__ _ i
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MEN'S
BASKETBALL
(2) MINNESOTA 60.
Ohio State 48
(3) Kentucky 75.
ALABAMA 61
(12) N. CAROLINA 74,
(4) Wake Forest 60
TEXAS 57,
(7) Iowa State 56
(14) Maryland 76,
GEORGIA TECH 68
(19) VILLANOVA 65,
St. John's 54
(17) UCLA,
Southern Cal, inc.
(21) COLORADO,
Kansas State, inc.
PRO
BASKETBALL
DETROIT 100.
Washington 85
ATLANTA 100,
Indiana 87
CHARLOTTE 123,
Phoenix 115
ORLANDO 95,
Portland 84
Toronto 125,
SAN ANTONIO 92
Minnesota,
VANCOUVER, inc.
PRO
HOCKEY
DETROIT 4,
Calgary 0
NEW JERSEY 1,
N.Y. Rangers 1
PHILADELPHIA 2,
Hartford 2
Thursday
February 20, 1997 8
I
Tankers
vie for
11th Big
10 title
load
arriors?
Wolverines' road test
starts in Iowa City
0
By Josh Kieinbaum
Daily Sports Writer
Ten years. ago, the Michigan
women's swimming team won its first-
ever Big Ten title, beginning their
climb to become one of the nation's
. elite teams.
And they haven't lost since.
- Today, the third-ranked Wolverines
(5-1 Big Ten, 8-4 overall) will begin
their three-day effort to win an
unprecedented eleventh straight Big
Ten championship, the longest such
streak in women's Big Ten athletics.
But this year the title will be one of
the most difficult to win in a long
.time. The Big Ten has emerged as a
much-improved conference, with two
teams in the top ten and six in the top
25.
"The nature of the meet has changed
entirely this year because of the
improvement of several teams,"
CONFERENCE
Swimming and diving
championships
Michigan
coach Jim
Richardson
said. "The
meet is cer-
tainly not
going to have
the a
between first and second that it had
last year. You have three teams this
year, in Michigan, Northwestern and
Minnesota, that have good depth, and
have good people up front."
No. 10 Minnesota is bringing a solid
team to the meet this year. The Golden
Gophers are led by breaststroker
Gretchen Hegener, butterfly swimmer
Tanya Schuh, and distance swimmers
Olga Splichalova and Kim Wilson.
Northwestern, probably the most
improved team in the conference, has
one of their best teams to ever compete
in the Big Ten championship meet.
The No. 15 Wildcats will be counting
on freestyler/backstroker Dominique
Diezi, breaststroker Amy Balcerzak,
distance swimmer Joy Stover and but-
terfly/individual medley swimmer
Cathy Lundin.
. Northwestern has an added psycho-
logical edge in this meet, as they are
the only school to beat the Wolverines
in a Big Ten dual meet since the 1992-
93 season. Two weeks ago, the
Wildcats upset Michigan, 157-143.
Due to a limit of three individual
events per swimmer, the Wolverines
will find themselves shorthanded in
several events - particularly the 500-
yard freestyle, the 100 butterfly and
possibly the 100 breaststroke.
W"Those will be key events for us to
try (and) get some points," Richardson
said.
The Wolverines will look to make
up some ground in their strong events.
They will need strong performances in
the 200 and 400 IM, the 50, 100, and
200 freestyles, and the 200 backstroke.
Another problem for the Wolverines
is the fact that eight of their swimmers
will not be swimming at full strength.
With the NCAA championship meet
still a month away, the eight
Wolverines who have already quali-
fied for this meet are focusing on the
NCAAs as opposed to the Big Ten's.
This means that Michigan's best swim-
mers will not be 100 percent.
"In it's own way, (the Big Tens) are
.every bit as important as NCAAs,"
Richardson said. "It sounds kind of
funny to say that when we have eight
See BIG TEN, Page 10B
By Will McCahill
Daily Sports Editor
Tonight's Michigan men's basketball
game against Iowa has all the makings of
an epic contest.
The teams are tied for fifth in the Big
Ten. Both are coming off of huge, emo-
tional home losses. And both are desper-
ately in need of a victory to regain some
momentum as the Big Ten season enters
its home stretch, and the run to the
NCAA tournament begins.
For the No. 18 Wolverines (7-5 Big
Ten, 17-7 overall), tonight's visit to
Carver-Hawkeye Arena is the first of
consecutive away games, and Michigan
junior forward Maceo Baston knows
exactly how important tonight's contest
is for both squads.
"We know that we have to get a win,
and we're desperate to get a win,' he
said.
"Iowa has lost (three in a row) so they
need a win, too. Both of us need wins,
and both of us need momentum going
into the tournament."'
The Hawkeyes (7-5, 16-8) may still be
feeling the effects of Saturday's 68-66
loss to conference leader Minnesota - a
game they had a chance to win at the
buzzer - but Michigan coach Steve
Fisher said he doubts Iowa will have for-
gotten where its strength lies - on the
offensive glass.
"They are an extremely good offen-
sive-rebounding team," Fisher said. "We
need to make sure that Iowa has more
turnovers and that we have more offen-
sive rebounds."
Indeed, the Wolverines' poor rebound-
ing has become a serious concern for
Fisher. Michigan has only won the battle
of the boards once in its last eight games,
a fact that has not gone unnoticed.
"Our rebounding has been less than
acceptable" Fisher said. "We are not a
team that rebounds the way we should, at
either end of the floor."
And it is rebounding that sophomore
center Robert Traylor said the team has
been concentrating on in this week's.
practices.
"Iowa's a great rebounding team -
they basically thrive off of rebounds," he
said. "We have to go in there with a
mindset and a focus that we're going to
get every rebound that comes off."
The Hawkeyes lead the conference in
Who: No. 2 Minnesota
When: Feb. 26, 8 p.m.
Where: Crisler Arena
6
On the road
The Michigan basketball team,
already losers of two of its last
three, have a tough road ahead in
its next four games.
Who: Iowa
When: tonight, ..
7:30 p.m. (Creative Sports)
Where: Carver-Hawkeye Arena
0
Who: No. 23 Illinois
When: March 2, 2 p.m.
Where: Assembly Hall
Who: Purdue
When: Sunday, noon
Where: Mackey Arena
rebounding margin, cleaning the glass
an average of six times more per game
than their opponents. The Wolverines,
despite their vaunted size and bulk, are
outrebounding opponents by a mere
0.08 boards per game.
Not only must the Wolverines contend
with world-class Windex-wielders,
Traylor said, but they must find a way to
control Iowa point guard Andre
Woolridge. The senior leads the confefi
ence not only in scoring, but also in
assists.
"When he runs good, Iowa runs"
good," Traylor said.
Baston, in fact, was more frank about
how good Woolridge is.
"Woolridge is the Jordan of the Big'
Ten," he said. "You can't really stop
him."
Woolridge dropped 25 points on the
Wolverines during the teams' first meet-
ing this season, a 79-71 Michigan victo;
ry. And that, Fisher said, was despite
some good defense by Michigan junior
guards Brandun Hughes and Travis
Conlan.
See HAWKEYES, Page 108'
MARK FRIED~MANP/Duaily
Hugs all around if the Wolverines can oust Iowa or one of their other formidable road opponents in the next two
weeks. Michigan needs to steal a win away from Ann Arbor to assure itself an NCAA tournament bid.
Blue wrestlers try to get back on track against Illinois
By Jordan Field
Daily Sports Writer
Less than a week after falling to
No. 3 Minnesota, things aren't get-
ting any easier for the 1Ith-ranked
Michigan wrestling team. Tonight
they battle No. 4 Illinois and are
hoping for better results.
"Once again, we expect a tough
match, and once again we aren't
going to be the favorite going in,"
Michigan coach Dale Bahr said.
"(Illinois is) stacked up and down the
lineup."
He's got that right. Eight of
Illinois' 10 starters are ranked in the
top 12 in their weight class.
"They have got a complete line-
up," Bahr said. "Just looking on
paper, I can certainly understand
why the team is ranked fourth in the
nation."
Last year, the Wolverines, then
ranked sev-
enteenth,
upset then- 1 can C
No. 8
Illinois. An understan
upset this
year would Illinois is
give Bahr his
100th Big fourth in
Ten dual
meet victory.
T h e Michiga
Wolverines
will look to
118-pounder Chris Viola to open the
match and set the tone. He will face
sixth-ranked Lindsay Durlacher.
"It's my job every week to go out
there and set the momentum for the
team," Viola said. "(Durlacher) is
dertainly
id why
ranked
the nation."
- Dale Bahr
n wrestling coach
tough, but I
know I can
hang
him.
going
make
that
wrestle
with
I'm
to
sure
we
in
134, Corey Grant faces redshirt
freshman Tony Siebert, one of
Illinois' two unranked starters.
"Corey has the opportunity to get a
big win for us at 134," Bahr said. "If
we get a win with Viola, and Grant
pulls one out too, then we still have
our three All-Americans yet to go,
and we could be in position to get a
win."
Illinois' other unranked starter,
freshman Bill Zeman, is at 167
pounds, where he will face
Michigan's All-American, Jeff
Catrabone. Catrabone will try to get
back on track after suffering only his
third loss of the season last week to
Minnesota.
The toughest match of the meet for
the Wolverines will be at 158
my style and
as long as I
don't con-
form to;
thing
does, I
any-
he
can
get the win."
Michigan will also look at the 134-
pound match as a key to victory. At
pounds. Michigan will send a true
freshman, Otto Olson, against sec-
ond-ranked All-American Ernest
Benion.
"Benion is good," Bahr said:. "ut
he can't beat us himself." ,
With all eyes on the 118-,t34-
and 158-pound_ matches, iahr
revealed the real key to the match
for the Wolverines.
"It's the close matches," he sai.
"That's the key. If we can win the
close matches, then we'll have a
chance to win the-match. If not, then
we're in trouble. If want to be in
position to win the meet, we can't
afford to lose any of the close ones."
Winning the close matches' has
been a problem for Michigan all sea-
son. Against Minnesota, ''the
Wolverines lost two sudden-d0q
overtime matches as well as tW
matches by two points each.
Michigan's All-American heavy-
weight, Airron Richardson, also
stressed the importance of close
matches. Richardson was one- of
Michigan's overtime losers against
Minnesota.
"The Big Ten is so comptitive
this year, the close matches;an
always have a big impact off
meet," Richardson said. "We 1
Illinois is going to be tough;'.pd
whoever comes to wrestle will *4ve
with a win. We just have to iake
sure we're the ones who are read ."
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