ScoreboardL- h Tracking 'M' teams
MEN'S NCAA (3) TENNESSEE 72, (24) Virginia Tech 66, The Michigan men's mnastics team begins defen of
BASKETBALL (17) Purdue 66 JAMES MADISON5)OTsenMichamn si srtam-bensp so
6e NAS inc. TexLOSNA TECH 80 NFL for the Maize and Blue Intrasquad meet at Cliff Keen
(11) PENN STATE 101, FOOTBALL Arena at 7 p.m. Admission is free to students.
WOMEN'S NCAA St. Francis (Pa.) 62 Pittsburgh at
BASKETBALL (12) North Carolina 92, Jacksonville, inc.
MARYLAND 79
(25)tLouisiana state 0 (15) DUKE 101, Friday
(2) GuORGIA 74 Elon 44csiDPcembo 3, 1999
Blu hockey 1ooks for off'ensive Powers
By Uma Subramanian Green coach Buddy and Michigan assis-
Daily Sports Writer tant coach Billy.
How would a person react if they were Granted, the Falcons are feeling the
told that Bowling Green and Michigan brunt of a 4-9 start, while the Wolverines
are pretty similar in a are faring much better
number of respects? at 11-4, but Michigan's
Alright - so one's THIS WEEKEND Powers thinks that the
first reaction may be - two programs are at
disbelief, followed by Who: Tonight: Michigan at about the same point.
shock as one wonders Bowling Green; Saturday: "Right now our
how can a tiny school Bowling Green at Michigan teams are mirroring
in Ohio compare to Where: Tonight: BGSU Ice each other," Billy
mighty Michigan. Arena, Bowling Green; Powers said. "Before
But if you follow tomorrow: Yost Ice Arena the season started, you
college hockey, you'd probably would have
know that there is a said that these two
lot of truth behind 7:05 p.m. tomorrow teams would have
that statement - The Latest: Last year's explosive offenses.
especially in the rink. game at BGSU Ice Arena, a "They're a team that
Both Bowling 5-2 Michigan victory, was can be extremely dan-
Green and Michigan played despite a large fog gerous. You know they
have historically which had settled on the ice can score and expect
been Powerhouses in them to break out of
the CCHA - in any scoring slump they
more ways than one. Both have coaches might be in."
whose last names are Powers, Bowling Lately, Michigan's offense has been in
a scoring slump of its own. After
outscoring their opponents 55-23 in their
first 10 games, the Wolverines were
burned 13-3 en route to a three-game
losing streak.
The Wolverines notched a huge victo-
ry this past Saturday by defeating
Wisconsin to put an end to their down-
ward slide.
"You can't go (up and down) as a
coach and as a team," Michigan coach
Red Berenson said. "Every time some-
thing good happens, you can't think the
season's over, and every time something
bad happens, you can't think the season's
over.
"But early goals against are an issue,
as are the early penalties we've taken to
put ourselves behind the 8-ball"
This week in practice, Michigan
worked on returning to its game - such
as getting back to playing solid defense.
"Our whole team has to play harder,"
Berenson said. "We need to understand
that getting off to a good start is huge for
everybody. We're going to work on
power plays, some of the puck move-
ment, two-on-twos against the defense-
man and supporting them."
Prior to the Wisconsin game, in order
to find a winning combination,
Berenson and his staff shook things up.
Instead of the usual six defensemen and
12 forwards, Michigan went with only
five defensemen. For the home-and-
home with the Falcons, Michigan is
returning to a six-defensemen lineup,
reinserting Bob Gassoff, who was a
healthy scratch last weekend. Center
Mark Kosick will also play, anchoring
the fourth line.
As for the starting goalie, Berenson
has not yet made his decision and told
both Kevin O'Malley and L.J. Scarpace
-the winner against Wisconsin - to be
ready to play.
"We have a little bit of confidence
coming off the win," Michigan captain
Sean Peach said. "Guys aren't as afraid
to make mistakes and so we're playing a
little bit harder. But the only way to get
confidence is to win."
KIoIThc"Qsu" cva/y
Jed Ortmeyer and the Michigan hockey team will have to dish out the hits against
Bowling Green if they are to stay standing in this always-physical rivalry.
'M' strives to avoid Moe shock
By Mark Francescutti Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said he
Daily Sports Writer isn't worried about a possible letdown after
When the NCAA announces its basketball the Michigan's 80-77 upset road victory
tournament brackets in March, there are over Georgia Tech in the ACC-Big Ten
always those suspect small- Challenge.
er schools who earn auto- TOMORROW I don't think this team
matic bids - the ones that will look by anyone,"
are more on the level of Ellerbe said. "We're not that
Ann Arbor Pioneer High consistent yet to do some-
School than Michigan. Chattanooga thing like that. We're still
But somehow these Where: Criser Arena trying to find things about
teams represent their con- When: 2 p.m. our team. We don't know
ferences well and even steal The Latest: A'Moc' is our ceiling yet."
an upset or two. Short for the Moccasin snake. The five Michigan fresh-
Chattanooga accom- Chattanooga officially short- men have handled a diverse
plished the unbelievable, nonconference schedule
reaching the Sweet Sixteen ened the nickname a few thus far with positive
in the 1997 Tournament. years ago Michigan happy results.
The Mocs (1-3 overall) but tired after an 80-77 victory "They all give you dif-
will try to repeat the upset over Georgia Tech in the Big ferent looks," Ellerbe said.
magic, in the regular season Ten/ACC Challenge, arrived "We were worried about
this time, when they come to home at4 a.m. yesterday the 3-point attack of
Crisler tomorrow at 2 p.m. to morning and did not practice Oakland, a veteran Detroit
battle the Wolverines (4-0). yesterday. Can they get their team, one of the better
Remember College of fresh legs back to battle the defensively-coached teams
Charleston? What about Mocs? in Western, and with
Davidson? While many of Georgia Tech, two seven-
these southern schools have had their memo- foot kids - who are probably going to play
rable upsets in past years in the NCAA at the next level."
Tournament, they otherwise often play to their Kevin Gaines has shown strong play at the
opponent's level. point position, averaging eight points and
This season, the Mocs have already lost to almost six assists. His backcourt mates, Jamal
schools like Alcorn State and Sam Houston Crawford and Gavin Groninger, lead the
State - not the scariest of competition. Now, Wolverines in scoring with 17.3 and 13 points
they have to battle the undefeated Wolverines. per game, respectively.
Groninger's six 3-point performance again
the Yellow Jackets may boost him to the start-
ing lineup over sophomore Leon Jones (no
points against Georgia Tech on Wednesday
night this weekend, who has cooled after a hot
start.
"Leon has struggled in two straight games,
but Gavin likes coming off the bench," Ellerbe
said. "Sometimes you want a spark. (The
coaches) had some discussion about it, and
we'll talk about it more."
Michigan may not need a huge spark
against a struggling Chattanooga team, but the
Mocs have proven they have upset potential.
Chattanooga's biggest threats are 6-5
Rashun Coleman, 6-10 center Oliver Morton
and 6-5 forward David Phillips. The three
combined for 38.9 points and 18.3 rebounds in
the Mocs' first four games.
All three have stepped up big with senior
Mark Smith, Chattanooga's most athletic and
energetic player, declared ineligible until min
DecemberV
Coleman is a danger from outside, shooting
46 percent from 3-point land. Morton proved
last season he can dominate games, and as one
of the best big men in his conference, Morton
could give the Wolverines trouble inside.
Chattanooga coach Henry Dickerson also
has plenty of depth to support his stars, utitiz-
ing a bench ten deep thus far.
Suffering from injuries to three top players
last season, the Mocs struggled to a 1-5 sto
but finished second in their conference with
9-7 record (16-12 overall).
DAVI[
if Gavin Groninger stays as hot as he's been in this young season, then struggling Chattanooga
a slim chance of handing Michigan its first loss.
Want good seats? Hurry up and wait
By Mark Francescutti
Daily Sports Writer
Student and faculty football season ticket hold-
ers who want tickets to the Orange Bowl, shouldn't
order them yet if they want to get them first
The Michigan Ticket Office began the applica-
tion process for the 15,000 tickets this past
Wednesday, but for students and faculty who want
first crack at tickets, Monday is the day of Orange.
The problem? Michigan already posted its appli-
cation on its mgoblue.com Website. And if students
and faculty turn in an application without going to
the ticket office and showing an M-Card ID, they
lose their top chances of getting tickets first.
Beginning this Monday, and lasting until 5:30
p.m. on Friday, Dec. 10, students and faculty, who
purchased football season tickets, can trek down to
the Michigan Ticket Office at 1000 S. State St.,
present their M-Cards, and order up to four bowl
tickets. The damage? Eighty bucks apiece.
"They have to come in person," said Michigan
Ticket Director Marty Bodnar, of students and fac-
ulty. "If they go online, they'll lose their priority. If
they come after (Friday, Dec. 10), they lose their
priority."
The office will mail all purchased tickets to stu-
dents and staff for the 8:30 p.m. New Year's Day
game in Miami.
This year's sale differs from the ticket process of
last year's Citrus Bowl, when the office sold all
tickets on a first-come, first-serve basis.
"Last year, the Citrus wasn't a BCS bowl, so we
just went out and sold them," Bodnar said. "This
year, the Orange Bowl is different, and we want to
give students and faculty first opportunity."
Michigan sold just 10,000 of its 12,000 Citrus
Bowl tickets last season, mostly due to alumni pur-
chasing tickets at the gate, but Bodnar expects a
much larger demand for the Orange.
SPARTAN FRENZY RETURNS: At the same time the
Michigan community picks up Orange Bowl tick-
ets, it can also grab basketball tickets for the
Michigan-Michigan State game on Feb. 1, 2000.
Two weeks ago, the Michigan Athletic
Department halted the sale for the game against the
Spartans because it was worried that not enough
Michigan students and faculty would have an
opportunity to purchase tickets.
"We wanted to ensure the Michigan community
had a chance to be in full force," Bodnar said.
Last year, Michigan State fans, including the
Spartans' student fan club, the Izzone, bought a
huge block of tickets. The Michigan State fans
embarrassed the Wolverines by cheering noticeably
louder than the Michigan home crowd, despite
being seated in the upper reaches of Crisler Arena.
Any student or faculty member - not just sea-
son-ticket holders - may purchase up to four
Michigan-Michigan State tickets.
Approximately 2,400 remain at a price of $12
for the winter matchup. The Michigan State deal
for students and staff expires Dec. 22, at which
time any leftover tickets will open to the alumni
and general public.
Bodnar also said that despite rumors of the Duke
game being sold out, about 1,000 tickets for the
Dec. I1 game are still available. As with Michigan
State, only $12 seats remain.
The ticket office is open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday. Fans can call the office at
764-0247, but the lines fill up quickly and busy
signals are common in large ticket rushes.
ca Want Orange
Bowl tickets?
Sure .. we all do. But for students and faculty looking to get their sweaty
palms on Orange tickets to the Jan 1. 8:30 p.m. game in Miami, they need oi
buy their tickets next week. Michigan will probably battle Florida or Alabama.
PRIORITY GROUPS: With the high potential demand for bowl tickets, the
Michigan Ticket Office gives priority to:
1. Student and faculty football season ticket holders.
2. Faculty and staff wait-list holders.
3. Victors Club and M-Club members (All-American level & above).
4. Presidential society members.
5. Football season ticket holders and Alumni Association members.
6. General Public (those not covered above).
STUDENT AND FACULTY SEASON TICKET HOLDERS: Students and
staff can utilize their first priori beginning Monday Dec. 6, by going down t
the Michigan Ticket Office. Wi proper M-Card identification, students and
staff can purchase up to four tickets at $80 apiece. Tickets will be sent on or
before Dec. 20. Fans must apply in person to obtain priority. If students apply
by fax or mail, they will lose priority. The deadline for student and staff priori-
ty is Friday Dec. 10.
Fans who want to sit with friends may file for tickets together. According to
the ticket office students can sit in the student section at the Orange Bowl. As
the Ticet Office accepts orders and allocates tickets amsongst these groups, a
drawing may be necessary within a certain priority group. General public -
which includes students and staff which are not season ticket holders - can
file an application through Dec. 10.
The ticket office is located on 1000S. State St. next to Yost Ice Arena. Fans
can call the office at 764-0247 or visit Michigan's Athletic Website at mgob-
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