*Wednesday, January 27, 1971 THE MICHIGAN DAILY ^ M. THE-M-CH--------- P'age Sevet X1" _Ford By BOB HEUER The resurrection of the 1971 Michi basketball team is due in large part, an unselfish approach and 'together' titude exhibited by every man on ball club. This attitude is exemplified veteran senior Rodney Ford. Rod Ford does not lead the team ino major categories, but hisvalue, especie since the start of Big Ten play has b immeasurable. In Michigan's offensive attack, F serves as the swing man, able to perfo well in every phase of the game. A forward, he handles a large portion ofI rebounding chores, scores consisten from his corner position, and exhil speed that has enabled him to grab rebound, make the outlet pass, and s onds later, latch on to a return pass fo fast-break lay-up. Ford's most important duties howev come at the other end of the court.1 defensive prowess has given him the u enviable task of guarding the likes Austin Carr and George McGinnis so this year. "Defense," he says, "is a challenge. F epitomizes me, it's 80 per cent desire. You just have Ford at gan to make up your mind to stop the other juvination to guy." ine starte at- Another intangible quality that Rodney see littlet the Ford supplies is leadership. Coach Johnny about the by Orr delegates that authority to the sen- my shot." iors and one of their biggest chores is Carter, any to influence, by their actions as well as close con ally their words, the underclassmen. "We had through F een some problems with the younger guys will alway early in the year," Ford said. "It was him," he ord just a case of taking the pre-season press- saw anyth rm clippings too much for granted. Sometime s a "It's up to us to keep them in the right situationa the frame of mind now that we're winning it from the itly and keep that from happening again." bits For Rod Ford, the holiday tourna- Ford ha a ments marked a turn in his own, as well the prese ec- as the team's fortunes. An early season and the r a slump kept him on the bench for the to be," he better part of four games. But a break give an or ver, for the holidays and a trip to Hawaii it out wit His gave him time to analyze his problems an order i an- and he put it all together in the Rainbow don't like of Classic, scoring 68 points and hauling in The coach far 23 rebounds in the four tournament son or th games, including a season-high 29 points "Today2 For against Villanova. power; th team tributes at least part of his re- to his roommate, ex-Wolver- r Richard Carter. "Richie would things I was doing and tell me m. He helped me out a lot witn a 1970 graduate, has kept in itact with this year's team, Ford and other seniors, "Rod ys bring the game home with said. "We talk it over and if I ping wrong, I'll tell him about it. s, he's just too close to the and it takes a person looking at he outside to see what's wrong." is some interesting insights into nt player-coach relationships problem of discipline. "It used e said, "that the coach would rder and the player would carry h no questions asked. Now when comes down, and the players it, they're going to ask 'Why?.' better have a pretty good rea- ey won't do it. athletes realize that they've got hat the system can't function spirit without them. That power is now being exploited in all areas of sport." The exploitation of the black athlete is another subject that Rod Ford is con- cerned about. "We are black people before anything else." he said. "For instance, we've been asked to boycott any sports event with Brigham Young University because of their racial policy. We were aware of the boycott of the game with the Australian Nationals, but there was no time to organize anything on our part." Ford has also been talking to the younger black athletes at Michigan about their predominantly Phys. Ed. curricu- lums. "We want them to take courses in different areas so they will have some- thing to fall back on if the athletic career doesn't pan out." Ford is looking forward to an engineer- ing degree upon graduation, but the en- gineering career could be put off for awhile if a professional basketball con- tract is in the offing. But be it basketball, football, or engi- neering, Rodney Ford's determination and willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team will pay big dividends. -Daily-Terry McCarthy Rod Ford (43)_takes a' jump shot y - - - f ... of the team will pay big dividends. Five tea ~Big Te ims fight as Laver rakes in the cash on tennis tour battle By ELLIOT LEGOW The Big Ten basketball season is #only three weeks old but a great d ail battle for the top position is al- ready shaping up, with four teams currently tied for the top with undefeated marks and one more : just a single game behind. Illinois, Ohio State, Purdue, and NIGHT EDITOR: Michigan all remain undefeated BETSY MAHON *m three games, and Indiana's ? strong Hoosiers have dropped only one game, to Michigan. These five son lead Illinois' offense with 23 teams were all expected to be and 16 point averages respective- tough before the season, but it was ly, but the work of sophomores guessed that some of them .would Nick Weatherspoon, Nick Conner, have slipped by now, and Jed DeDecker has also been The only team performing below important to the Illini. expectations in conference play is Weatherspoon and Jackson are Minnesota. The Gophers compiled a strong pair of rebounders, each a 7-4 record in non-conference averaging 10 per game. However, action and were figured to be up coach Harv Schmidt has had near the top of the Big Ten race. troubles with his other forward However, the Gophers have position due to injuries and lack- dropped four conference g a m e s luster performances. Howat h a s without yet registering a victory, done a good job on his outside *and have sole possession of 1 a s t shooting, meshing 55 per cent of place. Youth has been Minne- his shots, but no other guard is sota's problem in its Big Ten averaging in double figures. games, while the other contenders Schmidt warns of the problems have all got exceptional perform- that have beset his team the last ances from their own sophomores. several seasons, when they surged The top scorers in the confer- to the front early in the season nee are both sophomores, Indi- and then faded. "Everyone knows Ana's George McGinnis and Mich- our past record in the last half of igan's Henry Wilmore. the season. In past seasons we McGinnis has been a major have started quickly and then fad- force in transposing Indiana from ed. This is something we will work the cellar dwelling team of last very hard to correct this t i m e year into one of this season's top around." contenders. He has averaged 35.7 Purdue is another them that is oints and over 20 rebounds per used to being in Big Ten races, ig Ten performance, and leads and two years ago took the cham- the conference in both categories. pionship behind the hotshooting So far, Indiana is 2-1 in the of Rick Mount, Herm Gilliam, and Big Ten, but in its only battle with Bill Keller, but now all of them another contending team, fell vic- are gone. tim to an aroused Michigan squad, However, coach George K i n g 92-81. The Hoosiers are now on has put together another f i n e their semester break and don't get team, led by juniors Bob Ford Aack to Big Ten action until the and Bill Franklin, and senior Lar- first week of February. By then ry Weatherford. All three are they may have a better idea of averaging over 15 points a game who their top competitors will be. and Ford has led Purdue in its Lou Watson, Indiana's coach, three Big Ten wins over Minne- said after the Hoosiers' loss to sota, twice and Northwestern. Michigan that he still considers The only one of the contending the Big Ten race to be "a wide teams that does not rely bn sopho- 'oen race with Michigan. Indiana, mores, Purdue faces the toughest Illinois, Purdue, and Ohio State part of its season in its next five all contenders," conference games - meeting, Illinois, also on a temporary re-' Michigan twice, and Illinois, In- spite from conference competition, diana, and Ohio State once each. is 3-0 in the conference and has The Buckeyes, the last of the shown a good mixture of sopho- 3-0 teams, have made good in more and veteran talents. Letter- what was supposed to be a re- en Greg Howat and Greg Jack- building year. Four starters o f f ABA denies signing Porter; NBA loses Haywood battle By The Associated Press 0 PHILADELPHIA - Villanova University says it has been assured that basketball star Howard Porter has not signed a pro- fessional contract with the American Basketball Association or any ABA teams. Art Mahan, Villanova athletic director, issued a statement yes- rday which said: "I have talked to Jack Dolph, commissioner of the merican Basketball Association and he has assured me there is no agreement between Howard Porter and the ABA, or Howard Porter and any team in the ABA.'' * SAN FRANCISCO - The National Basketball Association lost another legal attempt yesterday to stop Spencer Haywood from saying with the Seattle SuperSonics. The three-judge Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by the NBA for a stay of a lower court's injunction, which is allowing the 21-year-old Haywood to play with Seattle. The appellate court here, however, still has under advisement the question of whether Ferguson has jurisdiction in the overall case. * * * rages last season, 17-7 team have grad- uated but Coach Fred Taylor has fo'und good replacements for all of them. Moving into the pivot position vacated by all-Big Ten center Dave Sorenson was Luke Witte, the only seven-footer in the Big Ten. Witte has hauled down 12 caroms per game and has aver- aged 19 points while shooting at a 55 per cent clip. Strength from the outside has been provided by hot-shot sopho- more Allan Hornyak, who is aver-' aging 23 points per game and star senior Jim Cleamons who boasts a 19-point average. The Buckeyes have deadly aim from the floor, hitting on close to half their shots. Unlike most of their Big Ten rivals, the Buck- eyes did not play an especially demanding non-conference sched- ule, and thus their 9-4 record may be a little deceptive. Officially 3-0 in the Big Ten, Ohio State met Indiana in the Far West classic and got dropped by, the Hoosiers 85-77. Last weekend's' narrow two-point victory over Minnesota in Minneapolis was the Bucks' only other game against a strong conference opponent. Actually, up to this point in the season, there has been little direct competition between the top-rated Big Ten teams, and thus little opportunity to truly compare the# leading contenders. Michigan has won the only head-to-head confrontation to date, their win over Indiana. The Wolverines who were generally picked for a finish in the upper part of the second division, have perhaps been the surprise team of the Big Ten. Indiana's Watson, admitted that he considered Michigan the* "sleeper" threat all along, and t most coaches now put Michigan It on their list of top contenders. t By JIM McFERSON Forget what you've heard about professional golf tournaments, the Super Bowl and pro basketball bidding wars - if an athlete wants to earn the big money, he'll be- come a member of the pro tennis tour. That's what Rod Laver has done and he pocketed $203,000 in prize money last year (and that's ex- cluding the thousands he pulls in from personal appearances, exhi- bitions and endorsements). Rod's not doing too badly this year either; last weekend he made an appearance in Detroit and coasted to a victory over Tom Ok- ker of the Netherlands 5-7, 5-7, 6- 2, 6-2, 6-2. The win, worth $10,- 000, was his sixth straight in the Professional Championship Class- ic, which paid him $57,500 1 a s t year. The $10,000 check made his total $60,000 in this year's tour- nament and has further strength- ened his claim to the number one spot in world rankings. The rich playoffs and prestige of the Classic has lured nine of the world's best pros onto the tour. In addition to Laver and Okker, Wimbledon Champion John New- combe, U.S. Pro Champion Tony Roche, old Poncho Gonzalez, Roy Emerson and Roger Taylor are still in the running for the finals, and $35,000 in the double elimina- tion tourney. Also touring are Arthur Ashe and Ken Rosewall, who played in a preliminary match in Detroit. In a lackluster contest, Ashe put the aging Rosewall out of the run- ning with a 6-2, 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 win. Hampered as he is by his height and slowing reflexes, Rosewall has to make up for his lack of power by a placement game, but he nev- er did find himself Saturday night, despite a few bad calls by the linesman. Ashe, while not right on his game either, managed to keep most of his drives inside the lines and knocked Rosewall about with a powerful serve. The second match justified the night for the 5,152 fans seated sparingly inside Olympia. Okker played with the hustle and deter- mination that has put him in the top ranks for two years, running down shots off Laver's shiny Che- mold racket all night and taking the first two sets in sudden death games. In the third set, however, Laver turned it on and powered his way over Okker with hard serves, a quick rush to the net and cross- court putaways which The Fly- ing Dutchman just couldn't reach. Nevertheless, Okker played well throughout and will only improve as he becomes more consistent un- der pressure and sharpens up his net play. This Thursday night, Laver will face Ashe in Madison Square Garden, hoping to add his sev- enth win and add another 10 grand to his bank account. Scores NBA New York 107, Milwaukee 98 Baltimore 103, San Francisco 98 Philadelphia 129, Atlanta 122 COLLEGE BASKETBALL Notre Dame 104, Michigan State 80 Marquette 106, Northern Mich. 57 Villanova 72, Seton Hall 52 -Daily-Terry McCarthy Indiana's George McGinni s (35) attempts to score CARRON DENIES ABOLITION: Basketball in trouble at U-D UCLA slips from lop spot in AP poll UCLA, the dominating force in college basketball for the last five years, has been deposed from its number one ranking in this week's Associated Press poll. Marquette, the winner of its last 27 consecutive games, took over that spot after the Bruins were up- set last Saturday by Notre Dame, 89-82. The Bruins, who garnered only six of 35 first-place votes, hold a slim six-point lead over their t I. I x2 r2 0 e; t By The Associated Press DETROIT - The President of the University of Detroit, Fathe: Malcolm Carron, said yesterda3 that published reports stating tha' the University was considerint dropping its basketball progran, were "not true" "My concern is how to preserve it, not to abolish it," Father Car ron continued. He made the statements after stories appearing in two Detroit papers indicated that the schoo may drop its basketball progran unless there was a sharp increase in fan interest. "What we've got to determine is if basketball can go on at the university. and if not, why waste time continuing the program," a Carron assistant Steve Wall stated n an interview with the Detroit Free Press. He laterhechoed these sentiments in another interview published in the Detroit News. The U. of D. president said ir his statement, "attendence has been poor and this bothers me be- cause the team has been develop- ing nicely, and has had some bril- liant moments. Our efforts along vith other universities to cut ex- >enses are well known." "Evaluation of our total athletic >rogram is in the mill with all )ther activities. When it comes to basketball, the evaluation should tart with finding ways to h e 1 p Coach Jim Harding develop a 'ood team, attract the best play- rs and plan an attractive sched- ule," Father Carron continued. "We've filled the field house be- ore and we should be able to do it again," he added optimistically, The university's attendance problems came to a head two years ago when it's most celebrated player in recent years, Spencer Haywood quit after his sopho- i Hoope Pickings, Strange, indeed, is the case of Hiram "Wolfgang" Ortuna. Ortuna is a lepodopterist by trade but his life has been dominated by a savage passion, contests. For years, Wolfgang, as his peers call him, has been one of the tops in his profession, but, whenever he finds out about a contest which awards free prizes he drops whatever he is doing to enter. Last week at this time, Ortuna was deep in the jungles of South America when, purely a chance, a copy of the Michigan Daily, com- plete with Hoope Pickings, blew into his face. Unable to control him- self, he jumped into his canoe and paddled all the way to A square, desperately racing the clock to get his picks in by midnight on Friday. But lucky you live in Ann Arbor. And all you have to do to win is to get your picks into 420 Maynard (by Friday, midnight) and you might get a Cottage Inn pizza or two (2) games of bowling at the Union. more season to accept a profes- sional contract with the ABA. The team's quality of play dropped off after Haywood's surprise move and spectator interest consequently dwindled. LAST- DAY To apply for the AFROTC, 2-Year Progran 29 J 5anuary 1971 Room 158, North Hall _ r .s.'. cross-town rivals, Southern Ca 1. Marquette 22 14-0 658 2. UCLA 6 14-1 594 3. Southern Cal 6 14-0 588 4. Penn 15-0 458 5. Kansas 13-1 377 6. Jacksonville 12-2 309 7. Notre Dame 9-4 296 . Tennessee 12-2 260 9. Utah St. 1 15-2 163 10. South Carolina 10-3 140 11 Kentucky 11-3 128 12. Western Kentucky 12-2 126 13. Oregon 10-2 61 14. LaSalle 12-1 52 15. Virginia 11-2 47 16. Vilanova 14-4 44 17. Duquesne 10-2 39 18. Illinois 8-2 37 19. Murray State 13-2 26 20. North Carolina 11-3 23 Other teams receiving votes, in alphabetical order: Fordham, Georgia Tech, Houston, Indiana, Marshall, Memphis State, MiCHIGAN. New lexico, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Purdue, Vander- hilt. al. B t 3 B i i E t 3 i l r z E M i 1. MICHIGAN at Minnesota (pick score) 2. Iowa at Northwestern 3. Michigan State at Ohio State 4. Illinois at Notre Dame 5. Marshall at Purdue 6. Memphis State at Drake 7. Indiana State at Clemson 8. Niagara at St. Bonaventure 9. Virginia at South Carolina 10. Bradley at Louisville 11. Central State (Ohio) at Eastern Michigan 12. Dayton at Miami (Ohio) 13. Wake Forest at Davidson omS 90!Jk 14. Pittsburgh at Bucknell 15. Auburn at Tennessee 16. Navy at NYU 17. Kent State at Ohio U. 18. Middle Tennessee at Western Kentucky 19 Wichita State at Tulsa 20. SPECIAL: Duluth at MICHIGAN Hockey t i WASHINGTON - Controversial pitcher Denny McLain has signed his contract with the Washington Senators for the 1971 season, the club announced yesterday. Terms were not disclosed but it is understood that McLain, ac- Oak Not FLARE SALE $5.00 what Mma ie 6U.+ a's -fre ESCAPE INTERNATIONAL Presents ACAPULCO $j97P50 AIR FARE ONLY $147.00 FEB. 27-MAR. 6 THIS PACKAGE INCLUDES: " Round trip air transportation to Acapulco international Airport * Transfer from airport to Del Monte Hotel f Accommodations at the Del Monte Hotel for 7 nights. Every room faces beautiful Acapulco bay. Two to a room occupancy. A welcome party, water skiing, and a 3-hour cruise of Aca- pulco bay with an OPEN BAR and Authentic Mexican music COME TO I