The Michigan Daily-Thursday, March 11, 1982-Page 9
Jireebiau &'Iip0
By LARR YFREED
You gotta love DePaul.. .
but the winner is...
AS THE SONG says-This is it.
And make no mistake where you are, the NCAA tournament starts
today with teams ranging from Robert Morris to North Carolina all
believing they have a shot at the coveted title. But make no mistake about it
(sorry, but it is a catchy tune), not every quality team was given a fair shot
at New Orleans.
Pity the poor Bradley Braves, who captured the regular season Missouri
Valley Conference title, beating out such national powers as Tulsa and
Wichita State. But Dick Versace's squad faltered in the post-season tourney
and as a result was forced to stay home in Peoria (talk about punishment).
This omission by the NCAA committee has once again raised those same
nagging questions about the tournament. "Are all those conference post-
season tournaments necessary?" And the most oft-asked question, "Why
doesn't the NCAA expand/lessen the field in the tournament?"
The first one is easy, and the answer could be spelled M-O-N-E-Y. My per-
sonal feeling on the second one is that the tournament should expand to let
everybody play. Some would argue that this would take too long and that the
regular season would become meaningless, but nobody would argue about a
lack of quality and it would be a helluva lot of fun to watch.
* Now that I've successfully disposed of the usual pre-NCAA problems, it's
time to move on to the question at hand-who will have the last laugh in New
Orleans?
At first glance it would appear that top-ranked North Carolina has the
easiest path, but then again that's what a lot of people said about DePaul the
last couple of seasons. However, UNC did luck out and get placed in the
easiest regional-the East. James Worthy and company would have had a
harder task but the NCAA committee for some mysterious reason placed
Georgetown out West (maybe their geography department was cancelled
too).
Before I go much further I better tell you that I am from Chicago, so I've
lost all of my so-called reporter's objectivity when it comes to picking
DePaul to win the Midwest regional and a chance to go up against the Tar
Heels in the semi-finals.
However, I firmly believe (just like I did last year at this time) that
DePaul will successfully negotiate through their first tournament game
against the winner of the all-legal battle between two teams that have spent
more time in court than on the court-Boston College and San Francisco.
Now that I've moved with relative ease through the top half of the bracketw
picking the two favorites to advance, it's time to go out on a limb and round
out the final four with the long-limbed Minnesota Gophers and the Fresno
State Bulldogs.
Another Big Ten team
Minnesota has all the ingredients to make a serious run at the title. They
are coming into the tournament playing their best basketball and they have
the height necessary to eliminate Ralph Sampson and the Virginia Cavaliers
from the tournament. In addition, a Big Ten team has graced the Final Four
the past three seasons (winning two) and despite an off-year in the conferen-
ce, it is still a good bet that the streak will continue.
Fresno State will turn into the Cinderella team in the tournament when
they advance into the semis. Although Georgetown is a solid ballclub, the
long trip into unfamiliar surroundings will hurt it and it will be sent packing
early against the USC Trojans and Dwight Anderson, who etched himself on
highlight films forever with a behind-the-backboard basket.
Now that the Final Four has been rounded out, let's take a look at the most
interesting early round match-up.
Louisville-Kentucky-Although Kentucky has to win an early-round match
to get to play the Cardinals, it's against Middle Tennessee, and a Kentucky
loss is about as likely as Phyllis George making an intelligent comment. The,
teams have not played each other in over 30 years and after the new kids on
the block (Louisville) run circles around the more sedate Wildcats, it will be
another 30 years before they play again.
However, neither team will be able to bask in the limelight in Louisiana,
which will belong to the Golden Gophers of Minnesota.
No, Mark Hall won't call collect to congratulate his old teammates.
'M' batsmen head south
By JIM DWORMAN
Snow still covers the field at Fisher
Stadium and the temperature has yet to
reach 50 degrees, but the Michigan
baseball team opens its season anyway
tomorrow with its annual spring trip.
The Wolverines will travel to Texas,
where they will stay until March 23. The
Texas location is a departure from the
traditional site of Florida, and
Michigan coach Bud Middaugh believes
the change of pace will benefit the
players.
"IT'S A GOOD experience for the
kids to play in different areas," said
Middaugh. "It will give them an oppor-
tunity to be judged by people in that
area and when it comes down to
national involvement (the NCAA tour-
nament) we may pick up some votes
from down there. We hope to jump
around each year so that during their
stay here people have a chance to see
different parts of the country."
This year, the parts of the country the
Wolverines will see are Houston and
Edinburg in the Lone Star State. The
team opens its schedule tomorrow in
the nation's fifth-largest city with a
doubleheader against Central
Michigan, which last year went to the
NCAA East Regional, before playing
single games Saturday and Sunday
against Houston.
From there, the Wolverines move to
Edinburg to play in the Citrus Tour-
nament. Michigan will play Nebraska,
Morningside, Kansas, Central
Michigan, host Pan American and
Texas before the tourney concludes
with additional games on March 22 and
23.
BY THAT POINT in time, Middaugh
hopes to have good estimates of his
players' abilities. "On the spring trip
we'll be trying to win the ballgames but
at the same time we'll be trying to find
out who our better players are," said
the third-year coach. "The trip will
pretty much determine what kind of
rotation we go through pitching-wise
and in terms of positions."
Good bets to fill some of those
positions are Jim Paciorek, Chris Sabo,
Greg Schulte, Tony Evans and Jeff
Jacobson. Paciorek, whose brother
Tom is an outfielder for the Chicago
White Sox, is a two-time All-Big Ten
selection who holds or shares almost
every Michigan career batting record.
Barring injury, he will patrol right field
and play first base for the Wolverines.
Sabo, a sophomore third baseman, hit
a team record-tying 10 home runs last
year while batting .341. Jacobson and
Evans return as the Wolverines'
keystone combination, while Schulte
will play center field.
ON THE mound; junior Steve On-
tiveros and sophomores Rich Stoll, Bill
Shuta and Gary Wayne are the top
returnees.
But being a returnee does not
necessarily guarantee a position, ac-
cording to Middaugh. "Just because a
guy's back doesn't mean he's going to
play," said Middaugh. "He'll be given
the chance to earn a position, but if
someone comes in here who may not
have played much last year and has
worked hard and made an im-
provement, then he's going to be given
the opportunity to play.
"The people should have a fair oppor-
tunity to earn a position. I don't believe
in going with a set ball club."
Hoping to take advantage of their op-
portunities are 12 upperclass reserves
and nine freshmen, six of whom will
make the trip down south.
Whether or not the lineup is com-
posed of returning players or
newcomers, one thing is for certain: rt
is well-respected by the national media.
Already the Wolverines are ranked in
the top ten nationally by two
publications. All-America Baseball
News listed them in the fifth position,
while Michigan appears next to the
number "seven" in Collegiate
Baseball.
Three 'M' grapplers
qu alify foi
By DOUGLAS LEVY
The Michigan wrestling team has
three grapplers entered in the National
Championships, which are being held
today through Friday (March 11-13) in
Ames, Iowa. As expected, the
wrestlers are: sophomore All-
American Joe McFarland (118 pounds),
senior All-American Pat McKay (190
pounds), and senior Eric Klasson
(heavyweight).
The Michigan wrestler with perhaps
the best chance to become a national
champion is McFarland. McFarland
marched through the Big Ten Cham-
pionships, defeating Tom Hoban of In-
diana, 25-9, and Harrell Milhouse of
Michigan State, 9-7, before running up
against arch-rival Barry Davis of Iowa.
Davis (40-1-0) whose only loss of the
season was to McFarland (27-4-3) beat
the Wolverine grappler, 6-4, in the final.
PAT McKAY, like McFarland,
placed second to an Iowa wrestler who
was the defending Big Ten Champion.
Yet McKay had an excellent tour-
nament, which has qualified him for the
national championships for the second
consecutive year. The 190-pound senior
All-American defeated Regis Durbin of
Northwestern, 9-3, and Mike Potts (24-
6-0) of Michigan State, 8-7. The
Hawkeyes' Pete Bush beat McKay, 6-3,
in the final. McKay (11-5-1) had been
beaten badly by both Potts and Bush in
rNationals
recent dual meets, indicating that
McKay has made a successful
comeback from a near fatal car ac-
cident last summer.
Eric Klasson has qualified for the
nationals a third consecutive year, and
still has one year of wrestling eligibility
remaining. Yet the senior did not
breeze into the finals as did his arch-
rival Lou Banach of Iowa. Klasson (29-
3-2) beat Keith Paloucek of Illinois, 2-0,
Al Jenson of Minnesota, 3-2, and Eric
Neily of Ohio State, 3-2. Meanwhile,
Banach (13-2-0) pinned John Allen of
Purdue at 1;10, and crushed Bill Pazton
of Indiana, 21-5. In the finals, however,
Klasson out-wrestled Banach, 11-7, and
for his efforts was awarded the tour-
nament's Most Valuable Wrestler. It
was Klasson's second Big Ten Cham-
pionship in three years.
For Klasson and McKay the nationals
marks the end of two fine careers. For
McFarland, more than one national
championship may be waiting in the
future.
UNISEX
Long or Short Haircuts
by Professionals at .
DASCOLA STYLISTS
Liberty off State.......668-9329
East U. at South U.......662-0354
Arboriand ....... ...... 971-9975
Maple Village.........761-2733
Middaugh
..training in Texas
The Writers-in-Residence
at the Residential College
Presents
A Reading By
Jim Gustafson
Poet, Author of Shameless, Rembrandt,
Tales of Virtue and Transformation
TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 8 P.M.
Benzinger Library Residential College
(East University between Hill and Willard)
The Public is Cordially Invited
A Reception Will Follow the Reading
Mr. Gustafson will be the guest at the Hopwood Tea, Thursday,
March 18th, 3:30 P.M., in The Hopwood Room, 1006 Angell
Hall.
The Writers-in-Residence Program at 'the Residential College is
made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Endow-
ment for the Arts.
SPORTS OF THE DAILY:
Red Wings dump coach
/
DETROIT (AP)- Wayne Maxner
was fired yesterday as coach of the
Detroit Red Wings, one day after the
National Hockey League team was put
up for sale, the club announced.
Maxner will be succeeded by
assistant coach Billy Dea, said Jimmy
Skinner, Detroit director of hockey
operations.
"I'm not just blaming Max," Skinner
said. "Maybe we're all to blame.' But
the club is not moving at all. We're in
the same place we were at the begin-
ning of the season. We had to have a
change."
MAXNER, 38, becomes the second
NHL coach to be dismissed in two days.
On Tuesday, the St. Louis Blues fired
Red Berenson, a former Detroit player.
Also Tuesday, Detroit owner Bruce
Norris announced he was putting the
NHL club on the sales block.
"He took it very well," Skinner said
of Maxner's reaction to the firing. "He
knows that in this business, you've got
to expect it at any time."
MAXNER succeeded Ted Lindsay as
coach on Nov. 24, 1980, coming to the
Red Wings from their American
Hockey League farm team in Glens
Falls, N.Y. His record winds up 34-68-
27.
detroit, at 18-39-12 with 48 points, has
the second-worst record in the 21-team
NHL this year and could miss the
Stanley Cup playoffs for the 14th time in
the last 16 years. They are in the midst
of a seven-game losing streak.
Pistons routed by Denver
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) - Veteran
center Dan Issel scored 35 points while
Kiki Vandeweghe had 30 and Alex
English 21 as the Denver Nuggets
routed the Detroit Pistons 124-113 in
National Basketball Association action
last night.
The Nuggets, winning for the third
time in four games, never trailed after
the second quarter as they improved
their season record to 32-30 while Detroit
dropped to 27-35.
VANDEWEGHE had 19 points and
Issel 17 in the first half when the
Nuggets shot ahead 66-57 at the inter-
mission, scoring the last eight points of
the second period. Detroit fought back
to within three points in the third period
and within two in the fourth before
Denver went on a hot spree to build up a
117-103 lead as English hit for eight
points and Vandeweghe and Issel six
each.
During the Nugget outburst, Detroit
managed only one basket over a five-
minute period.
Kelly Tripucka and Isiah Thomas
each had 25 points to lead Detroit,
which now has dropped two in a row.
Purdue adrances in NIT
WEST LAFAYETTE (AP)- Keith
Edmonson scored 29 points last night as
Purdue held off a second-half rally and
beat Western Kentucky 72-65 in the first
round of the National Invitation Tour-
nament.
The victory put the Boilermakers, 15-
13 for the season, into next Monday's
second round against the winner of
Thursday night's matchup between
Iona and Rutgers.
Led by Edmonson and center Russell
Cross, who had all 13 of his points in the
first half, the Boilermakers led 35-24
at halftime.
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