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 ~tieSirb~un ~aI 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