MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL (1) CINCINNATI 75, Memphis 55 (4) AUBURN 65, South Carolina 61 (5) Syracuse 82, PITTSBURGH 72 (6) DUKE 92, N.C. State 82 (OT) (12) OKLAHOMA ST. 73, (13) Texas 65 COLORADO 88, (16) Oklahoma 80 (18) KENTUCKY 74, Mississippi 69 WOMEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL (24) Kansas 81, BAYLOR 67 UAje£tINW kag Prep football recruit Carlos Rogers, a highly touted wide receiver out of Saginaw High School, chose Michigan State over Michigan and Tennessee late Tuesday night. Thursday January 20, 2000 11A Michigan 93, Northwestern 70 Alley-oop feed proves Smith's leadership role By Jacob Wheeler Daily Sports Writer Michigan's rejuvenated forward Brandon Smith found another way to lead the Wolverines last night; picking an opponent's pocket of the ball, dribbling down court and unselfishly setting up an alley-oop off the backboard for freshman Jamal Crawford. 1mith could have simply layed in the ball, so as not to 'd insult to injury as his Wolverines romped to an easy, 23-point win - Michigan's widest margin of victory this season. Or he could have slammed home the basket himself. This is only Smith's fifth game back in action, and his scoring chances have been limited compared to those of Crawford and LaVell Blanchard. But playing the role of older brother who wanted to show his protege a good time, Smith bounced the ball off the backboard for the headbanded fan favorite to slam home, increasing Michigan's lead to 14 with 13:29 t*raining in the game. 'I just screamed, 'backboard'," said Crawford, who led all players with 20 points. "But I thought he was going to take it himself and do something fancy like touch his toes. "We had worked on that play in practice, not with Brandon, but with LaVell. "You'll see that play later." After a difficult couple of days in which Crawford denied countless rumors that his days as a Wolverine were numbered, the electrifying guard seemed to have n on the court against Northwestern. rawford found himself back in the starting lineup after missing the first 14 minutes of last Sunday's game against Illinois. And by the time he left the floor for the See LEADER, Page 15A 'M' helps N'westem continue season slide By Chris Duprey Daily Sports Editor If and when times get bad for the Michigan basketball team this season, take a look at Northwestern's rebuilding effort and count your blessings. The Wolverines sleepwalked through the first half yesterday night, allowing Northwestern to take whatever shot it wanted (9-for-13 shooting from 3-point range in the first half), turning the ball over in non-aggressive situations (13 first-half turnovers), and pretty much reinforcing every no-defense criticism of them this season. And Michigan still took a 49-42 lead to halftime. Then it seemed like the Wolverines had a lockerroom epiphany, remember- ing that Northwestern has three decent- shooting guards and nobody under- neath. So they spread out on the defensive end, and, thanks to some solid one-on- one defense by Chris Young and Josh Asselin in the post, Michigan was able to hold the Wildcats to just 28 second- half points en route to a 93-70 victory at Crisler Arena. Most importantly, LaVell Blanchard appears to be all right after suffering an ankle sprain Tuesday at practice. Team trainer Steve Stricker was able to tape up the tender ankle and protect it enough for Blanchard to log 25 min- utes against Northwestern. The fresh- man should be able to play against Iowa this Saturday without issue. Michigan didn't make any tremen- dous runs in the second half to put the game away. And until Brandon Smith threw Jamal Crawford an alley-oop off the backboard for a showbiz slam, the game didn't really look like a blowout yet. The Wolverines instead built their lead with veteran-like subtlety -- a bas- ket here, a defensive stop there, until all of a sudden they had amassed a 91-64 advantage. "We couldn't stop their halfcourt, their transition, or anything," said obvi- ously distressed Northwestern coach Kevin O'Neill, whose club had just 10 total rebounds on the evening. "They're a very deep team, they just wore us down. I think they're probably a top-25- level team." Michigan could be just one win away from that achievement. A victory at- Iowa would give the Wolverines a two-, win week, which usually results in siz- able upward mobility in the polls. Michigan is currently in that fine-print "Others Receiving Votes" gray area at No. 28. Alas, Northwestern (0-4, 4-12) is headed the exact opposite direction. The Wildcats, a team without a junior or a senior - Sean Wink and Aron Molnar each quit earlier this season - had no inside game and was forced to bomb away from long range in the first See WILDCATS, Page 15A LOUIS BRAWN/Daily Chris Young and the rest of Brian Ellerbe's nine-man rotation played well enough against Northwestern to give the bench players more than two minutes of playing time, en route to a 23-point victory. Women an By Dena Beth Krischer Daily Sports Writer fhe stakes are high and the Michigan women's basketball team is trying its luck. Wisconsin (2-3 Big Ten, 8-6 overall) has anted its Big Ten record, after start- ing 0-3. And like any game of poker, the cards are unknown until the end of the game. Although tonight's game may be risky, the Wolverines (4-1, 12-4) are up for the adventure. There's one thing about this team, Michigan coach Sue Guevara said, after recently overthrowing No. 19 Purdue and No. 12 Illinois. "They love a chal- lenge. This is going to be another very big challenge for them." With what appeared to be a winning hand, Illinois anted 12 players in the meeting against the Wolverines Monday. ite up success on road Michigan called, producing 12 players of equal caliber, and raised the stakes, knowing quite well that if they lost, it would be risking more than just a loss to a big-name team. Confident that its hand would beat whatever Michigan provided, Illinois laid all of its cards on the table. "That's going to be hard to beat" Michigan seemed to say. "But just look at what we've got here,' as it placed its better hand out on the court. Dumbfounded, Illinois dropped to third place and its sense of notoriety amongst those in the Big Ten seemed lost as Michigan stole second place. "I think Raina Goodlow was one of (the key players)," Guevara said. "I think Alayne Ingram had a really good game. Stacey Thomas had a very good second half. And then you've got to look at Anne Thorius. "Yeah, Anne didn't score, but I thought she had a very, very good floor game. We had a lot of contributions from a lot of people." Guevara had to trade in some cards for a hand that would beat Illinois, and she found the ones she needed. "LeeAnn Bies came off the bench," Guevara said. "You cannot forget the contributions from Kenisha Walker and Heather Oesterle." Now, after its sixth road win of the season, Michigan accepts Wisconsin's challenge and will deal tonight in front of a likely crowd of 9,000 fans at the Kohl Center. Both teams are searching for their third good hand in a row - a winning streak much needed for Wisconsin to stay alive in the Big Ten. The Wolverines could also use a streak, and if all goes well, they'll prove TONIGHT Who: Michigan at Wisonsin Where: Madison When. 7 p.m. atest: The Wolverines are coming off of two straight wins over ranked opponents just how good they really are. "We've been good all along" sopho- more starting forward Raina Goodlow said. "We're just now showing that we know it. We come in and practice hard every day and we're really starting to mold together, and I think that con- tributes to our success." Goodlow, a big part of Michigan's winning hand over Illinois, had some champaign to celebrate her coming out party. "I thought I really stepped it up in the game," Goodlow said. "I did what my team needed me to do, and that's all I can say. Everybody else played well also, it was a team effort" And a good hand dealt. 'M' icers take note of Vermont hazing 4' By Chris Grandstaff Daily Sports Writer When Michigan senior captain Sean Peach skated off the ice on Tuesday afternoon he'd already been thinking about it. Last Friday, Vermont canceled the remainder of its hockey schedule after an internal investigation deter- mined that members of the Catamounts had lied about allega- tions of illegal hazing, and just about everyone in the world of college hockey is talking about it. "It's a tough situation," Peach said. "The seniors were talking about it today. If I were a senior in my fourth year, it would be a tough way to go. But you can't let that kind of stuff go on. We don't haze at Michigan." The internal investigations com- mittee at Vermont was initiated after former Catamount goaltender Corey LaTulippe had filed a lawsuit last fall against the university and its athletic department. LaTulippe claims that he and other incoming freshman were forced to perform sexually degrading acts, drink alcohol until they vomit- ed, and give out their credit card to fund a senior white-water rapids trip costing in excess of $800 U. S. College Hockey Online said. "You can't be doing that stuff," Michigan sophomore Mike Comrie said. "If it had happened here I'd be Wrestlers revved up for Wildcats, Spartans extremely upset. But the reason we don't do that kind of stuff is because' the consequences aren't worth it. You can't do stuff like that because it will- get out - especially at a program- like Michigan because we're closely-, watched and you have to play by the rules." But Michigan's hockey team did- n't always play by the rules. The pro- gram found itself in a similar situa--.- tion 20 years ago. In the fall of 1980, four years before the start of current Michigan head coach Red w Berenson's tenure, the Michigan icers were involved in a much publi- cized hazing incident. Three players were suspended for,, two games, the entire team wasw barred from local bars, two players quit the team and the University=~ community exploded in outrage after news that one member of the Wolverines hockey team was left drunk, devoid of all body hair from the neck down and completely naked outside his Mary Markley dormitory. "It's supposed to make you feel like part of the team, like one of the guys," an anonymous member of the Michigan hockey team told The Michigan Daily in 1980. "It's a tradition for hockey teams to have initiations like these." But not anymore. Since the incident, the Wolverines See VERMONT, Page 13A By Ryan C. Moloney Daily Sports Writer Imagine you are the owner of a souped-up, dual-exhaust, maize and blue muscle car. You're primed and THIS WE pumped-up to race your arch-nemesis - a green- Who:Midigan ,-white big-block that Northwesten ai 've beaten before. Only State some purple and black 'hera: liff KO Diag Diahatsu has a race When:Friday, with you two days before Sunday 1 p.m. the big showdown. If you can imagine that, you under- stand why the element of fear creeps into the Michigan wrestling team's Friday match against Northwestern - en route to their Sunday battle with Michigan State also in Cliff Keen Arena. , win over the 3-5-1 Wildcats is such A ormality, it would behoove the Wolverines to fall asleep at the wheel, so to speak. Northwestern is threadbare in half of its respective lineup - the other half is considerable, if not only slightly under par in comparison to Michigan.I E in tF 4 7 Mark Bybee and Scott Schatzman make up the ranked contirgent for Northwestern while Steve Cordova and Drew Pariano offer viable experience at 125 and 157 pounds. Bybee is No. 9 in the EKEND nation at 174 and vs. Schatzman, perhaps the nd Midigan team's best talent, is No. 5 at 141. een Arena Sure, maybe the 7 pm., Wildcats are a bit of a tune-up for what is bound to be a rock 'em sock 'em match with Michigan State, but you won't catch any of the Wolverines speak- ing that way. "These guys (Northwestern) have been around - everyone around the country (on the collegiate level) has potential:' Damian Logan said. "I've been focused on all of my matches, they effect seeds in the Big Tens. "There are no friends until after the matches." Joe Warren shares that warrior mental- lity but has been unable to use it on the mat in recent weeks because of a nagging knee injury. It appears that the 133-pound spar