The Michigan Daily - Monday, November 28, 1994 - 11 Legendary coach talks about the college game, past and present The game of college basketball has seen many great coaches. How- ever, few are as legendary John Wooden. "The Wizard of Westwood" coached for 29 years - 27 at UCLA and two at Indiana State. With the Bruins, he amassed 673 victories and led UCLA to 10 national champion- ships in 12 years, and atonepointhad an 88-game winning streak Along the way Wooden has coached such college greats as Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Bill Walton, to name a few. Daily sports writer Chris *Murphy spoke to Wooden, who is the only person to be elected to the Basketball Hall ofFameas aplayerand coach, aboutthe coach's experiences in the game and how the game has changed over the years. Daily: How do you think the game of college basket- ball has changed since you left the sidelines? *Wooden: The greatest changes in the game have been the rule changes that have been made. First, a tremendous rule change was the abolishment of the center jump, then came -h the three-second rule. In re- cent years, since Iretired from coaching the two biggest changes have been the time (shot) clock and the three- point goal. D: Have there been any changes that have had a nega- tive effect on the game? W: I see taunting a lot now, I don't like that. And I think they are permitting the game to become too physical. And that takes away from the beauty of the game. I think Obasketball is a game of fi- nesse and maneuverability. I think television has : brought on an enormous amountofshowmanship. Ican '- see the showmanship for the professionals because that is ashow, but forintercollegiate interscholastic, I don't like it. D: Have you seen any change in he players and how they play the game? W: It's unbelievable how good they are. But as the players have got- ten better individually, it seems to me that team play has not improved. As a matter of fact I think it has regressed a little bit. The old-timers like myself seem to think [the players] are not doing as well fundamentally. I can't say for sure that &strue or not, if so, it's probably because the players put more emphasis on fancy dunks and outside shooting D: Now, you were able to win 10 national titles. What kind of philoso- phy did you present to your players to keep them winning and keep the team on top for so long? W: You must remember that ev- ery individual is different and every *eam will have its own identity. And you have to analyze the squad that you have and work with them accord- ingly. My philosophy was I never men- tioned winning. My basis was always on improving yourself and not worry about the other fella. Improve a little each day and make every day your masterpiece, and don't lose a day. I never believed in rah-rah, or motivating. My ways were quiet ways. We never came charging out of the dressing room, I wanted them to come out quietly, get warmed up and go play the game. My halftime talks were constructive talks in regard to the play and what we could do better. There was very little emotion shown; just businesslike. Lewis Alcindor is the most valuable player I ever coached. I'd say Bill Walton might possibly have been a better player but not as valuable. I could go on and on, but for me to pick one player, I couldn't do that. D: What do you think was the toughest team you had to face? W: The team with the best play- ers. That would change from year to could go on and on. D: How do you participate in col- lege basketball today? W: I have no active part. I go to all of UCLA's home games, I'm inter- ested in it but that's all. I'm not a TV hound that watches all sorts of games. I watch games that have a particular interest to me at times. I don't have it on all the time and having so many games televised dur- ing the season you could probably have your televi- sion on most all the time. That's one of the bad things that's happened in my opinion. You see games every day of the week. Tele- vision has brought about so much missed school and we're getting away from the real purpose of inter- collegiate athletics. I think that because of the need perhaps for income to fi- nance all sports they are playing more games now and missing more school. D: Do you have a par- ticular memory from coach- ing or playing that you cher- ish most? W: Oh, many. I was very fortunate as a player to make the All-American team every year I played and was picked as player of the year my senior year. To do that you have to have great teammates and I did. And I played under a won- derfulcoach-there's been no better coach than Pinky Lambert of Purdue. With all the championship teams I had, certainly I have so many memories about games. Really I have been so fortunate. Let me put it this way, I am far more proud of the fact that I received the Big ORMATION Ten medal for academic work. I'm more proud of that than being basketball player of the year because being player of the year or an all-american player means you must have had good teammates or you wouldn't receive the recogni- tion. To be selected [the player] with the highest grade-point-average, you earned that. I'm proud that I was se- lected on the GTE Academic All- American team. I'm very proud that I was selected as a Disney All-Time Teacher. I'm extremely proud that practically all my players graduated. Things like that are more important to me than scores of games. TONYA BROAD/Daily The women's volleyball finished its season with an 8-23 overall record. Spikers close out year with weekend sweep By RODERICK BEARD Daily Sports Writer It's hard to find something to smile about after a season in which a team only wins eight times in 31 chances. But the women's volleyball team can smile and feel good about the way it ended the season. This weekend, the Wolverines did something they had done only once all season -- win two matches in a row. Michigan (4-16Big Ten, 8-23 over- all) closed its season with home victo- ries over Wisconsin, Friday, and North- western, Saturday. The Wolverines sur- prisedtheBadgers, sweeping the match, 15-5, 15-13, 15-4. Michigan followed that with a 15-11,2-15, 15-7, 15-12 win against the Wildcats. Wisconsin (10-9, 20-11) should qualify for the NCAA tournament, as it did last season, but the Badgers were no match for the Wolverines. Michigan jetted out to a 15-5 game one win but trailed 13-7 in the second game. The young Wolverines battled back, how- ever, and took the game's final eight points. Michigan surrendered only four points in an easy third game. The Wolverines unveiled an ef- fective hitting attack, with a season- best .351 percentage. Shannon Brownlee paced Michigan's offense with 14 kills and a .417 efficiency; Sarah Jackson added 13 kills and a sizzling .476 percentage. Friday's sweep of Wisconsin, coupled with Northwestern's loss to Michigan State set the scene for the UCLA SPORTS INF D: After having so many winning seasons at UCLA, what do you think was your best year? W: Well according to my defini- tion of success it was probably a team that didn't win the national champi- onship. I had four teams that went undefeated, now you can't do any better than that. But I'm not sure if any one of those four were better than some teams that lost one or two games. I had other teams that didn't win the championship that probably came closer to their potential than other teams that won championships. So I would not attempt to single out. D: As you view the game of col- lege basketball, how do you think one of your national championship squads would match up with a championship team today? W: I wouldn't be worried about stacking up with teams today. I'm not saying we'd win, I'm just saying we would could compete very favorably in my opinion. I would have no hesi- tation about stacking them up against the better collegiate teams I see today. D: Who do you think is the best player you ever coached? W:Oh I would never make a state- ment of that sort as to pick a best player. I'll make statements like this: year. There are a lot of good coaches, but coaches differ in ability just like players differ in ability. But no coach does real well consistently unless he has the players. Now not every coach does well with the players, but no coach does it without them. Coaches are not equal in ability any more than players are. D: Do you remember any indi- vidual players you and the Bruins faced that you thought were particu- larly tough. W: Oh, by all means, many. The one that knocked us out of the tourna- ment twice when we won our confer- ence was Bill Russell of USF (Uni- versity of San Francisco), he was just tremendous. I think Austin Carr of Notre Dame was an outstanding player. Cazzie Russell at Michigan, Lucas and Havlicek at Ohio State. I GET CUT FROM THE PROS. Go where the athletes go-- Barber Shop & Skate Sharpening battle for the Big Ten basement. The Wildcats (3-17, 12-20) had a seven- match losing streak and had only one win in their last 17 matches overall. Michigan extended that losing streak to eight, as it won three of its final four matches to finish with four con- ference victories. That mark vaulted the Wolverines from 11th into a ninth- place tie with Purdue, leaving North- western in last place in the Big Ten. Suzy O'Donnell had 15 kills and Brownlee contributed 14. Jackson continued her outstanding play with 12 kills and a .417 efficiency against the Wildcats. The end of the season means the end of the careers of Michigan seniors Julie Sherer and Aimee Smith. Sherer and Smith leave career marks in the Wol- verine record book behind, thoigh. Sherer finished sixth on the all-time assist list; Smith is fourth in career block assists and No. 5 in career digs. "It's sad to see (Aimee) go," Michi- gan coach Greg Giovanazzi said. "She; was a pleasure to coach, possibly the best player to come through the Michi- gan program." In her final two matches, Smith contributed to the Wolverines' victo- ries with six kills and 11 digs against Wisconsin and four kills and 15 digs versus Northwestern. Sherer, a back- row specialist, did not see action in either match. "We're gonna miss Julie and Aimee a lot," Giovanazzi said. If only the season were a little longer. nt L 12 STA TRAVEL I I I I .'- LL Swimwear and accessories at Action Sports Wear 663-6771 419 E. Liberty 2 Blocks o8 of State worlds largest stude youth travel organiza- O - 777 -0O 8o We're adopting new family members at 668-8669 Dan & Jerry 806 S.State bet. H ill & Packard .. .. . mma MEDICAL CAREERS F ROY ® SOAR IN THE AIR FORCE There are many direc- tions your medical career can go. But only the Air Force J We offer a variety of positions, ....a i . r .. ...1.. .... :, x AMA .~' ,1:1 C