Purdue Pete gets revenge shot

PHOTOG/Daily Sophomore guard Carson Cunningham will challenge for playing time in a talented Purdue backcourt. Cunningham played his freshman year at Oregon State, leading the Beavers in scoring and assists, before transferring to play under Gene Keady.

A Boilermaker, if you live outside West Lafayette, is a shot of liquor, usually whiskey, downed with a mug of beer.

It's also the official name of Purdue's sports teams. But Purdue's basketball team might have another treat best served cold on its mind when it plays Michigan - revenge.

Last season, Michigan upset the Boilermakers to win the inaugural Big Ten title. Purdue had put together a successful season to that point, including a 89-82 victory over the Wolverines last Jan. 29. The tournament could have been their chance to gr

FILE PHOTO Indiana coach Bobby Knight will have the luxury of utilizing many different options this season for the Hoosiers.

ab the glory that eluded them in the regular season.

Instead, it was Robert Traylor who leapt over the media table and grabbed his grandmother, Jessie Mae Carter, when Michigan upset Purdue.

If they beat Purdue again this season, it will likely be termed another upset. Either way, they'll be perturbed by Purdue forward Brian Cardinal.

If he were a character on Saturday Night Live, he'd be Jon Lovitz's Annoying Man. He plays like a wet willy - fun to watch, unless you're on the business end.

With the loss of guard Chad Austin, more and more opponents might have to look out for him. And that would play right into the Boilermakers' hands.

Purdue should be a "team team" this season, with no one attracting the lion's share of attention. But already, freshman Rodney Smith has attracted some.

"He is impressive," Purdue coach Gene Keady said. "He's one of those kids that if we had a game tonight, he'd probably start based on one week of practice."

But as practice wears on, and the season nears, more stars can sprout for the Boilermakers. Especially welcome would be one at center. Like many Big Ten teams at the end of last season, Purdue said goodbye to roughly 270 pounds of lane-clogging beef - in the form of Brad Miller.

The only center listed for the Boilermakers this season is 210-lb. freshman John Allison.

"We need more big people, but other leagues are getting them," Keady said.

Michigan is lacking in the low post, too. And if the Wolverines can't contain Cardinal and his antics, the Boilermakers might be tough to swallow.

Or it might just be bitter beer face.

- Rick Freeman

Stacked Spartans will be gunning for 'M'

Michigan State point guard Mateen Cleaves hit a huge three pointer, and then he did it. As he backpedaled downcourt, the man who had once been recruited by Michigan made a simple gesture - he held his fist to his heart and twisted.

You know, the twisting-the-knife routine? The kind you make when you've just made a play that puts the other team away?

Only Cleaves and the Spartans hadn't. His first quarter gesture was a ball's length away from coming back to bite him, as Robbie Reid's tying three pointer glanced off the rim as time expired.

While Cleaves' gesture may have been a little premature, it surprised no one. Nothing is shocking anymore when Michigan and Michigan State take the court.

While state bragging rights are always at stake between these two teams, the rivalry recently has been fueled by the fact that the Spartans boast a team of almost entirely local talent. And what talent it is, as Michigan State returns all five starters to a team that is the preseason pick to win the conference again.

All five of the Spartans' starters are from Michigan, as is the majority of their bench.

Only one Michigan starter hails from the Great Lakes State - Josh Asselin, from Caro.

Michigan State has built its powerful squad, ranked in the top five in both major polls, right in its own backyard. With Cleaves, fellow guard Charlie Bell, and forwards Antonio Smith and Morris Peterson all from nearby Flint, Michigan State coach Tom Izzo has his share of home-grown players.

Toss in the fact that Michigan - last season's Big Ten tournament champ - and Michigan State - last season's regular season conference champ - each have a claim to the Big Ten title, and you've got the makings of an old-fashioned rivalry.

Do the Spartans, who split their series with Michigan last year, feel that they have an advantage over this season's inexperienced Wolverines?

"I don't think we have an edge," said Smith, the Spartans' rebounding machine. "In this rivalry, everyone tries to take their game to another level. If we don't go out and play to our ability, then they have the edge."

Cleaves and the Spartans promise to be just as pumped when they face Michigan this year. The teams meet Jan. 9 in East Lansing and Feb. 18 in Ann Arbor.

"This is one of the biggest rivalries in the country," Cleaves said. "If you can't get up for this game, I don't think you should be in athletics."

And as for his dagger-in-the-heart gesture?

"I'm just out there having fun," Cleaves said. "I'm so caught up in the game, who knows what I might do? You have to get up to play Michigan, otherwise you have no chance to win." - Andy Latack

For this Indiana team, Randle El is only one of many threats

As if fans at other Big Ten schools weren't tormented enough by the sight of Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El greasing his way between huffing mountains of beef in the football season, they'll have to watch him do it again.

In basketball season.

Randle El's slick handling of the option for football coach Cam Cameron has grabbed attention on the Bloomington campus normally reserved for more stimulating activities - such as sitting in a dorm room, circling the days until the first basketball game of the year.

And despite playing on the basketball team - about one-eighth the size of the football team, Randle El might become an even smaller fish in a smaller pond when he joins Bobby Knight's squad at the end of the football season.

"That kid has fantastic personality," Knight said, citing the frosh phenom's "keen desire to play well."

"It's evident in his play for the football team."

But despite his flash and dash, as well as the splash he's made for the tackling Hoosiers, he might not even be the shiniest newcomer for the dribbling ones, as he'll compete for playing time with Dane Fife, the younger brother of former Michigan captain Dugan Fife.

Knight said he wasn't sure exactly which position Fife - or any other guards - would play.

"We don't split our guards like that," Knight said.

The guards likely to get most of the playing time are juniors A.J. Guyton, Michael Lewis and Luke Recker, who's styles differ somewhat from Randle El's and Fife's.

Guyton, in particular, after two seasons on the verge of greatness, seems due for a breakout season like a squeaky door hinge is for oil. As in, 'c'mon already.'

"It depends on his playing without the ball at both ends of the floor," Knight said. "We've seen some improvement in that regard, he has stamina and quickness."

But if basketball had tackling, Randle El might shine in avoiding it the way he does now. And then he'd do more than just grease the wheels of Knight's crimson machine.

- Rick Freeman

11-12-98