4B - The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 31, 1997
Basketball
's not a totalfaure, but Blue's
Cason doesn'tpass with flying colors
NEW YORK - Is it possible to win a
postseason championship and still be
considered a failure?
Is it possible to win 24 games and be labeled
an underachiever?
As Michigan proved this season, anything
- and I mean anything - is possible.
The Wolverines were NIT champions and
did improve significantly over the past month.
But did anyone really think before the season
that winning the NIT or recovering from their
worst losing streak since 1983 would be major
accomplishments?
Although a preseason
No. 9 ranking exaggerat-
ed this team's talent,
there's no doubt that this
team was capable of big-
ger and better things.
Those bigger and bet-
ALAN ter things included chal-
QOLDENBACH lenging for a Big Ten
The Bronx title, maintaining its sta-
Bomber tus among the top 20
teams in the country and
winning an NCAA tour-
nament game for the first time since 1994;
those were the three legitimate goals that this
team established at the outset of this season.
Michigan failed miserably in all three quests.
Now, let's see if as individuals, the
Wolverines fared better this season:
As of right now, is there any doubt as to who
leads this team? Michigan is clearly Robert
Traylor's gang, and he showed no fear in taking
this team on his back and carrying the
Wolverines during their NIT run.
Never was a player more deserving of an
MVP award than Traylor was in the NIT (he
averaged 18.2 points and 8.4 rebounds in the
five-game tourney). He was, by far, the best
and most dominant player in the 32-team field.
By the end of the season, he was the most
improved player on this team. He learned not
to put the ball on the floor in the paint, how to
use his weight to get position inside and devel-
oped a nifty little medium-range jumpshot.
But, like the rest of this team, Traylor's sea-
son can't be judged on the basis of his postsea-
son performance. He really didn't exhibit sig-
nificant development of these skills until late in
the season. He was also foul-prone, which hurt
Michigan in losses at Indiana and Wisconsin.
Still his improvement and ability to carry the
team over long stretches can't be overlooked.
'raylor: B+
The other Wolverine who showed a tenden-
cy to pick up his teammates' slack for an
extended period of time was Louis Bullock.
By midseason, Bullock proved that he was
the Big Ten's best outside shooter. He connect-
ed on 47 percent of his shots form behind the
arc and broke just about every one of Glen
Rice's school-records regarding 3-pointers.
When he got hot, his jumper was indefensible.
But when he went cold, Michigan froze with
him. Against Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois
during the late-season five-game losing streak,
Bullock went a combined 11-for-36 from the
field and 5-of-16 from 3-point range.
What separates Bullock from the Big Ten's
great guards like Minnesota's Bobby Jackson
and Andre Woolridge is that they don't disap-
pear in games that are must-wins.
But that's about all that separates Bullock
from the nation's best shooting guards. Next
season, Bullock should be a preseason candi-
date for All-America honors. If that's the case,
perhaps Michigan coach Steve Fisher will
finally be convinced than Bullock needs more
than 11 shots per game.
Bullock: B+
After Traylor and Bullock, the Wolverines'
games went downhill this season. And no one's
was more apparent than Maurice Taylor's.
Taylor fell so far from his preseason expec-
tations (he was a preseason finalist for the
Naismith Award) that by season's end,
Michigan fans were excited about 14-point,
six-rebound showings. Fourteen points and six
rebounds are numbers that a player like Taylor
should be putting up before halftime.
There's only one thing funnier than the idea
of Taylor going pro last summer -the idea of
him leaving school now, after an even worse
season.
Throughout the NIT, however, Taylor showed
glimpses of what a player with his skills can do.
When Fisher inserted Maceo Baston in the
starting lineup late in the season, forcing Taylor
to the small forward spot, his game seemed to
open up. He averaged 16 points and 7.7
rebounds over the last seven games.
The problem was that those numbers were
11.4 and 5.8 in the first 28 games of the season
- a good season for a marginal player, but a
marginal season for a good player like Taylor.
Taylor: C
Also disappointing the Michigan faithful thi
season was the supposed savior of this team,
Brandun Hughes. The junior college transfer
was brought in with the intention of being
Michigan's first true point guard since Gary
Grant left Ann Arbor nine years ago. After
averaging 28 points and 6.5 assists in the juco
ranks, people were asking not if, but when, he
would step into the Michigan starting lineup.
That was why Hughes was so disappointing;
he never did make it into the Wolverines' start-
ing five except for two games (one of them
because of an injury to Travis Conlan).
The reason why Conlan consistently got the
nod over Hughes was that Conlan didn't make
the poor decisions that Hughes so often did.
Conlan didn't come downcourt one-on-three
and take it to the rack. Conlan didn't try to
force the ball into the paint when the big men
were double-teamed or out of position. Conlan
didn't let his opponents get in his head and rat-
tle him to the point where he hurt his team.
But let's not start gushing over Conlan. He'
proven he's nothing but a good backup. He wa
hesitant with every jumpshot he launched and
he could not handle any type of pressure. So
what good is there in having'a point guard that
can't dribble? Not much, but is it any better
than having one that thinks shoot first, pass
second and can't execute the fundamentals?
Hughes: C
Conlan: C+
It's tough to say if Jerod Ward was a disap-
pointment. After all, was anything expected of
him in the first place?
Ward, however, did surprise some people
midway through the season, posting a pair of
career-high, 19-point games against Purdue
and Penn State. But after the second of those
games, he simply went back in the tank and
proved those games to be just an aberration.
If Ward's jumper isn't on, he has no value to
this team. His bad knees make him a defensive
liability. He doesn't use his 6-foot-9 frame to
post up smaller players and he gets a rebound
about as often as he takes over a game. 0
Ward: D+
See GOLDENBACH, Page 6B
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
Michigan junior forward had anything but the success that was predicted for him. The preseason All-
American Maurice Taylor averaged only 12 points and six rebounds per game this season, both lower
than his totals of a' year ago. But Taylor wasn't alone among underachieving Wolverines this season.
Both Wildcats win in Final Four
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - When
Ron Mercer was in the game, his shots
weren't falling. When he was out, his
cramping legs were on ice.
That combination should have had
Kentucky in a bad way. Instead, the
Wildcats will get a chance to defend
Saurday's their national title.
S~alt1raS Kentucky's tena-
games cious defense and a
sudden burst of balanced scoring by
Mercer's teammates gave the Wildcats
a 78-69 victory over Minnesota on
Saturday night.
Mercer scored 19 points on 7-of-21
shooting as Kentucky (35-4) advanced
to the NCAA championship tonight
against Arizona, which beat North
Carolina 66-58.
The one thing for sure is that the
winner will be the Wildcats. It will
either be Kentucky's seventh title or
Arizona's first.
"I have tremendous admiration for
our basketball team that overcame a lot
of problems, from foul trouble to
CATS
Continued from Page 1.6
standing team against an outstanding
ballclub, and they've been that way
throughout the tournament, and
they've been that way throughout the
season."
Kentucky (35-4) is one win away from
becoming the first repeat champion
since Duke in 1992, and Pitino would be
the seventh coach to win at least two
straight titles.
His team bears little resemblance to
the one that beat Syracuse for the title
last season, except for Ron Mercer, who
had 20 points in that championship game
cramping and was still able to dig deep
down and win this ballgame,"
Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said.
Mercer, who had 20 points in the
national championship game against
Syracuse last season as a freshman,
couldn't get untracked against
Minnesota (31-4). A 50 percent shoot-
er during the season, Mercer was 3-of-
13 in the first half as the Wildcats took
a 36-31 lead, then was bothered by the
leg cramps.
"I just started catching cramps in the
second half," he said. "I tried to con-
tinue to play on, but it was worst when
I was jumping and it kind of affected
my jumping a little bit."
ARIZONA 66, NORTH CAROLINA 58
First, Arizona stunned No. 1
Kansas. Then, the Wildcats conquered
Dean Smith's mighty North Carolina
Tar Heels. And now, Arizona is only
one more improbable victory away
from its first NCAA title.
Miles Simon, rejected by Smith four
years ago, scored 24 points and Mike
as a freshman.
Still, Kentucky uses the pressure
defense to get things going even if the
opposition has the same strategy.
"When teams press us we try to get
layups off it," said Kentucky senior
Anthony Epps. "And with me and
Wayne Turner both being point guards,
we have two guards to beat the press and
we use all five guys to break it. We press
each other every day in practice, so we
know how to handle it."
Arizona freshman point guard Mike
Bibby also didn't sound all that con-
cerned about facing pressure.
"They like to run. We like to run," he
said. "Teams that have tried to press us
Bibby shook off a horrible start to hit
four 3-pointers down the stretch as
Arizona defeated North Carolina 66-
58 Saturday night.
The Wildcats (24-9), winning a
game for the first time in three Final
Four appearances, will play in
tonight's championship game against
Kentucky.
North Carolina (28-7), which won
its previous 16 games, shot 31 percent
and committed 17 turnovers. The Tar
Heels, who have reached the Final
Four 11 times in Smith's 36 years,
won't get a chance to bring their coach
his third title in the same season in
which he broke Adolph Rupp's record
for coaching victories.
Arizona, which stunned Kansas in
the Southeast Regional semifinals,
was the only team that wasn't a top
seed in its region to reach the Final
Four.
Bibby finished with 20 points,
including six 3-pointers, for Arizona,
which shot 33 percent.
have only done it a couple of possessions
because we have broken it every time.
Their press is unbelievable, and they
keep coming at you because they never
seem to get tired."
Like Turner.
He played 39 minutes against
Minnesota with one turnover, and was a
key in forcing all those Golden Gopher
turnovers.
"I hope that wasn't my best game, that
there's a better one from me in my
career, he said.
"I think it will be a great challenge.
Bibby and (Miles) Simon are great
guards. You really want to test yourself
defensively and offensively.'
r ,,- g irl :.
Guard Allen Edwards and the rest of Wildcats helped send Big Ten champ Minnesota packing from the Final Four with a 7849
victory over the Gophers on Saturday. Kentucky will battle another crew of Wildcats, Arizona, tonight in the championship game:
Vols win physical game vs. Monarchs
CINCINNATI (AP) - Tennessee won yet
another national championship, and this one
might have been the toughest - and most bruis-
ing --of all.
Shackling Old Dominion with aggressive,
physical defense, Tennessee weathered a second-
half comeback and beat the Lady Monarchs, 68-
Women's 59, last night to win its
tournament second straight national
championship in women's
basketball and fifth overall.
Chamique Holdsclaw led the Lady Vols (29-
10) with 24 points and made the key plays down
the stretch after Tennessee temporarily lost the
lead. In the final 6:48, she scored 10 points,
.~a ct,-A ntu h ~ anti him~rpt a
The result was two and three bodies sprawled
on the floor at times and a lot of frustration for
the Old Dominion players.
Old Dominion managed to overcome that
frustration, though, and took the lead on three
occasions in the second half, the last time at 49-
47 on reserve Amber Eller's 3-pointer from the
left corner with 7:05 left.
But Holdsclaw, the sophomore All-American
who always seems to be there when Tennessee
needs her the most, came through again.
First, Holdsclaw got a basket inside to tie the
score at 49 with 6:48 left. Then she fed Niya
Butts for a short bank shot in the lane that put the
Lady Vols up 51-49.
That was follnwed by a pastowide-onnen
first half and finished with 10 points on 4-of-13
shooting.
Machanguana's 16 points led Old Dominion
(34-2), which was seeking a return to the glory
years that produced AIAW: national champi,
onships in 1979 and 1980 and the NCAA crown
in 1985.
But Tennessee was too relentless and the Lady
Monarchs saw their 33-game winning s ,
come to an end.
The title capped a long bumpy ride for
Tennessee, which suffered through injuries and
the nation's toughest schedule in the first half of
the season. Tennessee stood 10-6 after losing at
Old Dominion 83-72 on Jan. 7 and looked noth-
in like a team that could win the national cham-
'" "- ..s_.. _ y ...__:._ h {_ ray .:, .. ' . ,.::. ; ..: ' ;. ;
_... _. .: ? .nrut.:: ..x. eG