Ice Hockey vs. Miami (Ohio) Yost Ice Arena Friday & Saturday, 7:30 p.m. the Michigan Daily BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK Crunch time nears for Ohio StateIndiana Icy Taylor Lincoln WSPORTS Wednesday, February 21, 1990 Men's Volleyball vs. Notre Dame CCRB Friday, 7 p.m. Page 9 FISHER IS GUARD'S GREAT PROVIDER Calip inspired Daily Basketball Writer With five games remaining in most team's schedules, Big Ten coaches are bracing themselves for the annual NCAA crunch.. Purdue, Michigan State, and Michigan - each with over 19 wins - are shoe-ins, while Min- nesota (17-6) and Illinois (18-6) are virtual locks. That leaves Ohio State and In- diana to battle for the last possible slot. Ohio State (7-6, 13-10) has a one-game lead in league wins, but Indiana (6-7, 16-7) has the better overall mark. "We've got to win four or five of our remaining games," Ohio State coach Randy Ayers said. "If we only win three, that will put us on the bubble." The Boilermakers could solidify their conference title chances when they travel to Illinois Thursday. Coach Gene Keady hopes his team will be able to bounce back after the big win against the Hoosiers. "You're probably not going to be in the concentration area that 'you want to be," he said. "We've never been able to beat Indiana and Illinois back-to-back since I've been here." Even with a win Thursday, the Boilermakers will not easily shake Michigan State. The Spartans trail Purdue by only a game and the teams finish their season against each other - in East Lansing. MSU coach Jud Heathcote credits his team's somewhat sur- prising success with the continually improving play of 6'10" redshirt center Mike Peplowski, who has emerged from his chronic knee troubles. "Mike seems to play a little bet- ter and a little longer each game," Heathcote said. "If we're looking to a key to our late-season surge, it could be him. He's a great space- taker." Meanwhile, Michigan still en- tertains, "a ghost of a chance," to win the league in the mind of coach Steve Fisher. But he concedes that the Wolverines will have to win all five remaining games in addition to having some help from other teams. -Purdue center Steve Scheffler was named Big Ten Player of the Week for his play against Wis- consin and Indiana. The senior center averaged 22 points and nine rebounds in the two wins. Fur- thermore, his .787 field goal per- centage is almost certain to break the conference record of Jerry Lu- cas, who shot 68 percent for Ohio State in 1962. Interestingly, Mich- igan's Loy Vaught missed the record by a fraction of percentage point last year. by Mike Gill Daily Basketball Writer Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. - Hebrews 11:1 It is a passage Demetrius Calip can recite at a moment's notice. The words quickly come to mind. For Calip, they are his words to live by - those that push him to continue - even when he feels like salesman Willie Loman, and sees the world closing in on him at all sides. There is another quote Calip closely guards, but this one did not come from an ancient Biblical text. Fisher is the one that is going to come through for you. Those words were said by none other than Calip's mother, who saw a parting of the sea in her son's future, which at the time, Calip never could have envisioned. Bill Frieder's exodus ended the captivity of Calip's life and basketball career at Michigan. - Faith had brought hope. Now, the evidence could be seen. Until Frieder's departure, Calip's existence in Ann Arbor seemed beset with misery. After his first se- mester, Calip found himself without a team or a chance to play when he was declared academically ineligible. Then, midway through his sophomore year, Frieder told him it might not be a bad idea for him to find a different place to play basketball.! It was a time for soul searching. A time to rely on that biblical passage. A time to possibly find a new home. "I try to keep (Hebrews 11:1) in my head when I have hard times," Calip said. "If I just continue to' believe that - even though I don't see things C4a l i p happening, eventually things will work out." Now, the junior finds himself as the starting point guard on the defending National Championship basketball team. Since Calip moved into the starting rotation five games ago, when Sean Higgins went down with an injury, he has led a more control-oriented offense and is averaging 8.2 points per game. "I guess you could probably say it's been like a storybook season for me," Calip said. "I think it will come to a conclusion for me as the starting point guard on a National Championship team. Starting off the season, I was coming in providing a pretty good spark off the bench. Now I'm the starting point guard. What can I say?" What can one say? After Calip's arrival and subsequent academic ineligibility all anyone could say was, "another dumb jock." The label fit as well as Nancy Reagan in one of Barbara Bush's dresses. Calip had graduated from Flint Northern with a 4.0 grade point average, was named in Who's Who Among American High School Students, and held the title of homecoming committee chairman. He figured college would be as easy - then found himself ineligible and CLASSIF ,B 1 from above "frustrated with the world." So Calip worked hard. Hard to improve his game. Hard to improve his grades. Last semester, Calip pulled a 3.4 GPA and called it "disappointing." He wanted a 4.0. His goal this semester has again been set at perfect, with the hope that it will make him an Academic All-American. "I'm not sure (what GPA it takes to get All-American) but I want to get it as high as possible to make sure," Calip says. Recently a professor hailed Calip's playmaking ability on the basketball court in a communication's lecture. "He's also in this class, I understand," the professor continued. "And I hear he's doing a real good job." His on-court performance did not really exist in Calip's vocabulary before Steve Fisher walked into the head coaching position at Michigan. Frieder told the backup guard that he would have a chance to play his sophomore year, a reward for his hard work over the summer. Instead, he sat. Finally, before the start of the Big Ten season last year, Calip asked his coach what he could expect. "Do you see me playing here," he asked. "Well, I really don't see you playing, so you might want to consider going somewhere else," Frieder replied. A heart broke. And Calip looked to transfer immediately to Eastern Michigan. But such a move would leave him without his teammates, without the academic excellence of Michigan, and without elig- ibility for another year. "I don't think God would bring me here to this uni- versity for no reason," Calip said. "If it's no other reason than to get a great degree, then I'll focus on education." And in the meantime he remembered his mother's words: "Fisher is the one that is going to come through for you." Of Frieder's departure Calip said, "I think his move was maybe God letting me know a message - that I had to be patient and be humble." Fisher immediately called on Calip in big situations. In Fisher's first game as coach, as the Wolverines struggled against a pesky Xavier (Ohio) team, Calip had his number called more than ever before. The new coach came through for Calip, just like mom prophesied. And Calip came through for Fisher, scoring a career-high nine points. Throughout the tournament, Calip became a new dimension to the team. This year, he gained recognition for putting Michigan back in the conference race before Sunday's setback against Ohio State. For a person born premature with many birth defects; for a person whose grandmother hated to see him play sports because of asthma; for a person forced to sit out, then advised to leave, one can only say, "not bad." "I thank God for this happening to me and I remember where I came from," Calip said. "I remember that I wasn't even playing that much last year at this time. "So I just thank God." IED ADS! Call 764-0557 HAPPY BIRTHDAY,. UnNE;41 T} lid I Make a : " . !.. .. . -.....; t.. .. .** . .*. / Saeaspto ou aena o IMsPS2:: Systeml2 ." "f .J carepyu~raienoervs It's~ easy tolanadeayt[sanfyur eligible,:'you'll get:up to 40%toff. Wt~ thnk youll fin:i: "an:Fie.t matc TU RN I N C R 1 ID EAS I N TO0 have one spe and important, EA LIT Engineers numerous ,cial week to shine, to show off their contributions to society. Participate in 1990, sponsored in part by UMEC. For MSSPE at 764-8511. National Engineers Week more information, contact Colle e-wide Happy Hour on Friday, February 23, 1990 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Rick's Cafe' . 's: 1