14 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, March 31, 2000

1939 Oregon. 1940 Indiana." 1941 Wisconsin. 1942 Stanford. 1943 Wyoming. 1944 Utah. 1945 Oklahoma St. .1946 Oklahoma St. * 1947 Holy Cross e1948 Kentucky. 1949 Kentucky .1950 CCNY

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GAME 1:

(1) M ICGAEN ST Vs. (8) ISCONSIN, TOMORROW 5:42 P.M.

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GAME 2: (5)FLORIDA vs. (8)
CHAMPIONsHIP GAME: MONDAY, 9 P.M.
ALL GAMES ON CBS

Mad-town awakens as
Badgers ride defense

By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Editor
Nobody expected the Wisconsin basket-
ball team to do much of anything this season
except slow down games to the point of
monotony.
But March Madness marched through the
land like a wind storm, and after all the dust
had settled, the Badgers were still alive,
monotonous or not, in the Final Four.
According to fans of other Big Ten teams,
Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett and his
emphasis on team defense are about as
respected as the dumb kid in class who slows
everything down with silly questions, just to
participate in the class discussion.
Scores of Wisconsin games looked like
Midwest temperatures in March: a 54-45 vic-
tory at Iowa on Feb. 23, a 51-41 win over'
Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament on
March 9.
Everyone knew the Badgers could play
defense - especially their scrappy point
guard Mike Kelley, who broke the team
steals record. But the team's lack of scoring
production was downright offensive, and
Bennett freely admitted it.
After finishing about where they were
expected to in the regular season, sixth place
in the Big Ten, the Badgers surprised every-
one in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tour-
nament with a 78-66 win over Purdue.
The doubters remained confident. No
offense, they said, in a sport where offense
generates excitement. How could a team
with no N BA prospects make noise in one of
the strongest NCAA Tournament fields in
years?
"I was thinking more about the hockey
team all winter," Wisconsin senior Paul Stoy
said about the school's icers, who were
ranked No. 1 all season before falling in
first round of the West Regional this past
What do ou
REA L
a ou t ehB our
Most points in a game
Bill Bradley - 58
Highest FG percentage in a game
Bill Walton - .955 (21-22)
Most steals in a game
Tommy Amaker - 7
Most rebounds in a game
Bill Russell - 27
Most blocks in a game
Danny Manning - 6

urday. "I didn't even think we'd make,
NCAA Tournament."
Then Cincinnati fell, Ohio State sip
and St. John's went home early. Wis
knocked off top-seeded Arizona to cra
Sweet Sixteen.
Stoy's working hours as a bound-
Great Dane - a bar a block from t
building downtown - have more
bled as a result.
The Badgers reeled off two mor
upsets over Louisiana State (61-486
23) and, once again, Purdue (64-60 on
25) to force tomorrow night's semifina
Ten matchup with Michigan State.
And Madison, the town where a good
cause is worthy of personal sacrifice, awoke.
Travis McGoldrick, a senior and sports
fanatic at Wisconsin, trekked to the Oak
Crest Tavern on Regent Street along with 11
buddies to watch the Wisconsin.Purdue
game. They arrived at noon, drank 29 pitch-
ers of Miller Lite and downed 28 shots for a
$250 tab - all before the game ended
around 6p.m.
To celebrate the improbable win, and Wis-
consin's first trip to the Final Four since
1941, McGoldrick jumped onto his table for
a little victory dance. But the table didn't
hold his weight, breaking cleanly into three
pieces and mashing up his face in the
process.
The bar's owner, Jim Leaudke, standing
behind McGoldrick and his motley crew at
the time, wasn't offended. After all, offense
isn't the strong suit of Wisconsin basketball.
"The table was old," Leaudke said. "It was
probably here the last time we made it this
far."
Tier
Wisco
the st

Thanks to boring
Bennett, we can
root against State
es, it's time we all threw away our maize and blue shirts
for one evening and donned a new set of colors -the mag-
ical red and white.
Second to maize and blue, I always liked red and white, espe-
cially when they formed the word Wisconsin.
I especially likethe Badgers, because they give me, without
any doubt, a reason to hate and cheer against the Sparties in
tomorrow's NCAA Final Four semifinal.
Eighth-seed Wisconsin's unlikely appearance eliminates the
only logical reason to root for Michigan State - the fact that the
Spartans are a Big Ten team.
Instead, it will be 5:42 p.m. on Saturday and everyone in Ann
Arbor will be ready to cheer for the Badgers, donned in "I love
Bennett" t-shirts, while holding up signs of"We love Kows-Ske."
o help you out, here are some of Wiscon-
fans' favorite and reliable chants:
n'Slow it down Wisc!"
ore us to death Badgers!"
my favorite of all, "Run that shot
own Duany Duany!"
et about "Ann Arbor's a
- w ow.
to the Badgers and their stingy MA
style of play (they haven't allowed more
than 60 in this year's tourney) we can all
root against Mateen "sure to suck in the The Cutting
NBA" Cleaves and the 7-Eleven arrest- Edge
prone Spartans.
We should thank our lucky Halo letters that we have the illus-
trious opportunity to declare war against State at such a late point
ni the basketball season.
Here are some people to give nods to:
Thanks to Dick Bennett and his drive to create the most boring
Iollege basketball ever seen by man.
Thanks to Duany Duany for confusing the hell out of people
this name.
anks to Fresno "partial qualifier" State, Arizona, LSU
rdue, who all screwed up our NCAA pools with losses to
adgers, but allowed Wisconsin to land in the Final Four in
crush the Spartans.
God, I love Wisconsin.
State And boy do I hate Michigan State.
Nothing short of an NCAA-violation filled scandal in East
OT. Lansing would make me happier than a Wisconsin whipping of
T; heat UC Michigan State.
ia Tech 81- Maybe it's the green and white. Maybe it's because I knew
enough about arithmetic never to be exiled there. Maybe it's the
60-58; lost to fact that I don't like farmers and fast food workers.
We all have our reasons to hate the Sparties, from the welfare
ate 61-54; we'll have to pay for their sorry asses in a few years, to the tax
money paid to clean up riot damage.
to Duke 85 But worst of all is that Michigan State and its seven losses
were handed the Final Four by the NCAA Tournament commit-
tee (Midwest No. I seed? Sweet 16 at the Palace with green
1; beat flooring? C'mon!).
rolina 73-58. Thankfully we have a Badger excuse to banish the overrated
. 76-53; bear Sparties back to Riotville.
54-46; beat OK, I admit it - I don't have an innate love for Bucky the
2. Badger.
Utah 73-61; Those pesky buggers somehow snuck into the Rose Bowl two
ae 75-64. years in a row, even though Michigan spanked them here and in
AA Madison. Then they get Stanford (which should stick to swim-
ming and tennis) in the bowl game.
And only God knows how Dick Bennett got his crew of 42-
Sit points-per-game misfits to the Final Four.
But anything's better than rooting for green.
avy 50-49. Predictions? Fifty dollars says that riots will once again rule
East Lansing, that is, when the Badgers beat the Spartans 64-60.
to Missouri The fires on the cpuches will burn a luminous bright red and
white.
Ahhh, Bobby Knight's colors never looked so good.
State 43-32. - Mark Francescutti wants every Spartan who reads this column
at Arizona to try toform a sentence without stoppingfor a 10-minute break.
ue 64-60. . You can send those fragments to mfrances@umich.edu.

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nitty gritty - Wisconsin vs. Michigan

nsin-Michigan State -
ts

t.aa

Record
Avg. Pts.
Opp. Avjg. Pts
M~argin
FG Pct.
Opp. FG Pct.
3-Pt. FG Pct.
Opp. 3-Pt. FG Pct.
Free-throw Pct.
Rebound Margin
Turnover Diff.
Avg Steals
Avg Blocks

Wisc. MSU
22-13 30-7
60.5 74.2
55.8 59.0
4.7 15.2
.429 .474
.398 .393
.345 .379
.348 .300
.682 .732
-1.2 12.0
2.9 -0.7
6.7 6.7
2.8 2.7

town 80-68; lost to Kansas 96-86,(
1990 - heat Murra State 75-71, O
Santa Barbara 62-58; lost to Georg
80, CST.
1991 - bear Wisconsin-Green Bay
Utah 85-84, 20T.
1992 - bear Southwest Missouri St
lost to Cincinnati 77-65.
1994 - beat Seton Hall 84-73; lost
74.
1995 - lost to Weber State 79-72.
1998 - beat Eastern Michigan 83-7
Princeton 63-56; lost to North Ca
1999 - beat Mount St. Mary's, Md.
MississiBpi 74-66; beat Oklahoma
Kentucky 73-66; lost to Duke 68-6
2000 - beat Valparaiso 65-38; beat
beat Syracuse 75-58; beat Iowa Sta
Wisconsin in the NCI
Tournament (94)
1941- beat Dartmouth 5-50; beat
36-30; beat Washington State 39-
champions.
1947 - lost to CCNY 70-56; beat I
1994 -beat Cincinnati 80-72; lost
109-96.
1997 - lost to Texas 71-58.
1999 - lost to Southwest Missouri
2000 - beat Fresno State 66-56; be
66-59; beat LSU 61-48; beat Purdi

Chris
Duprey s

Michigan State in the NCAA
Tournament (27-13)
1957 - beat Notre Dame 85-83; heat Kentucky-
68; lost to North Carolina 747,'30T lost to
San Francisco 67-60.
1959 - beat Marquette 74-69; lost to Louisville
88-81.
1978 - beat Providence 77-63; beat Western
Kentucky 90-69; lost to Kentucky 52-49.
1979 - beat Lamar 95-64; beat LSU 87-71; beat
Notre Dame 80-68; heat Pennsylvania 101-67;
beat Indiana State 75-64. NCAA champions.
1985 - lost to Alabama-Birmingham 70-68.
1986 - beat Washington 72-70; beat George-

Once, tv
lady for
There are always a fe
the tournament that
ence teams against
where one team swept th
season series from its oppon
In the case of Michigan
consin, the Spartans swep
game season series, show
mismatch tomorrow's game
Michigan State dismantl
gers in Madison in the t
meeting. At that point, th
looked like a duck.
Wisconsin kept things cl
later in East Lansing, but fa
the stretch. At that point,

v1CC, four tl mes a
MiCAZgan State
,w games in hang on for the rest of the game. The
pit confer- Spartans will extend the lead to 15 in
each other, the second half, Wisconsin will make
e two-game one "run" to cut the lead to eight, the
ent. crowd will get into the game, and
State-Wis- Michigan State will shut the door.
it the three- Too bad for CBS -- this game won't
ving what a exactly be a ratings killer.
really is. *Michigan State 73, Wisconsin 60



How the so-called "experts" fared


Daily Basketball
Writers'
Preseason Picks
from Tipoff
(Correct picks in
bold)
Big Ten Champion
Michigan Big Ten finish
All-Big Ten team
(Player of the Year M
pick underlined,
actual in italics)
Big Ten Coach of the Year

DAVIU
DEN HERDER
Ohio State
4th

ed the Bad-
eams' first
is "rivalry"
oser a week
iltered down
the rivalry

NORrm CAROLINA vs. FLORIDA: The
Tar Heels will have more luck as a No.
8 seed in the Final Four than will Wis-
consin. But Florida is too talented and
should be able to beat North Carolina
purely by outscoring it - no defense

Scoonie Penn - Ohio State
ateen Cleaves- Michigan State
Michael Redd - Ohio State
Brian Cardinal - Purdue
Jamal Crawford -- Michigan.
Brian Ellerbe

DUPREY
Michigan State
6th
Penn
Cleaves
Dean Oliver - Iowa
Cory Bradford - Illinois
AJ. Guyton - Indiana
Tom Izzo

FRANCESCUTTI
Michigan State
6th
Penn
Cleaves
Redd
Cardinal
Guon
Lon Kruger

JACOB
WHEELER
Michigan State
5th
Penn
Cleaves
Bradford
Josh Asselin - Michigan
Guyton
Jim O'Brien

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