BASKETBALL The Michigan Daily - Thursday, March 27, 1997 - 11A Taking big bite out of Big Apple means speanng Seminoles Wolverines will have to cool down Florida State to win NIT title *y Will McCahiIl Daily Sports Editor NEW YORK - Florida State coach Pat Kennedy may have said it best yesterday in describing tonight's NIT final between his Seminoles and the Michigan men's basketball team. "This is not a state championship, this is not a conference championship," Kennedy said. "This title tomorrow night will be a national championship." And indeed, national recognition is on the line when the Wolverines (23-1 1) face Florida State (20-11) at 7:30 tonight at Madison Square Garden. The two teams have hardly had similar roads to the Big Apple. Michigan began the season ranked in the top 10, and rose as high as No. 4 before plummet- ing to an ignominious seventh-place Big Ten finish. The Seminoles, meanwhile, have hardly felt 1e burden of great expectations. A middle-of- the-pack squad in the powerhouse ARC, Florida State posted big wins in January ever nationally ranked North Carolina and Maryland, and followed those victories u* by knocking off Clemson on its home turf 'nd ambushing Wake Forest in Tallahassee. For their efforts, however, the Seminoles finished the conference season exactly wllere the Wolverines did - in seventh place. ' Florida State enters tonight's contest hawing *ome from behind to win its last two gam~es. The Seminoles trailed by as many as 10 points in their quarterfinal meeting at West Virginia before edging the Mountaineers, 76-71. And in Tuesday's semifinal against Connecticut, Florida State rallied from a five- point deficit in the last minute to force over- tini 'then shut the Huskies down for a 71-65 victory. The Seminoles received a huge lift in the semifinal win from junior point guard Kerry Thompson. Thompson scored 20 points - including the 3-pointer with five seconds left in regulation that sent the game into overtime - while dishing out nine assists. Playing at the Garden has been a homecom- ing for Thompson, a New York native. Thompson was so excited to play in the Garden, in fact, that Kennedy said his floor general hardly slept Monday night. "Kerry had a very interesting and cute state- ment," Kennedy said. "He said he only slept 10 minutes the night before the game." The Wolverines will also have to be on the lookout for the Seminoles' leading scorer, senior guard James Collins. Collins turned in a 29-point effort against Connecticut after a 24- point showing against West Virginia. Although Florida State does have some size to throw at Michigan's burly frontcourt - in 6- foot-9 junior forward Corey Louis and 6-11 sophomore forward Randell Jackson - the big question mark is 6-10 senior center Kirk Luchman. Luchman sprained his right ankle in the first half of Tuesday's game, and Kennedy is uncer- tain of Luchman's availability. "We really need Kirk" he said. "We'll see in practice how he feels." Kennedy floated the idea of an off-court meeting between the 274-pound Luchman and 300-pound Michigan sophomore center Robert Traylor. "I thought we cpuld get Kirk and Robert Traylor and have sqme sumo wrestling before the game,' he said. "It might attract a little attention." Not only must tle frontcourt trio of junior forwards Maceo Brston and Maurice Taylor and Traylor dominate and intimidate in the paint, Fisher said, but bench play must also be CHASE NIT The final Florida State (20-1) Michigan (2311) Tonight, 7:30 ESPN a factor. In Tuesday's victory over Arkansas, junior forward Jerod Ward broke out of his recent slump, scoring 15 points in 18 minutes as a reserve. "Jerod came off the bench and had 15 very important points for us, and made a huge con- tribution" Fisher said. "We've had good contributions from every- body, and I think (Tuesday's game) was indica- tive of that." Fisher said he had many options in the way of entertainment last night, including taking in the Knicks-Pistons matchup at the Garden, but preferred to spend the night on Broadway before returning to make a run at Michigan's first NIT title since 1984. "We have a dilemma as to whether we're (going to) the Knicks-Pistons game tonight, or go to see (the musical) 'Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk.' "I think I'm leaning to the latter." Michigan center Robert Traylor hopes the Wolverines find the same success tonight against Florida State as they did Tuesday against Arkansas. This time, Wolverines had presidential edge By Alan Goldenbach Daily Sports Editor NEW YORK - When Michigan last met up with Arkansas, in the 1994 Midwest Regional final of the NCAA tournament, the Razorbacks had a little executive power on their side. President Bill Clinton, an Arkansas native was in attendance at Dallas' Reunion Arena to cheer on his Hogs. Sure enough, he didn't leave the arena disappointed as Arkansas sent Michigan packing, 76-68, with the Razorbacks on their way to winning the national cham- pionship. So Michigan decided to use its alumni ties to find a White House link of their own - former President Gerald Ford, a 1935 Michigan graduate. Ford had called Michigan coach Steve Fisher in Fisher's hotel room Tuesday morning as the team was about to leave for breakfast. He asked the Michigan skipper if he could talk to the players. How could Fisher turn down an offer like that? "He has called me two or three times every year," Fisher said. "He was absolutely fantastic. He met us at a pub- lic restaurant and stayed for an hour and a half and was the last guy to leave. "We asked him if we could take a group picture and he went around the room and took individual shots with each member of the team. Every kid will have a picture that Ford will personalize. I know I will have mine." Ford was also in attendance at Arkansas. Madison Square Garden last night, and to no one's surprise, the presidential influ- ence worked again, as Michigan prevailed, sending the Wolverines to the championship as Clinton did for hour delay. "They kept saying it was a tire change and our plane kept changing tires," band director Jeff Grogan said. "Finally, they canceled the flight." There was a minor accident at New York's LaGuardia Airport earlier in the day involving a corporate jet and a ser- vice truck on one of the runways, which caused some brief delays. Ten minutes after the cancellation, the cheerleaders were able to hop onto a plane bound for tiny White Plains Airport, which is about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. But they couldn't get to the arena because their baggage was still on the plane they were originally scheduled to take. There wasn't enough time to get their bags and still make the other flight. So, it was off to New Jersey's Newark Airport, about an hour drive from the Garden, to meet up with their baggage and the band. Finally, at about 9:50 p.m., eight min- utes into the game, the cheerleaders charged into the arena to a half-rousing, half-derisive ovation. The band followed about ten minutes later, receiving a similar greeting. But the delay didn't upset the crew as it played as loud as it ever had. "It was just a real wild day for us' Michigan cheerleader Mandy Froede said. Maybe it was a wild day for Froede and her mates, but their entrance mode for a wild night for Florida State coach Pat Kennedy. "I think the most significant eventtof last night was when the Michigan band entered the arena," Kennedy said. "I kept hearing that Michigan fight song all night long. My wife woke me up at five in the morning and said, 'You've gotta' stop humming that song. You have to beat that team."' THE MOST NOTABLE OF QUOTABLES: Michigan junior guard Brandun Hughes, never the least bit bashful with his actions nor his mouth, added to his list of great lines last night. With 3:38 to go in the first half, Hughes charged after a loose ball head- ing for a row of reporters. He hopped over the table at which they were seated and into the first row of fans. Nobody was hurt, but Hughes did knock over a fan's beer. So what were the first words out of his mouth? You'd expect something along the lines of, "Are you all right?" But in classic form, Hughes jokingly yelled out, "I dropped the brew, man. I No word yet as to whether Yale has asked George Bush to come by for its games next season. STRIKE UP THE BAND?: As Michigan and Arkansas took the floor for warmups following the first semifinal game, there was a notable absence on Michigan's end of the floor: Michigan's band and its cheerleaders were nowhere to be found. Apparently, both squads were sched- uled to fly into New York that afternoon, but ran into some problems at Detroit Metro airport. According to several band members and cheerleaders, their airplane had a flat tire, which resulted in a four- AP PHOTC Aichigan's Brandun Hughes' attempted save strikes fear into the hearts of Daily sports editors Alan "Bronx Boniber" Goldenbach and "Whatcha talkin''bout Willis" McCahill. Injuries plague remaining women hoopsters CINCINNATI (AP) - They've rehabbed torn knees, taped up broken finigers, limped around on bum ankles id wondered where oh where it would l end. Old Dominion lost its backup center to Aoshimoto's Disease. Tennessee lost its starting point guard to a torn knee lig- ament during a preseason pickup game. Things got so bad that Notre Dame suijed up its student manager for the NCAA tournament. Stanford resorted to calling in an All-America volleyball player. 4 The road to Cincinnati has been a *ajor pain for the four teams competing fQr the women's national championship this weekend at Riverfront Coliseum. They've had to be as concerned with the breaks as with their brackets. There were plenty of reasons to count all four finalists out along the way. One starter would go down, fol- lowed by her replacement. I No one has been hit harder than Notre Dame (31-6), which was down to seven scholarship players at one point because of injuries. A student manager suited up during the NCAA East Regional just to give the Irish a chance. "All we've heard all along is we only have seven or eight people, we don't have enough horsepower, we don't have the depth, we don't have the size and we don't have the quickness," Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said. "This team likes to hear what they can't do, then they turn around and do it." Notre Dame (31-6) can compare scars with Tennessee (27-10) in their semifinal on Friday night. The Lady Vols lost point guard Kellie Jolly before the season began, one reason for a poor start. "At the time we were going through that, we were wondering if we were going to see the end of the tunnel, so to speak," coach Pat Summitt said. Fortunately for Tennessee, Jolly was able to return and play effectively. The Lady Vols were 10-6 without her and 17- 4 since her return, putting them in posi- tion for their fifth national title. "When we started the season, I did not think this basketball team could win a national championship," Summitt said. "On paper, I said we're not supposed to win. But I'm not going to count this bas- ketball team out." Stanford (34-1) was just looking for players when a series of injuries - strained knees, a broken finger - depleted the roster. Coach Tara VanDerveer turned to Kristin Folkl, an All-America volleyball player who led Stanford to the national championship in December. "I don't know that I've ever been on a team that's so close," Folkl said. "You wouldn't believe the bonding that goes on. It's rare that everyone on a team is so committed to one goal." Old Dominion (33-1) has been the healthiest of the bunch. Backup center t ic Angie Liston has been sidelined since Jan. 31 by a thyroid condition called Hoshimoto's Disease. Clarisse GIORGIO ARMANI Machanguana missed a couple of games SR with pneumonia. As long as All-America point guard A a vi K'ei Ticha Penicheiro stays healthy, Old LC lvinI Klin Dominion figures it has a chance. 320 S. State St. "We've got the best point guard in the nation and I wouldn't hesitate to go to (lower level of Decker Drugs) war with her on the court," coach Wendy 662-1945 Larry said. "She'll give us everything we want and then some." Are You Interested in Going to Israel this Summer and YFIL QW Earning Six Credits from the i