Volleyball
vs. Michigan State
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Keen Arena
SPORTS
Wednesday, November 14, 1990
Men's Basketball
vs. Latvian National Team
Tonight, 7:30 p.m.
Palace of Auburn Hills
The Michigan Daily
Page 9
- -r
Eric
Lemont
Le B on t ..... ....
'M'hopes to avoid
Xmas in Opryland
After suffering through more "ifs" and "thens" than an Introduction to
Logic class, Michigan's bowl picture has finally reached a conclusion.
If Michigan wins its two remaining games, then it will play in the
Gator Bowl. If it loses to Ohio State, then it will play in the Liberty
Bowl.
In Memphis.
Two days after Christmas.
Against either Army or Air Force.
How did the Wolverines wind up in a position to possibly be downing
egg nog with Conway Twitty and Louise Mandrell?
The answer runs deeper than Michigan's won-loss record.
Remember Pearl? Remember Chillingsworth? Well, now there is a
new Hester Prynne, a new Scarlet "A" - and its name is Arizona.
Nobody will come within radar distance of its state lines since its vot-
ers decided last Tuesday not to honor a holiday in remembrance of Martin
Luther King, Jr.
The voters' decision set off a chain reaction where Virginia, which was
set to play Tempe's Sunkist Fiesta Bowl, jumped to the USF&G Sugar
Bowl and a nervous Mobil Cotton Bowl grabbed Miami.
With all the other major bowls already locked up, Michigan might end
up somewhere in the Blue Ridge mountains.
In Memphis.
Two days after Christmas.
With streams of people mistaking Elvis (Willoughby Hills, Ohio) for
Elvis (your local K-mart).
But Michigan's slide into a less-than-stellar bowl is not purely the re-
sult of last Tuesday's vote. Michigan could still have ended up playing in
the Fiesta - a bowl which has hosted the "mythical" national champi-
onship game two of the last four years - if not for Big Ten protocol.
The protocol calls for no Big Ten team to compete in a bowl game
which conflicts with the Rose Bowl. Since the Fiesta and Rose are both
late-afternoon New Year's Day games, a conflict arises.
The question is, should the Big Ten's second and third-place teams be
forced to play in a lesser bowl in order to give all the spotlight to the
Rose Bowl matchup?
"I'd like to play in the Fiesta Bowl, but at the same time I can under-
stand the reasoning and am willing to go along with it," Michigan coach
4 Gary Moeller said.
Maybe, in theory, the Rose Bowl should have no competition for
viewership.
But, then again, maybe we're kidding ourselves if we think that the
Rose Bowl deserves a special time slot all to itself.
Maybe the Grandaddy of Them All is starting to wheeze.
With a probable match-up this year of Iowa versus Washington, it is a
safe bet that the burgeoning metropolises of the country won't suffer from
blackouts caused by millions of TV sets tuned in to the game out in
Pasadena.
If the bowl system is a true free "meet" market with bowl reps court-
I ing teams and teams coyly choosing the most attractive offer, why should
Big Ten teams such as Michigan be faced with the possibility of settling
for a less appealing bowl?
In Memphis.
Right after final exams.
With the result of the game being posted somewhere between Calvin
and Hobbes and Liz Smith's gossip column?
Of course, Moeller says he doesn't care where his team winds up.
"Whatever bowl we go to, we're going to be excited about," he said.
Let's Go Blue.
Blue seeks victory over
injury-ridden Spartans
by Matthew Dodge
Daily Sports Writer placing stellar blocker Chris White
WEBBER, JACKSON TOP COACH'S WISH LIST
Fisher aims for top class in nation
2
by Jeff Sheran
Daily Basketball Writer
Steve Fisher has already answered
several questions about his recruiting
abilities, but today he hopes to an-
swer several more.
Today is the
first day of the
early signing pe-
riod for basketball
recruits. But
Fisher already
landed two recruits
in as many weeks,
giving him a
strong class regard-
less of what tran-Ae b ber
spires tomorrow. Y Y
6-foot-9 forward Juwan Howard
(Chicago) and 6-foot-4 guard Jimmy
King (Plano, Texas) have already
made verbal commitments to play at
Michigan. The Chicago Sun-Times
printed today that the acquisition of
Howard and King alone gives Fisher
the No. 5 recruiting class in the
country.
Fisher can improve that ranking
by landing 6-foot-10 forward Chris
Webber (Birmingham, Mich.).
Scouts consider Webber among the
top two prospects in the nation, and
Michigan is among his final
choices.
The state of Michigan has been
speculating about Webber's decision
since he averaged 24 points, 13 re-
bounds, and four blocks per game for
Detroit Country Day High School.
Rumors listed Michigan State as
leading in the Webber race, but
Michigan and Minnesota have since
emerged as equally viable possibili-
ties.
Webber has visited Michigan,
Michigan State and Minnesota,
while also considering (but not visit-
ing) Kentucky and Duke. The con-
sensus is that if Webber commits
today, he will select Michigan or
Michigan State.
Webber had maintained earlier
that he would not commit until
April, but the blue-chipper has re-
portedly become anxious to end the
onslaught of attention.
"Chris is fed up with recruiting,"
Kurt Keener, Webber's coach at
Country Day, said. "He gave the in-
dication that he may sign early, but I
believe he'll wait until spring."
If Webber does hold off on decid-
ing, it could be because he wants to
take a closer look at Kentucky and
Duke, whom he is scheduled to visit
next semester. Keener cited that no
press conference is planned for today,
but many feel that Webber will
commit today nonetheless.
Another highly regarded prospect
to include the Wolverines in his fi-
nal decision is 6-foot-5 guard Ray
Jackson (Austin Texas). Jackson
has narrowed his choices to Michi-
gan or Georgetown, and while he is
only ranked 94th among nationwide
recruits, his ability to play either the
point or shooting guard position
makes him especially attractive.
King and first-year Wolverine
Rich McIver both hail from the
Lone Star State, indicating that
Fisher has strong recruiting ties in
Texas.
In addition, if Jackson selects
Michigan today, Fisher will offer
him one of probably four available
scholarships. Howard, King, Jackson
and possibly Webber would occupy
the existing openings, and Fisher
would save any other available
scholarships for the spring signing
period.
Two other recruits whom Fisher
has courted, and who will most
likely wait until April to commit,
are Detroit Southwestern's Jalen
Rose and Voshon Lenard. Lenard
is a 6-foot-4 guard whom scouts re-
gard highly, but whose talents have
already been acquired in King and
possibly Jackson. Were he to favor
Michigan under the aforementioned
conditions, it would be interesting to
see if Fisher could offer him a schol-
arship.
However, Michigan would de-
light in signing Rose. The 6-foot-7
swingman merits a top ten national
ranking, averaging 18 points, 9 re-
bounds and 4 assists per game last
season. Rose has listed many
schools as possibilities, but Syra-
cuse and Michigan are the frontrun-
ners.
In addition, speculation has per-
sisted that Fisher will offer his va-
cant assistant coaching position to
Perry Watson, who coaches Rose
and Lenard at Southwestern. If the
job does go to Watson, it will not
be until March, which allows Rose
and Lenard to consider Michigan fur-
ther if they sign in April, as is ex-
pected.
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Center Eric Riley and his Wolverine teammates tipoff the new season
tomorrow night with an exhibition against the Latvian National Team.
Cagers face Latvian nationals at Palace
by Phil Green Big Ten. "We're hoping that the big guys son's done," he said. "When we play
Daily Basketball Writer Bige
Ac~1111h~ ,gm h,.~,eyr'm ,r~~ ,,~~n g-~ii~~rh~?Mihian CMU,. we're going to Dlay the best
A
V
The end is near for the Michigan
and Michigan State volleyball
teams, and not a moment too soon.
The two squads hover together at the
bottom of the Big Ten standings as
they face off tonight at 7:30 p.m. at
Keen Arena.
The Wolverines (5-22 overall, 1-
14 in the Big Ten) hope to salvage
at least one victory in the last 10
days of the season. If its victory over
vaunted Illinois two weeks ago was'
a dramatic final chapter to Michi-
gan 's season, then the final four
*~ games - beginning with State -
may prove to be a disappointing epi-
logue.
"It is not unusual for a team to
beat a big team and then lose a lot
after that," Michigan State head
coach Ginger Mayson said.
The Spartans (8-21, 4-11) walk
into Ann Arbor for tonight's match
knowing they will face a Michigan
team with virtually no confidence.
The opposite is true for Michigan
State - which mysteriously acts as
if it's flying high, despite its poor
icord.
"We are confident we can beat
Michigan down there," Mayson said.
Typical coach's rhetoric followed
as Mayson backtracked into a less
offensive stance: "But by no means
do we think it will be an easy
match."
The weakest of all links for the
at the forefront of the defense. Word
of the Wolverine difficulties and
remedies have filtered down to the
Spartans.
"We're familiar with some of the
things going on," Mayson said. "We
can just tell they are having prob-
lems from the stats that we get."
Mayson respects the skills of
White - who stood out in the
Wolverines' loss to the Spartans in
East Lansing in October - but
knows that one player cannot cover
for an entire team.
"She did a good job for them be-
fore," Mayson said. "We do expect
her to do good things. But we think
we can get around her again."
Injured players have rapidly been
populating the Michigan State
bench. The most notable loss is that
of All-Big Ten hitter Becky Be-
langer, who has been in a cast for
several weeks. Her status is ques-
tionable for the Michigan match.
Two other starters are also currently
hurt.
In the spirit of glasnost and per-
estroika, the Michigan men's bas-
ketball team opens its season versus
the Latvian National Team tonight
at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tonight's exhibition game
should provide ample opportunity
for the Wolverines to unveil their
new up-tempo style. After using it
only in practice for the last month,
Michigan should be primed for some
outside competition. The three-guard
offense has not been tested yet, and
the Latvian team could provide a
gauge for its potential success in the
the season, the Wolverines will be at
a size disadvantage. In most cases,
the smaller team will be the quicker
team; therefore, the game should be
a prime test for the new offense.
Michigan's big men will also be
tested for the first time. The only
two legitmate centers, redshirt
sophomore Eric Riley and junior
transfer Chip Armer, have only
sparred with each other. Neither of
them have ever gotten much game
experience against world class talent,
but 6-foot-10 Andrejs Bondarenko
and Janis Laksa will fix that.
wime aimig qu c~y, ivwga
coach Steve Fisher said earlier in the
preseason, and tonight's game
should help them accomplish that.
The game will allow Michigan to
tinker with its lineup before the sea-
son opener against Central Michigan
in two weeks. While Fisher admits
that the Wolverines' starters may not
be set for some time, he expects the
team to be fully ready by opening
day.
"We'll probably have eight differ-
ent starting lineups before the sea-
people we've got. We're not going
to experiment. I don't care if we win
or lose the exhibition games."
A full court press is one experi-
ment that could be seen tonight.
During the season, Fisher plans on-
occasionally employing it with the
three-guard lineup.
Michigan's inexperience could be
exploited tonight. While Calip is the
Wolverines' lone senior, the Latvian
team ranges in age from 20-38. They
have played all over the world, while
most of Michigan's players haven't
even played all over the state.
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"(Michigan) may have an advan-
tage in that they already know what
their lineup will be," May son said.
"Our only advantage is that they
don't know who'll be on the court
for us.
"We've had three players injured
since we played them last time. We
are scrambling to find a good lineup,
nA i think we.,'ve done.it IlBut it
STUDY IN ISRAEL
Zoe Olefsky, Midwest Representative of
the HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF
JERUSALEM
will answer your questions on:
DATE: Thursday, November 15,1990
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