I he r ttn Ontl When was the last time two NFL road teams won conference championship games? (For answer, see page 2) T U E S A Y AP Basketball Poll Women's Swimming Blame it on Niyo Q&A Men's Basketball Hockey Women's Basketball Gymnastics Men's Track Wrestling 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 'Blue waltzes past Irish, 70-55 *FULL COURT* * PIRESS One year later, F6ive still fab by Adam Miller Daily Basketball Writer On the eve of Michigan's Final Four berth last year, a new t-shirt design sprang up in Ann Arbor. Covered with block 'M's and miniature basketballs, the shirt displayed a catchy message: "Do It. Again." Saturday at Crisler Arena, the Wolverines almost did. Not quite a year ago, Michigan went to Notre Dame and came away with a 74-65 victory. What makes that game important, of course, is that it was the first game that saw the Fab Five - Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, and Chris Webber - debut as a starting unit, and that the rookies scored all 74 points. Rose led the way with 20 points, King scored 19, Web- ber added 17, Howard notched 14 and Jackson chipped in the remaining four. In this weekend's rematch, a 70-55 Michigan romp, the sophomores scored all but nine points. But for a Rob Pelinka layup and two James Voskuil treys in the first half, and a Voskuil free throw in the second, his- tory would have been repeated. Well, not exactly. If you examine the box score, you'll notice that the fivesome were only a foursome Saturday, as Jackson remained sidelined with a shoulder separation. "We definitely miss him," King said. "He's one of the starters." From the result, you'd hardly know that. Michigan exploded on a 25-2 run midway through the second half to turn a tight game into a blowout and highlight film festival, including King's high-flying alley-oop recep- tion from Rose at the 12:28 mark. Make no mistake: the team will benefit greatly from Jackson's return. But it is a credit to the remaining players, and perhaps the most important sign of the See MICHIGAN, Page 4 Second-half explosion jump-starts Michigan by Ryan Herrington Daily Basketball Writer While there was no sonic boom heard in the vicinity of Crisler Arena Saturday, something did indeed seem to explode during the second half of the Michigan-Notre Dame basketball game - the. Wolverine offense. After an opening 20 minutes of play in which the Michigan offense looked rather lethargic, the Wolver- ines (2-1 Big Ten, 13-2 overall) took charge of the game four minutes into the second half. Michigan went on a thunderous 24-4 run which pushed a slim five-point halftime cushion into a runaway 70-55 victory for the Wolverines. "I was really impressed by Michigan to surge back the way they. did," Notre Dame coach John MacLeod said. "For them to come back like they did says a lot about them." The run came during an 11- minute span in which the Wolver- ines appeared unstoppable. Chris Webber led the way, contributing 13 of his 15 second-half points during the run, including three emphatic fastbreak dunks. "We just came out flat," said Webber, who ended the game with a team-high 22 points. "We just didn't give the effort we did in the first half that we did in the second half, so we've just got to be consistent with that effort, but we will." Webber was a perfect 6-for-6 in the second half, including three afiy buckets from behind the three-point line. He also led the team with eight rebounds. While Michigan's offense took off at just the right time, Notre Dame's play seemed to fizzle. The Irish (7-6) turned the ball over 13 times in the second half (27 times total) and at the same time shot for a higher percentage from the three- point line (40 percent) than from the floor (39 percent). "In the second half we weren't knocking down the open shot like in the first half," Notre Dame point guard Ryan Hoover said. "We made a lot of unforced turnovers, we trav- eled a lot, and we let Michigan get the break going. That was something we were trying to avoid and then they got the crowd going and then it just kind of got away from us." Hoover led the Irish with a game- high 23 points. However, his sup- porting cast was much less visible as no other Notre Dame player scored more than eight points. What made Michigan's second- half surge most impressive was its virtual lack of any offense in the first half. The Wolverines shot 44 percent from the field and turned the ball over nine times, allowing the Irish to remain in the game. At one point late in the half, Notre Dame took a one- point lead on a Hoover three-pointer. "In the first half, we got some really good shots but they weren't going down," Jalen Rose said. "It was beginning to become a sloppy game (in the first half)," Juwan Howard said. "I think the Notre Dame game plan was to sag off on the big man and let (the guards) hit the jump shot. I saw that See IRISH, Page 4 Chris Webber dunks during the first half of Saturday's game against Notre Dame. Webber broke his nose in practice yesterday and is questionable for tomorrow's game at Minnesota. Stanford swimmers hold off Blue comeback by Brett Johnson Daily Sports Writer It ended the way all great sports events should end. Two top teams heading into the final event with the match undecided. Although it was only a regular- season dual meet, the Michigan men's swimming and diving team's meet at Stanford (3-0 overall) Friday afternoon fit this bill. The No. 2 Wolverines (3-1) trailed by six points going into the final event. They needed to finish first and third in order to beat the No. 1 Cardinal. However, just as top teams do, Stanford found a way to win. When all was said and done, Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay team of Erik Maurer, Bill Schell, Eric Diehl and Joe Hudepohl had set a new pool record with a time of 2:58.99 and given the Cardinal a 15 point victory, 129-114. Although it was a close meet, tri- captain Brian Gunn was a little dis- appointed with the team's perfor- mance. "It kind of put a damper on the weekend," Gunn said. "It shows us we have a way to go. In a couple of events, we got beat up." Michigan was able to take the lead twice during the meet thanks to the divers. The first lead came after the one-meter diving event where the Wolverines were able to sweep the top three spots thanks to Eric Lesser, Brad Lambert and Jeff Jozwiak, respectively. Michigan's diving team grabbed the lead for the Wolverines a second time after the three-meter diving event. Lesser, once again, took top honors, and Abel Sanchez finished second to give Michigan a slight three-point advantage. However, the See SWIMMING, Page 3 Little by Tim Rardin Daily Hockey Writer IA/h Bigi Leman quiets I DOUGLAS KANTER/D Michigan center Mark Ouimet skates up the ice in Saturday's 4-0 Wolverine victory against Bowling Green at Yost Ice Arena Defensespe'ial tea key'Micers sweep by Brett Forrest Daily Hockey Writer Michigan hockey can succeed in many fashions. The team can use its speed, its offensive guns or even its toughness to manufacture "W' S" This weekend the Wolverines (12-4-2 CCHA, 16-4-3 overall) grabbed four points on the strength of their special teams and defense. Michigan beat Ohio State (6-12, 11-15), 5-1, Friday and period Saturday. The Wolverines were ahead in the game 1-0 on a David Oliver power-play goal at 7:01 of the second period when referee Roger Graff called Michigan's Pat Neaton for cross- checking at 11:06. Graff then called Michigan penalties at 12:43 and 14:02 which left them down two men on two separate occasions for a total time of 1:04. Penalty-killing masters Mike Stone and Rick Willis led "He's too small." "He's not strong enough." "He's not physical enough." These are the things that skeptics have been saying about Brian Wiseman again and again throughout his hockey career. "I've had a lot of struggles throughout my hockey career, in juniors and minor hockey - people saying I'm too small, I can't handle checking, I won't be able to handle junior hockey," Wiseman said. "A lot of schools didn't recruit me because they thought I was too small to handle college hockey. I just like to prove those people wrong." And that's exactly what the 5-6, 175-pound junior center for Michigan's third-ranked hockey team has done. At every level he has encountered thus far, Wiseman has shown that he can not only compete, but excel. Prior to his career as a Wolverine, Wiseman played Junior B hockey for the Chatham Mic Macs, and led the Western league in scoring with 70 goals and 77 assists. Wiseman INCA «a-... {:. - t. - a n e Y Y 1V. critics with taleni Wan for the opportunity from Coach Berenson to come." Coach Berenson's glad he did. As a freshman in 1990, Wiseman amassed 58 points(25 goals, 33 assists) en route to being named the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) Freshman of the Year. Did someone say Brian Wiseman couldn't handle college hockey? Last season, Wiseman tallied 71 points, and coming into this season, was a "Sporting News" pre-season all-America candidate and one of "The Hockey News'" early favorites to win the Hobey Baker Award as the best collegiate player. Thus far, Wiseman has totaled 25 points in 19 games, and has continued to establish himself as one of the conference's and nation's top players. "He came in here as a real smart offensive player," Berenson said. "He's been successful in the CCHA from day one, the minute he stepped on the ice." "He has great intelligence on the ice," Michigan State head coach Ron Mason said. "He has great moves, and he's great with the puck. He's the type of player that's very wI , I w ~w I