What was the last year in
which the U.S. Olympic
ice hockey team finished
with an unblemished
record in the preliminary
round?
(For the answer, turn to page 2)
'M' Sports Calendar
AP Top 25
Athlete of the Week
Q&A
Sheran My Thoughts
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The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday
February 17, 1992
Spartans experience wins at the end
SF U LL COURT o
PRESS
Michigan falls hard;
coidda- been contender
by Matthew Dodge
Daily Basketball Writer
The Spartan basketball team looks like an aging heavyweight boxing
champion. Well, at least Mike Peplowski and coach Jud Heathcote do.
The greatest fear of any athlete is to see his career come to an abrupt end.
As Michigan State entered the ring Saturday against the young, spry chal-
lengers in Ann Arbor, it saw a bleak future. The entire Wolverine starting
lineup is young enough to date Heathcote's granddaughters - the five
rookies will be playing in this rivalry for years to come. The current junior-
and senior-dominated Spartans will not.
"If we had lost this game and the one at home," Heathcote said, "I'd
have wondered if we'd ever beat Michigan while these kids are here."
Matt Steigenga and Mark Montgomery will graduate in June. Peplowski
will be gone after next season. Would Webber, Rose, King, Jackson, and
Howard ever lose to the Spartans?
"I would have felt bad for the guys, and for Michigan State next year,"
Steigenga said. "I wouldn't want to put added pressure on the young guys.
Mark (Montgomery) and I talked about it all week. We've thought about it
since last time when we lost."
That 89-79 loss in January hurt the Spartans. Michigan walked into the
Breslin Center and dropped the cocky hosts on the canvas with an overtime
knockout punch. The loss instilled fear and a sense of urgency within the
Michigan State camp.
It wanted desperately to return the favor upon their second meeting last
night.
Michigan's Chris Webber remarked last week that Michigan State
wanted too badly to win the rematch.
"They've been talking about playing us ever since the last time," Webber
said. "Even when they played other teams, they talked about Michigan. You
can't put all your eggs in one basket, where beating one team makes your
whole season. Then your priorities are messed up.
"I hate to get into those mind games. I know Mike (Peplowski) has been
putting on war paint and isn't shaving. They take this game very seriously. I
know they think they have to win this game. They are focused."
More like scared.
See SPARTANS, Page 4
PoisedMSU
prevails, 70-59
by Jeni Durst
Daily Basketball Writer
In its first game against Michigan State this year,
Michigan trailed the Spartans in the second half but
was able to steal an overtime victory. Saturday night,
the experienced Spartans used all their moxy to secure
the victory.
The contest - a 70-59 Michigan State victory -
turned into a big time confrontation in the waning sec-
onds when Wolverine Juwan Howard committed an in-
tentional foul against Spartan guard Mark
Montgomery.
With 12 seconds remaining, the first-year center
gave Montgomery a hard push at center court which set
off a chain reaction. The foul angered state guard Shawn
Respert, who came after Howard.
"Juwan hit (Montgomery) hard - harder than
you're supposed to in that situation," Michigan State
coach Jud Heathcote said. "In the heat of battle, a cou-
ple of our guys got out of hand and a couple of their
guys got out of hand. I think both teams are lucky no
one got suspended."
During the skirmish, several Michigan fans threw
their complimentary rattle pompons at the players on
the court. Both Respert and Howard received technical
fouls, while Howard was also charged with the inten-
tional foul, his fifth.
"We wanted to double to try to get the ball on the
inbounds and if that didn't work, to foul the first guy
with the ball," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said.
"Frustration just started to set in with Juwan."
That frustration seemed to plague all the
Wolverines in the second half. After controlling a
great part of the first stanza with an up tempo game
which gave the Wolverines a 13-point lead, the
Wolverines lost the upper hand in the second. State
started to deny Michigan the fast break by implement-
ing a quicker transition defense.
"Our intensity didn't really die down, we just did-
n't get in sync during the second half," Michigan senior
captain Freddie Hunter said. "We couldn't get the
movement we had in the first. A lot of it was that we
See CAGERS, Page 4
MSU's center Mike Peplowski fights through the double-team effort of Freddie Hunter and
Juwan Howard on his way to the basket. Peplowski scored 18 in the Spartans' 70-59 victory.
F| |mlm-11 Icers sweep Miami, 8-4, 10-5
by Josh Dubow
Daily Hockey Writer
The good news for Michigan
hockey coach Red Berenson was he
found the balanced scoring he was
looking for this weekend against
Miami. The bad news was the
Wolverines still have not reached
the level they had hoped to be at by
this time.
"I thought we played a lot
better (Saturday)," Berenson said.
"We had to come back after a poor
performance. I felt guilty about last
night. Not guilty about winning,
but the way we won."
Ten of the 18 Wolverine skaters
notched goals and 15 of the 18
scored points in Michigan's 8-4, 10-
5 sweep of Miami (9-13-4 CCHA,
12-14-4 overall). The bulk of the
scoring for Michigan (16-6-3, 21-6-
3) came from the reunited top line
of Brian Wiseman, Denny Felsner
and David Oliver which tallied nine
goals and 11 assists.
"We seemed to work well this
weekend," Wiseman said. "It's hard
not to, playing with the best player
in college hockey in Denny. Me and
Ollie have been together for a year
and a half so we know each other."
With the Wolverines seemingly
in control Saturday, leading 6-2
after two periods, Berenson replaced
goaltender Steve Shields with Chris
Gordon.
After Cam Stewart redirected a
David Roberts pass to put the
Wolverines up five, the Redskins
came back with a vengeance. Enrico
Blasi fed Chris Bergeron who beat
Gordon through the five hole at the
2:06 mark. One minute later, Brian
Savage brought the puck from be-
hind the net, stopped and beat
Gordon high to the glove side.
Savage completed the run three
minutes later with a power play
goal. Berenson responded with a
timeout and sent Shields back be-
tween the pipes.
"It was a tough situation for
Gordon, but we wanted to give him
an edge," Berenson said.
"Sometimes when you change
See ICERS, Page 5
Michigan right wing Ted Kramer fires the first of his two goals past Miami netminder Mark Michaud. The two
tallies gave Kramer a total of 14 for the season.
Demolition Derby for Blue
swimmers in Indianapolis
Kin
by John Niyo
Daily Basketball Writer
of
the
by Rich Mitvalsky
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - There are
simply no words to properly describe
the absolute thrashing which the
Michigan women's swimming team
delivered to the entire conference at
the Big Ten Championships this
weekend.
Led by a host of conference
champions and record setters, the
Wolverines outdistanced runner-up
Northwestern 887-463. Michigan
swam to an unprecedented sixth
consecutive conference title in the,
most lopsided victory in conference
history.
Friday, Michigan picked up ex-
actly where it had left off the day be-
fore, leading 245-167 over
Minnesota. In the evening's opening
event, Michigan's second-seeded
200-yard medley relay team of
Alecia Humphrey, Lara Hooiveld,
Mindy Gehrs, and senior co-captain
seven seconds from her preliminary
time. She finished first in 4:15.79,
and claimed her second conference
title and meet record of the evening.
Wolverine senior Lisa Anderson fin-
ished tied for fourth in 4:23.43.
"I didn't expect to drop seven
seconds tonight," said Gehrs. "My
backstroke is much faster than last
year, and I brought it back well."
Although Penn State's Fran
McDermid set a new conference and
meet record in the 200-yard freestyle
(1:48.19), five Wolverines scored in
the top nine. Kirsten Silvester
grabbed third place (1.49.27), Nicole
Williamson finished sixth (1:51.04),
Swix grabbed seventh (1:51.16),
Katherine Creighton claimed eighth
(1:51.29), and Karen Barnes finished
ninth (1:50.90).
Hooiveld recorded the fastest 100
breaststroke time in conference-meet
history with a 1:02.18, eclipsing the
record by five-tenths of a second.
Rookie adjusts to
college with poise
There is something about that smile that
we don't understand. There must be, because it
appears at the strangest of times. Under
pressure, in the heat of a Big Ten battle, or in
the lockerroom fending off the media swarm.
There is always that one constant with
Jimmy King. A big wide grin that says none of
it bothers him, that says he is enjoying
himself.
"He's always had that attitude that
nothing will phase him," says Steve Adair,
King's high school coach. "He is so positive.
There are certain kids that you just like to be
around. Jimmy is one of those kids."
But that smile belies so much. So much
talent packaged into a sleek 6-foot-3 frame
that can glide, jump and hang suspended in the
air all so effortlessly, all so smoothly. He's a
pure dribbler and a smooth shooter with great
range. But in a flash of versatility, he can leap
skyward and throw it down over taller
players.
King has shown that versatility all season
Court.
Jimmy King arrived on campus at the
University of Michigan this fall knowing
two things. First, that something amazing
was going to happen, and second, that he was
going to be a part of it.
And with the help of four others harboring
similar feelings, King has quickly seen those
hopes realized.
As a team, Michigan is 6-5 in the
conference, 15-6 overall, following Saturday
night's loss to Michigan State, and on track
for a tournament bid. A nice turnaround for a
squad that finished 14-15 and sank to eighth
place in the Big Ten last season.
As a group, the "best recruiting class ever"
is doing very well in its inaugural college
basketball campaign. Its members are
responsible for that turnaround. All five now
comprise the Wolverine starting lineup,
which is truly unprecedented in college
basketball.
But true to form, King isn't distracted by
all of that.
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