__ _ i U~b i~d~t~]Dat 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 ." Bahia Mar Resort and Conference Center BAHIA MAR RESORT 6300 Padre Blud. " South Padre Island, Texas 800-99-PADRE ,t