10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 8, 1995
Leadership role a 'Breeze' for Michigan center-
Practical-joking Jennifer Brzezinski tops the Wolverines in scoring, rebounding, blocks and steals
By Ravi Gopal
Daily Basketball Writer
It's only fitting that Jennifer
Brzezinski's birthday is on April Fools'
Day.
"I play pranks on people and Ijoke
around a lot," says the 6-foot- I start-
ing center of the Michigan women's
basketball team. "A lot of people think
(my birthday) really fits me."
Brzezinski's teammates say noth-
ing to contradict her.
"She's sneaky," freshman Molly
Murray said."She looks innocent, so
she does get away with some jokes."
but she's so dominating out on the
court," teammate Jennifer Kiefer
said. "We tease her about that."
Yet, despite the statistics, she
has only now begun to assume a
leadership role on the team. Team-
mate Amy Johnson, who led the
team in scoring last season, was
expected to continue her reign into
the '94-95 campaign. Johnson is
vocal on the court, but it is
Brzezinski who is in charge of the
squad.
"She looks so confident out
there," Kiefer said.
it is a wonder that she is the
team's leader at all, considering her
past.
Enrolling at the University in the
Fall of 1992, she saw action in nine
games before falling prey to a knee
injury at practice. It was, and still is,
the defining moment of her colle-
giate experience.
"I hate to say my knee injury (is
what I most remember about col-
lege), but I think just the whole
experience was just a learning ex-
perience for me," Brzezinski said.
"It taught me who I was."
Her attitude helped her come
back, and it soothed the pain of
playing on the two worst squads in
the history of Michigan women's
basketball. Sporting a combined 5-
49 record (1-35 in conference play),
the Wolverines were awful from
1992-94.
"Yeah, (my attitude) helped me
survive. I can't really think of what
else would have happened,"
Brzezinski said. "You couldn't let it
get to you, or it would destroy you."
pay.
"It was April Fools, which is
Jennifer's birthday, and we had her
call this girl and be very annoying,"
Helene said. "I was standing by, and
I heard (the worker) hang up the
phone, and say 'What a dumb
woman!'.
"After she hung up on (Jenni-
fer), she called back," Helene said,
laughing.
After being the perpetrator of
many pranks, Brzezinski thought she
was getting a taste of her own medi-
cine when she was admitted into the
School of Architecture, since she
found out on her birthday.
"I was kind of leery, like, 'Is this
a joke, or am I really accepted?"'
she said. "After all the pranks I'd
pulled on other people, I was won-
dering if someone was pulling one
on me."
Comparatively, her pranks are
minor. From giving people plastic
ants to sending them little gifts with
"From: Anonymous" attached, her
friends have seen and heard it all.
"She's real good at telling sto-
ries," Murray said. "You sit there
believing her, when it's actually the
biggest lie she's ever said."
Getting picked on as a freshman
is somewhat commonplace, and get-
ting picked on by older siblings oc-
curs even more frequently. But, even
though she is the youngest in a fam-
ily of four (she has two older broth-
ers and an older sister), Jennifer
never got teased. On the contrary,
she was the one poking fun at her
sister.
"I was kind of the jock, and my
sister was more into girl things, like
cheerleading, and stuff like that,"
she said. "I would play with my
brothers, and we would pick on her,
so I wouldn't get picked on too
much."
Yet, through all the attitude, all
who know her say that Brzezinski is
quiet at heart.
"She gets the job done (on the
1 hate to say
my knee injury (is
what I most
remember about
college), but I
think just the
whole experience
was just a learning
experience for me,
It taught me who I
was
- Jennifer Brzezinski
Michigan basketball center
court) in a quiet way," Kiefer said.
"She's very quiet," her mother
said. "I tried to get her to put her
medals on her (varsity) jacket, but
she wouldn't."
Marley saw that Brzezinski had
universal appeal in high school. S
"(Her teammates) used to say,
'Even the burnouts like her', which
is quite a statement in high school,"
Marley said.
Regardless of who she is around,
the quiet prankster goes about her
ways, yanking down rebounds, lead-
ing her team on. And she has fun
doing it.
"People say that I always smile,"*
Brzezinski said.
It's only fitting.
Brzezinski
On the court though, "Breeze," as
she is called by her teammates, is all
business. She leads the team in scoring,
rebounding, blocks and steals. Averag-
ing a double-double (13.2 points and
10.0 rebounds per game), Brzezinski
has been overpowering this season.
"She's so calm about everything,
JOE WESTRATE/Daily
Michigan center Jennifer Brzezinski is noted for her joking wags off the
court. On the court she is all business, leading the Wolverines in four
statistical categories.
EARLY DEADLINES
due to Spring Break, 1995
College basketball was a big
change for Brzezinski, who was the
Most Valuable Player in the
Macomb-Oakland Athletic Confer-
ence for her four-year high school
career. She led Lincoln High School
in Warren to 57 consecutive league
wins during her stay.
"In high school, she scored al-
most at will," said Russell Marley,
who coached Brzezinski at Lincoln.
"Defensively, she was just great."
Her talent extends to another area
- pulling practical jokes. The
Brzezinski family took advantage
of this ability.
Jennifer's mother, Helene, noted
an incident where she andkher co-
workers were victims of jokes by a
fellow worker. Brzezinski made her
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