Scoreboard
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYOFFS NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Baltimore 5, NEW YORK 3 Dallas 2, N.Y. RANGERS 1
(series tied 1-1) PHILADELPHIA 5, Los Angeles 4
St. Louis 8, ATLANTA 3 Anaheim at COLORADO, inc.
(series tied 1-1) San Jose at PHOENIX, inc.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
S. Miss. 28, E. Carolina 7 NOME TEAM IN CAPS

Friday
October 11, 1996


- MICHIGAN VS. LAKE SUPERIOR -

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MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
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last season, dropped 50 percent of his body fat over the summer.
Hoops dream? Men

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By Danielle Rumore
Daily Sports Editor
They don't have a nationally-ranked
recruiting class this year.
They don't have the any Mr.
Basketball award recipient. They don't
have the runner-up or the third place
finisher, either. And it doesn't matter.
Yesterday at media day, Michigan
men's basketball coach Steve Fisher
and the rest of the Wolverines stressed
that the 1996-97 squad is better off than
some past teams because they have two
things those teams didn't - maturity
and experience.
"We're gonna have a good team,"
Fisher said. "We're a veteran team ...
even though we have no seniors on the
oter."
;Last year's team finished with a
mediocre 20-12 record and a first-
rotnd loss in the NCAA tournament for
the second straight year.
Michigan lost Dugan Fife and Neal
Morton to graduation, and reserve for-
ward Willie Mitchell transferred to
Alabama-Birmingham.
But from the sounds of it, the losses
might actually make the Wolverines a
better team. The Wolverines return
een players with starting experience
Ward nine letter-winners who accounted
for nearly 90 percent of the scoring and
rebounding last season.
"We have experience," Michigan for-
wird Maceo Baston said. "We have
maturity, and we know what we have to
dd to win."
,Michigan's frontcourt, expected to be
one of the best in the nation, returns

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for Blue

five legitimate forces, starting with
junior Maurice Taylor.
Taylor, the Big Ten Freshman of the
Year in 1995 and a second-team all-Big
Ten selection in 1996, averaged 14
points and seven rebounds per game
last season. He led the Wolverines in
both categories.
Baston, also a junior, joins Taylor in
the paint. Baston became Mr.
Automatic last season, converting 68.2
percent of his shots, setting Michigan's
field-goal percentage record.
Junior Jerod Ward missed part of his
freshman season and most of last sea-
son with knee injuries. He is healthy
and is expected to contribute.
Sophomores Albert White and
Robert Traylor round out the forwards.
Traylor missed the latter part of last
season after breaking his arm in a car
accident.
"Traylor reduced his body fat by 50
percent," Fisher said. "He's in a lot bet-
ter condition. We look for him to give
us one of the (country's) better front
lines."
BIG LEAGUES: The Wolverines will
showcase their first significant junior
college transfer since Rickey Green
who came to Michigan in 1976.
Guard Brandun Hughes transferred
from Barton County Community
College in Kansas, where he averaged
28.2 points and finished fourth in the
nation among junior college scorers.
"I watched (last year), and I suffered
with the losses," Hughes said. "Now we
got a lot of experience, and I'm here to
help add a little depth to the backcourt."

WARREN ZINN/Daily
Michigan defenseman Sean Peach (24) attempts to cut off the passing lane in front of winger John Madden (18) in the Blue-
White game. Peach and the rest of the defense will need to contain Lake Superior's offense for Michigan to win Saturday.

Revamped Lakers await M' icers
in showdown of CCHA champs

By Mark Snyder
Daily Sports Writer
When looking for Michigan's defin-
ing moment in its 1996 national champi-
onship run, there are many victories to
choose from.
But what may have steered the
Michigan hockey team in the right direc-
tion last season were two losses.
The trip to Sault Ste. Marie last
February was a disaster. Michigan was in
the hunt for the CCHA title, and it gave
away both games to the Lakers.
Michigan coach Red Berenson remem-
bers it well.
"The first game we played pretty well,
and the second game we didn't," he said.
"They scored some goals they shouldn't
(have) and it was a tough game. It was a
real wake-up call. We hadn't been beaten
that bad all year.
"It brought our team to the realization
that we're not that good unless we really
apply ourselves and do all the little
things against any team, let alone (Lake
Superior)."
Although Michigan got the last laugh,
defeating Lake Superior in the CCHA
tournament to gain entrance to the
NCAA post-season party, the losses still
linger in its mind.
Saturday, Michigan gets its chance at
redemption. The team is traveling to

Lake Superior for only one game, and it
will be a non-conference affair.
But don't expect Michigan to blow it
off just because it doesn't count in the
league standings.
"It'll be good to play a team like this
early in the season," Berenson said.
Tomorrow
Who: Michigan vs. Lake Superior
When: 7 p.m.
Where: Abel Arena, Sault Ste. Marie
What: Non-conference game, due to
schedule problems caused by the
folding of the Illinois-Chicago pro-
gram
"Certainly, (Lake Superior's) not going
to look past this game."
Lake Superior, which won the NCAA
title in both 1992 and 1994, is undergo-
ing a major transition.
Many of the team's top players gradu-
ated last season and inexperience per-
vades the Lakers' roster.
Juniors Bates Battaglia and Joe
Blaznek will be looked to for leadership,
especially at the beginning of the season,
while the newcomers are getting into the
flow. Between the pipes stands junior
goaltender John Grahame - Lake
Superior's answer to a brick wall.
Grahame was outstanding last season,

posting a 21-4-2 record with a 2.42
goals-against average.
Even greater than the loss of the play-
ers, Lake Superior has to adjust to a new
man behind the bench as well.
The coach who led the Lakers to the
NCAA titles and built the powerhouse
that Lake Superior has become, Jeff
Jackson, resigned over the summer to
accept a high-level position with USA
Hockey.
Replacing Jackson as head of the
Lakers' ship will be former associate
coach Scott Borek.
Borek coached in Division Ill at
Colby College and was an assistant at
other universities beforehand, so he is
not lacking experience.
But this is Borek's first opportunity in
the national spotlight. Jackson believes
he made the right choice when grooming
his successor.
"I left the program in good hands,"
Jackson said. "I intentionally went out
and got a coach like (Borek), because I
felt it was important if anything did
come along where I left, I'd want some-
one there who would bring continuity to
the program."
That continuity will be necessary if

Lake Superior wants to defend the regu-
lar-season CCHA title it shared with
Michigan.
The loss of Lake Superior's core
might devastate some programs, but
Jackson doesn't see it as much of a prob-
lem for the Lakers.
"I don't expect things to fall off,"
Jackson said. "There were some losses
in the senior class that will have an
impact on the team, but on the other
hand, they've got some strength coming
back in goal (with Grahame).'
Jackson believes Lake Superior will
have another successful season, despite
the presence of nine freshmen.
"I don't expect the Lakers to drop off
tremendously, he said. "I think they'll
be right back in the middle (of the
CCHA race)."
Michigan, favored to repeat as confer-
ence champs, will face its first American
opponent of the season.
On Tuesday, it defeated Waterloo, 8-2.
Waterloo is not of the same caliber as
either of the defending CCHA champs,
and Berenson knows it.
"We know that Lake State is going to
be a tougher game than Waterloo," he
said. "They're going to be ready to play."



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