Page 4- The Michigan Daily -- Sports Monday-- March 22,1993
Adam Miller a
Blue downs Coastal in
tourney opener, 84-53
Coast to coast for
Coastal? That's crazy
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Have you ever wondered what criteria psychiatrists
used to classify someone as "certifiably crazy"?
I'm not sure what the clinical answer is, but I can give you an experien-
tial example from the sports world:
A Michigan basketball devotee leaves Ann Arbor for Detroit last Thurs-
day. He departs Metro Airport for Tucson 10 a.m. Friday, arriving at 12:45
p.m. Tucson time (a nearly five-hour trip after a change of planes in Dallas).
He races to his hotel, checks in, and heads to the McKale Center to con-
firm his seats. Later that night, he watches the Wolverines pound Coastal
Carolina, 84-53. The next morning, he returns to Ann Arbor, since he has a
pressing commitment Monday morning and could not get out of Tucson
Sunday night.
How do I know this story? The man in the story is me.
I had made plans earlier last month to cover the tournament for the
Daily, assuming I would depart Arizona today. Then last week I learned I
had a scholarship interview this morning. Suddenly, I faced a dilemma.
I could not attend the tournament as originally planned, since I had to be
back on time. But was it worth it just to go to see Michigan-Coastal Car-
olina, a No. 1 versus a No. 16, a practically done deal before tipoff?
I decided yes. Here's why.
Because, even though it was Wolverines-Chanticleers, even though it
was on the other side of the country, even though many called it a meaning-
less game ...
Wait a minute. That's why I went - it was not a meaningless game. It
was the first round of the NCAA tournament, and despite everything you
can say about it, it still was a tournament game.
For it wasn't really a done deal, was it? Michigan could have lost. Say it
again: though unlikely from the talent mismatch, Michigan could have lost.
Don't believe it? No. 15 Santa Clara beat No. 2 Arizona, 64-61, Thurs-
day night at the West regional in Salt Lake City. It was only the second 15-2
upset in NCAA history, the first being Richmond's 73-69 defeat of Syracuse
in 1991.
The afternoon I arrived, I saw part of the afternoon session at the
McKale Center. Georgia Tech, the West No. 3 seed, lead No. 14 seed
Southern by 10, 22-12, less than halfway through the first stanza. Busy with
other arrangements to make before the Michigan game, I left.
Of course you know by now that Southern won, 93-78. And only later
did I learn that the first game of that session was also an upset, with No. 12
George Washington beating No. 5 New Mexico, 82-68.
Other regions had their upsets, too. No. 11 Tulane took out No. 6 Kansas
State, 56-53, in a Southeast region first round game. No. 7 Western Ken-
tucky knocked out No. 2 Seton Hall - a pre-tournament favorite for the Fi-
nal Four in most books, since the Pirates had won 12 straight to finish the
regular season - 72-68, in a second round Southeast affair. No. 6 Califor-
nia sent Duke packing, 82-77, in the Midwest, making it the first time in
seven years the Blue Devils won't be in the Final Four.
But that's the beauty of the NCAA tournament format. It's not the NBA
Fials, where the better team usually wins over the course of seven games.
No. One bad night, and we'll C-YA next year.
And that's why they call it March Madness.
That's the beauty of the NCAA tournament
format. It's not the NBA Finals, where the
better team usually wins over the course of
seven games. No. One bad night, and we'll
C-YA next year.
Furthermore - and perhaps because of this - there's an aura, a
pageantry, if you will, that goes with the NCAA tournament, even in the
early rounds. No team plays at its home site, so all make a journey to the
competition (don't get me started on how the selection committee, greedy
for cash, manipulates the system so that it often fails to live up to its ideal
- witness Indiana at Assembly...er, the Hoosier Dome).
Hotel space is, therefore, impossible to find. Tickets are scarce. The fans
who do make it are rabid. For instance, I saw some people there that I also
saw following the team in Hawaii last December.
So go ahead. Call me crazy.
Better yet - call me mad.
by Adam Miller
Daily Basketball Writer
TUSCON, Ariz. - Prior to the
Michigan men's basketball team's
first-round NCAA game Friday
night against Coastal Carolina, no
No. 16 seed had ever beaten a No. 1
seed. Yet, this weekend was full of
upsets as Georgia Tech, Arizona,
Duke and Seton Hall all lost.
You didn't pick this one as an
upset in your pool, did you?
The Wolverines eliminated the
Chanticleers easily, 84-53, to ad-
vance to the second round against
UCLA. The Chanticleers held their
only lead with under two minutes
elapsed in the contest, 5-4, when
senior forward Tony Dunkin nailed a
three-pointer from the right baseline.
The game was essentially decided
when Michigan went on a 10-0 run
midway through the first half to take
command, 27-11. The first half
ended with Michigan leading, 44-25.
"When we got down we took bad
shots," Chanticleer coach Russ
Bergman said. "We've got good
shooters but we've got to take good
shots. We took bad shots."
Coastal Carolina, a team that shot
.443 during the regular season, made
18-for-65 field goal attempts (.277),
including 3-for-25 on three-point at-
tempts.
Michigan effectively contained
Dunkin, the four-time Big South
Player of the Year. Dunkin shot 4-
for-20 on the evening, and had only
one field goal in the second half.
Dunkin averaged 23 points on the
season, but had only 17 points in
Friday's contest.
"I feel like a fallen trooper,"
Dunkin said.
Much of the credit for Dunkin's
containment belongs to Michigan
forward Ray Jackson, who turned in
a solid performance for the Wol-
verines. Not only did Jackson lead
the team in scoring - he had 19
points on 8-for-12 shooting from the
field, and was a perfect 2-for-2 from
the line - but he keyed a tenacious
matchup defense that assured that
whenever Dunkin touched the ball,
he had at least one Wolverine in his
face.
It was the first time this season
that the sophomore from Austin,
Texas, has led the team in scoring.
"Ray Jackson was more than just
scoring," Michigan coach Steve
Fisher said. "Our defense started
with him on Dunkin. He did an ex-
cellent job getting on him, gave him
no easy looks. So if you want to win,
that's the sort of solid effort you
need."
"We take nobody for granted,"
Jackson said. "We don't have that
kind of team. We worry about what
we have to do and nothing else."
The Wolverines also received
key support from center Juwan
Howard (16 points and 10 re-
bounds), forward Chris Webber (11
points and nine rebounds) and guard
Rob Pelinka (eight points).
Leading, 76-46, with just over
two minutes remaining in the game,
Fisher began clearing his bench. By
the end of the contest, the Wolver-
ines had inserted Dugan Fife, Leon
Derricks, Jason Bossard, and Sean
Dobbins.
Forward Ray Jackson lays the ball in during the first half of the Wolverines'
first round game against Coastal Carolina.
!
FULL COURT.
-RESS
Wolverine intangibles
push Blue past UCLA
by Andy De Korte
Daily Basketball Writer
TUCSON, Ariz. - All season, the Wolverines
heard the criticisms.
They would not win the tournament because:
they had no discipline, Fisher had no control over
his team, they would miss free throws down the
stretch. Just pick one. Everyone has a favorite.
The one you never heard was they had no
heart.
Well, in the Wolverines' latest contest - their
closest scrape with mortality, an 86-84 overtime
victory - they proved their critics right. Michigan
committed 17 turnovers. It shot 58% from the
free throw line - including 3-for-7 in overtime.
Jalen Rose stayed in the game after a stretch
when many coaches might have pulled him. He
hit two critical three-pointers during the larger
Wolverine run.
But he made mistakes shortly after Michigan
had built a 76-68 advantage, its largest lead of
the game - the point where Michigan tradi-
tionally loses its focus.
With 2:44 of regulation, he lost the ball in his
feet. The turnover led directly to a Shon Tarver
breakaway slam. The next trip down the court,
Rose's shot was blocked when he drove too far
into the lane and the ball caromed off of him out
of bounds.
Later, Fisher removed Rose from the game. "I
understand why he pulled ne," Rose said. "I
wasn't playing typical Jalen Rose basketball. It's
more important for the team to do well than for
one person."~
The free throws as well as the turnovers obvi-
ously could have cost Michigan the game.
However, Michigan refused to let that happen, as
tenuous as the victory margin may have been.
Trying to respond to another criticism - that they
showboat too much - cost the Wolverines dearly.
The first half seemed like an extension of
Friday's game against Coastal Carolina. Exuber-
ance did not abound - the Wolverines recorded
only four dunks. The level of competition did not
matter during the regular season.
The less-than-expected emotion represented
an answer to the showboat criticism. While
Webber did not wish to use that as an excuse, he
made it clear that they had toned down their act
before the second half. Webber sparked the
emergence from any emotional funk with a one-
handed alley-oop dunk from Juwan Howard.
From that point on, Webber would not let his
team lose.
"I didn't come to Michigan to play with five
soft starters, 16 soft players and three soft
coaches," Webber said, obviously not pleased
with the way his team lost control in the first
half. "I came to play with a bunch of people that
have heart and I think we showed that."
With a proud yet pained look on his face,
Webber continued to exhort his teammates.
Howard joined in by exploding down the court to
ignite crowd support.
The comeback continued and over the next 10
minutes Michigan had overcome its largest
deficit of the season and grabbed an eight-point
lead.
In the past, Michigan has thanked the media
for giving them something to prove. This game
nearly vindicated all the nation's critics. But in
the end, Michigan's talent and heart overcame
the criticisms and the Bruins.
BASKETBALL
Continued from page 1
After being down by as many as
19 points late in the first half,
Michigan took only its second lead
of the game on a Rose triple with
7:53 remaining in regulation. In the
seven minutes that preceded the
triple, the Wolverines blocked, re-
bounded and stole the show from
UCLA, going on a 14-4 run.
The Wolverines were not fin-
ished, as they continued their defen-
sive barnstorming and ran the lead to
eight.
"In the second half, we did a lot
better job and got an eight-point
lead," Fisher said. "I thought, maybe
like our kids did, that we would be
able to hang on (to the lead), but we
didn't."
COASTAL CAROLINA (53)
PG FT Rob..
Mn. N-A Ni-A O -T A FPtPs.
Dunkn 39 4-20 7-8 2-6 0 2 17
Acha 40 5-14 0-0 1-9 0 1 10
Key 17 1-3 0-1 1-2042
Hgck 39 3-17 2-2 1-4 2 1 9
Hart 33 3-6 2-2 3-3 1 0 8
Johncan 22 1-1 0-1 2-4 0 4 2
DoyyIe 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Wils 6 1-3 3-3 2-3 0 0 5
Saunders- 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Grisset 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
To, 20018-514-1715-5 1 00
F016 .277. FT/*- .624. Three-point goals: 3-
25. .120 (Dunkin 2-9, Hicks 1-4. Aa0.5. Hart 0-
2, Wills 0.1) Team rebounds: 4. ,ocks: 2(Km,
Aca.Turnovers: 13 (Ache 8, Dunkin 2. Hart 2.
Hicks 2,Key). Steals:6 (Hart 2, Acha. Dunkin.
Hicks.,Willis). Technical fouls: none.
An offensive explosion led to a
19-point first-half lead. Ed O'Ban-
non and Kevin Demsey both went
three-for-three from the three-point
line in the half and Shon Tarver
scored a Bruin high 24 points.
"They didn't miss in the first
half," Fisher said. "It was more them
than us. They shot seven-for-nine
from three-point range and 21-30
overall. But it was a little bit us, we
didn't aggressively fight through
screens, and they had good looks at
their shots."
Juwan Howard's defensive effort
against Ed O'Bannon may have been
the key to the turnaround. O'Bannon
scored 17 points in the first 9:57 of
the game. He would not return to the
scorer's column until he made two
free throws with 2:38 remaining in
overtime.
UCLA (84)
FO FT Rob.
Mn. M-A M-A O -T A FPtsl.
Butler 35 6-9 2-2 4-7 2 4 14
OBannon 35 6-11 4-5 1-3 0 2 19
Petruska 37 3-12 0-0 0-3 2 5 7
Edney 45 3-8 4-4 3-7 6 3 10
Tarver 42 10-18 4-7 2-3 1 1 24
Zimmerm'n 15 0-0 1-2 0-1 0 4 1
Demsey 14 3-6 0-0 1-2 0 0 8
Zidek 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
BMe 1is0 0-0 " 0 0 0
Totals 22531-6415-2012-29.11 20 84
FG%- .484. FT%/- . 750. Three-point goals:?7-
15.467 (O'Bannon 3-5, Demsey 3-4, Petruska 1-
4, Edney 0-1, Turner 0-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocks: 2 (Petruska. Zimmerman Turnovers: 9
(Edneyf 3, Petruska 2, Butler, Turner, Zidek,
Zimmerman). Steals: 10 (Turner 3" Edney 2.
Petruska 2, Butter, Demsey, O'Bannon).
Technical fouls: none.
BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK
On second try, Dobbins
pulls off trick-play basket
by Andy De Korte
and Adam Miller
Daily Basketball Writers
TUCSON, Ariz. - It had to work one time.
In the last regular season game against Northwestern, Michigan coach
Steve Fisher made a concerted effort to get senior walk-on Sean Dobbins a
basket through a trick play.
While it didn't work against the Wildcats, Dobbins scored a lay-up using
the same play in Friday's game against Coastal Carolina.
"It's kind of a perfect play for me," Dobbino said. "I was just trying to
scoot out of there not really that noticeable. It worke, perfectly, they were
scrambling around because they didn't know who they were going to guard.
It was really good to score."
To run the play, Dobbins hid among the players on the bench before
springing out to receive a long inbounds pass from downcourt.
"In my Michigan career, this is proba- y the highest," Dobbins said.
"This is the NCAA tournament, something u dream of."
SOMETHING IN THE WATER: The 1 n who has the most fun at the
McKale Center is not a player, fan, or c. .. No, it is undoubtedly the
scorer who records play-by- play transcripts for the media. While most tran-
scripts are cut and dry, the Arizona scorer couldn't resist inserting suppos-
edly comedic lines in the transcri-t.
For example, with 14:09 renm ining in the first half of the Coastal Car-
olina game, Jalen Rose sailed ViLough the lane for a dunk. The transcript
read, "Rose shows off the latest fashions for the STYLE JAM."
Later, when Eric Riley was. called for offensive charging, the transcript
said he "knocked down the barricades."
REIGN IN ARIZONA: In an odd twist of irony, Michigan used
Arizona's locker room in the McKale Center Friday night against Coastal
Carolina. The second-seeded Wildcats had lost the night before to Santa
Clara, 64-61.
"I just let the shock of warning sink in," Fisher said after the game
against the Chanticleers. "We know well enough not to take anybody for
granted."
Il(..{:.... ........i 1..'. Z7.1.....A - r-A..t.A r ... ~t
MICHIGAN (84)
PG
Min. M -A
Webber 26 5-10
,Jackson 26 8-12
Howard 31 6-11
Roee 25 3-2
Kng 30 0-2
Riley. 15 2-3
FT
N-A
1.3
2-2
4-5
2-4
2-4
2-2
Rib.
0.1'
2-9
2-3
4-10
0-3
1-5
3-9
A
4"
0
2
4
2
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F Ps.
2 11
3 19
1 16
3 9
1 2
2 6
MICHIGAN (86)
Min. M -A
Webber 42 12-162-714 17
Jackson 39 7-10 56 14 4 1
Howard 39 6-11
Rose 40 4-11
King 41 4-8 02 25 2 1
Riley 9 1-4 1- 46 2 3
FT
M-A
2-4
5-6
2-2
1-2
0-2
1-3
nn
OTi
7-1
-2
2-5
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4
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