Webber
commits
to
Michigan
* Fellow prep star Rose also commits; Fisher lands nation's
by Matthew Dodge
Daily Sports Writer
DETROIT - The myth of Michigan's
most prominent prep basketball player is
over.
Chris Webber is coming to Ann Arbor.
Webber, a 6-foot-10 forward from Detroit,
announced his feverishly awaited decision
Saturday, hours after his Detroit Country Day
team romped to its third consecutive state
championship, a 68-57 win over Albion.
"Next year I'll be a Michigan Wolverine.
If I make the team," Webber joked.
"I made the decision last week. I felt in my
heart that Michigan was the place for me," he
said. "Academically, I had to choose
Michigan. I just don't want to be seen as a
'dumb jock."'
Webber brought to a close the avalanche of
media attention over his choice of schools. But
the programs he passed over - Michigan
State, Detroit Mercy, and Duke - would have
preferred him to think about it a little longer.
Webber seriously considered attending
each of the three, and praised each program and
coach. But the overriding factors in his deci-
sion were academic quality and proximity to
home. Duke has the academics, and Michigan
State and Detroit have the proximity, but only
Michigan has both.
"In the last six months, I've changed my
mind 30 to 40 times," Webber said. "But I
have three brothers and a sister. The reason
why I cut the schools down is because I want
to watch them grow up.
"This is a big weight off my shoulders. But
I had to be selfish and do what is right for
me."
Webber - who has passed all Prop 48 re-
quirements - will matriculate along with
three heralded Wolverine recruits who signed
letters of intent in November. Jalen Rose
from Detroit Southwestern, a close friend of
Webber's, also committed to Michigan on
Saturday. The chance to play with such talent
helped lure him to Ann Arbor.
"I knew who they had coming here, and
that played a big part," Webber said. "But I'm
not worried about who's going there. I'll go
there with the goal to have fun and play ball."
best class ever
Michigan coach Steve Fisher's style also
appeals to the highest-rated prep player in the
nation.
"His personality fits best with mine,"
Webber said. "Some people say he was soft,
and that he was not a good coach. But I saw
what he did. Michigan did not have a good
year, but even after the losses, he encouraged
his players. And I play my best when I'm en-
couraged."
The verbal commitments of Webber and
Rose, along with November-signees Juwan
Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, give
Michigan the best recruiting class in the na-
tion, possibly the best ever.
Complete recruiting coverage on Page 4.
Sports Monday Trivia
Which 1991 Final Four
basketball teams won the
NCAA Championship the last
time they appeared in the
Final Four?
(Turn to Page 2 for the
answer).
Inside Sports Monday
'M' Sports Calendar 2
Fraternity & Sorority Standings 2
Athlete of the Week 2
Q&A 2
Gill Again 3
Men's Basketball 3
Ice Hockey 4
Softball 6
Baseball 6
Women's Basketball 6
Gymnastics 7
Men's volleyball 7
Women's swimming 8
i i''j,.
The Michigan Daily-Sports Monday March 25,1991
Terriers
bounce
M'
out of postseason
party
V..
*, 4
by John Ni vo
Da
BOSTON - Maybe if the games had been in
Hollywood... A place where stars are born. A place
where even the most outlandish dreams can be realized.
Then, maybe the outcome would have been different.
Instead, Michigan's hockey team travelled to
Walter Brown Arena in Boston this weekend for
NCAA Quarterfinal action. Like an aspiring
screenwriter with script in hand, the Wolvernes were
looking to add another chapter to their magical tale of #
success. But the Terriers, now headed for the Final Four /
in St. Paul, took the liberty of writing the conclusion
for them. ~ ' "
All good things must come to an end, we are told,
and with Boston University's 8- victory Saturday
night, Michigan's season did just that. It ended. The ..~>
script thrown out the window, along with a lot of
hopes and dreams. Wait 'ti next year, guys. You're a
young team, with more trips to the NCAA's ahead. tea
Hollywood producers would have laughed at this
ending, though. Too anticlimactic, they would have
said. Too uneventful. Where's the drama?
And why did you make Michigan lose? They were
the underdog. The program making a comeback -
returning to the elite status it once held - with coach
Red Berenson leading the way. A team that had won
yover fans ad a university, drawing huge crowds like
never before. Why them?
Okay, fine. Let them lose Friday if you want. But
they should win Saturday and Sunday and return home JOSE JUAREM
champions. After all, this is a team that had bounced Boston University sophomore center David Sacco celebrates with a jubilant crowd after
See ENDING, Page S his team whipped Michigan in the NCAA Quarterfinals in Boston.
8-1 Boston victory ousts
Blue icers from NCAAs
by Matt Rennie
Daily Hockey Writer
BOSTON - Pop the balloons.
Take down the streamers. Turn out
the lights. The party's over.
The Michigan hockey team's
enchanted ride back to the top of the
national polls came to an abrupt end
this weekend, as Boston University
swept the Wolverines in two games.
The Terriers put Michigan's back
against the wall with a 4-1 victory
Friday night, and refused to let up.
Michigan coach Red Berenson
replaced Friday's goaltender, Chris
Gordon, with Steve Shields, but the
latter's stay was short-lived.
Sophomore left wing Petteri
Koskimaki greeted Shields with a
hard slap shot just 3:23 into the
game. The shot got through Shields'
pads, and the Terriers were on top
again.
Darin MacDonald added to the
BU lead when he knocked home a
pass from Doug Friedman with 7:13
left in the period.
Meanwhile the Wolverines were
unable to get anything started
offensively.
"Last night, we got behind early
so we were hoping for a better start
tonight," Michigan co-captain Don
Stone said. "They checked just as
hard tonight as they did last night."
The Terriers broke things open in
the second stanza. David Tomlinson
scored three minutes into the period
to give his team a 3-0 edge.
After a roughing penalty to
David Harlock gave the Terriers a
man advantage, BU capitalized, as
Tony Amonte scored the power-
play goal.
Berenson replaced Shields with
Gordon one minute after Amonte's
goal, but Gordon experienced a
similar fate.
"I don't think our goalteding
was as good as it could have been,"
Berenson said. "We're not looking
to blame anyone though."
The Terriers erased any doubts as
to the outcome of the game and the
series, by scoring three times in
1:03. Ed Ronan, Tom Dion, and
David Sacco all notched goals, and
the Terriers began making their
reservations for St. Paul.
"I thought our team came out
and played hard, but they still got
ahead," Berenson said. "Once the
penalties started (in the second
period), they took us out of the
game or we took ourselves out."
In the first game of the series,
BU had to play without their head
coach Jack Parker, who was serving a
one-game suspension, which he
incurred in last year's tournament
against Michigan State. Assistant
coach Don Cahoon filled Parker's
role.
The Terriers showed no signs of
being rusty after a I1-day layoff.
They jumped all over the
Wolverines, scoring three times
before the first intermission.
Senior center David Tomlinson
See ICERS, Page 5
Women swimmers
flounder at NCAAs
RENAISSANCE
by Andy De Korte
Daily Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - When the
Michigan women's swimming team
won its fifth consecutive Big Ten
Conference Championship earlier
this month, last year's graduation of
four All-Americans seemed man-
ageable. However, when the squad
travelled to Indianapolis for the
NCAA Championships, the losses
and key disqualifications proved in-
surmountable.
By the second day of competi-
tion, Michigan coach Jim
Richardson was already calling the
meet, "the woulda, coulda, shoulda
meet."
The Wolverines, who had hoped
to finish in the top 10 for the fifth
consecutive year, never cracked the
elite list, finishing 15th with 55
points.
Stanford trailed defending
champion Texas closely for two
davs. hut the Lnnghorns nulled
loss of between 33 and 38 points,
were magnified by a rash of 17th,
18th, and 19th-place finishes.
All-American Lisa Anderson led
the hard-luck pack, finishing 17th in
the 100 back to add to her disquali-
fication.
The freestylers suffered acutely
from "17th-place syndrome." Karen
Barnes finished 17th in the 500 free,
and 32nd in the 200 free. Kathy
Deibler finished 29th, 19th, 25th in
100, 200, and 500 free, respectively.
"It seems like in one year we've
had everything happen to us that
could have gone wrong in the previ-
ous four years." Richardson said.
As half of the first-year breast-
stroking duo, Tara Higgins forged
the path to the championship plat-
form, finishing 8th in the 200
breaststroke, the only Wolverine to
place in the top eight. Her team-
mate, Val Hyduk finished 22nd and
20th in the 10 0and 20 hrest.
by MNatthew Dodge
Daily Baseball WNriter
?Date Holdren is the Michelangelo
of Michigan sports. He is ajack of all
athletic trades.
His life reminds you of a Nike
commercial. The only difference is
that Nate's life doesn't display any
pro uniforms. Not yet anyway.
His apprenticeship this year began
under the football tutelage of:Gary
Moeller, and will end under the base-
ball guidance of Bill Freehan.
Both coaches see pro drafts in
Nate's crystal ball. The only question
is which one - football or baseball.
As a diaper dandy in two sports in
abig time college program, Nate faces
a constant dilemma: Which sport
should I concentrate on? Which one
do I prefer?
He doesn'tknow. Sointhe mean-
time, he'll justbide his timeby settling
for stardom in both games, even if he
does get worn out now and then.
"I think it wears on him,"|Robert
Lukson, his father, says.|"He was
really Petting sick and exhausted."
both baseball and footb
MAN
and talent to play both sports,"
Moeller says, "but he is capable of
all doing it."
On January 1, 1981, little nine-
year old Nate Holdren sits in the
family room of his home in Richland,
Wash.In alife quickly steering toward
athletics, he is doing what he loves
best: watching sports.
On this day, through the cryptic
workings of a young mind, Nate falls
in love with Michigan football. And
he falls hard. With no rhyme or rea-
son, he is rooting for the Wolverines
to beat the local Washington Huskies
in the Rose Bowl,
Following Michigan's 23-6 vic-
tory, the people in Ann Arbor rejoice
as Bo Schembechler wins his first
Rose Bowl in eight tries. They are
thankful for what the win does for the
Wolverine program. They do not
know how very right they are.
Nate Holdren is coming.
"I've always wanted to go here,"
Nate says. "I knew nothing about the
place, but I always wanted to go here
* F '
VI.