UJi LiciJiga ~tv $eores a PRO Ne°w Jersey 3 BASKETBALL NY ISLANDERS 1 Calgary 1, S 8CHICAGO 1 Deco at St. Louis 7, PORAND, inc. DALLAS 1 PRO San Jose at HOCKEY ANAHEIM, inc. Edmonton 4 BUFFALO 4 PRO FOOTBALL San Francisco at PHILADELPHIA, inc. Tuesday Q November 11, 1997 No. 1 team's next mission: Forget polls, focus on Wisconsin By Aan, Goldenbach Daly-ports Editor ,About 24 hours had passed since new Associated Press top 25 poll came out and the feeing of being No. I was starting to set in on this Michigan team. But not deep enough. "Itssomething we're very happy to have," *fensiveend Juaquin. Feazell said. "But we have-t ake it with a grain of salt." Because this week, and perhaps from here on in, the tables are turned on Michigan. Instead of being the lower-ranked team aiming up at the top guns like Penn State, the Wolverines are now the target of every oppo- nent. Up next Who: No. 24 Wisconsin Where: Madison When: 3:30 p.m. EST TV: ABC, Channel 7 Vicious hit leaves safety, Taylor, out for season "The polls are tremendous in terms of creat- ing enthusiasm and debate in college football," Michigan coach Lloyd Carr said. "None of us can ignore the excitement they create in the players and in all of us. "As a football team we have to understand that the higher you get the bigger a target you become." Michigan is atop the AP poll for the first time since the week of Oct. 13, 1990, when the Wolverines destroyed Wisconsin 41-3. The cautious observer, however, is quick to point out that the top ranking did nothing but overrate Michigan that year, or at least that week. The Wolverines went out and lost the fol- lowing week to an unranked Michigan State team, 28-27, and again the week after to Iowa. That is exactly why everyone around Schembechler Hall is proud of their achieve- ment, but at the same time, knows that a loss could render the hoopla of this past weekend meaningless. "Being No. 1 can help you and hurt you," tight end Jerame Tuman said. "This team knows where we want to be and we're defi- nitely not where we want to be. "If we lose, being No. 1 doesn't mean any- thing." And even though there is no loss this season for Michigan to draw on, there is last year's 9- 3 defeat at Purdue, which will remain on the minds of everyone on this team until the Wolverines win a Big Ten championship. If - and this is a strong if- Michigan had beaten Purdue and won out the remainder of its games, the team would be talking about the possibility of a return trip to Pasadena this year. "Last year we had a terrible lesson," Carr said, "which may not be a terrible lesson if the guy's learned from it." And Michigan surely doesn't need another lesson. The Wolverines who are old enough (i.e. Carr) know of a top-ranked Michigan team that went into Madison and came out lower on the totem pole. To open the 1981 season, the Wolverines rode their laurels into Wisconsin and were promptly spanked by an unranked herd of Badgers, 21-14, dropping Michigan clear out of the top 10. See WISCONSIN, Page 10 Blue weathers Russian attack in second half By Mark Snyder Daily Sports Writer In a show of good faith prior to last night's game at Cnsler Arena, the Michigan basketball team exchanged gifts with the Ural-Great team of Perm, Russia. Then, in what was supposed to be a basketball game, the Wolverines showed their appreciation by dominating their Russian guests, 93-68. What began as a close game and remained so through halftime -at the midway point Michigan led 32-26 - was blown open in the second stanza as Michigan exploded for 61 points. That dominance was just what Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe was hoping for when he began preaching his aggres- sive style. "We were prepared to come in and play well enough to ,win," Ellerbe said. From the first practice of the season, Ellerbe has preached aggressive play - especially on the defensive end. But Michigan deserves only some of the credit. The Russians, long known for their long-range missiles and mid- range bombs, clanked shots from every angle imaginable as they shot just 41 percent from the floor. Simple layups off the fast break slammed off the back- board like rebounds in a tip drill and Michigan capitalized repeatedly. The fast-break intensity of the first half was ideal prepara- tion for Ellerbe's transition game. In typical Michigan style, the Wolverines ran when necessary, with Maceo Baston and Jerod Ward catching the lobs and converting them into layups. While seeing Michigan actually make its shots after the break may have appeared out of the ordinary from the flow of the first half, it was nothing new for the Russians. On Sunday, they were thrashed by Purdue, 117-72 - adequate preparation for the whipping they endured. Baston, sporting a mid-range jumper rarely seen from the 6-foot-9 forward, displayed an increased aggressiveness while pacing the Wolverines with a 23 point-performance. "I took a role to be more of a garbage player in the past, Baston said. "Now it's my time to shine" His rebound dunks and loose-ball effort kept Michigan barely in the lead throughout the first 12 minutes of the sec- ond half. x See RUSSIANS, Page 10 Field hockey sweats it out Blue will learn fate tomorrow By Rick Freeman Daily Sports Vriter The waiting might not be the hardest part for the Michigan field hockey team, but it certainly isn't making things any easier. The Wolverines lost Sunday's Big Ten championship game to Penn State, 2-1. The winner of that game receives an automatic bid to the NCAA field hock- ey tournament, which begins Thursday. The Michigan loss has placed the Big Ten regular-season champions on the bubble - unfamiliar territory for them. In seasons past, the Wolverines never had to worry about making the tourna- ment, a multitude of early exits from the conference tourney ensured that. Waiting to find out if their break- through performance this year will. be good enough to earn them an at-large bid to the 12-team field isn't making the next few days any easier for the six seniors, who may have played in their final collegiate game. "I'm not getting my hopes up," senior midfielder and Big Ten offensive player of the Year Julie Flachs said. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm done. Hoping for a bid would hurt too much." Most conferences held conference tournaments over the weekend, but some conferences are not considered strong enough by the NCAA to merit an auto- matic bid. Instead, the champions of those con- ferences must play each other for spots in the tournament not filled by teams receiving automatic bids. Some teams will play games today that will have a large effect on how the field is shaped. Once the play-ins are completed, the NCAA can make its at-large selections to fill the remaining spots. Unfortunately for the Wolverines and the other teams on the bubble, because the games are today, the NCAA will not officially extend its at-large bids until tomorrow - only a day before the start of the tournament. Some members of the team were not so much displeased with the length of wait as by the entire at-large bid sys- tem. "I think there's just a problem with the rankings in general," Flachs said. Flachs said she is upset that many of the teams that are invited or at least have a chance to play their way into the tour- nament are, in her opinion, just as good as Michigan and may be getting a bid because they came from a weaker con- ference. "It's very subjective" Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. Whether the Wolverines' bubble bursts or not, they said they are satisfied with the excellent season that they put together, one which far surpasses the 24 that preceded it. The Wolverines' set records in wins, total points and goals. A bid to the NCAAs would likely be icing on the cake for them, after what may be a watershed season for the program. See TOURNAMENT, Page 10 University of Michigan Indoor Track Building 1997-98 Jogging Memberships WARREN ZINN/Daily Patriotism was at Its best when Michigan point guard Robbie Reid fought off this Russian in the Wolverines' 93-68 victory over Ural Great last night at Crisier Arena. Pitt not pleased with progress in fall season By Uma Subramanian Daily Sports Writer -Perhaps the fall season wasn't quite what everyone had hoped. For the Michigan women's tennis team, also known as the defending Big Ten champions, the going was pretty rough. It didn't perform as well as expected in this season of individual tournaments. "I think that we're not exactly where vwe wanted to be after the fall season," women's tennis coach Bitsy Ritt said. "But now it's the offseason and there is time to fix the problems before the winter season starts." -But, it looks as though things have already begun to change. This past week, six Wolverines travelled to Madison to compete in the ITA Midwest Regional Championships. There they met with success. Sophomore Danielle Lund turned in the strongest performance for the Wolverines, claiming the consolation singles draw while also reaching the semifinal in the doubles main draw. 1 In the singles tournament, she lost a very tough first match to the No. 9 seed, Notre Dame's Kelly Zalinski, 3- 6, 6-3, 6-4. After the initial defeat, Lund stormed back with five straight victories in the consolation draw. "After that first loss, she played so well in the consolation rounds," Ritt said. "She had three really good wins, which should improve her regional rankings. I believe it should give her the confidence to know she can com- pete with anyone in the country." En route to the consolation champi- onship, Lund defeated four Big Ten opponents. In her final singles match of the fall season, she defeated Northwestern's Colleen Chang, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. In the doubles main draw, Lund teamed with Brooke Hart to make it all the way to the semifinal. After a first- round bye, they defeated a duo from Notre Dame 6-2,6-3. They then went on to win two more matches. Finally in the semifinal, they lost to a duo from Northwestern. The importance of the tournament is evident in that, had they won one more match, they would have qualified for the NCAA indoor tournament. As for the other Wolverines, the going was not so great. Both Hart and Alison Sinclair had tough first-round matches, and didn't get very far in the consolation round. The tandem of Erryn Weggenman and Sora Moon finished with a 1-2 record. So, for Lund the tournament was a confidence builder, and for the others it was just an end to the fall season. "We are going to focus on improving over the next two months," Ritt said. "We should be ready to go in January. Hopefully this season we'll be able to repeat as Big Ten championships and win a region in the NCAAs." JOGGING MEMBERSHIPS Members may use the University of Michigan Indoor Track Building during building hours, October 1, 1997 through April 15, 1998. MEMBERSHIP FEES Student $30 - Faculty / Staff $48 - Public $60 BUILDING HOURS Monday through Friday..................5am - 1pm Monday, Wednesday and Friday............7pm - 10pm Saturday and Sunday ...........................................7am - 1pm Building hours will be affected by athletic and other events in the facility. FOR INFORMATION CALL 763-5088 V IL T A 1%, ;lm 19 a v 7 TICKET INFORMATION 1998 NCAA ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP WEST REGIONAL March 27 - 28, 1998 * Yost Ice Arena ROBERT K. COOPER, PH.D Author of Executive EQ: Emotional