bcoreboard-L
NBA NHL
BASKETBALL HOCKEY
CHARLOTTE 105, BOSTON 2,
Boston 87 Florida 0
Milwaukee 87, Colorado 3,
NEW YORK 86 WASHINGTON 2 (OT)
MINNESOTA 85, TORONTO 6,
Seattle 84 Tampa Bay 1
New Jersey at Detroit at
CHICAGO, inc. Los Angeles, inc.

GRAPEFRUIT
LEAGUE
Tampa Bay 8,
DETROIT 5
KANSAS CITY 5,
Cleveland 3
N.Y. Mets 9,
ATLANTA 3
Montreal 6,
BOSTON 5

SPOR£ihimxiatl

'tracking 'M' tickets
The Michigan Ticket Office said that tickets are still
available for the Michigan hockey team's first-round
playoff series against Bowling Green at Yost Ice Arena.
Call 764-0247 for more information
Wednesday
March 10, 1999 I




Blue splits
pair over
vacation
By Stephen A. Rom
Daily Sports Writer
Spring break brought two teams
heading in opposite directions in the
women's gymnastics world to Ann
Arbor.
The Michigan women's gymnas-
tics team hosted a pair of dual meets
last week in which it was able to
gauge where it stood on the national
scene.
The team headed in the right
direction appeared in the form of top
ranked Georgia which made an s;
appearance at Crisler Arena on'
March 1, along with 2,504 fans - a
Michigan record for home dual
meets.
Those in attendance were not dis-
appointed as the defending national
champions proved they deserved that
title with a consummate team perfor- The Michiga
mance in all events. Te idig
The Bulldogs took advantage of rently riding
Michigan's weak performance on the
balance beam. But Georgia only won
the meet by a mere two points,
197.800 - 195.400.
Athens, Ga. is home to the No. I
team on the balance beam and also is By Jon Zen
home to Karin Lichey, whose aver- Daily Sports
age of 9.894 is second best in the With a
country in that event. softball tea
The Bulldogs scored two more Ann Arbor
points on the beam than the power is rig
Wolverines - who usually consider This is
that event to be one of their strong that last w
suits - did. Even seniors Lisa Simes one of the t
and Kathy Burke's score of 9.875 -the Spe
wasn't enough to make a difference But life 1
in the final outcome, sherbet for'
Michigan also recorded a season- The flu bug
best team performance in an event, caused sor
but couldn'tloosen Georgia's grip on ranks.
victory. "We're It
As they have many times this sea- Michigan a
son, the Wolverines dazzled their said. "It's a
enthusiastic home crowd on the floor time' playe
exercise and were rewarded with a this is reall
49.450 mark. pen"
This meet against Georgia was an With Mi
opportunity to see how Michigan Capital Cl
would fare against the leaders and eight days
the best in women's gymnastics. flu bug is re
It came ready for the test, scoring
above its 194.554 season average.
The problem was, so did Georgia,
who normally tallies 196.309 -
enough for that coveted No. 1 rank-
ing.
Regardless of the loss, Michigan is
still on track. Little by little they are
regaining'the edge that won them the TI
Big Ten Championship a year ago.
"We put together a meet we could
all be proud of," Michigan coach
Bev Plocki said. "We performed
with good execution. We need to do
that consistently from here on out."
In the following week's competi-
tion, unranked Arizona didn't have
quite the bite that Georgia did when
they strolled into Cliff Keen arena on
March 5. This time the Wolverines
would not be denied, scoring their
highest total score of the season
beating the Wildcats, 197.025 -
193.750.
Michigan began its dominance
right from the opening vault. In that
first event, the Wolverines launched
themselves into a big early lead that
they never relinquished.VO
Simes won the event with a score 6

of 9.950, and celebrated with friends 1103
as spots two through five on the suite 
awards stand were all colored maize iANN AR
and blue.

Sweep may hurt NCAA chances

By Mark Francescutti
Daily Sports Writer
Sometimes things work in mysterious ways. This week-
end, Michigan enters the first round of the CCHA
Tournament, facing off with Bowling Green in a best-of-
three series.
But the Wolverines find themselves in a peculiar situa-
tion. If they sweep the Falcons, they might actually find
themselves in a worse position for an NCAA Tournament
berth than if they win the series 2-1.
The cause of this is the NCAA Tournament selection
committee's complicated way of picking the 12-team brack-
et for the NCAA hockey Championships. The announce-
ment of the selection will be made March 21 on ESPN2. The
CCHA, WCHA, Hockey East and ECAC each receive up to
two automatic berths, for the regular-season and tournament
champions. If both champions are the same, only one auto-
matic bid is given.
All other bids will be handed to the teams who have the
highest number of points based on the committee's scoring
method.
The NCAA said it judges teams by five criteria: record in
the last 16 games, record against all other teams under con-
sideration, record against common opponents, head-to-head
competition against teams under consideration and the
Ratings Percentage Index (RPI).
U.S. College Hockey Online (www uscollegehockey.com)
tries to mimic this system by calculating a Pairwise ranking
number, or PWR.
The Pairwise Ranking uses the same five criteria, placing
teams in head-to-head competition to rank them: RPI,
record in last 16 games, record against all teams under con-
sideration, record against common opponents and head-to-
head competition.
"There may be some similarities," said Dennis Pope,
director of NCAA Championships. "But the fact of the mat-
ter is (the PWR system) is not used."
But it's still a safe bet to trust the PWR, because the five
criteria used in PWR are the same as the selection commit-
tee uses. The PWR also has successfully predicted the tour-
nament's teams in each of the past two seasons.
Sound complicated? It gets worse.
Bowling Green (17-16-3 overall) is one game above .500
- meaning two losses drops them below .500.
Almost all teams under consideration in the past have had
a .500 or better record.
Since one of the PWR's (and NCAA's) determinants is
record against opponents under consideration, Michigan
may lose a Pairwise Ranking point in that category if they
clobber Bowling Green two games to none, dropping the
Falcons from consideration.
But if Michigan loses a game, the Falcons stay at .500 and
Michigan will keep the Pairwise point they have.
"It may not come to down to the Pairwise Rankings,"
Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "It might help us if

PAIR WISDOM
A breakdown of how the Pairwise Rankings work when
comparing Ohio State and Michigan:
RPI: Michigan has a better Ratings Percentage Index
so it gets 1 point in the comparison, (not a Pairwise
Rankings point). Michiga'n leads, 1-0
Last 16 games: Ohio State (8-6-2) has a better record
than Michigan (6-6-4) over the last 16 games so it gets
a point.
The comparisonds tied, 1-1
Teams under consideration: Michigan has a 10.6-2
record compared to OSU's 8-6-2, so Michigan gets a
point.
Michigan leads, 24
Head-to-head: Michigan won no games against Ohio
State, so it gets 0 points. Ohio State beat Michigan
once, so it gets 1. point.
The comparison is tied, 2-2.
Common opponents: Michigan has a 19-8-4 record
against the opponents Ohio State has faced, Ohio State
has a 16-12-2 record against opponents that Michigan
has faced. Michigan gets a point.
Michigan wins, 3-2, and receives a Pairwise Ranking
point.
To completely determine Michigan's PWR status, the
Wolverines are compared with the other 24 teams under
consideration. They get one PWR point for every corn-
parison won. Michigan's 14 PWR points mean that it is
currently ranked higher than 14 other'teams in the
Pairwise Rankings.
Bowling Green wins, but you can't plan anything at this
point. If we win the CCHA Tournament, the Pairwise
Rankings won't matter."
If the Wolverines fall below the 12th ranking, which could
happen if they sweep Bowling Green, they will most likely
have to win the CCHA Tournament to receive a bid.
If they lose in the first round of the playoffs to Bowling
Green, their NCAA Tournament berth is in serious jeopardy.
Also, since Michigan State already received an automatic
bid for the best conference regular season record, if
Michigan doesn't win the CCHA Tournament, the
Wolverines will benefit if the Spartans do. A Michigan State
victory would free up an at-large bid.
Michigan is presently ranked 11 th in the PWR. Since one
of the teams - No. 8 Quinnipac - cannot receive a bid due
to NCAA restrictions, Michigan is essentially No. 10.
FRESHMAN AWARDS: Michigan center Mike Comrie,
defenseman Jeff Jillson and goaltender Josh Blackburn all
made the CCHA first team, the first time since 1995 that
three Wolverines made the team. The three will also be con-
sidered for CCHA rookie of the year.

FILE PHOTO
in softball team has celebrated a lot recently. The Wolverines are cur-
a 10-game winning streak.
u-rney time for 'M'

ake
Writer
16-5 record, the Michigan
am is enjoying life in snowy
r, as much as any national
ght now.
especially true considering
eekend the Wolverines won
oughest softball tournaments
edline Invitational.
hasn't been all snowmen and
Michigan over the last week.
g bit the Wolverines and has
me discomfort among the
hoping it's a 24 hour thing,"
assistant coach Bonnie Tholl
ffecting some of our 'playing
rs and our role players. (But)
y the best time for it to hap-
chigan's next contest - the
assic in Sacramento - still
away, the team hopes that the
rally fleeting and won't stick

around.
Tholl said the team has not been hit
hard by the illnesses and will be ready
for its upcoming trips.
TOURNAMENT ACTION: Having
wrapped up the championship at the
Speedline Invitational, the Wolverines
are showing signs of returning to the
top.
Three players were named to the all-
tournament team including Michigan
junior Karmen Lappo. The catcher
played a key role in the Wolverines' win
over South Carolina. In that contest,
Lappo hit a grand slam in the first
inning to set the tone for the rout.
Tholl described the Speedline
Invitational as the toughest tournament
the Wolverines will take part in until the
NCAA Tournament
Before March is out, the Wolverines
will head off to two more tournaments.
The Capitol Classic in Sacramento and
the Boilermaker Invitational in West
Lafayette.



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0

-8550
S. University
NBOR

EA
SETA TRAVEL
WE'VE BEEN THERE.

_

~2Winter Graduation .Fair '99
Buy your cap and gown, .order your class ring,
and join the Alumni Association all at one place!
The Graduation Fair is designed to take the stress
out of graduation!
Today.; March 10 1 Oarn-4pm
Thursday) March 11 1 Oam-8pm
Friday, March 12 10arn-4prn

Northwestern University is looking for
college sophomores, juniors, and seniors to
work as counselors in the College
Preparation Program, a summer program for
academically talented high school

Ii