14A - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 30, 1997
Blue tankers battle rising
Eastern and Notre Dame
By Afshin Mohamadi
Daily Sports Writer
Jim Richardson has been in his
opponents' shoes before.
As the Michigan women's swim-
ming coach prepares his team for a
home meet with Eastern Michigan and
Notre Dame on Saturday, he can sym-
pathize with Eastern coach Scott
Teeters and Notre Dame coach Bailey
Weathers.
"(They are) rebuilding," Richardson
said. "(They are) in a similar situation I
was in when I first came here (three
years ago)."
Although the fifth-ranked
Wolverines are favored Saturday,
Richardson said that their opponents
will be more formidable in the future.
"He's doing a wonderful job of
rebuilding," Richardson said of
Weathers, who is in his second year in
South Bend. "He's one of those coach-
es who's really paid his dues, coaching
under (some of the best) coaches in the
history of swimming."
Richardson said that Teeters, who
just began his tenure at Eastern this
year, is also starting to build a success-
ful program.
"He's finding out who wants to do it
his way," Richardson said. -
For the Wolverines, the meet against
two rebuilding programs will be a well-
needed break from a grueling last few
weeks in which they have lost three
straight dual meets to ranked oppo-
nents Stanford, California and Georgia.
Nevertheless, Richardson expects
his team to face some competition
Saturday.
"On paper, we have more fast swim-
mers than them," he said. "But we
should be pushed a little."
The Wolverines have been worked
hard recently. After having to swim two
tough meets at the end of an exhausting
training trip in Coronado, Calif., they
have had normal practice back in Ann
Arbor, as well as a meet against No. 4
Georgia.
The Wolverines' hard work will con-
tinue today with a tough workout, fol-
lowed by a normal workout tomorrow
and the meet Saturday.
Richardson does not mind making
his swimmers practice so hard now
because the regular-season meets real-
ly have little bearing on the post-sea-
son.
"We don't use meets, really, to show-
case anything," he said. "They're a p
of our training.
"We don't go into meets with a full
tank. We basically see how well we can
do running on fumes. I really like the
things I'm seeing in workouts right
now."
As much as the Wolverines' coach is
impressed with his team's practice ses-
sions, he does not expect it to dramati-
cally improve on its meet last weekend.
"Against Georgia, we looked bets
(than we did in California)," he sai.'
"However, I don't expect-our times (on
Saturday) to be any faster than then."
Unfortunately for Teeters and
Weathers, they aren't in a position to
not worry about improving each and
every regular-season meet, like
Richardson.
Maybe, however, when they watch
Richardson and the Wolverines, they
are looking into the future, just as w
Richardson watches them and their
rebuilding teams, he's looking into the
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Michigan's two-time All-American junior Karin Bunting and the rest of the women's swim team will host Notre Dame and
Eastern Michigan on Saturday. The fifth-ranked Wolverines are heavily favored over the Irish and the Eagles. While the
Wolverines are among the country's elite programs, their opponents are both going through rebuilding processes. The meet
should be a relief for the Wolverines, who have dropped their past three dual meets to ranked opponents.
Duke holds off North Carolina
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Trajan
Langdon scored a career-high 28
points and his seventh 3-pointer with
41 seconds left, last night, sealed No.
12 Duke's 79-70 victory over No. 19
North Carglina, snapping a seven-
game skid against its arch rival.
The Blue Devils (5-3 Atlantic Coast
Conference, 16-5) beat the Tar Heels
(3-5, 12-6) for the first time since
1993 in a game that featured 17 lead
changes and seven ties.
Neither team led by more than
seven points in the 197th meeting of
the storied rivalry.
Landgon's previous high was 25
points this season against Clemson.
Jeff Capel was also big down the
stretch for Duke, scoring 19 points and
making several big defensive plays.
Serge Zwikker led the Tar Heels
with 14 points, while ACC scoring
leader Antawn Jamison was held to a
season-low 10 points.
Duke fell behind 54-48 with 12:19
left as floor leader Steve
Wojciechowski picked up his fourth
foul and went to the bench. But the
Blue Devils rallied with their point
guard sidelined for more than four
minutes, regaining the lead at 56-54.
Near the end of Duke's run, Jamison
picked up two offensive fouls 18 sec-
onds apart and also had to go to the
bench for a brief time with four fouls,
setting the stage for a frenzied final
six minutes.
The lead changed hands five times
on successive possessions before
Capel's driving layup with 3:54 left
gave Duke the lead for good at 67-66.
Less than a half a minute later, Capel
blocked a 3-point attempt by Ademola
Okulaja at the top of the key and
received an outlet pass from Greg
Newton for another layup as Duke
went up by three.
But North Carolina was not dead
yet. The Tar Heels closed to 72-70 on
a 12-foot jumper by freshman Ed Cota
with 1:33 remaining. After a jump ball
possession that went to Duke and a
timeout, Langdon nailed his career-
best seventh 3-pointer, and the Blue
Devils sealed it in the final seconds
from the foul line.
The Tar Heels were rattled early,
turning the ball over on their first five
possessions as Duke grabbed a seven-
point lead with its small lineup.
Newton, Duke's leading scorer who
had started all 20 games this season
and 51 in his career, didn't start the
game, which began as a chess match
of Duke's quickness against North
Carolina's tall front line.
After a quick start, Duke hit a cold
spell against the zone, going 5:56
without a point.
Five different North Carolina play-
ers scored during a 13-3 run as the Tar
Heels grabbed a 24-21 lead 8:18
before halftime.
The Blue Devils missed eight shots
and turned the ball over five times
during their scoring drought.
From that point the score was tied
four more times before Duke took a
33-31 halftime lead.
Both teams had trouble holding
onto the ball in the opening 20 min-
utes as there were a combined 24
turnovers committed by 14 different
players.
- w U -