The Michigan Daily - SPORTSMonday - March 16, 1998 - 3B
Diver Wilmot rips his way to NCAAs
Wilmot to be only diver at nationals
ALAN
GOLDENBACH
The Bronx Bomber
By Rick Freeman
Daily Sports Writer
He paused at the top of the tower,
ten meters above the still surface of
the water. He leapt backwards into
space, twisting. His body tumbled
more than 1 1/2 times and entered the
water, leaving no trace of his entry
except a few thin bubbles.
When he popped back to the sur-
face, Brett Wilmot knew he had come
up big - but when he saw it later on
video, he was even more exultant.
He said his score of 83 was the
best he'd ever scored. But the best
moment of this weekend's Diving
Zone meet in Oxford, Ohio, won't be
realized until next Tuesday, when he
steps on a plane bound for Auburn,
Ala., and the NCAA Swimming and
Diving Championships.
Wilmot was the only Wolverine to
qualify for the meet, but teammate
Josh Trexler had a "pretty good"
meet according to Wilmot, but just
missed the top six, who qualify for
NCAAs.
But Wilmot's personal-best dive
didn't propel him to NCAAs - he
had already qualified the day before,
he thought.
Wilmot was "95-percent sure" he
had made it after the first day of
competition, when he bounced to
fourth in the three-meter springboard
competition.
"I was real confident with that,"
Wilmot said, adding that his strength,
and that of the entire diving team, is
platform events.
The Wolverines took the tower on
Saturday. Wilmot, certain that he had
qualified, said he felt no pressure as
he climbed the tower stairs, which
may have resulted in a spotty perfor-
mance for some. And although he said
he dives best under heavy pressure, he
managed to pull off a stellar dive.
Divers live for "rips", clean entries
into the water that leave no splash.
Going in perfectly vertical isn't
enough.
"You kind of have to make a hole
for yourself." Wilmot said, trying to
explain the precise positioning of his
hands as lie hits the surface of the
pool.
"I can feel when its a really, really
clean entry. The water kind of sucks
against you. It's a weird sensation."
. . . I
FILE PHOTO
Brett Wilmot was the only Michigan diver to qualify for the NCAA Championships,
which will be held March 26-28 in Auburn, Ala.
Purdue cruises past Detroit; Western falls
CHICAGO (AP) - Opening tip.
Game over. Once again, it was Purdue
Pearly - and decisively.
For the second consecutive game,
Purdue took a large lead and was never
caught. The Boilermakers, the second
seed in the Midwest, defeated Detroit
80-65 Sunday and advanced past the
second round of the NCAA tournament
for only the third time in coach Gene
Keady's 18 seasons.
Chad Austin scored 20 points and
Brad Miller 18 for
. .- - .- . . . . . . . . . P u r d u e ( 2 8 - 7 ) ,
Midwest which will meet
Region third - seeded
Stanford (28-4) in
Friday's regional
semifinals at St. Louis. The Cardinal
beat Western Michigan 83-65 on
Sunday.
The Boilermakers, who scored the
first 18 points and defeated Delaware
95-56 in the first round, took a 24-8
!lead in the opening 13 minutes against
Detroit as the 10th-seeded Titans made
only three of their first 21 shots.
Detroit (25-6) closed to 33-22 by
halftime but Purdue began the second
half with an 11-3 run and was never
seriously threatened.
Desmond Ferguson came off the
bench to score 19 points, including five
second-half 3-pointers, as Detroit tried
.but failed to make it close.
The Boilermakers reached the
NCAA tournament 13 times in Keady's
first 17 seasons but only in 1988 and
1994 got past the second round. They
got knocked out in Round 2 in each of
the last three years.
They made sure there was no doubt
this time, outscoring their two subre-
gional opponents by 54 points..
Purdue, a much taller tepm, outre-
bounded Detroit 44-29.
Brian Cardinal scored eight points as
Purdue took its big early lead. Ferguson
sparked Detroit with two layups and
aggressive defense to help the Titans
rally before halftime.
But after Brian Alexander opened the
second half with a free throw to cut
Detroit's deficit to 33-23, Miller made
two free throws and Austin hit two
layups to put Purdue back in control.
Gary McQuay' three-point play gave
Wle Boilermakers a 59-37 lead with 9
1/2 minutes to play before Ferguson
started hitting from outside to make it
63-50 with 6 minutes left.
Again, the Purdue seniors responded.
Austin hit a 3-pointer and a short
jumper and Miller made two free
throws and a dunk. Just like that, the
Boilermakers were back up by 18. .
STANFORD 83, W. MICHIGAN 65
Stanford, a school known for its
brains, used its muscle to win a trip
back to the NCAA tournament's round
of 16.
With Arthur Lee scoring from the
outside and Tim Young and Mark
Madsen using their size and strength to
control the inside, the Cardinal over-
came Western Michigan's quickness
and beat the Broncos 83-65 in the
Midwest Regional on Sunday.
Western Michigan, the No. I I seed in
the Midwest, saw its chances of pulling
off a second straight upset ended with
12:03 left when Rashod Johnson fouled
out after he was assessed a technical
foul, minutes after picking up his third
and fourth personals.
Stanford (28-4) scored seven straight
points in the sequence to take a 14-point
lead.
"We were going to go at him
(Johnson) to get his fifth but he accom-
modated us with the technical and it
hurt them," Montgomery said.
Johnson, who scored a career-high
32 points with eight 3-pointers in the
first round against Clemson, finished
with just 13 points on 4-of-1S shooting.
Apparently upset with a non-call sec-
onds earlier, Johnson continued to
argue after Stanford's Young was fouled
by Western's Isaac Bullock as the
Stanford center made a layup.
"The official said it wasn't what I
said. He said he didn't like my reaction
to the call,' said Johnson.
After the technical, Young hit a free
throw to complete the three-point play,
Lee made two free throws on the tech-
nical foul and when the Cardinal main-
tained possession, Kris Weems banked
in a shot to put Stanford up 14.
Western Michigan (21-8), making its
second-ever NCAA tournament
appearance and first since 1976, got no
closer than eight points the rest of the
way.
With or without Johnson, Stanford
was playing tough perimeter defense
and working the ball inside on offense.
The Cardinal had a 41-25 rebounding
edge.
Lee finished with 24 points. Young,
the Cardinal's 7-foot-1 center, scored 19
points and had 13 rebounds and 6-8
Madsen added 19 points and 10
rebounds as Stanford (28-4) matched
the school record for most victories in a
season.
Western's tallest starter was just 6-7.
Lee scored eight points in the final
48 seconds of the first half, hitting two
3-pointers and then a jumper at the
buzzer, as the Cardinal took a 42-39
lead.
Western, moving the ball well and
penetrating the lane with Kimbrough,
led by as many as seven.
Stanford then outscored the Broncos
19-9 in the final five minutes of the
half.
RHODE ISLAND 80, KANSAS 75
The Rams, behind the play of guards
Cuttino Mobley and Tyson Wheeler,
beat the top-seeded Jayhawks 80-75
Sunday to stop Kansas' string of five
straight trips to the regional semifinals.
Mobley had 27 points on 10-of-19
shooting, while Wheeler scored 20 and
had eight assists to cap a weekend of
upsets in this subregional.
Kansas (35-4) got great games from
its All-Americans, Raef LaFrentz and
Paul Pierce, but they didn't get enough
help. Billy Thomas was 2-of-15, includ-
ing 2-of-13 from 3-point range, and the
Jayhawks shot just 43 percent.
VALPARAISO 83, FLORIDA STATE 77
Valparaiso took another big step in its
surprise run by beating Florida State
83-77 on Sunday, sending the smallest
school in the NCAA tournament to its
first regional semifinal.
Bob Jenkins and Antanas Vilcinskas
made follow shots in the final two min-
utes of overtime as Valparaiso won its
13th straight game.
Bryce Drew scored 22 points and
made two free throws to ice it with 8.3
seconds left.
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derentkid fmadness
A s a child of the Nike Generation, I am forced to view sports with the notion that
it is a form of entertainment. That entertainment is often manufactured for us
the likes of Disney, oozing with phoniness.
During his lengthy tenure in Bloomington, Indiana coach Bobby Knight has creat-
ed a character for himself that has made him one of sports' biggest headliners.
Knight's character forces sports fans to take one side or the other as far as our opir-
ion of him. People who find his heartless disposition a facade laugh hysterically, an(d
those who think his act is his genuine nature seethe with utter disbelief.
Knight has always worked against the grain. He has tossed a chair across the court
like a Frisbee, played like a jockey and cracked a whip on one of his players during a
press conference, and likened a basketball blowout to sexual assault.
Two weeks ago, Knight added a relatively tame offense to his resume of debatable
displays of emotion. During a home contest against Illinois, Knight was ejected after
picking up his second technical foul after arguing with officials. When he continued
to protest, he became further enraged, picked up a third T, and as he walked off the
court, bumped the ref who tossed him. He later went on to say that the officials deci-
sion to eject him, not to mention the official himself, was "the biggest travesty" he had
ever seen.
Sinice criticizing the referees is a no-no, Knight was punished a week later. But
rather than inipose a cut-and-dried penalty , Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany chose
a radical alternative.
With the inaugural Big Ten Tournament looming as Knight's next scheduled
appearance, Delany did not want any of the conferences most attractive figures absent
from its first entertainment extravaganza. So the Big Ten decided to give its most noto-
rious outlaw a choice of punishment: a $10,000 fine or a one-game suspension.
From a short-term public relations standpoint, Delany did a marvelous job pulling
this out of left field. But in the long term, this decision is an absolute disaster because
of the horrible precedent it sets.
You can just imagine, for example, Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill up in arms
after his Wildcats lose a tough one to Michigan State next season on a questionable
call in the final seconds of a mid-January tilt.
After O'Neill blasts the refs for not calling the goaltending that should have been
whistled, that should have given his team the victory, Delany would be fenced in by
the precedent that he set with Knight.
1 prefer my entertainment from sports to come naturally, and the NCAA tournament
this year has provided us with examples of entertainment and spirit that makes the fans
of Knight's antics think twice about their loyalty.
The movie "Hoosiers" is the dream of any small-school basketball team. Although
it was based on an actual, pea-sized high school team from the cornfields of Indiana,
it appears to be a story that is so perfect that only Hollywood could write its script.
But Hollywood was beaten to the punch for the 1998 remake of "Hoosiers". The
sequels name: Valparaiso.
This year, buoyed by the father-son combination of Homer and Bryce Drew,
Valparaiso is looking more and more like its uniforms should read "Hickory."
The Crusaders shocked No. 4 seed Mississippi on Friday when Bryce Drew hit a
storybook 3-pointer at the buzzer and followed it-up with a thrilling overtime victory
over Florida State yesterday. The Seminoles were the latest team to play the part of that
team from downtown Indianapolis that just couldn't stop Jimmy Chitwood.
As Bryce Drew hit the free throws that iced yesterday's victory, he waved his
clenched fists in the air and gave us emotion that even Robert DeNiro couldn't pro-
vide. When the game ended, the team congregated at mid-court and raised their arms
together, signifying their one-unit, one-cause theme, and marched off the court wear-
ing smiles that stretched from the arena in Oklahoma City back to the cornfields of
Northern Indiana.
There's nothing phony about that; it just happened this way. And that spontaneity is
why Valparaiso's story is more captivating then any stunt pulled by Knight.
-Alan Goldenbach can be reached by e-mail at agold@umich.edu.
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