When was the last time the
Michigan hockey team lost a
game in the first round of the
CCHA playoffs?

M"

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Blue stumbles into

1 1.

Tournament

Michigan
to face
Western
Kentucky
Sy Ryan White
aily Basketball Writer
The writing on Ray Jackson's base-
ball hat said it all, "Road to the Final
Four." And judging by the smile on his
face, Jackson was more than a little
relieved to be back in college
basketball's fast lane.
The Michigan basketball team made
its way off the NCAA Tournament
bubble that many had it on yesterday
when the pairings for this season's tour-
nament were announced.
The Wolverines landed a No.9 seed
in the Midwest region and will play the
No. 8 seed, Western Kentucky, Thurs-
day in Dayton, Ohio.
It is the fourth straight year that
Michigan has made the field of 64 and
seniors Jackson and Jimmy King know
nothing other than the tournament.
"This time it seemed a little cautious
and nervous," King said about watch-
ingtheselection show. "Now thatwe're
in, it's back to business."
Michigan coach Steve Fisher agreed
that the most important thing is that the
Wolverines are in the tournament.
"We're in the field and you don't
have a chance to win if you're not in,
he said. "So we have a chance."
While the Wolverines were forced
lo sit through the announcements of
both the East and West regions, as well
asaCBS commercial break before find-
ing out their fates - they figured out
early that they were in.
Both Illinois and Indiana, two teams
that Michigan swept during the regular
season, were given berths before the
Wolverines were announced.
Illinois is in the East region with
q4innesota, and Indiana is in the West.
"When Minnesota popped up it
eased it," King said of the Wolverines'
tension. "Then Indiana came up and
that eased it some more."
Michigan is facing aHilltopper team
thatcompiled 26 wins againstonly three
losses in the regular season. Western
Kentucky was 17-1 in the Sun Belt
Conference.
"We certainly have our work cutout
*or us," Hilltopper coach Matt Kilcullen
said. "Anytime you face a team from
the Big Ten, you're in for a tough
basketball game."
Both Michigan and Western Ken-
tucky were in the Midwest regional in
Wichita, Kan. last season.
"I was happy when I saw it was
Michigan," said Western Kentuckycen-
ter Darius Hall, a Detroit native. "I
doped we'd get a chance to play them
last year, but that didn't work out."
Chris Robinson was the chief
Hilltopper in the conference averaging
16.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.
Despite the fact that the Wolverines
lost to Purdue yesterday, they are look-
ing forward to what they call their third
season.
"The way we lost at Purdue was
tough," Jackson said. "But now I'm
Oappy and excited.
"I don't want to make any predic-

tions', but I think we can make a strong
run.

Purdue takes Big Ten title
with win over 'M',73-67


By Antoine Pitts
Daily Basketball Writer
WEST LAFAYETTE - With
Purdue going for the Big Ten champi-
onship and Michigan playing for the
NCAA Tournament this final confer-
ence game had plenty of meaning.
The Wolverines (11-7 Big Ten, 17-
13 overall) dropped their season finale,
73-67, to Purdue enabling the Boiler-
makers to take the Big Ten title out-
right. A loss would have meant sharing
the crown with Michigan State.
Purdue led throughout, holding
off a final Wolverine threat at the end
for the victory..
"I think this game kind of exem-
plified our whole season," Purdue
coach Gene Keady said. "It was a
struggle; kind of ugly; looks like you
may lose it and all of a sudden you
find a way to get over the hump."
The Boilermakers led by as many
as 16 points in the second half but the
Wolverines continued to fight.
Michigan found itself down nine
with 3:23 left before Jimmy King hit
a running jumper to cut it to 63-56.
The next time down the floor King hit
one free throw but missed the next.
The Wolverines got the offensive re-
bound and the Boilermakers fouled

Ray Jackson.
Jackson, who led all scorers with
22 points, hit two free throws with
2:17 left to cut the lead to four, forc-
ing Purdue to call timeout.
On the following possession the
Boilermakers worked down the shot
clock and almost didn't even get an
attempt off. With the clock nearing
zero, Porter Roberts could do nothing
but force a running jumper with Maceo
Baston right in his face.
"It was a tough shot," Roberts
said. "The shot clock was going off so
I was doing everything I could to get
it off."
Roberts hit the shot plus drew the
foul on Baston. Roberts missed the
free throw but the lead was back to six
with 1:42 to play..
"That took away any hope," Michi-
gan coach Steve Fisher said. "That
took all our breath away."
"Maybe you call it luck," Keady
said. "I call it time in the weight room.
It was a great play by a deserving
young man and that broke their back."
Purdue looked to have the Wol-
verines on the ropes in the first half,
building a 10 point lead. Michigan
went over six minutes without a field
goal but picked up plenty of personal

"I think this
game kind of
exemplified our
whole season. "
-Gene Keady
Purdue basketball coach
fouls in the meantime. Jimmy King
went to the bench with his third foul
with 9:56 to play in the half,
The Wolverines scored the last
four points of the half, including a
Maurice Taylor basket with seconds
on the clock to cut the lead to six.
"Going into halftime I felt good,"
Fisher said. "I thought we caught a
break at the end of the half. We were
hoping to be down 10 and we were
only down six."
Cuonzo Martin hit two straight
3-pointers to open the half as Purdue
went on a 10-0 run. Fisher burned
two of his timeouts as all of a sud-
den the Wolverines were facing a
16-point deficit. Michigan hit an-
other long drought, not even scor-
See PURDUE, Page 5

TONYA BROAD/Daily
Maceo Baston scores two of his four points in yesterday's loss to Purdue.


Mo vingonup
Taylor rises above other freshmen
By Ryan White
Daily Basketball Writer
It was one of the toughest decisions that Cathy Taylor ever had to make.
Tired of worrying about her 11I-year-old son in the rough neighborhoods of east
Detroit, she made the decision to send him across town to live with his aunt in a safer
area with better schools.
"When I first told Maurice, he didn't want to go," Cathy says. "He cried, we all cried. But
it has definitely been for the best."
Maurice's aunt, Sabrina Lloyd, had always been around. She would frequently stop at his
house on Omira Street to stress the importance of academics and to help him with his
schoolwork.
Though he says he knew more kids on the right path than the wrong, Maurice
knows that his mother's neighborhood wasn't the ideal place to grow up.
"It was kind of rough over there," he remembers. "There were always a lot of
things going on around us and my mother didn't like that so she sent me to my
aunt's.
While the difference between his mother's neighborhood and his aunt's wasn't
great, it was enough to give Maurice the opportunity he needed.
"In Detroit, there are certain areas that may be a little bit better than others,"
says Lloyd. "It was a little bit more comfortable, and that's not saying he
wouldn't have to deal with some of the same things, but it was a little more
comfortable.
"It wasn't a big difference, but it gave him another outlook on the
situation. I guess a lot of people might say that his area was more where....
you would have gangs and things like that. (The move) gave him the outlook
that you could be comfortable."
Lloyd describes the neighborhood where she lived when Maurice arrived as "settled down," the
kind of place where the neighbors knew each other and kept an eye out for one another.
See TAYLOR, Page 8

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See TOURNEY, Page 5

DOUGLAS KANTER/Daily

Men's track fourth at
NCAA championships

Bucks prove no match for Blue
Knuble's twin hat tricks lead Wolverines in sweep of Ohio State

Y Brian Skiar
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - In a season

The star of the meet for the Wol-
verines was Kevin Sullivan. Sullivan
won the mile with a meet record time

By Tom Seeley
Daily Hockey Writer
At the end of this weekend's

to the CCHA All-Rookie team,
stopped all 15 Ohio State shots en
route to his second shutout in four

Carter trail with 33 and 32, respec-
tively.
"That's as good a way as you can
think orf to finish off vuur hm-c