MEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL (1) Cincinnati 77, (7) N. CAROLINA, 68 (15) TENNESSEE 94, West Virginia 54 (18) TEMPLE 64, Gonzaga 48 (24) ILLINOIS 98, tex. Pan American 61 WOMEN'S NCAA BASKETBALL (1) Connecticut 88, SETON HALL 45 (16) PURDUE 71, (6) Notre Dame 61 DRAKE 90, Iowa State 86 (10) Texas Tech 66, New Mexico 59 (12) Penn State 78 LA SALLE 64 (13) RUTGERS 58, Pittsburgh 52 (18) Duke. 70, (24) VA. TECH 61 ..ilomlb .ffje £dtgan ?&f Tracking M' All-Americans Senior nose tackle Rob Renes earned two first team All-America honors. Renes became the third Wolverine ever to be named first team AllAmerica on the field as well as in academics. Thursday December 9, 1999 9A *Win would be Butte-iful for'M' By Dan Williams Daily Sports Writer Butte, Montana - home of the World Museum of Mining, Montana Tech University, and citizens with little invested in the ichigan-Michigan State wrestling rivalry. Michigan wrestler Kyle Smith can be forgiven if tomorrow he entertains thoughts of transporting himself back to his home- town of Butte, far away from the state of Michigan. Smith, a redshirt freshman, is scheduled to face Michigan State's top wrestler, Nick Muzashvilli, in the first of two dual meets between the schools this season. Muzashvilli is a fifth-year senior and the No. I wrestler in the 197-pound weight class. He was named the Outstanding Wrestler at the Penn State Open last weekend, winning his weight class with a 5-0 record. In contrast, Smith will be competing in his first-ever colle- giate dual match this weekend. Oddly enough, the Montana native will easily be the local boy in the matchup. Muzashvilli hails from the city of Tibilisa in the Georgian Republic. Compared to Muzashvilli, Smith grew up in the heart of the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry. It hasn't taken either out-of-stater long to learn. "Nick has had time to learn about the rivalry,' Michigan State coach Tom Minkel said. "He doesn't wear much blue these days" Muzashvilli learned the European style of wrestling from his father, who was a wrestler for the former Soviet Union. It has helped him become one of the best collegiate wrestlers in the *untry, and a staunch challenge for Smith. (Kyle) gets a chance to go out and wrestle against the best," Ntchigan coach Joe McFarland said. "It's a great opportunity am~there's no pressure on him." But Minkel foresees an uphill battle for Smith. "Experience usually wins out in cases like that;' Minkel said. :The competition should be filled with interesting storylines fpm top to bottom, but no matchups will be more intense than vlen Saline native Greg Degrand squares off against Michigan's Jason Rawls in the 165-pound weight class. +Degrand grew up with Spartan ties in the heart of Wolverine Wuntry, and his disdain for Michigan has been cultivated since berth. This made his college choice easy. "I liked the Michigan State coaches a lot better," Degrand said. "Plus I've been brought up as a Spartan fan by my dad and my brother, and I learned to hate Michigan." Degrand is licking his chops against a familiar opponent in Jason Rawls. "I've usually beat him," Degrand said. "I expect to beat him on Friday. The coaches will probably be expecting some bonus points out of me, and I expect that out of myself." And after watching Michigan State lose twice last year *inst Michigan, Degrand expects this year's competition to be a different story. 'If we were to lose, it would be a huge disappointment with the way we line up," Degrand said. "But sometimes funny things happen in these kinds of meets." Michigan 75, Kent 73 U nefeated for Duke i t Kent's ast chance goes awry; 'M' still perfect By Chris Duprey tial game-winning 3-pointer on Kent's ensuing Daily Sports Editor possession, drawing a foul in the process. But Andrew Mitchell's shot to send the game into then he failed to convert the front end of a one- overtime last night had every right to go in. and-one, and the Golden Flashes had their final Various Kent players had hit similar 10-footers at chance. will throughout the evening, and this one was no Michigan always had an answer for Kent. Even different. when the Golden Flashes were slapping hands, Maybe Mitchell would have liked to set his feet congratulating themselves on their eight-point better, but with time about to expire, he didn't lead with under eight minutes to play, the have that luxury. So Mitchell squared and fired, Wolverines knew they had not yet made their and when his fadeaway effort bricked harmlessly closing argument. from the rim of Crisler Arena's south end, Kent's With Kevin Gaines rendered ineffective due to visions of a road victory bounced away as well. foul trouble, Crawford finished Kent off with his Just another chapter in this soap-opera season, soft shooting touch off the dribble. but a 75-73 Michigan victory nonetheless. 6-0. Down the stretch or with the shot clock in sin- Unranked, maybe still unknown, but most impor- gle digits, it didn't seem to matter to Crawford. tantly unbeaten - with Duke next. Time and again, he'd weave around a screen, roll "When we executed, we got exactly what we through the lane and flip in a leaning 12-footer. wanted. When we didn't, it was a disaster," When all was said and done, Crawford had 27 Michigan coach Brian Ellerbe said. "But it was a points, the best scoring performance by a win. We showed resiliency down the line." Wolverine this season. The Wolverines seemed to trail by four, six, If Duke watches any film at all, then the or eight most of the night. Finally, Leon Jones secret's out. The man wearing the headband can gave Michigan a 73-71 lead - its first advan- play. tage of the second half - on a putback with inside: Crawford the difference in victory. 1:37 to play. Page 10A. 'n- an hrnirn ..Y ntc rnrr T.Tr i~nr tn' Two tree throws by Kent's Irevor Hufiman tiedl the game at 73. On Michigan's next possession, Jamal Crawford capped a 27-point evening with the game-winner, a jumper to finish the scoring with 53 seconds left. "We just don't give up. We always feel that we're in the game no matter what," said Jones, who finished with 16 points. "I can't really explain it. It's just that teams have to play a full game to beat us" Somehow yesterday night, Michigan always found the resiliency to overcome its mistakes. Josh Asselin, fresh out of a timeout with just 17 seconds left in the game, ran up the end line try- ing to inbound the ball and was whistled for trav- el ing. Shortly thereafter, Asselin blocked the poten- Saturday Duke at Michigan, Crisler Arena, 4 p.m Michigan's main nonconference rival ry, one that needs no introduction. If you don't have tickets by now, CBS (channel 13) is your best bet. Pick up the Daily tomorrow for a full-page feature on this rivalry's GREATEST MOMENTS KMITSU YOGACHI/Day LaVell Blanchard tries to wrestle away the ball from Kent's Geoffrey Vaughn. Blanchard had four points and seven rebounds in Michigan's 75-73 victory. i ............ The Green Hornet Radio Show 2 songs off our ewre bum 50 rlintes of Confucjorn5gs Your Site for Digital Audio, Free Audio Software and Other w m