SportsWednesday - September 6, 2000 - The Michigan Daily - 5B Cagers ink four but not Parker No Gaines Women kickers burned in Tempe By Raphael Goodstein Daily Sports Wrter For all of the bad things that have happened under Brian Ellerbe's watch, one good thing he's done is recruit good basketball players. The Wolverines inked four highly touted recruits this past recruiting sea- son, but more than who they signed, the Wolverines might regret the one they didn't sign. Center Josh Moore, forward Bernard Robinson and guards Maurice Searight and Avery Queen will all be Wolverines this year. Jason Parker will not. The four incoming recruits give Michigan another well-regarded class one'Hoop Scoop recruiting analyst called it "close to the Top 10" - but Parker's signing with Kentucky will leave the Wolverines licking their wounds. Parker is a top-10 recruit who origi- nally signed to play with North Carolina last season. He did not have the grades to play and went to prep school at Fork Union Academy for a season. Then North Carolina denied his :application and did not admit him to the university. -,- His test scores were questioned when there was a 45 percent jump in his SAT score, and a similar jump in his ACT score. His original test score was not high enough to make him eligible for the upcoming season. With his services up for grabs again, Parker cited Michigan as a possible des- ,-,.ination. Michigan was a finalist for his services two years ago, and his friend- ship with sophomore forward LaVell Blanchard and coach Brian Ellerbe seemed to bode well for Michigan. But when Kentucky's admission's Q epartment found a miscalculation in .his GPA of core classes, he decided he wanted to thank the Wildcats for their hard work and head to Lexington. Yet even without Parker's services, head coach Brian Ellerbe has managed to land his second straight highly regarded class. Moore is the biggest cager Michigan has ever had, standing at 7-foot-2, and 350 pounds when he signed with Michi- #5an. Since then, he has worked out with the football team and has slimmed down to under 300 pounds. "It's pretty scary how good he can be," recruiting analyst Clark Francis said. It appears that Moore will start as the team's center, moving seniore Josh Asselin to the starting power forward position. "Moore better start," Francis said. "You sign a guy that fits your needs and then if you don't start him, you'll have recruiting problems in the future." It looked like Brandon Smith would play power forward this year, but he decided to leave the program and play for San Diego State, where Ellerbe's predecessor Steve Fisher coaches. Smith appeared to be a leading candidate to be this year's captain. Sophomore power forward Leland Anderson left the program as well. Ellerbe cited his desire to see more play- ing time as the reason for his departure. It is expected that the Attleboro, Mass. native will transfer to Providence. Robinson will also see a lot of play- ing time this year in Michigan's front court. Robinson is left-handed and has one of the best short-jumpers of all this year's recruits. Maurice Searight received the least publicity of Michigan's recruits, but may be most important. The guard will probably have to fill in for Kevin Gaines who was dismissed from the team yes- terday after his arrest on DUI charges. Queen is the shortest player to ever play for Michigan standing at 5-foot-3. Queen will wear No. I this year, the number the departed Jamal Crawford wore last year.Y Queen is eligible, but his involvement in the Gaines incident could be a viola- tion of his probation. GREENER PASTURES: Aside from adding four new recruits to this year's team, Ellerbe also added another assis- tant coach, Terrence Greene. Greene will replace Lorenzo Neely, who is now an assistant coach at West- ern Michigan. Greene should give Michigan a presence in the Flint area, a hotbed for basketball talent. Greene is a Flint native and should counter Michigan State's stronghold on the area. The Spartans milked Flint for four players, called the Flintstones, who returned Michigan State to the nation's elite. Three of those players won a national title last year. MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Kevin Gaines was kicked off the Michigan basketball team yesterday. 2001 basketball schedule This year's basketball schedule will be one of the nation's toughest. Home games in BOLD Feb. 24 Purdue Feb. 28 Northwestem Mar. 3/4 Michigan St. 3 p.m. 8 p.m. TB0 Nov. 7 Nov.13 Nov. 17 Nov. 21 Nov.25 Nov.28 *Dec. 2 *Dec. 3 Dec. 9 Dec. 13 Dec. 23 Dec. 27 Dec. 30 Jan. 3 Jan. 9 Jan. 13 Jan. 18 Jan. 20 Jan. 25 Jan. 27 Jan. 30 Feb. 3 Feb. 7 Feb. 11 Feb. 14 Feb. 17 Gr. Rapids Hoops Wayne State Oakland W. Michigan Wagner Wake Forest Maryland StJohn's/ Geo. Washington Duke Bowling Green Morris Brown Towson E. Michigan Purdue indiana Illinois Ohio St. Iowa Illinois Northwestern Michigan St. Wisconsin Penn St. Indiana Iowa Minnesota 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 7 p.m. TBD TBD 9 p.m. 7 p.m. Noon 7 p.m. 2 p.m. 8 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. 7 p.m. Noon 8 p.m. 1 p.m. 8 p.m. Noon Big Ten Tournament - Chicago, Ill. Mar. 8 First Round TBD Mar. 9 Quarterfinals TBD Mar. 10 Semifinals 1:30 p.m. Mar. 11 Championship 2:30 p.m. *at BB&T Classic (MCI Center, Washington D.C.) 2000-2001 MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM By Jeff Phillips Dauly Sports \tnter The weekend could have gone better for the Michigan women's soccer team. For the first time in school history, the No. 21 Wolverines were handed two losses to open the season. "We just didn't have a very good weekend," Michigan coach Debbie' Belkin Rademacher said. "This is defi- nitely our toughest start." Michigan journeyed to Tempe, Ariz. for the Sun Devil Soccer Classic. After losing their first match on Friday to Ari- zona State, the Wolverines looked to rebound against No. 17 Southern Cal on Sunday. Michigan fell behind 1-0 12 minutes into the game, but just five min- utes later Amy Sullivant notched her first goal of the season to tie up the game. The game remainedlied until the Tro- jans' Isabelle Harvey knocked in her second goal of the game to give South- ern Cal a 2-1 victory. "We definitely had chances to tie and pull ahead, but unfortunately we couldn't do it," Belkin Rademacher said. "We had sonie mental lapses and couldn't capital- ize. Despite ending with a flurry, Michi- gan was unable to finish, on their last four shots. "I think that overall we played much better in the second game," Belkin Rademacher said. "Our legs were there, we matched up harder with them, and we did the little things better." Sunday's contest also marked the first game action for heralded Michigan freshmen Stephanie Chavez, Erika Klienholz and Amber Wilson. On Friday, Michigan suffered a 4-0 defeat - its worst loss since 1997 and first opening loss since 1996 - at the hands of host Arizona State. The Sun Devils pounded Michigan goalkeepers Carissa Stewart and Suzie Grech with 25 shots, nearly twice as many as Michigan. Grech was forced into action after Stew- art was given a red card for a tackle made in front of her net. "I didn't expect us to play as bad as we did, we just were a step slow," Belkin Rademacher said. "Arizona State is a good team but we just really made them look good. Tough opening season matches are nothing new to Michigan. Last year, No. Name 0 Suzie Grec h 1 Carissa Stewart 2 Andrea Kayal 3 Tammy Mitchell 4 Erika Kleinholz 5 Stephanie Chavez 6 Marie Spaccarotella 7 Laurie Peterson 8 Shannon Reid 10 Sarah Hearey 11 Alissa Shaw 12 Carly Williamson 13 Amber Wilson 14 Michele Pesiri 15 Abby Tompkins 16 Amy Sullivant 17 Vicky Whitley 18 Becky Kozlick 19 Danielle Greer 20 Kacy Beitel 21 Aviva Jacobs Date Sept. 8 Sept. 10 Sept. 15 Sept. 17 Sept. 22 Sept. 24 Sept. 29 Oct. 1 Oct. 4 .Oct. 8 bt. 15 Oct. 20 -Oct 22 Oct. 24 Oct. 29 Nov. 2-5 Opponent Washington Missouri at Purdue' at Indiana* Wisconsin* Minnesota at Iowa at Illinois' Oakland at Michigan State Penn States Ohio State* Northwestern' WI-Milwaukee Notre Dame at Butler BTT (Champaign) Time 4:30 p.m. 2:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 1:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 1:30 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 4:p0 p.m. 1:00P.M. 4:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 1:00P.M. 3:00 p.m. 1:00 P.M. TBA 2000-01 WOMEN'S SOCCER ROSTER 2000-01 WOMEN'S SOCCER SCHEDULE Yr. Fr. Sr. So. So. Fr. Fr.. Sr. Jr. Fr. Fr. Jr. So. Fr. So. Jr. So. So. Jr. Sr. So. So. Ps. GK GK D MF/F F F F MF F MF/D MF D MF MF F M F/F D /FD M F/F MF 22 Abby Crumpton So. F 24 Stephanie McArdle Sr. D 25 Lauren Decker Fr. MF 26 Jessica Parmalee Jr. MF/D Head Coach: Debbie Belkin Rademacher (7th season) Assistant Coaches: Scott Forrester, Car- rie Maier 0 Leon Jones 1 Avery Queen 3 Maurice Searighti 10 Herb Gibson I 12 Mike Gotfredson 21 Bernard RobinsonI 23Gavin Groninger; 25Josh Asselin I 30 Lavell BlanchardI 34Josh Moore t 45Chris Young I 52Rotolu Adebiyi I G Jr. G Fr. G Fr. F Jr. G Sr. F Fr. G So. F/C Sr. F So. C Fr. F/C Jr. F Jr. 6-4 5-3 6-2 6-5 5-11 6-6 6-5 6-11 6-7 7-2 6-9 6-5 I_ Michigan fell to Arizona State and Mis souri early on, and needed overtime to defeat Utah. But Belkin Rademacher pointed out that a tough schedule can be beneficial. "We had some tough weekends early on last year, and it paid off at the end when we hit the Big Ten season," she said. The difficult early-season competitio.2 toughened the Wolverines last year a's Michigan went 8-1-1 in the Big Ten won the conference tournament and advanced to the second round of th, NCAA tournament Head Coach: Brian Elerbe Associate Coach: Scott Trost Assistant Head Coaches: Kurtis Townsend, Terence Greene I M' spikers battle to second h U ElmUEK r K,- ' ,4 By Albert Kim Da~i)lly Sports \\ ritir With two key seniors injured, and the Pacific tournament in Stockton, Calif., to play, the No. 24 Michigan volleyball team had to turn to senior 'ri'ght hitter Alija Pittenger to lead the charge - from the left side. Fortunately for the Wolverines, Pittenger had a great tournament, powering the team to a second-place finish - leading the team in kills and coming in second in digs. * "Alija did a great job. The right side isn't her forte, but she did it for the team, and played very consis- tently," Michigan coach Mark Rosen said. Michigan defeated Maryland 3-0 (15-6, 15-7, 15-8) on Friday, Sacra- mento State 3-0 (15-7, 15-8, 15-10) on Saturday, and fell in a close match to No. 12 Pacific 0-3 (12-15, @3-15, 12-15) on championship - Sunday. "We competed very well and our .young players stepped up," Rosen said. Among the players that shined were freshman outside hitter Nicole Poquette and sophomore middle blocker Katrina Lehman. Poquette, a redshirt freshman, led the Wolver- ines in hitting percentage the first two matches, and added seven *locks the third match. Lehman led the team in blocks for the weekend. "Nicole played very well, and showed a lot of composure," Rosen said. Individual performances aside, Michigan played well as a team and gave reason for optimism. "We competed very well the entire weekend, and we're in better shape than in the past," Rosen said. The Wolverines have a tough road ahead of them in conference play. Six teams from the Big Ten - including No. 2 Penn State - are ranked in the Top 25, and another couple are very close. Michigan has been picked to finish fifth in the 2000 Big Ten Preseason Volleyball Coaches Poll. "The Big Ten is far and away the best volleyball conference in the country, and there are no easy games," Rosen said. WVith no one dominant hitter, the Wolverines nmust look to a number of players to contribute at key times throughout the season. Depth is still a concern but shouldn't be a prob- lem once the two seniors, Joanna Fielder and Sarah Behnke come back. "We're very balanced, we've got seven or eight players that can put up big numbers on any given night," Rosen said. "You stop one person. you don't stop us. With the two seniors coming back we'll be really deep." With the All-Sport Challenge this weekend at Cliff Keen Arena, the Wolverines are looking to continue improving, against a tougher field than last weekend. Left or right, it doesn't matter. These Wolverines will be ready to play. I eaA A nn Aro's rs F I *m 4w v-c shr h a X']E-LLON'V CABDI 663-35 I __ Ann arbor's Largest and Newest Fleet any local taxi fre4ansare thefr l'I.C;lcI;, j~oH ~ cOU,),fl \x h 1, iy ' Service to Metro Airport 4 ride or the price of 1! Night ride service . Asians & Americans "Christ Community" is a multi-cultural family for you. 9:30 am worship (Sunday) Friday night group 7pm 668-9363 -rides available- www.immanuel.net/aaccc hooverbw@mindspring.com Ann Arbor Chinese Christian Church Are you the eow Kid in KID ROCK ' ,; Check out :ril I The L~yEfn 1432 Washtenaw Ave. (between Hill & South University) Sunday Worship 8:00, 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. September-May 8:00 and 9:30 a.m. June-August Brunch at noon during the school year - students dine as our guests Students are invited to participate HARMONY HOUSE ANN ARBOR at 306 South State St. (south of E. Liberty) 734-332-7800 I for the best CD selection anc I n I~UU.FK I best service I =nvwh ra 1 I