MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL Kentucky 78, UTAH 69 'HL HOCKEY SBOSTON 4, Colorado 1 LA Kings 3, TORONTO 2 Tampa Bay 3, NY RANGERS 1 ST. LOUIS 6, San Jose 2 Calgary at Edmonton, inc. EXHIBITION BASEBALL MINNESOTA 7, Pittsburgh 3 TORONTO 6' Syracuse (AAA) 3 NY Yankees 12, SAN DIEGO STATE 3 San Diego 5, MOBILE (AAA) 3 Anaheim 8, CS FULLERTON 4 SPORTSdign dI And the winner is ... From more than 500 entries, the winner of the third annual Michigan Daily-Pizza House NCAA Tournament pool is A.J. Guikema, who earned 10 free pizzas with 125 points of a possible 192. Look for the top 10 fin- isherS tomorrow in Sports. Tuesday March 31, 19988 Questions answered by Blue defense 4 By Sharat Raju Daily Sports Editor When the season began, few people would have thought that the Michigan hockey team would be playing in April. Lots of question marks surrounded the Wolverines. The answers have finally arrived. Where would the goals come from? Everyone. This past weekend, a different Wolverine scored each of the six goals. Willforward Bill Mfckalt be able to score without former star center Brendan Morrison? " Yes. He's filled up the net with 32 goals this season. Better still, Muckalt has become an exceptional passer since other teams have keyed in on his goal-scoring ability. Can goaltender Marty Turco play as well without all-Americans in front of him? Apparently so. The Wolverines have won 16 one-goal games - blowing away the old team record of 10 one-goal victories. Will the seniors be able to guide the 10 freshmen on the team? Evidently, that hasn't been a problem for the Wolverines - they're going to Boston for the NCAA Semifinals. But the one question that was the most pressing is this: How on earth will Michigan play defense? Bubba Berenzweig was really the only experienced defenseman on the team. Senior Chris Fox played a little and Sean Peach, only a sophomore, saw significant ice time as a freshman. And with four freshmen on the blueline, the situation look liked it would only get worse before it could get better. This past weekend, the Wolverines answered the question. How did they play defense? Well. Quite well, in fact. The Wolverines held the high-octane North Dakota offense to a mere three goals, well below its 4.87 goals per game average. The defense is "not really surprising us, but they are impressive," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. On countless occasions during Saturday's game, a Fighting Sioux attacker skated down the ice at the speed of light with only one Michigan defenseman to beat. Early in the game, the Wolverines were beat- en by the quicker Sioux. After digging itself into a sizable hole, something clicked on the Michigan blue line halfway through the game. Instead of getting beat down ice, the Wolverines used their one big advantage - size. Dave Huntzicker, Mike Van Ryn or Berenzweig - all significantly larger than the speedy little North Dakota forwards - out- muscled the Sioux. And a teammate would quickly come over and clear the puck from danger's way. "Berenzweig, I thought, had an outstanding weekend," Berenson said. "He's playing the best hockey of his career. Mike Van Ryn and Dave Huntzicker - two freshmen - never got beat one-on-one. They stopped their top players. They cleared the puck and made all the right decisions. "And Chris Fox, a senior, continues to play his strongest hockey. At this point last season he wasn't even dressing." Many of the questions have been answered, it seems. Of course, a few still remain. What are Michigan's chances of...? Well, it really doesn't need to be asked. Everyone will find out the answer after this coming weekend. MARGARET MYERS/Daily Dave Huntzicker and the rest of Michigan's defense outmus- cled the high-octane North Dakota offense on Saturday. 4 Baseball plays same' story versus Western Field Service Representative Phew, the search is over! Right here is that extraordinary summer job you've been looking for. Gain experience working for a top U.S. brand ... and love it. Eastpak, a leader in the backpack industry, is looking for highly motivated individuals to provide promotional and merchandising support during the summer. The position will last nine weeks and will be full-time during that period. 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Michigan (1-3 Big Ten, 7-12 overall) hosts Western Michigan (2-3 MAC, 5- 12 overall) today, in an attempt to rebound from this past weekend's shelling at the hands of Illinois. The Wolverines dropped three of four to the Illini, with junior Bryan Berryman (2-1) picking up the only victory, a 6-0 shutout in the second half of Saturday's doubleheader. Prior to the series in Champaign, Michigan collared Ball State with a 14-6 defeat in the home opener at Ray Fisher Stadium. But, while trouncing the Cardinals didn't translate into success against the Illini, Michigan coach Geoff Zahn views the midweek games against the smaller schools as valuable practice. "We need to win these games," Zahn said. "We have to play these games to get our pitching straightened out, play better defense, and just get used to being on the field." So, as Michigan faces the Broncos today and Detroit tomorrow, the team will be looking to improve upon those weaknesses. The Wolverines' major problem against the Illini was a lack of consisten- cy from their starting pitchers. With the exception of Berryman, who allowed just six hits in his seven-inning showing, the rest of Michigan's starters struggled, - including Brian Steinbach (0-4), who will take the mound today. "Our pitchers just didn't adjust as well as Illinois' did," Zahn said. "We have to get them turned around:" Western Michigan visits Fisher Stadium in a dismal slump, having lost eight of their past nine games. Tubby time Kentucky uses late Srally to top Utah SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Call them the Comeback Cats. p4 . Kentucky capped a truly maddening March with an unprecedented second-half rally, beating Utah 78-69 last night to win its second NCAA championship in three years. And the Wildcats did it this time with a new coach and without stars in their lineup. Kentucky won its seventh national title with its third straight rally of the tournament and became the first team to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. < YWith Tubby Smith working the sidelines instead of Rick Pitino and with former stars Antoine Walker, Ron Mercer and Derek Anderson in the NBA, Kentucky moved one trophy closer to UCLA's record total of 11. It was the third straight year the Wildcats were in the championship game - they lost to Arizona in overtime last season - and the third straight year they ended Utah's season in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats fell behind in the first half, trailing 41- 31 at halftime. The deficit was as many as 12 points in the opening minutes of the second half before Kentucky started shooting well. The Wildcats went 11-for-12 from the foul line AP down the stretch and Utah's solid offensive game went APHOTO Kentucky's Nazr Mohammed lays the ball up over Utah's to pieces as it scored on just two of its final 10 posses- Michael Doleac in the Wildcats' victory last night. sions. I' I I ~ w r Power Bar rI is The University of Michigan Ralph Williams 58 Greene Comedy Company State Street Poetry Project M Flicks Film Festival winner "Scratch" and more Department of Recreational Sports Intramural Sports Program Power Point Standings 4 Co-Recreational Division Team Points Arbor Crush 5026.00 Malicous Tortfeasors 4264.00 Fraternity 'A' Division 10 Team Pi Kappa Alpha Delta Tau Delta Sigma Nu Theta Chi Points 9205.26 8685.53 8667.11 8536.23 Hulksters-United Logsters 2628.96 1914.00 Graduate/Faculty/Staff Division Fraternity 'B' Division 0 Wednesday, April 1 7:00 pm Team 12(b) Sixers Gorlins Sign DOA MBA 2-5 Points 6204.00 5691.30 2399.00 1796.66 Team Theta Chi Alpha Epsilon Pi Tau Epsilon Phi Pi Kappa Alpha Points 1377.33 1276.00 1133.00 1096.66 Michigan League Ball Room Tickets sold now at the Union Ticket Office for $3 hosted by Independent Men Division Residence Hall Division 4 Team Polish Armada Meltdown Points 2848.65 2501.30 Team Thronson Bush T T-.1 . Points 3441.00 2650.00 MA nnf (f i I