.,E0' 0 lCAA ,arOK . tracing 'Vteams ME' CA NBA NHL BASKETBALL BASKETBALL. HOCKEY Will he stay or will he go? Michigan junior Robert Champonship Cleveland 97, DETROIT 3, Traylor is expected to announce his plans to enter the Minnesota 79, TORONTO 96 Anaheim 3 NBA Draft today at a 2 p.m. press conference at Penn State 72 CHARLOTTE 94, BOSTON 4, Detroit Murray-Wright High School. Read all about it in NIT Consolation Milwaukee 80 Philadelphia 2 Monday's Daily. Georgia 95, Vancouver at CAROLINA 4, Fresno State 79 PORTLAND, INC. N.Y. Rangers 1SFriday Seattle at 9 GOLDEN STATE, INC.g 1 wimming 13th after NCAA firs day ,lEi~iiB By Jacob R. Wheeler Daily Sports Writer AUBURN, Ala. - You can't teach an old dog new tricks. But you can rely on the trusty servant to perform feats it already knows how to do. So, despite the Wolverines' subpar 17th-place finish in the 400-yard medley lay during yesterday's preliminary nd, Michigan men's swimming coach Jon Urbanchek wasn't all that surprised with his team's performance after the first day of the NCAA Championships in-Auburn, Ala. Michigan ended the day tied for 13th place. He wasn't upset because the Wolverines cleaned house in the event they've virtually patented at NCAAs the Baseball b conferenc By Andy Latack Daily Sports Writer t doesn't happen often, but the ichigan baseball team may have found a sympathetic opponent. As the Wolverines begin the Big Ten season today .at Illinois, the Illini can relate to the harsh Michigan winters.. And the similarities between the teams' early seasons are striking. Both teams were supposed to begin th6ir conference season this past week- end, with Michigan (6-9-1) hosting owa,' and Illinois (10-10) visiting chioan State. Yet. as with the rest of past few years - the 500 freestyle. Junior Tom Malchow and freshman Chris Thompson each swam to record- breaking performances in the prelimi- nary round, and carried their success over to - last night's championship. Malchow took the silver and Thompson stood just below him with a bronze. Thompson's preliminary race was probably the most exciting moment of the day for Michigan. After lagging behind at the start, he began to come on during the middle of the race. Thompson caught up to Stanford freshman Steven Brown and swam the last lap neck-and- neck with him, pulling away at the very end. "There's apoint in the race when you egins e season the season, the weather would not coop- erate, and both series' were cancelled. Illinois would not sit idle, though, hastily scheduling a doubleheader with tiny Anderson College. The Illini swept both games and avoided a possibly detrimental layoff. For the Illini, the best thing was to keep playing. They had won four of their past five games going into the twinbill and have now taken eight of their last 10. The Illini are carrying con- siderable momentum into the start of the conference season as Michigan visits SIse IINI Page 1N say 'I'm going to start picking it up,"' Thompson said. "So I held off until the last 150 or so. It wasn't until then that I saw Brown over there in lane eight. The last 25 or 501 knew I was catching him. If I'm even with somebody the last 25 or 50, I'm not gonna lose. I guess I've got this uncanny ability to come back at the end, to go all out." Malchow's first race was a different story. The Olympic silver-medalist dom- inated his heat from the start, beating the next-best by 1.05 seconds. He barely held onto first place, how- ever, because Arizona's Ryk Neethling made a torrid run at the new record, missing it by just .04 seconds during the fifth and final preliminary heat. The Wolverines' records were short- lived, however. Thompson's preliminary swim in 4:18.45 was the fastest ever in the James E. Martin Aquatics Center, but only until the next heat, when teammate Malchow swam a 4:18.25. Still, the junior didn't swim nearly fast enough to break the NCAA record in the 500 free. Former Wolverine stand- out Tom Dolan still holds that honor - another testament to Michigan's domina- tion in the event. "This was pretty much what we expected," Urbanchek said. "We did pretty well in our domain. But we do that every year. We usually have four or five people, so this was no big deal.' See NCAAS, Page 10 6I JOHN KRAFT/Daily The Michigan men's swimming team ended the day tied for 13th place at the - NCAA Championships. Drop the puck Tourney timne is all that matters Yesterday, I was sitting in the NCAA's pre- Tournament media conference, listening to the each of the six coaches speak at Yost Ice Arena. The first things the coaches from North Dakota, Yale, Princeton, Ohio State, Michigan State and Michigan addressed were the events of this season. Each discussed his team's progress from the beginning of the season, the recent performances, their goals in the postseason, etc. These press conferences - as helpful as they are to people like me, who need to get quotes and truckloads of information - are a travesty of sorts. Coaches' attempts to condense a season into a short, minute-long splurge belittle everything that the team has accomplished during the season. The highs and lows, the cliche-rid- den 'do-or-die' games or 'taking things one game at a time'- all of these are quickly glazed over or soon forgotten around NCAA tour- ney time. How can Michigan coach Red Berenson adequately relate - to SHARAT those who don't know -just how RAJU this season has progressed? Goalie Sharat Marty Turco breaking the NCAA in the Dark all-time victories record; the sur- prising second-place CCHA fin- ish; right wing Bill Muckalt becoming a feared on-ice presence - all of these are quickly forgotten at this time of year. The same goes for all of the teams. Michigan State coach Ron Mason's 800th career vic- tory. North Dakota's 30-win defense of their national title this season. Yale's surprising surge to the top 10 after being picked in the preseason to finish 10th in its conference. Ohio State's emergence from the CCHA's depths to its first-ever tournament appearance. Princeton's first time playing in the NCAAs in more than 90 years. Each of these teams have colorful stories of a season's worth of struggle, hardship, victory and elation. But'when it comes down to it, none of this matters. Despite popular opinion, all the hard work of the season See RAJU, Page 10 PAUL TALANIAN/Daily Matt Herr and the rest of the Wolverines, like all the other teams in the NCAA West Regional, know that a successful regular season would'be overshadowed by an early postseason exit. LIii ' .. I Hope Medical Institute (HMI)is currently accepting applications for September/October 1998 semesters from committed students. If you are. College graduate with pre-med background College rduate without premed background but desire to be M.D. 2-year clege graduate wt concentration in science courses Hih school graduate who wants to become a M.D. The next semester starts Seember/October 1998 at various affiliated institutions in Europe. Courses' are conducted in the English languae. The institutions and programs :are well recognized by the World Hath Oranization and American Medical Exam Boards. HMI will help committed students in securing needed financing for their higher education. Due to very limited time and availability of space, ap I immediately if you think you have what it takes to be a good physician. Gail for further information at:I HOPE MEDICAL INSTITUTE 753 Thimble Shoals Blvd., Bldg. 2B, Newport News, VA 23606-3575 8H:am.-5:)3m,n.-Fri. Phone:876024 19 97 N ATINAL CHAMPIONS 1998 MICHIGAN FOOTBALL STUDENT TICKET DEADLINE FRIDAY, MARCH 27 For More Information Call University of Michigan Athletic Ticket Department 1000 South State Street, Ann Arbor, Ml 48109-2201. 8:00am - 5:30pm, Mon. - Fri. Phone: 784-0247 -i soyt%"itynsma'ap{ 7f *S Corner of ashington & Pearl Ypsilanti 487-2110