Thursday, February 28, 1974 I HE MICHIGAN DAiLY rage Jeven T h r s a y F b r a r 2 , 1 9 4 H E M I H I AN.A L ,, _weve Hoop By JEFF SCHILLER In recent years, the NCAA basketball tournament has been a ho-hum affair. What- ever interest there was centered around who would finish second to UCLA, and as Leo Durocher once emphasized, "No one remem- bers the runner up!" This year could be a different story. UCLA has tasted defeat three times already, and the indications suggest Bruin invincibility is a thing of the past. The "Walton Gang" may not even make the tourney, and if they do, 24 challengers will be out for the Uclan's scalp. As a result, interest has been re- riewed in the tournament's format and com- position. HERE'S HOW IT works. Sixteen con- ference champions and nine top independent teams are placed in four regional events. The winners of each regional go to Greensboro, North Carolina for the semifinals. The West- ern titleholder meets the Eastern king in one matchup, while the Mid-East and Mid-West champs will tangle in the other. The survi- vors battle for the national title. The field is still largely undetermined, as most of the conference championships are still undecided. The nine at-large teams will be announced today. In the past, the NCAA has chosen and assigned independent teams to various re- gionals on the basis of several conflicting criteria, changing the standards employed from year to year. Whether the tournament committee will choose to stick strictly to a regional standard and pick the best teams in each part of the country, or instead em- ploy the method of picking the nine best independents in the nation, regardless of locale, may well be determined by the phases of the moon. EAST REGIONAL Seven teams go into the East regional, with three "rat tail" games on tap. The playoifs Ivy League champ (probably Penn) will take on one of the at-large teams, with the winner meeting the ACC titleholder-probably North Carolina State, although that won't be de- cided until after ACC's playoffs next week. THE OTHER HALF of this elimination features the Middle Atlantic Conference win- ner (St. Joseph's, LaSalle or Rider) versus an at-large team in one game and the South- ern Conference kingpin (most likely Furman) against an at-large team in the other. These two winners will also meet in the semifinals. Right now, the three at-large schools should be Pittsburgh, Providence and South Carolina. These are the top three indepen- dents in the East and should go to this regional regardless of which method is used to select them. MIDEAST REGIONAL SIX TEAMS GO here. In one bracket, the Ohio Valley winner (Austin Peay or Middle Tennessee) goes up against one at-large squad (Marquette or Notre Dame) for the right to meet the Big Ten champ (Indiana or Michigan). In the other, the Mid-America conference sovereign (probably Ohio U.) plays another at-large contender for the right to confront the SEC champ (Alabama or Van- derbilt). MIDWEST REGIONAL This is the only region without a genuine national championship contender. The first round games pit the Southwest Conference winner (Texas or Texas Tech) versus an. at-large team, and two at-large teams in the other. The winner of the former contest will play the Missouri Valley champ (likely Louisville) in one semi, while the winner of the latter will play either Kansas or Kansas State from the Big Eight. THE AT-LARGE TEAMS are uncertain. If regionalism is the criterion, then Creighton, Oral Roberts, and either Cincinnati or South- ern Illinois should get the berths. If the best loom independents are chosen, then St. John's of New York, Syracuse, and Maryland-Eastern Shore are definite threats to move in, with Creighton switching westward. WESTERN REGIONAL ' The Pac-8 winner and a cast of thousands go here. The rat-tails pit the Big Sky champ (Idaho St. or Montana) against an at-large contender, and the WAC winner (New Mexico .or Arizona) versus the PCAA king (either L. A. State or Santa Barbara-Long Beach State is ineligible). The winner of the first game plays the Pac-8 champion (UCLA or USC) while the winner of the second goes against West Coast Athletic Conference winner San Fran- cisco. The at-large school will be Hawaii if regional selection is used, Creighton if the best independents are selected on a national basis. SEMIFINALS AND FINALS The pairings put the West champ up against the East and the Midwest versus the Mideast for the semifinals, to be held at Greensboro, North Carolina. The Mid-East winner should have no trouble dispatching the Mid-West pretender. IN THE OTHER semi, indications point to a rematch between North Carolina State and UCLA on State's home court. UCLA won 84- 66 in December, but the Wolfpack has vastly improved since then while the Bruins have seemingly gone flat. Add the disappearance of the "invincibility" mystique, and the Bruins are in real trouble. As North Carolina coach Dean Smith com- mented earlier this year, "I think any team in the Top Ten could beat UCLA with the home court advantage." The finals measure up similarly. Indiana and Notre Dame are fine squads, but neither is good enough to cage the Wolfpack on a Carolina court. This year . . . it's North Carolina State. I split wide to the left Picking the seeds Clarke cogsdill. and spitting them out "I'VE BEEN TO A lot of tournaments," wrestling coach Rick Bay said on a blah morning in January when there wasn't much else to talk about, "and I've got something to say to all those people who think that having playoffs and national tourna- ments settles all the controversy about who's got the number one team in the country. "When the competition gets so close," he continued, "there's just no guarantee how things will turn out. We've had tourna- ments in wrestling for years, and I can tell you that every time, if they ran the tournament in the same place with the same people and the same teams one week later, the results you'd get would be entirely different. "It really doesn't settle anything," Bay concluded, "but I guess it's the best we can do." That "best" is accomplished in large part through the mechanism of seedngs. In theory, seedings are supposed to arrange the talent in such a way that if everything runs to form, the two best wrestlers in each weight class will meet in the finals, with the rest spread out in order of decreasing' ability. But there are serious flaws in the "compare the scores" method, the only one everyone agrees on. Scores do not take into consideration such things as the home advantage-often decisive in places like Iowa and MSU-the referees, or the con- trasting styles of different matmen. You know it don't come easy USUALLY, THESE FACTORS send the issue off to the wonder- ful world of politics, in which the coaches-the very people who are putting their reputations on line in the championships- make the final judgements. A concrete example comes up today when the seedings in the 177-pound bracket are made. Michigan's Rob Huizenga has lost only once inside the conference. His defeat came at the hands of Iowa's Jan Sanderson, who will go to the tournament at 167. Sanderson, meanwhile, has lost to Jeff Zindel of MSU-a man Huizenga handled easily-and Chris Campbell (Iowa's regular at 177) has gone down before Wisconsin's Ed Vatch, another of Huizenga's victims. Campbell and Huizenga have never wrestled. So who's better? One advantage of being the top seed is that it gives the man a 50 per cent chance of being pitted against the con- ference's least well regarded grappler at that weight. A wrestler scores one point for his team merely by winning, so going up against a "soft touch" can be quite rewarding. An extra bonus is the one-in-three chance the top seed has of going into the "rat tails," the preliminary matches which reduce the field of ten to a more manageable eight. As a result, a team's best wrestlers will often simultaneously be those who have more opportunities to score points. Byzantine logic prevails THE SECOND SEED has most of these advantages, but he . doesn't have the chance to draw the conference's weakest sister in one of his opening matches. In the Big Ten tournament, which includes several ranking powers, these marginal differences can be enough to decide the whole thing. "Seeding can give you a tournament even if you don't have the most talent," Bay sighed, and ever since the Rose Bowl decision, it's been perfectly obvious that talent and qualifications' aren't the only things which decide such things. Two schools-Michigan and Iowa-are generally conceded to have the best chance to win the conference tournament, while both Wisconsin and Michigan State legitimately think they have the people to pull off a big surprise. Although wrestling coaches are by and large high-minded, principled men, it's too much to expect of anyone that he vote against the interests of his own team, and seeding is the way to maximize your chances. Furthermore, the precedent has been set in another sport -football-that athletics exist more for the glory and honor of schools and conferences than for the benefit of the athletes. Thinclads seek title By JEFFREY CHOWN ' he was injured. Michigan's Jeff prime contenders for champion- Track is not exactly back this u McLeod could also place in that ships, but should be in there for winter at the University of Mich- , d a lil event. some points. Among them are igan. With a loss of some key per- Shot-putter Steve A d a m s is Abe Butler who has the fourth sonnel and problems with finding Michigan's other individual best- best triple jump at 49'1"; Andy indoor facilities to practice at, the g bet. Adams currently trails Illi- Johnson, who has the seventh Wolverine thinclads find them- .w U - nois' Mike Baietto by two inches best 1000 yard run; Bob Mills in selves out of serious contention for I.in the Big Ten ranking, but it is; the 880; and Bill Bolster in the the Big Ten Championship this NIGHT EDITOR: a sure thing Adams, the defending! mile. Farmer also feels pole weekend at Michigan State. CLARKE COGSDILL indoor champion, will have a little vaulters Terry Hart and Ed Things looked better after last extra saved for this meet. Mike Kukla may be primed for a big season when Michigan placed sec- i tLantry is ranked sixth, and could breakthrough. ond in both the indoor and the vidual stars. Coach Dixon Farmer move in for some points. The weekend after the Big Ten rrkdcommented:Michigan State has the top rank- Championships the tracksters will the only individual hard to replace ndiana will win it without a ed mile relay prior to the ,meet, journey to Detroit for the NCAA through graduation was Godfrey question. Illinois will probably fin- but they also did last year . when Indoor Championships at Cobo Hall. grra.Buatine ash odfreyhish second and we'll battle it out Michigan took home the blue rib- Last. year with a second by Kim Murray. But since then Michigan for third with Wisconsin and Mich- bons. Another big showdown will Rowe, a third by Godfrey Murray has list some key individuals in igan State." be in the 600 yard run. Dave Wil and a fifth by the mile-relay team, the high jump, hurdles, and two- mile when they dropped out of Kim Rowe is the best bet for liams of Michigan owns the fastest ithe Wolverines managed to tie for school. .To compound this fresh- the Maize and Blue. The Jamai- time. But it will be very difficult eighth place in the nation. Should man Ken Delor who was expected can co-captain will have some to upset MSU's defending champion Dave Williams and Steve Adams to plug the hle in the sprints stiff competition in the 440 yard Bob Casselman on his own stomp- come up with some good perfor- was denied eligibility e dash, however, as William Wal- ing grounds. Gerald Smith of mances, along with Rowe and the e lace of Indiana has registered a Northwestern also looks strong in! mile relay, Michigan should be More recently, members of 48.0. Wallace had the best time that event. able to maintain or improve on the distance team-Jon Cross, in the conference last year until Other Wolverines may not be last year's performance. Keith Brown, Bill Bolster, and - Bob Mills-have had their abil- ity impaired by the nefarious flu bug. Cross-country standout M u Brown won't even make the trip fl bgCrs-onrstdot g i iron aide iln this weekend. Add all this to the practice facility difficulties and it's easy to see why the f track team looks forward to sun- nier days and better perfor- is nam edI coach mances in the outdoor season. Joustt likein swimminrIndianaBy MARC FELDMAN with the WFL club's draft selec- looks to be a sure bet for a chain- ti pionship with the rest of the con- Popular George Mans, Mich- Lions some weeks ago and one _ ference left to battle it out for the igan's ends coach for the past Detroit Free Press columnist had x runner-up slot. The Hoosiers com- eight years and the lone holdver speculated that Mans would fol- bine depth with outstanding indi- from Bump Elliott's staff of low Boisture to the Wheels. Sassistants, was named head foot- When asked if he thought the ball coach at neighboring Eastern exodus of himself, Young, and Michigan University yesterday. Maloney, Michigan's top three R ussell voted " Reached for comment at his assistants will hurt the Michigan Y z . WEEKEND SPECIA L on BACH BE ER also 8 pCk. 16 oz. N.R. P EPSI-$1.19 Complete ine of Beers and DR IVE T HR U or 114 E. William WE D E LIVE R 66-7191 e onferene'I best of week CHICAGO UP) - Campy Russell, Michigan's leading scorer, has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week by the Associated Press, Russell, a 6-foot-8, junior for- ward, helped the Wolverines to a pair of victories over the week- end to keep their title hopes alive in the Big Ten. After Michigan had crushed Purdue 111-84 with Campy scoring 18, Purdue coach Fred Schaus called Russell "the best basket- ball player I've seen in two years in the Big Ten." The Pontiac native followed that' performance with a 36-point game Monday night to lead Michigan to! a 79-75 victory at Wisconsin. I Russell beat out a flock of candi- dates for the award this week in- cluding Michigan State's Mike Rob- inson who put together a pair of 27-point performances and scored the winning points against North- western last Saturday. Detroit homeblast night, Mans had nothing but praise for the Michigan football program and its architect, Bo Schembechler. "MICHIGAN HAS been very good to me and I've seen a lot of good football in my years here. Coach Schembechler and Don Canham were of great help to me in obtaining the job. I owe a debt of gratitude to both of them," Mans said. Mans, a 1962 graduate of the University of Michigan and cap- tain of the Wolverine football team in his senior year, became the third member of Schem- bechler's staff to leave for a head coaching job in the past 12 months. Mans follows the lead of Jim Young, who directed the football fortunes of Arizona this past fall and Frank Maloney, who recently assumed the head job at Syracuse University. Mans, an assistant at EMU back in the mid-sixties, succeeds Danny Boisture at the Ypsilanti school. Boisture had vacated the post earlier this month when he accepted the head coaching job with the fledgling Detroit WheelsI of the World Football League. MANS HAD helped Boisture football p r o g r a m, Mans re- sponded: "The assistants are only as good as the head coach. Bo is a fine judge of coaches and I'm sure he'll bring in some fine re- placements. When other schools reach into your program for coaches, it's a definite reflection on the head coach." ... s coIts I i-=6 .... NBA Capital 104, Seattle 100 Buffalo 122, Boston 104 KC-Oklahoma 85, Atlanta 76 Los Angeles 110, Milwaukee 10," NHL Pittsburgh 4, Los Angeles 1 New York 4, Vancouver 2 Chicago 3, Minnesota 1 College Basketball Maryland 77, Wake Forest 68 Marquette 61, Toledo 58 South Carolina 67, Pittsburgh 50 Wayne St. 75, Oakland U. 71 Rutgers 90, St. Bonaventure 85 West Va. 101, Manhattan 100, (2 ot) Hope 78, Albion 76 Lake Superior St. 81, Mich. Tech 70 Clemson 74, Duke 68 Calvin 79, Alma 71, (2 ot) Kalamazoo 107, Adrian 78 Virginia 84, Va. Techa70 Tenn. St. 60, UT-Chattanooga 50 George Mans FLYING BRIDGE RESTAURANT Falmouth, Massachusetts Summer Employment STARTING MAY 8 Representatives will be on campus THURSDAY, MARCH 21 8:30 A.M. to 5 P.M. OPENINGS: Dishwashers-I8 plus Line Cook-18 plus Waiters-18 plus Waitresses-] 8 plus Bartenders-]8 plus Register with Summer Placement Office 763-4117 adnesday & Thursday, Feb. 27, 28 - DIANA ROSS in c/ 'M' Basketball Statistics N. M. Van Gelder Neurological Sciences Group of the G FG-FGA Pet. FT-FTA Pet. Rb. Av. A PPG Russell Kupec 22 22 196-424 46.2 130-274 41.4 110-140 78.6 10.4 82 22.8 44-65 67.8 12.3 70 13.8 11