The Michiaan Daily-Thursday, Fe
TOURNAMENT BID STILL POSSIBLE
Can cagers come
back?
By CUB SCHWARTZ
Special to The Daily
MADISON - Back in the middle of January,
Wisconsin wandered into Crisler Arena to take a
shot at a Michigan team coming off its first loss of
the Big Ten season. That same night Purdue
travelled to East Lansing, Indiana hosted Ohio
State and Minnesota entertained Illinois.
JUST AS THE home own troup from Ann Arbor
ended Wisconsin's upset hopes with a furious second
half shooting show, all the other Big Ten squads
playing on the home floor turned away the op-
position's threats.
Tonight the slate of Big Ten basketball features
the same matchups as that Thursday night in
January with one important distinction. Those folks
who enjoyed the friendly arenas must this time face
the hostile crowds and unfamiliar rims. Time and
time again this has proved to be a formidable task
for Big Ten teams.
As Michigan takes to the floor in Wisconsin
Fieldhouse there is little doubt that coach Johnny
Orr respects the Badgers more than their 3-9 Big
Ten record might indicate.
"THEY'RE PLAYING as well now as at any time
this year," said Orr, "I think they are more
tbgether now and they are doing a super-super job."
that job is being carried out without the services
of two of their better players. James 'Stretch'
Gregory and Wes Mathews are both sitting out
because of academic difficulties. And although
Gregory didn't face the Wolverines the first time
out for the same reason, Mathews was instrumental
in Wisconsin's first half play which left them
deadlocked with Michigan at the intermission.
The freshman guard connected for 16 points that
evening, tying him with forward Joe Chrnelich for
team scoring honors. In his place will be senior Jim
Smith, who has averaged only 6.7 points per game.
Although Badger's coach Bill Cofield has labeled
Smith the best shooter on the club, he doesn't have
the penetrating or passing ability of Mathews. Both
of these skills have proven valuable to guards
against the Wolverine defense this year.
THE REMAINDER of the Badger lineup remains
as it was in the' initial contest; Chrnelich and Bill
Pearson at the forwards, rotund freshman Larry
Petty in the pivot and Arnold Gaines manning the
!uard opposite Smith.
But if Michigan has hopes of latching onto an
NCAA bid, its attention will not focus solely on the
Badgers. Down in West Lafayette, Purdue hosts
conference leader Michigan State in a rare 4:30
energy advanced game.
At 8-4, the Boilermakers are just one game ahead
of the Wolverines and hold down a crucial third
place spot. Minnesota at 9-3 in second place is
ineligible for post season play due to probation.
Thus, should Minnesota finish in first or second, the
third place team in the Big Ten would be eligible,
and a probable choice, for a NCAA bid wild card
bid.
A WOLVERINE WIN coupled with a Purdue loss
would knot the teams in a tie for third with Michigan
traveling to Indiana on Saturday and the Boiler-
makers facing an equally formidable foe, Min-
nesota, n the north country.
"It's a must game for them," said State coach
Jud Heathcote. "Their backs are to the wall. They
must win if they want to stay in the race."
"We are in a much better position. A win would
put us in a commanding position but a loss would not
leave us in a bad position. Sure, we would dearly
love to win it. But we'll take it in stridle and play it as
it goes."
FURTHERMORE, Indiana and Ohio State are
just one game behind Michigan in the standings, so
that a Michigan loss tonight would automatically
drop it into a tie for fourth with the winner of the
Hoosier-Buckeye contest.
But Orr is powerless to affect the outcome of the
other contests this evening, and at the moment
Wisconsin is a 'must' if the Wolverines plan on
travelling at all after March 2.
"This is the toughest position we have ever been
in," said Orr, "because for of our six games are on
the road. It will be very difficult to keep going, but
our goal is to get second or third and maybe get a
chance to go to the NCAA or NIT."
Arnold Gaines
Larry Petty
Michigan's 20-game basketball statistics
Player,
McGee.........
Thompson........
Hardy.........
Baxter ........
Staton............
Johnson........
Lozier-...........
Bodnar, Marty ...
Heuerman ..
Bergens........
Robinson ........
Bodnar, Mark...
Team & others ....
G-S FG/FGA Pet.
20-20 155/320 .484
20-20 135/246 .s49
20-20 118/254 .465
20-20 104/222 .468
20-20 71/153 .464
. 16-0 28/54 .519
18-0 15/38 .395
14-0, 9/14 .643
18-0 9/15 .600
15.0 9/26 .346
10-0 5/9 .556
15-0 7/10 .700
FT/FTA
66/84
3x/58
23/36
27/36
17/29
9/15
7/11'
5/8
9/16
31/I
2/2
Pct.
.786
.6s55
.639
.750
.586
.600
.6:36
.625
.556
.429
1.s00
Rbs
95
181
1'26
55
7:1
12
12
6
29
28
9
6
127
Avg
4.8
9.1
6.3
2.8
3.7
0.8
0.7
0.4
1.6
1.9
0.9
0.4
6.4
Pts
376
3o08
259
2:15
159
65
37
23
27
l3
13
16
Avg
18.8
15.4
13.0
11.8
8.0
4.1
2.1
1.6
1.5
1.5
1.3
1.1
PRIDE, MOMENTUM AT STAKE:
Blue tankers face MSU
By BILLY SAHN
"The Michigan-Michigan State swim
meet is the biggest meet of the year in
my opinion," said Larry Schroeder,
senior sprinter from Ann Arbor Huron.
"We want to get even for last year's
defeat."
Schroeder and his teammates will be
hosting the Spartan tankers this Satur-
day at Matt Mann Pool. The "big" meet
will start at 2 p.m. The Wolverines are
1-2 in the Big Ten while the Spartans
are 2-1.
Last year, MSU edged out Michigan
at East Lansing by a score of 63-60. This
defeat was Michigan's first and last of
the season. Then, two weeks later, the
Spartans turned it on and once again
beat out the Wolverines in the Big Ten
Championships, by 26.5 team points to
finish third.while Michigan finished
fourth.
The two close encounters have laid
the seeds for an intense rivalry. "We
won't be sleeping this year like we were
last year. We're really serious about
this meet. We want to win," said
Michigan backstroker Scott Weir.
Presently, Michigan's coach Gus
Stager is keying his team for the MSU
meet. Michigan has various reasons
why they'd like to win this meet. One.
reason is that they want a victory for
their final dual meet before the Big
Tens.
Another reason is that they want to
have a victory at home. Their last vic-
tory before a Michigan partisan crowd
was in early December. The MSU meet
is their first home meet since then due
to the weather.
"I like to see a lot of people come to
watch us perform at the meets. It's a
definite psyche up," said Michigan's
star diver Matt Chelich.
However, the men's tankers have had
trouble filling the 2500 seat capacity at
Matt Mann Pool.
"We generally don't anticipate huge
crowds. People just aren't into swim-
ming on this campus," said Weir.
A further reason that Michigan would
like to beat State is pride.
Dual meets in swimming don't have
any significance to national or con-
ference ranking. Basically, it's a mat-
ter of pride on the line. Whether
Michigan goes to the NCAA's as a team
at the end of March will be decided by
their performance at the Big Tens. But,
whether they feel confident and secure
is a matter of season performance, in
practice and in dual meets.
The majority of the swimmers are op-
timistic about their chances of victory
against the Spartans this Saturday. Yet
Stager is a bit weary of MSU's strength.
"I think we should win this weekend:
We've got the home advantage in our
favor. Yet, I'm worried," said Stager.
Stager has reason to worry about the
Spartans. Last year, going into the last
meet of the season, State had a record
of 4-1 in the Big Ten. But, they weren't
that impressive. However, they
managed to turn it on during the
Michigan meet and edged out the
Wolverines.-
"State has been a much better team
at the end of the season than at the
beginning. The attitude of my swim-
mers is good, but they've got the ex-
perience," commented Stager.
Freshman sensation Fernando
Canales will lead the way for the
Wolverines. His excellent times (46.05
in the 100 free, a Michigan varsity
record) will be matched by two strong
experienced seniors, Jim Dauw and
Shawn Elkins.
Dauw and Elkins along with
freestlyer John VandeBunte are all
versatile swimmers. "Dauw and Elkins
potentially can swim well in six events,
luckily they're each only allowed in
three," said Michigan's coach of 24
years.
The 50 yard free, the shortest of all
events, may well generate the most ex-
citement of the meet. Leading the way
for the Wolverines is Schroeder who
holds the Wolverine varsity record with
a time of 21.3. Schroeder finished sec-
ond to Olympian Jim Montgomery of
Indiana in last year's Big Ten's. MSU's
VandeBunte finished fourth in that
event with a time of 21.33.
"I beat VandeBunte last year in the
Big Ten's with my personal best. I think
I can break my record this Saturday.
I'm especially up for this meet since it's
my last home meet for Michigan," said
Schroeder.
Another close race will be in the 200
yard backstroke. Weir, who took first
place last weekend against Ohio State
with a time of 1:58.076 will swim off
against State's Mike Rado. Rado's best
thus far this season is a 2:01.52 for the
back.
As for diving, Michigan's Chelich, an
NCAA champion, will be up for some
stiff competition. State's Jesse Griffin
and Gregory Moran will lead the attack
against Chelich and the rest of the
men's diving team.
In general, the Blue tankers are
seeking three things from the Michigan
State meet. Firstly, they want revenge
from last year's loss to State. Secondly,
they want to swim well before the Big
Ten's in March. Lastly, they want to at-
tract fans to watch Saturday's meet.
THE
LINEUPS
MICHIGAN
Mike McGee (6-5) ........ F
Alan Hardy (6-6) ......... F
Joel Thompson (6-8) ..... C
Tom Staton (6-3) ......... G
David Baxter (6-3)......G
WISCONSIN
Bill Pearson (6-8) ......... F
Joe Chrnelich (6-7)......F
Larry Petty (6-9)........C
Arnold Gaines (6-4) ....... G
Jim Smith (6-2) .....;..... G
oCOUPON U
MICHIGAN ........20 665/1:61 .49 211/311 .678 751 38.0 1541 77.1 147
Opponents.......... 20 584/1224 .477 274/398 .688 8U1 .4.1 1442 72.1 11
POETRY READING
with.
DEBORAH DUDDLEY and BART PLANTENGA
readings from their work
Thursday, Feb. 16-7:30 p.m.
at GUILD HOUSE
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