Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 3, 1993 TAG: 9304030132
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW ORLEANS LENGTH: Medium
MICHIGAN READY FOR FAVORED WILDCATS
One has coasted into the Final Four. The other has glided into the national semifinals.That said, it is here, tonight about 8:05 at the Louisiana Superdome, where the NCAA Tournament similarities between Kentucky and Michigan could begin.
Sound strange? How about the second-ranked Wildcats (30-3) as seven-point favorites over the third-ranked Wolverines (30-4) in the 55th NCAA semifinal nightcap? The winner meets the North Carolina-Kansas survivor for the national championship Monday night.
"We don't mind people calling us underdogs," Michigan center Chris Webber said Friday.
What the Wolverines do mind is all the other things they've been called in the past 16 days, since the field of 64 began shrinking. How the West Region was won by the Fab Five - who have 11 straight victories - has been the subject of much squawking.
"We've been keeping up with the press clippings," Webber said. "We've been using that as an incentive. So many people have said that if we play like we have, we can't win here. So, after this press conference, I'm going to ask Coach [Steve] Fisher if we can go home and watch it on TV."
Kentucky wishes. The Wildcats have roared through four NCAA games, winning by an average of 31 points. Michigan, a No. 1 regional seed like the Wildcats, has reached its second straight Final Four by nicking UCLA, George Washington and Temple after routing Coastal Carolina in the opening round.
Fisher's team has been winning ugly in more ways than one. A year removed from a wondrous run to the title game as freshmen, Michigan has struggled on and off the floor. Suddenly, the Fab Five are the Wooferines.
"Chris Webber hasn't had fun in this basketball tournament," said the man himself. "Some of this I shouldn't let get to me so much, and when it does, it hurts our team.
"Our aggressiveness, our youthfulness is crucial to us, and I think we've sort of lost that in this tournament."
Fisher admits that, depending on what happens to the Wolverines here, they might enjoy this NCAA experience more when they reflect on it. Even Fisher appears weary of living up to expectations.
Then, he guided the 1989 Wolverines to the national championship in his first six games after his boss, Bill Frieder, resigned to become Arizona State's coach. Fisher is 16-2 as an NCAA coach.
"I think the best way to describe that we've done is that we've hung in and taken everybody's best shots," said Fisher, who could have been describing the Wolverines' past two weeks on and off the floor. "Maybe we haven't gotten any knockouts, but we do have four straight decisions."
If Michigan wants the game to be fun again, the opportunity presents itself against the Wildcats. Kentucky will press and force tempo and hope to set up their opportunity to shoot 3-pointers with an inside-out attack.
UK coach Rick Pitino, returning to the vast arena where he took a Cinderella - Providence - to the '87 ball, agreed with Fisher that tonight's game will turn on defense and rebounding.
"If we're going to get into a running game - and we want that - then we're going to have to rebound," Pitino said. "If we don't, we are in trouble.
"We are going to run. I'm sure Michigan will be glad to hear that, because they haven't had too much of that. We're not going to hold the ball like some of the other teams they've played. We've been shooting the ball well, but more importantly, we've been playing good defense."
Kentucky guard Dale Brown said that although the Wildcats - with 10 straight victories - have gotten much of their NCAA exposure from behind the arc, it is Pitino's constant carping about playing the other end of the floor that has made a difference.
"We get in people's faces," Brown said. "We like to make life miserable for them."
In Michigan, the Wildcats have found an opponent that knows that feeling already.
"We've got a very, very good basketball team," Fisher said. "We've played terrific most of the time.
"We know we're good enough to win the next two games. We're also smart enough to know that so are Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina."
The Wolverines are trying to remember how much fun they had in Hawaii in December, when they beat Nebraska, North Carolina and Kansas on consecutive days to win the Rainbow Classic.
"I think the biggest thing we have to realize is that a lot of teams have played well in the tournament and they're home now," Webber said. "We're still here."