The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, March 11, 1981--Page 9
'M' RECRUIT HAS HIGH HOPES
Razor Sharp
By DREW SHARP
NCAA tournament..;
.0*4some teams don't belong
T ELEVISION ANALYSTS Billy Packer and Al McGuire would have a
field day discussing this matter during one of their weekly college
basketball telecasts.
"Al, the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) style of play is the best around,"
the former Wake Forest assistant coach would say. "I've said that all along,
and now the NCAA has backed up my beliefs by choosing four ACC teams
once again, my friend.",
"Billy, Billy, put your pompoms away," McGuire would respond. "How
can you gloat, when one of the biggest crimes in history has taken
place-only three Big Ten teams receiving invitations?"
"Al, face it, the Big Ten was overrated this season. So spare the tears."
"Overrated; Billy? You think Mississippi, Long Island, and Mercer are
better clubs than Purdue and Minnesota? Wake up, Billy!"
.The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee should also open its eyes to
the great injustice being done to the post-season extravaganza. Teams in
competitive conferences with better-than-average records were passed over
for teams that compiled good won-lost marks against clubs that can best be
described as "bottom of the barrel," and also teams that won their con-
ference's championship tournament by virtue of upset.
M Because of such policy, the Big Ten, which has had more teams (five) ad-
vance to the Final Four over the last five years than any other conference in
the country, will only have three teams (Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois)
representing it in this year's tournament.
The league has a right to cry "foul."
"All you have to do is look at what we've accomplished in the NCAA tour-
nament the last five years," said Michigan head coach Bill Frieder, whose
team accepted an NIT bid. "Maybe the NCAA'was embarrassed last year
when our fourth-place team (Iowa) got to the Final Four. Our third (Purdue)
and fourth-place teams both made it to the semis.
"It is ridiculous. Whoever is on the selection committee didn't do a good
job."
Ironically, Big Ten Commissioner Wayne Duke headed the selection
committee and admitted that the chosen field is not necessarily the best
available.
"We don't have the 48 best teams in the.country-we don't pretend to, with
the presence of automatic qualifiers," said Duke.
The vast amount of conference champions who automatically receive an
invitation (26) and the existence of post-season conference championship
tournaments are two problems which beset the Committee as it made its
selections.
By reducing the number of automatic conference champion qualifiers, the
NCAA would rid the tournament of such dead weight as Mercer College of
the Trans-America Conference and James Madison, Northeastern, and Long
Island of the East Coash Athletic Conference, teams whose schedules are
nothing short of bush league.
The improvements made by the abolishment of the conference tour-
nament would be twofold. One, major independent teams would stand a bet-
ter chance of making the NCAA's due to the fact that upset tournament win-
ners would not be able to waltz into a spot. Two, conference teams would be
better prepared, mentally and physically, for the NCAA's because they
would not have shouldered the burden of playing in the grueling conference
tourneys.
In all of the conference tournaments played this season, only one regular
season champion-Louisville-wori the tournament. '
A 16-13 record is not worthy of NCAA tournament recognition, but that's
not stopping Mississippi from taking its spot in the NCAA Midwest Regional.
By some fluke of basketball fate, the Rebels won the Southeastern Conferen-
ce tournament over highly ranked favorites LSU (the regular season cham-
pion), Kentucky, and Tennessee. The NCAA was forced to take Mississippi
and couldn't very well refuse the other three teams who, collectively, were
ranked in the top 15 nationally.
- Thus, good independent and conference squads like Marquette (19-10),
South Alabama (23-5),Clemson (20-10), and Syracuse (18-11) were denied an
invitation.
The major reason for conference tournaments is that they create revenue.
According to Brian Morrison, a representative of the ACC, there is no more
financially rewarding, basketball-related event than the ACC tournament,
outside of the NCAA title chase, of course. Other conferences decided to
-jump on the bandwagon and form their own type of post-season competition
in an effort to increase revenue.
These leagues fail to take into consideration damage done to the players
who, instead of getting ready for the NCAA's, must subject themselves to
two or three more games before the tournament and risk injury in the
process. These games are totally uncalled-for. If a team has proven itself in
the regular season, there's no need for them to do it once again in a con-
ference tournament.
Sotake notes, NCAA Selection Committee, don't let this injustice occur
in the future. When you advertise that your tournament features the 48 best
teams in the country, make sure you choose the 48 best!
Was hi
By RON POLLACK
"There's a lot of potential to mold
him to whererer we need him. I'm
not going to make a decision on him
until after spring ball. This kid is an
excellent athlete: big, quick, com-
petitire. He could be a split end,
tight end, fullback, tailback, or
defensive back."
-Michigan football coach
Bo Schembechler
on recruit Greg Washington
Schembechler may not have decided
where he wants to play Washington, but
the Detroit Western senior knows
where he'd like to line up. "I'd prefer
defensive back because I like to hit and
catch the ball," said Washington.
He wants to play defensive back
because he likes to catch the ball? An
unusual statement, yes; an absurd one,
no. During his senior year, Washington
picked off 15 passes, one less than all
the Michigan defensive backs had
during the regular season in 1980.
Washington returned these intercep-
tions for an astounding total of 587 yar-
ds. Such statistics would seem to make
Schembechler's decision an easy one,
but Washington possesses so much
talent that he seems capable of doing
anything asked of him.
"GREG IS THE type of kid that could
play numerous positions and do well in
any of them," said Detroit Western
football coach Andrew Palko.
Washington has been termed by some
"the best high school athlete in the
nation," but this has not made him feel
that his task will be any easier once he
joins Schembechler's squad.
"Just because I'm one of the top five
players in the nation doesn't mean I'll
automatically get a spot," said
Washington. "It just means I'll work
harder. I have to prove myself all over
again."
ONE INDIVIDUAL who seems to think
that Washington will have no difficulty
proving himself is Michigan State
ngton to
assistant football coach Sherman
Lewis.
"I think he's going to be a dominating.
player who will also make other players
better," said Lewis.
In addition to being a promising foot-
ball prospect, Washington is also a
highly regarded basketball player (he
is currently averaging 18 points and 17
rebounds per game). Consequently, he
will attempt to participate in both spor-
ts at Michigan.
"I REALLY HAVE a desire to try
both," he said. "It's something that I've
been thinking about for a long time. If I
can do both, I want to make the most of
it."
Such an attempt will be an ardous
task for Washington, but Wolverine
basketball coach Bill Frieder believes
that is is not an impossibility.
"It's going to be difficult for him,"
Frieder said. "But if someone can do it,
then he's the guy. He's coming to
Michigan because he wants to play both
sports, and he's going to get that chan-
ce," said Frieder.
WASHINGTON RECOGNIZES that
the overlapping schedules of football
and basketball will hamper his hoop
abilities. But, he quickly adds that such
problems will disappear once the foot-
ball season ends and he focuses his at-
tention to basketball.
"It'll hurt me since my shooting will
be off," said Washington. "I'll be in
football shape,, not basketball shape.
It's not the same thing. The shooting
will come around in a week or two.
"I think I can have a big impact (on
the basketball team) . . . Eric Turner
(Michigan basketball recruit) and I
should do well in the backcourt,"
Washington continued. "I played
against him this summer. Together we
can cause a lot of problems for other
teams."
LIKE EVERY athlete, Washington
has goals, but it is difficult to name
another individual whose aspirations
can even come close to matching his.
itry two sports
"I hope to be number one in both
football and basketball. As an in-
dividual, I hope to make All-Big 10 and
All-American. Naturally I hope to go to
a pro career. As long as I can do that in
the framework of the team, that would
be nice. But the team comes first."
Although Washington must face the
rigors of playing two sports, he also in-
tends to attempt to get into Michigan's
Business School.
"IT'S HARD WORK, that's all it is,"
said Washington. "I'm willing to
sacrifice whatever it takes to get in the
Business School."
The Business School was part of the
reason why Washington chose
Michigan over other various colleges.
"It's (the University) one of the top
schools academically," said
Washington. Everytime I look at the
lists that rate schools, Michigan was up
there, especially the Business School. I
also wanted to stay near home."
Besides the opportunity to play both
basketball and football, the school's
academic record and the nearness to
" his home, Washington says there is one
more reason for choosing Michigan:
"I've wanted to be a Wolverine for a
long time."
28 day trips, 21 days in CHINA
Plus MANiLA and HONG KONG
Student oriented tours, about $1,000 less than conventional
tourist trips. Teachers, staff, community members, parents
... welcome, too. Two trips:
MAY 21-JUNE 17: Health Care System $3156 from San Francisco
JUNE 22-JULY 19: Education and Schools $3218
(about $340 add-on to fly from Detroit)
Visits to Beijing, Xion, Shanghai, Guilin, and several other major tourist
centers. U of M extension credit available.
ACT NOWI Only nine spaces left. For information. call Prof. Robert
Hefner, 763,4355 (days) or 442-1867 (eve or weekend).
LBERT
OLLINS
4 . '
Intramural softball
programc
By JEFF QUICKSILVER
In a move designed to generate
revenue and utilize the new intramural
softball fields to their fullest, the
University's Department of
Recreational Sports will not offer its
regular intramural softball program,
as it has in the past. Instead, the Depar-
tment will sponsor five different
recreational leagues that will be open to
all teams in the city and surrounding
area.
"The leagues will be of the lower
competitive variety, with men's and
wonien's 'C' and 'D' leagues, along with
one Co-Rec league," said Bill Canning,
Director of Facilities and CCRB.
"THE UNIVERSITY has spent
almost $250,000 in the construction of
the new fields and softball building, and
the new program is aimed at getting the
best possible use out of these new
facilities."
The leagues will begin play May 11
and continue through July 31. Each
team is expected to play 12 games, with
men's 'C' and 'D' doubleheader leagues
an ged
playing 24 games.
Edwards added that there was room
for about 120 teams in the new program
and that the different leagues will be
formed on the basis of ,respective in-
terest in each one.
The softball program will be-directed
by the current University professional
sports staff, and all games will be
played at Mitchell Field. A meeting of
interested managers will be held
tonight at 7:00 p.m. in room 1250 of the
Central Campus Recreation Buildin
20% Discount
SANYO WATCHES
& CALCULATORS
4
a.
NW. MARCH 1
IM SCORES
MONDAY
Basketball
Residence Hall B
Class A
Kelsey House Roots B 51, Delta B Eagles 44
Class B
6th V-D Bursley 40, Reeves B 29
Water Polo
Fraternity
*Chi Phi 13, Evans Scholars 1
Lambda Chi Alpha 2, Zeta-Psi 0 (forfeit)
Beta Theta Pi 16, Sigma Nu 4
Sigma Alpha Epsilon 15, Theta Delta Chi 5
SCores
NBA
Philadelphia 103, Indiana 102
NHL
Washington 4, Colorado3
Detroit 4, Hartford 4
College Basketball
arinceton 54, Penn 40
A Masters Degree in
RADIATION PROTECTION
at the University of Michigan
Opportunities Available for:
-Financial support for qualified graduate students
-Research in radiation dosimetry and radiation biology
-Highpaying, interesting jobs in a growing profession
in which the demand for graduates far exceeds the supply.
APPLICATION SHOULD BE FILED BY: MAY 15, 1981
Interested students in engineering, physics, biology, chemistry,
pre-med, or any of the other physical or biological sciences
should write or call: Professors A. P. Jacobson or P. A. Plato,
Department of Environmental and Industrial Health, School of
Public Health, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109. Phone: (313)
764-0523.
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