editors: martin porter tony schwartz contributing editors: howard brick ehris parks laura berman sundciy inside: magcazrne page four-Brodsky page five-fleming page six-looking back Number 20 Page Three March 24, 1974 FEATURES Orr'sb The Ci By DANIEL TESSLER AH, THE -contrasts. They were a huge, highly touted team led by seniors two years back Wilmore, Brady, Johnson and Lockard. Crisler Arena was packed. Add one Campy Russell and anticipation was at a high pitch. By sea- son's end, however, Johnny Orr seemed a defeated man, a man at a loss to ex- plain his team's dramatic failure, one who could sit back in his chair and tell a friend- ly reporter about his profession: "Sure is a hard way to make a living." No one expected much from this year's team. In the wake of a 8-6 Big Ten season recruiting was a dismal failure, and the last scholarship wasn't awarded until mid-sum- mer (to Lioned Worrell, discovered in a Brooklyn recreational league). The team was ostensibly without leadership since every would-be tendered senior had long since left it. And the crowds were predict- ably tiny. To make iatters worse, only two start- ers returned. There was Campy Russell, who despite an underrated solid sophomore season, simply hadn't lived up to his super notices and occasionally even seemed cur- iously unmotivated. There was Joe John- son, who after a fine freshman season, suffered a bullet wound the following sum- mer. He came back.to play guard in the overpowering shadow of Henry Wilmore, and so lost his confidence by the latter part of the season and was benched. The only talked-about recruit, b i g Randy McLean, ran into academic a n d motivational troubles, and was out before it started; freshman Steve Grote had been told by recruiters that he would never play major college basketball. C. J. Kupec, a 6'- 8" natural forward was forced to play cent- er; Wayman Britt, a 6'2" natural guard was forced to play forward. IN SHORT, the team lacked outside shoot- ers, inside board strength; leadership 2ys make good: nderella season The secret of the 22-5 success was as simple as it was elegant. The Wolverines played team ball with the supreme confi- dence that the game would end with Mich- igan racking up more points than its op- ponents. They played the kind of basketball that Johnny Orr used to dream about in the nightmare of '72-'73. And with every game, the miracles multiplied. The beginning was unexpectedly prom- ising, but Michigan basketball had fed on promising beginnings. Taking on a big Southern Illinois team in front of five thous- and people masquerading as a crowd of two thousand, the Wolverines fast broke their way to an 86-74 triumph. THOSE "SMALL", skinny Michigan play- ers were all over the boards clawing for rebounds and tapping in missed shots. Russell, as he was to be all year, was, in a word, fantastic. He rebounded, he shot well, he scrambled up and down the floor. But more importantly, he seemed to be enjoying what he was doing. That famous Russell smile came back in '73-'74, and with it the moves that had won him praise as a schoolboy. His singlehand- ed destruction of Notre Dame down in Tus- caloose last week was just the capper. Quite a contrast to his sophomore year when he seemed paralyzed. On three differ- ent occasions he vomited on the bench from sheer nervousness. He was booed at home, and came to hate playing here. And although Johnny Orr talked down reports of his dissension and division on the Wilmore- led club, there was no doubt that the team played apart.. No such complexities this year, and the proof was in the winning. Time after time Wolverines would slough off the shot to pass to a teammate with a higher percentage chance. They executed with a mellifluous precision, and what gave them such bril- liance was the fact that every starter could do everything. Daily Photo by ROLFE TESSEM C.J. Kupec comes down with a rebound against Northwestern. Johnny Orr and depth. On top of it, they had toughest schedule in the league. the Seventh place looked about right. A near national championship was the result. What happened? Statistics don't reveal much, for they are nearly identical for the last two years. The team averaged a few. more assists, and Kupec's good position meant m a n y more rebounds than Brady's spectacularly erratic leaps. But that wasn't the real dif- ference. AGAINST PURDUE, in a near-perfect game, the starters came within a shade of scoring 20 points each. \ C. J. could run the fast break; Wayman Britt overpowered and outplayed players 8 inches taller than him, and Steve Grote managed to hit incredible layups inside. Everybody, it seemed, could do everything. And that meant if Campy Russell went to the bench in foul trouble, the team still managed to hang on. They played defense when it counted, and nearly always manag- ed to find the hot-hand. A Michigan basketball team folding goes hand in hand with promising begin- nings. But even after the team was solidly whipped in a showdown clash with Indiana, it came blasting right back to humble Pur- due, Wisconsin and Michigan State in suc- cessive do-or-die games. The loss to Marquette was anti-climac- tic. The catharsis had been reached before' what was called a stunning upset of Notre Dame, but what in fact was almost expect- ed by converted Michigan fans who knew something was afoot. ND NOW John Orr is Big Ten Coach-of- the-Year, vindicated even in the eyes of Jim Barahal, the feisty- student who called for his firing and on that platform won a seat on Student Government Council last fall. Says Barahal, who has appropriate- ly changed the name of his movement to the Lionel "Main Train" Worrell Fan Club: "I'll tell you frankly, the guy made me look like a donkey. But to see 'em win after all those awful years, it was worth it. And who knows, maybe in some demented way I had something to do,about it." KMS fusion: Selling the solution to the energy crisis By DAN BLUGERMAN "MY COMPANY may be on the road to developing a process that will supply most of man's energy needs for the rest of time," Keeve 'Kip' Siegel boasts,, "but get this straight: we're not in it for an educa- tional experience. "Our aim is to de- velop energy for the buck." This being his purpose, Siegel, chairman of the board, president, founder and namesake of the locally based research conglomerate, KMS Industries, may well be on his way to making a mint. Siegel predicts his company will be the first to success- fully solve the energy problem and will make the United States self-suf- ficient of foreign energy supplies. His solution -laser fusion. Although laser fusion has only been shown feasible in computer simula- tions, Siegel, a portly and outspoken corporate tycoon and engineering wizard, is confident enough in the process that he is cannibalizing all his other operations and is sinking his resources into the project. KMS is the only private group pursuing fusion research in the world. It has spent close to $13 million since 1969 In a race against at least a dozen gov- ernment and university organizations. And KMS, a company with a long his- tory of scientific innovation and lu- crative wheeling and dealing, is clos- er to their goal than any of their op- ponents. KMS (Siegel's initials) was started in 1969 on canital rai ed from the sale of Sieoel's brainchild, Conduc- is nothing to worry about; it is In- herently incapable of a runaway acci- dent." On a $800,000 research contract from the Texas Gas Transmission Corporation, KMSF has already in- vented two new methods for produc- ing hydrogen from water and one process for producing methane gas. Both processes necessitate the direct use of fusion. Methane is a ready substitute for natural gas. A standard internal combustion engine can be converted to burn hydrogen. GOMBERG PREDICTS that "hydro- gen production and its subse- quent conversion will be more effic- ient than any other nuclear process of generating electricity, and this in- cludes both fusion and fission . . that means that it will be more effic- ient than the nuclear plants presently being built." What this means to KMS is the pos- sibility of a lucrative future. And this possibility seems to override any doubts or worries that Sieeel may bave. "Of course this is going to end the energy crisis. Why, when we can tap fusion energy we will be able to releasce by far the largest increment of power known to man." Barring any hidden complications Olmh'eri nredict.s that they will be able to achieve breakeven in the next few months. THTNGS LOOK BRIGHT for KMS. Po-ribly the solution to man's enr v nroblems will be solved in our very own bnckvnrd. Quite a few peo- nle and quite a few dollars are bank- r Doily Photo by ROLFE TESSEM "Hydrogen production will be more efficient than any other nuclear process of generating electric- ity ... that means that it will be more efficient than the nuclear plants presently being built." light. The fuel currently being used is a mixture of deutrium and tritium which are heavy forms of hydrogen. generate electricity at a price toler- able by the American public. SgPr1 and VIffP1m'.iris t nr and American built laser, the most powerful laser of its type in the world. The power level being delivered to in five foot thick concrete walls. When the local pilot plant is built- the projected date is mid-1979-the