Page 4 - The Michigan Daily - Sports Monday - December 7, 1992
BASKETBALL NOTEBOO K
Duke enters war of
words with Michigan
by Andy De Korte
Daily Basketball Writer
DURHAM, N.C. - Although so-called trash talking is a long-
standing basketball tradition, Michigan's brash Fab Five, Chris Web-
ber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson
brought the issue to the forefront last season. Since then, the NCAA
passed a new rule giving officials the authority to assess technical fouls
for excessive verbosity.
Last season, against Duke, Webber had numerous tete-a-tete with
current Minnesota Timberwolf Christian Laettner. Naturally, one
would wonder how interactive the Wolverines would be with Duke's
new big man - Cherokee Parks.
The talk took on a new perspective this year, pre-game and post-
game.
Webber interjected the Wolverines would beat the Blue Devils even
if they brought back Laettner as well as reportedly saying all-American
Bobby Hurley could not guard Rose.
"I try not to think about it," Hurley said of opponents' talk. "I save
my energy for the game. I can't do anything about what they say so I
work on the court."
About Michigan's confidence, Hurley said, "To a point it's good, but
it can be bad. I think maybe they were overconfident. Like when they
were down eight with four minutes to play, they thought they could
come back and maybe they did come out and work for it."
While Hurley did not have anything to say against the Wolverines,
Parks had a clip full of fodder.
"We knew what we had to do, we know we're a good team," Parks
said, before adding a comment mocking Michigan's proclamation last
April that the Fab Five was out to avenge UNLV's loss to Duke in 1991.
"Last year, they were trying to win the Final Four for UNLV, and
feed the children or whatever it was. Same thing tonight, they were mak-
ing hype. 'We're looking for revenge for last year, because they stole the
championship from us.' Well they only scored 20 points in the second
half. We didn't steal anything from them. We earned it."
SENIORITIS: Before the game, one of Michigan's biggest assets was
supposed to be its bench. In limited action, the four seniors posted dis-
appointing numbers. Rob Pelinka, James Voskuil, Michael Talley, and
Eric Riley combined for two points on 1-for-5 shooting. Pelinka tallied
the lone score.
HOW BIG IS IT?: Despite not receiving network television coverage,
-the Duke vs. Michigan contest drew considerable national attention. The
game is only the second nationally-syndicated game in history. A
school-record 220 media credentials were given out for the game, in-
cluding 75 TV passes.
CAMERON CRAZIES: Duke's 'Victors':
Hail, to the state school choosers/ Hail, to the sophomore losers/ Hail,
Hail to Michigan/ The cesspool of the West.
Hail to the slam dunk players/ Hail, to the two-year players/ Hail,
Hail to Michigan/ We're not finished yet.
Hail, to the Fab Five criers/ Hail, to the champions...Not!! Hail, Hail,
to Michigan/ The bastards of the West.
Bonfire of the Crazies
Cameron faithful save vintage performance for Blue .
by Ken Davidoff
Daily Basketball Writer
DURHAM, N.C. - Fundamen-
tally speaking, a Duke basketball
game cannot exist without mention
of college hoops' best crowd. As
always, the Duke student body got
in its shots against the opposition.
But the effects of their tactics were
debated between the two clubs.
As soon the Wolverines took the
practice court for the first time, the
fans got right to work. "Oh no, not
Rice!" registered as the first coher-
ent insult. Chants of "Safety
school!" "We want Rice" and
"AAU!" soon followed.
As the scoreboard flashed "1992
National Champions," the Blue
Devil faithful wanted to insure that
the Michigan squad took a glance.
"Scoreboard!" they chanted. Then,
twisting their bodies, they alternated
cheers at Duke and Michigan,
yelling "Champions!" when they
faced the former and "NOT!" to-
wards the latter.
Not quiteconvinced that the
Wolverines understood that Duke
had won the last two national cham-
pionships, and that Michigan hadn't,
the Duke loyalists announced,
"We've got banners!" That seemed
to settle any remaining debate.
Perhaps the pinnacle of the
pregame treatment occurred when
the Wolverines were introduced. It
seems a Michigan graduate student
who went to Duke as an undergrad
took advantage of his double-agent
status to cause trouble. In a letter to
the Duke Chronicle, Erland Stevens
revealed each of the Fab Five's
nicknames. He urged Duke fans to
"please use/exploit/abuse the names
as you see fit."
So, when Chris Webber was in-
troduced, the Duke crowd gladly
shouted, "Hi, Truth." Similarly
friendly introductions went out to
Money (Ray Jackson), Big Nook
(Juwan Howard), Jim Jam (Jimmy
King) and Jinx (Jalen Rose). This
didn't faze the Wolverines, and ac-
cording to them, the crowd was not a
factor in the entire contest.
"The crowd was what I ex-
pected," Rose said. "They were
loud, but it's nothing we've never
been through before. We were able
to block that out."
"They have a real good crowd,"
Webber said. "I don't want to take
everything away from them. But we
thrive on that. I don't think they
were the edge that put them (Duke)
over."
Despite the Wolverines' claims,
they only managed to convert four
of 11 free throw attempts. The Duke
fans have a wide selection of free
throw distraction strategies, and they
operated in midseason form.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski
appreciated the effort invested by
the people in attendance.
"I want to thank our crowd for
being so positive for Duke," he said.
"They responded in absolutely unbe-
lievable fashion, and it makes me
proud to be the coach of Duke where
the sixth man performs at that
level."
Coach K's point guard Bobby
Hurley concurred.
"The crowd was great for us," he
said. "There were a lot of times
when we need that lift, and they
provide it for us."
When the game ended, the
crowd, some of whom had canped
outside Cameron fer over a week to
get into the game, sang its traditional
farewell, "Na na na na, hey hey,"
and ran outside for a victory bonfire.
The Cameron Crazies relished in
victory, but they knew in the back of
their minds that the next victim was
not far away.
"
Michigan's Chris Webber dejectedly watches the finish of the Wolverines' 79-68 loss to Duke Saturday.
DUKE
Continued from page 1
from the free-throw line, 21-for-25 to Michigan's 4-for-
11, as well as besting them in turnovers, 11-19.
"We talked before the season started about making
sure we got turnovers down and got free throws up, two
areas that we didn't do a good enough job in," Michi-
gan coach Steve Fisher said. "We were four of 11 at
free throws. One, we have to make them and two, we
have to get more. We turned the ball over too much."
Indeed, two of their first three possessions ended in
missed opportunities - an eerie foreshadowing of the
rest of the game.
The most critical stretch of the game occurred be-
tween 11:54 and 7:48 of the second half. Grant Hill hit
a 14-foot jumper to extend Duke's lead to 58-44, equal-
ing its largest of the game. Michigan stormed back, cut-
ting the deficit to 58-50, keyed by two Juwan Howard
baskets and an a Jimmy King lay-up assisted by
Howard. King led all Wolverines with 20 points.
Then at 9:30, James Voskuil took a charge from
Grant Hill, his fourth foul. With Duke's most dominat-
ing player of the game sitting down, Michigan seemed
poised to continue its rush but two more turnovers were
followed by a Hurley three-pointer.
"I thought Hurley was Hurley, he always seems to
come up big. He came up probably with the biggest
bucket of the game when it was 58-52," Krzyzewski
said. "They were outplaying us and we were in foul
trouble, and I thought they were wearing us down."
The Duke frontcourt certainly has not been known to
wither in yesteryear, but all-American Christian Laet-
tner left his post for the NBA and the role fell to an un-
proven Cherokee Parks.
While Krzyzewski was pleased with the play of his
sophomore big man, Fisher was content with his team's
limiting Parks to 15 points and three rebounds. During
the first half particularly, Chris Webber and Eric Riley
both got the better of Parks in fierce competition.
"I told Cherokee after the game, 'Welcome to the
big time,' Krzyzewski said. "I-know someone is going
to say that was not a pretty game. You're damn right it
wasn't a pretty game ... when you put all those athletes
out there it's tough to score. That's where Thomas
(Hill, who scored a game-high 21 points) was really
good for us because he made some very difficult shots.
He wanted it badly and that determination showed."
After Michigan lost the national championship
game, 71-51, players and fans focused on the next time
tle teams would meet. Although the next game's date is
npt certain, the desire for a rematch had built before the
bleachers coud clear.
"I hope to see them one more time deep into the
tournament. When you lose and you expected to win -
and we expected to come in here and win - it's hard,"
Fisher said. "Its frustrating its disappointing, but life
MOMENTUM
Continued from page 1
one flash of brilliance to overcome
the two-time defending national
champions in their backyard.
Momentum ranks as one of the
more mystical aspects of sport. It's
not like Duke coach Mike
Krzyzewski wrote "Saturday, De-
cember 5, 10:02 p.m.: Have mo-
mentum ... tape 'Saturday Night
Lives..." on his daily planner.
So how come momentum didn't
pay a spontaneous visit to the
Wolverines Saturday night? The
theories abound.
"When you're trying to make a
run, your shots just gotta keep
falling in," Rose explained after the
game. "For whatever reasons, we
would get on that run, and then a
shot wouldn't fall in."
Duke center Cherokee Parks in-
sisted that his squad did the "little
things" - like trying to knock the
ball out of rebounders' hands and
taking charges - that prevented
Michigan from gaining the Big Mo.
"We knew that if we could get
'em down like that, that was gonna
take 'em," Parks said, "because
they're a team that, if you get a cou-
ple blows in, they kind of sink really
fast. We just never let down."
Duke small forward Grant Hill
said: "I think a combination of us
playig ghard, good defense and the
cro °& l ' deprived Michigan of domi-
naii nriods. Credit Hill with the
cliche explanation.
Blue Devil point guard Hurley
added: "I think we got back on tran-
sition and we kind of neutralized
Webber." A more technical explana-
tion from the player who looks like
he belongs in a science class.
All valid arguments. But all of
them comoined still don't tell the
whole story.
Free throws should be regarded
pected, considering it was only the
second game of the season for both
clubs. The turnover count? 11 for
Duke, 19 for Michigan.
Momentum will not happen un-
der these circumstances.
There's still plenty of time for
the Wolverines to work on their
'We knew that if we could get 'em down like
that, that was gonna take 'em, because they're
a team that, if you get a couple blows in, they
kind of sink really fast. We just never let down.'
- Cherokee Parks
Duke center
as automatic. When a team is in the
middle of a rally, a missed foul shot
can suck the life out of it.
Michigan attempted 11 free
throws for the entire game and made
a paltry four. Duke? Twenty-one out
of 25.
Turnovers simply must be
avoided if a team hopes to prevail
victorious. Some sloppiness was ex-
flaws. Despite the tremendous hype
given to this contest, it's still only
Dec. 7. Two down, about 30 to go.
But the Big Blue will disappoint
this year if it does not run into the
Big Mo mo' often. The Wolverines
may not be able to make an ap-
pointment with the ambiguous char-
acter, but they can certainly be more
receptive to its arrival.
0
MICHIGAN (68)
FG FT Rob.
Min. M-A MA O-T A F Pts.
Jackson 20 39 1-3 3-4 1 4 7
Webber 33 7-13 0-0 4-11 6 4 14
Howard 33 4-9 2-4 1-6 3 4 10
King 38 9-18 0-2 2-4 3 3 20
Rose 35 7-15 1-2 2-6 1 2 15
Riley 14 0-0 0-0 1-4 0 2. 0
Pelinka 12 1-4 0-0 1-3 2 1 2
Talley 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Voskuil 10 0-1 0-0 0-2 0 1 0
Fife 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Total 20031-69 4-1117-441622 68
FG%- .449. FT%- .364. Three-point goals: 2-
12,_167 (King 2-6, Rose 0-3, Pelinka 0-2, Webber
0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocks: 6 (Webber 3,
Jackson, Howard, Riley). Turnovers: 19 (Rose 4,
Jackson 3, Riley 3, King 3, Voskuil 3, Howard 2,
Webber). Steals: 3 (Rose 2, King). Technical fouls:
none.
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