Page 6-The Michigan Daily- Sports Monday- November 26, 1990 MICHIGAN aJ .'0 I WOLVERINES ............ ::::........ fT:- .f SCHEDULE Opponent _. : { Date Time Back to the drawing board after NCAAs by Rod Loewenthal Daily Basketball Writer _ Ask any coach in the Big Ten about this year's Michigan women's basketball team and you'll see that coach wince. But this isn't the same gesture of pain they would have given last year when asked about an upcoming game with a tenacious and experienced Wolverine squad. This year, coaches around the league are already sending condolence cards to Coach Bud VanDeWege because of what they see as a painful rebuilding year in Ann Arbor. Gone from last year are key players like Tanya Powell, who took the Wolverines into their first ever NCAA tournament. After graduating four out of five starters from last year's team it will be a challenge for Big Ten Coach of the Year VanDeWege to convince his critics and his fans that this season is anything but a rebuilding year for Michigan women's basketball. "We've got good players don't get me wrong, but a lot of them haven't played a lot," VanDeWege said. "Now this is their turn, and it's going to take awhile before they can start playing like veterans. It really is a rebuilding situation." "I think he is going to experience growing pains," Indiana coach Jim Izard said. "I think there's going to be some struggle out there for him." Carol Szczechowski is the only returning Michigan starter and is the person that VanDeWege hopes will provide leadership. The 5-10 guard played in all 30 games last year and finished as the second leading scorer on the season with 289 points. The Wyandotte, Michigan native is confident of her role on the team and sees this season as more than just trying to survive with a young team around her. "When I look at the new people we have starting I don't feel like 'oh no we're not going to do the job'," Szczechowski said. "I feel very comfortable playing with these new people." The point guard joining Szczechowski in the backcourt will be either junior Leah Wooldridge or sophomore Stacie McCall. The Columbus, Ohio native McCall was used sparingly in 13 games last season. Wooldridge was used in an off-the-bench position last year while earning a reputation as a legitimate 3-point scoring threat. After enduring a stress fracture in her leg last season, Wooldridge is looking forward to a pain- free season this year. "When I'm playing I feel one-hundred percent," Wooldridge said. "But when I wake up in the morning I feel some aches and pains." Starting at small forward will be Char Durand. The junior out of Peck, Michigan began the season last year starting the first nine games. VanDeWege will look for the 5-9 guard-forward to light it up from outside and to help carry the ' scoring load. With a season-high l1l points against Michigan State last season, Durand has shown great potential and has enough experience to be a stable factor in the Wolverine frontcourt. The power forward - whom VanDeWege hopes will help fight for rebounds and do the necessary dirty work inside - is 6-0 sophomore Nikki Beaudry. Delivering relief time at the forward position last year, Beaudry will be thrust into a starting role despite playing in only 15 games in her collegiate career. Rounding out this year's preseason starting roster is last year's Big Ten leading shot blocker and receiver of Michigan's Outstanding Freshman Female Athlete Award,'Trish Andrew. The 6-2 center had a .507 field goal percentage last year which helped Vaneher become the team's fifth highest scorer on the season (7.9 ppg). Andrew started eight times last season and was a dominant force in the middle with her strong offensive and defensive play. For Michigan to remain competitive this year Andrew will have to stay healthy and continue to surprise people with her intense style of play. The Wolverines' offense doesn't seem like it will be as much of a concern for VanDeWege - but grabbing boards and fighting for good position against powerful Big Ten opponents will be a problem. "The two things we're going to have to focus on will be our boxing out and our rebounding," Szczechowski said. "I think our defense is going to be the key. I think our offense will produce, so we're really going to have to focus on our defense." VanDeWege feels being that being picked sixth is fair, but wants more. "I hope that we can overachieve... and maybe position ourselves higher..." But the attitude on the team is one of unchecked optimism fueled by a desire to get back to the NCAA tournament. "Everybody here is working to push each other. Everybody is out here to win," first-year player LaTara Jones said. "There's no doubt in my mind that we can make the tournament just like we did last year." Nov. 24-25 Auburn Classic- Dec. l Ohio 3 Bowling Green 6 Central Michigai 8 Youngstown Stat 12 Eastern Michigan 22 Toledo 28 Wisconsin-Milwi Jan. 4 Michigan State 6 LaSalle 11 Northwestern 13 Wisconsin 18 Purdue 20 Illinois 25 Ohio State 27 Indiana Feb. 1 Minnesota 3 Iowa 8 Wisconsin 10 Northwestern 15 Illinois 17 Purdue 22 Indiana 24 Ohio State Mar. 1 Iowa 3 Minnesota 7 Michigan State All home games are in bold face n aukee 1/3 p.m. 1:15 p.m. 7:30 p. 7:30 p.m 5:15 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 11 a.m. 7:30 p.m. 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m 2 p.m. 7:30 p.m. BVD(W) fits UM by Matthew Dodge Daily Basketball Writer Bud VanDeWege is a melting pot of basketball knowledge. He can list more positive influences than a high school valedictorian. It's a wonder how the head coach of the Michigan women's basketball team ever created his own identity on the court that he has loved since birth. Basketball philosophies differ in every corner of America even more than accents and politics. For a brief overview of the various regional hoop styles, one must only ask VanDeWege. The 32-year-old overseer of Michigan's rising women's program grew up on America's new national pastime in places such as Inglewood, New Jersey, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Ann Arbor. The young NBA-hopeful spent his elementary and junior high years under the glamorous spell of Los Angeles. Traces of the wide web spun by the dynasties of the Lakers and the UCLA Bruins can still be detected on VanDeWege. "Los Angeles was so big and spread out. There were obvious lifestyle differences between out in California and out here, we even played some of our school games outside," VanDeWege says. "I grew up with the Lakers back when they had Jerry West, and he was someone that I always looked up to in terms of basketball. Then there were some of the UCLA people; I always liked Bill Walton. And it was pretty hard not to like John Wooden, if you were a coach growing up." The low point of VanDeWege's playing days came during his senior year in high school in St. Louis. His coach insisted upon an offense which scored less points than most sixth grade teams. "It was just a very controlled situation. I felt overall that it was inhibiting at times," VanDeWege said. "I enjoyed it, I just felt I could do more than I was doing. I was not All-State or All-Conference, or anything like that; I was a starter, and a steady player, but not anything that really stood out. But I always felt like I had the potential to." That opportunity arrived when he came to Michigan as an undergrad in 1976. VanDeWege was slated to become the men's basketball manager under head coach Johnny Orr. But a strong showing at a camp during the summer before his first year convinced the Michigan staff that he should shoot the balls instead of collect them. The Wolverine junior varsity coach Dan Fife - whom VanDeWege calls the best coach he ever played for - offered a tryout to the youngster. He not only made the team, but became a co- captain the next season. "He always worked extremely hard," Fife, now the coach at Clarkston High, recalls. "He and the JV kids just had a dream of playing at the U of M. I tried to instill in them to learn something from the experience. You may not play on varsity, but you were a part of the system. "He really wanted to be a part of Michigan basketball. He has since turned it into something beneficial. If I told 100 kids to do something, half would do it for a week, a few would do it for a month, and one would go well beyond. Buddy has gone well beyond." The aspiring coach began his climb at the bottom of the Michigan program, but hard work and good timing allowed him to slowly move up. After four years as a manager, VanDeWege became a graduate assistant in 1980 under new head coach Bill Frieder. The next three seasons he was a part-time assistant - "which everyone fondly recalls as full-time coach and part-time pay" - for the Wolverines. The women's job was vacated, and, at age 26, VanDeWege leapt at the chance. "At the time, I really wanted to be a head coach," VanDeWege said. "I was young, but I still wanted to try. At that age, you think you're ready for anything. I was like, 'Hey, I want to try it. I want to go out on my own; I want to give it a shot."' This chance was a culmination of a lifelong goal. Every move he had made since the age of 17 had been geared toward coaching. Now he had made it - not that anyone was surprised. "He always wanted to be a coach," Bud VanDeWege, Sr., father. of the coach, said. "When he was a Bud VanDeWege celebrates during an early-season game at Crisler Arena last year - his proudest as the Wolverines' head coach. 9 kid, it's what1 do." he always wanted to "When I met him, he was involved in coaching," Kathy VanDeWege, his wife, said. "He always expressed a desire to be in coaching. It would have been a surprise if he had not gone that way." As he enters his seventh season at the helm of the Wolverines, VanDeWege is polishing his coaching style. How does a coach integrate the flashy styles of the West Coast with the slow, methodical half-court game of the Midwest? By using both methods, depending upon his strengths of his players. "Right now, I'm still adjusting to my personnel every year, and getting the most out of them that I can," VanDeWege said. "I'm still at the point in the program where I have to take the best athlete available. If you have to adjust slightly what you do on the court because of that, then you have to adjust." VanDeWege's playbook is beginning to fit into his idea of the perfect X's and O's philosophy. "I regard each possession very highly. I don't like to be careless, and I don't like to force up-tempo. I'll play up- tempo if it's available, and we'll do well with it. In terms of trapping and pressing and full-court all the time, if I feel we can do it on a team, I will. But I'm not going to come out and do it every game. Overall, I'm a half-court coach." Sound familiar? "I happen to like Bobby Knight in terms of what he gets done. I don't care for his attitude, but in watching his teams play, I don't think there's a better coach in the country. I just like to watch his teams play." The 1989-90 Big Ten Coach of the Year is happy with his life. He has a wife, an eighteen-month old daughter, and another child on the way. The Michigan women's program has reached a new plateAu under his leadership. Yet this is almost certainly not the end of the line for VanDeWege. "If what I'm doing right now opens some other doors, I'll always look," he said. "I couldn't tell you, if in 10 years I'll still be coaching-r not. If I were to jump back into the men's programs, I think I'd have to jump back on the ladder as a full- time assistant, and hopefully work my way up. "Right now, I don't know - I might be open to those opportunities. But we have a baby on the way, and you want stability. If I wanted to move, I certainly wouldn't do it now." "I never thought in 1982, that'in 1990 we would still be here, but it's wonderful," Kathy VanDeWege said. "But I have no problem with his moving. If the time comes, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." But the immediate goals for Coach V center around his this season's team. Was the success of last year's team due to the players o the system? Will Carol Szczechowski, the lone returning starter, be left out to dry by four new full-timers? Or will VanDeWege's coaching methods overcome all other deficiencies? "Last year showed that I am good at it," he said. "I feel as though I arrived as a coach. Obviously, ie jury was out before last year, because we hadn't gotten over the* hump. Last year showed that I can do some things." Did he ever. The Wolveriies received their first NCAA bid under VanDeWege's leadership. "The first time I met him;,it seemed like I'd known him for'a long time," Szczechowski said. Anyone who has studied the coaching styles of men such as Wooden, Knight, Orr, and Frieder* could say the same thing upon seeing VanDeWege's teams pfay basketball. And that it not such a bad thing. I~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~i wfpfjff~l~ffflff~~ffllyg~ £!Ff I! fjF~UUW MW7....1JII UU7IUTV!4in n. .................................................. ..............................y: ...............h...{..:....':.'...... .;:...................4. ..r. W. . . ...... ....... .. ..... ...,............ ..... ......i... .. . . .. . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .......... .................... . ........... .............. .................................... ............. 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