MMM9 Who's polling whom? The new teen's and women's basketball polls were released yesterday. Are the women ranked? Go to the Daily Website. michigandaily.com /sports SPORTS . a a r 10 i x TUESDAY FEBRUARY 15, 2000 Struggles new to freshman grappler Grant By Jon Schwartz Daily Sports Writer Sometimes during Michigan wrestling meets, usually around the time that the 125-pound match begins, it becomes a bit cathartic to reach a con- clusion that A.J. Grant must have done something wrong. If one believes that his matchups were some sort of punishment, then it becomes easier to under- stand what Grant is going through. After all, each of his last four matches have been against wrestlers in the top 12 of his weightclass. "He hasn't had an easy match," Michigan coach Joe McFarland said of the Clarkston native. That's putting it lightly. Grant has truly been thrown into the fire, and in one of the most unforgiving sports. As a true freshman he was given no time to mature as a wrestler. Rather, he had to gain the experience on the mat, not against other redshirted freshmen, but against the top wrestlers in the country. And adding to it, the 125-pound weight class in the Big Ten is one of the toughest. There are six representatives from the conference in the latest Amateur Wrestling News poll, including top- ranked Jeremy Hunter of Penn State, the team that Michigan and Grant face this Friday in State College. When Grant came to Michigan, he held the role of star recruit. He was a wrestler that coaches around the country salivated over while leading competitors to nightmare-filled sleeps. "When I came to high school, everyone said 'there's this A.J. kid from Clarkston ..." said Etai Goldenberg, a current redshirt freshman who is also a Michigan native. "He was just intimidating. He had this reputation." It was difficult for Grant to make the adjust- ment, especially considering the fact that he felt that he should have redshirted the season. "I wanted to (redshirt) at the beginning," Grant said. "But coach told me, 'It's not your choice. You're doing fine."' Suddenly, A.J. had to adjust to college wrestling. And he can clearly see the differences. Ellerbe sheds lght in forbidden places does Brian Ellerb when the winter blue on and the cobwebs p in rooms which haven't seen th day in years? He conducts an early-spring r cleaning, inviting the local bask media into the Michigan locker the deep annals of Crisler Arena place where they haven't beenv since Maurice Taylor's infamous car crash in 1997.y And what a time v for it. Ellerbe did- n't shed light on any breaking news at yesterday's infor- mal gathering, JACOB other than claiming Wj he didn't know Barry Henthorn -- the Wheel the fat-pocketed Seattle businessman who gave J Crawford all kinds of care pack But he did air out a long-stan feud between the media and hir reclining in a black leather sofa nearly succumbing to relaxation Sports Information Director Tor Wywrot passed out bottles of ju the journalists on hand. The past three weeks have be continuous nightmare for Ellerb Crisler's proverbial housemaid- inherited a mess the minute he= in as basketball coach three sea ago. With the dirt of a once-elit gram in his hands, Ellerbe hasa been examined under a microsc And this year's freshman clas supposed to place Ellerbe on its and walk out from under the mi scope, putting the excitement b; Michigan basketball. But the shimmer of this pron season faded when the Wolveri embarked upon a murderous si> stretch, playing four games aga 10 teams, while Crawford, Mic JESSICA JOHNSON/Daily Freshman A.J. Grant has struggled this Big Ten season in the 125-pound weight class, the strongest in the conference. Things don't get any easier - he will face top-ranked Jeremy Hunter of Penn State this weekend. e do first scoring option, sat on the bench. s drag The media rode Ellerbe for restrict- pile up ing access to players after the press e light of reported rumors that Crawford might transfer after this season. The NCAA 4 house- weakened his team because of etball Crawford's relations with lenthorn - room in culminating in the resignation of athlet- a - a ic director Tom Goss. And some of velcome America's best guards walked all over the Wolverines on the court. Whew. Through it all, Michigan's Big Ten record has fallen to 3-7. No matter what he does, the third- year coach cannot shake the negative spotlight. After Sunday's 21-point loss to Indiana, for instance, Ellerbe picked up dinner, went home to bathe the kids and put them to bed, because his wife Ingrid was away on business. But the minute he sat down to review the game tapes, his media-liaison Wywrot called to inform him that local, lamai TV stations and wire outlets had sug- ages. gested Crawford's departure to the ding NBA - a report everyone involved m, with Michigan basketball denies. and "It was comical," Ellerbe said vester- while day, chuckling at the roadblocks his M team has faced the past couple weeks, iice for though they've thinned the few remain- ing hairs left on his head. en one Michigan's current six-game losing - - streak may well have doomed this sea- - who son, since the Wolverines probably need stepped at least five victories for an NCAA sons Tournament berth. And the future is far e pro- from certain in an athletic department always that won't be run by Goss come April. :ope. But murderers' row is over. ss was Michigan's schedule quickly levels off back in the next two weeks, with games at icro- Wisconsin and Northwestern, and hone ack in games against Penn State and Purdue. The worst is over, prompting Ellerbe nising to clean house yesterday. A day of rec- nes onciliation. x-game - Jacob Wheeler isn't afan of cobweb- inst top laden iromsforbidden to the media. He higan's can be reached atjwheelerwfanich.edu 41 "If you had a tough match in high school, it came down to the wire," Grant said. "Here, if you have a tough match, you can get pinned easily. "It's a big shift. It was a lot different in high school. They were more afraid of me than I was of them."T But McFarland loves Grant's never-say-die atti- tude. He knows that despite the difficulties, he is still a freshman with at least three years of wrestling ahead of him. "The thing that I keep telling A.J. is a technique that I used my freshman year," said McFarland, a former star for the Wolverines at the 125-pound class. "He's a freshman. He's got no pressure on him. I know he's going up against some strong competition and if he can just divert all that pres- sure off, I think he's able to go out there and open up a little bit more and wrestle a little bit better. "That's all that you can expect right now." The road will certainly not get any easier for Grant this season with the matchup against Hunter this weekend and the Big Ten Championships three weeks away. But as long as he keeps on working hard, the team sees good things coming to him in the future. "He's a good kid, a positive kid," McFarland said. "I don't think that he's going to let this stuff get him down. He's going to get his wins." COMPANY IN FOCUS: TRILOGY Trilogy's goal is to be the next great soft- ware company, and their direction is clear. 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