a'aiy forum What top seed is most likely to be upset in the NCAAs? Are you disappointed by your favorite team's coverage? Just plain bored? Stop yelling from the sidelines. Speak your mind at miclgandaily.com/forum. We'll see you there. michigandaily.com/sports SPO t cfttgan katg 0T 8A THURSDAY MARCH 15, 2001 47 31 I- Ready to mnnble JON SCHWARTZ WRESTLING IOWA CITY, IOWA CHAMPIONSHIPS No. 3 Michigan fights for respect By Nathan Unsloy Daily Sports Writer The wrestling NCAA Championships begins today in Iowa City, and despite the emergence to national prominence of pro- grams such as Michigan, Illinois and Ohio State, it appears that --thlsournament will still have familiar names at the top. "I see three teams with a distinct advantage - Minnesota, Iowa and Oklahoma State, but not necessarily in that order," Oklahoma coach Jack Spates said at the tournament press con- ference. "We are hoping for a six-team race." Like the Sooners, Michigan will be looking to pull some upsets and take advantage of a field that could be wide- open. nth Minnesota and Oklahoma State, the top two teams in the nation, are balanced squads that will rely on top-eight fin- ishes from a number of their wrestlers. Iowa, on the other hand, isteam made for non-dual tournaments - a few superstars, ad a few wrestlers capable of moving up from middle-of-the- pack standing. Michigan, like Minnesota and Oklahoma State, will need a superb performance from its star, second-seeded Otto Olson at 174 pounds. But Olson will have a difficult road to the finals. In his third match, he is slated to face either seventh-seeded Eric Hall of Virginia Tech or tenth-seeded Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota, two wrestlers he narrowly defeated this season. Seven of the eight Wolverines who will compete are seeded in the top-12, though only three - Olson, 184-pounder Andy Hrovat and heavyweight Matt Brink - are projected to be All- Americans. The only unseeded Wolverine is 157-pound freshman Pat Owen, who qualified with a seventh-place finish two weeks ago at the Big Ten Championships. Owen will face tenth-seed- edRocky Smart of Arizona State in the first round. Regardless of how Owen finishes, coach Joe McFarland knows that the experience he obtains this weekend will be extremely valuable in the years to come. "It will be great to get him there, and for him to feel what the national tournament is like. There's no pressure on him, so he HE CHWARTZ AUTHORITY Matzka a leaderi. even without A' ThID sKsssZ'aiy The season is on the line as the Michigan wrestlers tussle with the nation's best at the NCAA Championships. can just get there and wrestle as hard as he can," McFarland said. "Hopefully some good things will happen for him, and he'll sneak in there and place." Freshmen Foley Dowd and Clark Forward are both alter- nates for nationals after finishing eighth at the Big Ten tourna- ment. "They've been a big part of the success we've had this year," McFarland said. "But they'll be right back in it next season, I can guarantee." Senior 197-pounder Joe DeGain will conclude his Michigan career this weekend. In his first national tournament, he is slat- ed to meet Minnesota's Owen Elzen in the second round. Elzen defeated DeGain by technical fall in the third-place match at Big Tens. A key weight class for the Wolverines will be 125 pounds, where sophomore A.J. Grant is seeded tenth. Grant is expect- ed to face archrival Chris Williams of Michigan State in the second round. If he is victorious, he will probably face Iowa's Jody Strittmatter, who has defeated Grant four times this sea- son. The Wolverines will need strong performances from DeGain, Grant and 149-pounder Mike Kulczycki if they hope to finish in the top five of the team standings. All three wrestlers got on a bit of a roll at the Big Ten tour- nament, which Minnesota coach J Robinson thinks is a big part of having success at nationals. "At the national tournament, you throw out what you've done," Robinson said. "It all depends on who gets hot." Meeting Expectations The Wolverines have had trouble in non-dual tourna- ments this season, showing an inability to maintain, or move up from their seeds. If they are to have success in Iowa City, every wrestler will have to place higher than he is supposed to. Wrestler, Weight Record Rank Seed A.J. Grant, 125 28-12 12 10 Mike Kulczycki, 149 35-10 10 11 Pat Owen, 157 17-13 - - Charles Martelli, 165 33-12 10 10 Otto Olson, 174 32-2 2 2 Andy Hrovat, 184 33-7 8 7 Joe DeGain, 197 26-13 17 12 Matt Brink, Hwt. 30-6 6 5 J s a situation that's sad, no matter how you look at it. Michigan senior Scott Matzka, once an assistant captain on the hockey team, now wears his uniform with a conspicuous absence around the left shoulder. The "A" that he so proudly wore for the entire regi season is gone for the playoff stretch. Of course, Matzka would be the first to admit that coach Red Berenson's decision to strip him of the cap- taincy was legitimate. Matzka, in the final game of the regular season - against Michigan State at Munn Ice Arena - completely lost control of his emotions after referee Steve Piotrowski whistled him' for holding three minutes into the third period. Matzka was given a 10-minute misconduct, and when the Spartans scored on the ensuing powerplay and Piotrowski went to report the goal, Matzka made some sort of gesture in his direction, prompting the official to give him a game misconduct. There are two schools of thought when it comes to Matzka's issue: The first says that it is the job of tlie& captains to defend teammates, an example being when officials are treating a team unfairly. Out the othcr says that the captains need to set an example for the team to follow. Either way, it's too bad that the situation reached this point. Matzka is a talented hockey player, a strong emotidn-1 al presence in the lockerroom and a highly capable sto dent. Majoring in computer science, the senior probably extends more time to his coursework than any of the team's other key players. But since the incident, what has shined brighter than Matzka the hockey player or Matzka the student has been Matzka the leader. He has been the ultimate in accountability ever since he left the Munn ice to the shouts of the Spartans fans. "It's disappointing the way I acted," Matzka said after last Friday night's victory over Ferris State in the first round of the CCHA playoffs." I'm apologetic to my teammates and fans for having to see the way I acted. That night in East Lansing, Matzka acknowledged that he wanted to apologize to Piotrowski, who many consider to be the finest referee in the CCHA. He reit - erated those thoughts on Friday. "I still think he's a great ref," he said. Berenson made it clear that his decision is not intended to embarrass Matzka. He simply felt that his conduct did not appear fitting of an assistant captain. And he was probably right about that. But credit the entire team for standing behind Matzka. Credit both Berenson and Matzka for not try ing to hide the issue and, instead, bringing it to the forefront. Other teams at Michigan might have handled the issue by throwing around "no comments" until everyone was bored to death with the situation. See SCHWARTZ, Page10A %a Advertising Production Associates needed o Graphic Designer " Computerized layout assistant o Scanner coordinator " Archiving assistant Salaried positions " iunnAwIrIn nf OurkXnre 7-10 hours per week ss * Work study accepted I 114 .. E