolverine's
quest for their third Big Ten vic-
ory.
While Michigan's absentees in-
clude none of the starting five,
ne week ago the Wildcats dis-
missed last year's leading scorer.
starting forward Barry Moran.
ecause of his dispute with Coach
Brad Snyder over the rules.
The Wildcats have won three of
twelve contests, including only
ne in the conference. However,
ast Tuesday. they upended Mich-
gan State 76-69 and Snyder was
pleasantly surprised by the per-
ormance of three of his sonho-
mores; 6-8 forward Bryan Ash-
baugh, 6-7 backup center Greg
Wells, and 6-1 guard Kevin Ka-
chan.
According to Athletic Director
Tippy Dye "All three might b¢
starting against Michigan but we
wron't know until game time."
Wells is not as fine a shooter as
starting center Barry Hentz, but
he is a better rebounder.
The Wildcats employ a shiftine
man on man offense led by 6-1
unior guard. Mark Sibley. Not on-
y does he boast a 14.7 scoring
average. but he is the team's
eader in assists and second in re-
bounds. Dye insisted, "Sibley has
played well enough for strong con-
sideration for best guard in the
Big Ten"
The only other sure starter for
the Wildcats will be 6-4 for-
ward, Rick Sund.
Coming off the 84-73 thrashing
at the hands of Ohio State, the
Wolverines will be starting the
regular five of Dave Hart and
Wayne Grabiec at guards, Henry
Wilmore and John Lockard at the
forward slots with Ernie Johnson
playing the pivot.
Wilmore, the squad's leading
' scorer with a 23.9 average, will
start at forward. But Orr defi-
nitely plans to play him at guard.
"When Henry plays the back-
court for us, he'll be the man
who brings the ball up for us",
added the Wolverine mentor.
Lockard seems to be playing
his best basketball ever as a
Wolverine. Not only is he pacing
the team in rebounding with a
10.4 average, but he is fourth in
scoring with 12.5 points per
game. According to Orr, "Right
now John is one of the premier
players in our league. The rea-
son he has improved is his new-
ly found self-confidence."
Ken Brady made his season's
debut against the Buckeyes and
showed that the long lay-off had
hindered his ability and timing.
However, he seemed to be mov-
ing better this week in practice,
but not to the point where he
could go 40 minutes.
Although, Orr plans to start
Johnson at center, Brady will
come in whenever Wilmore re-
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places Hart at guard with John-
son moving to the vacated for-
ward position.
Against Ohio State, one of the
major reasons for the Wolverine's
impotence was the inability' of
the guards to hit from the out-
side. Combined, Hart and Grabiec
hit only 2 of 14 from the floor
and totalled five points between
them.
Tyler and Bridges later came in
and did an adequate job, but
with them no longer on the squad
it is even more important that
Hart and especially Grabiec, re-
gain their shooting eye.
The Wolverines should be able
'Cats
DELTA CHI
HAS A PLACE
FOR YOU TO L IVE
OPEN HOUSE
1705 HILL
Jan. 18-Jon. 22
For the Student Body:
LEVI'S
Denim
Bells
to improve on another major
weakness they exhibited last week
and dominate the offensive boards
better than they did against Ohio
State as the Northwestern front
line will not enjoy anywhere near
the height advantage that 7 foot
Luke Witte enjoyed against John-
son and Brady. Hentz is the tall-
est Wildcat at 6-9.
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