Sports desk: 647-3336
sportsdesk@umich.edu
alance he
Sloppy play by Mi
By Raphael Goodstein
Daily Sports Writer
After a sloppy 98-83 victory over Wagner,
the Michigan basketball team (2-1) was see-
ing the cup half full.
The Wolverines committed 23 turnovers
d for the second
straight game WAGNER 83
played sloppy bas-
ketball after build- MICHIGAN 98
ing a big lead.
But for the second straight game they
won.
"The team played hard and that's the main
thing," sophomore forward LaVell Blanchard
said. "All that matters is that we got the 'W"'
Michigan will be hard pressed to get a 'W'
anytime soon if it continues to play as slop-
py. The Wolverines' upcoming schedule fea-
tures No. 17 Wake Forest, No. 6 Maryland
and No. 2 Duke within a 12-day span.
"This is probably as good as you can hope
for nowadays," Michigan coach Brian
,I p
Michigan defenseman Jeff Jilison logged more
Icers' bids wir
By Ryan C. Moloney
Daily Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - In the corridor of Ma
Ice Arena, minutes after Michigan's 4-1 win
Minnesota and 48 hours after a 3-2 victory
Wisconsin, Mike Cammalleri said the wor
assembled press were waiting for.
"You've quoted me on this one a few times
sophomore center said with a smile. "This
'Michigan hockey weekend.'
"We come to Michigan to play in big gam
win big games - we came to Wisconsin an
a big game, we came to Minnesota and we
even bigger game and we're really happy
that."
'M' makes st
By Joe Smith No.
Daily Sports Writer nes
Mic
MINNEAPOLIS - Michigan L
sophomore center Mike Cammalleri star
said that playing as an underdog in son,
this weekend's College Hockey lost
Showcase would "light a fire" inside next
each Wolverine. gam
Little did he know how far away into
the fire would become visible. ines
Over the past decade, the Wolver- gan
ines have six Frozen Four appear- sine
ances and two national tans
championships to their name - mak- cusa
ing the underdog role quite unfamil- faith
iar. C
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SECTION B
G DO: 1 11 X 1:1 1 X %;1:
Ips 'M'
drop Wagner
higan offset by flashes of athleticism
Ellerbe said about his team's pending sched-
ule. "You want to play and find out. I would
have liked to have had last year's schedule
for this year's team. I think it would have
been a little more advantageous. We expect
to play well enough to win because we're
playing at home."
One reason for this expectation is the cur-
rent play of Blanchard, who scored 24 points
and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds on
Saturday. Blanchard impressed the crowd by
playing inside and outside, hitting a couple
3-pointers and throwing down dunks.
Freshman forward Bernard Robinson also
had 17 points, centers Chris Young and Josh
Asselin both had 12 points and freshmen
Avery Queen and Josh Moore both had 10.
This marked the first time since Jan. 25,
1992, that six players have scored in double-
figures.
It's a good sign that three of the six dou-
ble-digit scorers were centers, because
Michigan will need a low-post presence
against the Deamon Deacons. "They did a
Big Ten/ACC chalenge
With five top-10 programs and eight
teams in the top 25 participating, this
second annual Big Ten/ACC showdown
should present some memorable contests.
Here's a breakdown of who plays whom:
Tomorrow:
No. 17 Wake Forest at Michigan, 7 p.m.
Northwestern at Clemson, 7:30 p.m.
No. 8 Illinois at No. 2 Duke, 9 p.m.
Georgia Tech at Iowa, 9:30 p.m.
Wednesday:
Purdue at No. 25 Virginia, 7 p.m.
No. 7 North Carolina at No. 4 Michigan
State, 7:30 p.m.
Minnesota at Florida State, 8 p.m.
good job of getting the ball inside and being
patient with it," Wagner coach Dereck Whit-
tenburg said. "If we had hit our threes we
could have negated their size"
See WAGNER, Page 5B
MRJRLIE MARSHALL/ Dily
Michigan forward Chris Young throws down a one-handed slam Saturday against Wagner. Young
chipped a tooth after being elbowed in the face on his way to 12 points and five rebounds.
THUSDAY: MICHIGAN 3, WISCONSIN 2
SATURDAY: MICHIGAN 4, MINNESOTA 1
Citrus for Auburn?
e.dftt
40d ddommoft
is
ri t
The owhouse.comrFlorida Citrus Bowl
Monday, Jan. 1, 2001
1 p.m., ABC
Michigan vs. SEC second-place
Payout per team: $4 million
Last Wednes-
day the Citrus
Bowl committee
selected No. 17
Auburn as a pro-
visional oppo-
nent for the Wolverines on Jan. 4.
If the Tigers lose to No. 7 Florida
on Dec. 2 in the SEC championship
game, they will head to Orlando for
the conference's second-place bowl.
If Auburn defeats the Gators, the Cit-
rus Bowl commitee will chose either
Florida or Tennessee to play in the
game.
Both Florida and Auburn have
already qualified for the Citrus Bowl
with nine wins. Tennessee has a 8-3
record after defeating Vanderbilt, 28-
26, on Saturday.
Last year, Florida lost to Michigan
State, 37-34, in the Citrus Bowl.
Michigan has only faced Auburn
one time in the school's history. The
Wolverines lost, 9-7, in the 1984
Sugar Bowl. The Wolverines have
never faced Tennessee or Florida.
FOR TICKETS: To obtain tickets
online go to mgoblue.com/ticketojice,
click on "online form" and complete
the application.
To mail in or fax your request, go
to the above Website and download
Auburn season results
Wyoming W, 35-21
at No. 18 Mississippi W, 35-27
Louisiana State W, 34-17
Northern Illinois W, 31-14
Vanderbilt W, 33-0
at No. 20 Mississippi St. L, 17-10
at No. 9 Florida L, 38-7
Louisiana Tech W, 38-28
Arkansas W, 21-19
No. 13 Georgia W, 29-26
at Alabama W, 9-0
Tantalizing Tiers:
QB Ben Leard
176-289, 2000 yds, 12 TDs, nine INT.
RB RudiJohnson
1520 yds, 13 TDs
WR Ronney Daniels
31 receptions, 356 yds, 3 TDs
K Damon Duval
29 PATs, 12-for16 FGs
the bowl ticket application form. Print
it out and complete.
To mail, include a check made
payable to Michigan Ticket Depart-
ment and send the envelope to Michi-
gan Ticket Department, 1000 State
St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2201. To
fax, dial (734) 936-8942. The tickets
can also be purchased in person at the
above address.
To order by telephone, call (734)
764-0247 and order with Visa or Mas-
terCard.
The price is $65 per ticket. For any
questions, e-mail the ticket office at
mtickets@umich.edu.
- Staff reports
BESSET SABOURIN/Minnesota Daily
minutes than usual in an attempt to stabilize the already-depleted Michigan blueline.
both Showcases over ranked foes
Volleyball squeaks in:
Blue to face Louisvle
riucci
n over
over
ds the
s," the
is the
nes, to
d won
on an
with
For the first time in the 2000-01 season, the
Wolverines maintained their killer instinct
throughout both weekend matchups. Buoyed by
timely scoring, solid goaltending by Josh Black-
burn and a heroic defense, No. 7 Michigan tri-
umphed in what coach Red Berenson called the
"toughest challenge of the year" - beating No.
12 Wisconsin and No. 2 Minnesota at their own
rinks.
"This is what we needed," Berenson said. "We
needed to show we could play on the road, and
these are the best teams that we've played in their
buildings, particularly Minnesota."
Minnesota and Michigan played a fairly even
game throughout the first period of their contest,
with the Golden Gophers' Erik Westrum scoring
the only goal of the period. Skating down the left
side, Westrum fluttered the puck in at Blackburn
after crossing the second outside hash mark.
Blackburn appeared handcuffed and the puck
squirted past him on the stick side for a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Gophers came out flying in the sec-
ond period, firing a bevy of chances on Blackburn,
who remained composed. Freshmen Grant Potul-
ny and Jon Waibel were each denied glorious,
one-on-one chances - Blackburn's snap-glove
save against Potulny between the left faceoff circle
and the goal crease was especially spectacular.
Michigan's second power play, courtesy of a hook-
ing call against Paul Martin at the 7:13 mark, started
out reminiscent of the Wolverines' lone powerplay
See SHOWCASE, Page 4B
By Albert Kim
Daily Sports Writer
It was an anxious Michigan volleyball
team that assembled last night, and it
wasn't because of a match. The future of
its season was in the hands of the NCAA
tournament selection committee. A little
after 8 p.m., the bids were announced,
and the room erupted in cheers. The
Wolverines (8-12 Big Ten, 18-13 over-
all) had reached the postseason.
"We were very lucky, and a little sur-
prised," junior Katrina Lehman said. "A
lot of things went our way."
The team will face off against Con-
ference USA champion Louisville (26-
7) this Friday in Tuscon, Ariz.
Louisville is one of the hottest teams in
the nation, winning six straight and 19
of their last 20. But Michigan coach
NCAA-bound
What: NCAA Tournament first
round - Michigan (812 Big Ten,
1813 overall) vs. Louisville (26-7)
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: Tuscon, Ariz.
Last year. The Wolverines
squeaked into the Tournament
with a16-15 record and lost in the
second round to Pacific.
More volleyball coverage: Page 78
Mark Rosen isn't overly concerned.
"I feel pretty good about it. We've
never seen them before, but they've
never seen us either. We've played much
tougher competition, and that'll be to
our advantage,' Rosen said.
If Michigan defeats Louisville, they'll
face the winner of Alabama A&M and
No. 2 seed Arizona.
atement to itself and the nation
1 Michigan State and No. 2 Min-
ota - that's exactly the situation
higan found itself in.
et's not forget that after a 6-0-2
t this sea-
Michigan HOCKEY
three of its
t five Commentary
nes going
the Showcase. While the Wolver-
' 1-0 loss at the hands of Michi-
State was somewhat tolerable
e Michigan outplayed the Spar-
, the other two defeats were inex-
able in the eyes of the Michigan
hful.
)n consecutive weekends against
vincingly won the first game of the
series.
But in the second game, Michigan
underwent a 180-degree turn.
Whether the Wolverines "weren't
ready to play, "just didn't get the
bounces" or ended up letting overcon-
fidence get the best of them, they suf-
fered painful and - in the case of
their first-ever home setback to Fair-
banks - embarrassing losses.
Adding injury to insult, Michigan
assistant captain Dave Huntzicker -
a stabilizing force on the blueline -
went down with a torn MCL in his
left knee in the first game against
Fairbanks and is expected to be out
Michigan shorthanded at the blueline
- not something it needed going into
Thanksgiving weekend matchups
against two high-powered offenses.
"We embarrassed ourselves the last
two weekends so we wanted to make
a statement to ourselves to show that
we could play better hockey" senior
Scott Matzka said.
With a Thanksgiving triumph over
No. 12 Wisconsin and the impressive
upset over No. 2 Minnesota two days
later, Michigan earned its first sweep
of the Showcase since 1997. In so
doing, the Wolverines sent a message
to everyone.
"We're back"
I -
i