EN'S NCAA BASKETBALL Notre Dame at (6) OHIO STATE, inc. Arkansas at (15) UTAH, inc. Kansas State at (9) ARIZONA, inc. NHL HOCKEY San Jose 3. MONTREAL 1 Buffalo at PITTSBURGH, inc. Calgary at PHOENIX, inc. Chicago at Los Angeles, inc. NBA BASKETBALL TORONTO 89, Detroit 85 Philadelphia 95, WASHINGTON 73 ATLANTA 103, Charlotte 98 Portland 100, MIAMI 94 ftAwltow"Baft S TS Tracking 'M' teams This weekend the Michigan hockey team will face Lake Superior State in a pair of games on Friday and Saturday. Faceoff for Friday's game is at 7:35 p.m. Wednesday November 17, 1999 11 =Around the Horn= Best nvah: the Pik fter two-and-a-half months of hard-hitting, chest-thumping, in- our-face action, the 1999 col- lege football season is winding to a halt. With many teams having only one or two games remaining in their seasons, the games increase in magnitude because of the rivalries that are y. This week- T.J. 'd is huge for Berka campus pride and morale. This week isRivalry Week. But what makes a good rivalry? Good games between two highly competitive teams? The proximity TEEMG between the two OFF ools? The per- sonalities of their coaches? When you are analyzing rivalries, you have to look at Michigan's upcom- ing game this season against the Buckeyes. Michigan-Ohio State has all the makings of a good rivalry. The two teams truly hate each other with a pas- sion and seem to take great pleasure in screwing the other out of opportunities. Michigan-Ohio State is also played on ass outside in cold weather. Weather that makes the bones chatter and teeth freeze is always a plus as far as rivalries are concerned. But being a writer on the Michigan Daily, it would be rather gameless to rate a rivalry involving my school as the best, so the Wolverines and Buckeyes lose out. Getting kind of hungry, I went to a greasy spoon and heard the patrons dis- sing Auburn-Alabama. In a state Were there is really nothing to do but watch this game, the intensity borders on the insane. But there are flaws. First, the weather is warm. No real rivalry game should be played in warm weath- er. Secondly, and most pertinent, the game is in Alabama. Although the game might be awesome, you still have to live in Alabama afterward. Some people at the tanning booth re telling me that Florida State- florida is the best rivalry game. While the Seminoles and Gators have been two of the decade's elite teams, they don't present the national permanence which makes a great rivalry. Besides, Florida State was an all- female school until the late 1940s. While it would make for an entertaining game, I'm pretty positive that the Gators didn't play an all-girls team. So a rivalry which only dates back 50 years Arot worthy of the title of best. If you go to a library, you'll hear peo- ple talking about the Harvard-Yale game in the middle of reading Plato. These people will use big words in talk- ing about how Harvard and Yale is truly 'The Game'. These bookworms do have points. Harvard and Yale have been playing each other since the 1870s. The schools are very close in proximity, status and letic skill level. But that skill level is nowhere near Big Ten pokes into title race By Sarah Ensor Daily Sports Writer As the Michigan field hockey team heads to Boston this weekend to partici- pate in the NCAA Final Four, it will be looking to solidify respect not only for itself but for its conference as well. The Big Ten has enjoyed a breakout year in field hockey and has firmly established itself as the site of much of the nation's premier competition in the sport. Four of the six conference teams are ranked in the top 25 of this week's STX/NFHCA National Coaches Poll, and two teams, Michigan and Iowa, will take part in the Final Four. Before this season, the Big Ten was often overlooked in favor of its east coast counterparts, which have won 17 of 18 y ~NCAA Championships. Only one Big Ten team, Iowa in 1986, garnered the crown in the tournament's history. But, this year has seen a changing of the tide. The Big Ten is one of the most /* competitive conferences in the nation, and its teams have occupied three of the DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily top 10 poll positions throughout much of Landing two teams in the Final Four has Big Ten officials, players and coaches the year. Earlier this month, the Big Ten everywhere doing their best Aretha Franklin impressions, singing R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Tournament showcased some of this sea- Buckeyes lookingfor heart, soul son's fiercest field hockey competition, leading Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz to believe that her conference deserves more recognition. "This solidifies the fact that the Big Ten is for real," she said after winning the Big Ten title two weeks ago. "It's an amazing conference, and I think the east needs to recognize that the Big Ten is" tough. The Wolverines hope that the caliber of play in the conference tournament and their success so far in the NCAA Tournament will garner the Big Ten the respect it so highly deserves. "It is great for us, being from the mid- west," freshman midfielder Molly Powers said. "The east has dominated hockey for so long, so it's hard for us to get recognition." Three Big Ten teams -- Michigan, Iowa and Penn State - qualified for the 16-team NCAA Tournament, and both Michigan and Iowa will travel to Boston for the Final Four. "Even ifneither of us ends up winning it, just because two of us made it to the Final Four is important and will help us earn respect," junior goalkeeper Kati t Oakes said. In addition, the Final Four will allow Michigan and Iowa to showcase their skills and demonstrate the caliber of their conference in front of an east coast audience. Many east coast athletes dis- miss midwest field hockey as second- rate, but the Michigan stickers intend to change that perception this weekend; Being in Boston "will help because of exposure," Oakes said. "A lot of times people on the east coast don't even know that we have field hockey out here in Michigan or Iowa. Since the NCAA Championship is on the east coast, peo- ple who live there will come out and see us play and see that we're for real." The Wolverines hope that they will be able to prove the critics wrong in Boston and prove their conference's merit once and for all. They are tired of being over- looked in favor of east coast teams, and want the nation to know that they have what it takes to be champions. "Twice before I got here (in 1997 and 1998) we were passed over by the NCAA Tournament, Powers said. "But I think this (season) makes a statement that we're pretty damn good out here." By Chris Grandstaff Daily Sports Writer COLUMBUS - Walking through the doors of the Woody Hayes Center, a visitor is greeted by an impressive sight. Straight ahead, each individually encased in a plexiglas trophy case, are the six Heisman Trophies accumulated by five Buckeye -greats. The famed bronze statues are flanked to the left and right by an innumerable number of bowl trophies, individual awards and six national championships. Overseeing all of it is a wall-sized picture of Hayes, the famed Buckeyes coach. But this year's group of Buckeyes are a far cry from the championship teams under the tutelage of Hayes, or the four straight 10-win seasons under current coach John Cooper. The Buckeyes have struggled this sea- son, going 6-5, and are in danger of not making a bowl for the first time since 1988, Cooper's first season as coach. Ohio State is already guaranteed to miss this year's New Year's bowl schedule - a difficult pill to swallow for a senior class that has been to two Sugar Bowls and a Rose Bowl during their playing careers. "This season has been really tough," Ohio State captain Matt Keller said. "This is not what you expect to happen when you come to Ohio State. We still believe we could be a good team. We just have to stop listening to people say how bad we are." If not listening to the critics is the key to being a good team, the Buckeyes first must stop listening to what they are say- ing about themselves. "When I look around out there I just don't see the 'I'm going to leave my heart out on the field' type of attitude with some guys," Keller said. "To win you need a whole team effort, and this season you've got to question the effort of some people." Keller stressed that not everyone had given up on the season but that the effort of a few "bad apples" was hurting the team. He attributed last weekend's loss to Illinois in his last home game as the result of a total team collapse. "Guys were walking around with their heads down before the game even start- ed," Keller said. "We haven't played well in the last couple of weeks. There's a lot of frustration on this team right now" Ohio State enters Saturday's game against Michigan as a significant under- dog, but the Buckeyes can most likely earn themselves a bowl bid and alleviate much of the frustration suffered this sea- son with a win. But the internal problems within the Buckeye locker room may be too much to overcome. "The heart and soul of this team has been missing in a lot of games this sea- son," Ohio State defensive end James Cotton said. "We need to channel all the frustration from this season toward Michigan this weekend, try to fix the mistakes and play tough football." AP PHOTO if Ohio State loses to Michigan this weekend, the Buckeyes will become ineligible for a bowl for the first time since 1988, Ohio State coach John Cooper's first yeard Michigan looks to avoid another Sparty party in Criser By MarkFrancescutti Daily Sports Writer Yesterday, the Michigan Ticket Office pulled all Michigan-Michigan State basketball single-game tickets off the market. The move halts the sale of the remaining 2,400 tickets to the Feb. 1 matchup until next, week, when Michigan will reopen ticket sales only to customers with valid University identification. "We want to provide Michigan fans with the opportunity for the pre- mium games," Michigan marketing director Tom Brooks said. "Coach Ellerbe wanted to guarantee that we have the Michigan community in force at the games." Starting next week, Michigan hopes to begin selling the rest of the tickets, but only students and staff with a valid M-Card will have the opportunity to purchase them. Students and staff "will have first priority for a targeted length of time," Brooks said. "We haven't decided on a length yet, but it will be more than a week. "Alumni (and other fans) won't get the chance to buy until after (the stu- dents and staff) have had their chance." Michigan began selling individual game tickets this past Monday. The ticket office reports that, originally it had 3,800 single-game tickets avail- able for the Michigan State game. When sales stopped yesterday, Michigan had sold 1,400 of them. The Athletic Department's reaction stems from the circumstances of last season's game in which Michigan State fans packed Crisler Arena and out-cheered the Michigan home crowd. Last year Michigan State basket- ball's student-run fan club, the Izzone, rented over 10 buses and pur- chased almost 700 tickets to the game at Crisler. "We had a bunch of people go out and buy the tickets by themselves," said Kevin Udy, one of the Izzone's group leaders and a international relations junior at Michigan State. "Last year we got the tickets because Michigan didn't sell them." The Izzone, lined up in several rows across the top of the arena, taunted and chanted at the Michigan players and fans. This year the ticket office placed a four-ticket limit per person for the game this season to hinder an entire group from purchasing sections of seats, but worries of Michigan State fans trying to repeat their goal of swarming Crisler may have brought on the ticket sales stoppage. "It's meant to dissipate the pres- ence of opposing fans and to curb incidents like last year, with one group buying a block," Brooks said. Izzone's Udy said that he knew of many Michigan State fans buying tickets for this year's game on the first day of sales, but as of yesterday morning, Izzone had not formally organized another movement to buy a multitude of tickets for the game at Crisler. "There was no way we could orga- nize it," Udy said. ""It would be fun to do the same thing again. You never know what's going to happen." See SPARTANS, Page 12 U I S1b' TIME TO VOTE Vote for LS&A See BERKA, Page 12 INDOOR 0CCER Winter I Season: Jan. 2nd - Feb. 26th Now accepting Registrations for Winter I Leagues Registration Deadline: December 9th Individual Registrations are welcome Call (734) 913-4625 for Details WI DEWORLD wwwwwsportcom SPORTS CENTER Student Government representatives Election on November 17th and 18th T Io schedule an interview or to receive an application, contact your campus recruitment representative Nancy Parachini International Center 010 603 E Madison Street (734) 647-2182 eace.Cor 647ich.edu http://www.tunich.edu/-icenter/peacecorpi/ To find out about upcoming information sessions, contact our Web site www.peaceeorp gO. Get information on candidates and vote on-line: www.umich.edu/-vote NEW m