The Michigan Daily-Thursday, September 9, 1982-Page 7-D
Youth Movement
Frosh improve cagers' outlook
By JOHN KERR
On March 7, 1982, it was, mercift
over. The worst Michigan basket
season in 22 years came to an
following the Wolverines' 53-52 los
Notre Dame in the Silverdome. It-
an embarrassing season for a o
proud basketball school. Only six y
earlier Michigan had been in the N(
finals, and just five seasons before
Associated Press ranked
Wolverines number one in the count:
But for a coach whose team comp
a meager 7-20 record last y
Michilgan's Bill Frieder is confic
that he can lead Michigan back to
top even quicker than it came crasl
down. "I think a realistic. goal (for
1982-83 season) is to have a win
season and to get back into a f
season tournament," Frieder said..
NOW, TO THE uneducated obseri
@at may seem to be just an optimi
fantasy of a coach who wants to k
his job. But nothing could be furt
from the, truth, and the reasor
Michigan's recruiting class.
The Wolverines' incoming freshi
clasp, Richard Rellford of Rivi
Beah, Fla., Butch Wade of Bos
Paul Jokisch of Birmingham Brot
Rice, Robert Henderson from Lan:
Easern, and Roy Tarpley from De
Cooley, is thought to be one of the to
Wt 'the top, group of recruits in
coubjtry. The 6-6 Rellford was
sideed one of the best high scl
1982 Bask
G-s FG-FGA
players in the country, while forward one, not even Frieder, has any idea how
lly, Henderson, 6-8, earned All-Americn these recruits will actually perform un-
tball honors as well as being voted the best til they take the floor in Crisler Arena
end senior player in the state of Michigan for the first Michigan practice. But one
is to last season, and Wade, a 6-7 forward, thing that will surely speed up their
was was the number one player in transition from high school to major
nce- Massachusetts during his senior year. college basketball is the fact that
'ears Jokish, a 6-8 forward, earned All-State Frieder expects them to see a lot of
CAA and All-American honors in high school playing time.
the and the 6-10 forward-center Tarpley "I DO EXPECT that some or .all of
the was All-State while grabbing over 20 them are going to contribute im-
ry. rebounds a game. mediately-a couple of them probably
piled But before you order your tickets for will start," he admitted. "But what
ear, the NCAA tournament, consider this: they're really going to give us is the size
dent While Frieder feels the Wolverines will and depth and the competition that we
the show a vast improvement next season so badly need in the front line. We just
Ching and that he has the foundation for a have not had that."
the great team, he knows that it will take at Indeed, the competition for starting
ning least a year for Michigan to really spots between the five freshmen and
ost- become a contender and he cautions seven returnees will most likely be fier-
those who expect otherwise. ce, to say the least. About the only sure
"MY ONLY CONCERN is the expec- starter is Michigan's outstanding
ver, tation from people immediately guard, sophomore Eric Turner. After a
stic because these guys (the freshmen) slow start last season, Turner came on
:eep might not be able to do it overnight," to earn second-team All-Big Ten
ther the Wolverine coach said. "They might honors while averaging 14.7 points and
n is not turn the program around their -4.5 assists per game. Turner was also
freshman year. , the floor leader for the young Michigan
man "However, I feel very strongly that team and scored 28 points in the
era two or three or maybe all of those five Wolverines' 68-58 upset over Iowa. And
ton, incoming freshmen are going to be next season, Frieder expects quite a bit
ther great players as time goes on. So we from the Flint native.
sing will give them a little time to come in "He should be a tremendous player,"
troit and mature, develop, and learn the Frieder said. "He's got to do
p, if system. I think with time they're going everything. He's got to set it up, pass,
the to be the foundation for some future run the offense, and score-he has to do
con- great Michigan basketball teams." it all."
hool However, as with all freshmen, no OTHER PLAYERS FROM last
year's team that are expected to help
the Wolverines include junior guard
Dan Pelekoudas (5.3 points, 3.9 assists
PCT FT-FTA PCT REB-AVG. A STL AVG. per game), 6-7 forward Ike Person (9.8
.475 72-113 ,637 57-2.1 120 38 14.7 points, 6.5 rebounds a game), 6-7 for-
.474 74-102 .725 180-6.7 58 39 14.0 ward Dean Hopson (4.8 ppg), guard
.504 38-53 .717 176-6.5 33 t5 9.8 Leslie Rockymore (7.5 ppg), 6-8 for-
.437 29-38 .763 77-2.9 17 6 7.5 ward Leo Brown (0.3 .p) and two big
.467 32-41 .780 37.-1.4 105 28 5.3 wppgag
.505 19-46 .413 93-3.4 20 8 4.8 men, 7-foot Jon Antonides and Tim Mc-
.408 8-18 .444 53-2.0 3 2 3.3 Cormick, who were out all last year
.750 0-0 - 1-0.1 1 2 0.6 with injuries.
.400 0-0 - 3-0.3 0 0 0.4
.500 0~ .000 4.0.3 0 0 0.3 However, McCormick is still a
.442 8-11 .727 19-1.9 5 3 5.4 question mark. The 6-11 junior from
89 Clarkston was red-shirted last season
.471 280-423 .662 789-29.2* 362 141 61.9 as he was recuperating from two knee
.503 365-546 ,.668. 874-32.4* 183 128 67.0 operations. It was expected that he
4 would be at full strength and ready to
3, Hopson 3, Carter 2, Pelekoudas I. Hall 1. Brown 1. play this season, but Frieder still has
doubts.
ral (0-2); Big Ten (6-12) "I'll be honest-I don't know if he'll
n 1981-82. play again or not because it concerns
me that he's not ready and playing 100
percent now because he's been off
basketball for 15 months," Frieder
said. "I'll guess we're going to just
have to wait and see."
TWO OTHER RETURNING players
have good shots at a starting position.
Pelekoudas, who started 23'games last
year, is "going to play" according to
Frieder, but needs to improve his
shooting, while Person, who started all
27 games last season, has a good shot at
a starting position if he can keep him-
self in shape over the summer. Person
played the center position last season
but will be a forward this year.
Antonides, who has fully recovered
from the groin injury that caused him
to miss last year, probably won't start
but "is going to contribute," according
to Frieder. Rockymore, Brown, and
Hopson will most likely come in off the
bench.
Michigan will be a fairly big, young,
and inexperienced team next season
and the Wolverines will almost
definitely improve markedly on their 7-
20 mark of last year.
And if Frieder has his way, next year,
the Michigan basketball season won't
end in the first week of March. It will
continue until the Wolverines are
eliminated from a post-season tour-
nament.
Big Ten Standings
Minnesota........
Iowa ..............
Ohio State........
indiana .........
purdue .............
Illinois .............
michigan State,....
MICHIGAN........
Northwestern.....
Wisconsin ..........
Conf.
W I
14 4
12 6
12 6
12 6
11 7
10 8
6 12
6 12
4 14
3 15
Overall
W L
22 5
20 7
21 9
18 9
14 13
17 11
11 17
7 19
8 19
6 20
Daily Photo by BRIAN MASCK
Tur'ner ................
GARNER .............
Peibn ..............
R6e&ymore ..........
Pelekoudes ............
opson ............
arIr .................
'Rud ..............
Ball s ...............
Brown.............
Others............
Team...............
27-27 163-343
27-27 152-321
27-27 113-224
27-9. 87-199
27.23 56-120
27-16 55-109
27-2 40-98
10-0 3-4
10-0 2-5
140 2-4
10-4 23-52 N
MICHIGAN'S IKE Person (above)
goes up for an easy two against
Ohio State last year. Eric Turner
MICIVGAN............ 27 696-1479
OPPONENTS.......... 27 722-1435
*lncludes Team Rebounds
DeadIball Rebounds: Michigan 73; Opponents 8
Blocked Shots: Person 18, GARNER 9, Tzurner3
Totals: Michigan 38, Opponents 56.
Recod: (7-20): Home (5-8), Away (2-10). Neutr
ALL CAPITALS denote players not returning i
(left) uses his
drive around
Wisconsin.
blazing quickness to
his opponent from
~1
If women hoopsters are to -contend for
conference title, Dietz must be replaced
By LARRY MISHKIN
There's a good chance that the glory days of Big
Ten basketball will return to Crisler Arena this year
with a conference title and an NCAA bid a real
possibility.
The team that will be in contention for these honors
is the women's basketball team, who, led by coach
Gloria Soluk, is coming off its best season ever, 17-9,
and could improve even more this season.
LAST SEASON SAW the Wolverines become one of
the most improved teams in the conference. A team
that had come under constant criticism for the past
few years, became a contender and despite an early
exit from the Big Ten tournament, the Wolverines
served notice to the rest of the league that they are an
up and coming team and will be legitimate conferen-
ce power instead of the conference doormat; a role
that they had assumed for so long.
Despite last year's success, though, there are some
who feel that the women will have to prove them-
selves again this year because of the graduation of
all-time leading scorer Diane Dietz who has been the
catalyst of the team for the last four years. In con-
tributing to Michigan's success last year, Dietz had
an outstanding season in which. she led the team in
scoring for the fourth straight year, became the all-
time leading scorer in the team's history, and
became only the third player in Michigan history to
reach the 2,000 point plateau, placing her third on
Michigan's all-time scoring list behind male cagers
Mike McGee and Cazzie Russell.
WHAT WILL THE loss of Dietz mean to the team?
"Diane had a phenomenal year," said Soluk. "It is
very hard to determine what losing her will mean. I'll
know after the opening game. Diane was a great
game player, a heady kid. It will depend on how well
the freshmen fare. I'm very positive, though, because
we're bringing back four nucleus players from last
year's team."
The players referred to by Soluk are Peg Harte,
Lori Gnatkowski, Terri Soullier and Connie Doutt. Of
the four, Harte will be the one who will be expected to
fill Dietz's shoes. All Harte did last year, as a fresh-
man, was break the Michigan record for points
scored by a freshman (552) and battle Dietz for the
team scoring title, losing out by .4 points, 21.6-21.2.
"PEG WILL LEARN finesse," said Soluk, "and
that will make her a double threat. The kids will look
to Peg more because Diane is gone."
Complementing the returning starters will be a fine
group of incoming freshmen who will provide the
Wolverines with the height that they lacked last year.
The group includes Connie Tudor (6-3) from
Washington Courthouse, Ohio, Amy Rembise (6-1112)
from Walled Lake, Sandy Svobda (6
11/2) from Center High, Wendy Bradetich (6-0) from
Eugene, Ore., Carolyn Henry (6-0) from Battle Creek
and Orethia Lilly (5-8) from Cleveland, Ohio.
"My main thrust was for big kids," said Soluk who
will need a replacement for 6-4 center Patrice
Donovan. "Any of the big kids will have a tremendous
opportunity to play right away. Orethia could also
play right away but nothing is guaranteed. Everyone
has to earn a starting position."
WITH THIS ADDED height, the Wolverines will
change their strategies a bit on both offense and
defense.
"All of our big kids are tough," said Soluk. "We
won't block as many shots, but we'll work on keeping
the other kid out. We'll be strong and big and we'll be
going with strength to keep them from getting the
ball."
Michigan's problems on offense last year stemmed
from the Wolverines' inability to get the ball inside,
resulting in too many shots from the outside.
"We couldn't go inside," said Soluk. "We were
shooting 20 footers and not getting good shot selec-
tion. Our game plan was to shoot twice as many shots
as our opponents. This year the emphasis will be on
getting the ball inside and continuing to run our fast
break."
Daily Photo by JEFF SCHRIER
IICHIGAN'S PEG Harte finds herself double-teamed in a game against
orthwesterp. Harte averaged 21.2 points as a freshman last year. With the
graduation of all-time leading scorer Diane Dietz, the team will now look to
Harte even more, according to head coach Gloria Soluk.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... . . . . . ...... . . .
Michigan
a synchro
i swimmers
By RICHARD DEMAK
One of the finest Michigan synchronized
swim teams in history concluded its season
with a third-place finish at the AIAW National
meet in Columbus. Ignoring an administrative
miracle, it was the last Michigan varsity syn-
chronized swim meet ever.
As a result of disputes between the AIAW and
the NCAA, the Wolverine synchronized swim-
mers lost their varsity status after eight years
of varsity competition. The complicated
situation is briefly this: synchronized swim-
Michigan's total of 77.5 points placed it 20.5
back of national champion Ohio State and 15.5
behind Arizona, and well ahead of fourth-place
Millersville State's total of 47.
Three Wolverines were named All-
American-Betsy Neira, Cathy O'Brien, and
Erin O'Shaughnessy-on this team, which may
be the best Blue squad ever. "We have a very
talented team, probably the best we've ever
had and they're improving," said Coach Joyce
Lindeman.
Yet even this past year's outstanding
petition. Lindeman said, "If our 'B' team can
take third, we'll tie. I expect our 'A' team to
take second." The team event results: Ohio
State "A," first; Michigan "A," second; and
Ohio State "B," third. Michigan "B" finished
fourth.
While the Wolverines could never dethrone
the Buckeyes, the Michigan performance at the
Nationals in Columbus was impressive, buoyed
by the three All-American performers: Neira,
O'Brien, and O'Shaughnessy, who placed third
in the trio with a score of 57.0. The duet of Neira
Sandy Dale.
THIS YEAR'S TEAM promised to improve
upon even last season's commendable perfor-
mance, as none of the swimmers have
graduated. It was also hoped that freshmen
recruits could contribute to this year's team.
Coach Mary Jo Ruggieri of Ohio State: "Not
only will Michigan not be able to add any
scholarships, but it will put a much greater
demand on Coach Lindeman's time. She won't
have as much time available to work with the
team. Also, the team will only be able to go to
L