Friday, Februqry 2, 1973
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Seven
K
full court
PRESS
'Sad days for .. .
*0* Michigan basketball
By TONY SCHWARTZj
JOHNNY ORR'S fingers keep going to his mouth. He is fidgety.
But he's not reluctant to talk, even on this day, just a few
hours after his team's near elimination from the Big Ten race.
A couple of times, as he quietly tries to unravel the mystery
of his team's sudden collapse, he is on the verge of tears.
There is a certain pathos here, for Orr is basically a very
dedicated man who believes he has done the most a coach
possibly could with his team, and he is at a loss to explain why
it hasn't worked.
The Orr behind a desk is a very different one from the guy
who rants and rails at referees during games, getting called for
pointless technicals.j
In fact, the only time he seems to get mad is during
games. And that reaction appears to derive more from frus-
tration than from a genuine feeling that referees really have
It out for Michigan.
4 Perhaps the most telling thing about Orr and date-
a fact which people overlooked in all the heady predictions "i
preceded the season-is that he never really had great expe.
tgos for the team.
He's said that all along, and he reiterated it this week. At
ti:e outset, he felt there were three teams better than Michigan
in the Big Ten-Ohio State, Iowa and Minnesota. And now, with
the unexpected freshman resurgence of Indiana, he has added
them to the list.
A quick calculation shows that in Orr's estimation, Michi-
gan is the fifth best team in the Big Ten.
It- would be one thing to argue that Michigan doesn't have
the' personnel to go with other Big Ten teams if they were
getting blown off the court each game. Or even if they were
losing consistently by decisive scores.
But that's not happening. In each of the last four games,
they've come down to the last three minutes either tied or in
the lead, and three times (the exception was lowly North-
western), they've lost.
In each of the three losses, the opposition was without its
best players for a major portion of the game; Kunnert against
Iowa, Buckner (and Ritter) against Indiana and Garrett against
Purdue.
Those are the kind of situations when a championship team,
a team with guts and hungriness, puts a game out of reach-or at
least builds a big lead. Those are the situations in which Michigan
has lost games.
It is interesting, in that light, to examine a comment Orr
made on Jan. 13, 1971, when his team was flying high. After two
frustrating seasons, the club, led by sophomores Wilmore and
Brady, had begun to turn it on.
In a reflective period, Orr tried to explain the change: "Last
year's squad didn't have confidence. The team was made up of
players who were used to losing teams. Teams like that don't
win last second victories. If you think you will lose anyway, you
don't try, and if you don't try, you don't win.
That comment had a lot of truth, but in the clinch, it too fell
short as an adequate explanation for Orr-coached clubs' inevitable
failure to play to potential.
To see it fail, one need look no further than the outcome of
the 1971 season he was talking about-or to the team's perform-
ance this season.
In the games following Orr's comment, the team blasted its
way to an 8-0 record and established itself as a strong favorite
to copthe Big Ten crown. And then came the collapse.
Down in Indiana, the cagers got slaughtered off the boards
and lost decisively. Still it wasn't over. They came back home
for the clincher against Ohio State, who had to play without
senior team leader Jim Cleamons. And they lost again. A lack-
luster loss in an early round of the NIT was almost anticlimactic.
Members of this year's squad, if anything, were even
more used to winning than the 1971 contingent. Campy Russell,
Joe Johnson and C. J. Kupec were all part of the super-
freshman team of a year ago which went undefeated and
whose varying talents were so well meshed.
And back, of course, were all the seniors who played together
on their own winning freshman team three years ago,- and who
had two years of experience on just-miss varsity teams.
Orr had the ingredients that were missing from the teams
which came so close in the last two years. A rejuvenated Brady
came to practice slimmer, stronger and more experienced-by
all odds a more mature player than the one who was named
Honorable-Mention All Big Ten as a sophomore.
He had the playmaking guard, whose absence was so con-
spicuous in clutch situations last year. He had All-American
Wilmore and touted All-American Campy Russell. He had aggres-
sive second-team All Big-Ten Ernie Johnson, and a strong sup-
porting cast led by Lockard and Kupec.
None of it seems to matter, and Orr has said so himself.
They have a dribbler but they still turn the ball over when it
counts. 'They have a bruising front line but they still manage to
get beaten off the boards. They have excellent shooters, and yet
they miss easy, wide-open shots.
AND PERHAPS MOST IMPORTANT, they never seem to put
their talents together. When Wilmore is on, Campy is off. When
the Wolverines shoot well, as they did against Indiana, they don't
hustle. When they hustle, as they did against Iowa, they don't
shoot well. They have winning ballplayers who can't win.
Something is obviously wrong. Johnny Orr looked like a
defeated man this week. He is feeling the pressure that comes
from not producing, of having to find new explanations, season
after season, for his teams' inevitably inconsistent play.
Basketball players come and go from year to year. Only
Johnny Orr stays. Michigan sputters andilapses.aThere are an
awful .lot of people wondering just what it will take to change
Michigan basketball fortunes.
+Iq 91411,) 0 P Orcrrin+ ,n-
ORR SPARKS BOSTON:
Red Wings
whale
on Seals
Daily Photo by ROLFE TESSEM
DOUG GIBBS, a Michigan high jumper, clears 6-8 using his
version of the Fosbury Flop enroute to a fourth place finish in the
Michigan Invitational last Saturday. Gibbs, a frosh from Flint,
and his teammate Mike Nowacki will handle high-jumping duties
against Penn State tomorrow.
FACE PENN STATE
Frosli carry thincla4
By The Associated Press Bobby Orr went on scoring sprees1
DETROIT - Detroit pummeled and figured in all Boston goals ysts
California goalie Mary Edwards night, leading the Bruins to a I-2
with 19 shots in the second period, National Hockey League victory
four for goals, and the Red Wings over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
went on to beat the Golden Seals Esposito, the NHL's scoring
6-4 in their National Hockey leader, broke out of a slump.
League game last night. with three goals for his third
The Red Wings, fifth in the East hat trick of the year and 19th'
Division, remained two points be- of his career and helped set up
hind fourth-place Buffalo which two other goals.
beat Los Angeles 5-3. Orr, replying to criticism that:
Mickey Redmond and Nick he has slowed down and possibly
Libett each scored twice for De- may be having new knee trouble,
troit, with Libett's tallies corn- scored one goal and assisted on;
ing in the busy middle period.
Libett finished with 10 shots on "
goal, nearly half as many as the H oc s rs
entire Seal output of 22.
Redmond now has 35 goals to
top the NHL.
California's H i 11 i a r d GravesT
scored the only goal in the first
period and added another in the
second after Detroit had taken a By BRIAN DEMING!
3-2 lead on goals by RedmwidJ, Big Ten leader Indiana's John
Libett and Ken Murray. Murray's Ritter is the only Hoosier among
goal was his first, in the NHL. the scoring leaders in the confer-
Walt McKechnie and Morris ence. The senior forward is tenth
Mott scored the other Seals goalsI in the Big Ten averaging 17 points
while Billy Collins tallied the other I
Wing score, per game.
Wm*cr.Indiana, however, shows their
remarkable balance as the Hoos-
Bruins bash iers lead the Big Ten in shooting
BOSTON - Phil Esposito and percentage and team scoring. Still
undefeated in conference play, the
Hoosiers hit 50.7 per cent of their
' ishots and average 83.6 points per
'- - game.
The Big Ten's leading individual
scorer is Allen Hornyak of Ohio
sState tallying an astonishing 28.8
per contest. Michigan State's Mike
Robinson is runner-up with a 25.8
e point average.
Tied for third in Big Ten scor-
ing are Kevin Kunnert, Iowa's,7-1"
center, and the Illini's Nick Weath-
erspoon, both with 23.3 points per
sportsgae
Michigan's only representative
NIGHT EDITOR: among the Big Ten scoring leaders
is All-American Henry Wilmore,
DAN BORUS who is sixth with a 19.7 average,
just behind Minnesota's Clyde Tur-
ner with 20.2 points per game.
Godfrey Murray, 6.3 for the 60, As well as being third in scor-
sprints against a Nittany Lion re- ing, Hawkeye center Kunnert leads
ceiver Jim Scott, 6.2 seconds, in the Big Ten in rebounding and
one of the closer battles tomorrow. scoring percentage. The big Iowan
In the high hurdles, Murray will pulls down an average of 14.7 re-
almost have to look for competition bounds while sinking 65.9 per cent
while the duel this race lies in sec- of his shots.
ond between Michigan's Mill Weatherspoon is second in re-
Reeves and Penn's Fred Single- bounding,raveraging 12.7 whilenKim
ton. Hughes of Wisconsin is third with
The 300-yd sprint pits a Baha- 11.7 rebounds per game.
man Olympian, M i k e Sands, Minnesota's Ron Behagen and
against Wolverine Greg Syphax. Jmou Beper contesbriand arw tie
Sands will also test the Big Ten for fourth in the Big Ten in tiat
champion in the 440, Kim Rowe. rdepartment.
Ann Arbor Huron's state half- Wolverine Campy Russell is
miler, Bob Mills, made a tre- ninth in rebounding with an 8.6
mendous breakthrough in t h e average.
Michigan Relays ,clipping three Bob Nix of Minnesota is secand
seconds off his best time indoors. '________________________
The sophomore thinclad challenges
Penn State's Morrison and Hell- S VO H IS
man to a tooth and nail contest.
The meet really will depend on
three others while putting oi a Hicke sparked the Atlanta Flames
dazzling skating show on occa- to a 3-1 National Hockey League
sions. triumph over the Minnesota North
The Bruins, who had won only Stars last night.
two of seven previous suts, Leiter opened the scoring, ,last-
jumped into a quick lead as Es- ing his 21st goal of the year past
posito fed Orr, whose long slap Minnesota goalie Cesar Maniago
shot was deflected into the net tY after 9:57 of the opening period.
Wayne Cashman just 31 seconds Two minutes later Hicke ripped a
after the opening face off. 20-foot shot past Maniago's left-
* * * shoulder, after getting passes from
Fl Keith McCrearv and Leiter.
Flames soar Minnesota got within a goal when
ATLANTA-A pair of first P'ariod Buster Harvey drilled his lath
goals by Bob Leiter and Ernie goal of the year past Phil Myre at
the 8:20 mark of the second per-
iod. But Lew Morrison wrapped up
the scoring two minutes later,
scoring a short-handed goal for the
Flames.
Islanders stranded
UNIONDALE, N.Y. - The Chi-
cago Black Hawks built a 5-0 lead
to Kunnert in shooting percentage, on four second-period goals, two
59.1, and is followed by Indiana's by Jim Pappin, and then vith-
Ritter, 58.6, and Otho Tucker, 55.0, stood a final-period burst by New
of Illinois. York to post a 5-3 National Hockey
Michigan's Ernie Johnson and League victory over the Islanders
Ken Brady are sixth and ninth last night.
respectively in Big Ten shooting Stan Mikita opened the Chicago
percentage. Johnson hits 53.7 per scoring in the first period. 'Then
cent while Brady scores on 51.4 Pappin scored twice on goals by
per cent. Dick Redmond and Cliff Kocoll
Minnesota is number one in team made it 5-0 after two periods.
defense holding opponents to 68.6 The Islanders got back in the
points per game. The Purdue game when in a 312-minute span
Boilermakers are close behind, early in the third period, Craig
allowing 69.0. Cameron, Ralph Stewart and Brian
By giving up an average of only Spencer scored. But Chicago goalie
69.7 points, Michigan is third in Tony Esposito held them off the
the conference in team defense. rest of the way,
By MARCIA MERKER
The "Spirit of '76" could be the
story of the Michigan-PennbState
track confrontation Saturday at
Yost Fieldhouse.
"Certainly Penn State is our
equal on the track," remarks
Michigan Coach Dixon Farmer.
"The field events will win or lose
the meet for us." The Wolverine
field events are heavily dominated
by the class of '76. The frosh will
have to. supply the fireworks for
victory.
Using the freshmen in four out of
the five field events last weekend,
the Maize and Blue fared very
well inathe high and triple jumps
with two red ribbons. In that team
debut, freshman Abraham Butler
set a Michigan triple jump re-
cord. His class peer, Mike No-
wacki, leaped 6-10 in the high jump'
to earn the other second place.
Two other '76ers, Terry Hart and
Ed Kulka round out the field of
events mounting 14-6 lifetime bests
in the pole vault.
The upperclassmen are pretty
good themselves in the field
events.tMark Bohlke surpassed
Butler in the long jump last week-
end finishing third with a 22' leap.
Junior Steve Adams heads the
shot put followed by atpromising
sophomore Mike Lantry, who
ranked fourth last week putting
51'11 2".
Now on to the races and Penn
State's powerhouse of track talent.
The Nittany Lions sport two
seasoned distance runners intChar-
lie McGure and Matt Chadwick.
Standout McGure participated in
the U. S. junior meet against Rus-
sia entering the 10,000 meter.
Michigan's Rick Schott, placing
fifth last week at 9:05.8, will do
battle in the two-mile with the
Penn State speedsters.j
In the other distance event, te
mile, Wolverine cross-country har-
riers Bill Bolsters, 4:07.8 and Fred
Gault, 4:25.9, will need to improve.
their best times to keep up with'
Penn State's Dan Supulski, 4":.02.8,
Indiana, 72.8 points allowed, is
fifth right behind Iowa, 72.0, while
Ohio State, Wisconsin, Illinois, and'
Northwestern trail in that order.
Michigan State is in the cellar
in team defense allowing an astra-
nomical 85.3 points per game.
However the Spartans are sez-
ond in team' scorfng, 80.5 points,
behind Indiana. Illinois places
third in scoring 79.6 per contest.
Minnesota, Purdue and North-
western follow in that order while
Michigan is seventh tossing n 71.4
points per game.
"GUTm
ATTNTIN
I. .1
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Today in Sports
Grapplers aim for Iowa
HE MICHIGAN wrestling team has its work cut out for them
this week in staging a match tonight against top contender
Iowa which will be followed by a similar cliff hanger against j
Minnesota tomorrow.
The general feeling around the locker room, as well as
around those who have been following the team, is that Mich-
igan going into the weekend with an 8-0 record will emerge
Sunday with a victorious 10-0.
After the recent naming of three Michigan grapplers to repre-
sent the East during the East-West All-Star wrestling match,
a cerain amount of desire for a Big Ten title is naturally
being generated around the team.
Bay is expected to have his line-up at full strength for the
on coming Iowa challenge. The game will narrow the present
four way race to the title down to an anticipated three.
The match is to be held today at Crisler Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Icers visit MSU
THE WCHA cellar dwelling Michigan hockey team takes on
Michigan State this weekend in a home and home series.
Tonight's game at Moo Yoo is scheduled for 8 p.m. with the
return engagement at the same time tomorrow in the Michigan
Coliseum.
After last weekend's double loss to the former cellar dweller
Colorado College (an eight point series), Wolverine playoff hopes
look woefully dim. Two wins this weekend are an absolute
must as Michigan is drawing very near mathematical elimi-
nation.
Captain Rick Mallette still leads the Wolverines in scoring
with 6 goals and 18 assists for 24 points. Frank Werner and
Gary Kardos pace the goal scoring parade with 9 each.
State dropped from first to third in WCHA standings after
a pair of losses to Notre Dame last weekend. Spartan coach
Amo Bessone expressed great concern this week over the Spar-
tans lack of manpower. Daryl Rice and Paul Pavelich are both
out with injuries while Norm Barnes will be sitting out tonight's
contest because of a one game fighting suspension. Tom Ross
has also been slowed by a bruised foot, and his status for the
weekend is uncertain.
The Spartans won their only meeting to date with the
Wolverines, downing the Blue icers 5-2, Jan. 17.
t.
*Dinners Include French Fries, Cole Slaw & Bread
Sandwiches & Side Orders Also Available
FREE DELIVERY (4 p.m.-1:30 a.m.)
AT BOTH LOCATIONS
ANN ARBOR (U of M) YPSILANTI (E.M.U.)
314 Detroit-665-2266 605 W. Michigan-482-2272
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the Michigai freshine, coming
through in the field events, for the
rivalling thinclad appear closely
matched. The excitement begins
at 1 p.m. in Yost Fieldhouse with
free admission.
j' ABA
Carolina 113, Virginia 98
Denver 97, Indiana 92
NHL
Boston 5, Toronto 2
Buffalo 5, Los Angeles 3
Atlanta 3, Minnesota 1
Detroit 6, California 4
Chicago 5, NY Islanders 3
tA FUTURE WORLDS LECTURE SERIES
Present
R. Buckminster Puller
"Designing a Future World"1
Sunday Feb. 4
Hill Auditorium
8:00 p.m.
$1.00 ADMISSION
Tickets available at the Mich. Union Ticket
Desk (Lobby, Mich. Union) and at the door.
ar*l
r
LSSS Films
PRESENTS
3"THE REIVERS"
with STEVE McQUEEN
Saturday, Feb. 3, 1973
TIME: 7,19, 11 P.M.
42 1 4 d104 a 4' t
WASHINGTON
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