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Feldman looks forward
to
her
belated senior season
By Lory Knapp
WEEKEND/ALEXANDRA BREZ
Michigan forward Lorea Feldman is the Wolverines' fourth all-
time leading scorer with 1260 points.
Lorea Feldman, a fifth-year senior and starting
forward for the Michigan women's basketball team,
has lived what most athletes would consider a fairy tale
life.
Feldman attended a high school in that basketball-
crazed state of Indiana, where her graduating class was
about the size of a very small lecture class - 75.
"I came from a small town where there was nothing
else to do," said Feldman. "(Basketball) was mainly
entertainment."
Coming from such a small school made Feldman's
accomplishments as a player even larger.
BECAUSE she was named first-team All-State her
senior year, as well as being a runner-up for Indiana's
Miss Basketball (the award given to the state's best
basketball player), Feldman found herself surrounded
by publicity.
"It (publicity) didn't really bother me that much,"
said Feldman. "Its nice to see that people appreciate
what you're doing."
"Sometimes it bothers me when after a game people
say 'You didn't play very well because you didn't get
20 points', but that is not the most important thing to
me.
"If I have 12 points, and we win the game, and I
played well, that is all that matters. "That is what I
don't like about newspapers."
GOOD THINGS continued to happen to Feldman
after graduation. Turning down an offer to play at
Indiana because of a dislike for the coach at the time,
Feldman accepted an athletic scholarship with the
University of Michigan.
"Coming to a big university, I needed someone who
would be a friend to me, not a disciplinarian," said
Feldman. She found that friend in Gloria Soluk,
Michigan's head coach at the time.
Feldman adjusted well at the college level, winning a
starting role in her rookie season. Her sophomore year,
Feldman was second in the nation in free-throw
percentage, shooting 91 percent.
She has received honorable mention All-Big Ten
honors each of the three years she has played for the
Wolverines. Feldman is Michigan's fourth all-time
leading scorer, without having played her senior
season. It looked as if she would move even further up
the ranks during the 1987-88 season.
Disaster struck Feldman's fairy tale life the summer
before her senior season - she was declared
academically ineligible.
Feldman had to take classes both Spring and
Summer terms in order to have enough credits to play
the following season.
SHE FAILED her summer class, however, and
was thus ineligible for her senior season.
"The day before the (final), I got cornea abrasions, I
was blind for four days," said Feldman.'
Feldman had prepared for the make-up test by
writing the essay questions out beforehand and getting
extra help from a tutor. Yet, she received a D in the
class.
"I was shocked, just couldn't believe it," said
Feldman.
For most academic casualties, the ineligibility
merely means sitting out for a season. For Feldman, a
senior, it meant the loss of her scholarship and
watching from the sidelines for the first time in her
life.
"(Not playing) was really hard. All of a sudden
you're not out there - you're not playing," said
Feldman.
NOT PLAYING was the least of Feldman's
worries, as she now had to pay for school. Coming
from an Indiana farming family, this was not easy.
However, through help from her parents, grants and
loans, Feldman was able to remain at Michigan to
continue both her education and her basketball career.
Along with monetary concerns, Feldman suddenly
lacked confidence in herself, not only as a player, but
as a person.
"When you're in the hole, it's so hard to get back
out," said Feldman.
Fortunately for Feldman, there was someone there to
help. Academic advisor for female athletes, Kathy
Beauvais, took Feldman under her wing.
"It wasn't anything to do with my grades, but more
that (Beauvais) gave me the confidence. She said: 'Hey,
you're not really that bad. It happened to you and now
you have to go on,' If it wasn't for her, I probably
would not be here right now."
ALL OF THAT is behind Feldman now. She is
back on scholarship and is looking forward to her final
season as a Wolverine.
It may be difficult at first for Feldman to return to
game situations after such a long lay-off. However,
this has not affected her personal goals for the season.
"One of my goals is to be on the first-team, All-Big
Ten. (However), my main goal is for the team to do
well, that is,the only reason I want to do anything."
Upon the completion of her final season, Feldman
says she will probably move on to another realm of
the basketball world -coaching.
"Lorea understands the game so well, she will make
an excellent coach," said Michigan head coach, Bud
VanDeWege.
After all of the rough times of last season, Feldman
views the incidents positively. "I'm a lot more ready to
play than ever before, and sitting out the season helped
my ankle injury a lot. "Everything happens for a
reason and all that matters is how you come back." 0
Doug in Deep
BY DOUG VOLAN
As the Michigan basketball squad prepares for its
upcoming season, Wolverine fans can't help but wonder
if this will be the year that their team finally advances to
the Final Four.
After all, the Wolverines are ranked No. 1 in the
nation by Inside Sports magazine. And Street & Smith
(No. 3), Sports Illustrated (No. 4), Sporting News (No.
5) and Sport (No.6) aren't far behind.
From past experience, however, Wolverine fans know
in the back of their minds that this can be nothing more
than just a cruel hoax.
For the past three years, the Wolverines have been
ranked near the top of all the preseason polls, yet have
disappeared come tourney time.
In both the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons, Michigan
failed to get past the second round of the NCAA
tournament, losing to Iowa State and North Carolina,
respectively.
THE WOLVERINES also lost to the Tar Heels
last season in the West Regional semifinals.
Each loss was disappointing to Michigan fans,
because on paper, the Wolverines couldn't be beat.
The 1986 Big Ten championship team featured such
players as Roy Tarpley and Gary Grant, both of whom
went on to become first-round draft picks in the NBA.
Tarpley is now a key member of the Dallas
Mavaricks, last year's winner of the NBA's Midwest
division. He was last year's winner of the sixth-man
award for outstanding play off the bench, and plays a
power-game in the NBA that he showed only flashes of
at Michigan.
GRANT PLAYED on the 1987 and 1988
Wolverine teams along with senior Glen Rice, a certain
first-round pick in next year's NBA draft.
Joining them last season were Rumeal Robinson and
Terry Mills, two of the top five high school players in
the country in 1986. Both are likely to be drafted in the
first-round as well.
That's four players the Wolverines had last season
who will probably be in the NBA within the next two
years.
Yet Purdue still managed to win the Big Ten. Only
two of their players, forward Mel McCants and guard
Everette Stephens, have a shot at the NBA.
guarantee for.
And last year's NCAA champ, Kansas, had only one
player, Danny Manning, who could make it in the NBA.
SO WHAT'S THE DEAL HERE?
The problem is too much talent not being able to
mesh together. Often, when there are so many
outstanding athletes on one roster, the players cannot be
comfortable with their roles.
The Boston, Celtics are successful year after year
because they play together - as a team, not as a bunch
of individuals. Each member of the team is comfortable
with his role. Other teams may have more talent, but the
cohesiveness of the Celtics is what usually brings them
out on top.
Last year's Michigan team, however, was filled with
outstanding one-on-one players who could not
successfully blend together their talents.
Grant, for example, was second in the Big Ten in
scoring despite being the team's point guard.
AND THIS YEAR'S TEAM faces the same
problem, with Robinson moving from off guard to point
guard. Although Robinson vows to "keep everybody
happy," he still has a shooter's mentality, which could
lead to the Wolverines' downfall.
In fact, the key to this year's team will be how well
Robinson can make the transition to point guard and fill
in for Grant.
In addition to Robinson, Rice and Mills, Loy Vaught
and Sean Higgins also like to put the ball up.
But according to Robinson, Rice will shoot 75
percent of the team's shots this year. Although
Robinson might have exaggerated this figure, it is clear
that the Wolverines will be looking to Rice when they
come down on the offensive end.
If this is so, there are going to be an awful lot of
unhappy players, including Higgins, who Frieder last
year called Trigger because of his love for shooting.
Rice admits there could be a problem: "We've got the
players who might want to step out and do too many
things at once. With all our talent, there's a chance of
that happening."
Indeed, Frieder's greatest task this season will be to
make sure that doesn't happen.
If Frieder fails, Wolverine fans will once again be
shaking their heads at season's end - wondering what
might have been.
success
Sean Higgins, a deadly three-poi
trigger-happy Wolverines.
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WEEKEND/NOWEMBER 11988W
WEEKEND/NaVEMBER 18, 1988