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WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL
East Region
Notre Dame 62,
GEO. WASH. 52
Mideast Region
OLD DOMINION 53,
Florida 51
Midwest Region
Tennessee 91,
UCONN 81
West Region
Georgia vs.
STANFORD, inc.
PRO
BASKETBALL
LA. Lakers 109,
NEW JERSEY 84
PRO HOCKEY
MONTREAL 3,
Boston 1
NY RANGERS 3,
Pittsburgh 0
Edmonton at
SAN JOSE, inc.
Los Angeles at
VANCOUVER, inc.
PRO BASEBALL
New York (AL) 6,
CLEVELAND 4
DETROIT 5,
Chicago (AL) 1
Florida 7,
HOUSTON 6
MINNESOTA 6,
Texas 5
LOS ANGELES 5,
Baltimore 4
MONTREAL 6,
Boston 4
Tuesday
March 25, 1997
10
lue icers been
ere done that
ark Snyder
Sports Writer
e Michigan hockey team must be experiencing flash-
~s.
fter earning a spot in the national semifinals - both of
w Aich will be played Thursday in Milwaukee - Michigan
B2ae the third team that participated last season's semis to
~it-n this year.
"~olorado College (25-14-4) and Boston University (25-8-6)
know the drill. Each fell to Michigan (35-3-4) - the
yrriers in the semifinals and the Tigers in the final -and are
staring at a similar situation next weekend.
orth Dakota (29-10-2) is the other semifinalist and will
# Colorado College at 1 p.m.
ichigan, the heavy favorite to win the tournament, will
Spy the late game against Boston, beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Unfortunately for the Terriers, remembering the past will
irpt elicit positive memories.
Michigan trounced Boston, 4-0, in last season's semifinal
: e, a point when the Terriers entered the game ranked No.l.
ichigan coach Red Berenson was not concerned about the
revenge factor entering into Boston's preparation.
"A team in the final four would not need an extra incentive
t y its best hockey," he said.
S d this is a different team than the one the Wolverines saw
1t time.
max.We seem to be very focused pretty well going into this
tokrnament," Boston coach Jack Parker said. "And if we're not,
got a good slap in the face watching Michigan do what they
.b oa great Minnesota team."
, 3ichigan's 7-4 victory over the Gophers was the last of the
uarterfinal games Sunday. Now, the Wolverines must prepare
dace a different Boston team than it saw last season.
"We've had a harder route than the last few years," Parker
said. "We had to earn the bye (for the regional round). We've
had some tough situations all year, and it's not going to get any
. ougher than playing Michigan."
.st season, the Terriers were the defending national cham-
pions and favored to retain their title. The Michigan game
crushed those hopes.
.At the time, Boston was the top offensive team in the nation,
a distinction that hardly applies to this season's squad.
"It's almost a completely different look," Parker said. "This
year's team is more defensive-minded."
Of the three teams which had a bye in the regional round,
only Clarkson did not advance to Milwaukee. The game off
played into the hands of Michigan, North Dakota and Boston
-all earned the bye after winning both the league regular-sea-
son and playoff titles.
The only team that did not participate in last season's festiv-
ities, North Dakota, is now one of the teams standing. After
putting away Cornell, 6-2, in the early game at the West
Regional on Sunday, the Fighting Sioux earned the right to
play Colorado College - for the sixth time this season.
Despite advancing from the regional, North Dakota is in
unfamiliar territory.
"We're certainly happy to be here after being out of the tour-
nament for 10 years," North Dakota coach Dean Blais said.
"(It's been) a Cinderella season for us.
"For the other three coaches, it is kind of old hat to be there."
The Sioux are facing a slight dilemma, however. While the
majority of the North Dakota players are healthy, Hobey Baker
finalist Jason Blake is nursing an injury.
"I think he'll play;" Blais said. "But he's questionable right
now."
The matchup in the national semifinals will pit the Sioux
See SEMIS, Page 11
M'
set to bring
home the bacon
By Alan Goldenbach
Daily Sports Editor
Michigan can take solace in know-
ing that its season has lasted longer
than those of Kansas, Utah and Wake
Forest.
The Wolverines can also be happy
knowing that they made it to a final
four of some kind.
But what they're really ecstatic
about is the week they'll be spending
in New York City.
Will they be able to fit in that tour
of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
they had been planning?
Uh, wait a minute. Don't they have
to do something else there? Like
maybe a basketball game or two?
There are plenty of things to do in
New York, but what tops Michigan's
agenda is the NIT semifinals tonight
at Madison Square Garden. The
Wolverines (22-11) will tip off with
Arkansas (18-12) at about 9:15, or a
little bit after the first semifinal game
- Florida State versus Connecticut
- ends. That game is slated to get
going at 7 o'clock. Both games will
be televised by ESPN.
The championship game will be on
Thursday night, preceded by the con-
solation game.
The Michigan camp looked like a
disaster area two weeks ago when the
Wolverines were denied an invitation
to the NCAA tournament and then
results of an investigation into NCAA
violations were released.
Making matters worse for the
Wolverines are the subsequent allega-
tions concerning major NCAA viola-
tions that have surfaced since the ini-
tial investigation.
But somehow, Michigan has swept
those problems under the rug a
almost miraculously, played some
its best ball of the season since the
NIT began.
The charge has been led by sopho-
more center Robert Traylor, whose
dominant play of late has stirred up
talk of a possible early exit for the
NBA. Perhaps as early as this year.
Traylor has averaged 19.3 points
per game in three NIT games while
shooting a torrid 65 percent from
floor. He virtually carried the team'
his back during the second half of the
quarterfinal victory over Notre
Dame, where he matched his career-
high with 26 points to go along with
13 rebounds.
The Tractor's inside presence has
made open shots for sophomore
guard Louis Bullock a lot easier to
come by recently. Bullock has
matched Traylor's scoring clip in NIT
play.
One need not look further than the
12-for-19 mark that Bullock sports
from behind the are in the postseason
to show that Traylor's dominance has
softened the perimeter defense of
Michigan's opponents.
Also having a strong postseason is
junior point guard Travis Conlan, who
is averaging 7.3 assists per game in
the tourney. That stat is made more
impressive knowing that he chuJ
out four dishes for every time he's
turned the ball over.
Even Maurice Taylor is having a
renaissance of sorts in the postseason.
See ARKANSAS, Page 11
MARK FRIEDMAN/Daily
Maceo Baston and the Michigan basketball team will face Arkansas In the semifinals of the NIT tonight
in New York. The game is a rematch of the 1994 NCAA Midwest Regional final, won by Arkansas, 78-68.
1997 Mich igan hFootball1 Last-place finish belies improvements for tumblers
For More Information Call
University of Michigan
Athletic Ticket Department
1000 South State Street,
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2201.
8:00am - 5:30pm, Mon. - Fri.
Phone: (313) 764-0247
Work Across Differences
~Paiticipate1~ ian T . -
JNT ERGROU P DIALOGU E
Dialogues among different groups:
- Women & Men
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- Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals & Heterosexuals
- Jews & Christians
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Intergroup Dialogues are face-to-face meetings of individuals from a
variety of identity groups. Dialogues, readings, experiential exercises
and journals are incorporated into the process of working across and
within lines of difference and similarity.
Thursdays'-3pm, 2 Credits
By Nita Srivastava
and Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writers
Last place in the Big Ten champi-
onships last year.
Last place in the Big Ten champi-
onships this year.
These may seem like a couple of
sorry outcomes without improvement
by the Michigan men's gymnastics
team, but in reality, they are not. The
Wolverines have improved. In fact,
they cut their margin of loss by more
than 50 percent this year, losing to
Big Ten champion Ohio State by only
eight points this weekend in
Minneapolis.
Michigan recorded an all-around
score of 222.225, its highest of the
season, while the victorious Buckeyes
tallied a 230.825.
"I'm very happy with the out-
come," Michigan coach Kurt Golder
said. "I'm sure we're the most
improved team here by a long shot."
Michigan's star gymnast, freshman
Jose "LaLo" Haro, placed fifth in the
all-around with a score of 57.325. He
led the Wolverines in four events with
scores of 9.65, 9.60, 9.70 and 9.55 in
the still rings, vault, parallel bars and
pommel horse.
Haro's vault score was good
enough for a three-way tie for second
place in that event, only .075 out of
first.
LaLo advanced to yesterday's Big
Ten finals in the floor exercise, rings
and parallel bar. All three apparatuses
were dominated, however, by Penn
State Olympian Blaine Wilson. LaLo
could muster only third-place finishes
on the floor and the bar.
Haro's performance Saturday was
merely a reflection of how much he
has meant to the young Wolverines all
season.
"He's the backbone of our team,"
Golder said. "He and Tim (DeGraw)
set the standard for everyone else to
move up to."
Although Haro didn't win an event
in Minneapolis, Golder is confident
his prized recruit may turn some*eyes
yet in the postseason.
"He's really good," the first-year
coach said. "But he isn't known in
this country. He hasn't built up a rep-
utation, and that's important in gym-
nastics."
Bringing in Haro could prove to be
a huge step in rebuilding Michigan's
men's gymnastics program. Luckily
for the Wolverines, Golder knew
about the south-of-the-border phe-
nom from his days as an assistant at
Iowa.
"When you're rebuilding, getting
your first good all-around performer
is the key, because he attracts others,"
Golder said. "If you can't get your
first one, you could run in place for a
long time."
Haro wasn't the only one whose
weekend was extended to Sunday. At
the finals, junior Tim DeGraw tied
for fourth on the floor exercisevw
a 9.5 after recording a 9.75 thed
before. DeGraw advanced to the
finals despite nursing an injury
which may have held him back.
"He hasn't completely recovered,"
Golder said. "With that in mind, it
wouldn't surprise me if he won the
NCAA championship on the floor."
Senior Edwin Ledgard rounded out
Michigan's team leaders with a career
high 9.40 on the high bar.
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