Hockey poll
michigan ranks fifth in this week's
SCHO Division I poll. Go to the Daily
Sports Website for top 10 standings.
michigandaily.com/sports
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WEDNESDAY
FEB RUARY 16, 2000
9
And the waters
subsided for 'M'
By Chris Duprey
Daily Sports Editor
Early one morning, God told Midhigan basketball coach
Brian Ellerbe that there would be a big storm ahead, as his
team would face a murderous six-game stretch. He ordered
* erbe to pack up two of everything - two centers, two
power forwards and so on - and board a large Ark.
A storm raged like no other for six straight games, thrash-
ing the large blue vessel around the sea. Finally, after the
volatile waters settled, Ellerbe and his crew disembarked
from the boat. There were no signs of life. Everything had
been wiped out. They were all alone.
But then the sun shined, as a winnable road game at
Wisconsin loomed in the distance. Life began again, and it
was good.
All parables aside, tonight's game at Wisconsin is a new
ginning for the Wolverines, a string of contests against foes
more to their liking. And while the pesky Badgers are no
pushover, their offensive ineptitude is enough to give Ellerbe
and Michigan (3-7 Big Ten, 12-9 overall) an excellent chance
to win.
"Nobody on this team is quitting and I think we are gen-
uinely looking forward to this final stretch of games," Ellerbe
said Sunday after Michigan's loss to Indiana. "We have an
opportunity to do some positive things."
Wisconsin (4-7, 12-11) is the best defensive team in the
Big Ten. Not so coincidentally, the Badgers are the second-
S rst offensive squad behind Northwestern, scoring just 60
tints a game.
So tonight will feature two polar opposites - a team that
can't score, and one that can't defend.
The Badgers have very few offensive weapons, and
See WISCONSIN, Page 10
TONIGHT
KOHL CENTER - MADISON
Who:Michigan (3-7 Big Ten 12-9 overall) at Wisconsin (4-7,12.11)
When:8p.m. EST
TV/Radio: ESPN Regional(Channel35}
Latest Wisconainlost to No. 6 MichiganState 61-4last Fnday.
History book Michigan at Wisconsin
Feb. 27, 1999- Michigan 51, Wiscons:in 39..
micigan put together a spectacular defensive eff<n against the No. 15 Badgers,
earning just its second road win all season The Wolverines held Wisconsin to
just 32 percent shooting and senior Louts Bullock became the Big Ten's all-time
leading 3.point shooter to add to the aftemoon.
Dec. 31, 1997: Michigan 76.Wisconsin63
The Badgers cut a 10-point Michigan lead to just one as the game neared crunch
tine, but Bullock and the Wolverines put on a spurt of their own to seal the vic-
tory, ;lichgan's last at fabled 17W Fieldhouse, which closed later that season.
Fe. 6,1997: Wisconsin 58 Michigan 53t
Wisconsin, playing its classic slowdown game, w,able to outlast Michigan in a
battle of offensive futility: Foul trouble (..u rnse") lined Robert Tiylor's effectie-
ness,and the Badgers managed the clock well enough in the gamce final few min-
utes t hang on.
THE SPARK PLLGt
By Dena Beth Krischer - Daily Sports Writer
n perhaps her greatest performance yet,
sophomore guard Alayne Ingram went
cad-to-head against Michigan assistant
coach Eileen Shea in a game of P-I-G.
It was about 6 p.m. on a Wednesday
evening and practice had ended about a half
hour earlier. Ingram was still in her practice
gear, taking shots from as many obscure spots
on the court as she could and sinking them all
- as if the motion were entirely innate.
"I'm going to score 40 one time" Ingram
said about the number she sports on her jer-
sev.
The number, which she chose as a fresh-
man on her Waverly High School varsity
team, is somewhat of a tribute to her father
Michael Ingram, the basketball coach at
Lansing Community College.
Coach Ingram wore No. 40 when he
played in high school, but she didn't know
that when she picked it.
"She's a gym rat," a smiling Michigan
coach Sue Guevara said, watching as Ingram
practically schooled Shea in P-I-G. "She's in
here working all the time on her shot"
Now that she's over 60 miles from home,
the Lansing native has formed a bond with
the 92 x 49 feet of wood in Crisler.
It's her new playground - her new back-
yard.
But nothing compares to the hoop in her
backyard at home.
"That was the spot for me," Ingram admits.
"Every day when I got home from school, I
would be outside shooting for at least two
hours. That's just like home. It always feels
comfortable in that court."
Ingram got her first chance to be a baler
when she was six years old. She went with
her father to basketball camp for older kids
and he "let" her play.
Since then, practically the only thing that's
prevented her from playing her game was a
sprained ankle she suffered in the 72-69 loss
at Wisconsin on Jan. 20.
Now after a one-game hiatus, she's back on
the court and is more unstoppable than ever.
"I would have died if I couldn't play,"
Ingram said.
Michigan's season might have died if
Ingram couldn't play.
Without Ingram, the Wolverines would be
without more than 16 percent of their scoring.
Without Ingram, the Wolverines might not
be in second place in the Big Ten and on their
way to maintaining a first-round bye in the
Big Ten tournament.
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN
When she was only in sixth grade, Ingram
received her first recruiting letter from
Guevara, who at that time was an assistant at
Michigan State.
"I've known Alayne a long, long time,"
Guevara said. "She would call me when she
was I I years old and we developed a close
relationship"
Growing up in
Spartan country -
where the Breslin 9
Michigan State, Ingram said. "She's made
such an impact on me and when she got this
job, I took that as a sign. I just knew she'd do
real well wherever she was at, so I followed
her down here"
But she'd never say that to her coach's face.
"We go 'round and 'round about that,"
Guevara said. "She's always saying, 'Oh no
she wouldn't (have
come to Ann Arbor),
no she wouldn't.' Oh
Center is considered
a cathedral and bas-
ketball games are
like religious cere-
monies -it's a
wonder that Ingram
managed to slip
through Michigan
State coach Karen
Langeland's fingers.
Michigan State
"ust wasn't right for
me," Ingram said. "I
lived seven minutes
away - that's how
long it took me to
get to campus. A lot
of people in Lansing
are always asking
me why I didn't go
to Michigan State."
Maybe it's
because Michigan
State doesn't play
the right tune.
"I'm always the
first one running out
yes, she would have.
There was no way
she was going any-
where else."
Guevara said
there was no way
Ingram was going to
play for anybody
else, either.
"if I had stayed at
Michigan State, her
butt would have
been at Michigan
State," Guevara said.
"If I had become the
head coach at
Central Michigan,
she would have
come with me to
Central Michigan."
For Ingram,
Guevara has become
something of a sur-
rogate mother.
"She understands
Apparently, she talks a lot, and according
to teammate Raina Goodlow, Ingram's the
one that really knows how to get the team
going.
"She's always talking," Goodlow said.
"She's always staving on us. Sometimes when
you don't feel like practicing, she's always
running her mouth and pumping us up every
day."
Ingram admits she is somewhat of a spaz
on the court.
"They all know me," she laughed. "I'm
crazy."
But even the spark plug needs to be
recharged - sometimes it's going to take
more than a few motivational words from her
teammates. Sometimes, it takes a little
music.
"When we're on road trips, I listen to Kirk
Franklin," Ingram said. "He's got these songs
about keeping your head up no matter what.
If I'm not shooting well, I can get really down
on myself His songs help me remember that
I can take another shot and that it can go in."
If and when her shots continue to go in, is
there a possibility that Ingram might continue
onto the next level?
"I think that it's sweet that we have an NBA
for women," Ingram said. "My dad and I used
to talk about it when I was younger, about me
playing in the NBA because we didn't have
the WNBA back then.
"He was always telling me I could do this,
I could do that and now that I have the oppor-
tunity. I'm really trying to get better so I can
be there one day. Because I don't know what
I want to do"
If the next level doesn't work out, Guevara
would like to see Ingram follow in her foot-
steps yet again and stand on the sidelines.
"I think Alayne is going to be a very, very
good coach - if that's what she decides to
do," Guevara said. "She's a coach's daughter
and she understands the game. That is an
avenue that I really think she should pursue if
it doesn't work out playing at the next level."
Any other alternatives?
"I like to talk," Ingram admits. "Maybe I'll
go into public speaking or public relations or
something like that"
That is, of course, if and only if her game
doesn't work out.
"As much as I love basketball right now, I
hope that I can keep getting better and love it
the same way in three years." Ingram said. "If
I do, I'm going to want to play. It just depends
if I love it the same way as I do right now."
,;,
_: ,
me," Ingram said.
"We can talk about a
lot of stuff. It's just
SHEAD/Dav good that she's here,
I have somebody taking care of
and when I heard
'The Victors' play (at my first game), that was
one of the greatest moments of my life,"
Ingram said.
Ingram's decision could also be attributed
to her favorite color - blue. And the idea of
wearing green for four years wasn't one of
Ingram's top priorities.
"Michigan State is my biggest rival,"
Ingram said. "They're always out for my
blood, trying to tell me I should have gone
there because they're the better institute.
"But you know what? They're not. And
that's how I feel."
Mavbe that's because the Spartans lack one
thing in particular - the right coach.
Guevara "was the only one who really
made contact with me when she was at
SAM HOLLEN
I feel like
me."
"She's my daughter," Guevara said. "Her
mother had her, but she's mine."
BABY KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
Every so often, when things aren't going
according to plan, there's got to be something
or someone to get the sparks flying.
For Michigan, Ingram is that spark plug.
Ingram has been described by her coach
and her teammates as the team's "pumper-
upper," an "emotional leader," or simply the
one to point her teammates "in the right direc-
tion." Namely, towards the basket.
"Alavne is our emotion;" Guevara said.
"She tries to get everybody all jacked up and
ready to play. She's a talker."