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. Check out Tipoff '90-91 this WEEKEND Health Care Clinic of Ann Arbor 3012 Packard " 971-1970 lkkentock * aget! -Service that brings you to your feet" Sandals, clogs, & shoeso al-et rc mor f R air Service6&3-1644 209 N.4th Ave. (By Kerrytown) Mon Sat 10-6 We're new 1 "(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 Ir . nn Q'nn ,,, V" adopting .G. ,r m --.. r 4 r 1r family members! We offer a variety of positions, FULL AND PARTTIME. WAITRESSES/WAITERS CASHIERS