Baseball
vs. Bowling Green
Today, 3 p.m.
Fisher Stadium
The Michigan Daily
SPORTS
Wednesday, March 20, 1991
Women's Gymnastics
Big Ten Championships
Friday and Saturday
Champaign, Ill.
Page 9
Jeff Sheran
Falcons in town for
Blue home opener
Fisher answers tough
questions with class
Michigan's basketball season has ended, but you wouldn't know it
from the attention the team still receives. After all, serious questions
linger about serious issues.
For instance, coach Steve Fisher has assembled one of the nation's top
recruiting classes. We may find out as soon as Saturday that it will in-
deed be the best in the country, when Detroit Country Day superprep
Chris Webber, Michigan's Mr. Basketball, makes averbal commitment
after the high school state championships at the Palace.
And then there's the pair from Detroit Southwestern - blue-chips
Jalen Rose and Voshon Lenard. Their verbal commitments are also im-
minent, and while Rose's possibility of attending Michigan is greater
than Lenard's, both remain interested in playing for the Wolverines next
season.
But the underlying issue is the hiring of an assistant coach. Mike
Boyd's departure for Cleveland State last October has created a vacancy,
and the preeminent candidate for the position is Southwestern coach
Perry Watson, who has close ties with all three aforementioned recruits.
Fisher has heard the allegations of deliberately hiring Watson to gain
a recruiting advantage. Here's how he responds:
"Michigan is Michigan - it's a good sell. That's what will bring
kids here, not an assistant coach. When Bo Schembechler left, everyone
was concerned with whether Gary Moeller could recruit. But it's Michi-
gan, and he got the best class in the country."
Fisher is right. And besides, the Watson issue should be kept separate
for'several reasons: first, Fisher stated that no coach would be hired un-
til late April or early May - after the April 10 signing date; and sec-
ond, Michigan will almost certainly get at least one of the three recruits
with or without Watson.
Watson is competing with "several candidates" for the job, which
Risher said he would fill with a Black coach.
Fisher and assistant Brian Dutcher left yesterday for Virginia to visit
highly-touted guard Corey Alexander. Alexander has narrowed his
choices to Arizona, Virginia, and Michigan, but the Wolverine coaches
face a difficult situation.
"They're certainly still in it, but he didn't really show a groundswell
of interest in Michigan," said Doug Doughty, who interviewed Alexan-
der at length for the Roanoke Times and World News. "I'd say they were
third right now. He's visited there already, and they're not leading the
pack."
However, let's assume Fisher lands two of those four prospects. Now
a different situation arises - that of scholarships. He has five full rides
available for the coming season.,
Three recruits have already been offered scholarships, leaving two for
the spring recruits. But what about Freddie Hunter?
The junior walk-on started at forward for the bulk of the conference
season. He would seem to be guaranteed a scholarship, but not if there
isn't one to give him.
"I would feel badly if he didn't get a scholarship," Fisher said. "But
he came not expecting anything. We're trying to get him a retroactive
scholarship - we're gonna do something for him."
In all probability, Michigan will sign two more recruits, which cer-
tifies that Hunter will not get a scholarship. Or does it?
Now we approach the Tony Tolbert issue. Tolbert began the season as
the Wolverines' starting three-guard,. and ended it way down on the
bench. His best talent, scoring, shows little signs of being utilized in the
future, prompting speculation that he will transfer to a smaller school
in search of minutes.
Fisher has heard the rumors, but asserts that Tolbert has yet to speak
with him about the issue.
"Within the next two weeks, I'm going to sit down with each player,
and I'm sure we'll discuss it then," he said. "I support him staying here.
There's no better place to make a name for yourself than Michigan be-
cause we get more exposure. Look at Mark Hughes; He didn't even have a
starting position here, and he made it to the NBA."
Tolbert's possible departure would provide Fisher with an additional
scholarship, in the event that he needs more than two to accommodate
Hunter and the spring recruits. But Fisher does not look to such an in-
stance as a potential solution.
a"We're not gonna run anybody off," Fisher said in reference to the en-
tire team. "(Arizona coach) Lute Olson used to say 'I know how to
count.' Well so do I. We'll work something out."
At a time when rumors outnumber facts, it's nice to know that Fisher
is handling the classic questions with unquestionable class.
by David Schechter
Daily Baseball Writer
Michigan's home opener against
Bowling Green today is a sure sign
that spring has once again arrived in
Ann Arbor.
After compiling an 8-5 record on
the road, the Wolverines are excited
to finally play some home games.
"To be able to play in front of
your home fans after playing so
many games already is always
good," Michigan coach Bill Freehan
said.
Dennis Konuszewski will start
on the mound against the Falcons.
Konuszewski, a sophomore, was
originally slated to start last Sun-
day against Florida State, but the
game was rained out. Starting for
Bowling Green is Vince Metzger
who has compiled a 1-0 record for
the Falcons (1-4-1).
Freehan's strategy against Bowl-
ing Green will be no different than
his strategy against any other team.
The Wolverines hope to give Met-
zger fits with big hitters like Tim
Flannelly and Mike Matheny.
"We have to do what we do
well," he said. "We don't alter
what we're going to do going into a
game, until we get into a game and
Junior third baseman Tim Flannelly hopes to find the confines of Fisher
Stadium as friendly as last season, when he led the Wolverines in
batting.
see that we aren't able to accom-
plish the things we do well to start
off with."
Last year in Bowling Green,
Michigan lost the season's only
meeting between the two teams.
This season the Falcons have a new
head coach in Dan Schmitz, and
Freehan is interested to see what
Schmitz is capable of doing. Michi-
gan leads the all-time series with
Bowling Green, 28-7-1.
The game, originally scheduled
for yesterday, was moved up one day
in order to insure better field condi-
tions. After a full day of rain on
Sunday, the field was too damp to
play a game on yesterday.
This season Freehan hopes to see
the stands at Fisher Stadium full of
students, or at least fuller than last
season.
"It would be great to see the
same kind of support for the Michi-
gan baseball team, as I've seen at
places like Florida State, South Al-
abama, and some of the Southern
schools we play," Freehan said.
The coach is in the midst of plan-'
ning promotional events for games
at the stadium to increase atten-
dance.
sailors
spring. Campaniello placed eighth
out of 20 teams in B division.,
Although students are used to
first or second place finishes by
Michigan sports teams, the accom-
plishments of the sailing team
should not be overlooked. As a club
team, Michigan took on the top var-
sity teams in the country.
"Iwas very happy with the re-
sults," Campaniello said. "Out of
this field of competition will come
sailors in the next Olympics and
possibly in the America's Cup. This
is the best I've ever done."
Mackey knows why the Wolver-
ines are at such a disadvantage.
"It's tough to race varsity teams
because they are fully funded by.
their schools and have full-time:
coaches," Mackey said.
East winds unfriendly to 'M'
by Todd Greenberg
The Michigan sailing team
started the season with a strong
gust, competing in three east coast
regattas in nine days. Considering
the level of competition found on
the East Coast, the sailors had quite
a task at hand.
Michigan travelled to the Big
Apple last weekend to take part in
the Admiral Moore's Regatta. The
team was led by Chris Brown and
Ryan McCaughlin in A division and
captain Tim Mackey and Ed Cam-
paniello in B division. The team fin-
ished 12th in the field of 19 teams
that was headed by Princeton, Old
Dominion and Navy.
The women's team travelled to
the Naval Academy last weekend to
race in the Navy Women's Spring
Regatta. Michigan skipper Kim
Kelly with crew Kathy Teeple
placed eighth out of 15 teams in A
division. The team finished in tenth
place overall, despite severe weather
conditions that the women have
never before faced.
"At both regattas last weekend,
the weather really hurt us," Mackey
said. "Conditions were extremely
rough, and boats were flipping over,
which is especially tough for us to
race in because we can't practice here
[in Ann Arbor]."
This weekend the Wolverines
ventured back to the Naval
Academy to race in the extremely
competitive Navy Truxton Regatta.
In the fall the team placed a dismal
last place out of 20 teams in this re-
gatta.
Behind the excellent efforts of
Ed Campaniello, however, the team
improved to fifteenth place this
Men's
lacrosse out to
battle Ober
by Mitch Rubenstein
Daily Sports Writer
The sport of lacrosse was first
played by Native American war-
riors as a means of settling disputes
between villages. The games lasted
countless days and were played on
fields many miles long. Games be-
came battles, and countless lives
were lost to ensure a victory. In the
end, the first team to score won.
Centuries later, the game of
lacrosse has changed considerably.
No lives are lost, but the fierceness
of the competition continues. Games
are still played like battles, and
many times they are played to settle
disputes.
Tonight the Michigan men's
lacrosse club (1-1) will square off
against Division III Varsity Oberlin
College with a year-long score to
settle. Sticks will be flying high, as
a fired-up Michigan team will take
the field to avenge last year's loss.
According to Michigan captain
Adam Bovone, the Wolverines do
not plan to leave the field as losers
this time.
ln tonight
"We really want to go out and
win this tonight," Bovone said.
"We lost to them in a close game
last year: We have a score to settle
with them tonight."
Tonight's opponent for the
Wolverines will be much tougher
than the unimpressive Albion squad
that the team defeated one week ago.
The Wolverines looked sloppy on
offense early in the game, but the
team clawed and scratched its way
to an easy win. Bovone thinks the
team played to the level of its com-
petition.
"We played against a weak team
and no one was fired up," he said.
A slow start tonight for the
Wolverines could be costly against
this tough opponent. The captains
are well aware of that fact and held
important team practices this past
week in order to prepare the team.
An important thing to note is
that in last year's game, Michigan
was without its scoring leader,
Marc Silbergeld, who was sidelined
with an injury.
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Correction
The Daily inaccurately stated yesterday that Michigan does not pay
directly for the tuition of its athletes. The athletic department actually
pays $4.5 million annually in student-athlete tuition.
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