10 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 16, 2004 SIKORA Continued from Page 9 Additionally, every single tournament champion has finished with an assist-to- turnover ratio greater than one. Maryland, the 2002 champion, had a ratio that was close to 1.5. The ability to protect the ball should never be underestimated. Although this seems fairly obvious, many people choose to ignore turnovers because they go hand in hand with an explosive offense that takes chances. Most of the top teams in the country are solid in these categories. The challenge is to use these categories to determine potential upsets. For example, take a team like Murray State. This team ranks among the top 10 in the nation in scoring, has dominated on the boards with 37.4 per game, has averaged 19 assists per game and holds its opponents under 70 points. Other low-seeded teams that TIGERS Continued from Page 9 While the Tigers have been forced to play through this season without Clemons, the Wolverines are dealing with a recent loss of their own. Sophomore Lester Abram, who has led Michigan in scoring throughout the season, injured his left shoulder during the Wolver- ines' win in the Big Ten quarterfinals against Iowa. As of yesterday, Amaker said that Abram's status for tonight's game is doubtful have performed well in these areas include Manhattan (76 percent from the line), East Tennessee State (ranked among the top teams in the nation in blocks and steals) and Air Force (leading the nation in opponent points per game with 50.1). Although there are thousands of factors you can take into account in filling out your bracket - and I have barely scratched the surface - I hope that following these statisti- cal guidelines will give you (and me) a better shot at winning that pool. And if you're not into numbers, or think that no statistic could ever predict the outcome of the tournament, there's always the "coolest name" approach. Have fun. Naweed Sikora actually had fun analyzing statis- tics for this column. Ifyou would like to see his spreadsheet, e-mail him at nsikora@umich.edu due to lingering soreness in the shoulder. If Michigan wins tonight, it will face the winner of the Oklahoma-Louisiana State game tomorrow. The site of second-round games are determined by the NIT commit- tee. Michigan is resigned to make the best of its postseason placement. "We're one of those teams that still has a chance to have practice today," Amaker said. "That's not bad. It's not everything that we wanted, but it's not bad and we're excited that we have a chance to be here." Turco bobbles back to Ann Arbor' By Sharad Mattu Daily Sports Writer Forget about retiring jerseys. The Michigan hockey team has its own way of honoring its legends, and it's a much bigger hit with the fans: bobblehead dolls. Friday's game against Nebraska- Omaha wasn't just the first game of the CCHA Tournament. It was also Marty Turco bobblehead, night. Turco - who was the netmin- der for Michigan's Nationale Championship teams in 1996 and 1998 and set the NCAA record for wins with 127 - was in Detroit to play the Red Wings on Saturday and made his way to Ann Arbor with some of his current Dallas Stars teammates and former Michigan teammates. When asked how he thought the bobblehead doll looked, Turco didn't get into specifics, but conceded that it doesn't look much like him. "I've had two bobbleheads made down in Texas," Turco said. "One was really good, and one wasn't good. This one falls somewhere in the middle." Friday's visit to Ann Arbor was the first for Turco since last August's Summer Hockey Showcase alumni game. Although he's now an NHL star, Turco fondly remembers his days of donning maize and blue, particularly the cham- pionship run in 1996. "To see Brendan (Morrison) put that puck in the net in overtime was some- thing I'll never forget," Turco said. "It was a monkey off Red's back and the program's back after so many years. "To be part of that - to - "bring the winning tradition S back to Michigan - is something I'll always be proud of." Turco, a four-year starter at Michigan, is also part of a deep tradition of Wolverine goaltenders. He came to Michi- gan after four-year starter Steve Shields and was followed by four-year starter Josh Blackburn. Al Montoya is now the fourth straight Michigan goaltender to start as a freshman, and Turco believes he's on his way to having a career just as good as his predecessors. "When I came here, Steve (Shields) had just completed four of the greatest years ever for a college goaltender," Turco said. "I was blessed with a lot of talent in front of me, and the coaches trusted me. It's the same with Al. To be that young, to be that mature and to come here and be one of the best goaltenders in the country speaks for itself." When the fans in the student section real- ized that the real Marty Turco was at Yost Ice Arena, they made sure to welcome him back. After they shouted out his name for a while, they then included him in their regular cheers. Throughout the game they chanted "goalie, goalie, sieve!" and pointed to Montoya, then Turco and then Nebraska-Omaha goaltender Chris Holt. And, in the final minutes of the game, instead of pointing toward Damon Talley, the Michigan Hockey Band conductor, and demanding that he dance, they pointed at Turco and shouted, "dis-co Mar-ty!" and "dance, Marty, dance!" The Turco bobblehead is the first in the "Michigan Hockey Legends" series. Each season a former Wolverine will be honored. Last year Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson had his own bobblehead night. For- mer Michigan football coach Bo Schembech- ler had a bobblehead made for him in 2001. THE MICHIGAN DAILY BASKETBALL WRITERS' POSTSEASON PICKS Michigan NIT exit NCAA Cinderella Netters looking to bounce back By Katie Niemeyer For the Daily Dame Bmmmer Chris Burke 2nd round Bob Hunt 3rd round 1st round 1st round Dayton Western Michigan Western Michigan Manhattan Worst NCAA Tournament team Liberty Monmouth Florida A&M Alabama State Ai Foc icmn The Michigan women's tennis team hopes to bounce back from its first loss of the season - suffered against No. 37 Alabama this week- end - as it plays Western Michigan tomorrow and then Marquette on Saturday. "Alabama is the best team we've played on the road so far and there is somewhat of an advantage to playing at home," coach Bitsy Ritt said. "So we know that we're right there and we'll just bounce back Wednesday against Western Michigan." The Wolverines hope to use the next few games as a stepping-stone in preparation for their first Big Ten match with in-state rival Michigan State on March 23, but they know these next few games are important. "Western Michigan is a very com- petitive program," Ritt said. "They always do well in the match. They have a very competitive schedule. They play a lot of Big Ten teams. It's an opportunity to play a quality team at home and Marquette's a chance, again, to fine tune going into the Big Ten season." Michigan plays Western Michi- gan every year and the Wolverines know that the Broncos are tough competition. "There's tradition there," Ritt said. "We know their players very well. We know that Western Michigan is ready to play us. They're well- coached and their players compete hard." Ritt is confident in Michigan's ability to come out on top, especial- ly considering the contributions of the new additions to the team this year - assistant coach Katy Prop- stra and freshman Elizabeth Exon. Propstra played at Arizona State from 1995 to 1999. She came to Michigan this season after a two- year tenure as assistant coach for the men's and women's tennis teams at Northern Arizona University. "Katy's done a great job," Ritt said. "She's been well-received by the players. She's very perceptive and very analytical and she commu- nicates well." Exon, out of Irvine, Calif., has made a great start to her college career. She's gone 16-8 overall and has a winning percentage of 0.667, good enough for a No. 67 ranking. "She had a great fall and had some really big wins," Ritt said. "She's doing well in the dual sea- son. I think she's making the adjust- ment well. She's a very competitive player. She's very tough mentally and has had a lot of success in jun- iors, so she's a very confident player and is working hard to make her contribution." Coming off the loss, Michigan is excited to get back in action. "We are psyched and we're ready to get this win at home," Ritt said. Sleeper NCAA Champion pick Illinois Wisconsin Wake Forest Oklahoma State I I NCAA Final Four Georgia Tech Kansas Gonzaga Kentucky (champion in bold) St. Joe's Wake Forest Wake Forest Wisconsin Duke Duke Duke North Carolina Maryland Connecticut Stanford Connecticut 2004 POSTSEASON NIT Drexel (18-10) Villanova (16-16) G. Washington (18-11) Virginia (17-13) 1 11 Temple (15-13) Rutgers (16-12) Boston U. (23-5) R. Island (19-13) West Virginia(1513) Kent St. (22-8) UNLV (18-12 Rice (22-10) UW-Mil.(18-10) Toledo (20-10) Marquette 87-72 Marquette (17-11) Florida State (18-13) Wichita St. (21-10) owa State (17-1 The final two rounds will be played in Madison Square Garden in New York Purdue (17-13) Notre Dame (17-12) Iowa(16-12) (St. Louis (18-12) Colorado (18-10) Oregon (15-12) I I Tennessee (15-13) L A N ,eorge Mason (21-9) elmont (21-8) ustin Peay (21-9) ebraska (16-12) reighton (20-8) iagara (21-9) a ---------------- C N E Hawaii 19-11 Utah State (25-3) Louisiana State (18-10) Oklahoma (19-10) MICHIGAN (18-11) YOU ARE INVITED TO A SERIES OF DISCUSSIONS: VIETNAM: Then and Now Mike Benge Wednesday, March 17 2:00pm Michigan Studentf ssem6fy Efections E TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT! SIMPLY GO TO: www.umich.edu/-vote - Vote for the representatives for your school or college Vote on whether to increase funding to the William Monroe Trotter House, the multicultural center on campus! - 48 Hour online voting period: Tonight at midnight until Thursday at 11:59 pm. www.umich.edu/-vote A civilian working with the Montagnard people, Mike was taken prisoner during the 1968 Tet Offensive and held in a bamboo cage in the jungle for over two years. Then he was transported to Hanoi, where things went downhill. Mike is a recipient of our nation's highest civilian award and still works on behalf of the Montagnard. m I " Is genocide being committed against the Montagnard people? " Why hasn't the Vietnam Human Rights Act passed in (V~nnnracc ? 1 Student Discounts Professional Bartending Training ,1 Tips on Finding a Top Paying Job