The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, February 1, 1978--Page 7 full court PRESS AIA W R ULES HAMPER COA CHES Wolverine machine... o.falls apart-it seems By HENRY ENGLEHARDT The old man looked out the big display window at the dismal Ann Arbor dusk. The snow had lost its brilliant white and was now a dingy gray. The store was empty and the man put a hand through his silver hair and let loose a long sigh. Only 45 minutes more and then he would be able to close the doors and go home. He took his pencil and started doodling on a white pad. Then the phone rang. "Ann Arbor Repair. They make it, you break it, weeeee fix it," he said with false cheerfulness. "Uh, yes," said a nervous voice on the other end. "Um, I need some help with a broken machine." "Yes sir, what's the machine and what's wrong with it?" "Well, it's my basketball machine. It doesn't work right all the time," the voice drawled. "Hmmm. Well, we are just about closed, could you bring it in tomorrow morning?" "Well maybe if I describe it to you over the phone you could help me fix it. It's really important." "A basketball machine-hmmm. That's usually a pretty complicated piece of machinery. But okay, what seems to be the problem?" "To be honest I've had problems ever since I got it. The first day I had it, I was playing with it in the gym when a key piece right in the middle broke. "You know, the piece that rebounds, scores, throws outlet passes? It's a beautiful thing to watch whenit works properly." "Sure, I know what you're talking about," said the old man, glancing at his watch. "What did you do?" "I tried a brand new replacement part, but that didn't work, and I tried an old piece that was lying around, but that wasn't quite right either. What I finally did was take an old part that usually went somewhere else, molded it a little and stuck it in the middle. And by golly it worked great. Replacement parts worked well "For a while," continued the voice on the phone, "the whole thing worked real well. I put old parts with new parts and hot shooting parts with defensive ones, yessir, it was working pretty well. Sure it missed a few free throws and needed oiling every once in a while. In fact, I took it down south once and got it well oiled. "Then on New Year's Eve it broke down right when I was using it. Geez, it was embarassing. But this particular model has a lot of bounce in it. I'll be damned if it didn't work real well the next three times: "But one Saturday I was using it away from home and I just couldn't get it moving. And the next time out the first twenty minutes I used it - same thing - nothing. "Sot told my machine what the score was, that if it wanted to win, it had to work harder. And it did, for a little while. "But then it snowed and I couldn't take it out of the house. And when I finally did get to use it, it was rusty; it couldn't-hold onto the ball. "But it fixed itself, and the next time it worked near perfect. I pressed with it, I shot with it, everything seemed to fall into place. Shoot, I thought it might not need any more repairs or anything. "But just the other day, right in my own home nonetheless, it totally fell apart. That's why I'm calling. "My two pieces I usually play at guard are inconsistent. One of those pieces has magically lost its shooting touch. The part in the pivot still works pretty good but it fouls a lot and I can't use it all the time. And the replace- ment part sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.. "Then there are days like last Monday when the machine can't put anything in. And now I've got to use it in two crucial games on the road, where it's never worked really well. And I never know which parts will work and which won't. I just don't know what to do anymore - that's why I called you. Do you think you can help?" Too late to change? "Well,'' said the old man, looking at the notes he had taken, "it's a little late in the season to start fiddling with a basketball machine. But I do have a couple of suggestions. You can take them for what they're worth. . "One thing you could try would be to move a high-scoring forward piece, if you have one, to a guard position and then put a bigger piece in at forward. "Or maybe you could just shake the whole machine up. Surprise every- body and start by playing a bunch of parts that wouldn't normally start. Might make the whole machine more energetic. Might confuse other machines. "Sounds like it may be time to do some gambling. What have Platoon you got to lose? You've gotta take Leaders chances in the basketball ma- chine business, y'know." Class "Well, I dunno," the voice in the phone balked, "that's awful drastic stuff." "It doesn't sound like it's going anywhere this way." "Well, it might bounce back again," the voice said with hesi- tant optimism. "Look, why don't you just bring it in and let me work on it?" The sky was dark now and a M ai gust of wind caused the window to shake. "Do you think you could have it ready by tomorrow night?"( (3 3 Recruitin By BOB WARD "THE Stu Isaac, Michigan's women's write," swimming coach, has quite an im- them." pressive record, twenty straight wins Along in three and one-half years at talentc Michigan with only one loss. In outbid national AIAW competition his teams athletes placed 18th in 1975, 14th in 1976 and ing ag 11th in 1977. compet a good a HOW? Talented swimmers. How The does he find them? Some volunteer, scholar but most are recruited. can on. "There's plenty of recruiting," (Associ Isaac said, "It's what separates letics f average coaches from g o o d when a coaches." be taken To recruit, Isaac travels to most major national and some internation- IN Ml al meets searching for talent. In his shows a office he has a book two inches thick take his that lists swimmers and their times. so in wo He has a two-inch stack of 4 x 5 cards from swimmers who've sent him This y information or requested it. on scho When Isaac finds someone he will be wants to contact, he calls her coach after ti or sends Michigan varsity records, will ope meet times, workout strategies, and arships so on. He then hopes for responses. But th g keys E BEST ones don't have to said Isaac, "We all write to with this competition for comes offers. Schools try to other schools for the top s. They start by simply offer- good program, a team that es nationally or a school with academic program. bidding gets higher when ships are offered. Michigan ly offer twelve, and AIAW ation for Intercollegiate Ath- or Women), rules state that scholarship is given, it can't n away. EN'S SPORTS, if an athlete a lack of dedication they can scholarship away. That's not men's sports. year Michigan has ten women larship and next year there only three to offer. The year hat several more vacancies n up. Therefore giving schol- is a big gamble. e significance of recruiting is tankers' that you don't have to give scholar- ships, "Often, a good recruiter can get a girl to come because of the program (academic and athletic)," Isaac said, "and this is important." "You've got to really sincerely be- lieve, if you have any conscience, that the program will really help the girl," continued Isaac. "There are some girls who won't fit in. We take in (consider) grades, interests and so' on." FINDING THESE women can be easy. All the coaches have to do is visit AAU meets or other competi- tion, but they must pay all their own expenses. Talking with them is another thing. If a coach for any women's team approaches and talks to any athlete after her meet about his program, he has violated AIAW recruiting rules. The women may ask him some- thing, but he can only answer that question. The coach may only send her mail or talk to her over the phone. He can't take her out to dinner or visit her; family. sueces(2 "FOR EVERY kid I would like'to talk to," Isaac said, "I spend three hours on the phone talking to their coach and them." "The breaking of the rule is so prevalent. . because it's almost,, possible not to. . ." said Isaac, I'm not going to blow the whistle:& anybody." The logic behind the strict rup. was to eliminate recruiting, avoid tbe scandals (recently MSU had on}, that have resulted in men's sports, and thus protect the women and-, schools from unfair practices. THESE RULES may have been r'& vised at the recent AIAW confera ence, but Isaac isn't sure. He hasnW't'- heard anything official. Despite the bothersome regula- tions, Isaac has built a very success,- ful program. Most of the top swim- mers and divers were recruited. Thi Friday against highly touted Rutgers in New Jersey, he has the chance to show the program that Michigan h K. to offer. Big Ten Standings. Conference All Games Mich. St.... 7 1 .875 15, 2 .88? . Purdue..... 6 2 .750 11 6 .647 MICHIGAN 5 3 .626 10 6 .625 Minnesota.. 5 3 .625 9 7 .56:3 Illinois......4 4 .500 10 7- .588 Ohio State .. 4 4 .500 11 6 .441 Indiana .... 3 5 .375 11 6 .647 Iowa .......3 5 .375 10 6.5 N'western.. 2 6 .250 6 11 .' Wisconsin.. 1 7 .125. 5 11 .34, WOMEN CAGERS FACE GRAND VALLEY: Strider depth turns State green, A confident Wolverine track team, buoyed by some superb perform- ances in last Saturday's Michigan Relays, hosts Michigan State in a dual meet here Wednesday night. The meet was originally scheduled to be run in East Lansing, but was moved to Ann Arbor because of, what else, the snow. It seems that an extra day is needed to move the bleachers into Jenison Fieldhouse for the Michigan-MSU basketball contest Thursday. But regardless of the location, the striders appear likely to extend their dual meet domination over the Spartans to four straight years. While the Spartans boast Big Ten 60-yard dash champion Randy Smith and standout shotputter Paul Schneider, Michigan coach Jack Harvey expects "not too tough a team battle." While looking for good competition in some events, Harvey expects Michigan's "edge in quality and depth" to determine the outcome of the meet.. Fueling Harvey's optimism is the outstanding efforts of distance men Bill Donakowski and Steve Elliot in the mile on Saturday. Their clockings of 4:02.7 andr 4:02.8, respectively, shattered the standing school record and qualified them both for the NCAA championship meetsin the first outing of the season. Junior hurdler Arnett Chisholm's 7.2 clocking in the 60-yard high hurdles also qualified him for the NCAA meet. The meet, at the Track and Tennis Building, will get underway at 7:00 p.m. with the field events. The running events begin at 7:30 p.m. -KEVIN ROSEBOROUGH rine Corps V Women on road The women's basketball team, still floating on a three-game winning streak in the Can-Am Tournament, is again heading out on the road to take on formidable Grand Valley State. "Grand Valley is one of the most seasoned teams in the state," said coach Gloria Soluk. "It was one of the first schools to give scholarships." "Their major strength is that they start juniors and seniors. That's unique in that most teams start two or three freshmen or sophomores." Michigan had been preparing to meet Michigan State this past week- end but, because of the snow, the game was canceled. Soluk feels this may affect the way her team performs. "I think now, after the layoff, the kids don'thremember the winning streak. It hurts us not to work. on fundamentals every day," she com- mented. In spite of Grand Valley's advan- tages, among them 6-2 center Chris Hanson, the game with Michigan is not being taken lightly. "We've seen Michigan play twice and we think they're tough," af- firmed Grand Valley's assistant coach Pat Baker. "Abby Currier [5-11 freshwoman center] is good. She'll be difficult to stop. Of course, Hanson will be difficult for them to stop." "We've got to cut off their fast break. It will be tough to stop them. A win won't be by any great margin," she concluded. The game with MSU has not been rescheduled because both team's schedules are full. Iowever, the Wolverines will face MSU in East Lansing on February 18 in a pre- viously scheduled contest. There will also be an exhibifin game at Crisler Arena this Friday night between (ntral Michigan and Illinois. -ELISA FRYE Thursday's Games Indiana at Northwestern Iowa at Minnesota Michigan at Michigan State Ohio State at Purdue Wisconsin at Illinois ACU-I a Tournament . Sat., Feb. 7-- 10 a.m. x AT UNION LANES Sign up Now U B., mid-winter sale! SNc3 , " . , 0% O r.) IIJ ___ i u - -4 \ BILLBOARD The CCRB will be having a perman- ent locker sale this Saturday, Feb- ruary 4, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon. Ninety women's and thirty men's lockers wil be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Lockers cost $9.50 for use through April 28 and $19 for use through August 18. A MIDDLE EAST BRIEFINO by Dr. Phiip Stoddard U.S. State Department (>A VIt4U J A did Ihe Corps The Platoon Leaders Class (PLC) is the primary college officer commis- sioning program of the Marine Corps. It is a leadership program, and the positive characteristics developed during training as a candidate will be of great value to you throughout your career-be it civilian or military. What does it take to complete PLC training? It takes strength, agility, coordination, endurance, intelligence, moral and physical courage. It takes desire, determination and grit. If you think you've got what it takes find out for sure while you're still in college. And do it with no obligation. You can join the PLC program in your freshman, saphomore or junior year of college. On campus you will not have to wear a uniform, partici- pate in drill or attend any special classes because all training takes place AKl1v IKI TUC CIIAAAC rD hmn n.4 cnn..m...c nLta.4i.....civ u.:. I ,, l' 'ii'i' 1 0 Warm-Ups Shoes (adidas seconds & close-outs) 2. 3. Gym Shorts, T-Shirts 4. SDeedoWSimwear