Page 10-The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, February 13,1991
I
SPORTING VIEWS
Ryan Schreiber
Officials shouldn't
_: excuse star players
L,
College athletes should
wait before turning pro
by Todd Greenberg
"He's the triple 'S' man, baby! Super, sensational, scintillating!"
Basketball analyst Dick Vitale often uses these words to describe the
nation's most exciting and talented college basketball players. Often
included in the "triple 'S"' category are the likes of LSU's Shaquille
O'Neal, Georgia Tech's Kenny Anderson, Arkansas' Todd Day, and
Syracuse's Billy Owens.
In addition to all being "triple 'S' men," these athletes have some-
thing else in common: they will have eligibility remaining after this
season.
This return of so many superstars should make next year an exciting
one for college basketball fans. Maybe.
As most college sports fans know, in recent years, there has been a
trend of underclassmen leaving college early to gain a headstart on a
pro career. All of the aforementioned triple 'S' men have been rumored
to be considering making the jump to the pro ranks.
In the past, only truly exceptional players like Magic Johnson, Isiah
* Thomas, and Michael Jordan would leave college early. Today, it has
become expected for star athletes to head to the pros early.
Last year, Maryland's Jerrod Mustaf, LSU's Chris Jackson, and Illi-
nois' Marcus Liberty all entered the NBA draft after their sophomore
year. And this year doesn't look any better for college sports fans.
College football has also been hurt recently by early departures. This
year, Notre Dame's Raghib Ismail and USC's Todd Marinovich are
among the nation's top players leaving early for the NFL.
Early departures of star athletes is not foreign to Michigan students.
In the past two years, running backs Leroy Hoard and Jon Vaughn, and
basketball forward Sean Higgins jumped to the pros before their eligibil-
ity expired.
Increasingly, athletes view the college ranks solely as the avenue to
the fame and fortune of the professional level. Because of this attitude,
many top athletes have left school prematurely, depriving fans and
teammates of their exciting play.
The talent level and excitement of college sports is thus somewhat
depleted. The Michigan fan can only wonder what could have been if
Hoard and Higgins had remained Wolverines for one more year.
In addition to hurting the fans and college athletics, those who bolt to
the pros early are letting down both coaches and teammates. Often,
coaches try to build an entire program around one impact athlete, ex-
pecting that player will attend school for four years. The early departure
of this type of player can devastate a program.
To understand the affect on teammates, one need look no further than
Sean Higgins. As a developing player, Higgins was fortunate enough to
play with upperclass leaders Gary Grant, Glen Rice, and Rumeal Robin-
son. When it was his turn to lead the team, he opted for the NBA, leav-
ing a young team with no leader and no returning starters.
Because of the adverse effects college athletes bring about by leav-
ing school early, the time has come to issue a plea.
Mr. Anderson, Shaquille, Todd Day and the rest of the outstanding
young college talent--don't take the "triple 'S"' out of college sports.
Stay in school.
The biggest college basketball showdown
of 1991, at least until the Final Four, oc-
curred on Sunday between the top two teams
in the nation. And the first half of the UNLV-
Arkansas battle proved to be as spectacular
as its billing.
But when the teams returned to the floor
for Act II, the battle switched from finesse to
fisticuffs.
The top-ranked Rebels demoralized the
Razorbacks early and often in the second
half, turning a four-point deficit into as big as
a 23-point bulge. And UNLV showed little
signs of slowing down as their lead expanded
before the eyes of Nolan Richardson's down-
trodden club.
The beating that Larry Johnson, Stacey
Augmon, Anderson Hunt & Co. delivered
took its toll on highly-touted Arkansas for-
ward Todd Day. Eventually, Day and Johnson
earned ejections from the game for unsports-
manlike conduct, definitely unbecoming of
two of America's finest college athletes.
Yet, the punishment of these two players
was hardly justice served. The standard pol-
icy of the NCAA explicitly states that any
players involved in a fighting incident in a
game are to be ejected and later suspended
for one game.
Neither player - nor Augmon, who was
involved in an earlier scuffle with Day -
will be forced to sit out a contest for their ac-
tions, and the Big East Conference officiating
crew headed by referee Jim Burr must be
held accountable for their lack of disciplinary
action.
The first shove came early in the second
half when Day received a shot to the neck
from an irritated Augmon. Day refused to re-
taliate, and Augmon was called for an inten-
tional foul resulting in two Arkansas free
throws.
Augmon's act was intentional - he later
admitted that the two players had talked trash
to each other the entire game - and the re-
sulting punishment was lax. The lack of a suf-
ficient response from Burr precipitated later
problems.
With 2:27 to play, after the game was out
of reach, tempers flared between Day and
Johnson. While struggling for a rebound, the
two forwards tangled, and Day ripped free
from Johnson, flailing at him with his left
hand. Simultaneously, Johnson forcefully
shoved with his left, pushing the two apart.
Day then swung, missing Johnson com-
pletely, but not without intended malice.
When Johnson came forward to respond, Day
shoved a hand, intended for Johnson, square
into an official's face. Yet the only resulting
call was unsportsmanlike conduct, and not a
fighting penalty. After the game, Johnson said
that he "would have thrown a punch if (Day)
would have hit me."
These two athletes did fight although
punches did not land. Few would argue that
point, yet the call went otherwise. Do the ath-
letes have to literally slug one another to
construe it as a fight? Or is it simply the in-
tent to fight that the NCAA is trying to nip in
the bud?
CBS commentator Billy Packer suggested
that the NCAA devise an officiating crew to
survey these situations after the game is
completed, then determine whether or not se-
vere punishments should be assessed.
This concept could be much less contro-
versial, allowing for the heat of the moment
to be ignored and the actual occurrences to
be ideally observed. In all fairness to Burr, it
is difficult to judge a situation such as the
one between Day and Johnson, yet the result
was much too lenient for the circumstances.
In a game with such national exposure, it
is shameful that the NCAA policies for fight-
ing were ignored. The concept that good
players get all the calls seems to have had its
effect on this game. Joe Forward from Fuller-
ton St. would sit out next game if he acted
like Day or Johnson, but when dealing with a'
Top 10 school, the punishments disappear.
The NCAA should review this game and'
consider Packer's concept, otherwise the
rules they have for fighting might as well not
even exist at all. They certainly had no effect
on Sunday.
0
I
6.
COLLEGE NEWS.
TOP FIFTEEN HOCKEY POLL
The Cornell Sun compiles a weekly college hockey poll,
voted on by the sports staffs of 13 different college
I' ~ t~~j
i . x ,..
WRESTLING NOTEBOOK
Benninger slims down
to fill in for Wolverines *
newspapers nationwide,
Team (First-place votes)
1.
2.
3.
4.
Lake Superior (12)
N. Michigan (1)
Michigan
Boston College
Satisfy your
appetite.
-o-w
Read Health & Fitness, a special edition
of Friday's Weekend Magazine.
It'll keep you away from the fridge.
I
5. Minnesota
6. Maine
(tie) Cornell
8. Clarkson
9. Wisconsin
10. Boston University
11. Providence
12. Ferris State
13. North Dakota
14. New Hampshire
15. St. Lawrence
including
Record
27-3-4
26-5-4
26-5-3
24-7-0
23-6-5
25-7-2
14-5-3
19-6-1
23-9-2
19-9-2
18-6-2
20-9-5
19-13-2
19-9-2
15-10-1
194
177
163
160
129
117
117
113
95
92
61
48
33
19
18
1
2
4
3
5
6
7
8
9
10
13
11
12
14
15
The Michigan Daily.
Points Last Week
Bo unable to avoid limelight
DETROIT (AP) - Bo Schem-
bechler fooled a lot of people, in-
cluding himself, by refusing to
fade away after leaving college
football to become president of the
Detroit Tigers.
"I remember telling my wife
(Millie) when I took this job,
Color Printing
Color Printing
Color Printing
Color Printing
Big savings on color printing
for all clubs, businesses, and
organizations.
I
'Look Mill, I know this is going to
be a drastic departure but don't
worry about it,"' Schembechler
said recently. "I said, I'll be in an
administrative capacity and I
won't be on television."'
But that was before Cecil
Fielder hit 51 home runs, before
beloved broadcaster Ernie Harwell
was fired, before general manager
Bill Lajoie mysteriously resigned
to become a scout for Atlanta, and
before free agent pitcher Jack Mor-
ris signed with Minnesota.
"After the crap hit the fan on
this Ernie Harwell thing, Millie
looks at me, shakes her head and
says, 'Well, you really did a great
job of fading into the woodwork,
didn't you?"' Schembechler said.
He also has found himself
caught in the middle of the Tiger
Stadium issue.
"I like Tiger Stadium," he said.
"It's been there for a long time. I
also like the Coliseum in Rome.
It's been there a long time, too.
But nobody's playing there any-
more, either."
by Eric Sklar
Daily Sports Writer
Up until this past weekend, in-
juries had not been much of a
problem for the Michigan wrestling
team. However, Friday night
against Ohio State, 150-pounder
Brian Harper injured his foot. X-
rays later revealed that his foot
was not broken.
However, Harper's injury put
Michigan coach Dale Bahr in a
bind. With no one to compete at
150, Bahr was forced to call up re-
placements.
"Brian is our regular, of
course," Bahr said. "But we know
that we can't afford to forfeit a
weight class."
So Bahr called on junior Steve
Benninger to be ready for Sunday's
contest against Minnesota. Ben-
ninger had gonehome for the
weekend with teammate Eric
Zimmerman, and Bahr was not
able to reach him until 7 p.m. Sat-
urday night, at which point Ben-
ninger was twelve pounds over the
weight limit.
From the time he got Bahr's
call to weigh-in Sunday morning,
Benninger had shed all twelve
pounds.
"It was a bum situation, but I
decided to go ahead and do it,"
Benninger said. "I wouldn't have
been able to do it without Eric
Zimmerman. He helped me lose
about ten pounds that night."
Benninger ended up losing the
match, 16-7. However, the four
team points that he gave up were
less than the six that Michigan
would have yielded had they for-
feited the 150-pound bout. Those
two points turned out to be crucial
toward the outcome, as the
Wolverines prevailed by a narrow
margin, 21-17.
As for Harper, the prognosis is
good, and he should be able to
compete Saturday against Wiscon-
sin.
"We're going to go light with
him this week, in hopes that he
can come back for Wisconsin,"
Bahr said.
HAWKEYES ON A ROLL: This
past weekend number one-ranked
Iowa (23-0-1) distanced itself from
the rest of collegiate wrestling.
The Hawkeyes thrashed the two-
time defending NCAA champion
No. 2 Oklahoma State, 35-2, on
Saturday, before 12,000 fans on
hand at Carver-Hawkeye Aren4.
The Hawkeyes followed up that
performance with a 40-5 purl-
melling of No. 4 Arizona State
Sunday. These dominant outings
against two top teams established
Iowa as the clear favorite in this
year's NCAA tournament, which
will be held March 14-16 at
Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK:
Twenty-four years ago this week,
former Wolverine heavyweight
Dave Porter earned a spot in the
Michigan wrestling record books.:
On February 17, 1967, Porter set a
school record by pinning his Illi-
nois opponent in just 30 seconds.
The next day, against Purdue,
Porter broke his own record for the
fastest fall with a 23-second pin..
That record still stands today,
though it has been tied once.
- And who tied the record? Porter
himself, of course. His record-tying
performance also came against the
Boilermakers, on February 27,
1968. The only other Wolverine to
come close to Porter's mark is cur-
rent 190-pounder Fritz Lerhke, who
recorded a 27-second pin against
Morgan State in 1988.
STREAKS AND FEATS: Both
Salem Yaffai (118) and Joey
Gilbert (134) are currently riding
four-match win streaks. Gilbert's
four victories were all major deci-
sions, and three of them came
against Big Ten opponents.
Lehrke takes a three-match win
streak, including two technical
falls, into Saturday's contest. Heo
currently has 98 career victories
and could win his 100th career
match at home against Morgan
State next week. Lanny Green
(177), with 48 career victories, has
a chance to win his 50th career
bout against Morgan State.
i
--
- ,
Your Summer Job
more than just employment ...
Working with'childre
in the outdoors.
n
U
Counselors, supervisors admnsr-v
staff and other leadership positions.
NOW HIRING
FOR OUR NEW PLYMOUTH ROAD STORE
FOR THESE PART-TIME POSITIONS:
CLERK/CASHIERS PRODUCE CLERKS
STOCK CLERKS DELI/PASTRY CLERK
SOME OF THE ADVANTAGES OFFERED
C-I n T~nT -3 Y nAm-0 dl C2 rC2in ITTn'TTD
Take the Time to Say Thank You!!!
Submit Your Nominations for
The University of Michigan
Twelfth Annual
Student Recognition Awards
1991
To honor outstanding student contributions through cocurricular activities
I
I
za amllw---v