Women's Swimming and Diving Hockey at Big Ten Championships vs. Ferris State Today and Tomorrow Tonight, 7 p.m. Canham Natatorium Yost Ice Arena The Michigan Daily Friday, February 19, 1993 Page 9, Women cagers face Bucks, TV spotlight by Mike Hill ond-coming of the Fab Five," Buck- Daily Basketball Writer eye coach Nancy Darsch said of her 'M' hosts Gophers, then takes a break "Look Ma, I'm on TV!" The 1-18 Michigan women's basketball team would probably like to put a muzzle on anyone who does that kind of announcing. With guard Jen Nuanes and forward Molly Heikkinen having to miss Sunday's matchup with Ohio State (8-2, Big Ten, 16-3 overall), and Nikki Beaudry doubtful for the contest, the host Wolverines may have the thin- nest bench on record for the SportsChannel Chicago audience. If Beaudry can't suit up, the Wolver- ines will be forced to rotate six players. "I'm not too thrilled about going on ESPN (actually SportsChannel) against Ohio State, especially in this kind of shape," Michigan coach Trish Roberts said. "They're tough. They gave us lots of problems the last time we played them. But you never know, it may work in our favor." "Tough" would probably be a good one-word description of the na- tion's fifth-ranked team. The Buck- eyes, who pummeled the Wolverines 90-73 three weeks ago, feature the top recruiting class in the nation from a year ago. "They came in the first day of i practice thinking they were the sec- freshman class before the season. "That ended real quickly." Darsch has probably changed her mind since then. Frosh Katie Smith has emerged as a major force in the conference. Smith is fourth among Big Ten scorers, chipping in 18 points a game. On the brighter side, Roberts said she thinks the televised event could prove positive for future Michigan squads. "All of the kids we're recruiting, we've told that if they come to Michigan, they'll be able to step in and play right away," she said. "Hopefully, when they see this game they'll realize that that's true. We told them to watch the kids in their positions and we've told them which (uniform) numbers are seniors. We've told them to look at the players and measure themselves against those players." The players will not be "on break" next week. While Roberts gave her players three days off fol- lowing last Friday's 79-75 loss to Wisconsin, Spring Break will not alter the practice schedule. Fol- lowing Sunday's contest, the Wolverines will have the week to prepare for weekend matchups at Minnesota and No. 3-ranked Iowa. by Ryan Herrington Daily Basketball Writer Even the Michigan men's basketball team deserves a break. Following tomorrow's 3 p.m. contest against Minnesota at Crisler Arena, the No. 5 Wolverines (9-3 Big Ten, 20-4 overall) enjoy an eight-day layoff before resuming conference action in Columbus against Ohio State, Feb. 28. The gap between contests, the longest period without a game during the season for the Wolverines, allows Michigan coach Steve Fisher to refocus his team as it heads toward the NCAA tournament in March. The Wolverines have had difficulty of late holding on to early leads, as was the case against Indiana last Sunday when Michigan blew a 13-point first-half advantage, eventually falling to the Hoosiers, 93-92. The mental lapses continued Wednesday against Penn State when the Wolverines let a 73-54 lead dwindle down to a 80-70 final score. The problem has not gone unnoticed by Fisher. "If you're not tough physically and mentally, you're not going to win, and we've got to get tougher mentally," Fisher said. "That's an area where we've made great strides, but we've got to maintain toughness physically and mentally." While Michigan's tournament bid is safely locked up, Clem Haskins's Minnesota squad (6-6, 14- 7) still has some work to do if it hopes to get into the postseason. Sophomore standout Voshon Lenard, who leads the team in scoring with a 16.3 point average, broke out of a mini-slump, scoring a career-high 32 points against Iowa last weekend. The Detroit native led the Gophers in scoring in their 80-73 loss to Michigan Jan 20. "We're not a very good team without Voshon and (Jayson) Walton scoring for us," Haskins said. "We need those two to score for us if we're going to win." Haskins said he is confident that a strong finish in the Big Ten could propel Minnesota into the tournament. "Without a doubt, 9-9 will get us a post-season bid because of our power rating," Haskins said. "We're going to try to play one game at a time." The two-time defending Big Ten champion Buckeyes (4-8, 11-10) are struggling, having lost eight of their last 10 games. With only two players averaging more than nine points a game, Ohio State relies heavily on junior forward Lawrence Funderburke for offense. , --LA --KAN I'E W Michigan's Juwan Howard stretches for a rebound over Hoosier Matt Nover Sunday. Howard and his teammates take on Minnesota tomorrow. Blue icers hope to finish strong in CCHA by Chad A. Safran Daily Hockey Writer It was too good to last. The Michigan hockey team played with its entire lineup intact its last three games. The Wolverines (17-5-2 CCHA, 21-5-3 overall) were ready for the stretch drive of the CCHA regular season. Alas, it was not to be. Freshman Kevin Hilton will be out of action for at least this weekend's contests with Ferris State (10-11-3, 15-13-2) and Bowling Green (9- 15-0, 14-18-0), after suffering a second-degree shoulder separation in Wednesday's practice. The leading scorer among Wolverine first- year players, Hilton became entangled with de- fenseman Chris Tamer, fell down and slid into the boards. Coach Red Berenson will slightly alter his lines with Brian Wiseman taking Hilton's place, centering the second line of Cam Stewart and David Oliver. This is where Wiseman spent most of his time before being sidelined with a back in- jury. Berenson said the lineup changes are not as much of a concern as is the loss of Hilton's scor- ing ability. "The new lines have played together before," Berenson said. "There is some continuity there. Losing Hilton, though, is no help. He was really starting to come into his own." Ferris State, which Michigan has not faced since October, is also disadvantaged, with a pair of injuries. Leading scorer Doug Smith (17 goals-9 as- sists-26 points) is questionable after suffering a concussion last weekend. Center Gary Kitching is out until the playoffs after being diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff in mid-January. For the Bulldogs, the season has been a series of ups and downs. "We've played solid hockey all year," Ferris St. coach Bob Daniels said. "We had some big wins (winning the Mariucci Classic) and some disappointing losses (falling to Notre Dame 3-2 in overtime Saturday). We've got a long way to go." Though its been a while since the Bulldogs and Wolverines clashed, a more familiar foe comes to Yost Saturday. Michigan will play Bowling Green for the second consecutive weekend. However, the highlight of the weekend may be the induction of four contributors to Michigan hockey into the Dekers Hall of Fame Saturday. The annual old-timers hockey game will be played at 4 p.m., prior to the induction ceremony which begins at 6:45 p.m. Following this weekend, Michigan will take on Lake Superior State next Friday in what could be the biggest home game of the year for the Wolverines. The Lakers and Wolverines are tied for second place in the CCHA, behind Miami. Michigan closes out its regular season at home Feb. 27 against Notre Dame. Wolverine Pat Neaton looks to pass in a game against Lake Superior. 'M' track teams prepared to run Women invade by Tom Bausano Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's track team has competitions each of the next two weekends. The Wolverines compete tonight at Eastern Michi- gan, then host the Silverston Invita- tional Saturday Feb. 27. The Invita- tional is in memory of a late official at Michigan for over 30 years. Tonight's competition puts no limit in the number of athletes a team can field, thereby providing an opportunity for some athletes who don't normally compete. "This unlimited squad will give a larger number of kids a chance to compete," Michigan coach James Henry said. "It's our hope to be able to have a high intensity of training, but give the team the opportunity to wind down from midterms. We want them to have the best time possible despite being in Michigan, and liv- ing in the dorms." Both the distance and sprint per- sonnel will train hard through these two meets, but the week after spring break the team will taper off practice intensity in order to prepare for the Big Ten Championships. However, Eastern Michigan tonight the recent severe weather has al- our long runs," assistant Mike ready had an impact on the training McGuire said. "The weather should- of the distance runners, who nor- n't affect us as long as we watch the mally run outdoors. wind chill factor. It just goes with "We are at the point where we the territory so the kids just handle are cutting back on the distance of it." Men stop at Ypsianti today SWIMMING NOTEBOOK by Brett Johnson Daily Sports Writer With the Big Ten men's swimming champi- onships just around the corner, Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek had to make some tough decisions on who to take to the meet. Now that those decisions have been made, the swimmers who were not chosen have a chance to score season best performances at the Michigan Invitational in Ann Arbor Feb. 26-28. Preliminary swims are at noon and the finals are at 6 p.m. each day. The Michigan Invitational is a United States Swimming (USS) sanctioned meet that will have people from all age groups competing. There are 11 Wolverine swimmers expected to compete including seniors Noel Strauss, Greg Gooch, and Jim Hume. Other swimmers participating include Tim Bower, Courtney Faller, Kevin Glass, Matt Jaffe, Joe Janik, Bill Pettitt, Chris Veber, and Jan Wenzel. The meet also gives these Michigan swimmers a Men tankers aim for NCAAs last chance to meet NCAA championship standards. The standards allow a swimmer to compete at the na- tional championship meet in Indianapolis in late March. REVENGE: The Wolverines' 161-82 dismantling of Ohio State last weekend ran the team's season record to 5-0 in the Big Ten and 7-1 overall. Michi- gan was able to gain some sweet revenge as the Buckeyes were the last Big Ten team to beat the . Wolverines in a dual meet, a meet the seniors re- member all too well. Two years ago, the Buckeyes shaved half their team in order to gain the victory. It was only Urbanchek's third Big Ten loss of his ca- reer. His record since taking over in 1982 is 54-3 in the Big Ten and 88-8 overall. His winning percentage is the second highest in Michigan history. The highest percentage belongs to Gerald Barnes who was unde- feated in five meets in 1924-25. By Tonya Broad Daily Sports Writer The Michigan men's track team travels to EMU today for an invita- tional meet which starts at 11:30 a.m. and is slated to end at 9 p.m. Michigan head track coach Jack Harvey said he wants to keep things low key. "We plan to switch things around, running things different," Harvey said. "We plan to under-train some (athletes) and over-train oth- ers." Coming off a disappointing fourth place finish at last week's Central Collegiate meet at Michigan State, Harvey said he looks forward to gearing up for Big Tens in two weeks. However, that is difficult with athletes like Matt Smith and Tyrone Wheatley still out due to ill- ness and injury. One bright spot the squad takes to EMU is Michigan school-record holder Andy Schoelch. Schoelch broke the indoor 200 meter record last week at MSU with a blistering 21.97 seconds, beating the old record by .05 seconds. Schoelch shattered the old record despite MSU's indoor track, which has tight curves and small lanes, resulting in cramped space and bad times. "I felt great because I did some- thing for my team," Schoelch said. "I had two bad weeks of racing and I just concentrated on staying re- laxed." _y q i - U I ,~ Ann Arbor Civic Theatre MainStage Productions : VISIONS OF PARIS Summer Programs 1993 o Intersession : May 24 - June 1 1 . Summer Session : June 14- July 23 . More than 50 regular offerings from the University's liberal arts curriculum. + " A three-week French-language Immersion program, featuring cultural walking tours and conversation classes. * * Weekend excursions : Normandy, Champagne, Loire Valley chateaux, * Burgundy,Giverny and Chartres. : Seminar tours with the University of Texas, the University of * New Hampshire and the University of California at Berkeley. " Also, two new French Immersion Sessions: " Summer '94 in Biarritz Winter '94 in Paris "' Send for our 1993 Summer Programs Brochure: "*i " " " s s " " " " " s " " " s " " s " " "' Ann Arbor Civic Theatre MainStage Productions THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK I