Lansing State Journal from Lansing, Michigan • Page 35

3D Lansing State Journal Thursday, Nov. 20, 1986 MSU Roundup Sports 7r Spartan Notebook fTd Hockey Wometfs basketball opens with exhibition By NEIL KOEPKE Lansing State Journal Finally, a basketball game to play. So what if it's just an exhibition and doesn't count in the records. It's better than a scrimm age or another practice. After five weeks of competing against each other, Michigan State's women's basketball team is host to the University of Toronto in a pre-season tuneup Friday at 7:30 p.m.

at Jenison Field House. "We were ready to play LS Si last week," said Spartan "They (the players) know we don't have much time Langeland By NEIL KOEPKE Lansing State Journal Ron Mason, who's in his 21st season as a head coach and 8th at Michigan State, is closing in on some career milestones. If the Spartans defeat Maine on Friday at Munn Arena, the victory will be Mason's 200th at Michigan State. His current record at MSU is 199-99-7. An even greater achievement is a couple of months away.

With his career record at 488-209-21, the 46-year-old Spartan coach is expected to reached the coveted 500-victory mark in January. He's only 12 wins away, so if the Spartans won 12 straight the historic win would come at Miami on Jan 2. Nobody really expects MSU to go undefeated over the next month, so a more likely timetable appears to be the Illinois-Chicago or Michigan series in January. Only four other coaches have over 500 victories and just one is still active. John Maclnnes, a legend at Michigan Tech, finished with 555 wins, Jack Riley of Army retired after last season with 540 victories, Len Ceglarski, still at Boston College, has 541, and Snooks Kelly, whom Ceglarski replaced at B.C., has 501.

In Mason's first two years at MSU, his teams won 14 and 12 games. But the turnaround started the third season and the victories started piling up: 26, 30, 34, 38 and 34. Mason's three best seasons: MSU, 1984-85, 38-6-0, .864, and Bowling Green, 1978-79, 37-6-2, and Lake Superior State, 1967-68, 21-3-2, .846. Gary Thorne, veteran radio voice of University of Maine hockey, has an interesting "off-season" job. He spends his spring and summer in the Big Apple as the play-by-play announcer for the New York Mets, the 1986 World Series Champions.

Thorne gets to visit the glamour cities of major league baseball Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal, Chicago, Atlanta, etc. in the summer and follows up with trips to the glamour spots of Hockey East and the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Lowell, Durham, N.H., Grand Forks, Duluth, Marquette, Houghton. But Thorne won't be exploring East Lansing this weekend when Shawn Walsh leads Maine against MSU at Munn Arena. He's with the Mets on a cruise, according to Maine sports information assistant Ian McCaw. In most cases, however, Thorne is loyal to hockey.

Between the fifth and sixth games of the World Series, Thorne went from Boston to Maine to broadcast the Maine-Boston College series opener, and then flew to New York the next day for Game 6. Injuries will keep MSU's two back-up centers on the sidelines sophomore Dawn DeY-oung (6-2) and freshman Claudia Wilson (6-1). Langeland's assessment of the starters: Archer "She played her freshman year and then missed almost all of the last two seasons, so she's a junior in eligibility. She's an outstanding athlete who could probably play either guard or forward. She handles the ball very well.

We like to get the ball in her hands because she's an outstanding passer." Pearsall: "She started at forward last year and we've moved her into the off-guard position. She's a strong outside shooter, decent defensive player and complements Archer very well." Forsyth: "At 6-4 she gives us the size inside we've been lacking for probably the last 10 years, and enables us to do some things offensively that we've not been able to do before. She's another one who didn't play last year so it's going to take a few games for her get back in the flow of the game. She's someone I see improving game by game." Emerson: "She was our statistical leader in almost every category last year, our captain and is probably the most consistent player that we've had here for a long time. She's playing very well in practice.

She may not have to do as much as she did last year. We have other people now who can carry some of that load, and I feel that will make her a better player." Tucker: "She was second to Kris Emerson in scoring and rebounding last year and played center for us. We've been able to move her back to her natural position. Sue has a nice combination of an outside-inside game. She shoots well from the outside, she can get out on a break, she can post up and shoot her hook shot inside." In other Spartan news: Wrestling: In last Sunday's Eastern Michigan Open, MSU placed six in the finals and came away with three championships.

Senior Dan Matauch, fourth ranked in the nation at 134 pounds, upended Michigan's John Fisher, ranked No. 2 in the nation. Matauch, 8-0 on the season, prevailed, 5-4, in overtime. Mike Bunce (167) and Dave Mariola (177) also won titles. The Spartans compete in the Ohio Open in Dayton Saturday and Sunday.

Volleyball: The MSU women, 6-8 in the Big Ten and 14-16 overall, host Wisconsin on Friday and Northwestern on Saturday. The Spartans posted their biggest upset of the season last Friday, winning 6-15, 15-11, 15-7, 9-15, 16-14 at Iowa. MSU then lost at Minnesota, 7-15, 4-15, 15-13, 7-15. Women's swimming: Coming off a 152-114 dual-meet win at Northern Michigan last Saturday, the Spartans host the Green and White Relays Friday at IM-West Pool at 4:30 p.m. Men's Swimming: After 'a week layoff, MSU is back in action with a dual meet Friday at Oakland University.

9rf -f Lansing State Journal file photo MSU's Kris Emerson at work during her MVP season of 1 985-86. left before the game so there is a definite difference in the attitude in practice." With hopes running high for one of its best seasons, Michigan State is anxious to see how things fit together on the court. "We're very rough around the edges. I don't feel we're where I hoped we would be at this point," said Langeland, who's starting her 10th season at MSU. "This game will help us.

It'll give us the motivation to play better. "Our defense is our biggest concern. It's not close to where it has to be." 1 The Spartans, 9-9 in the Big Ten and 15-12 overall a year ago, officially begin the season Nov. 28-29 in the Lady Jayhawks Classic at the University of Kansas. They face a difficut assignment in the tournament opener against Louisiana Tech, ranked No.

2 in the country in a pre-season poll of coaches. Host Kansas meets Central Missouri State. After a non-league game at Central Michigan, Dec. 3, the Spartans open the home season against the University of Detroit on Dec. 14 at 2 p.m.

Toronto, defending Canadian national champion, is 8-2 entering tonight's exhibition game at the University of Michigan. After their visit to MSU, the Varsity Blues play at Central Michigan on Sunday and Saginaw Valley State on Monday. MSU will have a size advantage against Toronto, which will start 5-9 and 5-8 guards and a 5-7 forward along with 6-0 center Samantha Reed and 5-10 forward Mary Ann Kowall, the team's top scorer. "Their strengths are a very good defense and Mary Ann Kowall's scoring ability," Langeland said. "They're a very strong team at the Canadian level.

This will be a rarity for us to go into a game with a size advantage." Meanwhile, two Canadians will be making their debuts for the Spartans. Sue Forsyth, a 6-4 sophomore from Sarnia, Ontario, who transfered from Rutgers and sat out last season, will start at center, while Vicky Harrison, a 5-9 freshman from Hamilton, Ontario, will see action at guard. Other starters include guards Sue Pearsall, a 5-10 senior from SL Johns, and Kim Archer, a 5-11 junior, and forwards Kris Emerson, a 5- 10 senior who led the team in scoring and was named MVP last season, and Sue Tucker, a 5- 11 senior from Okemos. Among the reserves coming off the bench are Cynthia Lyons (5-7) at guard and freshman Letitia Plummer (6-0) and junior Mary Williams (5-11), a junior college transfer. "We hope we get a look at the freshmen in game situations," Langeland said.

"They're making progress but our biggest weakness is defense. We have to make them understand how important defense is at this level." In other media news: former MSU 'hockey broadcaster Ken Landau is now the radio voice of the Binghamton Whalers of the American Hockey League. Landeau, a graduate of MSU, is employed by the team and handles public relations duties. He expects to host a weekly TV show on the AHL Whalers. Binghamton is a farm team of the Hartford Whalers and Washington Capitals.

Ironically, the voice of the NHL Whalers on WTIC (1080) in Hartford Chuck Kaiton is a Michigan graduate. Kaiton covered the Wolverines as a student and on commercial radio before moving on to play-by-play duties at Wisconsin. Kaiton is in his seventh season in Hartford. College Football Spartan Notebook Football U-M's Andy Moeller harbors no animosity By HARRY ATKINS Associated Press ANN ARBOR The kid is a co-captain at Michigan. Dad was a captain at Ohio State.

That might be a problem in some especially this time of the year, but not in the If Michigan wins Saturday's 12:17 p.m. showdown in Columbus, the Wolverines go to the Rose Bowl. If Ohio State either wins or ties, the Buckeyes earn the trip to Pasadena. "The loss puts a little more pressure on us," Moeller said. "But both teams want to win this game very much.

Our No. 1 goal always is to win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl. "As the season went along, we naturally thought about the national championship. But to dwell on that now would be dumb. Ohio State is truly the best team we'll play all year.

In a game like this, you're going to line up and play your best against their best" In the Moeller household, nobody could ask for more. "I just love for it to come down to the end of November and these two teams to be battling it out for the Big Ten championship," the 6-foot 222-pound senior linebacker said. "I grew up around here. It was always the Big Two and Little Eight I guess it is again, to a degree. "This is the game you look forward to." Andy grew up in Ann Arbor and played his prep football at Pioneer High School, right across the street from Michigan Stadium.

Under his father's watchful eye, the Wolverines have led the nation in scoring defense three times in 1974, 1976 and 1985. The senior Moeller left to coach Illinois from 1977 through 1979, but returned to Michigan when things didn't work out for him in Champaign. Andy is reminded frequently that this year's defensive squad, the one he captains, isn't nearly as awesome as last year's. "You go back and look at last year and that's just some unheard of stuff in this day and age," the linebacker said. "It would be hard to ever do that again.

But I'll tell you, there's nobody wants to get 'em stopped more than the 11 guys out there." Michigan, which slipped to No. 6 in this week's poll following last week's stunning 20-17 defeat at the hands of Minnesota, is 9-1 overall and 6-1 in the Big Ten football race. The Buckeyes, 9-2 and 7-0, have moved up to No. 7 in the rankings. Moeller household where Andy, the linebacker, plays for Gary, the Wolverines' assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

"I don't hate Ohio State," Andy Moeller explained to a roomful of reporters, many pf jm oi mem irom unio. "in tact, I I everv week of the season I except this one I root like I the dickens for Ohio State. fl Who's No. University of Pittsburgh Coach Mike Gottfried is in a unique position to judge whether top-ranked Miami or second-rated Penn State is the nation's best college football team. He wishes he weren't "A lot of people are making a big deal because we're playing Miami and Penn State they're saying it's a great opportunity," Gottfried said.

"It's a great opportunity only if you win. "I'd rather have it in reverse, with Pitt No. 1 and the other teams playing us. It doesn't make any difference at all if you're playing No. 1 and 2 unless you win.

They say you should be satisfied with playing well, but I don't buy that," he said. Pitt, which lost to Miami 37-10 on Nov. 8, plays its traditional regular season-ending game Saturday against Penn State, 1 0-0. Andy Moeller When you grow up in the home of an Ohio State man, that's the way things Actually, Moeller finds it easy to root for both the Buckeyes and the Wolverines. Then, if all goes well, as it has this season, the final week of the season is a delicious piece of Americana known in these parts as The Game.

Big Ten From 1D By JACK EBL1NG Lansing State Journal Candor has never been a problem for Interim Coach Jim Hilles in assessing Wisconsin's football misfortunes. The 3-8 Badgers have struggled all season as the Big Ten's biggest disappointment Their last chance to change that impression comes Saturday when they meet Michigan State in Spartan Stadium at 12:40 p.m. "There are numerous reasons we haven't accumulated more wins than we have," Hilles said. "I said before the season that for us to be successful, three things would have to happen. We'd need a good job from our quarterback position.

We'd have to have some wide receivers come to the front And we'd have to be somewhat lucky with injuries. We're 0-for-3 on those counts." They're also 1-3 in non-conference games and 2-5 in the league, after self-destructing with turnovers in a 30-17 loss to Ohio State. "Our game last Saturday reflects the way our season has gone," Hilles said. "We played hard enough and well enough to win. But you can't spot a team like Ohio State 17 points and be in position to win the football game." Wisconsin has been in and out of that position all season.

It has lost to at home and on the road, as a favorite and an underdog, by as few as three points and as many as 17. And it has done that with 15 senior starters. "It's a real credit to our senior class that we've been In every football game down to the bitter end," Hilles said. "We've had excellent senior leadership. And I couldn't always say that in the nine years I've been here (the previous eight as an aide to the late Dave McClain)." Co-captain Craig Raddatz, a standout inside linebacker, should be back in the lineup and healthy for just the third time this season.

Standout tailback Larry Emery, the league's No. 3 rusher, and outside linebacker Tim Jordan are "questionable" with a hip pointer and an ankle sprain, respectively. MSU junior tailback Lorenzo White may be held out of action, due to a recurring right ankle problem. It's the same injury that sent him to the sidelines against Minnesota, slowed him up against Indiana and took him out again at Northwestern. "I don't like to see Lorenzo come out of the game that way," Perles said.

"I'm getting tired of seeing him limp off or be helped off the field. We'll watch him this week, but there's a darned good chance he won't play. If he can't go the distance, I won't use him." In that case, redshirt-freshman tailback Blake Ezor will handle the brunt of the ballcarrying chores. He has moved ahead of swift-but-fumble-plagued sophomore Craig Johnson. "Ezor is still very young, and I'm concerned with the hard hits he'll take," Perles said.

"I'm still overly concerned with fumbles. But if you're hit the right way and you're running as hard as you can, there's always that possibilility. It's part of physics." Senior fullback Bobby Morse is nursing an ankle injury but should be available for his final Spartan Stadium appearance. If he needs relief, Lansing's James Moore, "Spartan of the Week" vs. Northwestern, and fellow redshirt-freshman Joe Pugh are ready, willing and able.

The Football News has named MSU junior punter Greg Montgomery as a second-team Ail-American and picked senior middle linebacker Shane Bullough as a third-teamer. Montgomery leads the nation in punting, but the Detroit-based paper still chose Arkansas booter Greg Home to its first team. A year ago, it saw fit to give NCAA rushing champ White just second-team honors, behind Notre Dame senior Allen Pinkett with young lines and AH-Ameri-cans Cris Carter and Chris Spiel-man returning. Michigan returns a lot of talented players so what's new? Iowa's cupboard is far from bare. And Minnesota and Indiana are building nice programs, with their quarterbacks and Thomp-son-of-their-choice at tailback returning.

There's also a program in East Lansing with 16 starters returning. "Ohio State and Michigan have tremendous programs," said Minnesota's John Gutekunst who can lock up third place with a win this week over Iowa. "But I'm convinced the four best teams in the conference are playing each other this Saturday." Maybe, maybe not But will it be that way in '87? Kickoff is less than 1 0 months away. somewhat of an expert after his team was blasted by Nebraska, Southern Cal and Ohio State in successive weeks, said, "It's becoming real clear to me how important scheduling is. When you play teams like we have, and when you're not real confident anyway, you seem to find a way to self-destruct As bad as we've been in most people's eyes, if we'd been 3-0 instead of 1-2 non-conference, there'd have probably been a reward for us now." Next year, it's MSU that gets the crushing lineup Southern Cal, at Notre Dame, Florida State, at Iowa and home for a picnic against Michigan in the first five weeks, with Ohio State on tap three weeks later.

Ouch. BALANCE OF POWER Ohio State looks loaded again. is Hayden Fry, though there may not be enough hair spray or sunglasses in Texas to make him leave Iowa. QUARTERBACKS Five fifth-year passers will finally move on MSU's Dave Yarema, Michigan's Jim Har? baugh, Ohio State's Jim Karsatos, Iowa's Mark- Vlasic and Illinois' Shane Lamb. And Wisconsin's Mike Howard closes his fourth and final season Saturday probably on the bench at Spartan Stadium.

Perles will hand the ball to Bobby McAllister and perhaps return to more of a ground-oriented offense. Bo Schembechler can choose from run-oriented Chris Zurbrugg and Michael Taylor or any number or equally unproven candidates. And Earle Bruce will likely turn to passer-punter Tom Tupa. Sophomores-to-be Tom Pohol-sky, who scorched MSU, or 6-foot-8 Dan McGwire will be No. 1 at Iowa.

Brian Menkhausen, who shared the job at Illinois with Lamb for most of the season, will probably have it all to himself. And Bud Keyes, who took the job by default from Howard, is the likely leader in Madison. There's also a chance that Jeff George, Purdue's heralded and oft-injured freshman, will transfer. He says he'll probably stay in West Lafayette, but will know more when the game of musical coaching chairs stops. SCHEDULES Illinois Coach Mike White, are the top names mentioned.

Peay, an interim coach who withdrew from consideration for next year's job last month, has given the Wildcats a positive image for the first time since 1971. Lombardi couldn't have done much better than 3-7 with Peay's players. There's considerable speculation that Peay will succeed Woody Widenhofer at Missouri, though he's also reportedly a candidate at Wisconsin. No one has confessed to being a candidate at Northwestern. Hilles is still one of four top possibilities in Madison, despite a most-disappointing 3-8 mark as interim coach.

"We're pursuing everything as if our staff will be at Wisconsin for years to come," he said. "We've been recruiting right through the season as much as we're allowed to and done everything as we normally would." The always-unpredictable Badger administration is also looking at Don Morton of Tulsa, Don Nehlen of West Virginia and Dennis Erickson of Wyoming as a successor to the late Dave McClain. "As I see it in that list of names, there's probably one viable candidate, and that's Don Nehlen," Hilles said. "Most of the rest of the coaches have losing-records in their own situations. I don't know that that makes them a via- ble candidate to come in here and be the resident genius that's going to turn this around." A fourth possible goodbye guy Golfers From 4D Peakes, an honorable mention choice.

The Warriors claimed the Eastern Best-Ball title and then went out and defeated Holt, Eastern and East Lansing during the regular sea- son. McKnight's squad then went out and topped the field again at the Capital Area Conference tournament at Oak Lane Golf Course in Webbervule, defeating second-place Holt by 11 strokes. His squad went on to qualify for the Class A state tournament and a couple of area golfers McKnight has worked with performed weU in the finals. Wayne Mueller, Class medalist, has been coached by McKnight during the summer, as has Holt's Chris Rule. Both have played weU in and out of school and are members of this team.

BA1I-CAC team: Holt's Chris Rule was the top vote-getter with 70 to earn a spot on the AU-CAC first team. Also making the team were Waverly's Ian Peakes, Eastern's Chris Carson, Everett's Mike Kletke and East Lansing's Kevin Miller. Rule and Miller are juniors while Peakes, Carson and Kletke are to the second team were Waverly's John Heil-man and Steve Ballard, Sexton's Mike Hill and Jeff Dods and East Lansing's Doug Petroff. HiU and Dods are seniors and Heilman is the lone junior on the second team. Ballard is a sophomore and Petroff is a freshman.

Eastern's Tim Steck was an honorable mention choice. He is a senior. Saturday's MSU-Wisconsin game will be broadcast by Turner Network Television (channels 10 and 50), but a crowd of better than 60,000 is still expected at Spartan Stadium. MSU's home attendance has averaged 72,588 in a facility, and another crowd of 64,000 would give the Spartans their second-highest season total in history..