Friday, March 13, 1998
Wolverines hope to topple Bruins’ height advantage
TOURNAMENT: Janae Hubbard leads UCLA into Michigan matchup
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Contributor
Sue Guevara, Michigan women’s basketball head coach, was looking
at game film of the UCLA Bruins when something caught her eye.
The sight of Janae Hubbard and her 6-foot-4-inch, 245-pound
frame backing down on opponents in the paint nearly made the
Wolverine coach fall off of her chair.
"I think Robert Traylor has a sister, and her name is Janae
Hubbard," Guevara said, referring to the Michigan’s men’s player
who is 6-9 and 300 pounds. "She is a force under the basket just
like Traylor. She likes to lean on you in the post. (The Bruins)
are big, really big."
When the 10th-seeded Wolverines (19-9) take on the
seventh-seeded Bruins (19-8) today at 4 p.m. in Tuscaloosa, Ala.,
in the first round of the Midwest regional, Guevara’s worst
nightmare will come true as her perimeter team will have to battle
the huge front court of UCLA.
"I love that (comment)," UCLA head coach Kathy Olivier said,
who’s team features four post players above 6-3. "I was just
telling (Coach Steve) Lavin that he could borrow Janae if the men’s
team plays Michigan in the second round. It sounds like Michigan is
apprehensive about our size because all they have is one big
girl."
But that one big girl is very talented. Her name is Pollyanna
Johns, an all-Big Ten selection. The 6-3 senior led the conference
in rebounding (9.6) and shooting percentage (62 percent).
Olivier compares Johns to All-American Olympia Scott, Stanford’s
center, which is a scary thought. But Johns will have her hands
full trying to control the Bruins’ four post players who all shoot
over 50 percent from the field.
The Bruin front court is led by sophomore Maylana Martin, a 6-3
All-American candidate. Martin leads the team with 19.4 points and
7.8 rebounds per game.
Hubbard, who is appropriately nicknamed "Shaq" by her teammates,
will start as center alongside Martin. Hubbard, who averages 10.5
points and 5.4 rebounds per game, has been playing the best ball of
her collegiate career the last two weeks.
Hubbard destroyed Washington State’s front court on Feb. 27,
scoring at will in the paint. She poured on a career high 26 points
on 11-of-13 shooting and nabbed 18 rebounds.
A week later against No. 9 Arizona, Hubbard punished the Wildcat
front court. The Los Angeles native scored 16 points and grabbed 17
boards.
"Janae has the size and the height," Olivier said. "When she is
on, I don’t care who’s playing her."
Olivier also can go to her bench for more size. She routinely
sends in 6-4 sophomore Carly Funicello and 6-3 senior Carla Houser
for extra size in the front court.
"I think that our four post players have been dominating all
year long," Olivier said. "I think that they all work off of each
other."
In order to combat the Bruins’ huge height advantage, Guevara
and her Wolverines will feature an up-tempo transition game.
"There is no secret that we like to run the basketball," Guevara
said. "We start four guards. We got four kids that can shoot the
three. So we will shoot the three and we will run the ball."
The Wolverine perimeter is led by sophomore guard Stacey Thomas,
last season’s Big Ten freshman of the year. She, along with guards
Molly Murray, Anne Lemire and Anne Thorius, has helped make
Michigan the leading three-point shooting percentage team in their
conference at 40.8 percent.
Friday’s game will feature a battle of two contrasting styles –
the perimeter players from Michigan vs. the post players from
UCLA.
"The question is are they going to have to adjust to us, or are
we going to have to adjust to them?" Olivier said.
Olivier feels confident that her Bruins will make the Wolverines
transform to their inside style.
"That’s something we have been doing all year long," Olivier
said. "We like to get the ball inside and we are going to try to
continue that in the tournament."CHARLES KUO/Daily Bruin
Takiyah Jackson fights for the ball.