ole [irl igtttt 3 tti1 PORTS p DA .: .. .': :> "1.'< ., . ,,is .,...: t . f r k ~ua. x"" ",F dk : . , ..: £ '.. aa4 ;.. ... .. .:. :. M> s' - ., -- *....- .4 ~ .- ~', *.N .,.5. . ., ,:a.. ,. ,a..: :.. . ;,s. ., , .. .; :: v .,. k +.. , a , " s'%' , ,. * . u ' ' ....._.. ause or effect Mick7an's eason, lrbe ts Goss'plan ay back in October, Tom Goss stood up and said he was steering the Michigan asketball program in a new direction. fter months of allegations and investi- ations, enough was enough, Goss said. 'ime to head in a new direction. Steve isher was out as coach, and Brian rbe was in - for a while, anyway. nd now, with the season over, the me logic that cost Fisher the ichigan job is ultimately the same gic that gives the job to Ellerbe for ood. Think of it this way: Whether Fisher as directly responsible for anything at went wrong during his tenure ecame immaterial in Goss' eyes. It idn't matter if Fisher was lying or ling the truth; it didn't matter if he ly knew the extent of Ed Martin's fluences or not. The point was, bad ings happened hile Fisher was t charge. So he as fired. And just the pposite can be id about lerbe's first?>* r. Maybe you JIM eve that he Snally pushedE e right buttons Rose here others Beef adn't and moti- ated a group of underachievers into le best Michigan season in years. Maybe, on the other hand, you think nyone could have done his job, and at the Wolverines were successful ecause a team full of NBA players *lly decided to bear down and con- entrate for an entire season. It doesn't atter. Maybe they were fired up by isher's situation. Maybe Robert raylor and Jerod Ward and Maceo aston were simply concerned about heir NBA Draft prospects. In the end, one of it matters. The bottom line is this: Good things appened while Ellerbe was in charge. e gets the job. nd, truth be told, that's probably the vay it should be. Certainly, some things could have en done differently - maybe trandon Smith deserved more minutes, nd maybe Michigan should have dund an answer to UCLA's defense ist weekend - but lots was done well. Traylor's game progressed through- ut the year like it hasn't at any other me since he's been at Michigan. Ward omed into a bona-fide weapon at ' ivision I level, scoring and ebounding in the second half of the eason like many people thought he ever would. Travis Conlan learned to un the offense, play tough defense and >k to score, all at the same time - omething he didn't do in his first three ears. Josh Asselin was given a chance nd responded, proving to be more of a layer than anyone thought possible. oes Ellerbe deserve the credit in ach of these cases? Probably not all of Does he deserve some credit? Of Eourse. Maybe he wasn't the only rea- Despite loss, icers gain No. 3 at Yost NCAA West Regional host Michigan opens Friday against Princeton at 8:30 p.m. By Pranay Reddy Daily Sports WXriter For the first time in seven seasons, the Michigan hockey team was a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament. But after waiting patiently since Friday night after losing, 4-2, to Ohio State in the CCHA semifinals, the Wolverines can relax. They're in. "I personally feel that we deserved to be in because of our record, not because of our recent play," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "I feel fortunate that we get a chance to rebound in a tournament environment" Michigan is the third seed in the West Regional, to be held at Yost Ice Arena, and will face sixth-seeded Princeton on Friday at 8:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to face No. 2 seed North Dakota on Saturday. On the other side of the West bracket, top seed Michigan State will face the winner of the game between fourth seed Ohio State and fifth seed Yale. With a loaded bracket, the excitement of making the cut could be short-lived. Yost will host four of the top eight teams (No. 1 North Dakota, No. 2 Michigan State, No. 5 Michigan and No. 7 Ohio State), including the top two. Nevertheless, Berenson's concern now shifts to the Tigers, about whom he admittedly knows little. "We don't know much about Princeton," Berenson said. "They're not a team that a month ago people< slotted this high, but obviously they're on a run." Despite his lack of information, Berenson is well aware of one thing: Michigan's trouble with ECAC opponents. Earlier this season, the Wolverines dropped a game to Colgate, 2-1. Though the deep regional is a large hurdle toward the NCAA semifinals in Boston, Berenson hopes the possibility of a home-ice advantage will make the difference, "If we are to have a home-ice advantage, our students and fans from Ann Arbor are going to be the key for us," Berenson said. "Our fans and especially our students have meant so much to this program. Anyone who comes to Yost this weekend is going to be in for a treat. You may see the best college hockey you have ever seen." But Berenson was quick to point out that hosting a regional isn't always enough to push a team on to the NCAA semifinals, citing Michigan State in 1994 and 1996. In each year, the Spartans failed to win at Munn Ice Arena. Even with Berenson's hesitation, Bill Muckalt wasn't shy to say it would give the Wolverines an edge. "It should be a huge advantage playing inYost with the fans," Muckalt said. "We gotta take advantage of that, and hopefully get the crowd into it early." Inside: Full coverage of Michigan's CCHA playoff loss. Pages 4-5B. I. - . -JOHNKRF/al After losing Friday night to Ohio State, Geoff Koch and his Michigan teammates have set their sights on the NCAAs. 0 I Blue rocks to tune of three All-Americans By Jordan Reld Daily Sports Writer CLEVELAND - For the eighth straight year, the Michigan wrestling team returned from the NCAA tourna- ment with at least one All-American. And for the third straight year, one of those honorees was 167-pounder Jeff Catrabone. He, along with teammates Bill Lacure and Airron Richardson, closed out his Michigan career with All-American honors as the team finished 12th at the tour- nament with 39.5 points. "Bill, Airron and Jeff came here together, and for the past four seasons they have been the heart and soul of Michigan wrestling," assistant coach Joe McFarland said. "For them all to finish and leave as All-Americans - well, that's a great way to go out." Catrabone finished third in the 167 bracket with a 5-1 record. His only loss came in the semifinals to eventual champion Joe Williams from Iowa. Seeded fifth in the tour- nament, it took a sudden-death win over No. 2 seed Mark Smith of Oklahoma State for Catrabone to finish third. With the score tied at four at the end of the first overtime, Smith chose the down position to begin the tie-breaker. In the up position, Catrabone had to deny Smith an escape for 30 seconds. As the clock ticked down, Catrabone held Smith's ankle as the two crept toward the out of bounds area. The Cowboy coaches and fans thought Smith had escaped, but it was ruled after time had expired, and Catrabone was named the third-place winner. "When he won the coin toss and chose down, I knew it would be tough," Catrabone said. "He has great hips, and I knew if I held him there he'd just turn one way or the other and get out. So I went low, picked an ankle and held on for See SENIORS, Page 3B M swimmers place seventh By T.J. Berka Daily Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS - Throughout this season, Michigan women's swimming coach Jim Richardson has been saying that he is not concerned about where his team places, just how hard it works and how it fights. According to the placement and the effort put out by the Wolverines at the NCAA Championships this weekend, one can assume that Richardson's request has been grant- ed. The Wolverines finished seventh at the NCAA Championships with 249.5 points, matching their final national ranking. Stanford also matched its ranking, win- ning its sixth national championship in seven years. The Cardinal ended up with 422 points, outdistancing runner- up Arizona by 44 points. "People ask from time to time 'Does it ever seem the same" Stanford coach Richard Quick, who has won 12 national championships as the coach ofTexas and Stanford. "Each year the chemistry is different, the athletes are dif- ferent, and it never gets old." The main element in Quick's formula this year was freshman swimmer Misty Hyman, who won five titles - SARA STILLMAN/Daily For four long years, Bill Lacure graced the mats as one of Michigan's finest wrestlers. Last weekend, he bowed out at the NCAA Championships in Cleveland. Lacure finished as an All-America selection, joining teammates Airron Richardson and Jeff Catrabone, who gar- nered similar honors. Toman, Roulston soar at Big Tens on for all of Michigan's success, but ive credit where credit's due - last ear's team didn't even make the CAA tournament. Don't forget, Michigan won 25 ames and won the Big Ten ournament this season. Regardless, e's no disputing the bottom line: .d things happened while Brian illerbe was the boss. Whereas Fisher had to be fired for vhat went on at the end of his tenure, Ellerbe gets the job because of the suc- :ess his team had in the past few nonths. Maybe Fisher wasn't directly esponsible for everything that went vrong, but it didn't matter - he still ost his job. By the same logic, Ellerbe awarded with the permanent job - Sther he was responsible for this rear's successes or not. Goss said that Ellerbe "handled a lifficult situation very well," and leserved a shot at the job. But, truth be old, it's even simpler than that. By David DenHerder Daily Sports Writer It wasn't the heaviest trophy. Not yet, anyway. But the Michigan men's gymnastics team did walk home from Crisler Arena with a good share of hard- ware this past weekend. While hosting the Big Ten Championships this past week- end at Crisler Arena, the Wolverines scored 226.625 points to finish sixth in a field of seven at the conclusion of the team competition on Friday. But all was not lost, as Saturday's individual finals saw the Wolverines shine. After undergoing reconstruc- tive knee surgery just I1 months ago, Michigan freshman Justin Toman scored 9.725 on parallel bars to become the Big Ten co- awesome. While still in high school, Toman tore his left ACL after a dismount on still rings. The injury, however, left him unde- terred. "The minute I knew it was torn, there wasn't any doubt in my mind that I would come back and be as good as - if not better than I had been," he said. But despite the personal adversity, Toman gives a lot of credit to his teammates for his successful season. "Here, I have a whole team of 13 other guys supporting me and backing ne up, for whatever I do," Toman said. "When I'm up there on the events and I hear them cheering for me, it just gives me the extra confidence that I need." NAT HAN RUFFER/Daly Justin Toman overcame knee surgery to take top honors on parallel bars at this weekend's Big Ten Championships at Crisler Arena. only Wolverine named to the all- conference team, he was not the only one to walk away with Big Ten honors. Michigan freshman and high- tition much of the year and was the highest scoring freshman in the all-around on Friday. Coming into the Big Ten Championships, Roulston was in ,I I