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Page 4 - The Michigan Uaily - -hursaoy, ;>ep
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Blue faster, set to exceed speed limit
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By BARB McQUADE
;The road to the Final Four crashed
abruptly for the Michigan basketball
team in 1985-86 with a squad of finely
ttZned Mack trucks. This season the
Wolverines will attempt to cruise with
speedy compacts.
done are four players who were in-
sttumental in making Michigan's
basketball program one of the top in
tfie country. Big men Roy Tarpley,
Richard Rellford, Butch Wade, and
Robert Henderson led the Wolverines
to two Big Ten titles, an NIT Cham-
pionship, and 91-33 record over the
last four years; 53-10 over the last
two. Not bad for a program that went
7-20 in the 1981-82, the year before they
arrived.
"WE'RE going to miss them," said
Michigan head coach Bill Frieder.
"They're great players. They did so
much for the program."
The Wolverines' reputation as big
and experienced will be supplanted by
youth and quickness. Expected to join
veteran starters Antoine Joubert and
Gary Grant is a talented trio of
freshmen, including two of the
nation's top prospects, Terry Mills
and Rumeal Robinson.
Mills, a 6-10 forward, averagd 27
points, 13 rebounds, and seven
blocked shots a game while leading
Romulus High School to the Class A
State Championship his senior year.
"HE'S A good all-around player,"
Frieder said. "He's a good shooter,
but he needs to be a better rebounder.
Like all freshmen, he'll have a lot to
learn."
His lessons will most likely be on-
the-job training. Some question
whether the 207-pound small forward
can pound with the best of the Big Ten
or even the worst. The jump from high
school to college basketball is a big
one, but Mills' talent can be his pogo
stick.
"He reminds me of (Kansas for-
ward) Danny Manning," Robinson
said. "He's 6-10 and he can step all
around the wing and he can also play
down low."
ROBINSON, generously listed as 6-2
is a quick, aggressive guard who is a
demon at driving and dishing off. The
Cambridge, Mass. native averaged 18
points, 10 rebounds, and 12 assists a
.game for Rindge-Latin High School
last season.
"He's a good athlete," said Frieder,
who is in his seventh year as head
coach at Michigan. "I like the fact
that he's a good defensive player."
Frieder has good reason to worry
about the defense of his team. Despite
suiting up one of the league's best
pickpockets in Grant, defense could
be a sore sport. Without the size up
front, Michigan will have to rely on
quickness.
"I'M CONCERNED about the
defense and the young front line,"
Frieder admitted. "We definitely
want to press and run a lot."
The biggest question mark is at cen-
ter, where second-team All-American
Tarpley was a dominant force in
the Big Ten. Backup center Hender-
son was Michigan's Mr. Basketball in
1982 and could have started for most
other teams. In fact, he did start for
the Wolverines at forward his fresh-
-man year. Their graduation leaves a
big gap for. Frieder to fill:
"I can't tell you (who will play cen-
ter)," Frieder said. "I really don't
know. We may use (the
sophomores) or we may use three
guards. It really depends on how the
kids come along."
THE SOPHOMORE most likely to
step in is Mark Hughes. The 6-8, 225
Muskegon native got limited playing
time last season. Hughes shot 50 per-
cent, averaging 2.2 points and six
minutes in the 13 games he played.
Junior Steve Stoyko is also waiting in
the wings, along with sophomores
Mike Griffin, J.P. Osterbaan, and Loy
Vaught. The three were red-shirted as
freshmen.
The other forward position ap-
parently belongs to Glen Rice. The;
soft-spoken sophomore averaged 16
minutes a game last year and ap-
peared in all but one regular-season
contest. Rice recorded seven points
and three rebounds per game.
With a youthful lineup, Michigan
may not expect to match the success
of recent Wolverine squads. Last
year, Frider's team went 26-7, star-
ting the season ranked second in the
national polls. It bounced around the
top 20 throughout the season.
BUT THE NCAA tournament was
not kind to the Wolverines, handing
Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Senior Antoine Joubert will lead a young group of Wolverines this winter. The 6-5 guard is a four-year starter,
and will probably be the only senior starter as well.
them the same early exit they took the
year before. Michigan was eliminated
in the second round in Minneapolis by
Iowa State, 72-69. Tarpley scored 25
but couldn't get the support he
needed. Grant's one-of-nine shooting
inspired the comment, "Me and the
NCAA just don't get along."
Michigan found experience doesn't
guarantee a winner.
"Without experience, we'll strictly
be a rebuilding club - especially in
the front line," Frieder said. "But
that doesn't mean we can't be com-
petitive."
Speedy compacts are efficient in the
long haul.
Big Ten
Standings
Conf. Overall
W L W L
X-MICHIGAN..........14 4 28 5
Indiana ................. 13 5 21 8
Michigan State.........12 6 23 8
Purdue ................. 11 7 22 10
Illinois .................. 11 7 22 10
Iowa .................... 10 8 20 12
Ohio State .............. 8 10 18 14
Minnesota .............. 5 13 15 16
Wisconsin .............. 4 14 12 16
Northwestern ........... 2 16 8 26
x-conference champion
"P
Frieder
I
Daily Photo by DAN HABIB
Glen Rice slams down two against Tennessee last season. The sophomore
forward averaged seven points a game as a freshman.
COMPLIMENT YOUR TASTE
e AND JUDGEMENT. WEAR
A ROLEX.
For the man with a commitment to quality in
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Rolex. Elegant and impregnable in gold or
surgical stainless steel, a Rolex Chronometer
proclaims your good taste. Like all Rolex
Oyster Perpetuals, this 30-jewel date
chronometer is self-winding, and is also
guaranteed pressure-proofdown to 165 feet.
9
If
Freshman Terry Mills was expected to immediately contribute on the
court, but his only contribution for Michigan will be cheering from the'
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