Men's Basketball Hockey at Illinois vs. Notre Dame Tomorrow, 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, 7 p.m. Champaign Yost Ice Arena The ig Daily , a9 Gymnasts fall short of NCAA tourney by Scott Burton Daily Sports Writer While most Michigan students re- joiced Sunday night at the men's basketball victory over Michigan State, the Michigan men's gymnas- tics team was left reeling at the hands of the Spartans. Michigan State beat Michigan, 277.50-270.75, in Sunday's meet, ef- fectively ending the Wolverines' chances for a NCAA Eastern re- gional bid. "The team's season will be over after the Big Ten championships," Michigan coach Bob Darden said. "We have not had the chance to put a healthy team on the floor to get 0 those three scores we need for re- gionals, which is unfortunate." The same two things that have troubled the Wolverines all year - injuries and inconsistency ,- doomed them against the Spartans. Although top gymnasts Brian Winkler, Royce Toni and Jorge Camacho returned for Michigan af- ter being, out most of the year, Ben Verrall and Rich Dopp replaced them on the sidelines. Verrall, a ju- nior, sat out with a fractured wrist. Dopp, a sophomore, succumbed to the flu bug that has hit most of the team during the last few weeks. Without the two injured Wolverines, the team struggled with hitting their routines all day. Typical of the inconsistent day was Michigan's performance on pommel * horse. Scores ranged from Chris Onuska's 9.7 to Jason Taft's 6.75. "We missed 14 routines. If we made half of those, our team score would be up another four or five points," Darden said. "Consistency is what we need to address and work with." The return of Winkler, Toni, and Camacho provided a positive moment for the Wolverines. Winkler and Toni competed on the still rings, high bar and parallel bars. Camacho helped out on the vault and produced the team's second highest score on the floor exercise with a 9.40. This year is the first time in tour- nament history that the Wolverines will not qualify for the NCAA Eastern regionals. Part of the reason for this is that the number of qualify- ing teams was trimmed down to six. Additionally, the Wolverines were hampered by injuries to a number of gymnasts. "It's really frustrating not being able to put a concerted effort on the floor with the talent that we have," Darden said. "With the illness, in- juries, and recovering injuries, it's real frustrating. It's probably even more so for the athletes." However, team members refuse to blame Michigan's failure to qual- ify on the team's youth. Although the Wolverines feature no seniors and only a handful of juniors, this excuse does not satisfy the team. "They're all old now," Darden said. "The youth thing holds when you walk in the door, but you can't hold on to that too long because they've been here seven months." Hitters choke late in games, fall to Sooners by Antoine Pitts Daily Baseball Writer Take an early lead and then give the opposition one big inning that blows you right out of the game. That certainly is not the way to play baseball, but it was a plot the Michigan baseball team followed to the letter over the weekend in Norman, Okla. The Wolverines dropped three of four games, with all three losses coming at the hands of Oklahoma (8-4 overall). In each of the three losses, Michigan (3-10) got on the score- board first, but later gave up one big inning that put the game out of reach. A lack of solid pitching, defense and hitting continued to plague the Wolverines. In game one Friday, the Wolverines took an early lead on a three-run homer by Scott Niemiec. The Sooners first took the lead for themselves in the fourth, 4-3, but a fifth-inning run-scoring double by Brian Simmons tied the game at four. That was all for the Wolverines, though. Five runs in the seventh and one in the eighth gave Oklahoma a 10-4 victory. Faulty relief pitching and three errors led to Michigan's downfall. Saturday, Michigan played Iowa State (0-1) before continuing its series against the Sooners. This time the Wolverines had trouble right from the beginning. Michigan starter Ray Ricken pitched out of a bases-loaded no- outs situation in the first inning, allowing just a run. The Cyclones took a 2-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth when the Wolverines came back to tie the game on a couple of hits. Scott Weaver tripled following a See BASEBALL, Page 10 Sophomore shortstop Ryan Van Oeveren is shown in action last season against Siena Heights. Van Oeveren and senior shortstop Scott Timmerman are the only two Wolverines to appear in all 13 games so far this season. BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK Channel 7 reports Rose ticketed for loitering in front of crack house last fall by Ken Davidoff Daily Basketball Writer Reports in today's Detroit Free Press and on last night's WXYZ-TV news broadcast allege that Michigan guard Jalen Rose was ticketed last October for loitering outside a Detroit crack house. Rose was attending a party at the house at the time of the citation. Athletic department officials refused to comment before seeing the article in today's paper. "The Free Press contacted us late this after- noon that they were running the story," said Bruce Madej, assistant athletic director for public relations. "I can't comment on anything until I see the story." Madej did say that Michigan basketball players are subject to drug tests throughout the season and that it is "guaranteed" that Rose has not failed a test during his time at the University. The Wolverines swept the season series from Michigan State for the first time since 1989, marking the first time Michigan coach Steve Fisher has accomplished the feat. TOURNAMENT TALK: With less than one week remaining until the NCAA announces its field for the 1993 basketball tournament, spec- ulation flies high on which Big Ten members will receive invitations to the big dance. . "I think we've got Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Purdue for sure," Fisher said. "I think Minnesota's almost for sure. Now you've got Wisconsin and you've got Michigan State. So we've got six I think for sure. "Now, I think they would like to take seven; if, for instance, Wisconsin could win the next two and go 9-9 (Big Ten), I think they'll get in. If Michigan State wins the next two and go 8-10, 16-11 (overall), I don't know, maybe. So it will be that close, I think." The Big Ten set its own record when it sent seven representatives - Michigan State, Pur- due, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana and Ohio State - to the 1990 NCAA Tournament. PULLING RANK: At different junctures this season, eight Big Ten teams have played their way into the nation's top 25. The last few weeks, however, this list has stabilized to in- clude just four Big Ten participants. In the latest USA Today/CNN poll, Indiana and Michigan hold the second and third spots, while Purdue and Iowa also reside next to each other at Nos. 17 and 18. Illinois and Minnesota reached the close-but-no-cigar, "Others Re- ceiving Votes".group. WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH THIS CHUMP? CAN'T HE SEE WE WANT HIM TO SIT DOWN SO WE CAN YELL "C-YA!" AT THE TOP OF OUR LUNGS?: Crisler Arena crowd's recently initiated tradition of squeal- ing "C-Ya!" after an opposing player fouls out took a beating Sunday from Weshinskey. After fouling out in overtime, the Michigan State junior refused to sit down, thus forcing the fans to moan in anticipation of Weshinskey's placing his rear end on his seat. This proved especially awkward when Michigan players had to shoot free throws, re- sulting in an ebb and flow of noise depending on which side had the ball. Only when Weshinskey exited the arena floor did the fans get the satisfaction of releasing their chant. "I saw something like that at Duke, and I guess they picked it up from there," Weshinskey said. "They (the fans) had been all over us the whole game, and I decided to have a little fun with them." Reportedly, Weshinskey also mooned a couple of Wolverine fans during his stand-up protest. CELEBRITY ROW: As would be expected, big names came to Crisler to view the intra- state rivalry as if it were the premiere of the latest Arnold Schwarzenegger film. In addition to usual suspects Bo Schem- bechler and University President James Dud- erstadt, Michigan Governor John Engler and 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard attended. Women gymnasts succumb to Florida, Alabama; defeat MSU Final results of Indoor Championships held March 5-6 in Bloomington. by Thom Holden Daily Sports Writer The Michigan women's gymnas- tics team traveled to Gainesville, Fla. on Friday and was welcomed to the "big time." The eighth-ranked Wolverines (16-3 overall, 3-1 Big Ten) took on third-ranked Alabama, 11th-ranked Florida and Michigan State. Despite a respectable perfor- mance, Michigan finished third out of the four teams as both Alabama (195.05 points) and Florida (192.40) bested the Wolverines (191.55) and Michigan State (189.25). "We knew it was going to be ex- tremely tough to beat Florida at Florida - even though we were ranked ahead of them at the time (of the meet)." Michigan coach Bev Plocki said. "We didn't have our best meet." Even though the Wolverines fin- ished third, they did have some out- standing performances. Sophomore All-American Beth Wymer won the all-around competition with a score of 39.20. Teammate Kelly Carfora finished second with 38.65 points. Individual performances aside, Michigan's team effort in the meet caused concern for Plocki. "When you start to have so many good meets in a row, you start to think things are going to come au- tomatically. And you quit putting the effort into making (consistently strong performances)," Plocki said. "We had the confidence, but I think we've got to remember to keep the eye of the tiger, so to speak." "We have all of the skills, we just need to work on our consistency," Wymer said. The Florida meet marked the re- turn of Wymer, who had been sitting out of the floor exercises with a strained and possibly torn achilles tendon. She will be ready for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments later this month. The Wolverines are trying to pre- pare for the Big Ten championship without looking past the final home meet. "I think we were looking toward the Big Tens and looking past the other meets," senior co-captain Julie Hofmeister said. "We just have to take one meet at a time." Rookie Wendy Marshall was named the Big Ten women's gym- nast of the month for February. She posted all of her season-high scores during the team's spring break meets, breaking Wymer's school record of 9.80 on the vault with a 9.90. Place 1 2 3 4 5 Team P Illinois, Wisconsin Michigan Penn State Indiana oints 130 89 62 43 42 Place 6 7 8 9 10 Team Points Ohio State 39 Iowa 33 Purdue 32 Michigan St. 10 Minnesota 8 E5 I 1 " WE DELIVER!!! a W - 665-7777 I I f L--- - 15 WINGS I $3.25! Piteher'. 1 , Any Bud Family delivery exci u1l«d 'd .-----------------J THE ROAD TO THE FINAL FOUR Ticket Lottery Information for Student/Faculty/Staff Basketball Season Ticket Holders 1993 NCAA Regionals & Final Four (Regionals) Location Date Price East Meadowlands Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ March 26 & 28 $58.00 Southeast Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC March 25 & 27 $51.00 Midwest St. Louis Arena, St., Louis, MO March 25 & 27 $61.00 West Kingdome, Seattle, WA March 26 & 28 $65.00 Final Four Superdome, New Orleans, LA April 3 & 5 $65.00 Applications for Regional tickets will be accepted March 15 - 17. Results posted at M Union Box Office & Athletic Ticket Office Monday, March 22. Applications for Final Four tickets will be accepted March 15 -24. Results posted at M Union Box Office & Athletic Ticket Office Monday, March 29.