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. Laptops' EXTRA Special Prices OUR ENTIRE STOCK! LIMITED TIME ONLY!!! UNIVERSITY DISCOUNTS DSR, INC KIP Call 800-875-0037 *VISA & MASTERCARD Accepted 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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