r, When was the last time the Michi- gan men's basketball team did not make a postseason tournament? 'M' sports calendar WMEB hockey poll Bach's Score Q & A Hockey Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Volleyball Women's swimming 2 2 3 4 5 5 6 6 'M' smokes Spartans, Broncos to take our-point CCHA lead By Melanie Schuman Daily Hockey Writer EAST LANSING - This week- end the Michigan hockey team found the simplest way to gain ground in the CCHA standings. It won back-to-back *rucial league contests against Michi- gan State, 5-3, and Western Michi- gan, 8-3. With Bowling Green playing a non-conference series versus Alaska- Fairbanks, the Wolverines took ad- vantage of their two remaining games in hand to stretch their one-point lead *Women ' basketball splits with Big Ten foes ' y John Leroi Daily Basketball Writer Not quite your typical weekend for the Michigan women's basketball team. The Wolverines began the three- day road trip with an embarrassing loss to Purdue on Friday, but dug themselves out of the basement with a 74-69 victory over Illinois, pulling Ohead of the Illini and into tenth place in the Big Ten standings Friday night the Wolverines (3-8 Big Ten, 8-13 overall) took on No. 19 Purdue (16-6, 8-3) in famed Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers gunned down Michigan, 85-34, marking the second time in as many contests that Purdue has thrashed the Wolverines by at least 50 points. The loss is Michigan's 18th straight to Purdue. Sunday the Boilers defeated No. 3 Penn State at home, 57-43. The Wolverines only good stretch against Purdue came in the middle of the first half. Despite spotting the Boilermakers a 9-0 lead, the Wolver- ines fought back to trail by eight. Jennifer Brzezinski's driving layup with just over nine minutes left in the alf cut the score to 22-16. But the Wolverine's could only control Purdue's front line for so long. Led by All-American candidate Stacey Lovelace and forward Jannon Roland, the Boilers ended the half on an 18-2 run. Roland had eight points to ignite the run. Purdue's height plagued the Wol- verines for the entire game. The Boil- ermakers outscored the Wolverines @4-12 in the paint. "We were outmanned, outheighted, outshot and outplayed," coach Trish Roberts said. "It's darn tough to score over girls that much taller than we are." The only thing in Michigan's fa- vor in the second half was the posses- sion arrow. Purdue opened up the second half with a 25-6 run capped by See WOMEN, Page 5 over the Falcons to four. Michigan would not be so comfortably atop the CCHA had it not awakened in the final 20 minutes of both contests to score a total of seven goals. The Wolverines (16-2-1 CCHA, 21-4-1 overall) traveled to Munn Ice Arena to take on Michigan State (12- 4-3, 17-7-3) in their lone matchup at that venue this season. One would expect Michigan to come out full of intensity, riding the wave of a blowout victory the night before against Western. But it came out flat and Michigan State set the tempo through much of the first two periods. Knotted at 3-3 after two periods, Michigan put the game away when Mike Knuble netted the game winner 5:09 into the third. Brendan Morrison was caught at the point with two Spar- tan defenders literally crawling down his back. Somehow he managed to fight both off and found Knuble, who shot it through Spartan goalie Mike Buzak's five hole. Morrison notched an insurance goal four minutes later when he beat Buzak the same way. "As the game went along our de- fense coughed up some loose pucks and allowed them to walk in," Michi- gan State coach Ron Mason said. Freshman Matt Herr sparked his teammates 6:58 into the second after Ron Sacka, skating at left wing so Herr could center the checking line, put the puck on net from the left boards. Herr deflected the puck be- hind Buzak's stick side into the net and the Wolverines tied the score, 2- 2. About seven minutes later, off a faceoff scramble in the Michigan zone, Spartan senior Matt Albers' wrist shot beat Marty Turco as Michigan State regained the lead. The second period was relatively clean, but the whistle blew three times late, within a span of 1:16, leading to a Michigan power play and a John Madden goal. Herr put Michigan on the scoreboard in the first when, as he had done the night before, he converted a scoring opportunity while Anson Carter watched from the penalty box. Michigan was down 2- 1 after the first, mostly due to outstanding goaltending by Buzak. It had scrambled to convert on the man advantage during the final two minutes of the first period, and despite some crafty setups, the unit simply could not find the back of the net. Michigan waltzed away with two points from a 5-3 win, but it was essentially a four-point game Not only did the Wolverines shut-down See CCHA, Page 4 Gophers drill cagers, 80-58 Poor shooting dooms Wolverines By Ryan White has been seeing only limited action Daily Basketball Writer due to arthritic knees, played strong MINNEAPOLIS - The Michi- the entire game and finished with I I gan and Minnesota basketball teams points and ten rebounds. played a game of catch Saturday night. Townsend Orr led the Gophers The Wolverines would throw up shots, with 20 points. and the Golden Gophers would pull Lenard and Walton, however, them in as they missed. weren't alone in helping to bury the Michigan (6-3 Big Ten, 12-9 over- Wolverines; Michigan did its share to all) shot 35.5 percent from the floor, help finish itself off. and was even worse from 3-point The Wolverines hit just 5 of 23 range, en route to a 80-58 loss to the attempts from behind the 3-point arc, Golden Gophers in front of 14,520 at and connected on only 52.9 percent of Williams Arena. their free throws. Michigan stayed close to Minne- Michigan's shooting problems sota (6-3, 15-6) for most of the first were not confined to just behind the half, but a 15-4 Gopher run beginning 3-point line. with 4:33 to go in the half put the The Wolverines were 22 of 62 game out of the Wolverines' reach for from the floor as a team, and indi- good. vidually were not much better. Ray Minnesota's run was keyed by Jackson finished just 3 of 12, Willie senior Voshon Lenard who knocked Mitchell 4 of 12 and Jimmy King 3 of down three treys in the last 2:12 of the 10. first half. Furthermore, Michigan was out Lenard's baskets helped transform rebounded 44-33, and Minnesota's a seven-point Gopher lead into a 16- 28 defensive rebounds led to a num- point cushion at the half. ber of easy baskets for the Gophers. "We got spanked pretty good from "What contributed to the last seven or eight minutes of the (Minnesota' s) runs was rebounding," first half until the end of the game," Jackson said. "We didn't rebound at Michigan coach Steve Fisher said. "If all." we could have snuck out of the first Michigan also never got an inside half without Voshon hitting those 3- game going. Freshman Maurice Tay- pointers, we could have been right in for finished the game with ten points, it in the second half." but he scored all of them in the first Lenard, who returned to Minne- half. Maceo Baston also finished with sota after being drafted late in the ten, but tire Wolverines were never second round of the NBA Draft by the able to consistently get the ball into Milwaukee Bucks, was scoreless in the paint. the game until he hit his first 3-pointer. Minnesota, on the other hand, was "We were trying to get everybody able to go inside once Michigan be- involved in the offense," Lenard said. gan keying on Lenard and Orr. As a "But in the last three or four minutes result the Gophers made ten more I let the game come to me and I was free throws (27) than the Wolverines able to hit some shots." attempted (17). Lenard picked up at the beginning The two squads combined for 47 of the second half where he left off, fouls, including technicals against hitting another 3-pointer 32 seconds Jackson and Minnesota's Chad in. He finished the game with 19 Kolander. Although Michigan ap- points, peared to get the short end of the calls. Minnesota also got a boost from Taylor didn't blame the officiating. senior Jayson Walton. Walton, who "I don't think (the officials) let it See MEN, Page 5 Men's swimming ends season with n Michigan forward Ray Jackson, looks dejected in the Wolverines 80-58 loss to Minnesota. The Gophers' Townsend Orr (above) had 20 points to spark his squad's victory. Michigan is now 12-9 overall and sits in third place in the Big Ten conference. The Wolverines take on Ohio State Wednesday night at Crisler arena in the teams' only meeting of the season. For more men's l coverage, see page 5 ong un Jason Botterill matured early as a player and a person By Barry Sollenberger Daily Hockey Writer When you walk up to Jason Botterill, one of the first things you're bound to notice is the ring on his left hand. Indeed it looks less like a ring than a hunk of gold, It is, in fact, his reward for playing on the 1993 gold medal-winning Ca- adian world junior team. Botterill owns a ring of compa- rable size, but this one sits in his dresser drawer beneath his underwear. He received the ring after the Michi- gan hockey team won the CCHA play- off chamnionhin Iast March (nttril Botterill says. "I've always hated losing, but when you know you're the better team and yu lose, it's even worse." It was a crushing end to an otherwise brilliant season for the Wol- verines and their fresh- man left wing. Botterill finished the year with 21 goals and 19 assists, Ponod enanh for a snot is capable of winning something bigger than that." He uses the ring to motivate himself to certainly not boyish. In fact, he prob- ably wouldn't have any trouble pass- ing for a more coveted age at the local bar. a.help Michigan erase He always seemed more mature the hurt of last than others his age. As a sophomore year.in high school, Botterill made the Then again, difficult decision to leave home in Botterill has never Winnipeg, Manitoba and go to St. needed to rely on a Paul's School in Concord, N.H. so he tool for motivation, would stand a better chance of receiv-- He is always moti- ing a college scholarship. vaed "He has always made decisions vae . .for his development that have been w Born May 19,1976, beneficial to him," Botterill's mother Botterill is the youngest Doreen says. "When he went away to By Dan McKenzie Daily Sports Writer EAST LANSING - The dual meet season is finally over for the Michigan men's swimming team and probably no one is happier about that than the team members themselves. The Wolverines (3-0 Big Ten, 9-1 overall) are now in the post-season which is the only thing they've been looking forward to all year. Michigan came into the season ranked as the No. 1 team. Keep in mind, it is possible to lose every dual meet and still win the national cham- pionship. Therefore, the dual 'meet season can be looked at as one long warm-up for the meet that counts. that made the trip was sophomore Tom Dolan. After being sick two weeks ago and missing the Indiana meet, Dolan gave one of his more impressive perfor- mances of the season. Dolan's performance was so im- pressive that at one point during the meet, one of the referees turned around and commented to Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek, "He doesn't belong in this pool." "When Tom Dolan is swimming that fast in a dual meet and he isn't even shaved or tapered, then you wonder what he's going to do in the post-sea- son," Michigan State coach Richard Bader said. "They've got higher level caliber athletes than we do." "i oi rkie my,elf" Dlnpid.