.S. orebo ad n #f OMEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL (11) INDIANA 74, Iowa 71 SETON HALL 78, (23) St. Johns 70 VIRGINIA 87, (21) North Carolina 85 (14) Tennessee 81, (9) Florida 79 NBA BASKETBALL Chicago 92, MIAMI185 (OT} HOUSTON 90 Portland 89 Cleveland at Seattle, inc. LA Clippers at Sacrarmentoinc. NHL HOCKEY Carolina 2, NY RANGERS 3 Phoenix 4, NASHVILLE 4 (OT) Detroit 1, CALGARY 6, inc. Buffalo 2, LOS ANGELES 4 U he £tduisn ~g Tracking 'M' recruits Football recruit Charles Rogers, a Saginaw native, will announce his College intentions today. Rogers' high sChool basketball coach said last night Michigan is one of three finalists, along with Tennessee and Michigan State - which recruit guru Tom Lemming tabs as the favorite. Wednesday January 19, 2000 *Athletic officials acknowledge practice incident No serious problems with coach- tlayer relations, source says By David Den Herder and Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writers Michigan athletic officials confirmed yesterday that Michigan assistant coach Lorenzo Neely was reprimand- ed and punished two months ago for his involvement in an incident at a November practice. "He has the same title, but he has different responsi- '*ilities," said Bruce Madej, Michigan's associate athlet- ic director for media relations. Neely remains on the bench at games, but does not have the same coaching tasks at practices that he once did. The incident in question involved a physical alterca- tion between Neely and freshman guard Jamal Crawford. But a source told The Michigan Daily that the incident happened two months ago, and there is no significant strain on the relationships between players and coaches at daily practices. The source said emotions sometimes run high during *ractices, as they would with any college basketball team, but recent events are not reflecting any noticeable, abnormally tense relations between the coaching staff and players. Neely and Crawford both declined comment yesterday through Madej. Madej declined further comment, citing an Athletic Department guideline not to discuss personnel issues outside the department. Neely, 30, is in his second year at Michigan. He played our seasons at guard for Eastern Michigan from 1987- 1. Before coming to Michigan, Neely was an assistant at his alma mater for two seasons. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe could not be reached for comment, as he did not return to his office after early afternoon practice. Crawford's benching at the start of Sunday's Illinois game was not related to the Neely incident which hap- pened months ago, sources said. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe benched Crawford for the first 14 minutes of the game due to a flare up in this past Friday's practice. Ellerbe said Monday that Crawford's punishment was *rried out and is now a "done deal." On Monday, several area publications suggested See PRACTICE, Page 10 Northwestern, on six-game skid, visits Crisler tonight By Mark Francescutti Daily Sports Writer Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill needs an answer - fast. His Wildcats (0-3 Big Ten, 4-11 over- all) have lost six in a row, a streak that has led the coach to figure in a quick transfer. During Monday's Big Ten teleconfer- ence O'Neill joked with the telephone moderator. "How about we trade jobs?" O'Neill said. "You can go and coach at Michigan and Michigan State this week, and I'll. run the calls?" O'Neill's sarcastic fear may be war- ranted in the fact that he faces a tough road swing, first at Crisler Arena to face the Wolverines (2-1, 11-3) tonight at 8 p.m., and then in East Lansing on Saturday. And if Michigan has a bunch of young players in its ranks, then the Wildcats are all still shaking their rattles. Northwestern consists of all but one underclassman -junior Jeff Echemeyer - who averages about 19.6 fewer points per game than his brother Evan - who graduated last year with a 19.6 scoring average. Things are so young around the Northwestern camp that Echemeyer has played only two minutes this season, giv- ing the Wildcats the legacy of youngest basketball team in the nation. Northwestern has 99.9 percent of its minutes played by freshmen and sopho- mores. No other Big Ten team is in the top 10. Michigan is 15th at 79.25 percent. The sea of youth resulted when Northwestern lost two upperclassmen early - guard Sean Wink in the offsea- son and center Aron Molnar in November "it takes time, patience and players to be successful," O'Neill said. "I started from scratch at Tennessee, and I started from scratch at Marquette." Michigan's youth, meanwhile, has excelled so far in squeezing out close overtime victories in their past two games. "Our overtime confidence is grow- ing," freshman LaVell Blanchard said. "But I think it's time to get some in reg- ulation." Northwestern may look like an easy kill for the preying Wolverines, but tonight's game is especially crucial for Michigan with its toughest stretch of games right around the corner. After Northwestern the Wolverines play at Iowa, at Indiana, return home for Michigan State and Ohio State then fin- ish the run at Illinois. Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe likes his team's perseverance in overtime, but said his freshmen's ignorance sometimes brings them through a tough stretch. "They're too young to know these are pressure-packed situations. I don't think they know any better," Ellerbe said. "That's a good thing, because I think the older guys like myself are the guys dying inside. The freshmen just want to know what's next." Michigan's top-ranked Big Ten offense may easily overpower Northwestern's inability to average 50 points so far in the Big Ten season, but defensively, Ellerbe said O'Neill can keep his team close with a strong pres- sure attack. "You have to fight for your life in every possession," Ellerbe said. "(The Wildcats) may be undermanned and they're struggling, but every posses- sion when you play Kevin's team's is difficult." DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily Freshman Jamal Crawford is expected to return to the start- ing lineup tonight against Northwestern. TONIGHT Who: Michigan (2-1 Big Ten, 11-3 overali) vs. Northwestern(0-3, 4-11) Where: Crisler Arena. When:8:00 pm. TV/Radio:ESPM'lus, WfKA 1050 AM, WJR 760 AM HiTOR3 0K A look at the last three times Northwestern has visited Crisler Arena. Feb. S, 1997: Michigan 74, Northwestern 67 Sean Wink's 3-pointer from the corner with just nine minutes to play gave an elated Northwestern a 12-point lead, but Robert Traylor and the boys woke up in time to steal a seven- point victory at home. March 5, 1996: Michigan 93, Northwestern 76 Having lost five straight Big Ten games, the Wolverines des- perately needed a win over Northwestern to preserve any hope of an NCAA berth. But a blowout win over the Wildcats and an ensuing road victory over Ohio State weren't enough to push Michigan into the NCAA Tournament in Steve Fisher's final season as coach. Jan. 6, 1995: Michigan 83, Northwestern 51 Three years after this blowout took place, Northwestern bas- ketball players Kenneth Lee and Dewey Williams were indict- ed for point-shaving. This game was one of three specifically cited in the indictment. Into the fire, Martelli goes to work By Dan Williams Daily Sports Writer Michigan wrestler Charles Martelli was thrown into the fire in his first weekend of wrestling, and he got burned. On Sunday, Central Michigan's fifth-ranked Ryan Cunningham scored a fall against Martelli by pin- ning his shoulder to the mat, the ulti- mate defeat in wrestling. This fol- lowed a major decision loss for Martelli to Pennsylvania's third ranked Rick Springman Saturday. But nobody lost respect for the sophomore after the two tough losses. "Everybody understood the cir- cumstances," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said. "They were very supportive of him." The circumstances were that the instant All-American Otto Olson's knee popped, Martelli went from being a 165-pound wrestler planning to red-shirt to the team's starting 174-pound wrestler. He had a week to prepare for see- ing his first action of the year, mov- ing up a weight class, and competing against some of the nation's top com- petition. "It was unexpected," Martelli said. "It was something no one thought could happen to the best wrestler in the nation, especially at this point in the year. No one is going to fill Otto's shoes, but I will just do what I can." The season thrust upon Martelli didn't get off to a satisfying start, but there were positives. Martelli kept it close against Cunningham until the third period and even recorded a take down. "I knew it was early in my season and it had been a while since I com- peted," Martelli said. "But it was See MARTELLI, Page 10 already out there in' California. The end American campuses. Although we keep hearing that an end to affirmative action will not affect minority access to higher education, this is precisely what will occur, as it has in California, where the enrollment of undergraduate minority students at UCBerkley has dropped 43% and at UCLA has dropped 36% under Proposition 209. Elsewhere, programs to guarantee admission to the top ten or twenty percent of high school classes create more problems than they solve. By reducing admissions to a "one size fits all" one-dimensional approach, they wrongly assume that all high schools are the same. So, they penalize minority and majority students at demanding secondary schools and those students who take the most challenging courses. They run the risk of admitting students from weak high schools who aren't prepared to do the work. And, to achieve diversity, these programs rely on the continuation of segregated high schools. This quick fix doesn't work at all for graduate and professional schools. This is reality. A ban on affirmative action will lead 4 in higher- education. 11" is not a good way s to America' rxa ies. I.