Men's basketball Top 25 scores
No. 1 Kentucky 88 No. 6 Villanova 76
Auburn 73- Boston College 71
No. 8 Georgetown 77 No. 19 North Carolina 60
Providence 84 No. 13 Wake Forest 84

10,

Wednesday,
February 28, 1996


Mikhgan Iasfun,
deserves tourney bid

he Michigan men's basketball team has returned
from its monthlong valium trip, and not a second
too soon.
The Wolverines are finally beginning to look like a
team that not only will receive an NCAA Tournament
bid, but deserves one.
"We're making big plays down the stretch," said
power forward Maurice Taylor. "It feels real good.
Hopefully we can keep this up for awhile."
Last night, the Wolverines whipped a Michigan State
squad that has apparently given up winning for Lent. It
was the best performance by Michigan since Taylor was
in diapers.;
OK, so it hasn't been that long.
This should give you an idea of how easy this gamer
was for the Wolverines - they actually had fun.
"Before, we had a lot on ourM
minds," Taylor said. "Tonight we
had a lot of fun. We got up on them
early, kept them down, and at the
end of the game we had our fun."
Michigan State, meanwhile,
showed a national TV audience why
We haven't seen any Jud-Heathcote-,
Wishes-he-was-still-coaching-.the- MICHAEL
Spartans stories. Michigan State had ROSENBERG
trouble scoring. I don't mean the R
Spartans had trouble scoring a lot. Roses
Michigan State had trouble scoring are Read
at all.
Michigan State was stuck at eight points for what
seemed like forever but was in fact slightly longer. And
all eight of those points came courtesy of Quinton
Brooks. Brooks turned in an impressive and defiantr
performance - impressive because he led the team with7
I1 points, and defiant because he didn't transfer at u
halftime. "
Several spectators in Crisler Arena held up signs.
declaring the Spartans NIT-bound. They must have been
Michigan State fans, because the Spartans will be lucky #
to make the NIT. Michigan State is now 14-14 and
dangerously close to finishing below .500, a no-no for
the NIT selection committee.
A Michigan has no such concerns. The Wolverines
iunproved to 18-10, including 8-7 in the conference.
Their final three games are all winnable - at North-
western and Illinois, and Wisconsin at home.
The Wolverines finally look they are capable of
winning an important conference game on the road. This
didn't seem possible as recently as ... yesterday, beforer
Michigan pummeled the Spartans.
The big difference between the Wolverines' domi-"
mance last night and their struggles of the previous
month can be summed up in two words.
Travis Conlan.
,His numbers from last night - 4-for-10 from the
Id, 10 points, six assists - don't even begin to
"plain how well he played..
-He turned the ball over just once.
He was creative, instead of out of control, in transi-
hon. He knew when to drive to the basket, and he knew
then to set up a halfcourt offense.,
2 In short, he was a point guard. 'A'x"/ ',.rv /
"'Every point guard is the most important player (on
ir team)," Conlan said. "You touch the ball on 90 LS"G. f°tA"
rcent of the possessions. Tonight I had six assists and
e turnover. The guys feed off of that. If I'm out there .
ibbling off my leg, it hurts how the whole teamg
ays."
The Wolverines had fun last night. Winning will do 4'< r, QY.%
mat. Only time will tell if there is more fun ahead, or if
4ichigan returns to dribbling off its leg, dribbling away "
te season.
- Michael Rosenberg can be reached.
Overe-mal atmcrumic~edu EZABETH LPPMANDa
over e-mail at mcr@umich.edu. Maceo Baston and the Wolverines slammed, jammed and stuffed the Spartans last night at Crisler Arena, 7546.

Tourney
hopes alive
after Blue
beats State,
By Barry Sownberger
Daily Sports Editor
Last night at Crisler Arena, the Michi-
gan men's basketball team did something.
rather unusual.
The Wolverines actually got off to a
good start in their own gym while the
visitor -in this case, Michigan State -
didnot. After trailing atthe halfin three of
itspast four home games, Michigan coaj
Steve Fisher's squad led the Spartans
the break, 38-21, en route to an easy 75-
46 victory in front of 13,562 at Crisler
Arena. Maurice Taylor led the Wolver-
ines with 16 points while Maceo Baston
added 12 points and I1 boards. Quinton
Brooks was the only Spartan to score in
double figures, finishing with 11.
"We played tonight like a pretty good
basketball team," Fisher said. "I amproud
of the outcome and the way the outcoro
arrived."
Against Minnesota three days earlier,
the Wolverines scored 23 points in the
first half and looked like they wanted to
be anywhere but on the basketball floor.
Yesterday was a different story.
The Wolverines started quickly and
got a lot of help from an inept Michigan
State squad. The Spartans shot just 33
percent (I7-of-51) from the field for the
night. ButMichigan State didnot give the
game away. Michigan (8-7 Big Ten, 1@
10 overall) earned the victory with 49
percent shooting and is now in good
position to make the NCAA Tournament.
"We really needed this game to keep
our NCAA hopes alive," Wolverine se-
nior captain Dugan Fife said. "The last
five minutes, we were going in and get-
ting dunks, high-fiying. That's the way
we needed to play."
Two weeks ago, the Spartans (8-7, I
14) were thinking NCAA Tourname
Now they need at least a split of their last
two games just to make the NIT.
"Sooneror later, ifyou can'tmakeyour
layups," Michigan State coach TonIzzo
said, "you're going to get beat by a good
team on the road."
The Spartans did notmake their layups,
oranything else forthatmatter, duringthe
first 20 minutes yesterday.
Brooks, averaging 16.5 points pergame
coming in, was the only Spartan to sc&
during the game's first 15 minutes. Wh
Taylor dunked inside with 7:11 left be-
fore halftime, Michigan led Brooks-er,
Michigan State, 27-8, and the rout was
on.
The Spartans had chances to score on
their next two possessions but came away
empty. Jamie Feick amused the crowd by
missing adunk and then Ray Wethers hit
nothing but glass on an open 17-footer.
"For us, the struggles continue," I
said. "I'm kind of disappointed in our
shooting."
Brooks' early eight points left his team
See SPARTANS, Page 12

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THE WORD ON THE STREET
ANN ARBOR-Near the end of
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student staff had the oppor-
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Meeting new people and the
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Wher. e! ,ktn vour annlica-


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