The Michigan Daily - Friday, December 11, 1998 - 13 taff Picks, Bowl week style - all picks made against the spread. And that's a lot tougher than it looks. Game (HOME TEAM IN CAPS) Las Vegas Bowl: North Carolina (no line) vs. San Diego State Motor City Bowl: Louisville (-3.5) vs. Marshall Aloha Bowl: Oregon (-4.5) vs. Colorado Oahu Bowl: Air Force (-3) vs. Washington Insight.com Bowl: Missouri (-3.5) vs. West Virginia Music City Bowl: Virginia Tech (-4) vs. Alabama Sunshine Classic: Miami (-7.5) vs. North Carolina State Alamo Bowl: Kansas State (-11) vs. Purdue Humanitarian Bowl: Southern Miss (-15.5) vs. Idaho Holiday Bowl: Nebraska (-4) vs. Arizona Iberty Bowl: Tulane (-6) vs. Brigham Young Sun Bowl: Southern Cal (-16) vs. Texas Christian Peach Bowl: Georgia (even) vs. Virginia Independence Bowl: Texas Tech (no line) vs. Mississippi Outback Bowl: Penn State (-6.5) vs. Kentucky Gator Bowl: Georgia Tech (no line) vs. Notre Dame Citrus Bowl: Michigan (-3.5) vs. Arkansas Cotton Bowl: Texas (-6.5) vs. Mississippi State Rose Bowl: UCLA (-9) vs. Wisconsin ugar Bowl: Ohio State (-12) vs. Texas A&M Orange Bowl: Florida (-7.5) vs. Syracuse Fiesta Bowl: Florida State (-4) vs. Tennessee Best Bet Last time - two weeks ago (best bet) Overall (best bet) SHARAT RAJU North Carolina Marshall Oregon Washington Missouri Virginia Tech North Carolina State Kansas State Idaho Arizona Tulane Texas Christian Georgia Texas Tech Kentucky Notre Dame Michigan Mississippi State UCLA Ohio State Florida Tennessee UCLA 7-4-1 (0-1) 73-56-4 (7-4) JIM ROSE North Carolina Marshall Oregon Washington Missouri Virginia Tech Miami Kansas State Southern Miss Arizona Brigham Young Southern Cal Georgia Texas Tech' Kentucky Notre Dame Arkansas Texas UCLA Texas A&M Syracuse Tennessee Oregon 4-7-1 (tie) 55-74-4 (3-6-2) MARK SNYDER North Carolina Marshall Oregon Air Force Missouri Virginia Tech Miami Kansas State Southern Miss Arizona Tulane Southern Cal Georgia Texas Tech Kentucky Notre Dame Michigan Texas UCLA Ohio State Florida Florida State Miami 7-4-1 (1-0) 62-67-4 (6-5) Where in the world is the Guest Selector? You've followed it all fall - from the season-opening Notre Dame shocker to the infamous Paper Bag Episode - and now, in the final Staff Picks competition of the season ... it's your turn. You've made countless jokes at the expense of our hap- less pickers (and with good reason). Now, though, it's time to back up the talk. Send us your picks. E-mail them to daily.football@umich.edu. The best respondents will get their names in the paper and win a free copy of the The Michigan Daily's very own book, "We're No. 1," chronicling last sea- son's national championship. Hey, if nothing else, it makes good reading after FOOTBALL another four-loss season. yTHE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF JTS Advanced Judaic studies at your fingertips... E a www.jsa.edu/academcps -1--f Find out about the largest and most comprehensive program of advanced Judaic studies in North America. Competitive funding availble for MA and PhD degrees. 3080 Broadway New York, New York 10027 Tel: (212) 678-8022 Fax: (212) 678-8947 Email: gradschool@jtsa.edu The Jewish Theological Seminary THE MATCHUPS Robbie Reid vs. William Avery Reid has been consstent from long range Advantage: lately, hitting eight threes in Michigan's duke last three games. Avery hit eight threes in one game earlier this week, setting ai school record. ....--------------------------------------- Louis Bullock vs. Trajan Langdon Two very identical and talented players. Advantage: Both are deadly from 3-point range and Michigan from the free throw line. Bullock gets the nod because he does it without help.K ------------------------------------------------ Brandon Smith vs. Chris Carrawell Smith has shown promise but has been Advantage: largely absent against quality opponents. Duke Don't expect that to change in a hostile environment. Carrawell is a solid role- player. U_ _ ----------------------------------------------- Josh Asselin vs. Shane Battier Asselins has struggled lately. Battier is Advantage: Duke's best defender, and can also be Duke called upon to score against slower oppo- nents. Paging Mr. Battier ...i Peter Vignier vs. Elton Brand This one could be trouble. Advantage: But come on. Anyone vs. Elton Brand Duke could be in trouble. PREDICTION: DUKE 84, MICHIGAN 69 BATTIER Continued from Page 51 the Blue Devils have every reason to believe that they can administer some fairly embarrassing payback tomor- row. Still, Battier - who played AAU basketball with current Wolverines Josh Asselin and Leon Jones in high school - isn't taking anything for granted against this year's depleted Michigan team. "One thing I've learned about Michigan is that it doesn't matter who they have, they're going to come out and strap 'em up every game." Despite suffering a last-second loss to Cincinnati in the Great Alaska Shootout, Duke has rolled over foes this season, as in Wednesday's 116-86 thumping of Florida. And Battier - the best player to come out of Detroit Country Day since former Michigan star Chris Webber- has played a big part in Duke's suc- cess. ThedBlue Devils already have a host of scorers, so the versatile for- ward often ends up doing things that don't show up in the next day's box score. "My role is like silly putty - it's ever-changing," Battier said. "Some games it calls for me to score a lot of points, sometimes my role entails me to be a passer." With so much Duke talent to pass to, it's no wonder that Battier takes pride in making the great players around him even greater. Such as fel- low post player Elton Brand, widely regarded as the best big man in the country. "The rest of the big guys just try to complement Elton," Battier said. "We just try to play a game that allows him to do his thing." But despite Brand's impressive numbers, there is one category in which Battier clearly leads his fellow sophomore - floor burns. While Brand and guard Trajan Langdon may score the bulk of the Blue Devils' points this season, Battier takes more charges than both of them. For him it's just as big as a crucial 3- pointer. "Whenever I take a charge, I get up and look at the degenerated look on my opponent's face, and it picks me up," Battier said. "It's not something that shows up on the stat sheet, but it's instrumental to winning ballgames." "Christmas at the Chapel Sunday, December 13,. 10:30 am University Lutheran Cb . 1511 Washtenaw, near Hill Pastor Ed Krauss, 663-5560 r F ;