fflmff Tipoff '92 4 Tk,,rc.,4asNnvnmhr 190 1992Ih~ U7 htVIIUII 7* 7W 1 nursuay, imumfluer la, laac Could the 1992 Wolverines be... An unstoppable team? by Ken Sugiura C onventional wisdom I says there is only one team that is capable of beating Michigan this year. You've probably seen it play. Its players wear baggy shorts, just1 lke Michigan. They're plenty talented and have all kinds of depth, just like Michigan. They were even in the Final Four, as the Wolverines were. It's not Cincinnati. It's not Duke. And it's not Indiana. "Michigan, the only way they can lose," Juwan Howard says, "is if they lose to themselves." There is no reason to doubt him. A season after reaching the national championship game, the Wolverines return their five starters and top nine scorers. Coach Steve Fisher's only significant loss is last year's captain, Freddie Hunter. And in the 227 days since Duke ended the Wolverines' incredible run to the NCAA final, much has happened to Michigan which does nothing but defend Howard's assertion. Preseason all-America Chris Webber has improved on his Big Ten Freshman-of-the-Year form. Webber, along with seven other collegiate stars, spent a week this summer serving as a practice squad for the Dream Team. Fellow sophomore and preseason all-Big Ten guard Jalen Rose, after a summer of extensive weight training, has gained great upper body strength. Senior center Eric Riley has also added 20 pounds of muscle to his 7-foot frame. Fisher says sophomore Jimmy King is improved, having played exten- sively over the summer. Forward James Voskuil toured Europe twice this summer - with Michigan and with a Big Ten all- star squad - and has returned ready to challenge incumbent Ray Jackson for the starting small forward spot. "There's total improvement all around," assistant Perry Watson says. "From the physical aspect to the skills to the mental aspect. It's just total improve- ment." It is almost scary to think what this team could accomplish before the season is through. Ending Duke's 72-game non- conference home game win streak. A Big Ten title. An NCAA championship. "If our team is on the same page, players one through 14, we'll win every game," Rose stated. It is a statement rife with audacity. But with Michigan's roster, is there reason for Rose to feel any other way? Plenty has been written about the Fab Five -Webber, Rose, Howard, King and Jackson. The quintet turned the basketball world on its ear when they made the national championship contest as fresh- men. There is more. Michigan's first four players off the bench - Riley, Voskuil, Rob Pelinka, and Michael Talley - could probably crack many-Big Ten starting lineups. Big Ten season. Fisher and his team list a title as a high priority this season, but it will take some doing. "We never played quite as consistent as a coach would like (last year)," Fisher says. "Now whether that was because they were young and learning, or whether that's the nature of the banner. We'd be the first since '86. And we'd like to get back to the Final Four, too" Fisher says. It will likely require a Big Ten record of 15-3 or 14-4 in order to conquer the conference. Achieving such heights will require the Wolverines to sweep through the lower division clubs. Michigan broke even last TEAM PREVIEW time, it would be premature to say anything more than the Maize and Blue have as good a shot at reaching their goal of a national title as anyone else. The specialty of those precocious Wolverines is doing things prematurely, however, and they have already given voice to their own expectations. "Our goal is to not lose any games and win any champion- ship that comes through our door," Howard says. Admittedly, there are any number of reasons to believe that Monday, April 5, will find the Wolverines in New Orleans, celebrating their second title in five years. There are, however, at least a handful of reasons why it won't happen. Basketball history can lend a few. It is littered with teams that never met their potential, teams that beat themselves. In 1983, it was a North Carolina team with Michael Jordan, Sam Perkins and Kenny Smith that was supposed to achieve what Michigan is expected to. Fisher likes to cite last year's failed mission, that of Kansas. The top-seeded Jayhawks, "a Final Four team if there ever was one," as Fisher says, lost a second-round tourna- ment game to UTEP, relegating themselves to the ignominious heap of "coulda-beens." There is another example, thin one chronicled in the book Forever's Team by John Feinstein. After finishing last in the ACC in 1977, the Duke Blue Devils, infused with a remark- able trio of freshmen, made an improbable run to the 1978 NCAA final. In so doing, the underdog Blue Devils captured the nation's heart. They did so because they were a team that was having the time of its life beating all the teams it wasn't supposed to. But that was only the half of it. What made Duke truly special was that it had no concept of the immensity of what it was accomplishing. Duke lost to that year's "team of destiny," Kentucky, but expectations were high for the following season. The starting five, led by sophomore forward Gene Banks, returned. What's more, Duke's top 10 scorers also returned. Coach Bill Foster's only loss was Bruce Bell, a former walk-on who was the team's most popular player. The similarities are striking. Whether the conclusion will hold form remains to be seen. Every- tournament. It would be disap- pointing if a successful regular season for the Wolverines was forgotten simply due to one poor game in the tournament. "I'd give anything if we could have won that Duke game," Fisher said. "Even if it meant (Chris) Webber and (Jalen) Rose and (Juwan) Howard and (Jimmy) King and (Ray) Jackson all going pro after their first year." Maybe Fisher is foreshadow- ing the inevitable. Following this season the likelihood that at least one if not two or three of the "Fab Five" will enterthe NBA draft is high. Thus, this year may be the last try for the quintet to make a collective run at the crown. So much for their goal of four titles. Just as those seconds seemed to tick away in April, so too are their chances for basketball immortality. Four championships, three, two, one, zero. Eu. So, when you watch the Wolveri realize t somethir has Brea Apprecia can beat Whei the first tournam was only Wolveri playing in the co But d simply - Four. A Michiga bone an pound v have th Orleans promise And make it savor th few tear appeara party. M survive defied tI The 1992-93 Michigan Wolverines KRISTOFFER GILLETTFJDaily p.. pp- W~OORcords 3361/2 S.State Ann Arbor, 761-8686 Bought - Sold . Traded INSTANT CASH! We're paying up to $6 CASH for single compact discs. More when traded! Bring 'em in and we'll give you a quote. IN NOW-- You've read about them in USA Today and seen them on MTV, but now you can have one of your very own! DOUGLAS KANTERUaity The 1992 Wolverines return all five starters from a team which fell a game short of a National Championship a year ago. With the Fab Five having a year's experience, returning to the Final Four appears to be an achievable goal. "I think some points are stronger than others," Jackson offers, "but we don't really have a weakness." U.. There's no question Fisher has the horses. The only matter up for discussion is what kind of jockey he will make. His skills game, I don't know." Capturing the Big Ten will require consistency, a quality that has not been the calling card of the Michigan basketball program. Since 1986 - the last time the Wolverines won the Big Ten - Michigan's longest Big Ten winning streak is five games, which it has done twice. In the same time span, Bob 'Michigan, the only way they can lose, is if they lose to themselves.' - Juwan Howard season against the upper half of the Big Ter at 4-4, but could only manage a 7-3 standard against the second five. Confer- ence champ Ohio State, mean- while, was but one victory better than Michigan vs. the top half at 5-3, but roared through the bottom five at 10-0. While the conference is quite possibly the strongest it has ever been and the Wolverines have the disadvantage of playing conference dregs Northwestern and Penn State but once each, the Wolverines are not fazed. "I'm ready to do whatever it takes," Pelinka says. "Right now, my personal goal isn't to average X' amount of points or play X' amount of minutes; it's to help the team win the Big Ten." um. Following the regular season, of course, the NCAA Tournament and March Mad- ness roll around.At this point in Grateful Dead Lithuanian Basketball Team t(e-dy ,,hr sposters and mow/ tye-dy t-hrs oruul mtslcin will probably be most tested in that most trying of races, the one for the Big Ten crown. In his short time as Michigan's head coach, the conference champion- ship is one of the few things Fisher has not achieved. His ability to recruit and to coach in the NCAA tournament are unquestioned. The knock on Fisher, or more appropriately on Michigan, is that it hasn't produced in the long haul of the Knight's Hoosiers have won at least five straight nine times - and have two Big Ten titles to show for it. To be fair, the Fab Five is responsible only for last season, when Michigan finished third and could not really be expected to challenge for the title. This year, the expectations are vastly different, but the mission is exactly the same. "We'd like to hang a B'ig Ten 0 /- f I - 7 7 '-" lVVV Main Bookstore: 549 East University Art/Engineering Store and Electronics Showroom: 1117 South University 340 1/2 S. State (upstairs) 994AARRR These great looking 19" x 27" wall posters are full-color photographs with the seasons sc Stop by and pick them up, only while suppl *The pictures shown are not the actual posters. Due to NCAA regulations we could n 58YEARS MORE THAN Ann Arbor, MI 48104 Mon-Fri 9:00-6:00 Sunday 313-662-3201 Sat 9:30-5:00 Noon to 4:00 . - ..-...-......