I Scoreboard,,,.,,

MEN'S NCAA
BASKETBALL
(16) I1JN0169
(23) INDIANA. 81
Notre Dame 64
(24)MA RYLAND 83
Iowa 65
MINNESOTA 74,
Virginia 62

WOMEN'S NCAA
BASKETBALL
(1) CONNECTICUT 100,
(10) Illinois 19
(2) Georgia 102,
GEORGIA SOUTHERN 70
16) N. Carolina St. 80,
GEORGIA 70
(8) AUBURN 95,
Nichols State 48

(21) ARIZONA 86,
(15) Santa Barbara 76
(12) IOWA STATE 67,
'nothwestern 32
ARKANSAS 79,
Boston College 68
(25) VIRGINIA TECH 75,
Appalachian State 68

.. idiwnJh.

Tracking 'M' clubs
The Michigan kayak club will host an open clinic to all
University students and faculty Sunday, Dec. 5 from 9
a.m. to noon at the NCRB pool. There will be a $10 fee,
but all equipment is provided. Except swimsuits.
Wednesday
December 1, 199910


Women's hoops streaks to five

Bowl iS

By Raphael Goodstein
Daily Sports Writer
The Michigan women's basketball team
is not good enough to compete for a Big
Ten title, or an NCAA at-large bid without
a low-post presence.
Facing a 1-2 Providence team which fin-
ished I Ith in the 12-team Big East last
year, and which was coming off an over-
time loss to Samford, Michigan struggled
before eventually winning 79-66. The win
improved the Wolverines to 5-0 on the sea-
son.
Ruth Kipping joined Alison Miller just
6:32 into the game on the bench with her
second foul. Michigan coach Sue Guevara
turned to her bench in desperation, and
asked sophomore Raina Goodlow to help
hang onto the lead.
Goodlow responded.
Ten points, good defense, and an inside
presence kept the Friars honest. Her effort
allowed the Wolverines to stay within three
points at the half, 35-32.
"I really don't have to start," Goodlow
said. "I realize that bench production is
very important."
Though Goodlow doesn't "have to start"

to be productive, maybe she should. The
sixth-woman power forward has been
Michigan's best and most reliable low-post
presence.
The Wolverines expected this from her
all year.
But when Goodlow dislocated her knee
in a pre-season game against Athletes in
Action, her role changed. Miller replaced
Goodlow in the starting lineup and Kipping
has played extended minutes.
In the five games to date, she has aver-
aged just over four points per game. Last
night, Kipping chipped in six.
But Michigan is missing more than just
Goodlow's offense.
Without Goodlow as a starter,
Michigan's offense has been pushed out to
the perimeter. Subsequently, the
Wolverines have left the inside-outside
game that they have been trying to estab-
lish.
"That's something that we've been work-
ing on in the last few games," Miller said.
"It's been a struggle on my part the last few
games to be more aggressive."
The Wolverines are struggling to find an
inside game to match Stacey Thomas, Anne

Thorius and Alayne Ingram's perimeter
skills. The Wolverines can feel good that
they are 5-0, something they have only
been once before (1989) in their 26-year
history.
But the Wolverines have beaten up
mediocre competition - Colorado State is
the Wolverines sole Top 25-material victo-
ry.
That could change this weekend.
Thursday, Michigan will fly to Houston to
participate in the Gene Hackerman Rice
Invitational.
The Wolverines will play against New
Mexico on Friday and the Rice-
Massachusetts winner Saturday if they beat
New Mexico. All four teams competed in
last year's WNIT.
"I'm pleased with the victory," Guevara
said. "We were better today than we were
last Saturday." (a sloppy 71-55 win over
Holy Cross)
Said Providence coach Jim Jabir, "My
hat's off to Sue and her team. They're a
very balanced and deep team. Maybe we
just got lucky in the first half but I don't
feel very lucky right now."
Thanks to Goodlow, Guevara does.

gravy

I

anorconference

0

ALLISON CANTER/Daily
Michigan's Heather Oesterle goes for the ball during
Michigan's 79-66 victory over Providence last night.

Twin towers, new arena threaten

By Jacob Wheeler
Daily Sports Writer
Michigan's frontcourt members,
Josh Asselin and Pete Vignier, have
basked in the limelight through the
in-state portion of this young sea-
son, letting the guards run and gun
the Wolverines to three straight vic-
tories.
Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe has
referred to his big men as "the cart
behind the horse," asking not that
they pull the load, but simply that
they play productive basketball.
But lightning-quick guards Jamal
Crawford and Kevin Gaines, who
galloped to 37 points against
Western Michigan this past
Saturday, won't have the horsepower
alone to tame Georgia Tech tonight
in Atlanta.
The Yellow Jackets (3-1) have a
couple stallions in 7-foot senior for-
ward Jason Collier and 6-foot-11
junior center Alvin Jones, who are
too smart to let the upstart Michigan
guards run around Philips Arena all
night. Georgia Tech will inevitably
execute a slowed-down offense to
manipulate its clear size and
strength advantage over the
Wolverines.
Tonight's matchup, at 7 p.m. will
be part of the first-ever ACC/Big
Ten Challenge, featuring nine games
in the next two days between mem-

bers from two of college basketball's
toughest conferences. Indiana and
Ohio State are the only, but glaring,
omissions from the Big Ten.
The appeal of a ACC/Big Ten
Challenge arose since the confer-
ences often dominate the NCAA
Tournament in March. In the last
decade, for instance, the two leagues
have acc6unted for four NCAA
Championships and four runners-up.
Clearly, tonight's game against
Georgia Tech will be Michigan's
biggest challenge so far this season,
and that's enough to make Crawford
soak his thick headband with sweat.
"Every game I look forward to,"
said the freshman guard, who leads
the team in scoring with 18.3 points
per game. "But I hear they have a
pretty good team, so we're all defi-
nitely looking forward to it."
Though the Wolverines breezed
through two of three games en route
to their best start in the Ellerbe era,
most signs point to an uphill battle
tonight against the Yellow Jackets.
Comprehend:
Michigan won only one road
game outside of Washtenaw County
(at Wisconsin) during the regular
season a year ago, and this year's
freshmen have yet to play college
basketball outside of Crisler Arena.
Foreign environment? In the heart of
Bia-time honors
Michgan's all-Big Ten team selections
MEDIA FIRST TEAM: Jeff
Backus, tackle; Steve Hutchinson,
guard; Rob Renes, defensive line
MEDIA SECOND TEAM:
Anthony Thomas, running back,
Marcus Knight, receiver; Dave
Terrell, receiver; Ian Gold, line-
backer

hoops
the deep south, Atlanta is four states
away from cozy Ann Arbor.
Asselin, Vignier and co. have
been called on to shut down only
one big man of any worth this sea-
son - Dan Champagne from (gasp)
Oakland - and he measured a less-
than-menacing 6-feet-6 inches.
Georgia Tech's big men are bigger
than Asselin and Vignier, and their
names don't suggest drunken stu-
pors. Collier is averaging 19.2
points and 10 rebounds per game,
both tops on the team, and Jones has
chipped in 14.2 points and 7.3
boards per contest.
The Yellow Jackets are on a roll
this season, coming off a second-
place finish in the Great Alaska
Shootout where they lost to No. i1
Kansas in the championship game,
after beating Mercer, Grambling
State and Washington.
Tonight's affair is the inaugural
college basketball game in Philips
Arena - a new complex located in
the heart of Atlanta next to the CNN
Center. Philips Arena is also the
home of Atlanta's NBA franchise,
the Hawks, and the city's expansion
NHL team, the Thrashers.
But its fans have yet to see the
Yellow Jackets swarm their visitors
from the north -more than enough
excitement for a home court advan-
tage.

%fgou're welcome, Iowa. You too,
Northwestern and Indiana. Yes,
even you Ohio State. In the Big
Ten, when a team lands a big-time bowl
bid, everyone is welcome to a piece of
the pie. A Bowl Championship Series
bowl payouts help the entire confer-
ence. Two years ago, Michigan broke
even on its trip to Pasadena, but netted
an easy million from Ohio States Sugar
Bowl bid.
Which means
Wisconsin, in the Rick
Rose Bowl, and Freeman
Michigan in the
Orange Bowl are
at the head of the
bowl-season gravy
train.
As much as the
Big Ten may have
enjoyed the reputa-
tion as one of the FREEMAN OF
toughest confer- T R
ences this season,
all of the parity came close to leaving
Michigan out of the BCS at-large run-
ning.
If Nebraska had lost to Colorado last
Friday, they might have gotten an at-
large bid over Michigan. Which would
mean a lost potential of roughly Sl mil-
lion for every Big Ten school, including
Michigan.
The BCS's impenetrable calculus
may be here to stay - what conference
guaranteed a bid wants to monkey with
such a golden-egg laying goose? The
conferences, of course, are the
Southeastern Conference (the BCS's
head honcho, Roy Kramer is also the
SEC's commish), the Big Ten, the Pac
10, the Big 12, the Atlantic Coast and
the Big East.
See FREEMAN, Page U1

T ~
SAM HOLLENSHEAD/ Da y
And here is a cutline for after the streamer. This should be two lines long as well,
and should tell a bit about the photo, the people in it, and all that fun stuff.

Orange
rj you glad?4
By the time Michigan accepted its Orange
Bowl bid, the other bowls with Big Ten ties
had offered their bids to the other eligible Big
Ten teams. If, by bizarre chance, Michigan had:
been snubbed by the BCS without the Big Ten
knowing, they might have been ripe for the
picking by a lesser bowl.
But Pontiac doesn't have quite the same
cachet as Coconut Grove, does it?

01

Saban splits for Bayou.

°

During the Students observing
Ramadan observance, Ramada.: can sign up for an
Unadasnt Hobservncfers A D alternative meal option at a
University Housing offersADA atrtiemloponta
alternative meal options Residence Hall Front Desk or
to students who have the Housing Information
Entree meal plans. Office by December 7, at 5pin.
University Housing in cooperation with
the Muslim Students Association
0 :. U I 0 : N

Frustrated and
disappointed
with the University?
Need help making
sneof your
U of M experience?
Check out
http://universitysecrets.com

By Chris Grandstaff
Daily Sports Writer
EAST LANSING - With the depar-
ture of Nick Saban for Louisiana State
now official, Spartan associate head
coach and running backs coach Bobby
Williams was reintroduced to his team
yesterday as the Spartans' new head
man.
And to say he was well received
would be an understatement. Michigan
State's new interim coach was wel-
comed to a standing ovation from every
current player before beginning his first
official team address.
"Thank you, that's very nice,"
Williams told his players. "I really
appreciate this opportunity. We've
always told you that life is full of oppor-
tunities. This is a great opportunity for
me and I am very excited about it."
Williams learned of his promotion at
I p.m. yesterday afternoon while on a
recruiting visit in Detroit. While
Williams and the rest of Saban's staff
will stay on until after the bowl, their
stay may be brief. Rumors have already

circulated that if Williams is not given
the Spartans top job, he may be headed
to Eastern Michigan.
"Right now I have a job 'to do,"
Williams said, smiling. "I've always
wanted to be a head coach though.
Should something come up, I'll listen.
Saban's decision to leave Michigan
State may have ramifications beyo
just losing his leadership on the sid
line. Burress, who was already consid-
ering going pro, may be influenced by
Saban's departure.
"It was one of those things that I was
going to meet with coach Saban about,"
Burress said of his decision. "But now
that's probably not going to happen. I'll
just meet with my family and see what
we decide. I won't make my decision
until after the bowl game."
Burress still has at least one mo
game as a Spartan, and unless the un
versity signs a new head coach between
now and Jan. 1, Williams will be his
head coach.
The departed Saban, who compiled a
See SABAN, Page 11

N



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