SPORTS " r 'd F i .,> The Michigan Daily Saturday, March 20, 1982 Page Western Michigan's Fisher joins i Off the Record 'it 6 M Ar By BOB WOJNOWSKI II r A prep superstar ...* and he's only a junior _HERE IS A HIGH school basketball player from Detroit Southwestern who possesses in his soft jumper and fierce rebounding some college program's national championship aspirations. That college may someday be Michigan but it won't be next season because the player, a 6-5/2, 185- pound guard, is only a junior. - The player's name is Antoine Joubert. The name itself glides smoothly and smartly from the tongue, much as the quick Joubert glides smoothly down the court. He averages 31 points, 16 rebounds and seven assists per game and is shooting 64 percent from the field and 79 percent from the foul line. He is generally regarded as the best player in the state and even now they are calling him a franchise player- maybe the best to come out of Detroit since George Gervin 11 years ago. One national scouting service lists Joubert as the top junior in the country, which means he may be the top senior in the country next year, which means he has the potential to someday lead someone to the top of the college basketball world. "When he's through, there is that possibility," says a man who should know, Joubert's coach at Southwestern, Perry Watson. Joubert scored 48 points a week ago in leading the Prospectors to a 78-59 Class A district final victory over Wyandotte. He scored 33 points Thursday night in Ypsilanti as Southwestern turned back Plymouth Salem, 63-54. Though he hit just eight of 27 shots from the floor, he drilled 17 of 19 free throws, and on an off night he scored more than half of his team's points. So there is no denying the worth of this splendid junior and Michigan head coach Bill Frieder, who privately drools over Joubert, will say publicly only what everybody already knows. "He's definitely one of the top junior prospects in the country," he says. He is indeed the bonafide high school superstar that has always eluded the Wolverines. Michigan has rapidly become known as everyone's second choice-Lew Alcindor, Darrell Griffith, Earvin Johnson and Clark Kellogg all narrowed their choices to Michigan and another school and all chose the other school. At this very moment, Joubert is reportedly leaning to the Wolverines, but the lure of UCLA, Indiana, Kentucky and e-en Michigan State cannot be discounted. Michigan may have gotten a blessing in disguise when Patrick Ford, the 6-5 guard from Detroit Cass Tech, announced last month his inten- tions to attend Michigan State. Joubert has allegedly said that he will not go to the school that Ford chooses becauses he wants to step right in and con- tribute as a freshman. Indeed, he is very specific about what he wants out of the college basketball program he finally chooses. ' "I want to contribute and play, not just be there," he says. And it appears that Michigan is going out of its way to make sure that a guard spot is open for Joubert when he graduates next year. The Wolverines have yet to recruit a guard and, barring some phenomenal discovery, will not do so. Frieder has passed up guards Renardo Brown of Highland Park and Anthony Watson of Detroit Cooley while apparently placing all of his eggs in the Joubert basket. But all the teams' scouts and all the local press can't get Joubert to in- dicate which school he prefers. When asked about conflicting reports that he was leaning toward Michigan and then toward UCLA, Joubert deftly skirts the issue. "Those weren't true-I didn't really say that," he says. "I was just com- menting on which schools I was interested in." If Joubert will not tip his hand, as well he shouldn't with still a year to decide, one can only speculate on Michigan's chances. And one very big fac- tor that Frieder has going for him is the relationship between Joubert and Wolverine freshman Leslie Rockymore, a graduate of Southwestern. "I've been with him (Joubert) since the sixth grade and I've been starting alongside him ,all the time," says Rockymore. "We're real tight-like brothers." Another factor often discussed is Joubert's desire to remain in-state so that he can play in front of his family and friends. But apparently that is not as big a factor as Frieder wishes it was. "It's not my family's decision, it's mine and I think they would support my decision if I wanted to go out of state," he says. ) or now, Joubert will concentrate on delivering the State Class A title to Southwestern, and he will continue his quest for it tonight in Ypsilanti when -the Prospectors take on Ypsilanti. If you happen by, watch him play and then repeat to yourself, "He's only a junior, he's only a junior, he's only a junior.. .'' Yl cagfe rs By RON POLLACK Western Michigan assistant coach Steve Fisher has been hired to replace former Michigan basketball assistant Don Sicko. Sicko was named head coach at the University of Detroit earlier this month. Fisher's hiring was approved late Thursday night by Athletic Director Don Canbam. Fisher has been an assistant at Western Michigan for the last three years. Prior to his stint with the Bron- cos, Fisher coached at Rich East High School in Park Forest, Ill., where his teams compiled a 141-70 record. as assistant "HE HAS the type of background that he needs to come into this situation," said Michigan head coach Bill Frieder. "He was a successful high school coach, and in the last few years he has been very involved in turning Western Michigan around. He's a super guy and he'll do a great job for us. He was the top assistant at Western and he did a great job." At Michigan, Fisher will have a wide variety of duties. "He'll do everything," said Frieder. "Recruiting, scouting, preparation for the basketball games and all the little things that go with the job. He'll do the coach same things Don (Sicko) did." Of these responsibilities, Frieder sounded particularly impressed with Fisher's ability to recruit. "Fisher has done a great job recruiting in the state of Michigan," said the Wolverines' head coach. "He was one of the people responsible in getting (star guard) Walker D. Russell to go to Western. He'll also help us in Illinois where we haven't been recruiting well in the past." Fisher is currently at the Illinois state basketball tournament and couldn't be reached for comment. -. --F .s Fisher ... replaces Sicko , 'M' batsmen defeat UTEP, 5-0 w. r ; s- Special to the Daily EDINBERG, Texas- The Michigan batsmen posted their second straight shutout yesterday, when they defeated Texas-El Paso, 5-0. The Wolverines scoredrtheir first run in the third inning. Freshman Ken Hayward tripled to right field and rode home on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Jacob- son. Hayward's triple was the first fromnany Wolverine batsman this season. MICHIGAN added to its lead in the fifth inning when Tony Evans beat out a hit to short stop, but was then forced at second by a Hayward single. Jacobson then singled to center and Dave Stober walked to load the bases. Greg Schulte singled to center field, scoring both Hayward and Jacobson. Stober was able to advance to third and Schulte to second on an error by the center fielder. The pair crossed the plate when Chuck Froning singled. The win, which was Michigan's third in a row, brings its overall record to 6-3. The Miners are 17-10. The Wolverines will continue to play in the Citrus tournament today when they meet the host team, Pan American College. Firing Blanks Swvimmers sixth AUSTIN, Texas- Michigan's women tankers are in 6th place after three days of the four-day AIAW national swim- ming championships. Going into the final day of the competition, the Wolverines have 231 points, 320 points behind the first-place Texas Longhorns who have 551 points, and 25 points in back of 5th-place Ohio State. The Blue tankers got their top per- formance from Sue Cahill, who cap- tured an individual national title for the Wolverines with her time of 4:20.86 in the 400-yard individual medley (IM). In the same event, Melinda Copp took fifth with a time of 4:25.56, and Chris Hodson finished 14th at 4:32.73. FRESHMAN tanker Tami Paumier took another fifth for the Wolverines with her time of :30.37 in the 50-yard breaststroke. Michigan's Vicki Kimball wound up eighth in the one-meter diving com- petition with 390.60 points. Finishing next highest for the Wolverines was the 200-yard medley relay team of Copp, Paumier, Sue Collins, and Leslie Beckstein, who took ninth in the 200- yard medley relay at 1:47.63. Denise Stuntzner also got a 10th-place finish for Michigan in the 200-yard freestyle with a 1:52.03. LAST NIGHT'S action saw the Wolverines hang onto sixth place, but the OSU Buckeyes widened their fifth- place lead over Michigan to 25 points by the end of last night, from 10 points the night before. Both of the Wolverines' divers, Kim- ball and Diane Dudeck, qualified for the finals in the three-meter competition which will be held on Saturday. Michigan picked up another pair of fifth-place finishes on Friday, one by Paumier who"had a school record 1:04.84 in the 100-yard breaststroke, and the other by Cahill, who finished the 200-yard IM in 2:06.02. Second for the Wolverines in the 200-yard IM, but eighth in the field, was Copp with her time of 2:06.92. MICHIGAN'S 800-yard freestyle relay team of Collins, Stuntzner, Cahill, and Beckstein took ninth with a final mark of 7:34.64-a school record. The 200-yard butterfly featured two Michigan swimmers who have been neck-and-neck in this event in the past. Stuntzner was a little faster this time with a 2:03.86, good for 10th place, while Cahill came in 12th at 2:05.82. The Wolverines may or may not be able to move up in the standings as the competition concludes tomorrow. However, if they do hold on for at least sixth place, Michigan head coach Stu Isaac will have reached another one of his goals for the year. Isaac predicted as far back as November 4hat his tankers could crack the top six at these AIAW nationals. Purdue 86, Texas A&M 68 WEST LAFAYETTE (AP)- Center Russell Cross scored 26 points and guard Keith Edmonson added 22 last night as Purdue pounded Texas A&M 86-68 in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. The Boilermakers, third-place NIT finishers last year, will play Georgia.in the tourney semifinals at New York's Madison Square Garden Monday night. Bradley takes on Oklahoma in the other semifinal, with the two winners meeting Wednesday night for the championship. Purdue, raising its record to 17-13 for the season, squandered a 16-point lead in the first half as the Aggies' Claude Riley led a comeback that closed the gap to seven points early in the filial period. Michigan ..................001 040 Texas-El Paso .............000 000 Wayne and Hair' B. Hathaway. Bartek (5) and Warren. WP-Wayne (1-1) LP-Hathaway (1-2) r h 0 - S 9 0 - 0'3 e 1 1 SCORES College Hockey NCAA Quarter Finals New Hampshire 3, Michigan State 2 Bowling Green 2, Northeastern 2 College Basketball NCAA Tournament Villanova 70, Memphis State 66 Boston College 69, Kansas State 65 NIT Tournament Purdue 86, Texas A& M 68 .4a __________________________________________H THE CONTEMPORARY MIDDLE EAST Muslim and Christian Roles and Relationships (THE ANNUAL THOMAS MERRILL LECTURESHIP) Bishop Kenneth Cragg, PhD, an internationally known English scholar and author, will address the topic of Muslims and Christians in the Middle East in the context of their respective faiths and his- tories, and the modern word's challenges. Dr. Craig has written of "an underlying concern with inter-religious conversations and responsibility in the contemporary world," noting that interfaith relations must involve "great exchanges of giving and receiving." He emphasizes in his writings that this developing interfaith relationship must be involved with the world in which religion itself must be re-discovered, "the world of refugees, of peoples tangled in hostility, of national economies showing ever greater disparity of wealth and poverty and grim inequality." He observes that "there can be no true converse of religions which does not bring its issues of faith and worship into the living sympathies of our common humanity" as we struggle for meaningful and responsible community in the world. He has written that beyond all reading and writing are the occasions of human exchange and community within and across the frontiers of faith. PLACES, TIMES AND TOPICS OF DR. CRAGG'S ADDRESSES IN ANN ARBOR SUNDAY, MARCH 21, The First Presbyterian Church, 7:30 P.M. (1432 Washtenow Avenue) "THIS YEAR IN JERUSALEM- The Contemporary Middle East, Zionism, Christians, Palestine" MONDAY, MARCH 22, The First Presbyterian Church, 9:30 A.M. "CHRISTIANITY AS A WORLD RELIGION" An address on the Church's role in the areas of economics, ethnic, ethical and political dimensions. TUESDAY, MARCH 23, The International Center, 12 Noon (603 E. Madison Street) "MIDDLE EAST: CAN RELIGIONS COOPERATE?" WEDNESDAY, MARACH 24, The Ecumenical Campus Center, 6:30 P.M. (921 Church Street) Supper-Discussion, primarily for faculty THURSDAY, MARCH 25, Rackham Amphitheatre, 7:30 P.M. 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