THIS DUD'S FOR YOU{
By BUDDY MOOREHOUSE
Turningpoint for cgers
.. NCAA bid on the line
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4
Just by looking at the statistics, it seems obvious that Michigan should
have won the game. The Wolverines took a whopping 17 more shots from the
floor than Michigan State, 57 to 40, outrebounded the Spartans, 23 to 15, and
committed fewer turnovers, 22 to 19. The numbers never lie. It should have
been a Wolverine victory, right?
.Wrong. As coaches are so fond of saying, "Stats are for losers," and in this
case it couldn't be more true. It doesn't matter how many shots you take
from the floor if you can't put the ball in the basket. Michigan only connected
on 30 of its 57 attempts, for a paltry 53 percent. MSU, on the other hand,
made 63 percent of its field goal tries.
:And it also doesn't matter how many turnovers the other guys make if you
cai't capitalize on them. Time after time in last Saturday's 70-66 Michigan
loss, ithe Spartans would turn the ball over to the Wolverines, whereas
Michigan would respond with a turnover of its own.
And don't think that the Wolverines fell to two games behind the leaders in
the Big Ten because Michigan State played a stellar game. They didn't.
True, Spartan guard Kevin Smith had a spectacular day offensively, scoring
a career-high 28 points. But Smith also committed six of his team's tur-
nbvers, and played his usual shoddy defense. And any time a team turns the
ball over 22 times, it can hardly be called a good effort.
1 Why, then, did the Wolverines lose? The most obvious reason is their lack
of offensive production. "Our problems today were on offense," Blue coach
Bill Frieder astutely remarked after the game. "We weren't patient enough
ea ly, and it really hurt us."
Deficiency at center
but another, more glaring reason, is the total lack of dominance at the
center position. Paul Heuerman, the starting pivot man, had probably his
} worst game of the year against the Spartans. The senior from Akron finished
with one point, two rebounds, three turnovers, and five personal fouls in 23
minutes of play, hardly dominating statistics. His replacement, freshman
Tim McCormick, fared only slightly better, ending up with six points and
three rebounds in 24 minutes.
In a game against one of the shorter teams in the league, Michigan's cen-
ter should have been much more effective. MSU starts 6-8 Jay Vincent in the
pivot, along with Heuerman one of the shortest starting centers in the
league. So what could have been a field day for Heuerman and McCormick
turned out to be a disaster. Obviously, that can't continue if Michigan hopes
to bounce back from its two straight losses.
So what looked like a sure NCAA tournament bid only a week ago has
become considerably more doubtful. And it doesn't look to be getting any
easier for Frieder's cagers with road games at Illinois; Iowa and Indiana in
the next two weeks. The Wolverines are going to need a win in one of those
contests, plus a sweep of their remaining home contests against North-
western, Minnesota and Purdue if they are to be assured of a NCAA bid.
Anything less, and it could be another trip to the NIT for Michigan.
But even though it looks like an uphill battle for the Blue cagers, don't
make reservations for Madison Square Garden just yet. The Wolverines
have already beaten Illinois and Indiana, and with a little luck, they could
overcome the screaming crowds in Champaign and Bloomington and come
away with a win in one of those games. And although Iowa blew the Blue
away in Ann Arbor earlier this year, the Hawkeyes have been playing less-
than-spectacular basketball on their home court this year, as evidenced by
losses to Ohio State and Minnesota.
"It would have really helped us if we could have won this game," said
Frieder after the East Lansing fiasco. "Now we'll have to pick up another
win that weanormally wouldn't have gotten."
No. iV
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) -
Senior Jeff Lamp and sophomore Ralph
Sampson led a 36-5 run in the first half
that gave top-ranked Virginia a 40-11
lead and the Cavaliers clinched a tie for
the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-
season title last night with an 83-42 rout
of Georgia Tech's Yellow Jackets.
Lamp finished with 19 points, Sam-
pson with 15- and junior guard Jeff
Jones with a season-high 12 as the
Cavaliers, 23-0 overall and 12-0 in the
ACC with two league games left, exten-
ded the nation's longest winning streak
to 28.
THE CAVALIERS converted six of
the seven turnovers into baskets,
scored 14 points in a row for an 18-6 lead
and outscored Georgia Tech 36-5 over a
12 -minute span.
By halftime it was 48-15, and the
Cavaliers scored the first five points af-
ter intermission to make it 53-15.
Several times in the second half,
Virginia was up by 43 points, the first
time at 71-28 with 9:03 left.
Howe honored
HARTFORD (AP) - Gordie Howe
soon adds another footnote to his long
and memorable National Hockey
League career this week, when a sec-
ond team retires his numer.
"Yeah, I dreamed about it. It means
a great deal," Howe said.
THE TEAM performing the honors
this time around is the Hartford
Whalers, the team the 52-year-old Howe
played for until his second retirement
in 1980.
The Wednesday evening ceremonies
AIP Top Twenty
1. Virginia (45).......22-0 1,184
2. Oregon St. (14) ..... 21-0 1,130
3. DePaul ............. 22-1 1,059
4. Louisiana St. (1) .... 23-1 1,047
5. Wake Forest.......21-2 947
6. UCLA............16-4 836
7, Arizona St.........19-3 755
8. Tennessee..........18-4 693
9. Utah .............. 21-2 645
10. Kentucky .... I ..... 18-4 631
11. Notre Dame ........ 18-4 591
12. Iowa ............... 17-4 575
13. North Carolina ..... 19-6 549
14. Wichita St.......... 19-2 385
15. Illinois ............. 16-5 347
16. Indiana.......... 16-8 243
17. Brigham Young.... 18-5 175
18. MICHIGAN ........ 16-5 113
19. Lamar...... ....20-2 91
20. Maryland..........16-7 71
are part of an official Gordie Howe
Week declared in Connecticut by Gov.
Bill O'Neill for Feb. 16-20.
When he retired for the first time in
1971 after 25 years with the Detroit Red
Wings, Howe's No. 9 was retired in
Detroit.
BUT TWO YEARS after that
retirement, Howe decided to make a
comeback and joined his two sons, Mar-
ty and Mark, with the Houston Aeros of
the defunct World Hockey Association.
In 1977, he and his sons signed with
the Whalers, a WHA team at that time
which was added to the NHL in 1979
when the WHA folded.
On Wednesday, Howe's number will
be officially retired and raised to the
rafters at the Hartford Civic Center
Coliseum. The Whalers will be at home
that night to play the Winnipeg Jets.
Howe holds several NHL records, in-
cluding: most seasons, 26; most games,
1,767; most goals, 801; most assists,
1,049; and most points, 1,805.
UCLA player booted
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Freshman
center Kenny Fields, who came to
UCLA as one of the nation's most highly
regarded young players and im-
mediately became a- Bruins' starter,
has been dropped from the squad,
UCLA basketball Coach Larry Brown
announced yesterday.
Fields, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound prep All-
American out of Verbum Dei High in
Los Angeles, averaged 10.3 points and
5.2 rebounds per game for the currently
sixth-ranked Bruins.
Fields had an unexcused absence
from a Bruin practice two weeks ago,
when he reportedly wanted to take
some time off to think about his future.
There was no indication of what led to
Brown's decision to drop him from the
team, however.
The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, February 17, 1981-Page 9
SPOR TS OF THE DAIL Y
. . .
irginia rolls along, 81-64
Fields will retain his UCLA scholar-
ship, the school announced.
Brkovich hurt
EAST LANSING (UPI) - The price
was high but Michigan State's weekend
victory over Michigan could give the
Spartans a needed lift heading into the
last three weeks of the Big Ten season.
"But it was a costly win," Heathcote
said. "We lost senior guard Mike
Brkovich for at least a week, and
possibly the season, with a pulled
ligament in his right ankle.
"Hopefully we'll be able to get him
back for the last two games, at least.
Right now his foot is in a cast. It won't
be removed until next Monday."
FEBRUARY 17, 18 & 19
INTERVIEWS: CAREER PLANNING & PLACEMENT
FEBRUARY 17 & 18 INFORMATION TABLE
MICHIGAN UNION DETROIT 313-226-7928
I I
IM
BULLETIN
Worried about the possible reduction
in financing of recreational sports?
There is a forum on which your views
can be expressed. There is an open
meeting to discuss the proposed budget
cuts in recreational sports. Anyone in-
terested should report to the Anderson
oom of the Michigan Union tonight,
February 17, between 5-7 p.m.
Schuss
Miountain
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gone MAD
for
MARCH
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ANN ARBOR'S
LONGEST
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Finest Pasta Dishes
Open for Lunch
Dinners until 1:00 A.M.
Cottage
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LODGING
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{ALL OF THE ABOVE
to Responsibility
One of the many things
young engineers at Alcoa
do is to oversee plant
systems and make sure
they operate properly, at
optimum efficiency. The
employees above are
checking the controls of
a D.C. motor drive.
This is a lot of
responsibility for an entry-
level engineer. It's a lot of
Electrical Engineers,
Mechanical Engineers,
Industrial Engineers,
R&D, Safety
Alcoa Campus Recruitment
March 6
Contact University
Placement Office for
available interview times
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