t atM Section Four-Sports Ann Arbor, Michigan-Thursday, September 9, 1971 Eight Pages WOLVERINE SPORTS . . 0 Football1970: Mammoth B u By BILL ALTERMAN It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The above is the opening line of A Tale of Two Cities, but is an equally apt description of Michigan's football fortunes in 1970. Picking up from where the Rose Bowl team of the year before had left off, the Mammoth Blue Wave surged over its first nine opponents with relative ease but then lost a heart rending 20-9 decision to the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Nevertheless, the Wolverines racked up their best won- lost record since the 1964 Rose Bowl team. The tem set in- numerable scoring records and managed to shut out three§k opponents. Prior to the Ohio State game they were ranked third in the nation. But Columbus killed it all. A victory over OSU might have catapulted Michigan into the number one ranking. A victory over the Buckeyes would have given Michigan the conference crown and a perfect 10-0 record. And a victory over the Buckeyes would have shown that their 24-12 victory a year earlier was no fluke. But instead, the year 1970 was to end with a crash, and there was no next week to make a comeback. For coach Bo Schembechler and the returning Wolverines, it has been a long year of waiting for the time they could prove themselves to be truly the best. At the beginning of last year, though, the Wolverines appeared anything but world beaters. Opening up here against a weak Arizona team, Michigan's offense sputtered its way to a meager 20 points, but the defense was tremendous and held the Wildcats to three field goals in a lackadasical 20-9 season opener. Many people assumed Michigan would take off from there, but if the defense continued to improve the offense managed to slide even further, scoring only 31 points in their next two games. Out on the coast against Washington and its less than murderous defense, Michigan managed only one run of over three yards in a first half that left them on the short end of a 3-0 count. In the second half Schembechler replaced tailback Glenn Doughty with Preston Henry who responded with touchdown runs of 30 and eight yards. Nevertheless, the Wolverines could muster only 282 total yards and the big plus for Mich- igan continued to be its defense, which for the second week in a row wouldn't allow a touchdown. Going against Husky quarterback Sonny Sixkiller who had destroyed Michigan State the week before, the Wolverines were able to pick off three passes and limit the Washington runners to a miniscule 20 yards net rushing. But if Michigan's offense looked weak against Wash- ington, it looked positively anemic back home against Texas A&M. The offense could pick up only 212 total yards and 10 first downs. Michigan was behind 10-7 at halftime but their touchdown had come on a drive of only seven yards. Overall, quarterback Don Moorhead could connect on only>' three of 16 passes and had two picked off. Indeed, it seemed as if Michigan was heading for its first defeat of the year until it was able to mount a 62 yards drive in the waning moments to pull out a 14-10 victory. Sparking the drive was tailback Fritz Seyferth who per- sonally accounted for 45 of those yards. Even then Michigan could not breath easily as Texas A&M took the kickoff and brought it back into Michigan territory. The Wolverine defense held, however, and Michigan came out of it with its third squeaker in a row. Oddly enough, that week's poll moved the less than impressive Wolverines up MC to seventh. Next week it was Purdue and for the first time, the Wol- verine offense began to look worthy of the defense. The de- fense pulled off its first shutout of the season and limited Purdue to 36 yards on the ground, but it was the offense that drew most of the attention in the 29-0 batle. As quarterback Don Moorhead said after the game, "We finally put it all together." Moorhead himself who was going See WAVE, Page 8 'Michigan athletics-winning and losing, but mostly winning Young cagers ascend rapidly, but endinNIT di sappoin tmen t By ELLIOT LEGOW Making the steep climb from the Big Ten's second division to the conference's upper elevations in one year's quick jump, Mich- igan's basketball fortunes in 1970-71 reached successes unknown in Ann Arbor since the days of Cazzie Russell. Working with the Rudy Tomjanovich- less remnants of a team that finished tied for sixth in 1969-70 and an uncertain wealth of sophomore talent coach Johnny Orr was able to develop the Wolverines into the Big Ten runners-up with a 12-2 conference record and a 19-7 mark overall. The Wolverines held first place for the early weeks of the Big Ten season but were forced into a still creditable second place abode by old friend, Ohio State. Second place meant a National Invitational Tournament trip for the Wolverines, the first ever for a Big Ten team. When comparing the 1970-71 Wolverines with their recent predecessors on the hard- court one finds several major differences between the also-rans and the contenders: height, teamwork, and Henry Wilmore. Wilmore certainly didn't do it all alone. In fact his average (25.0) was lower than Tomjanovich's the previous season, but the spectacular sophomore put a new excite- ment into the Michigan team with his fan- tastic driving, his rugged rebounding, his one-on-one skill and his talent to hit those impossible behind the backboard shots. Bringing Michigan cage fans back to life wasn't Wilmore's only contribution, though. The graduate of New York City's play- grounds had the second highest sophomore scoring total in Michigan history, ranked third in the Big Ter: and in the top 25 in the nation in point production, and made the all-Big Ten team and received all-America honorable mention in his first collegiate season. Although Wilmore was consistently the Wolverines' top scorer and most dangerous offensive threat. Michigan's success was also For Ford there were ups and downs to the season but the 6-4 Detroiter was much more at home at forward than at center where he had been consistently overmatched the previous season. Besides his 13 point av- erage Ford also was important for his de- fensive work, as Orr generally assigned him to defend the opposing team's scoring leader. Replacing Ford in the pivot was another sophomore, 6-10 Ken Brady. Moving into the role of a strong, rebounding center that had been vacant since Bill Buntin left Mich- igan Brady made a contribution that cannot be seen simply in his statistics of 12 points and 10 rebounds per game. The presence of Brady in the middle gave Michigan more opportunities for second shots, and allowed the Wolverines to move the ball inside more effectively. Wayne Grabiec, the only junior starter, made a successful conversion from forward to guard and gave the Wolverines an out- side shooting threat to counter Wilmore's inside play. Grabiec's offensive contribution cates as his hot hand was several times was bigger than his 12 point average indi- instrumental in destroying opposition zone defenses. It was not immediately evident at the start of the season, however, that all these talents would blossom and that a winning, team would in fact emerge. Wilmore and Brady were without varsity experience and Brady had had to sit out his freshman season. Although the Michigan fans were hopeful, the Wolverines were generally picked for a high second division finish in the Big Ten behind leading contenders In- diana, Illinois, and Minnesota. The first five games gave no cause for optimism, either, as the Wolverines dropped their first three to national powerhouses, Notre Dame, Kentucky, and Duke and then s a lv a g e d two unimpressive and poorly played victories over local rivals, Eastern Michigan and University of Detroit. One thing evident from the start was See CAGERS, Page 2 ,rsr . . ".. ::; ::s ........ ....