Men's Basketball
vs. Oklahoma State
Friday, 10:45 (EST)
Lexington, Ky.
SPORTS
Men's Swimming and Diving
at NCAA Championships
Thursday through Saturday
Indianapolis
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The Michigan Daily
Tuesday, March 24, 1992
Tj iF t
Wrestling exkcitment
better than.expected
by Tim Rardin
Daily Sports Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY - "Wrestling, the world's oldest and greatest
sport,
The PA announcer at the NCAA Championships kept saying that. Over
and over again, he would sing the praises of wrestling to the Myriad
crowd, and every time, the wrestling diehards would nod their heads in
agreement.
However, there was one lost soul who found himself questioning this
statement. Sure, I can accept that wrestling is the oldest sport, but the
greatest?
Now I grew up a basketball man myself, and being that basketball and
wrestling both take place in the winter where I'm from, wrestling took a
distant tenth in the area of greatness, just ahead of rope-skipping.
Admittedly, I had only been to one match before I was assigned this
beat. It was a high school match, and though our team was decent, I had no
problem getting a front-row seat, right next to the six other people who had
sacrificed the $1.50 admission price. I suppose it was then that my percep-
tion of wrestling as a, how shall I say, boring sport began.
Basketball is a fast-paced, up-and-down, dunk-happy fest of exciting
athletic action. Wrestling. A couple of guys pointlessly rolling around with
each other. Just like when they were kids, except they didn't get in trouble
with their parents for it.
As I sat down in my press-row seat on the first day of competition, I
dreaded my inevitable fate of watching over 560 matches of a sport that I
had no particular fondness for, especially with the basketball tournament
so temptingly close on the pressroom TV set.
And yet, for some reason, I found the whole experience pretty enjoy-
able. In the final two days of the tournament, I found myself standing up to
catch a glimpse of what it was that caused the crowd to cheer or gasp or
boo or whatever.
Maybe it was the crowd that boosted my interest. Never before have I
witnessed such excitement, such drama from a sporting audience.
Admittedly, I'm using Crisler Arena as a comparison. But still, this crowd,
probably half-the-size of a Crisler sellout, was easily twice as loud. I found
myself caught up in an excitement that I had experienced only a few times
before in my ever-so-brief lifetime. And this was for a sport that I didn't
really even like.
Maybe it was the wrestling itself. Over the course of the season, I have
at least gained a greater understanding of the immense strategy involved.
Whatever the reason for my new-found enjoyment of the sport, I real-
ized that wrestling isn't all that bad after all. Basketball is still the world's
greatest sport as far as I'm concerned, but wrestling made a strong claim
for that title last weekend.
Old Kentucky Home
Suttons return to Lexington for Sweet Sixteen matchup
Page 10
by Jeni Durst
Daily Basketball Writer
Oklahoma State's trip to Lex-
ington this weekend marks not only
its second-straight trip to the Sweet
16, but a homecoming for head
coach Eddie Sutton.
Sutton coached at Kentucky for
four seasons, from 1985-86 to 1988-
89. He left the Wildcat program in
the midst of NCAA recruiting viola-
tions that kept Kentucky out of post-
season competition for the three pre-
vious years. Considering the condi-
tions under which he left the
Wildcats, whether the people of
Kentucky will stand behind Sutton
in his new role remains to be seen.
"Someapeoplemwill be pleased to
see him and some definitely will
not," Michigan coach Steve Fisher
said. "Though, I think the majority
of people will be for Eddie Sutton
when we go down there."
After a one-season lay-off, Sutton
returned to his alma mater to assume
the head coaching postition at
Oklahoma State in 1990.
From 1956-58, Sutton played
guard for the Cowboys, averaging
8.3 points a game as a senior. He
became a graduate assistant at
Oklahoma State for a season, before
moving on to high school coaching.
Sutton's son, Sean, a senior guard
for Oklahoma State, will also be
making a homecoming with the
weekend appearance.
The younger Sutton attended
high school in Lexington and a year
at Kentucky. In the wake of the
NCAA violations, he followed his
father to Oklahoma State. The senior
led the Cowboys in scoring in six
games this season, averaging 11.5
points per game.
Scott Sutton, a 20-year-old red-
shirt transfer, rounds out the crew of
Suttons partcipating in the Cowboy
program.
MATURATION: Since Michigan
has stormed into the Sweet Sixteen,
skeptics have started to examine the;';
five first-year starters under even a,;'
more powerful microscope.
Questions hover about the squad:
have the frosh gained enough expe-x2
rience in one season to handle the
pressure of the NCAA tournament?""
Are they integrated enough into the,
team to work as a unit?
The Wolverine veterans are con,:
fident that the answer to these ques-,
tions is yes.
"(The frosh) are at their best,"'':V
senior captain Fredie Hunter said.-.;:
"They realize the importance of the'
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starters in getting the team going-,,.
Off the court they're showing matu-7F
rity as well as on the court."
"For a team that has a lot of..
young people playing, we stayed re
ally focused," forward James
Voskuil said. "We surprised our-
selves a little bit. We've been up and
down all year, but the guys have
really come together in the last cou-
ple of games.
"We may have grown as a team"
more in these last two games than in.-
the last 10in the Big Ten."
INNt H SMOLLER/Daily
Michigan frosh Juwan Howard shoots over Laphonso Ellis in a victory over
Notre Dame earlier this season. Howard and his fellow rookies have since
led the Wolverines to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
'M' icers ecstatic over top seed,1
by Rod Loewenthal
Daily Hockey Writer
Call it a reversal of fortune, or
maybe even the Wheel of Fortune.
Either way, Michigan hockey coach
Red Berenson and his players aren't
complaining.
Only a few hours after suffering a
bitter 3-1 defeat at the hands of
perennial conference foe Lake
Superior State Sunday evening, the
Michigan players found out the
NCAA selection committee had
slated them as the West's number
one seed. A better season record, a
first-place regular season CCHA fin-
ish, and a convincing early season
sweep of Minnesota, must have all
factored heavily into the NCAA se-
lection committee's decision to give
the Wolverines the top spot over
Minnesota (No. 2) and Lake State
(No. 3).
Minnesota, like Michigan, took
first-place in its conference during
the regular season and then lost the
tournament championship game this
past weekend. Saturday night in St.
Paul, Minn., the Golden Gophers fell
to Northern Michigan, 4-2, in the
Western Collegiate Hockey Assoc-
iation finals.
"We didn't realize at the time
what a difference that weekend
against Minnesota made," center
Brian Wiseman said. "Now we real-
ize what a big, big weekend it was."
Had the Wolverines lost or split
their home series against Minnesota,
the NCAA committee could have
easily dropped the team to a number
two seed with a possible matchup
against Lake State.
"We were disappointed in the
outcome of Sunday's game,"
Berenson said. "But, we feel good
about the tournament."
And for good reason. Overlooked
by the selection committee only two
years ago, Berenson and his team
have now been invited to the tour-
nament for the second-straight year
as the special guests of that very
same NCAA selection committee.
"We feel very good about our-
selves, the tournament, and our
chances," senior Ted Kramer said.
"We know that we're respected."
In order to give his players time
to physically and mentally prepare
for their date at the big dance,
Berenson met shortly with his play-
ers yesterday and gave the team off
today. Nagging injuries plague the
skaters and Berenson expects that a
few days off will rejuvenate the
team.
Mark Ouimet is still troubled by
a shoulder that forced him to miss a
first-round CCHA playoff game
against Ohio State two weekends
ago.
"It's getting better," Ouimet said
of his shoulder. "But, there's still a
lot of things that I can't do because
of it."
Goaltender Steve Shields, nursing
a hip flexor suffered during,
Saturday's game and aggravated in
Sunday's championship game, is ex-
pected on the ice tomorrow. And,, '
Cam Stewart is hoping that two days
off the ice will be enough time for~
him to shrug off a groin injury.
Defenseman Aaron Ward is also,
looking forward to today's off day,
albeit for a different reason. "I have
three, six-page journals due for one
class," Ward said, "and a research
paper that I have to start for my
criminology class."
.Dian Americans'*African Americans'-Asian Americans*African Americans
Asian
American
EXPLORING OU
1s
STRUGGLES
African
Americans
JR
Michigan captain David Harlock moves the puck past a defender in an earlier contest this season. Harlock and the
rest of the Wolverines were awarded the No.1 seed in the West for the NCAA Tournament. Both Minnesota and
CCHA Champion Lake Superior State received lower bids, falling at No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
GoldenKe Honor Society
Officer Elections
(All new members who will be here
next year may run for an office.)
PLA YWRIGHT NEEDED
For the University of Michigan Housing Division's
TALK TO US"Theatre troupe.
Part-time paid position for Fall/Winter 1992-93.
The playwright will work with the Troupe and Director
A SERIES OF FOUR INTERGROUP
DIALOGUES BETWEEN
ASIAN AND BLACK
ST UD E NT S
TO
PROMOTE
BETTER RACE
RELATIONS
ON CAMPUS
7-9PM, TUESDAY, MAR 24
MICHIGAN RM, MICHIGAN UNION
FREE REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED
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